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Improved Dots v1.1
by Why485
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This mod aims to address two specific issues with the current implementation of contact dots in DCS:

1. Dot size is always one pixel, which means smaller dots at higher resolutions, and that the lower your resolution, the easier it is to find contacts.
2. Dots are rendered too far. As long as an objects model is not culled, it will get a dot drawn on it. DCS' draw distances can go out to >40 miles, making it possible to see the dots of an aircraft before even your radar can pick it up.

This is accomplished by adding these new rules to how dots are rendered:
1. The size of the dot gets bigger with screen resolution, using the reference resolution of 1920x1080.
2. The dot becomes fully opaque at distance of ~6 miles.
3. The dot is completely transparent at a distance of ~18 miles.
4. When between those two extremes, the dot will fade at an exponential rate.

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FAQ
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So what does this actually mean?
1. It means that dots are no longer visible from extreme ranges. You won't see planes 20-50 miles away.
2. Playing a high resolution (in this mod, defined as a screen height of >1080) you should have roughly the same "dot acuity" as somebody playing at 1920x1080. This corrects the common practice in DCS of people reducing their resolution to make the dots bigger.

Are ground vehicles easier to see?
Generally, no. At high resolutions, the dots become rectangles, since half the 2x2 dot is now under the ground. The dot also fades with distance the same as aircraft (the shader can't tell the difference), so you won't be able to spot vehicles from 30 miles like you could before.

Why did you pick the ranges you did?
Experimentally gathered data, from a paper that is infamous on this forum and won't be named, found that T-38s were spotted around 4-6 miles, depending on conditions. Knowing where the target already is can boost this detection distance by about 5 miles. Based on that information, I tweaked the opacity values and formula such that I was able to consistently find a dot around 4-6 miles, and could find and track distant dots (which are faded to ~50% transparency by this point) at around 10 miles, when I already knew where to look.

Are dots completely invisible past 10 miles?
Not completely invisible, but they are extremely faint. You'd have to already know they were there to find them, and they are very easy to lose. By about 15 miles they are basically impossible to see.

Do I need to turn on labels to use this?
No, the dot system in DCS is completely independent of labels. There is some confusion around the label system having a couple "dot" settings, but what those do is draw a label with a little . over the target. Labels are (at present) not obscured by clouds or the cockpit frame.

The dots in DCS meanwhile are a completely separate function and do not interact with the label system at all. They are always on, cannot be turned off, and cannot be modified by players without messing with the shader itself as this mod does.

To eliminate the chance of confusing labels with the dots, I recommend turning off labels completely when testing this mod.

What makes 1080p special?
In my experience, the dot size at 1080p resolutions is big enough to be useful, but not so big that it becomes distracting and strange looking. Therefore it was chosen as the reference resolution for which I wanted higher resolutions to have parity with.

Does this mod do anything if I already play at 1080p?
The only difference you'll notice is that contact dots fade away as they get further.

Does this mod work on ultrawide?
Yes. The only thing the mod takes into account for sizing the dots is the vertical resolution.

Does this mod address the ability to see dots through clouds?
No. I did make a brief attempt to see if I could fix that, but it's likely something that Eagle Dynamics will have to fix themselves the correct way.

If I zoom into a dot that's far away, does that cause it to fade in?
No, the dot opacity is based on a hard distance calculation. FOV has no effect on the opacity of dots.

Does this mod address the exploit of raising the FOV to max in order to enlarge dots?
It does not. The old impostor mod I made many years ago did this, but I wanted to keep this mod as simple as possible. I might add it in later if there is demand. As with the impostor mod, I'd likely just fade the dots over some field of view.

What happens if I play at a resolution under 1080p?
Dots will still increase in apparent size at resolutions lower than 1080. Initially I wanted to either try and make the dots "subpixel" by rendering them appropriately smaller at low resolutions, but this isn't feasible without engine changes. I also tried fading the dots proportionally when under the reference resolution, but this created problems with flickering models.

The biggest advantage that low resolutions used to give was seeing dots from tens of miles away. Since the dots are now guaranteed to fade with distance, I figured it was best to just let the low resolutions keep their slightly larger dots.

Does this mod pass IC?
It does, but it probably shouldn't! This mod changes dot rendering in a way that can both advantage (but mostly disadvantage) the player over others in a multiplayer environment. If you join a server with this and you are running a higher resolution than 1080p, you'll have somewhat improved WVR spotting, at the cost of "BVR spotting".

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Install
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Unpack the "Bazar" folder in your DCS World root directory. This will overwrite the "dots.fx" file. By default, this is located in "C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics\DCS World".

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Changelog
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v1.1
- Fixed dot flickering when MSAA is disabled by correctly snapping dots to pixel grid
- Near range adjusted 12000m -> 8000m
- Far range adjusted 32000 -> 42000

v1.0
- Initial release
