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Camera FarClip [FS17/FS19][WIP]

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akuenzi:
CAMERA FARCLIP MOD

Concept
Anyone who has played on larger maps (4x/16x or beyond), has probably noticed that the view in the distance sometimes 'shape shifts.'  If the player turns in-game, the viewed distance (usually mountains) will sometimes appear/disappear.  The reason for this is because the game limits the player's visible distance (ie, the 'far clip') to 6,000 meters.  In other words, if something is more than 6,000 meters from the player, it can't be seen.  Most equipment cameras, from what I've seen, have a camera far clip setting that is even shorter, at 5,000 meters.

A standard-sized map is 2,048 x 2,048 meters.  On the diagonal, looking across the map from one corner to another, this is approximately 2,900 meters.  Oftentimes there are mountains and other distance features sitting off the map boundary, and this adds to the distance.  But on a standard map, it's not likely to exceed 5,000/6,000 meters.

As the map size grows, this becomes more of a problem:

* 4x map - 4,096 x 4,096 meters; 5,800 on diagonal
* 16x map - 8,192 x 8,192 meters; 11,600 on diagonal
* 64x map - 16,384 x 16,384 meters; 23,200 on diagonalWhile the diagonal of a 4x map is technically less than 6,000 meters, there are sometimes items sitting beyond the map border that exceeds the distance, so there can be visibility problems even on a 4x map.  It definitely is a problem on the 16x map and above.

Who cares?  Yeah, maybe it's no big deal.  Perhaps this is something that only bugs me, I don't know.  And maybe those mountains in the distance sometimes aren't seen in real life either.  But at least when they are seen, they don't tend to shape shift.

Anyway, that's the goal, I wanted to try to improve the view the player sees in-game by getting rid of the shape-shifting effect, and just have things visible all the time, no matter where someone is on the map.

Features
This is what I'm trying to incorporate into this mod:

* Scale the player camera's far clip distance on larger maps to more than 6,000 meters, enabling the player to see more in the distance.
* Multiplayer compatibility.
Pictures
Below are some pictures of tests I've done so far (click to expand if you wish).

This is a 4x map (Alberta) in FS '19.  On the left is the view diagonally across the map without (left) and with (right) the script:
   

This is a 16x map (Cornbelt) in FS '17.  On the left is the view diagonally across the map without (left) and with (right) the script.  Distance mountains were added to Cornbelt to illustrate the difference:
   
It may not seem a huge difference, but hopefully the difference can be seeing between the pictures on the left and the right.  I don't know when I'll be done with this; it's mainly functional now, but more testing/tweaking is needed, along with needed documentation.  Thanks for taking a look, and please feel free to leave any comments you wish. ;)

dougw133:
Hmm. Very surprised there are no replies. I, am seeking EXACTLY this. How did this turn out for you? I have a 4x map with distant mountains that this happens to. Sure could I move the mountains closer? Yep, but unrealistic and not geographically accurate for my map.

MikeLowery:
This is pretty good but how much does this effect the frame rates of the game. You know how the engine works *facepalm* very poorly. I always make the DOF false so I can get that clear effect and it does help the frame rate some but not a lot. If this does help in that aspect this will be something great but either way I like what you are doing and it makes sense.

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