Competitive TF2, Part Ten: Visually Speaking
Surprised? You didn’t really think this was over did you? Well, in either case, the ubercharged.net Competitive TF2 guide is back. For this installment, I’ll be speaking about something that I’ve been messing with over the past few days: resolution and FoV. Now, most players never really bother to change these, but editing these settings can seriously help out your playing (within limits of course).
When you first install TF2, the default FoV settings are 75° for your main field of view, and 54° for your viewmodel field of view. These settings look like this (resolution is 1440×900 16:10 aspect ratio).
Alright, this is reasonable, but you’re missing a good part of what you’d normally see. With these settings, it’d be easy to miss a sniper or something. Lets crank the main FoV up a bit. This next shot is 1440×900, with FoV set to 90, and viewmodel FoV set to the standard 54.
This is even better, you get a larger picture, but that viewmodel still looks a bit big to be, let’s tweak its FoV. This next screen is 1440×900, with both FoV sliders increased to their max value.
Now this here will be good enough for most people, and I find that maxing out the FoV on projectile weapons helps aid my prediction skills, probably as a result of it being closer to the crosshair. The other day, I was playing around with resolutions and FoV in Far Cry 2, and I figured, why not try this in TF2? So I did, and here is the result (1440×640, 2.25:1 cinema aspect ratio, FoV maxed out):
As you can see, that’s a major increase in FoV. The wider the display, the more peripheral vision you can have. For reference, lets see a shot with some bots in it.
So check your settings and max out your FoV. You’re only hurting yourself otherwise.
So yeah, a bit of a short return, but I hope this helped. As always, just drop me a line via Steam or the forums if you’ve got any questions.
Stumble it!
Zanpa responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 12:49 am #
Uh.
I really think each and every single person who plays TF2 already use a 90° FOV…
(However, I keep my viewmodel fov to the default value, just for a matter of looks. I don’t like stretched weapon models.)
clubtheseals responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 12:53 am #
I assumed so too, until I got asked by people what FoV was and if 90 made any difference over 75.
n00bie51 responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 1:13 am #
Dude, this should have gone under Part Eight.
/stirring dissension
clubtheseals responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 1:13 am #
Bah. A pox upon thee.
General Balls responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 1:13 am #
Behold! The 3:1 aspect ratio!
http://i35.tinypic.com/2qs83o8.jpg
n00bie51 responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 1:36 am #
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tohQpDDxcE
Mr. Noobinator responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 3:00 am #
ok, so what’s the aspect ratio i should use so i can see the spy behind me?
Guru responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 3:06 am #
Somebody forgot that those FOV values are calculated given a 4:3 ratio, FOV 90 on 16:9 actually gets you 106 but nvm, research is not needed nowadays.
clubtheseals responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 3:06 am #
It isn’t possible.
clubtheseals responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 3:07 am #
Oh, and Guru, I know that, it’s just that some people will get confused by that.
Matt responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 3:34 am #
It’s all well and good to say max your fov to see more, but those last few screenshots just look freaky, and the fish-eye effect is really distracting and disconcerting.
qeex responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 4:17 am #
Noobie-51, I see your 3 monitors and raise you 24.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqB01Cp_wPM&feature=related
clubtheseals responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 4:56 am #
@Matt while it may be distracting to some people, I never notice it. I was merely showing what I play at.
Oranjoose responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 5:41 am #
How do you set that aspect ratio ?
randombaddie responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 6:49 am #
My launch options include
-w 1280 -h 720 -window
It’s like playing in a widescreen monitor, even though mine is 4:3
I’ve heard that playing with an excessively wide FOV can seriously screw up your aim, and very few (in games like Quake Live, where I believe FOV is capped in the vicinity of 130) are willing to go above 115-ish. And many players use a lower FOV while doing high-precision tasks like sniping. What do you think the scope does? It zooms a little, and it lowers your FOV a lot.
Badger responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 7:49 am #
@Zanpa
I’ve been using the standard 75 PoV since always. Mostly because I didn’t know any better.
I’m now trying out the 90, and hopefully this will help me be less terribadger.
Pablo responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 9:32 am #
Wish I could have it 90, seems like a real advantage, but for some odd reason it gives me serious motion sickness.
n00bie51 responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 10:09 am #
Holy crap, qeex.
TEH UBERMENSCH responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 2:29 pm #
So how do I edit this setting? With the ingame options or command console or what?
Aftershock responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 3:14 pm #
How do you get 90+ fov?
Helelos responded on 18 Oct 2009 at 4:24 pm #
With an auto-config or console commands
Dr. Strangelove responded on 19 Oct 2009 at 9:14 am #
O Great Clubber of Seals, I wish to throw out an idea for another Competitive column:
Configs/FPS packs.
While I know there are some preset packs out there (and some of them do indeed help), some of us would like to know how to change the configurations ourselves in case we find part of those packs unnecessary.
Perhaps finish it off with a list of several highly recommended packs?
gelugon2105 responded on 19 Oct 2009 at 6:21 pm #
You may want to mention that this may not be viable for certain monitors. Also increasing the FOV also ends up with your weapon hogging more of the screen. (At least not proportionately, of course)
anonymous responded on 20 Oct 2009 at 11:25 am #
I personally use 120 viewmodel fov.
I know many people will think that it’s kinda weird, but I personally like seeing the whole weapon.
However, I also bound a key to switch to 70 viewmodel fov, in case I need to; playing heavy with 120 viewmodel fov is actually surprisingly difficult because the muzzle flash obstructs your view.
possom responded on 21 Oct 2009 at 7:11 am #
Turn off view models and have your weapon switching change target reticule color. Now you can increase your FOV, not even see your models, and fire at will.
Havent used view models in a long time.
RhusRadicans responded on 02 Nov 2009 at 2:48 am #
When I was scrolling past this article on the front page really fast the rocket launcher pictures actually blended together to create a brief animation of the soldier swinging his launcher to the side.
chipbuster responded on 06 Nov 2009 at 3:07 pm #
I think there’s a slider under Options>Video>Advanced (this is in TF2) to set the FOV
I could be mistaken, of course
Disengage responded on 01 Dec 2009 at 6:57 am #
@chipbuster
you are not mistaken
The Soldier responded on 10 Dec 2009 at 12:17 pm #
Can someone please tell what the last pictures FoV, viewmodel, Aspect Ratio and resolution is and the console commands to get them above 90 FoV…
Brainmaster responded on 24 Jan 2010 at 4:26 am #
how can you get your tf2 in cinema aspect
Johnny responded on 23 Jun 2010 at 1:00 pm #
How to Change resolution to 1440×640?
confused responded on 24 Jul 2010 at 10:45 am #
I’m with the above two guys, my TF2 is fully up to date, yet there’s no cinematic aspect ratio in the list of ratios, and I don’t have a slider for viewmodel fov, only for normal fov. halp