Blame the consoles and the laziness of developers. 7 year old technology in consoles limits the amount of things that can be displayed at one time, so developers just use low FoV as a trick to improve the graphics in their game. Sometimes they simply just don't bother creating options to increase the FoV on PCs which have a much higher technical capability to display graphics because those games won't sell as much.

Unfortunately, in order for graphics (and thus FoV) to really improve, we need to wait for Sony and Microsoft (because I don't expect Nintendo to come out with a console with amazing power behind it, even with the new Wii U) to come out with new consoles that haven't really been announced yet.

Edit: I need to learn to cut my sentences with periods ><

Kashll

United States1117 Posts

November 17 2011 00:11 GMT

#46

Just open the console in skyrim and type fov 90.

Problem solved. 90 Has been a standard for PC FPS games for so long. The fact that skyrim defaults to 75 is absurd (probably because it's a console port).

Cyro

United Kingdom20322 Posts

November 17 2011 00:12 GMT

#47

Skyrim is ~70 FOV, and you can manually set it to anything you want by pressing ` for console (left of 123) and typing "fov 90" etc, there is also a code line for .ini file to default it to anything

Slix36

United Kingdom145 Posts

November 17 2011 00:15 GMT

#48

Give me 200 but blur it increasingly after 60, also increasingly reduce color saturation after about 150.

Ktk

Korea (South)753 Posts

November 17 2011 00:15 GMT

#49

Then again wouldn't there be the issue of that many more polygons to render per frame if you have higher FOV?

RevampedPants

United States30 Posts

November 17 2011 00:18 GMT

#50

You can't actually have 200 degree vision on a computer screen because it will not be able to change and focus the way your eyes do, more than 45 degrees is good but in real life your brain fills in much of what is beyond that 45 degrees unless you are actually trying to see with your peripheral.

Cyro

United Kingdom20322 Posts

November 17 2011 00:19 GMT

#51

On November 17 2011 09:15 Ktk wrote:
Then again wouldn't there be the issue of that many more polygons to render per frame if you have higher FOV?

Skyrim performance is identical at 60 FOV or 200 - maybe a fault of the game engine, im not sure how it works out, but thats how it is on my system atleast

Cyro

United Kingdom20322 Posts

November 17 2011 00:19 GMT

#52

On November 17 2011 09:18 RevampedPants wrote:
You can't actually have 200 degree vision on a computer screen because it will not be able to change and focus the way your eyes do, more than 45 degrees is good but in real life your brain fills in much of what is beyond that 45 degrees unless you are actually trying to see with your peripheral.

You can run like 200 FOV but it just looks really weird, curved image etc

tuho12345

4482 Posts

November 17 2011 00:22 GMT

#53

Too large POV make us dizzy and no way you can handle that much actions going on.

jinorazi

Korea (South)4948 Posts

November 17 2011 00:27 GMT

#54

On November 17 2011 09:09 Crisium wrote:
So you guys changing your FOV around are indeed stretching the picture, and warping your aspect ratio?

changing fov is like modifying the degree on a wide screen lens, so it'll stretch accordingly.
i for one is willing to sacrifice proportion for better view of the surrounding, for example if i have fov at 360, though the screen may be f'ed up, i can see behind my back

kyriores

Greece178 Posts

November 17 2011 00:29 GMT

#55

In multiplayer fps games I guess the higher the fov the better, since not seeing an opponent in time really matters. Tried increasing it in Skyrim tho and I can't tell I felt a great difference as most ranged (melee too obv) mobs won't be able to sneak up on you if you are constantly moving and looking around, which I do as a mage. So I guess it doesn't really matter unless the AI is godlike...

Thrill

2599 Posts

November 17 2011 00:47 GMT

#56

Eyefinity / 3D surround. Most modern games have support for custom FoV, most old ones have .ini mods. ^_______^

HardMacro

Canada361 Posts

November 17 2011 00:56 GMT

#57

OP is seriously misleading lol, 45 degrees in Skyrim would be like archery with the bow zoom function.

Oblivion/Skyrim/most first-person games are between 65-90 FOV (Skyrim is 75), and I change games to ~110 FOV in the console controls whenever I can. Anything more than ~120 FOV really requires triple-monitor setups, as you start to get distortions (characters close to you at the outer edges of your field of vision are FATTTTTT) on a single monitor.

Even for ~90-110 FOV in Skyrim depends on your screen resolution, as you really do need at least 1080P with 4x MSAA for it to look good. Developers obviously have to consider the mainstream players, and at 720P or less ~80 FOV looks just about right.

LoneWolf.Alpha-

123 Posts

November 17 2011 01:25 GMT

#58

On November 17 2011 09:03 StarDragon wrote:
@Op: You can change Skyrim's FoV to whatever you want, just use the ` tilde key and type Fov ### and enjoy

.

For anyone else there are options, they might require a bit more of an investment for the look and having peripherals , a lot of games are starting to support multi-monitor gaming.
[image loading]

My setup currently of 3x 27" monitors, the game I took a picture of wasn't a great example as you cannot change FoV in that game.

But heres an ingame screeny of Skyrim. Forgot what FoV I was using.
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/1797/tesv20111112173653281.jpg
And MW3 for those who hate the FoV there.
http://cdn1.wsgfmedia.com/f/u/2011-11-11_00008.jpg

Battlefield looks amazing as well but too lazy to go pull up a picture.

-
And anyone commenting on the bezels, your brain filters them out, you never notice them when gaming.

that looks amazing. probably i'll only be looking at the central screen at any point in time, but my peripheral vision will be checking out the peripheral screens, if you know what i mean.

When you set the FOV in a game, can you set the vertical fov too?

I currently have this fucking huge monitor and i'm tired of having a huge monitor with tiny vertical fov.

xHassassin

United States270 Posts

November 17 2011 01:43 GMT

#59

90 FOV is standard for PC gamers.

Glorious
Glorious
PC Gaming
Master race

sob3k

United States7572 Posts

November 17 2011 01:50 GMT

#60

This thread is so silly

HEY GUYS, DO YOU WANT NORMAL 2D GAME.....OR A HOLODECK?!

no shit we all want a holodeck, but there are very simple technological restrictions to why that doesn't work. You wanted 200 degree FOV? Here it is: