Calculate your FOV with Google

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 06 Jul 2009, 01:10

Copy and paste this into a Google search bar:

2*atan(( new AR )/( default AR ) * tan( default FOV /2 degrees)) in degrees

Replace the bolded parts with the appropriate values. New AR should be the aspect ratio you are trying to get the right settings for. Default AR is usually 4/3. Default FOV is the game's default FOV setting.

Example:
2*atan((16/10)/(4/3) * tan(90/2 degrees)) in degrees

Copy that into the Google search bar, and it will tell you what the correct FOV setting for 16:10 is for a game where the default 4:3 value is 90.

This method is more flexible than the site's FOV calc, and a bit more accurate too.

If the game uses radians instead of degrees, simply remove both references to degrees. You can tell if the default FOV is a small number with a high degree of precision, like 1.57.

Post by **scavvenjahh** » 06 Jul 2009, 11:02

Oh my, thanks a lot. This'll come in handy. :bowdown

Post by **skipclarke** » 01 Apr 2010, 18:08

Delphium has taken this and put it into a new FOV and Aspect Ratio tool. Quite cool item indeed. We've replaced the old FOV calculator with this. Enjoy.

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/fovcalc.php

Post by **g00seberry** » 01 Apr 2010, 18:44

Very cool. Love how the screenshot changes :onethumb

Tanuki · Post by **Tanuki** » 02 Apr 2010, 00:30

I guess I need my Insider card revoked because I cannot get this to work.

Post by **Delphium** » 02 Apr 2010, 00:48

Hmm.. let me check that.

EDIT: Fixed. Seems I was missing a bracket.
I have also added additonal information such as bitrate and pixel count.

illwillnos · Post by **illwillnos** » 26 Apr 2010, 15:45

Hey guys, I just registered to give my thoughts on this.

This formula by The_cranky_hermit works very well. I immediately noticed an improvement in my aiming over the old FOV Calculator on this site. This was using Google. For this site's FOV Calc I don't think the numbers should be rounded off to 2 decimal places though. There is a difference in how my game feels (tested in RTCW) when the numbers aren't rounded off. Not rounding off feels better. This might be hard to notice for most gamers but I definitely noticed it.

If you don't believe me try it out for yourself. Try using an FOV from the FOV Calc and then try using the longer version that you get from Google. You might be surprised.

Nice find by The_cranky_hermit.

Post by **Delphium** » 05 May 2010, 17:37

Welcome illwillnos, I dont know when you last checked, however the FOV Calc on this site uses the same formula to work out the FOV, this of cause is as you say rounded to 2 decimal places, this is easy to change, however sometimes you get a decimal with 3 recurring (not a pritty site).
However does .00,0205 degrees (when wokring out 1920x1080 @90degrees from 1024x768) really make that much of a difference?
As I say, it is easy to change the number of decimal points to round to, so I welcome anyones opinion on this.

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 05 May 2010, 19:38

I didn't notice the new FOV calc until just now. Nice job with it!

If I may make some suggestions,

I would suggest changing the defaults for 16:10 in mind. I think that's what most people would be interested in. Maybe make the default new res 1920x1200, and the default number of monitors 1x1.

Also, I'm not sure what purpose the "new vFOV" output serves. The calc is only useful in games that expose the hFOV. But I've noticed that it seems to be entirely dependent on the default hFOV and aspect ratio. Which makes sense, since we want the vFOV to remain constant (unchanged from the default). But the words "(calculated using new hFOV value)" don't seem to be true, since changing the new aspect ratio changes the new hFOV, but not the new vFOV.

Post by **Delphium** » 05 May 2010, 20:21

I would suggest changing the defaults for 16:10 in mind. I think that's what most people would be interested in. Maybe make the default new res 1920x1200, and the default number of monitors 1x1.

I had considered this, yet I wanted to try show by example that it would support multi monitor, and there are a good number of us also with tri screen now, and likely more to follow soon.

Also, I'm not sure what purpose the "new vFOV" output serves. The calc is only useful in games that expose the hFOV.

Essentially this..

hi delph, nice calculator. Could u also include a vertical FOV calculator for this for games like BFBC2 which require VFOV to be entered in the ini? Thanks

from link

But I've noticed that it seems to be entirely dependent on the default hFOV and aspect ratio. Which makes sense, since we want the vFOV to remain constant (unchanged from the default). But the words "(calculated using new hFOV value)" don't seem to be true, since changing the new aspect ratio changes the new hFOV, but not the new vFOV.

You know I spent some time thinking about this to my self before, here is what I concluded...

Using the formula you provided above for the hFOV and the formula below for vFOV used also by rjdown's BFBC2 vFOV calc.

If we wish to work out our vFOV, then just like in rjdown's calc we would enter a desired hFOV, now when we run in widescreen, we no longer tend to use 90degrees hFOV but ideally around 100degrees hFOV for 16:10 to 106degrees hFOV for 16:9.
As such, when working out the vFOV from a hFOV we use the new hFOV values, as this is effectively our desired hFOV which the calc will then work out what vFOV value is required.

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 06 May 2010, 00:25

I had considered this, yet I wanted to try show by example that it would support multi monitor, and there are a good number of us also with tri screen now, and likely more to follow soon.

Maybe it would make sense to add a drop-down menu with examples like that, then?

hi delph, nice calculator. Could u also include a vertical FOV calculator for this for games like BFBC2 which require VFOV to be entered in the ini? Thanks

I don't understand this. Why would BFBC2 require a vFOV to be entered in the .ini? If the game behaves like every other FPS I know of that exposes the vFOV, you don't want to adjust it. You want to leave the vFOV exactly at the default value. Octuple-wide or whatever should have exactly the same vFOV as a single 4:3 screen. Furthermore, you don't know (or need to know) what the default hFOV value is. Unless you're trying to go for a tallscreen setup, there's really nothing to calculate.

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