With the introduction of the day and night cycle in the Gray Zone Warfare Night Ops update, we have added Night-vision Goggles (NVGs for short) to the game. NVGs increase players' effectiveness in low-light conditions by amplifying the ambient light. This allows players to see more clearly at night and in dark locations without using a flashlight. However, NVGs still require some ambient light to work; they cannot be used in complete darkness.
NVGs also allow players to see infrared light, enabling them to use IR tactical devices such as lasers and flashlights. These devices are only visible to NVG users, so they provide a big advantage against enemies that do not use NVGs.
NVG types and their functionalities
For the initial implementation of NVGs in Gray Zone Warfare, 3 NVG devices were added:
- AN/PVS-7 Night Vision Device
- AN/PVS-14 Night Vision Device
- AN/PVS-31A Night Vision Device
All 3 NVG models currently available in-game are analog and cover the monocular, pseudo-binocular, and binocular types of analog NVGs and green and white phosphor varieties.
Analog NVGs
Analog NVGs capture ambient light from the surroundings and amplify it to provide additional visibility in low-light environments. They have a round picture, and their main advantages are higher resolution and no viewing delay. However, they suffer from a higher price and can be damaged by bright lights.
NVG picture color
Analog NVGs can be either green phosphor or white phosphor. This determines the color of the picture produced by the NVGs. Examples of green phosphor NVGs are AN/PVS-7 Night Vision Devices and AN/PVS-14 Night Vision Devices. White phosphor NVGs implemented in Gray Zone Warfare are AN/PVS-31A Night Vision Devices
Monocular NVGs
Monocular NVGs consist of one NVG tube. The field of view while using them is 40°. An example of a monocular NVG is the AN/PVS-14 Night Vision Device.
Pseudobinocular NVGs
Pseudobinocular NVGs have one NVG tube collimated into two eyepieces. The field of view while using monocular NVGs is still 40° since the image is captured by one NVG tube, but the human brain can process the image more naturally due to the availability of two eyepieces. An example of monocular NVGs is the AN/PVS-7 Night Vision Device.
Binocular NVGs
Binocular NVGs possess two NVG tubes and two eyepieces. This allows the image from two NVG tubes to be overlapped in the middle, producing a 70° field of view. An example of monocular NVGs is the AN/PVS-31A Night Vision Device.
NVG effects and features
Infrared light
NVGs allow the user to see infrared light and IR flashlights, IR lasers, and other IR tactical devices. While wearing NVGs, IR flashlights, and visible flashlights are not distinguishable. The user needs to use peripheral vision or take off the NVGs to determine what type of light they are viewing through the NVG lenses.
Ghosting
Ghosting is an effect of analog NVGs, where bright lights leave dark spots on the NVG that disappear after a short while. In real life, if a bright enough light shines at one spot on the NVG lenses, it can be burnt into the NVG permanently. This is not implemented in Gray Zone Warfare; instead, permanent burn-in is caused by low durability.
Autogating
Modern NVGs are equipped with a bright light autogating feature that automatically turns down the exposure if a bright light shines into the NVG lenses, protecting from damage to the device and potentially damage to the user's eye.
ABC (Automatic Brightness Control)
More advanced NVGs possess ABC (Automatic Brightness Control) functionality, which automatically adjusts the NVG's light gain based on the amount of incoming light to the lenses. ABC can increase the light gain in very dark environments and reduce it in brighter areas to provide better visibility to the user.
Focus
NVGs cannot focus the same way human eyes do. This means that in certain situations, manual focus adjustment by the user is required, which usually cannot be done on the fly. In Gray Zone Warfare, NVGs have a focus set to Infinity. This makes close objects, especially collimators, iron sights, hands, held weapons, and such, appear blurred.
Sway
When players use night vision goggles, they may observe a certain degree of sway. This sway simulates the weight of the NVGs, which are mounted on a helmet that is not securely fastened to the player's head. As a result, movements while wearing the NVGs will produce sway that varies depending on the direction and speed of the player's head movements.
Iron sights, collimators, and magnified scopes compatibility with NVGs
Iron sights
Due to the focus settings of the NVGs and the proximity of iron sights to the NVG devices, using iron sights with NVGs is almost impossible. Iron sights will appear extremely blurry, making them almost unusable.
Collimators
Collimator frames will appear blurry, while the projected image should appear clearer. However, this may cause some glaring on the NVG device itself. Despite this, collimators are the best option to use in tandem with NVGs.
Magnified scopes
Using NVGs with magnified scopes is basically impossible. While the user might be able to position the NVG device behind the scope in real life, that might damage the device due to firearm recoil. On top of this issue, infinity focus makes it almost impossible to see the crosshair inside the scope.
NVG feature summary for models implemented in Gray Zone Warfare:
- AN/PVS-7 Night Vision Device - analog, pseudo-binocular, green phosphor
- AN/PVS-14 Night Vision Device - analog, monocular, green phosphor
- AN/PVS-31A Night Vision Device - analog, binocular, white phosphor
Attaching NVGs to helmets
NVGs require compatible mounts to attach to helmets with night-vision mount slots. Compatible night-vision mounts can also be found by left-clicking the mouse on the mount, which will highlight the correct NVG device with yellow color in the player's locker, player inventory, or vendor trade window.