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Delta Force Anything to do with the Delta Force series of games, DF1, DF2, LW, TFD, BHD, DFX, AF etc.

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  #61  
Old 07-14-2022, 03:46 AM
Baldo_the_Don is offline Baldo_the_Don
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There are four layers to those PSO sights.

The first layer is the glass graphic. Lessons I've learned from modding the BF2 demo helped here. For the illumination to work best, the illuminated reticle has to be the brightest pixels at that point on the screen. The 'glass' dims the background enough to ensure that. The main attributes to apply here are the multiply/multiplyat draw method and RGB values LOWER than 128. I went with 98 118 108. It dims everything to what I consider a subtle Coke-bottle green, 'cause I'm not young.

The next layer is the reticle drawn in a barely pink 255 26 26 on a grey 125 (RGB 125 125 125) background. Then a 100% alpha layer with 0% alpha over the reticle and a 1px margin all around it. Displayed in game with the multiplyat method.

The multiply draw method means the closer the red, green, and blue values are to 50%, the less it affects color. Grey 127 darkens the tiniest bit. Grey 128 brightens the tiniest bit. Alpha is ignored.

The multiplyat draw method is the same, but allows unblended alpha. If a pixel in the alpha is 127 or less, it's 0% alpha. 128 or more is 100% alpha. I think. I'm pretty sure.

So the alpha on the reticle ensures those pixels are 100% transparent. The 1px grey 125 (49%) margin around the reticle slightly dims that margin. The reticle at 255 26 26 was arrived at by fairly thorough trial and error attempting to minimize that weird warp in visual reality that happens at the edge of red touching blue when you aim skywards. I'm not sure I succeded, but I tried.

The third layer is the reticle drawn mostly in RGB 128 26 26. The chevron is drawn at 255 128 128. The background is black. The draw method is add.

The draw method add means the RGB values of a pixel in this graphic will boost those same RGB values under it. RGB 0 0 0 is 100% transparent. That I have confirmed. I'm unsure how higher RGB values function mathematically, I just know add makes things glowy. Alpha is ignored.

The draw method addat is the same, but allows unblended alpha.

The fourth layer is the scope housing. If everything above bored and/or confused you, the following description will make you want to die.

Changed game video settings to 1024×768, object poly and texture highest, anti-aliasing off. With drudging trial and error testing, in the weapon.def, I edited the pos on the SVD-63 until the view model iron sights were aligned properish, and moving around or firing did not push the model back 'through the screen.' This gave me a base position to work from. Then through more grinding trial and error, I repositioned the weapon 'til the scope was centerish and not breaking the plane. On a sunny map, outside, facing away from the sun and pointing the weapon as high as possible (for preferred shadowing), I made a screenshot. I may have gotten a snack at this point, I misremember, but snacks are mostly a good idea.

Opened the screenshot in my editing software (Photoshop 5.0 LE, came with a camera my wife bought two decades ago, I can't believe I got it to work on this crate). Reduced color saturation to make the image monochrome. Trimmed away the background of the screenshot around the scope (deactivating anti-aliasing for the screenshot makes this easier), including the black line at the bottom (all screenshots from NL games have a black border). Used a tool in this program that locates the brightest pixel. Adjusted the colors until that brightest pixel was grey 56. Grey 64 would've worked, but any pixel brighter than that will glare horribly in the NVGs. Covered the 'glass' with black in a new layer. On a new layer under all this, using the gradient tool, foreground color grey 23, background color grey 5, set to circular with dithering, I made a background of a grey circle fading out to black, centered at the top outer edge of the scope, radius extending to the bottom outer edge of the scope.

Located the center of the scope. On a separate layer, drew a box 512px wide, the top 256px from center, going to the bottom of the scope layer (640px, coincidentally). Using that mask, I selected all the visible layers (the black over the glass, the monochrome scope, the gradient background).

Opened a new project. Inserted the 512×640 image from the screenshot edit. Reduced that to 256×320. Applied a 1.5px gauss blur. This is now the scope texture layer.

On a new layer and using the polygon lasso tool (with edge smoothing activated), selected around the edges of the scope mount, with the shape extending up to the center of the scope. Filled it with a color easily identifiable as not part of the image by just looking at the thumbnail (255 0 255). That's the scope mount mask. New layer with a smooth circle covering to the outer edges of the scope. This is the outer scope mask. Then a new layer with a smooth circle covering to the inner edges of the scope. This is the inner scope mask.

OH MY GOD! I'M ONLY NOW JUST REMEMBERING TO SAVE THIS PROJECT! HOW HAVE I SURVIVED TO SEE 53?! I BETTER CHECK THE FLY ON MY PANTS oh these pajamas don't have zippers. Okay.

Calm. Right. Let's prepare the alpha. Keystrokes described are for my two-decade-old version of PS.

Choose FG color black, BG white. Create a new layer. CTRL+DEL fills the layer with white. Hold CTRL and MOUSE1 click the outer scope mask thumbnail. That circle is now selected. CTRL+SHIFT+I inverts the selection. Add a 7px gauss blur to the selection. ALT+DEL fills the selection with black. Select the outer scope mask again. Invert the selection again. Add a 3px gauss blur this time. Fill the selection with black. Do all that one more time with a 1px gauss blur. Main alpha is prepped.

Create a new layer. CTRL+MOUSE1 click the inner scope mask thumbnail. Add a 7px gauss blur. Fill the selection with black. You should now see a blurry black circle on a blurry white circle on a black background. Rearrange the layers if not. Select the inner scope mask again. Invert the selection. Add 3px blur. Delete the selection. Do that again with 1px blur. Then once more with no blur.

Now create a new layer over the blurry white circle and under the blurry black circle. Select the scope mount mask. Add 1px blur. Fill it with white.

You should see a color inverted representation of the alpha channel you'll apply to the final graphic.

Confirm that you are on one of the visible layers. CTRL+A to select everything. CTRL+SHIFT+C will copy everything selected in all visible layers.

Hide and unhide layers 'til only the scope texture is visible. Press Q to switch to alpha mask edit mode. CTRL+V the alpha layer.

Yes. Done.

Save the project, save the .tga.

Now if the .tga was 256×256, mounting it in the weapons.def would be at 128 0 895 767. I made the .tga longer at the bottom, though, 'cause sometimes, you need to fiddle with mounting sizes, or mount it higher, and the extra at the bottom will be necessary. I mounted it at 128 0 895 959.

I mounted the glass .tga to slightly overlap the inner edge of the scope. That's math to be explained in another future post, though.

The reticle .tgas are basically mounted full size. Details of reticle drawing and mounting will have to wait.

I know I needed to write and post something like this at some point, this tutorial of sorts, and today was the day.

I only hope I get it corrected before the reply edit window closes!

Edit: I think the proofreading is done.

Added the screenshot of the Eotech reticle I made for the SFOD mod. Note that that target item, from the dip in the sandbags in the front to the top of the head is 1.81m. From the top of the sandbags to the top of the head is 1.73m. It's 100m away.
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File Type: jpg SFOD_Eotech.jpg (407.8 KB, 21 views)
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Last edited by Baldo_the_Don; 07-14-2022 at 12:17 PM.
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  #62  
Old 07-14-2022, 11:47 AM
Oscarmike247 is offline Oscarmike247
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Believe it or not I actually read all of that. Amazing what interest in subject matter will do haha.

Your method for the scope housing layer is almost exactly how I do mine. I didn't go quite into as much detail with the image though. but I did do a few other things different.

I kept the game resolution as is, used the NoCardSwitch flag for the 3D sighted image. Then I also use "RenderFOV #" on the weapon in the weapon.DEF. I think the games default for this is 80, but I would reduce it down to about 65 when capturing the screenshot for my sight graphic.

RenderFOV does what it says, renders the 1st person 3D model in what ever FOV you set. so if you use a lower FOV, when looking down the sights on the 3D model, it appears much closer and more focused on the graphic and less of a longer perspective.

For the actual capture, I turn off the games AA, and capture it as a .BMP so there's no quality loss or blurring. in the past I used the clear blue sky as a background, but now I've created a large greenscreen object in 3DS max with illuminated surface to use in the game. haha. So now I can just open the screenshot in GIMP and use color to alpha or the color select tool to cut out the background in just a few clicks.

As for the positioning. I've gotten pretty quick about adjusting the Tpos for sights. all Tpos for every gun is spot on in the mod. Mainly because I originally was going to use 3D sights for my mod, but I also want to be able to adjust elevation on all optics that have the ability to. Which doesn't work when using "nocardswitch".

I even used a 3D model trick on my old 3D holographic sights to make it so the retice only appeared in the optic when you sighted in so you didn't see the reticle floating in the middle of the optic when un sighted.

Anyhow, using nocardswitch along with inset will leave the crosshair on screen when sighted, so you can really make sure it's on target.

Tpos = X Y Z Yaw Pitch Roll

First you'll want to adjust XYZ so that the sights are lined up exactly where they need to be from the camera perspective. it's ok if they're not aligned with the hud crosshairs.

Then adjust yaw, pitch, and roll to align the sight picture to the crosshairs. Which adjusting these shouldn't really effect the sight alignment. if it does, you can make minor adjustments to XYZ once you have the optic aligned to the crosshair.

After this, your POS values should be set based off the Tpos. But ONLY change the XYZ values to get your hip fire position. This will keep your muzzle pointing at the crosshair when you're not sighted in. You may have to adjust it slightly for weapons whose optics have a high "height over bore" because the barrel will be noticeably lower than the point of impact when firing from the hip, but it still gets you close.

Great job Baldo, love your attention to technical and aesthetic detail.
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  #63  
Old 07-20-2022, 12:43 PM
Oscarmike247 is offline Oscarmike247
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Here is what I use when capturing stills to make sight graphics. Just edited one of the market buildings, made the inside green, and gave the green material a selflum shader so that it is always the same shade regardless of lighting.

Also, because it uses interior lighting, you get ambient light on your model instead of directional from the sun, so it keeps the shading on the model consistent. Also, this allows you to adjust the color and amount of light via WAC "ceiling(R,G,B)" command.

No more tediously cutting out the background for your sight pictures. just get your screenshot, preferably in BMP format, and use color select in what ever image editor you're using to select all green pixels and remove your background with one click.

I have attached a ZIP with the 3DI and textures for the green room if you want to use it. of course you'll have to make a items.def entry for it.

NOTE: when using this, you'll need to turn off "Frame effects" in your games video settings. Otherwise, you'll get the light glow around your model from the selflum shader. I also recommend turning of Antialiasing so the edges of your model are are not blended to the greenscreen. But if it is, no big deal, just use 'color to alpha' in your image editor instead of color select to get your alpha channel.








Also works well for viewing particle effects.

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File Type: zip Bld_GnRm.zip (69.0 KB, 1 views)
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  #64  
Old 07-20-2022, 01:17 PM
Baldo_the_Don is offline Baldo_the_Don
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In DFBHDTS, I had a map with 10m pure white fog, and all other light sources set to RGB 23 23 23. Sky and ground might've been black. I got some good work done with that.

My version of photoshop doesn't seem to have anything like 'chroma key' or 'color to alpha.' I'll keep looking, though.

I'm excited about the screenshots I'm attaching. I think I may have discovered the one secret or another to perfect illuminated reticles in NL game mods.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg SFOD_HK416ACOGb_1.jpg (295.0 KB, 14 views)
File Type: jpg SFOD_HK416ACOGb_2.jpg (297.7 KB, 14 views)
File Type: jpg SFOD_HK416ACOGb_3.jpg (288.5 KB, 14 views)
File Type: jpg SFOD_HK416ACOGb_4.jpg (235.1 KB, 18 views)
File Type: jpg SFOD_HK416ACOGb_5.jpg (235.9 KB, 15 views)
File Type: jpg SFOD_HK416ACOGb_6.jpg (166.2 KB, 15 views)
File Type: jpg SFOD_HK416ACOGb_7.jpg (169.1 KB, 14 views)
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  #65  
Old 07-20-2022, 02:41 PM
Oscarmike247 is offline Oscarmike247
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baldo_the_Don View Post
In DFBHDTS, I had a map with 10m pure white fog, and all other light sources set to RGB 23 23 23. Sky and ground might've been black. I got some good work done with that.

My version of photoshop doesn't seem to have anything like 'chroma key' or 'color to alpha.' I'll keep looking, though.

I'm excited about the screenshots I'm attaching. I think I may have discovered the one secret or another to perfect illuminated reticles in NL game mods.
GIMP Has the color to alpha. I used to use photoshop, but switched to GIMP because I actually began to find it more useful. Still blows my mind that GIMP is a free, open source program that can do pretty much anything that photoshop can.

The sights look great! I'm assuming you layered a 'blend' layer over top of the 'add' layer?
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  #66  
Old 07-20-2022, 03:21 PM
Oscarmike247 is offline Oscarmike247
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For some added detail, you should heavily blur that front sight post. You should barely see that thing through an Acog.

Grabbed my personal rifle and snapped a few shots for ya. Not an acog, but a good quality 1-6x LPVO, 'bout half the price of an Acog. At least it kind of gives you an idea of what an obstructing front sight post will look like. The front post on my rifles gas block actually folds down. Just flipped it up to see how it looks.

First one is at 3X, second at 4X. Past 4X you don't really see the post at all through the scope.



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  #67  
Old 07-20-2022, 04:16 PM
Baldo_the_Don is offline Baldo_the_Don
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There's the greenish lens multiplyat layer. Over that is the multiplyat layer with the black lines, but here's the trick: I drew the illuminated bits on this layer in pure white! Over those two layers is the add layer with the illuminated bits drawn in mostly pure red with a dark red blurry border. There's the scope layer over all those, yeah, but it's transparent over the middle.

That scope .tga is used on a few other 1x optics, so I'd have to make a new version for this one, and since this is 5x mag., which is actually makes things six times larger, after what you've told me, the post really wouldn't be visible at all.

I wouldn't have known that. You've done me a service here, dude.

Attachment unrelated.
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File Type: jpg SFOD_ACSS.jpg (385.5 KB, 21 views)
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  #68  
Old 07-21-2022, 08:22 AM
Oscarmike247 is offline Oscarmike247
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baldo_the_Don View Post
There's the greenish lens multiplyat layer. Over that is the multiplyat layer with the black lines, but here's the trick: I drew the illuminated bits on this layer in pure white! Over those two layers is the add layer with the illuminated bits drawn in mostly pure red with a dark red blurry border. There's the scope layer over all those, yeah, but it's transparent over the middle.

That scope .tga is used on a few other 1x optics, so I'd have to make a new version for this one, and since this is 5x mag., which is actually makes things six times larger, after what you've told me, the post really wouldn't be visible at all.

I wouldn't have known that. You've done me a service here, dude.

Attachment unrelated.

No prob. You could make a separate layer for the post for the 1x sights and just position it in the correct spot. So you dont need two full images. Not really saving much space but it gives you tge option to change it in the future also.

I replied on my G36 post with something you may find useful as well.
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  #69  
Old 07-22-2022, 04:40 AM
Baldo_the_Don is offline Baldo_the_Don
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Then I remembered that the scope graphic with the post in it was based on a scope graphic that didn't have a post in it. Dug it up and used that, see the screenshot.

Note the wooden barriers left and right of the 100m target. They're set 5.67m apart and centered on it. They denote the 3.25° field of view that the Trijicon 6x42 ACOG actually has.

Seems a bit tight for gameplay purposes, you know?
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File Type: jpg SFOD_HK416ACOGb_8.jpg (380.6 KB, 20 views)
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  #70  
Old 07-24-2022, 01:40 PM
Baldo_the_Don is offline Baldo_the_Don
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Today, a screenshot and a dilemma.

The screeny shows my take on the Aurora ACSS reticle. I used a screenshot I took from a Garand Thumb video on YouTube https://youtu.be/5XleEtjl5DA?t=1208 to make measurements and draw this reticle as close to what I assume is original proportions as possible. I'm satisfied with the results and will likely remain so 'til I find other images and make comparisons.

That's for later. Now's for this:

Usually, when I work up a BDC, I'll test it on the rifle I'll put it on and adjust the graphic to fit the trajectory of the ammo.def entry's velocity and drag. Not this time. I mounted this reticle and edited the velocity and drag 'til it fit the reticle.

And I did a hell of a job, rounds impact the targets at the top edge of all hashes, including the 50m lines, and the bottom of the illuminated neck on the chevron is 350m. It's got me chuffed, don't doubt it.

But...

Wikipedia say the muzzle velocity on the M24 is 790m/s. Other sources I chased down give a bullet drop on 7.62mm NATO of 172cm over 500m at an MV of 860m/s.

So with weapon and ammo adapted for testing, (0 recoil, 0 error, 0 stabilty, velocity 860) no zeroing on the rifle, aimed boresight at the top of the Training Target #1 500m away, confirmed that, at drag 1, the round impacted about 180cm below where I aimed. I have confirmed in previous tests that at drag 3, I can replicate the 172cm drop, but I don't know how drag values above 1 affect ballistics, otherwise.

All for nothing, 'cause 790m/s was giving me ridiculous amount of drop that would require significant redesigning of the reticle, and I'm not havin' it. Not this time.

I mounted the reticle so that the pixel above the tip of the chevron is the pixel at the center of the screen, then edited the elevation adjustments to start at 100m and go in 100m steps up to 1000m, should a player not want to use the BDC. With the rifle zeroed at 100m like this, I edited velocity and drag values until the ballistic curve fit the reticle's proportions.

Tests were hitting the top of a 20cm² steam grate at all ranges, at the correct aimpoint, out to 800m on this reticle. The method is 3 shots at each target, first with the aimpoint 2 pixels too high, then 1 pixel too high, then exactly on the pixel. I call it my "Definite miss, possible hit, definite hit" method.

Here's the problem: to get the arc to fit the BDC, I had to increase the velocity to 1000 from the default 853, and reduce the drag to 0.27 from 0.435 (I forget if 0.435 is the NL default or one of the changes in this mod). 17% more velocity to clear the "Miss! Hit? Hit!" test at 300m, and 29% more drag to hit the target at 800m. Play testing shows 800m headshots are still one hit kills, but torso hits just seem to annoy the targets. 900m kills need lots of hits, and 1000m hits are just unreliable.

Also, the game's elevation adjustments do not calculate for drag. With elevation set to 1000m, I still had to use the 300m aimpoint to hit the 1000m target.

I'm asking: was it worth warping the M24's effectiveness and reliablilty so much to fit the reticle? Or should I have just redrawn the reticle?

Edit: I reverted the velocity to 790, more or less arbitrarily set the drag to 0.625, then redrew the chevron and respaced the aimpoints. I tried a new trick where the center column of pixels in the chevron is not included in the slopes and it really clears up the 100m and 200m aimpoints. Added a hash at 350m. The chevron is taller now, but the overall reticle is shorter. And it's still accurate to within half a pixel. I like it.
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File Type: jpg SFOD_Aurora_ACSS.jpg (359.0 KB, 21 views)
File Type: jpg SFOD_Aurora_ACSSb.jpg (193.3 KB, 13 views)
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Last edited by Baldo_the_Don; 07-25-2022 at 12:49 AM.
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  #71  
Old 07-25-2022, 08:23 AM
Oscarmike247 is offline Oscarmike247
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The BC value for 7.62 NATO 175gr is around 0.416.

Found a ballistic chart for m118lr that puts the drop at 60 inches at 500 yards. which is 152.5cm at 500m. muzzle velocity of 2650fps (807.75m/s) zeroed for 100m. But, who knows the conditions this is based on? Humidity, temperature, elevation...etc

Check this out:

here's a ballistic calculator...
https://www.hornady.com/team-hornady...alculators/#!/

I think the problem is that the game calculates the ballistics using the G1 model instead of G7(boat tail shaped bullet).

I plugged in the numbers to the calculator from my mod with MV = 807, weight = 175, BC = 0.416. using the G7 drag model and got a drop of 182cm at 500 meters with 100m zero. Which is pretty consistent to what I'm finding online.

I plugged in the same numbers to the calculator, but used the G1 drag model, and got a drop of around 230cm at 500. with the rifle zeroed at 100m.

So I loaded up my test range and took some shots at 500 meters on to my grid target with 100m elevation and shooting position level with center of target. and behold, almost exactly 230cm drop from point of aim, just as the ballistic calculator predicted under the G1 model.

So maybe we should adjust the drag in the game to account for this?
Not exactly sure how all of this works, but maybe theres a way to calculate the g1 BC value needed based on the g7?



Last edited by Oscarmike247; 07-25-2022 at 11:12 AM.
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  #72  
Old 07-25-2022, 01:42 PM
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Ok so slight goof on my part...

first off, I edited the wrong ammo.DEF (had another one open), oops. So the above info is from different values, therefore is irrelevant.

Second, I was using a BC calculator (from the link below) to get the BC value. But I was inputting the diameter as .308, no considering that the actual barrel is slightly smaller than the bullet (so the bullet is a different diameter after exiting the muzzle) so you have to calculate it based on this measurement.

http://gundata.org/ballistic-coefficient-calculator/

The M24 has a muzzle bore diameter around 0.299 or 0.300. So recalculating the BC with this diameter on a 175 gr boat tail projectile, you get a BC of 0.445.

Used the ballistic calculator again with the new BC value and got a drop of 229.8cm as a G1 projectile, and 182.4cm as a G7.

Plugged that into the game and shot a group from 500m with a 100m zero. Shot group is right at 225cm below point of aim (center target), which is pretty accurate to the calculators predictions.

So again, seems as though the game is calculating everything as if it was a G1 projectile and not a G7 boat tail shaped bullet.


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Old 07-25-2022, 02:04 PM
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My best guess, and I have done next to no testing on this, is that drag 1 means perfect aerodynamacy. The velocity remains constant the entire time the round is flying.

In DFBHDTS, changes in drag are extremely sensitive! From my notes:

04:05 26.07.2021
----------------
Drag test: M21
velocity leveled to 1000 m/s.
All errors and recoil set to 0.
Crosshair pips are 1 mil (1/6400th of a circle) at mag. 22x.

drag: 1
2000m target, 2000m zero, mag. 22x: centered zero confirmed.

drag: 0.9987
2000m target, 2000m zero, mag. 22x: hit 1 mil below center confirmed.


That might actually not be that sensitive, if I think about it...

Drag in the JO version of the SFOD mod is not nearly that touchy, but I've done little testing on it.

And I have no real understanding of what actual drag coefficients mean or how they're calculated, but I doubt it works like "1 is a pure frictionless vacuum, 0 means the space between every air molecule is an impenetrable titanium wall." It might be the other way around.

I think at one point for the one ammo entry or the other, I took an actual drag coefficient, subtracted it from 1, and used the difference as the drag value with excellent results, but I have no notes on that.

So 'drag' in NeverLogic games actually means 'aerodynamacy,' but I guess drag is easier to spell. Drag lower than 1 reduces the velocity over time, but by how much and over how much time is unclear, and now I want to experiment, but I don't want to experiment, you know?

* sigh *

There is a level of "Eh. Close enough." to be considered here, I believe.

Also, I did experiment with drag higher than 1, but I didn't see anything, like, an RPG picking up speed as it flew, you know? The one ammo did have less drop, but I don't know how, and I'll try to figure that out in the future.

Did you ever see my binocular .tgas?
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Last edited by Baldo_the_Don; 07-25-2022 at 02:14 PM.
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  #74  
Old 07-25-2022, 02:45 PM
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Yeah so BC: Ballistic Coefficient (drag according to NL) of 1 = no drag from air. but I don't think it accounts for inertia? I'm guessing it's a modifier that a value in the velocity is multiplied by per 1 meter traveled. So if it's 1, there's no change. So shouldn't anything above 1 technically make the bullet gain speed over distance? lol that'll be interesting to try. I'll have to look up the equation for this out of curiosity.

The game is fairly close. And yes, I wouldn't worry too much about accuracy of the reticle marks. It's really more for faster range acquisition in a pinch to get your close enough for an area level of accuracy. BDC's in reality are not spot on either unless you're under the exact same circumstances that the manufacturer based the BDC marks on. There's a reason there's a big debate in the gun community on the actual practicality of BDC's. Personally, I think they're great to have, but wouldn't rely on them if you're trying to one shot a HVT and bug out un noticed.


Nice work on the peepers BTW. The one you see in my first screenshot in a selectable accessory for the sniper class in my mod. SIMRAD bino's. Much more magnification, and it's equipped with a range finder, ability to place map markers, and has a thermal mode. The TGA I made for it is old, but it works. when you look through a real pair of bino's, you only really see the black from eye relief, so I figured that was good enough.
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  #75  
Old 07-27-2022, 05:22 PM
Baldo_the_Don is offline Baldo_the_Don
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Playing around with the MP7 and P90, I had an idea about drag tests. Changed P90 error, stability, and recoil for testing, velocity 1000, min_stable_velocity 0, error 0, tumble_error 0, drag 0.001, weight_in_grains 1000.

The best data my quick testing got is the rounds got 16m out and dropped immediately, within about 20cm.

Mass did not affect trajectory. Did affect damage. Standing against a tall stack of crates and firing straight-ish up so the rounds fell on top of it, at 1000 grains, 63 rounds destroyed the crate stack. At 2000 grains it took 29. 10000 grain rounds did it in 6.

Drag at 0.0001 seemed to have no effect, but checking it again just now, the rounds got out to 130m, then dropped. Then drag 0.00099, sysdump. Back to 0.0001, sysdump. Velocity to 500, ok, 999, sysdump.

Hm.

At velocity 750, drag 0.0001, 12m to drop.

Drag over 1 is inscrutible. Velocity 100, drag 10000, firing aimed as up as possible, the rounds landed 350m away. At drag 1, they landed 314m away. I may have aimed differently, but I doubt it.

All that as an aside to my MP7 and P90 problem: Neither weapon, with realistic velocities and weights, is a one-headshot kill at any range. With small increases in velocity and weight, they could be. I'm torn.

And this latest version of my ACOG is honestly my most authentic. The horizon is 110 mils wide, the center 20 mils are clear, the 10 and 5 mil divisions are correctly scaled for this magnification.

Two things:

1. The BDC I drew goes out to 1000m. Trijicon's official .pdf download for the 4x32 RCO M4/M150 Chevron Reticle goes to 800m.

2. I gave this weapon 5x magnification, which makes things 6 times bigger, 'cause some ACOGs make things six times bigger, but not the one the military uses. Authenticity demands 4 times bigger. In NL games, 3x mag. makes things 3.55 times bigger. 4x mag. makes things 4.77 times bigger. 3x mag. is mathematically closer to four times bigger than 4x mag., but 3.55 is 89% of 4, and 4 is only 84% of 4.77 (wait, that still argues for 3x mag. Grrr.).

My problem is that reducing the zoom will make close quarters less difficult combat, but the reticle will be an unreadable mess. I'm torn.

Edit: Yeah, an ACOG at 3x mag. is a bit of a mess, but I don't hate it. I drew the reticle to Trijicon specs and after bumping the velocity up from 850 to 910 and the drag down from 0.375 to 0.27, I was hitting all the test targets reasonably well, even though the hashes are a bit of a smudgefest.

We'll see how it goes.

Edit again: Put up a screenshot of the ACOG 3x with a clearer background.
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File Type: jpg SFOD_ACOG_110mil.jpg (290.3 KB, 19 views)
File Type: jpg SFOD_ACOG_3x.jpg (333.9 KB, 15 views)
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Last edited by Baldo_the_Don; 07-28-2022 at 10:16 AM.
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  #76  
Old 07-29-2022, 11:54 PM
Baldo_the_Don is offline Baldo_the_Don
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And now the 4x mag. (477%) ACOG.

Might be the worst of both worlds. Or vice versa.
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  #77  
Old 07-30-2022, 11:44 AM
Oscarmike247 is offline Oscarmike247
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Personally, Id go with the 4x. May be slightly more magnified than the real deal, but you have to remember that you're dealing with a game where your vision is pixels on a screen. Your vision isn't nearly as sharp as reality. So maybe the extra 77% can help bridge that gap.

This is also why im in favor of a +1x zoom on non magnified optics and iron sights. I know a lot of mods have reduced them to no magnification, which is "technically" correct. But i feel that giving the player the ability zoom sort of compenates for the limitations of a virtual game, and your vision capabilities in reality.
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  #78  
Old 07-30-2022, 01:09 PM
Baldo_the_Don is offline Baldo_the_Don
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That's what I liked so much about DFBHDTS's 1.25x mag. sighted zoom. It wasn't so much actual zoom as intense concentration. And NL's later games don't have it.

2x mag. on iron sights and 1x optics seems stupid on paper, but if you don't play at a high resolution or have pixel perfect vision, the iron sight .tgas lose all detail.

Actual Kalashnikov iron sights are bad. Chunk of steel with a surprisingly small square notch to line up on a tiny post that's not particularly difficult to confuse with the shroud around it. There's a reason AK's aren't famous for accuracy. The sights are 67% to 80% of that reason.

I don't know, I spent all of three minutes with a decommissioned AK thirty years ago, and I don't remember aiming it at all, so I'm basing the opinion above on pictures, videos, games, and internetting.

That's why weapons in games are gamified. Actual war is horror. Actual combat is terrifying. I've been in and lost enough fist fights to know that personally. I've also won enough to know how thrilling combat is. Watching the energy evaporate from an asshole after you've broken his nose is such a rush, and it's not until later, after the adrenaline has boiled away, and you've confirmed that the blood on your jacket is not yours, that's when the shaking starts... remembering that last punch you really wanted to throw could've been the one that...

Realism in games is overrated. Lowest-bidder equipment is pure anxiety if you're smart, and if you don't think much about it, at the worst possible moment, a fatal surprise.

I might have issues.

So overly realistic games are not really fun. Are there games where you have to align your irons manually? I don't know of any. Are there games where your weapons can have stoppages? Not from NovaLogic. Does anybody ever complain that reloading means discarding unfired rounds instead of just topping off the magazine? Not since DF1, I think.

Consider the two screenshots I'm attaching. Consider the unadjusted elevation on the view model. The badly modeled gas block front post that's too short to be seen over the receiver cover, so you can't see the front post. The deactivated idle animation that makes first shots impossible to aim.

Consider the balance of challenge and fun. Too far in either direction will diminish the experience.

But a modder does what they can, y'know?

Edit: Oh my godless! RenderFOV! It's amazing! Thanks, Oscarmike!
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File Type: jpg SFOD_AK47_Iron.jpg (337.9 KB, 18 views)
File Type: jpg SFOD_AK47_ADS.jpg (443.1 KB, 16 views)
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Last edited by Baldo_the_Don; 07-31-2022 at 03:46 AM.
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  #79  
Old 08-17-2022, 01:29 PM
Baldo_the_Don is offline Baldo_the_Don
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Then there's the G11 in the Final Conflict mod. I put a Vortex UH-1 reticle on it. It's monochrome and scalable. Good fun.
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  #80  
Old 09-14-2022, 01:28 PM
Baldo_the_Don is offline Baldo_the_Don
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The authentic G36 reticle is tricky in DFBHD 'cause you can't put the correct magnification on it, and the lack of illumination would make it next to useless on dimmer maps, but I tried something with the ring, and I don't hate it.

Basically, I googled up a reference photo for this reticle and traced it nearly 1:1. I think it looks great, even if it's not terribly fun for a reticle. I've confirmed that I can play so much more effectively with chevrons. Something about all that free, uncluttered space at the top and sides of the aiming point clicks just with me.

But this is okay.
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File Type: jpg DFBHDbase_G36.jpg (324.2 KB, 14 views)
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bhd mods, bhd sights, m60 sights, optical sights, wtf


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