Hard Light Productions Forums

Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => FS2 Open Coding - The Source Code Project (SCP) => Topic started by: Grimper on September 06, 2008, 10:23:11 pm

Title: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: Grimper on September 06, 2008, 10:23:11 pm
Ive noticed that when u press * to get into third person view, that circle target reticule in front of an enemy ship that tells you where to aim isnt accurate. You have to actually aim a bit further ahead of it to hit the target properly. Is this problem going to be fixed in an upcoming build or is there a patch for it?
Title: Re: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on September 06, 2008, 11:21:13 pm
What build an screen resolution are you using?  Screenshot would probably be helpful too. 
Title: Re: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: Grimper on September 06, 2008, 11:48:38 pm
Um its a little hard to see with screenies, but you can sorta see that the shots arnt going where they are supposed to. Im aiming at the circle but the shots are falling far behind.
Resolution is 1024x768 and build is 3.6.9

[attachment deleted by ninja]
Title: Re: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: Grimper on September 06, 2008, 11:55:04 pm
Compare these 2 new screenies with the old ones and notice the accuracy difference when im in first person view

[attachment deleted by ninja]
Title: Re: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: Herra Tohtori on September 06, 2008, 11:56:49 pm
Ive noticed that when u press * to get into third person view, that circle target reticule in front of an enemy ship that tells you where to aim isnt accurate. You have to actually aim a bit further ahead of it to hit the target properly. Is this problem going to be fixed in an upcoming build or is there a patch for it?

Obviously, since the viewpoint is not fixed on the aiming line like your viewpoint in the cockpit usualyl is (at least much closer than the 3rd person view). If it were, your fighter would be blocking the view forward. This is pronounced when you're turning or gliding instead of flying in straight line facing forwards.

3rd person viewpoint just doesn't offer possibility to accurate aiming. And there's not much that can be done about it... theoretically it is possible, but it involves adjusting the targetting reticle based on the target's distance and velocity, and player ship's velocity and turn rate... and it gets very complicated very fast when you start thinking how it could be done.

Currently it seems that 3rd person aiming is fixed to be accurate at infinity, which means that the further the target is, the smaller the angle needed to correct for the offset between the weapons firing line and the line from viewpoint to target. The closer the target is, the more your weaposn shoot "below" the indicator. When you're pitching up, ou need to correct quite a bit ahead the targeting lead indicator. Which is why cockpit view works a lot better in vast majority of situations...
Title: Re: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: Grimper on September 06, 2008, 11:58:42 pm
But the 3rd person view looks so much better.....Ah well ill just go back to first person then....
Title: Re: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: Grimper on September 07, 2008, 12:05:01 am
Currently it seems that 3rd person aiming is fixed to be accurate at infinity, which means that the further the target is, the smaller the angle needed to correct for the offset between the weapons firing line and the line from viewpoint to target. The closer the target is, the more your weaposn shoot "below" the indicator.

Does the aiming HAVE to be fixed at infinity? i dont think im going to be shooting any ships at that range. Would it be possible to lower the limit and so get greater accuracy at closer distances?
Title: Re: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: Herra Tohtori on September 07, 2008, 12:10:51 am
It wouldn't exactly fix anything since you would then have it fixed on some other distance and it would still have the exact same issues whenever your ship is turnign to any direction (the viewpoint, aiming point and firing points' relative positions change).

Either just cope with it, use first person view, or code a script that adds some aiming indicators to help things in the 3rd person view. Also, use the weapons effects as tracers to see where you're shooting at. It isn't that difficult. In fact, I have turned my lead indicator off in BtRL since it was always throwing my aim off. :p
Title: Re: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: Solatar on September 07, 2008, 01:33:57 am
With a bit of practice, I've found I can aim fairly well in 3rd person view. You just can't rely on the targeting reticle so much.
Title: Re: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: Akalabeth Angel on September 07, 2008, 03:12:07 am
         Won't this affect that Starfox mod quite a bit? I think that's intended to be 3rd person.
         I noticed this problem too when I was playing around with some of my own creations. Couldn't hit worth a damn in 3rd person.
Title: Re: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: DaBrain on September 07, 2008, 04:14:41 pm
It's no Problem for us.

Wanderer wrote a Script for our own crosshair. ;)

http://i12.tinypic.com/54b2cua.jpg
Title: Re: Aiming off in third person view
Post by: Grimper on September 08, 2008, 07:27:52 am
Wow nice....is it possible to hand that script out to us? or do u want to keep it for the mod