What a tracer should look like (before spazzing just look).

[Jatta Raso]

a tad thinner and just a little less glow? i find these ones pretty convincing (3:42)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CdXM...eature=related

[TheEditor]

Can we have some screen shots or vids in game of the tracer mod?

[jayrc]

gun camera recording option would be awesome, you could review just your shooting so you could see how you could improve gunnery

well, seems like those who saw real tracers and those who didn't agree that CODs tracers aren't right...
So what would be the good compromise here so everyone feels that we get
realistic impression of what would be real tracers as seen by humans in a real plane flying at 250 mph ?....What would be a common ground as reference in that case ? The best thing would be to have something on film or video that would bring unanimous agreement as a basis to work from....

Am I dreaming ?

salute !

Originally Posted by Tiger27

Except that it doesnt happen that way, eyes are not cameras they have better anti shake sofware

Eyes do yes. But you have on goggles too. Goggles are never clear.

[ElAurens]

Originally Posted by CharveL

I will almost always opt for the more "realistic" approach.

However, it's a matter of degree and practicality. It's funny how some will want absolute realism in an effect for one thing while being completely content with some other effect that is less realistic.

At some point we have to realize that we are perceiving the sim through crappy colour LCD monitors (most of us) in 2D representing 3D and some "Hollywood" effects that aren't over-the-top might actually be welcome in some effects.

As for the framerate of the human eye, it is far, far more than 60fps in some circumstances and difficult to quantify anyway since it has little to do with the eye itself and more to do with the way the brain processes the information using a sort of "fuzzy logic".

Anyway, let's try not to get too anal about it - tracers are far down the list right now imho - and go for something that's mostly realistic and partly just "good" looking for the sake of immersion whether it be narrower laser blaster shots or a bit of squiggle even.

Personally, I'd be happier with more immersive sounds (not necessarily super realistic engine samples) but things like those deep low frequency flak bursts like in BoB:WoV for example.

I'll let the armchair experts debate the ultra-realistic aspects.

Stop making so much sense Charv, would ya?

Oh, and I am utterly indifferent and in no way do I want mods in my stock install.

[Heliocon]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

Is your vision blurry when driving down the highway in an older car or a truck? Because there's all sorts of vibration in that one too

The amount of tissue in your body and the reflex motions of your eyeballs can dampen these vibrations out to the point that they are non-perceivable until the vibration gets really severe.


As for the topic at hand, i agree with Heliocon that making them slightly thinner and using lighting instead of geometry to give the impression of glow would make them just right, but i disagree that viewing them 90 degrees off to their line of travel would give off dots (unless one was very far away). At least that's my perception from personally firing 20mm rheinmetal AA guns while i was serving my conscription term in the local air force, the whole gun was shaking when i was watching others fire but when i was firing myself i was on the gun and didn't feel a thing, tracers didn't squiggle at all, etc. All i would see is thin lines of light that turned into small dots as they got about a kilometer or so away from me. I could estimate range from knowing the shell's maximum flight time (it has a self destruct fuse) and the amount of time it flew before it turned into a dot, so it was easy to make a rough calculation, eg "it turns into a dot 1/3rd of the way before it explodes, i know it explodes at 2km, so it's about 600-700 meters".

As for extra effects, there are ricochets modeled in CoD. Best way to see it is to have a steady firing platform with a battery of rapid firing guns: just crash land a 110 and let it rest with its nose low, then start firing those mg17s and the rounds will start impacting a few hundred yards off your nose, you can easily see the ricochets.

Sorry I might not have been clear with this. Watching from the side 90 degree angle at close range makes the tracer look even longer than from behind. However the farther away you are the shorter the tracer length looks.

(also in general) I am not in the military so I cannot attest to higher calibre weapons like a .50 or 20mm equivalent.
In the end its all just physics though.

[Blackdog_kt]

@ Heliocon: Yep, your revised explanation is in agreement with my personal experience, if that's worth anything

Originally Posted by kalimba

well, seems like those who saw real tracers and those who didn't agree that CODs tracers aren't right...
So what would be the good compromise here so everyone feels that we get
realistic impression of what would be real tracers as seen by humans in a real plane flying at 250 mph ?....What would be a common ground as reference in that case ? The best thing would be to have something on film or video that would bring unanimous agreement as a basis to work from....

Am I dreaming ?

salute !

It's very simple really. Just make them a bit thinner and make the amount of glow dependent on ambient light conditions. I don't know how simple it is to do in coding/graphics design terms, but that's the only thing two things they would need to change.

That's why i've been a supporter of the initial stock tracers. They may not be 100% correct but they are a much more sound foundation and starting point for getting correct-looking tracers as viewed by the human eye with a couple of modifications, while what we've usually had in other sims in previous years is harder to modify into what the eye actually sees.

The basic idea behind the CoD tracers is totally correct as far as i'm concerned and they exhibit all the correct traits in terms of shape/size depending on angular separation and amount of streaking depending on distance. They just need a bit of fine tuning and i mean that in the literal sense of the word, they just need a tiny bit of touching up and they'll be looking exactly like what i've seen in real life.

[skouras]

Originally Posted by Jatta Raso

a tad thinner and just a little less glow? i find these ones pretty convincing (3:42)

that's a landscape that i would like to see in sim btw
nice video though

[Timberwolf]

Originally Posted by Purg

I do love how the experts opinion (those who have seen tracers in combat) are disregarded for the internet experts opinion who's combat experience is fighting with their mother because their toasted cheese is burnt on one side.

So if i'm both do i still get a say?

Gunfire of ww2 had mostly lined shots However the smoke behind the tracer shot was in a spiral The detail of this must be hard to do and time consuming for 1 little detail when so much more could be done Advance gunfire grafixs should be on the back burner untill sound, bugs and other things are fixed