More realistic machine gun tracers?

[Babi]

Originally Posted by Dores

This has been discussed a million times.

To make this short - tracers are wobbly on film/video because the gun camera shakes. Tracers in real life look like star wars lasers.

One could argue that the pilot's head inside the cockpit shakes as the planes moves and the guns are fired; so he could see wobbly tracers too, but maybe this effect is small and can be neglected (don't know actually)

I'm fine with the tracers as they are, but i don't like the impact effect on planes, or to be more precise the lack of them. in all the guncamera that i saw, hits where very clearly visible with flashes, followed by dust and debris flying off the aircraft. In Cod i can hardly tell that i'm hitting the enemy plane until an aileron/elevator falls off.

[Blackdog_kt]

Hmmm that's strange, i get a lot of visual feedback with my effects set to medium in the graphics options

Originally Posted by Wutz

Yes that is how I remember them too! Out of curiousity at which squadron where you serving?

I assume you mean in Germany, right? Well, i live in Greece and served in the local air force, so it's not very likely that we would have any common memories of places/units

To answer your question though, i was in an air defence/flak and guards squad which was part of a guided missiles wing that's operating Patriot missiles (i did see a memorial plaque from the Schleswig-Holstein at one point though in one of the missile squads' HQ, maybe from joint missile firing exercises)
Initially it was a bit of a let-down to be honest, since i was expecting to be posted at some kind of operational airfield with jets and what not and hoped to be an armorer or something similar, but overall i liked the kind of stuff i was trained on and did well thanks to having some flight sim background.

I always scored well in the simulation, often better than commissioned/professional personnel, at some point the squad commander even assigned me a training session explaining some of the gun's procedures (how to set the no-fire sector) and how to lead targets to them in advance of some kind of exam they were about to get
That gun is excellent and one of the most reliable pieces of machinery i've ever come across, it worked just fine at -10C and 90% humidity in the winter as well as at 30C and an atmosphere full of dust in the summer.

Well, i'm rambling again, let's go back on topic.

[Babi]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

Hmmm that's strange, i get a lot of visual feedback with my effects set to medium in the graphics options

I have effects set to medium too. i can hardly see anything from 200-300 meters.. not the bright flashes of the hits like in il-2 anyway. When i'm VERY close i can see some sort of persistent red/orange flashes that compare on the aircraft skin and then fade away very slowly... don't really know what those are supposed to be. I'ts with the british 303s.

Perhaps i loaded my Hurricane's ammo belts with plasma rounds by mistake

[Blackdog_kt]

The lingering flame effect also exists in some of the Luftwaffe rounds. According to the manual, they are so called "observer rounds" which burn on the surface but don't cause any real damage, apparently they serve as an indicator of whether you are hitting anything or not.

[JG14_Jagr]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

they are so called "observer rounds" which burn on the surface but don't cause any real damage

Yeah, I don't know if I'd go that far.. getting hit with something traveling that fast is going to hurt.. like..like.. a bullet

[proton45]

People claim that film (or video) gives an unrealistic portrayal of how a tracer "looks" in real life...but the human eye will "blur" a fast moving bright object. It will blur the flight path of the object a lot in the dark and less so as the environment brightens.

I HAVE A THOUGHT...maybe someone should make a mod that changes the pilots (the gamers) view of the game to remove the "steady cam" effect we now have...In real life the pilot is getting shook around and bounced and vibrated by the machine guns, and engine...ect. Maybe people would find this view of the game to be "more realistic" then the steady cam we now have... sharp shooters might have an issue with aiming (ect), but things might look "more real" to some people...just a thought.

Anyone have a thought about this????

[David Hayward]

Originally Posted by proton45

Anyone have a thought about this????

I'd be interested to hear what a WW2 pilot has to say. Everyone else is just guessing.

[robtek]

When i drove my motocross bike crosscountry me and my bike where shaking and vibrating, yet my vision wasn't!
Thats the way the brain influences and compensates for a disturbed vision.
But all this has been discussed to death at least 10 times.
Leave it at rest, please.

[Prop~Strike]

Did any of the British .303 rounds have tracers that emitted smoke like the cannon rounds do from the 109s?

The 109 tracers are very cool and I would very much like something similar for the Spits and Hurricanes..... BTW why are the tracers not showing up for the Spits - If I do a custom load (and IF it works) I can sometimes get tracers in a Spit.

[winny]

Originally Posted by robtek

When i drove my motocross bike crosscountry me and my bike where shaking and vibrating, yet my vision wasn't!
Thats the way the brain influences and compensates for a disturbed vision.
But all this has been discussed to death at least 10 times.
Leave it at rest, please.

It depends on how much shaking is going on... Shake your head from side to side whilst trying to read, the more you shake the harder it gets. Vibrations do effect vision.

I once was testing a speaker installation in a night club, a new design of bass bin. When we pushed it we all found that the low frequency vibrations meant that we couldn't focus on anything... We had to turn them down.