Official Fulqrum Publishing forum - More realistic machine gun tracers?

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- IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover (http://forum.fulqrumpublishing.com/forumdisplay.php?f=189)

- - More realistic machine gun tracers? (http://forum.fulqrumpublishing.com/showthread.php?t=21180)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt (Post 260395)

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

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 :grin:

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 :-P
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. ;)

Ah o.k. I did not know that Germany exported their Rheinmetall Flakcannons to Greece. But thankyou for the answer!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt (Post 260423)

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 :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tread_head (Post 260339)

Just throwing my hat in since after three tours in Iraq, I've seen tracers from 120mm, 25mm, .50, 7.62, and 5.56 fired in combat. Tracer fire, especially from machine guns, looks like a point of light moving away from you when viewed from behind.

Served in Norwegian army, and have fired 9mm, 7,62 NATO and 12,7 HMG rounds and can conform your description. I too find the tracers are a tad light and too long from the clips we have seen so far (I have to get my new rig before playing the game).

The tracers in Cliffs of Dover are the most realistic I have seen in any simulation or game.
However, they do appear too "thick" (at close range) from the photos and vids I've seen.
Make them a little thinner and they will be perfect.

Here is a good film showing tracers. Start watching at 1:20.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFKT_...eature=related

Here is another good one from Germany.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgmDi...eature=related

"Here is a good film..."

A good FILM...

And if your eyes are not video cameras...

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisDNT (Post 260522)

"Here is a good film..."

A good FILM...

And if your eyes are not video cameras...

I don't understand the problem.
These movies are showing the same thing that my eyes have seen.
That's what makes it a good film.

I have seen many answers to this tracers topics (many have been created) from ppl that has actually fired tracers, and some of them have slight different perception of what they saw, so i imagine that even different eyes - brains percieve tracers in different ways.
So I think the coclusion is that representation of tracers in COD are faithfull enough.

Another interesting conclusion is that ppl should do a little search on the forum before posting about things that have been largely debated in many threads.

Quote:

Originally Posted by simfanatic (Post 260209)

Dear Luthier,

I personally think yhat the machine gun tracers look a little fake, too 'straight and laser-like" if u will.

I've seen those old ww2 gun vamera footage on youtube, and the tracers always look like "twisting" and "turning" worms as they arc toward the target.

Could we expect more realistic looking tracers in the future?

Thanks and i'm loving COD!

I can't agree more. But the smoke trail already look very realistic. Just some more work need to be done on the tracers to make them look a little more unstable and not so laser-like. :) I'm sure there will be mods.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lololopoulos (Post 260585)

Just some more work need to be done on the tracers to make them look a little more unstable and not so laser-like. :) I'm sure there will be mods.

Where did you get the idea that a tracer is "unstable"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Hayward (Post 260596)

Where did you get the idea that a tracer is "unstable"?

I think he just means that if you were sitting in the pit squeezing the trigger then with the engine vibration plus the vibration of the cannon/MG's at speed pulling G they might look a little less perfect then they do.

I dont know this for a fact because i wasn't there in 1939-1945 to see it first hand but im pretty sure there would have to be some vibration felt by the pilot and this would translate to his eye and thus make the tracers look just a little less then a perfect streight line from start to finish from the pilots point of view that is.

As for the thickness of the tracers im not sure what the exact tracers from that time period looked like because again i wasn't there, but 8 years in the navy watching the GM's do test fires at sea involving tracers and also using up the remaining SEAL ammo for target practice after picking them up from places i can tell you, that as i remember the tracers from even the larger caliber ammo that they used didn't look as thick as the wonder sperm flying from the wings of COD lol had to be said.

NOW........ before the nerd rage kicks in and i get beat to death for having an opinion lol I dont care what they look like until the game is running tops and even then i will probably be so enamered with the damage model and the parts and pieces flying off the bomber formations that i wont really pay any attention for at least a year or so.

I do have to say that I really liked all of the tracer effects in IL2 very much. If those were realistic then I see no problem in sticking with what works even if it is a new sim.