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Author Topic: Tweaked I-185 gun sight  (Read 2122 times)

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WxTech

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Tweaked I-185 gun sight
« on: January 11, 2016, 11:09:14 AM »




Get it here:

https://www.mediafire.com/download/yl0qjl30d8kk0wh/00_Gunsight_I-185.7z


Tweaked I-185 Gun Sight, by WxTech


The I-185's stock gun sight, while lacking in accuracy in some respects, is reasonably well executed. The main complaint by players is the very dark reflector face, the rectification of which was the primary impulse for this mod. But naturally I couldn't stop there. I decided to perform some additional, easy- and quick-to-execute work, and to include some other alterations I've been implementing in other cockpits.



Changes made to the gun sight:

- Reduced the opacity of the reflector's transmissive face.
- Treated the reflector edge with my 'forward scatter enhancement' technique.
- Canted the reflector to the proper 45 degree tilt.
- Made up a circular reticle mask, although it's a bit larger than proper, for game play.
- Moved the knob, vernier and screw heads 4.5mm closer to the body, to reduce awful parallax.
- Narrowed the width of the reflector support.
- Increased somewhat the specularity of the sight body and knob.
- Tidied up the outline of the knob face.
- Brightened and made more symmetrical the lighting of the collimator lens cell.
- oriented the reflector support screw heads in the plane of the background surface.

Changes made to the reticle:

- Uses only one layer in the .mat file, to produce less obstruction and a 'cleaner' appearance.
- Made the tick marks shorter, based on a photo of a real reticle.
- Made the graphic as a single unit, as opposed to the former scheme of building from a quadrant.

Other changes:

- Added my canopy glass treatment, which emphasises forward scatter.

And included:

- MainFrame.msh, which contains the cockpit view hooks.

=========================

Any mod--including this--which alters hier.him can cause conflicts with other mods which also make changes to hier.him. If you have any other I-185 mod, check its cockpit folder to see if hier.him is present. If so, you will likely have to effectively merge the two (the game uses only the first instance it reads). The only elements I altered are the first two in the file:

[Z_Z_RETICLE]
[Z_Z_MASK]

You need only copy over and replace these two sections into your existing hier.him. Note that it doesn't matter if hier.him resides within this mod or the other; it suffices only to be located in the correct folder tree having the proper names.

In similar vein, check for the presence of another MainFrame.msh, which builds numerous cockpit objects. If there is another MainFrame.msh file, copy over/replace the sections:

[Hooks]
[HookLoc]

Here is where the viewpoints are defined, as outlined a bit farther below...

=========================
As is the case for a good number of stock gun sights, the reflector was oriented steeper than the usual 45 degrees; in this instance I estimate about 38-39 degrees from vertical. This practice mystifies me. Could it be a means of reducing the perspective-induced 'wider top', which to a neophyte might look like a mistaken dimensioning? Anyway, this is now fixed.

=========================

The stock reticle mask was a 'full-size' thing precisely as large as the reflector--including the lower corners. A realistic mask should mirror the reflected image of the collimating lens, which defines the 'window' through which is seen the reticle's collimated image. And so a proper mask is circular. As is pretty commonly done for almost all gun sights in the game, I've made the mask larger than the collimator--but still a bit smaller than the reflector's width--as a concession to game play.

=========================

My canopy glass treatment simply reverses the signs of all surface normals. This has the effect of making the 'dirt' more visible when the surface lies in the sunward direction. In the 'normal' and usual scheme, the glass surface is treated just like any other opaque surface, where obviously the lighting normally has the surface brighter on the sun-facing side. But on a glass surface, sleeks, scratches, pits and general shmutz are more readily seen to scatter light when the surface is somewhere between the observer and light source, NOT when the surface is in the opposite hemisphere. In other words, scattering is more efficient in the forward direction as opposed to back scatter.

If you do not wish to use my canopy glass treatment, delete one or more of:

Glass.msh (the important file, as it defines the surface normals)
glass.mat
glass.tga

=========================

The viewpoint hooks in MainFrame.msh have been set so that in the 'normal' seated position the reticle's inner ring is just fully visible, and in the SHF-F1 gunsight view the outer ring is just fully visible. Reproduced below are the two relevant sections:

[Hooks]
CAMERA <BASE>
CAMERAAIM <BASE>

[HookLoc]
//0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.00034 0.69487 0.4531  L B U
//0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.00034 0.60487 0.4331

0 -1 0  1 0 0  0 0 1  0 0.494 0.429  //F29 D2.3
0 -1 0  1 0 0  0 0 1  0 0.354 0.429  //F25 D.3


In [HookLoc] I've 'rem'ed' out the original lines with // characters, and added a reminder of the sense in which the numbers move the viewpoint. The last three numbers on each line define the X, Y and Z values. In this case, from third last to last, increasing the value moves the viewpoint left, back and up (L B U), respectively, in meters. On the lower pair of 'active' lines, I've added a notation indicating that I've moved the POVs forward and down, those figures being in centimeters (I could have written as millimeters or meters.)

You may wish to alter one or more of these values, to suit your own tastes. Note that "CAMERA" (the first line of data) sets the 'normal' seated position, and "CAMERAIM" (the second line of data) sets the SHF-F1 gun sight view.

=========================

A final note: If you elect to make changes, do so to one plane's folder first, comparing the difference to the unaltered contents of the other folder. This will permit to decide which version you prefer.

And: If you delete a file, so that the stock version is to be used instead, you may have to quit/restart the game so that the change(s) can be made to the 'registered list' of files to be used. Although loading a different plane might have the same effect. To be sure, *adding* a new file *will* require a game restart.

=========================

I give permission for the free use of this work, in whole or in part, by anyone, without restriction.

WxTech
Jan 11, 2016
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Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. - Hyman Rickover (but probably predating his use.)

PapaG39

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Re: Tweaked I-185 gun sight
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2016, 12:43:56 PM »

WoW WxText... I'm sorry I asked..ha ha ..just looking at all you had to do just to make that file just puts my brain in a spin that ends with a Tilt...

I downloaded the file & 7 zipped it and am looking at a 3do
folder plus the reflector.jpg and a readme Gunsight I-185.txt.

however, before I do this I want to make sure I'm putting things where they should be.  This is where I generally (99%)
screw up...
I open the 3do to the I-185-71 & M-82 layers which I just drop into the:  #WAW/3DO-Fixes/3do/Cockpit folder...
And if this is the correct sequence???
I'll do one at a time to make sure I've done it correctly.

Then I suppose I just put the pic.jpg & readme in the main menu.

WxTech..this sight looks fantastic...thanks you.
 
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A Pilots Prayer:  "May you not run out of airspeed, altitude and ideas all at the same time".

WxTech

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Re: Tweaked I-185 gun sight
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2016, 05:27:52 PM »

PapaG,
Being an old dinosaur using 4.08, I have no idea of the correct procedure for adding mods to C.U.P. I hope someone else can wade in here to help...

In the meantime, have you installed any other mods before now? If so, I should think the file folder structure in their case would serve as a guide.

Good luck; I hope it works for you! Fingers crossed...
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Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. - Hyman Rickover (but probably predating his use.)

PapaG39

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Re: Tweaked I-185 gun sight
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2016, 06:33:53 PM »

No WxTech. 
The only mods I have are the CUP Jsgme scenarios that you move to activate or de-activate within the Jsgme box.. 8)

I'll De-activate all of them & then give it a try...If the computer starts smoken then I know I did wrong...

On second thought...I better post this link for Monty27 to look at it first.  If it's not made for CUP it may cause problems
& the CUP  magicians need to look at it first... 

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A Pilots Prayer:  "May you not run out of airspeed, altitude and ideas all at the same time".
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