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[WxTech]

Get it here:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/tg2nqpstx3fwrja/%2521_Ki-43_New_tube_sight.7z/file


From the included readme file:

New tube sight for the Ki-43-Ia and -Ib, as well as some other fixes


Note that this is not a comprehensive mod. Remaining issues include implementing a cowling gap fix, improving a few night gauge textures and filling in missing polygons on a gas bottle at the left 'pit side. I do include several fixes I've made over the years.


The stock sight implementation is certainly not a favourite among players. It creates essentially a 'second cockpit' that locks to a sight picture-only view, magnified so as to fill (or slightly over-fill) the screen's vertical dimension. This results in the need to frequently switch between this sight view and the normal cockpit view when in a fight.

These kind of 'telescopic' sights in reality frequently operated at 1X to 1.2X; the stock sight's zoomed-in presentation is in the 3X range, making for additional difficulty in use.

This new sight is based on the wonderful F2A-2 sight mod I found on the old AAA website at least a decade ago. However, while I did try to implement all its features, the 'refracted view' proved impossible, thus far, for me to replicate. And so I do not include that aspect, which would have completed the realism factor. But in spite of this, the main characteristics are retained, and which make for a vast improvement.

This sight is most effective for players who have a 6dof-capable head tracker that is correctly set up so as to exploit the full capability of the lean forward-backward axis (the Z axis). Now you can simply lean into the sight to see the full 20 degree field of view, never having to hit the 'gunsight view' key ever again.

For those not having a head tracker, this implementation is also superior. When you hit the 'gunsight view' key you are moved to just close enough to see the full sight picture, allowing you to still see around the rear of the sight. The view can be zoomed in or out just as for the reflector gunsights. And you can still pan the view if you wish.

In short, this sight is used in much the same way reflector sights are. Which accords with reality.

I added a pale greenish-cyan tint, to simulate the light loss in such a multi-lens optical device before the advent/implementation of anti-reflection optical coatings.

The lens has a reflection of the Ki-43 canopy, most strongly seen when the Sun is behind the plane; no--or barely--seen when the plane is in the forward hemisphere.

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ABOUT VIEW HOOKS

Note that I've added a NEW view hook called CAMERAUP (first introduced with Pacific Fighters for the Zero and Wildcat), which can be invoked when the canopy is slid open. The position is at the left side of the cockpit, affording a better view for taxying. You can of course position this wherever you like; more below.

In order to permit the full sight picture to be seen by head tracker users without having to hit the 'gunsight view' key, I did try to expand the range of 6dof limits in the cockpit class. Strangely, there appears to be no effect. And so I have moved the 'normal' cockpit POV (CAMERA view hook as set in Body.msh) a bit forward. When leaning fully back the virtual pilot's head is about centered over the seat.

If one is not using a head tracker, or otherwise wishes to adopt the stock 'normal' POV, simply use the old CAMERA hook values. (This would necessitate using the 'gunsight view' in order to see the full 20 degree sight picture.) Here is the current [HOOKS] section in Body.msh, editable with Notepad:

[Hooks]
CAMERA <BASE>
CAMERAAIM <BASE>
CAMERAUP <BASE>  //NEW

[HookLoc]
//0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1           -0.00411       0.54818      0.71365  //L B U
//0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1            0.00029        -1.39166    0.65365

0 -1 0   1 0 0   0 0 1     0.0   0.23   0.7   //CAMERA
0 -1 0   1 0 0   0 0 1      0.0      -0.01   0.677  //CAMERAAIM
0 -1 0   1 0 0   0 0 1      0.2     0.3   0.74  //CAMERAUP

The two stock hooks have been disabled with "//" characters preceding. In all cases, the first 9 numbers on each line are of no interest to us; the last 3 are. They set the X, Y and Z position of the view hook, the units being in meters. When increased in value, the XYZ positions are shifted LEFT, BACK and UP, respectively (hence the "L B U" reminder I append to one line). You can change these to your heart's content, even putting yourself far outside the cockpit if you wish! For those who like the old 'normal' cocpit POV, make the CAMERA hook data look like this (the number of spaces separating the numbers is not important, as long as there is at least one):

0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1           0.0       0.548      0.714

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OTHER COCKPIT FIXES/ADDITIONS

- The port side vertical frame bar just behind the pilot has had the too-thin bottom end correctly widened.

- The upper canopy brace on the forward end of the sliding canopy has had its forward surface filled in with polygons (seen when the canopy is slid back.)

- The VSI gauge now has a much more correct slowness of response.

- The compass drum has a reference triangular polygon that formerly was annoyingly visible. No more.

- I've supplied a number of my own tweaked textures.

- The canopy perspex has a new texture, and the surface normals are reversed so as to simulate the enhanced scatter of light by shmutz in the forward direction.

- As mentioned above, I've added a new CAMERAUP view hook.

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COCKPIT CLASSFILES

I include the four cockpit classfiles, which implement the new sight behaviour, the VSI fix and (nominally, but seemingly to no effect) the 6dof range limits increase. I also include the Java file, which can be read with any text editor, for the curious.

If you have my "Tube Sight Cockpits" mod, these four classfiles here supersede those in that older mod. Perhaps the simplest course is to replace those older classfiles with these newer ones here, thus eliminating any possibility of conflict. And you can of course keep these new classfiles present here in this mod folder, if you also choose to keep this mod as its own separate mod entry.

The CockpitKI_43.class classfiles:
  14AEBA520F5F79F4
  736F3E041FE02060
  9597AE880AF48F38
  BA9A38008B762BCE

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As always, this work is offered for use by any and all, for any purpose, without restriction.



WxTech
Nov 7, 2022

[taly01]

Marvellous,   I had looked into doing a tube sight for Ki-43-I but got diverted to other il21946 problems when I found it was beyond my knowledge.

[gunny0134]

tested Ki-43-Ia in 4.12.2m, BAT 4.0

The inside of the scope is very clean...

Thank you always, master Glenn...!!

Before application


After application

[WxTech]

The stock sight, as represented in the 'normal' cockpit POV, has printed upon the eyepiece lens a faux reticle. This is bad because a real reticle is always seen through the scope to appear to lie at optical infinity, whether one's eye is at the correct viewing position or not. Having a fake reticle on the eyepiece results in huge parallax error if your line of sight shifts even a small distance away from the optical axis (centered line of sight.)

In this new implementation, the reticle is handled correctly, like the reticles for reflector sights, by lying a large enough distance out in front of the plane that parallax is essentially eliminated. And it remains at fixed angular size irrespective of the virtual eye's distance from the sight.

I did forget to mention that the three rings have diameters of 100, 200 and 300 mils. One hundred mils is just a bit over 5.7 degrees.

[gunny0134]

The stock sight, as represented in the 'normal' cockpit POV, has printed upon the eyepiece lens a faux reticle. This is bad because the reticle is always seen through the scope to appear to lie at optical infinity, whether one's eye is at the correct viewing position or not. Having a fake reticle on the eyepiece results in huge parallax error if your line of sight shifts even a small distance away from the optical axis (centered line of sight.)

Master Glenn's tube sight tweaking is actually a great help to protect our vision.

For example, this is the scope of ki-51.

When I stare at it for a while, it's really bad to be blurry in front of me.

Thank you again for the hard work, master Glenn...!!

[WxTech]

The Ki-51 sight as currently implemented is the same as the old Ki-43 sight. It has a fake reticle as part of the eyepiece lens texture. This was done ONLY as an easy means to visually reinforce the role of the device as a sight. It is NOT intended to be a fully viable reticle in the usual sense. Well, it can be as long as the line of sight is correct. Any deviation from this correct centration will introduce parallax, meaning the reticle will shift with respect to the guns' boresight.

In other words, this fake reticle is the same as having an iron sight ring at the position of the eyepiece. In order to correctly line up such a nearby reference, a second reference at a different distance is required, such as a ball on the tip of a post outside on the cowling. With this old tube sight, the reference is the far end of the tube opening; center the reticle against that farther opening and you're fairly well aligned.

Another problem with this fake reticle on the eyepiece is that its very nearness means it will appear to change in apparent angular size as your POV moves nearer and farther from it. Making its use as a scale against which to judge target distance and assess deflection a variable, unreliable proposition.

And the blurriness you mention arises in the first place from the texture being a bit on the small size, and thus becomes oversampled when made large on screen when you get close or zoom in to a smaller FOV.

[Atoka220]

I gave your tube sights mod a try and once again i'm blown away
Absolutely immersive and beautiful feature, a must have

I hope you keep these up as stock tube sights could really take some care like this and the buffalo mod. And also stock tube sights are next to useless with the 'fake second cockpit' way but this one addresses that problem as well 

[RABIZO]

Thank you "WxTech".

I will try it soon.

[RABIZO]

"WxTech" Thank you as always.
You always help me when I'm in trouble.

I want to put the left and right in the field of view when creating a video, so I tried using these numbers.
"0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 0.400 0.680 //CAMERA"

[Dandolo513]

Hallo, it could be possible to have this mod for another plane?
Best regards.
Dandolo513

[Yaro59]

Thanks a lot Glenn
I tried it out in a few air fights with real pleasure.
It is better than I expected.
Well done champ, good luck and much health.

[WxTech]

Hallo, it could be possible to have this mod for another plane?
Best regards.
Dandolo513

I do want to incorporate this kind of treatment for other planes, as time allows. A number of projects are always occupying me at any given time.

Did you have a particular cockpit in mind?