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[WxTech]

As a baseline for consideration of a suitable length for a tracer line, for a velocity of 800m/s the projectile will move 13m in 1/60 sec. This would suggest a 10m length as a pretty good all round compromise. For example, at 120 fps the projectile moves 6.5m, meaning that for each frame update a 10m tracer line will overlap over a length of 3.5m. This could look odd. Hence the utility of a 6m long tracer, which I include as well. If you don't like 10m, just copy/paste the included 13 folders containing the 6m meshes.


Get it here:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/m1fofqj3151icwd/%2521_WxTech_v1.6_Effect_Pack_Tracers.7z/file



From the included readme file:

Here are the new set of tracer meshes and textures to be included in my upcoming v1.6 effects mod pack.


I've greatly simplified things:

- The guncam 'squiggly' mesh is the only one supplied.
- There is no animated texel cycling between squiggles and straight lines, which would result in odd syncronizations at certain tracer rates.
- There is no round 'head' at the front of the tracer; it's not needed.
- I offer 6m and 10m long meshes you can select from; the 10m length is the default (same as the simple line tracer drawn at longer distance.)


Moreover, the textures now incorporate an alpha channel, which gets rid of the old problem of the full texture rectangle being faintly seen under certain conditions and when zoomed in.

The result is a slim, trim, tidy and clean set that uses minimal resources. (For instance, the old guncam mesh has 52 polygons while this has 36. And the TEXTURES_GunCam folder goes from the former 167 files down to 45.)


If you use my Effects mod pack, just be sure this folder resides above my existing Effects folder.


I include a spreadsheet (Open Office format) that I use to make my alterations.



WxTech
Jan 31, 2023

[choctaw111]

Awesome!  Thanks for getting this done.  Checking now!

[choctaw111]

Since I have a PhD in "tracer-ology" I will say that this increased length and decreased width is MUCH more realistic!
Thank you and well done!!!
My next request....
Please consider lightening the colors of the single line tracers.  Go lighter in the pallet while still keeping some of their unique color. 
It's just really hard to see some of the tracer colors on a darker background, like the water down below, especially the blue ones.  They should be EASIER to see against a darker background, not more difficult.
Tracer-ology mandates that this be corrected! 
Thanks for your awesome work thus far!
SGT Choctaw, Out!

[WxTech]

Because of the way additive blending works, a light pixel on a progressively darker background also gets darker. That's why the tracers appear dimmer in an absolute sense at night and against, e.g., darker water. Conversely, against a bright background, like sunlit clouds, the tracers take on a brighter and more 'washed out' aspect.

It's impossible to obtain the optimal appearance over the wide range of environmental lighting. And trying other blend or not-blend modes is worse. I've already done lots of experimenting in this area. 

And yes, a light subject against a darker background should have higher contrast. But again, the graphical blending operation works against this, alas. Another game element illustrating this is the collimated gunsight reticle. Against the bright sky and clouds it should be much harder to see, yet we have it showing as almost supernova bright due to the additive blending.

You might have the tracer-ology PhD, but I have the pixel-ology Masters.  (in my case, PhD means Push here, Dummy.)  😀

[choctaw111]

Because of the way additive blending works, a light pixel on a progressively darker background also gets darker. That's why the tracers appear dimmer in an absolute sense at night and against, e.g., darker water. Conversely, against a bright background, like sunlit clouds, the tracers take on a brighter and more 'washed out' aspect.

It's impossible to obtain the optimal appearance over the wide range of environmental lighting. And trying other blend or not-blend modes is worse. I've already done lots of experimenting in this area. 

And yes, a light subject against a darker background should have higher contrast. But again, the graphical blending operation works against this, alas. Another game element illustrating this is the collimated gunsight reticle. Against the bright sky and clouds it should be much harder to see, yet we have it showing as almost supernova bright due to the additive blending.

You might have the tracer-ology PhD, but I have the pixel-ology Masters.  (in my case, PhD means Push here, Dummy.)  😀

Haha!  I hear you.  I had a LOT of similar discussions with Oleg years ago.  He was Russian Army in Afghanistan back when they were there.  He says Il2 is a combat flight sim, not a tracer sim but he definitely understands the limitations of the graphics engine