Get it here:
https://www.mediafire.com/download/hsau00tfe3bozz5/00_Gunsight_HurriI-and-II_Buffalo.7zGun Sight for the Hurricane I, II and Buffalo, by WxTech
Spit I added by Greybeard -- see a later post (page 3)
This mod provides an earlier mark of the British reflector sight for the Hurricane I and II, and the Buffalo. The stock sight (with rectangular reflector on an 'open frame' support) fitted in the game is a later variant, fine to use from 1942 (??) or 1943 (??) on. (I don't know just when the changeover occurred.)
Knowing that the USN Mk. 8 sight is a close enough copy of the British GM-1 (?), I simply mated my own Mk. 8 upper part to the GM-1 lower part. The latter's texture is taken from a mod introduced some years ago by Avala, for which I give thanks! I did alter my 'Mk. 8' upper body texture from 'pebbled' to smooth, but retained the 'pebbled' texture for the mounting clamp.
Whereas the Mk. 8 reflector is pretty much purely elliptical (which presents as circular in projection), the GM-1's reflector has a wider upper portion, which in projection presents as 'egg-shaped.' This outline is adopted.
My reticle uses only one layer in the .mat file, to produce less obstruction and a give a 'cleaner' appearance.
And included:
- Added my canopy glass treatment, which emphasises forward scatter.
- For the Buffalo, Body.msh, which contains the cockpit view hooks, as well as some canopy glass.
- For the Hurricanes, COCKPIT.msh, which contains the cockpit view hooks.
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For all three planes I include the night version of the lower sight's texture, which would normally turn on the green luminescence for the markings when the cockpit light key is pressed. However, for some reason this feature is not working, and I've not been able to track down the cause. For the Hurricane, having these files active causes the green glowing markings to be seen at *all times* (not just when the 'pit lighting is toggled on.) And so I've added a minus sign to the beginning of these file names, which disables them. Perhaps someone brighter than me can fix this?...
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The stock Buffalo has a number of little, but aggravating problems related to some instruments and other bits. For players flying the stock plane, or if they have no mod addressing the artificial horizon, airspeed indicator or altimeter, I include additional files in the sub-folder, [extras].
These files can be copied over to the parent cockpit folder, [B-339], to reside with my gun sight stuff.
!!! IMPORTANT !!! In the [extras] folder I include two versions of hier.him, with the names lengthened to indicate their purpose. Depending on your desired configuration, you copy over the relevant version to the [B-339] folder, then rename it to hier.him.
The version already present in [B-339] is for the gunsight only. If you elect to try out the 'extras', you will copy over hier_gunsight-and-extras.him to the [B-339] folder, then rename it to hier.him. (Remove the existing hier.him first, which is the same as the hier_gunsight-only.him in the [extras] folder.
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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 Hurricane I or II, or Buffalo 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 elements I have altered in hier.him:
(1) For the Buffalo, related to the gun sight, and altered in hier_gunsight-only.him:
[Z_Z_MASK] (the reticle mask)
[PRICEL_ST] (disabled, as it's the old reflector plate/support)
[PRICEL] (this is the gun sight)
And related to the 'extras', which, along with the gunsight elements above are altered in hier_gunsight-and-extras.him:
[Z_Alt_Large] (long altimeter needle)
[Z_Alt_Small] (short altimeter needle)
[Z_Speed] (airspeed needle)
[Z_Hor_Handle] (artificial horizon line)
You copy over from my hier.him and replace in your existing hier.him the relevant sections. 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. Again, if there are two or more versions of a file spread among same-name folders, the first one read by the game is the one used.
(2) For the Hurricane:
[Z_Z_RETICLE] (makes the optical reticle)
[Z_Z_MASK] (the reticle mask)
[PRICEL_ST] (disabled, as it's the old reflector plate/support)
[PRICEL] (this is the gun sight)
In similar vein, check for the presence of another Body.msh or COCKPIT.msh, which build numerous cockpit objects. If there is another such mesh file present, copy from my file and replace in the other sections:
[Hooks]
[HookLoc]
Here is where the viewpoints are defined, as outlined a bit farther below...
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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:
(1) For the Buffalo:
Delete:
Canopy.msh (defines the surface normals for the sliding canopy)
Bf109F2Aperture.mat
Bf109F2Aperture.tga
Alter:
Body.msh
You do this alteration by reversing the signs of the last three values in the [Vertices_Frame0] section for Bf109F2Aperture. This section is readily identified because all its numbers are more widely separated by TABS, not spaces. This section can be copied to a spreadsheet form, the last three numbers multiplied by -1 to reverse the sign, then the altered section copied back to Body.msh.
(2) For the Hurricane:
Delete:
FONAR_GLASS.msh (defines the surface normals for the full canopy)
glass.mat
XGlass.tga
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The viewpoint hooks in Body.msh (for the Buffalo) and COCKPIT.msh (for the Hurricanes) set the location of the virtual pilot's eye. Reproduced below are the two relevant sections in the Buffalo's Body.msh:
[Hooks]
CAMERA <BASE>
CAMERAAIM <BASE>
[HookLoc]
//0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.5263 0.13485 L B U
//0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.28257 0.11485
0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.426 0.125 //F10 D1
0 -1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.2 0.125 //F8.3 U1
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, down or up, 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.
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A final note: If you elect to make changes to the Hurricane, 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.
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I give permission for the free use of this work, in whole or in part, by anyone, without restriction.
WxTech
Jan 11, 2016
Author
Topic: New gun sight for Hurri I and II, Buffalo and Spit I (Read 11643 times)
