Question about parallax and viewpoint

[Diziet Sma]

<slaps forehead>

D'oh! Of course! Your are correct, sir.. I'd totally forgotten that..

Now, I'm very tempted to relocate the laser.. it might look strange on screen, but mounting the laser underneath the pilot's cabin is kinda weird anyway..

[Diziet Sma]

So what other ships suffer parallax problems, where are their lasers mounted, and can we see some screenshots for them, similar to the one I posted? Or is this reticle problem unique to the Falcon and its' off-center laser mount?

[Thargoid]

Another option is to add a custom view at the laser position, as a gun or sniper view. My Vortex has that, and perhaps the Falcon could also benefit from it?

[Diziet Sma]

Would that solve the reticle sensitivity triggering on centreline problem, though? From the discussion above, I've come to the conclusion that simply changing the viewpoint to match an off-centre weapon would not stop the reticle from triggering 'red' when the target was on the ship's centreline. In a sense, what the Falcon currently has is a viewpoint and weapon mount that are relatively close to one another already.

Could you post a screenshot like mine, but for the Vortex, to illustrate the situation for that ship, please?

While I think of it, Paradox.. which ships in particular were you referring to, that have this reticle problem?

[cim]

Fixed in 531e674: reticle target sensitive, in precision targeting mode, will now adjust its calculations for weapon position offset. Precision targeting mode applies within 7km and sometimes at greater distances: skilled pilots will - intentionally - be able to do better than the RTS system at long range.

[Diziet Sma]

Woo.. that was fast..



Many thanks!

[Thargoid]

To come back to the earlier question, basically the Vortex doesn't really have the issue, but at the time there were several people who liked the "sniper" method of doing things by putting the viewpoint directly behind the laser point (looking down the barrel).

Personally I'm not a great fan of that, but as people did I included it as an option anyway via a custom view. The thought was that something similar could be done here too. But yes it wouldn't fix the underlying problem, although Cim has now done that in trunk anyway.

My meaning in the case of the Falcon was if the laser was going to be "recentred" towards the main axis of the ship, then you would get the odd beam coming from the side effect when the normal forward view offset to the side was used. Hence using a custom view could be effective as a "combat view" for example so that the distinctive aspect of the falcon could be maintained without handicapping the player using it in combat (unless they wanted that of course) simply by making the view switchable between cockpit and centred laser. It would also of course make docking the thing somewhat simpler too.

[Diziet Sma]

My meaning in the case of the Falcon was if the laser was going to be "recentred" towards the main axis of the ship, then you would get the odd beam coming from the side effect when the normal forward view offset to the side was used.

Whilst I'm yet to try it, I think that would be a small sacrifice to pay for shooting accuracy.. although it will become unnecessary after the next release.

Hence using a custom view could be effective as a "combat view" for example so that the distinctive aspect of the falcon could be maintained without handicapping the player using it in combat (unless they wanted that of course) simply by making the view switchable between cockpit and centred laser. It would also of course make docking the thing somewhat simpler too.

Agreed.. in fact, about 10 months ago, I set up -and posted the code to- a 'scoop cam' view that could be used for that purpose.. it already makes scooping and docking with the Falcon much easier to perform.

[Paradox]

... While I think of it, Paradox.. which ships in particular were you referring to, that have this reticle problem?

I have about 15-20 custom ships I have made for my game. I have found that on larger ships, the further from the x=0 and/or y=0 that you place a laser, the harder it becomes to hit a small target. Now that I know that the targeting reticleactivity is based on the center of the ship, and not the actual weapon position, I understand why... Hopefully the fix will address this.

[Paradox]

(As you can see, correct use of terminology is quite important, particularly in view of the many board members we have, -McLane included- for whom English is not their primary language, and who therefore tend to take what is said quite literally)

The target reticle turning red is still useful at distance, but at close range, you need to ignore the green/red signalling of the reticle and concentrate on getting the target into the crosshairs instead.

I am pretty sure that even current targeting systems are intelligent enough to signal when the weapon itself is on target, and not just the point of view of the pilot...?

On this point, I completely agree with you. I would like to see the colour-change of the reticle linked to the weapon line-of-sight, instead of the pilot's line-of-sight.

My apologies for the semantic slip up. However...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reticle

Anyways, thank you for the explanation. Since I have to fly by keyboard, I use the Sniperlock oxp, and trying to hit a small ship/missile/debris is almost impossible when your laser is set a substantial distance above the center-line of the ship. Hopefully fixed as per Cim.

[Paradox]

... Agreed.. in fact, about 10 months ago, I set up -and posted the code to- a 'scoop cam' view that could be used for that purpose.. it already makes scooping and docking with the Falcon much easier to perform.

I too have used scoop views, but in my game, the custom views do not include the targeting reticule...? Otherwise, it would have been a good work around.

[Paradox]

To come back to the earlier question, basically the Vortex doesn't really have the issue, but at the time there were several people who liked the "sniper" method of doing things by putting the viewpoint directly behind the laser point (looking down the barrel).

Personally I'm not a great fan of that, but as people did I included it as an option anyway via a custom view. The thought was that something similar could be done here too. But yes it wouldn't fix the underlying problem, although Cim has now done that in trunk anyway.

My meaning in the case of the Falcon was if the laser was going to be "recentred" towards the main axis of the ship, then you would get the odd beam coming from the side effect when the normal forward view offset to the side was used. Hence using a custom view could be effective as a "combat view" for example so that the distinctive aspect of the falcon could be maintained without handicapping the player using it in combat (unless they wanted that of course) simply by making the view switchable between cockpit and centred laser. It would also of course make docking the thing somewhat simpler too.

Making a custom view would work fine except that, at least in my game, the reticule disappears in custom views... ?

[Diziet Sma]

My apologies for the semantic slip up. However...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reticle

No problem.. and good point.. however, we had to have some way to distinguish it from the crosshair-reticle..