Oolite Bulletins

The only one I have got to display is FighterHUD.oxp, but it doesn't seem to line up (well the crosshair certainly doesn't).

This is a bug in FighterHUD.oxp, and several other HUDs, which is due to a bug in HUD handling in earlier SDL versions of Oolite.

I just fixed all the HUDs in the Wolfwood's variants OXP a couple of weeks ago and they should work with the 1.7 version if you download the latest version from the Wiki.

Well I got Compact HUD working... took me a while to work out I had to paste the hud.plist over the original one in the config folder (documentation... PAH!... overrated). I like it... I like minimal, the less clutter on the screen the better IMO.

Now, all I need to do is work out how to get a red targeting dot/cross in the centre of the reticule. I could do that easy with the fighterHUD, just edited the PNG file provided. Can't find an image file for the original instrumentation... I guess it's buried in the code.

The latest version of the Fighter HUD doesn't obscure your view so much.

Commander Mysenses wrote:

Well I got Compact HUD working... took me a while to work out I had to paste the hud.plist over the original one in the config folder (documentation... PAH!... overrated).

Eh? You should be able to drop it in the AddOns folder.

Now, all I need to do is work out how to get a red targeting dot/cross in the centre of the reticule. I could do that easy with the fighterHUD, just edited the PNG file provided. Can't find an image file for the original instrumentation... I guess it's buried in the code.

Yes, the various crosshairs are hard-coded.

Ahruman wrote:

Commander Mysenses wrote:

I had to paste the hud.plist over the original one in the config folder

Eh? You should be able to drop it in the AddOns folder.

Really? Ooops! I'll try that later.

Yes, the various crosshairs are hard-coded.

S'allright. I downloaded Mr Woolfwood's variants and edited the CobraIII graphic to include a small targeting crosshair and circle. Took me a while to zero my new sights... dropping cargo and blasting it... especially as i found out the laser doesn't line up with the creen crosshairs provided. No wonder I had to get so close to hit anything... the green ones are waaay higher than the laser (I tested it with pulse/beam/military/mining on all four laser mounts just to be sure). The green ones are closer to the rotational axis of the ship (CobraIII), is that misalignment intentional?

Hang on!!
Is this a parallax thing?
If so then to what distance are the lasers zeroed?

Hmmm... more experimentation needed I think
( any excuse)

As far as I know the lasers are centered according to the weapon_position_foo, while the view is centered according to the view_position_foo. As those two are almost never identical, there is almost always a certain offset, which gets more bigger, the more off-centered the view position is.

Commander McLane wrote:

there is almost always a certain offset, which gets more bigger, the more off-centered the view position is.

Sound reasonable.
Do you know if the offset is constant (for a given ship), ie running parallel out to infinity, or do they converge at a certain distance (giving a zeroing point)?

Must head out to a asteroid field and do some range practice...
how does it go again...
"The position and hold must be firm enough to support the weapon.
The weapon must point naturally at the target without any physical effort.
Sight alignment (aiming) must be correct.
The shot must be released and followed though without any disturbance of the position."
(OK OK... I looked it up)

There used to be a "weapon_offset: x" thing for the shipdata that was supposed to take care of this (I presume), but that setting was stripped from the 1.70 release, AFAIK.

They do not converge.

I believe weapon_offset was used to define the shooting position of the plasma cannon before the weapon_position_X keys were introduced.

Is there any chance that the crosshairs could be automatically positioned to the correct location depending on the difference between the view position and the weapon position?

I'd imagine that the difference will lead to extreme aiming problems with some more special ship designs...

Wolfwood wrote:

Is there any chance that the crosshairs could be automatically positioned to the correct location depending on the difference between the view position and the weapon position?

No.

Ahh well, I guess that all makes sense in the crazily lowtech/hitech world of elite/oolite!
At least with the CobIII the laser is only vertically offset. I am happy to paint my own targeting reticule. I am in the process of putting zeroing marks on for differing ranges... the aiming point is quite different for 200m than for 2km (Oobvious really). I guess it's in the spirit of WW2 fighter pilots, who painted on their own additions to their sights to cope with their own idiosyncrasies.