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Helmut_AUT

Flashlights on the guns?

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Rhodite, your PR button's broken.

I would love to see flashlights added to rifles. So in open combat it might be wiser to use IR or illum, etc. Not all gameplay, especially in ArmA, is combat. You might be searching for IEDs, booby traps or mines. You might be conducting SAR in secured territory.

Strap a torch to your AK47 - your crew of rebels could use it in the absence of NV goggles and IR tech, or even to signal to each other over distance.

And has already been stated in games like STALKER, it really does just add a load of atmosphere if implemented subtly. An unprofessional enemy patrol might make itself an easy target by using their flash lights in the open.

There's much more of an argument for than against adding them to ArmA 2. And there's always the option of not using them, even if they are added.

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I remember the old angle-neck flashlights that were hooked to your flak vest in Operation Flashpoint 1985, very fun and had good uses, signal was more popular than illumination.

Does the ArmA2 engine do light illumination very well?

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Does the ArmA2 engine do light illumination very well?

Lighting is per-pixel now, so yes, its miles ahead of what was in OFP and even ArmA1 :yay:

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I'm ok with that IR freq. ones, but isn't that the role of NVG?

That's the main point of IR and NVG, they work together. IRL NVG doesn't work as good as they are portrayed ingame. Some claims you can't see shit with them beyond 50 meters (NVG, not night optics). Mount an IR tactical light and the others can see where the light is going. This provides a good base of fire. This off course while we wait for the mortars, artillery, or air support to provide good lighting.

Tactical visible flashlights might have a purpose in Arma2, if they were strong enough to blind the enemy and cause some blurring, whiteout, or whatever. However, the way the engine works means there is always someone at the other end of the light. The AI needs to be made aware of this, and calculating shadowmaps for several units could prove extremely difficult.

If you only get the tactical advantages, lack of the really good advantages, and few of the disadvantages, I don't think the 'for realism' argument is a good one.

Here is my dream:

* Separate NVG and night optics. NVG being quite horrible.

* Working IR attachments.

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Would you rather walk into a house at night and search for an enemy using a NVG that restricts your FOV down to maybe 60 degrees, as in the game? Or risk the goggles shutting you blind when you step into a room with a light on? Not to mention that the NVGs I have worn were terrible blurry on objects close up.

Those are exactly the issues that make rifle-mounted flashlights useful in CQB. I don't remember the exact FOV of standard NVGs, but I'm pretty sure it's a lot less than 60deg. And yes, if there's light around (a burning vehicle is enough) it'll totally mess up your view. Even in the open if someone is standing next to a burning vehicle you're not going to see him with NVGs while you will see him without. Also most NVGs turn you into a pretty clumsy guy if you try to walk around while looking through them.

Regarding NVG range, it really depends on the type. My M24 aquilla 6X sight worked up to 600-700m on a clear night with no interrupting lights, and 400-500m on bad conditions. My M4's 4X aquilla worked up to 300m on good-average conditions and 200-250m on bad conditions. The old litton 1.5X night sight that is no longer being used only works for 100-150m. Generally NVGs used for walking around are quite short ranged (except the very high quality and expensive ones). ALL NVGs have focus issues, that is, if you want to set the focus so you see clearly to 300m, stuff at 25m will be very very blurry. It's not a major issue in open ground (where you can, say, set the focus to be good at 150m and then see alright at both 25m and 300m), but in CQB where things can go anywhere from 5m to 50m or even 100m, focus can become a serious issue.

This entire lineup of issues with using NVGs in CQB is why flashlights get issued and used.

If you want a game with reasonable flashlight implementation and usage, try SWAT 4.

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I agree, but when did Arma become even half hearted capable of CQB? By that I mean indoor fighting, not MOUT.

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Daniel;1298600']Rhodite' date=' your PR button's broken...

[/quote']

Not any more...

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The zodiac killer wrote that he would fasten a small flashlight to his pistol and use it to dazzle his victims. He could also use it to shoot in the dark as there is a distortion in the centre of the flashlight beam on account of where the bulb sits in the parabolic reflector.

Since you have per pixel lighting and the ability to dazzle people in the ArmA 2 engine, both strategies are possible, I think.

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The per pixel lighting has nothing to do with the effects of blinding and I'm sure the AI are likely not coded in that particular detail. Blinding effects would be more in the HDR category for human players and AI coding for the AI.

Real life weapon-mounted flashlights are frequently designed in such a way as to be useful as a CQB aiming device by broadcasting an exact and recognizable pattern.

NVGs are a lot more useful and without issue in the game than in real life, is my understanding. Peripheral vision drops to 50% or so compared to NVG-off vision whereas the game is already functioning on a limited FOV basis and so the NVG only narrows it by 5% or so. There is also the big question of focus since, unlike eyeballs, they aren't that good at it. Pilots cannot really use their NVGs on the interior cockpit and the world simultaneously for example.

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I don't think I insinuated that you could blind AI and that per pixel lighting = dazzling effect. If I did, I appologize for the misunderstanding. By people I meant people.

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@Frederf: Correct (based on my understanding, not experience). However, this would require them to separate night vision sights which can be much better than general night vision devices.

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I was wondering if anybody already played around with the AttachTo code. It was already pretty good possible in the past, so i suppose now it is even easier and more optimized to link a light to a weapon.

Just a thought..in the end, most idealy would be to have a script checking witch (vanilla) weapon actually has a light/laser with integrated light....an user action menu option "turn on light" or even better the good old L key. Additionally some sort of client side based thingy that checks the NV use, so you could attach an IR light if needed. Offcourse this becomes tricky...

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The weird thing about in-game NVGs is that when you zoom the NVG zooms rather than your view, while if those are the NVGs I think they are, they don't have any zoom, so zooming should just stretch the center of your view over the entire screen like it does without NVGs on. After all the zoom is there to make up for the fact that you can't have realistic FOV and realistic view distance (measured by the max distance at which you can ID a target) on even the best monitors.

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@DaSquade: Not sure, but doing it from mission/script doesn't seem doable. Wondering what modders can come up with. As IR Laser is mostly used for designating a target, gun direction would have to be updated frequently to be shown on another client properly. Is it worth it? Not sure. Team leaders could use M203 smoke as well for this purpose, but I'm pretty sure I won't be seing much of it.

I also tried addons with visible laser sights, but as you couldn't turn them off it just looked silly unfortunately.

@galzohar: NoWonderDog (NWD) didn't manage to get zoom working for NVGs at all. I mean, react to any FOV changes at all when defined in the configs for that device. It's an engine limitation, and I don't think it's going to change. We can only hope...

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Doesn't the Sopmod M4 have a flashlight ON it? Why doesn't it work?

Devs please put flashlights on the weapons in a new patch... It really isn't that hard i believe? Just stick the same thing that puts lights on the cars and put it on the gun... but make it come out of the flashlight.

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Doesn't the Sopmod M4 have a flashlight ON it? Why doesn't it work?

Devs please put flashlights on the weapons in a new patch... It really isn't that hard i believe? Just stick the same thing that puts lights on the cars and put it on the gun... but make it come out of the flashlight.

LOL.

It's not that hard to land on the moon, right? They did it in the 60s, this is 2009!

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Get the memorypoint for the gun model/position on the infantry model then attachTo a small flashlight with an on/off action for the user, simple!

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Get the memorypoint for the gun model/position on the infantry model then attachTo a small flashlight with an on/off action for the user, simple!

And how do you get the memory point?

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I don't know too much about modding but if just hitting 'L' in a car gives you lights on it really can't be too difficult to attach it to the guns which already have flashlights on the model!

I happen to think its a great idea, and for militia etc i am pretty certain they would rather be standing there, facing a direction shining their torches out onto the road than blind, in the dark!

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Flashlights on weapons are one of the features that will come with Operation: Arrowhead. It's more complicated to do them *properly* than you would think.

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Flashlights on weapons are one of the features that will come with Operation: Arrowhead. It's more complicated to do them *properly* than you would think.

watch from 2:54

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Realistic or not it would be awesome to see an enemy squad searching a foggy forest with mounted flashlights pointing here and there in the darkeness and shit.

Come on admit it. Imagine when you see al them beams pointing at you. Time to run and hide!

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http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=8063

looks like this is being worked on! :yay: along with other cool bits and pieces!

Hiya.

Yeah, everythings still in beta stage, but you can see the general workings in those videos.

Someone mentioned that flashlights are going to be in operation arrowhead, anymore info on that?

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