[0867] U.S. Army - HMMWV TOW - Excessive Smoke Plume Created After Firing (Minor)

[M.Warren]

Test Location: Dedicated Server
Map Name: Qwai River
Map Size: 64
Map Grid Reference: Grid: F3 Sector: 3
Kit/Weapon Name: N/A
Vehicle Name: HMMWV TOW

Description:
While playing on Qwai River 64, I had fiddled around with some of the vehicles to make sure they were in working order. However I had noticed that the U.S. Army TOW HMMWV Anti-Tank Vehicle has an excessive smoke plume after firing.

This smoke plume was discussed with developers in the previous v0.85 test build and was removed as it was declared a bug as it was an animation that was intended to be the smoke generated by the "back blast" of the weapon. The reappearance of this issue is rather odd and remains the same as it previously was; unnecessary and unrealistic if it was intended to obscure the gunners view or not.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Locate and enter the gunner position of U.S. Army TOW HMMWV Anti-Tank Vehicle.

2. Aim the weapon in a safe direction and fire the weapon.

3. Take note of the near-blinding smoke plume that obscures the vision of the gunner while trying to guide the missile to it's target.

Video Evidence:
<Note: Take notice on how there is no blinding smoke plume after firing the TOW from the Hummer.>


Screenshot Evidence:
1. U.S. Army - HMMWV TOW - Excessive Smoke Plume Created After Firing 1 (Non-Optically Magnified Aiming)

2. U.S. Army - HMMWV TOW - Excessive Smoke Plume Created After Firing 2 (Optically Magnified Aiming)

<Note: The pictures below are from the previous test build prior to the release of the v0.85 build. The intent of these pictures is to emphasize the unnecessary obscuring animation of the developed smoke plume after firing. Coincidentally, this was found to be a bug previously.>

1. Pre v0.85 Test Build of HMMWV TOW Smoke Plume 1

2. Pre v0.85 Test Build of HMMWV TOW Smoke Plume 2

3. Pre v0.85 Test Build of HMMWV TOW Smoke Plume 3

4. Pre v0.85 Test Build of HMMWV TOW Smoke Plume 4

Video Card:
ATI Radeon X850XT AGP 8x 256MB

Graphics Settings:
Display Mode - 1024x768 @ 75Hz
Overall Quality - Custom

Terrain - High
Effects - Medium
Geometry - High
Texture - Medium
Lighting - Medium
Dynamic Shadows - Low
Dynamic Light - Low
Anti-Aliasing - Off
Texture Filtering - Low
View Distance Scale - 100%

[Jaymz]

Feck....

Someone else will have to take a look at removing the effect. I have no home internet so I can't.

[Rhino]

will look into it now.

[Rhino]

Right put the code that was in the repo into my pr_edit and had a test in the editor and seemed fine... Can any one else confirm that this is not working?




Also on a side note, from the looks of things the TOW hummer is firing the vBF2 TOW missile (model), might add the USI TOW projectile instead

[DonDOOM]

I think the point was that the TOW shouldn't have so much smoke when fired, Rhino

[Rhino]

Ah I see, screenshots setup was kinda confusing with them showing no smoke then the .85 ones showing smoke

Will remove.

But ye onto the other issue with the TOW missiles, I've noticed that it appears many things (including the M2A2 which was firing the new TOW missile) are firing the old vBF2 TOW missile instead of the new(ish) USI TOW missile.

vBF2 TOW Missile:


USI TOW Missile:



Jaymz or anyone, is there a reason I dont know about for this? Should I fix it?

[Rhino]

right removed the smoke, the question is do you want no smoke like I have here or a bit of smoke? There is some smoke generated by the TOW but it only starts when it gets around 10m away from the launcher.





Aint touched the missiles yet.

[Rhino]

this good? edited effect.

[Rhino]

Right this is all done now. edited the TOW effect and repoed it, then I made the vBF2 TOW files load the USI TOW mesh so no need to change all the TOWs on each vehicle/weapon etc

[cyberzomby]

Looks very much like the movie he put up as a reference so I'd say yes!

[M.Warren]

(Edit: I had just logged onto a v0.867 Dedicated Server and tested the effects on the stationary TOW emplacement. If you wanted to use the effect settings from the stationary TOW emplacement (as noted from Al Kufrah Oilfields in particular), those would work just fine as well. Matter of fact, it looks nearly as identical as the below mentioned video. A decently minimal but translucent plume of smoke out the back, and a very minor puff of smoke out the front tube after firing.

I figured you may want to know, in order to make the TOW firing effects standard across the board. For both Mobile and Stationary versions. Maybe even apply the same effects to the M2 Bradley APC as that has TOW Missiles as well. To do so would seem to be in order in my opinion.)

________________________________________



Sorry, I was sleeping for the day and had completely missed your comments Rhino. (Up all night into the afternoon testing Chuc's new LMG behavior.)

I just wanted to say that I had noticed that there still is a relatively minor plume of smoke exiting the backblast area (not to be confused with the loose soil being kicked-up after firing) of TOW Hummers. However, after firing the TOW there is a very short "puff" of smoke exiting the firing tube out the front.

So I suppose you could get away with a little bit of smoke coming out the front or not. I'm assuming you've completed your work on the details, so I'll assume that there is no smoke exiting the front of the tube which is still plausible as well.

I just wanted to let it be known that TOW Hummers had an excessive amount of obscuring smoke as previously it was untouched. Which was a bit over the top as you could see.

[quote=""'[R-DEV"]Rhino;1019945']Ah I see, screenshots setup was kinda confusing with them showing no smoke then the .85 ones showing smoke [/quote]

By the way, the pictures I provided for this build/patch (v0.866) were animated .gif screenshots that showed the TOW basically "Aiming" "Firing and Smoke Generating" "Smoke Clearing" "End". Maybe the animated .gif images froze up on your computer while you were looking at them?

PR v0.866 Test Screenshots (Animated .gif Images)
[quote="M.Warren""]Screenshot Evidence:
1. U.S. Army - HMMWV TOW - Excessive Smoke Plume Created After Firing 1 (Non-Optically Magnified Aiming)

2. U.S. Army - HMMWV TOW - Excessive Smoke Plume Created After Firing 2 (Optically Magnified Aiming)[/quote]

The pictures for the previous build (v0.85) were submitted as a individual .jpeg screenshots in chronological order and was not animated in the .gif format.

PR v0.85 Test Screenshots (Unanimated .jpeg Images)

1. Pre v0.85 Test Build of HMMWV TOW Smoke Plume 1

2. Pre v0.85 Test Build of HMMWV TOW Smoke Plume 2

3. Pre v0.85 Test Build of HMMWV TOW Smoke Plume 3

4. Pre v0.85 Test Build of HMMWV TOW Smoke Plume 4

[Rhino]

ah rgr, I was downloading at the time so I was only seeing the first frame

but ye my effect looks pretty much like your video.

[M.Warren]

Ah okay. Cool, cool, thanks for the follow up.

[Jaymz]

Thanks Rhino!

[elemanoel]

just to give more ingo on the KNOW HOW it works

Viddler.com - mkvhover2DEC08 - Uploaded by engadget

[MarineSeaknight]

YES! Thanks for fixing the TOW!!

So happy right now.

(Now if you guys would fix the weird missile bug... https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f163-c ... ssile.html )

[ReaperMAC]

Might have been done already... check with falkun

[Charity Case]

(Now if you guys would fix the weird missile bug... https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f163-c ... ssile.html )

I remember Falkun saying he had fixed this. It might be in one of the old change logs.

[Rhino]

that happened to me in the editor SeaKnight, thought it was just me or something but ye, the desert and woodland TOW hummer are the same thing... dunno if its been fixed.

[MarineSeaknight]

Personally in game, I've never had it happen with the Woodland, only the Desert one.

Yeah, I'll check with Falkun, or "Failkun", as you guys call him

Thanks!