50 cal no ammo indicator

[daranz]

Apparently BF2 does not support no-ammo animations on ingame weapons. My suggestion is to include, if possible, some sort of an indicator that pops out when a weapon is out of ammo. In real life, it'd be rather obvious that a mounted or deployed 50 cal is out of ammo, as you'd immediately notice the lack of the ammo belt. However, in game you can man a 50 cal and not notice that there isn't actually any ammo loaded. You can even press the trigger and see rounds cycling without any effect.

I don't recall if 50 cals had auto-reload enabled in previous versions (I had it disabled for a while), but now that they surely don't, this would be a way to offset the rather unrealistic disadvantage.

[Mongolian_dude]

Sounds reasonable.
In theory, it might be possible to just have an ammo counter for all MGs, but the diggits would only begin to decrease with the last 10 rounds or so (as I would imagine the AU rifleman/Company MGer would notice that the ammo belt would be almost depleted, between the ammo box and intake)

...mongol...

[EOD_Security-2252]

I agree that it would be nice. I actually was thinking about this when the suggestion area was closed, and I think, if at all possible, it would be fitting to have the 50 cal have an ammo indicator; however, there would only be three options - 1/2+, less than 1/2 or none. I don't think it would be too hard to code if it is possible, at least I know it wouldn't be hard to code with a standard program (VB, java, etc.)

[Darkpowder]

Of course, there is a good RL visual indicator when you are running out of ammo, i.e. the end of the belt is seen, on the belt fed guns at least.

Of all the things the devs need to do, this isn't high on the priority list. We already have an "out-of-ammo" indicator. Its called the click "of death".

Learning to count / estimate rounds fired, and knowing how many rounds in different magazines/ boxes is a good way to instill fire-discipline and you will never end up surprised.

[daranz]

Of course, there is a good RL visual indicator when you are running out of ammo, i.e. the end of the belt is seen, on the belt fed guns at least.

Of all the things the devs need to do, this isn't high on the priority list. We already have an "out-of-ammo" indicator. Its called the click "of death".

Learning to count / estimate rounds fired, and knowing how many rounds in different magazines/ boxes is a good way to instill fire-discipline and you will never end up surprised.

I mentioned 50 cal emplacements specifically, because they aren't your kit. You can keep track of the ammo in your kit. However, if you enter a MG emplacement or man one on a jeep you should be able to immediately tell whether or not there's ammo loaded. Yes, you can reload regardless, but reloading takes time, and is very wasteful if only a few rounds have been expended. If you see an MG gunner go down, you should be able to take over and be able to tell if you're going to be able to start firing after the readying period (or if the gun is actually out of ammo).

[AnRK]

Well if it's belt fed then I don't see why you shouldn't when your down to your last 5 rounds or so with MG kits, it is realistic right?

[Tirak]

If it's possible for the last couple of rounds I support this.
@Darkpowder, given the sheer amount of ammunition the AutoRifle has, and the long times in between firing due to PRs size, it can be hard to estimate, in real life you can guess by the weight of the weapon and when it gets low, you can check to see how much belt you have left. Since we can't replicate that, this seems to be an ok solution.

On a related note, is it possible to make the last couple of rounds on all weapons normal weapons (I.e. not snipers or Marksman rifles) all tracers?