Comments - Pilot_51

I'm not sure why you have this problem, but have you tried both the installer and the zip? More details might help.

Given the confusion of what the actual armament of this variant should be, I've put it on my list for Release 3 to re-research the details. The problem I had when I researched it the first time was that the sources seemed to conflict and I went with the one that appeared to match the model in BF1942, which I think is a rather unpopular variant if it's accurate to any specific one.

In the long run I plan to change the maps to include the same weapons and vehicles that existed in the actual battle. If I had a high level of realistic and creative mapping skill, I'd go for a full redesign of the maps, but I don't so I need to settle for either tweaking the existing maps or having someone else take the job of redesigning them.

Unfortunately for the mod, most of my time has gone to a job and I don't expect to have enough free time to deal with the maps let alone a majority of my plans for the mod. Development is in an indefinite freeze while I try to organize my time in the best way possible. If anyone wants to help out and join the team, it would be greatly appreciated and it might get WWII Reality back on its feet in development.

If you're talking about the weapon motion lag when switching to iron sights, I'm aware of it. It appears to be caused by the client checking (slowly) with the server where the weapon should be positioned. I haven't noticed the lag during local testing, which reassures me that it is likely the case. I need to confirm it and I'll probably just remove the check since it's not really important anyway. If that's not what you're talking about, please let me know.

I use the Mod Development Toolkit plugin in Gmax for modeling. The homepage for the MDT is at Mdt.planetbattlefield.gamespy.com and the homepage for Gmax is at Turbosquid.com
I'd be happy to take some help. If you're up for it, contact me directly (info is on the wiki or included with the mod) and we can work from there. I understand if you're just beginning and you might not be able to make quality models for WWII Reality, but I'd be willing to work with you in getting there. I don't know much about modeling myself, so it would be more like joint learning than anything.

I really don't think it's possible in the game engine, but I'll put it on my list as a suggestion in case I find out later that it's possible.

It's automatic based on speed.

I'm 90% sure it'll be on February 1st, releasing on the anniversary would be very cool and it's on track.

It's possible that the lack of drag on the bullets reduces the sinking, but the realistic velocity and gravity physics are added in Release 1 so it should work at least somewhat. I noticed that drag, especially on many bullets at once, causes extreme lag, so the options are limited in that respect.

If you read the description of this screenshot or the wiki details for the iron sight changes, you'll notice it says "Release 2", which isn't released yet. If you look at the wiki now, you'll notice the only thing that needs done is a background video, which is a minor thing and you can expect Release 2 to be out on February 1st as planned.

I haven't tried it with 1.6, only 1.61, so I don't know for sure if it works for anything other than 1.61. I expect it will work fine in 1.6 since the difference between 1.6 and 1.61 only appears to be CRC information which isn't inherited by mods, so it should be fully cross-compatible between those two versions as long as the server doesn't run it in pure mode.
As for earlier versions, this mod preserves a lot of the code from 1.6/1.61 while pulling most of the content (models, textures, sounds, etc.) from \mods\bf1942\archives\, so there is likely to be compatibility issues if the code asks for content that doesn't exist. Please let me know the results if you try it.

The MP40 aligned fine. It's the MP18 that gave me the most trouble, it barely even has proper iron sights. I had to settle for just bringing it to the bottom-center because it was so awkward even trying to line it up.

The JohnsonLMG has a variable sight that is opaque and completely blocks the target when lined up correctly. IMO it's not too bad, so I decided to leave it that way and for Release 3 (if not Release 2) I'll modify the texture with transparency.

The Bazooka and Panzershreck are a bit of a challenge to figure out. I had to settle for guessing how to aim them since I couldn't find any information on how they're supposed to line up. They lack the blast shield that I've seen in nearly all my research.

Every other gun is just about perfect.

Release 1 is already out as of February 1st, 2008.

Release 2 is a bit delayed, but it's very close to completion and I'm confident that February 1st, 2009 will be a good date to release it.

Are you sure? The most recent of screenshots are from Release 2, which isn't done yet. A lot of the features in Release 1 aren't all that noticeable, which could give the impression that it doesn't work. My clan had no trouble installing it.
If you're still convinced it doesn't work, could you let me know which file you downloaded (zip or installer) and the steps you took to install and run it?

Nope, all the repositioning was done within the Objects.con for each weapon and to disable animations all I did was change the speed to 0 within 1pAnimationsTweaking.con.

Exact information of what I did can be found in the change log on my wiki: Wiki.pilot51.com

I can't find much WWII-era naval photography/videos to give me an accurate idea of the smoke, some seem to not have smoke at all and some look similar to what this screenshot shows. Any help (backed with evidence) would be appreciated to make it more accurate.

Thank you for your comments and suggestions!

The second release already puts the first release to shame, so if you want to be impressed with the mod when you first play it, release 2 will be a great place to start. If you want to watch the progress, I would suggest giving release 1 a try while you wait.

I recognize the need to build a team around this mod, although I find it a bit doubtful if anyone who isn't already in a BF1942 mod team would have the skill and passion to help WWII Reality. I've contacted the BG42 team seeking a 'partnership' to help both of us improve our mods and they seemed interested, but things quickly died down after initial discussions.
Along with my changes to the ship rudders and propellers, I've learned how to do some basic modeling such as splitting a single model into multiple models. If I keep it up I might eventually get good enough to handle most of the modeling needs, but I wouldn't bet on it.
The list of things that involve coding alone is massive and it takes up much of my time, so yes it would be good to get some people to help me out in other areas where changes are needed even if I have some skill in those areas.
I guess I'll say it here. If anyone believes that their time and skill would be useful for WWII Reality, please contact me!

I agree that Wikipedia shouldn't be relied upon alone, as much as I love to use it, but then again when is any one source always right? That's why I always try to back up information with alternate sources, especially the more important and noticeable details. If you look at the research data I have on my wiki, most of the more recently updated pages link to the all the sites/pages where I found the information. I've become familiar with a number of more specialized sources that are of much help.

Your suggestion has been added to my list and could possibly be in the next release since I agree it's a bit too unrealistic.

You want the overall speed of the game reduced or do you just want the walking speed turned down, or something else? I can't really tell what exactly you're asking for.

I agree, some movement would be more realistic, but the animations for most of the weapons moved so much that it made aiming unrealistically difficult. I'll probably redesign the animations sometime, but currently I'm not planning to do it for Release 2. All other animations such as changing between stances or walking are still there.

The iron sights replace the zoom, so to answer your question, you only get the iron sights when you press the zoom button. The weapon is at its original BF1942 position when not using the iron sights, except for some slight rotation of the weapon which affects both modes and was needed in order for the iron sights to line up in the center of the screen.

I agree, the accuracy system really needs some work if it's going to be realistic. What I mostly find annoying about it is how the bullet of the sniper rifle doesn't shoot where the scope is pointing until you allow it to settle for a few seconds. What I want to do to fix this particular problem is that the bullet is always accurate to the scope, but the scope moves around a lot more depending on your stance. For other weapons, especially fully automatics, there is realistically supposed to be some spread from where the weapon is pointing, but for the most part it's all down to actual recoil.
I know where the code is to modify this stuff, so it will probably be improved in release 2.

Actually this map is a custom map I've made that I used to test changes to the ships. It is not included with release 1 of the mod and I can't say right now if I'll include it in later releases. I will however include support for WWII Reality in the next release of each of my maps and I am planning a brand new map to be included exclusively with the mod.

Yes, the battleship shown in the image is the Yamato.
If you look hard enough, you can also see the Sub7C submarine behind the carrier. A little factoid: The Sub7C (Type VIIC U-Boat) is actually a German submarine and has never been operated by Japan.

I was thinking about using the existing models and just repositioning them to act as iron sights to replace the current secondary fire zoom. I haven't checked how easy it would be to do it, but I'm pretty sure it's something I'll be able to do for release 2 if the positioning is in code rather than an animation. If this is the case, it will not only be easy for me to get 3D iron sights, but I think it would be better (more realistic) than the 2D iron sights I've seen in other reality mods.

I have some maps I want to work on before I continue with the mod. Don't worry, there will be another release and no doubt many others. If you know my first BF1942 map, you probably know that I find it hard to stop working on something I've started.

If you want an estimated date for the next release, I'll say sometime mid-year (June, give or take a month or two). That's just a rough estimate, no promises.

I'm not making everything 100% realistic all at once, I'm doing bits at a time. I'll probably do that stuff when I add iron sights. If you really want the HUD to disappear, you can type "hud 0" in console, but expect to have a hard time aiming. I might remove parts of the HUD in release 2, but keep in mind that sometimes it might be more realistic to keep a HUD for things such as ship radar because it would be the best way to relay information that they actually had access to in WWII.

It will be relatively difficult to determine how things are balanced in the end-product without getting a bunch of players together on a server. Sometimes just looking at the power of the vehicles and weapons each team has doesn't tell the whole story as to how a battle would play out. BF1942 is originally quite balanced and I'm uncertain what my changes do to affect it. With that said, I'm not going to change anything for the sake of balancing until I find an obvious problem or someone brings up a specific balancing issue that they've experienced while playing with others.

It would be up to the maps to balance it out, but I don't plan to rework the maps for the sake of balance since I'll have my hands full trying to make things realistic. If someone else wants to do that, I'll be happy to take the help.
I guess it would be better to say that I'm not going to sacrifice realism for balancing.