Muzzle flashes ReWorked Thread - MISERY mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Muzzle flashes ReWorked

Firefights will no longer be the yellow and orange fireworks highlighting where every person is.
The muzzle flashes in vanilla CoP are over exaggerated with flames and spheres of yellow light at every shot fired.
It is unrealistic and uncalled for.

Vanilla example:

Now every weapon profile (175+) has its muzzle effect retouched for MISERY 2.0.

You will no longer be able to easily locate distant firefights or opponents with balls of fire coming from every type of weapon.
Now you must rely on your eyes and ears to clarify the combat scenario.
You must pay attention to shouts and movement in the vicinity in a new way.

This is where camouflaged uniforms, shadows and environment backgrounds come into play at a whole new level.
This will increase difficulty slightly as you will no longer be provided with the over exaggerated muzzle indications of your opponents positions.
In darkness the weapons will still light up their surroundings to some extend.
Unless a sound suppressor is attached to the gun which will hide most of it.

The dynamic and powerful feel of weapons when fired is maintained but redesigned through unique scripts for every type of caliber.
This is visually noticeable but very profound in the feel of recoil in your mouse hand.
This is already used in MISERY 1.1 but refined for version 2.0.

Watch HD preview on Youtube here
Or watch the preview of the ReWorked muzzle flashes here:

To properly test this idea I did Uncle Yars mission in Kopatchy Village.
This was no longer the ordinary target practicing with Mercs sprinting from cover to cover
while shooting towards my rooftop hideout from positions that I soon lost track of...

"Another bullet smacks through the wooden window frame right next to your head
before you got a chance to examine the vicinity for any kind of movement. Where the hell is that killer positioned?
This is a lockdown for you and you will need to shoot your way out of there.
Your left hand examines the magazine pouches around your waist.
You have enough ammunition left to empty a full magazine in the direction of the hidden shooter."

I found myself laying random suppressive fire for the sake of Uncle Yars precision shots.
And I soon realized that this simple muzzle retouch increases the difficulty aspect of firefights.
That's when I decided for this muzzle tweak to be implemented throughout the whole mod.

This is a good example of a MISERY touch to the game that increases your challenge + the overall realism at the same time.

The Maverick 88 shown in the MISERY 2.0 frames here is a rusty and neclegted profile.
Pay attention to the smoke coming from the barrel after each shot.
This is a new effect added to shotguns.

Well aware that some will hate this retouch of muzzle flashes I will be adding a notion in the FAQ
on how to easily revert this back to the vanilla fireworks for everyone who will be missing that setup.

Feel free to respond to this muzzle retouch by putting your vote in the poll here in this thread.

Edited by: N.Aaroe

Nice job sir

Well I like it very much.

It still seems to light the surroundings quite a bit, even though the flash itself is not visible (as seen in 1:40 and forward). Is this something that can be tweaked?

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dextom wrote: Well I like it very much.

It still seems to light the surroundings quite a bit, even though the flash itself is not visible (as seen in 1:40 and forward). Is this something that can be tweaked?

Yes, but not dynamically. So it's either medium light, or none

Also,

Don't be in vain about the new muzzle flashes. The stand alone PPx addon will bring back the muzzle flashes in an dynamic way

Edited by: Lоnerboner

What the hell are you shooting at, stalker? Stop wasting valuable ammo!!

Wow that's pretty spot on, I must say. Great job guys!

The only negative thing i see with this is the smoke that appears. Its nice but maybe a bit to mutch it wuldent hurt for you to take it down a notch.

It's nice but it will make it much more difficult to find where you were being shot from. The CoP dev team didn't just go "Welp, let's go for a very realistic game but have silly bright gun flashes for zany fun!". They're in the game because it would be a strain to find where you were shot from otherwise.. because it is a game. Most of us don't have a surround sound system to help our ears pinpoint the direction fire is coming from (or hear what bullets are impacting into). So despite hearing the noise of gunfire, we are completely without a sense of hearing depth or direction.

This will make it much more difficult. On the other hand, I cannot say this is a bad direction. This kind of difficulty is the kind you want in video games. Realistic, unforgiving, and you can learn to master it. I think, even though I'm not totally into the idea right now, I'll learn to like it.

@Eric_
The goal of the MISERY mod is to create a Call of Pripyat that challenges experiences gamers with as much realism as possible without breaking the balance of a fun and enjoyable game.
You are right about the fact that it will be harder to locate opponents shooting at you but that is realistic.
You are not right about you being clueless about directions of shots though as we added an indicator whenever you are shot.
This is to replicate that you (in real life) would be able to feel the shot and determine the direction of your opponent by this.

So in version 2.0 you will have slightly less visual muzzle indications of your enemies whereabouts but enhances HUD indication of where your hit damage did come from (as physcial indicator). We think that this makes the best immersion in terms of combat impression and handling.

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That is true, I did not take the 2.0 HUD changes into account. Like I said, I'll warm up to it.

[TZP wrote: LoNer1]

dextom wrote: Well I like it very much.

It still seems to light the surroundings quite a bit, even though the flash itself is not visible (as seen in 1:40 and forward). Is this something that can be tweaked?

Yes, but not dynamically. So it's either medium light, or none

Also,

Don't be in vain about the new muzzle flashes. The stand alone PPx addon will bring back the muzzle flashes in an dynamic way

Well, can we have none? Or include that as an option in the installer, I would like to have no light show when guns are fired.

Nikolai and team

Great job on the new effects! I specially like the quick blur of vision on the shotgun recoil. Nice touch. I have a Mossberg 590 and firing at night is cool, but only if you're watching it, not firing...you don't see very much lighting up, you guys have this effect spot on!
The only real fireworks I see when firing at night is my Taurus Raging Bull .454 Casull...the ported barrel adds to the effect!!
Youtube.com not me firing, but wanted to give you an idea of firing it! It's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot!!

Rick

rickpnick wrote: Nikolai and team
Great job on the new effects! I specially like the quick blur of vision on the shotgun recoil. Nice touch. I have a Mossberg 590 and firing at night is cool, but only if you're watching it, not firing...you don't see very much lighting up, you guys have this effect spot on!
The only real fireworks I see when firing at night is my Taurus Raging Bull .454 Casull...the ported barrel adds to the effect!!
Youtube.com not me firing, but wanted to give you an idea of firing it! It's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot!!
Rick

Thanks for quality feedback rickpnick.
It is nice to know that we have replicated the shotgun effect spot on
Every weapon model has a unique screen effect when being fired/used.
Only powerful rounds like 12 gauge have blur like this.
SMG's have little dynamic power in visual effects.

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Youtube.com
Youtube.com
Youtube.com
Youtube.com

These videos show not only muzzle flash, but also how well a trained shooter can handle recoil. If you are going for realism then take these in account.
(I use the AK-47 because of it's large caliber)

Though at first I was skeptical of reduced muzzle flash, after seeing the AKM shoot at night, I'm convinced it's a good thing. In vanilla, muzzle flash almost completely obscured your vision, meaning that night firefights were next to impossible without a suppressor/sight. Now, with less muzzle flash, I can finally go on all those night raids I've always wanted. Nice job. I like the amount of light that muzzle flash lights up the surroundings. This will keep firefights interesting, without being spotted across the map.

The blur on the shotgun is a real treat! I can't wait to run around with that pretty looking TOZ you showed us a few updates ago.

Edited by: .Krinkov.

Unfortunately, it appears that you kept the least realistic part. The ground flash is not really visible, but the ball of unburned powder is. Like the links show, few guns will take full advantage of their cartridge, giving the little ball of fire. The Mosin Nagant M91 & 91/30's barrels were designed to fully utilize the power of the 7.62x54r, making muzzle flash nearly non-existant. If possible where the dev's live, go to a range, you can see the fireballs very well from Tokarev pistols & Mosin Nagant M44's.

Edited by: ShotgunSurgeon

What the hell is up with the blur/goo vision on shooting the Maverick? And the screen shake on shooting the MP5? Firing a shotgun won't suddenly make you partially blind, and shooting a low-caliber SMG certainly won't make your head shake like there's an earthquake. Please stop adding unnecessary effects, especially when they're detrimental to both realism and gameplay.

I like the reduced flashes though. But really, whoever added blur and crazy shake to weapons has probably never handled a weapon before and played too many Hollywood games.

What are Hollywood games? (Btw. CoD is known for having too little recoil, for example)

Those effects you describe are to represent the recoil of the weapons. When you fire a shotgun, and you have aimed down the sights, aligning it to your shoulder, your body gets a hit and is shaken, which is represented by that blur effect. And an SMG, which is large caliber btw., has the same effect.

I know you can fire weapons quite steadily, but having a motionless view while doing so would be wrong as well. They are no pellet guns.

Hmm, I am not a master of guns or anything (actually I have only shot a small pistol) but I love the shotguns in misery. The screen shake effect gives them an effect that is extremely epic. So that said...I trust that the firefights with the added "features" in 2.0 will be at least as awesome.

Joker86 wrote:
And an SMG, which is large caliber btw., has the same effect.

What the hell are you talking about? MP5s fire 9x19 pistol rounds which have very low recoil. They are much, much smoother to fire than what is shown in this video.
And sorry, but shotgun recoil doesn't make your vision blurry. It shakes you, and you could represent that with vision shake, but motion blur is just dumb as hell.

9x19 might have a relatively low recoil, but it doesn't change the fact that its caliber is thicker than most rifle rounds (hence it's called large caliber, at least here in Germany), and that it has recoil nonetheless. It's not like it had no recoil at all, which you could say about an .22 SMG or something like that.

So to represent the recoil and how it is hitting against your shoulder, the camera is shaking. I really don't want the "Call of Duty" weapon feeling for the game.

The same thing applies for the shotgun. Since a shotgun has quite a high recoil, the hit you take is much harder. And when your head gets shaken quickly, your vision and your focus suffer from it, and a short motion blur is a good way to show this. Actually I think it is a very cool feature, and I liked it the very first moment I saw it. I don't know about you, but I got the impression that shooting that shotgun is giving you a good shake, and I guess this was the intention of that feature.

Edited by: Joker86

It's nice but what about lightning radius above the shooter. It is still there but you removed the flash from weapon's fire so it doesn't make sence.
But you maybe could add small, very small flash for weapons so it seems more action and dramatic while shooting.
And what about powder spreading from the gun-barel? Can you make that effect? Maybe for shotguns only?

Joker86 wrote: 9x19 might have a relatively low recoil, but it doesn't change the fact that its caliber is thicker than most rifle rounds (hence it's called large caliber, at least here in Germany), and that it has recoil nonetheless. It's not like it had no recoil at all, which you could say about an .22 SMG or something like that.

So to represent the recoil and how it is hitting against your shoulder, the camera is shaking. I really don't want the "Call of Duty" weapon feeling for the game.

The same thing applies for the shotgun. Since a shotgun has quite a high recoil, the hit you take is much harder. And when your head gets shaken quickly, your vision and your focus suffer from it, and a short motion blur is a good way to show this. Actually I think it is a very cool feature, and I liked it the very first moment I saw it. I don't know about you, but I got the impression that shooting that shotgun is giving you a good shake, and I guess this was the intention of that feature.

It has recoil, yes, in the sense that the total rearward force is usually greater than the weight of the weapon, but it is negligible. You're supposed to hold a stock against you shoulder- it doesn't hit you, you just feel the impulse. Watch someone put 30 rounds from an mp5 into a target. A trained user can keep a fist sized hole at 25 meters. Here in the US we consider:
<7 mm (0.28) smallbore,
7-10(0.28-0.40) intermediate,
>10 mm (0.40) to be large

Edited by: ShotgunSurgeon