REALISTIC tracers... Thread - S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Chernobyl mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

Thank you for all of your hard work on this mod!

Please strongly consider modifying the appearance of tracer rounds so that they look far more believable. Too often, tracer rounds are shown in a ridiculously huge way, with tracer lengths being 3+ meters long...! I've loved the STALKER series from day one, but the tracer effects are absurd.

Tracer rounds should be MUCH shorter in length, and their colors need to be adjusted to be more realistic looking. A lot of games make their red tracers look like a flame-orange color, or a perfect-apple-red. In reality, they are CARMINE in hue, which is a deep-pink. Most video recordings do a pretty good job of showing what they look like (note, however, that footage of them at night tends to make them look redder and longer than they actually are - this is due to the limitations of camera recording capabilities when there's less daylight). Footage of red tracers during daytime do show that they have a carmine color.

Here are the settings that I use. I spent a lot of time "perfecting" these tracers. Please try them out, and if you like them, then please feel free to incorporate them into this mod. I'd be honored if you did so! Thank you for all of your hard work and consideration! Good luck!

RED Tracer

tracer_length_max                                  = 1.5	;225
tracer_length_min                                  = 0
tracer_shader                                      = effects\bullet_tracer
tracer_texture                                     = fx\fx_tracer_weapons
tracer_width                                       = 0.065	;0.08

whine_sounds                                       = weapons\bulletcrack01, weapons\bulletcrack02, weapons\bulletwhiz01,
                                                     weapons\bulletcrack03, weapons\bulletwhiz02, weapons\bulletcrack04,
                                                     weapons\bulletcrack05, weapons\bulletwhiz03, weapons\bulletcrack06,
                                                     weapons\bulletwhiz04

[tracers_color_table]
color_0                                            = 255, 46, 137, 255	;




GREEN Tracer

tracer_length_max                                  = 1.5	;225
tracer_length_min                                  = 0
tracer_shader                                      = effects\bullet_tracer
tracer_texture                                     = fx\fx_tracer_weapons
tracer_width                                       = 0.065	;0.08

whine_sounds                                       = weapons\bulletcrack01, weapons\bulletcrack02, weapons\bulletwhiz01,
                                                     weapons\bulletcrack03, weapons\bulletwhiz02, weapons\bulletcrack04,
                                                     weapons\bulletcrack05, weapons\bulletwhiz03, weapons\bulletcrack06,
                                                     weapons\bulletwhiz04

[tracers_color_table]
color_0                                            = 38, 247, 129, 255	;

Carmine, huh? Had to search through my big box of Crayolas for that one

I'm gonna give this a go. Got into a big gunfight the other day & it looked like a Star Wars battle.

Thanks for the post!

For myself, whenever I've played STALKER titles with the default tracers, they're so absurdly long and flame-colored, that to me there are times where fully automatic firefights end up looking almost like impossibly long-ranged flamethrowers are being used on the battlefield.

I've never understood the aesthetic that was chosen for the games.

There are a ton of videos online now which do a pretty good job of showing what tracers look like in Real Life. Still, one has to be careful when choosing the video(s) to use as source material. The darker the sky gets, the more inaccurate the footage becomes, because of the limited recording capabilities of cameras. The darker it gets, the redder (as in "apple" red) and longer the tracer appears to become. But that's not what's happening if one observes it in person, in real time, and in the actual space.

Red tracers are not true-red. They are carmine.

Green tracers are not true-green. They are a lime green with a touch of yellow.

Quite bright, with neat (smooth) edges.

Far shorter in length than what's in any STALKER title.

I just wish that the STALKER games modeled rounds that break apart after hitting hard surfaces. The shattered round sends off smaller "baby" tracers in "lazy" arcs into the environment. It's beautiful in its own way, and haunting at the same time too.

I'm a HUGE fan of your work, by the way. I'm very grateful for it.

Please let me know what you think of them after trying them out.

Finally got a chance to test this out and I must say I was really impressed. The shorter tracers really make a difference and, although I've never personally experienced being shot at with a tracer round, really makes it seem more realistic.

My only criticism would be the color being way too pink. Might have just been the way I have my graphics settings but it seemed almost more of a magenta than carmine.

Very cool though. You should consider releasing it as an addon.

Hi Kyle_K_ski,

I was reading your code to tweak colors of tracers, but how do I actually assign these new colors for each kind of ammo ? In my weapons.ltx file I have this rigs for 9x18 fmj for example :

[ammo_9x18_fmj]:ammo_base
GroupControlSection	= spawn_group
discovery_dependency = 
$spawn			= "weapons\ammo\ammo_9x18_fmj" ; option for Level Editor
class			= AMMO
cform                   = skeleton
visual                  = weapons\ammo\ammo_9x18_fmj.ogf
description				= enc_weapons1_ammo_ammo-9x18-fmj
$prefetch 		= 64

cost					 = 70

box_size		= 20	;50

inv_name		= ammo-9x18-fmj
inv_name_short	= ammo-9x18-fmj_s
inv_weight		= .2

inv_grid_width		= 1
inv_grid_height		= 1
inv_grid_x			= 11
inv_grid_y			= 12


k_dist			= 1
k_disp			= 3
k_hit			= 1
k_impulse		= 1
k_pierce		= 1
impair			= 1
buck_shot		= 1
tracer			= off
wm_size         = 0.05

so here I could put tracer = on to actually activate it and make it visibile, but how can I set this tracer to be green or blue or pink ? :p

Btw I play SoC with the Complete mod, not Call of Chernobyl.

Thanks for your help !

Hakkabi

Hey, Hakkabi.

I was making some different tracers for ammo on my DA build an this what i was find out:

1. You need make few color tables at [bullet_manager] -> [tracers_color_table]

[bullet_manager]

tracer_shader					= effects\bullet_tracer ;hud\default
tracer_texture					= fx\fx_tracer_weapons
fire_circle_k					= 2.0f ; means tracer_width*2

tracer_width					= 0.065
tracer_length_max				= 1.5	;24.0 ;14.0	
tracer_length_min				= 0.0		;0.2

whine_sounds					= weapons\whine_1, weapons\whine_2, weapons\whine_3, weapons\whine_4, weapons\whine01, weapons\whine02
explode_particles				= explosions\expl_bullet,explosions\expl_bullet_00,explosions\expl_bullet_01

;расстояние после которого учитывается hit_probabilty полностью
hit_probability_max_dist		= 3;

gravity_const					= 9.81
;сопротивление воздуха, процент, который отнимается от скорости полета пули
air_resistance_k				= 1.5 ;1 ;0.4;0.3

;размер шага времени (в милисекундах), по которому проигрываются
time_step						= 33
;минимальная скорость (м/с), на которой пуля еще считается и показывается
min_bullet_speed				= 3.0
;cколько процентов энергии потеряет пуля при столкновении с материалом (при падении под прямым углом)
collision_energy_min			= 0.65 ;0.75; 0.90
;сколько процентов энергии останется у пули при любом столкновении
collision_energy_max			= 0.5 ;0.7;0.50


[tracers_color_table]
color_0  = 255, 130,   0, 255	; yellow
color_1  = 255, 255, 255, 255	; white
color_2  = 255,  46, 137, 255	; red
color_3  =  38, 247, 129, 255	; green
color_4  =   0,   0,  25, 255	; blue
color_5  = 255, 127,  63, 150   ;79

2. At each ammo type you want tracers on you need add this

tracer          = on
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; TO CHANGE TEXTURE/SHADER OF TRACERS ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
tracer_shader					= effects\bullet_tracer ;hud\default
tracer_texture					= fx\fx_tracer_weapons
fire_circle_k					= 2.0f ; means tracer_width*2
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; TO ADJUST WIDTH, LENGTH AND SONUNDS OF TRACER BULLETS ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
tracer_width					= 0.065 ; 
tracer_length_max				= 1.5	;24.0 ;14.0	
tracer_length_min				= 0.0		;0.2

whine_sounds					= weapons\whine_1, weapons\whine_2, weapons\whine_3, weapons\whine_4, weapons\whine01, weapons\whine02
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; TO ADJUST COLOR OF TRACER FROM TABLE ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
tracer_color_ID = 2   ; Color of a tracer frome table