Bullet Path - Through Foliage

[Xelous 28]

Good Afternoon All,

I got a suggestion, during an encounter with a group of bandits last night I was pinned down in woodland, unable to ascertain the direction from which the fire was incoming. The situation arose through my hearing rounds incoming (striking the ground and tree's around me) so I took cover.

But, once in cover (a bush) the foliage was alive with incoming rounds, clearly the engine (client) and the server support triggering of a sound with rounds hitting foliage, however, none of this let me get a bead on where the fire was incoming from. Their position was beyond range of hearing, I saw no muzzle flashes and I was right inside the bush so unable to see out.

My suggestion therefore is that as well as the trigger/effect for the sound to play, that there be a secondary effect of leaves being knocked off of the bushes, these could be in the wake of the rounds giving a general indication of the direction from which the fire is coming....

Everyone take a deep breath, for here is my MS Paint effort at a diagram:

I understand this maybe too calculation complex a task, especially with high rates of fire/MG fire, so perhaps only 1 in 3, or 1 in 5, such shots should have the effect to save the servers melting down or the effect being exploited to lag an opponents client/connection.

But certainly the first shot should be furnished with this effect, if it is at all possible, to help with getting a bead on the target.

I'd suggest the following rules/parameters for the effect:

1. Out going shots are only calculated for this effect after a flight time equivalent to 50 meters

• to avoid lagging close fire fights
  
• to avoid a sniper throwing out a spew of leaves before themselves
  
• to avoid shots in towns being overly affected by this calculation
  

2. Tree's need not cause this effect, (trunks already show bullet strikes).

3. First round needs to always make this effect:

• A cool-down might be in order, to prevent use of Enfield/Winchester (et al) causing a lag, where someone fires, causing the calculations for this effect, waits and fires again, effectively using the effect to lag an opponent.
  

4. Not every round needs to make this effect:

• MG/rapid fire might be used to spam/lag an opponent, to avoid this the effect being exploited, I suggest it be applied only to certain shots, either each round after a known/defined cool-down or for a round in sequence order (e.g. every third round - like a tracer).
  

5. This effect only needs to be visible/transmitted to a client/player by the server within a set range

• Suggest 15 meters tops, beyond that no effect no benefit, so shooters can't be easily flushed out with this effect by groups.
  

There's my suggestion for the day... I just want to be clear....

• I DO NOT want to Add tracer lines etc
  
• I DO NOT want to Add indicators at the site of a shooter
  
• I DO NOT want to Add fairy magic dust to tell me where shots are coming from
  

I just want to add an effect, a touch of realism, local to the receiving end of a shot.

[[ZD] Insertcoins 46]

over 9000 hours in paint!

[Stubbies 67]

Nice idea, wouldn't worry about it for now - But something like this will most likely be implemented, the calculations actually wouldn't be too strenuous or difficult. Just wait for the stand alone mate.

Beans given.

[pidian 19]

damn, nice paintjob

cool idea as well

[hatfieldcw 184]

Go, go, MSPaint! Yeah, sounds good. I've never really shot any bushes, so I don't know what it's supposed to look like, and I've never really been downrange of rifle fire, so I don't know what that's supposed to sound like, but it seems to me that if a guy who's in a bush that's being shot wouldn't be able to tell where the bullets were coming from, we shouldn't be able to tell in game.

I know that feeling, though. I hate hearing a shot impact near me, then hitting the dirt and trying to figure out where it came from. Seems to me you ought to be able to hear a rifle shot from up to a KM away. Rifles are loud, dude.

[Wiley 49]

You can hear .30 cal rifle shots for miles. Reasonably IMO we should be able to hear most sniper rifles for ~3km, 5.56ish stuff for around 2km, and handguns for around 1km. Suppressors should be one of the most sought after items in the game.

I like the idea of seeing a directional path for bullet strikes. On flat ground and in foliage if you're watching, you can very clearly see which direction the bullet struck from.

[Spekter 3]

you sir are an artist! Seriously, better determination of where the damn bullets come from would be nice. I thought I was surrounded last night and it was just one guy.

[Spekter 3]

You can hear .30 cal rifle shots for miles. Reasonably IMO we should be able to hear most sniper rifles for ~3km, 5.56ish stuff for around 2km, and handguns for around 1km. Suppressors should be one of the most sought after items in the game.

I like the idea of seeing a directional path for bullet strikes. On flat ground and in foliage if you're watching, you can very clearly see which direction the bullet struck from.

depending heavily on terrain. can't hear much of anything through a mountain. I live about 3 miles from my gun club's range and some of those guys have big guns. One guy has a small cannon, no really, that he hauls around in his truck. I rarely ever hear any gunfire and it's pretty flat around here. a lot of things break up sound waves that originate at ground level. The direction of the shot coupled with the terrain makes a huge difference on how far the shot can be heard. Also, a 50 cal round will hit you at 1000 meters and you will never hear the report. The guy next to you might 6 or 7 seconds later.

[Xelous 28]

On flat ground and in foliage if you're watching, you can very clearly see which direction the bullet struck from.

You can see on the ground, work it out from walls, and figure it out from some tree trunks... But you can't if you are just in foliage and shots are raking through the bush branches at body level... If you wish, you can sit in a bush and we'll play "hide and go bandage yourself" :D

Bullets in the ArmaII engine itself do make smoke puffs on leaves (https://dev-heaven.net/issues/7173) but I didn't see any puffs on my bush in this instance, nor could I generate any last night checking this out (tried Revolver, G17, M4A1, Enfield and MP5), so I guess the DayZ team have fixed that problem.

So I leave this as it stands, bullets pass through foliage, making no visual indication, but they do make a sound so there is a trigger/event related to bullets hitting foliage, I'd just like to see a visual effect, cause and effect... you shoot a leaf IRL you'll splatter that chlorophyll all over the place.

As for all those folks commenting about the distance you can hear a rifle from, from personal experience I can tell you a KAR98 can be heard from over 900 meters easily to distinguish the direction it came from, more modern assault rifles (and I've heard an AK47 and an M16 being fired) are a little quieter, but from 650-700 meters its easy to pick out the direction, depending on how flat the terrain is etc... (and I heard them on a firing range, which is very flat and has walled sides and face so I'm not the best informed on that topic)... But in game, I have a sneaky idea that in the position I explained I was in, the shooter was far away, I think they were in a town over 1.5KM to my north east and shooting wildly into the bushes with an enfield or winchester... that's my gut feeling (if they can remember doing this to me please tell us the details your end)... and they shot so wildly as they had no scope...

I however had a scoped weapon (just a CZ550) in my bag but was so unsure of the direction from which their fire was coming, I stayed with my assault rifle for the fire-power and crawled my ass out of there (behind a small wall - which made me stand up again - gah).

I have no beef with how far they were and whether I could hear the shooter, but being in that situation, and I don't know if I'm asking too much, but with so many sounds playing of the bullets striking the foliage around me, it would have been great to see a flutter of leaves coming out of one quarter of the bush just to give me an idea of the direction. Not a bead straight back to them... Not a slow mo camera, nothing fancy, just a flutter of a few quads with leaf textures.

As for all the MSPaint fans out there.... :beans: :)