Free Aim Mod

Agiel · January 2012

<div class="IPBDescription">More interesting marine aim mechanic</div>Here's a little something I put together as a proof of concept for an as of yet undisclosed mod I'm planning to start working on once the code base gets stable enough.

<center><object width="450" height="356"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/47nYFY52kiU"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/47nYFY52kiU" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="356"></embed></object></center>

It's not really intended as an improvement on vanilla NS2, as I imagine most of the competitive community would be against something like this. The eventual mod is going to be realism focused (still sci-fi/cyberpunk) and won't have the crosshairs other than as a place holder for iron-sights.

If you want to try it out for yourselves, just unzip the attached file wherever and doubleclick Launcher.bat. I hope you like it!

Yuuki · January 2012

It's funny I never tried something like that. It's a bit stiff maybe, it feel there is a sharp transition, something a bit smoother/continuous would feel better I think.

Wilson · January 2012

Nice work. I saw something like this for garrys mod. It looks really cool but in practice it just makes it harder to aim.

Kouji_San · January 2012

This is an ironsight mode from what I gather? Otherwise I would like to know how you would accomplish 180 turns :D

Agiel · January 2012

180 degree turns shouldn't be any harder to do because I never actually touch the view. Screen movement and turning should behave exactly as they normally do. The only difference is that the gun moves a bit "ahead" as you move the mouse.

If you want to experiment with the "feel" you can edit the values of kFreeAimMaxOffset and kFreeAimSpeedScale in ClipWeapon.lua. (The current values are lifted straight from the <a href="http://www.heroesofstalingrad.com/" target="_blank">Red Orchestra 2</a> source code :)

Harimau · January 2012

I quite like this.

Twiggeh · January 2012

Looks really great in the video, but i doubt it would be practical.

Frozty · January 2012

Would be cool if u could have this as an option but i would never use it.

Chris0132 · January 2012

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wilson @ Jan 26 2012, 08:50 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1897503"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Nice work. I saw something like this for garrys mod. It looks really cool but in practice it just makes it harder to aim.</div>

That's generally the point, it's very fun for slower paced games because it does, as you said, look very cool. It adds a lot to the atmosphere, good for survival horror style games, or games that encourage you to plan before you charge in guns blazing.

You can also get used to it, I generally find it quite easy to aim with, although it is a bit unsuitable for arcade shooters like NS2.

Still, if you were making a really big mod that makes the game quite different, maybe marines vs AI aliens or something, I'd like to see something like this in it.

Raneman · January 2012

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wilson @ Jan 26 2012, 02:50 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1897503"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Nice work. I saw something like this for garrys mod. It looks really cool but in practice it just makes it harder to aim.</div>
Someone has never played RO.

Soul_Rider · January 2012

Love this mod Agiel. Would you mind if I used it in my mod?

I'd need to reduce the size of the free aim box though, as currently it interferes with turning-strafing around corners. Other than needing to smooth out the effect a little, this is a really cool mod.

Thanks for sharing this :)

RobB · January 2012

goes perfectly well with a webcam headtracking system.

<a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/index.php?showtopic=116082" target="_blank">http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns2/forums/in...howtopic=116082</a>

<center><object width="450" height="356"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BduSDvUU6MY"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BduSDvUU6MY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="356"></embed></object></center>

faceapi may be used for 3rd party mods as long as theyre not made official part of ns2 as far as i understand their licensing.

Krizzen · January 2012

I've played quite a few games/mods that toyed with this idea. Problem is, it just doesn't work.

- Trespasser, an old, but very technologically advanced Jurassic Park FPS game (rigid body physics engine in '98) had a somewhat similar system where you actually controlled the position of your hand in the world, so you could aim within your view. It was so cool, but very annoying to use.

- Some Half Life mod I tested that never got released featured this exact aiming system. It looked really cool, and felt really good, but when you got into any action, it became nearly impossible to keep track of your aimer.

Basically, it's just so much easier with your aimer smack dab in the middle of the screen where you <b>always know</b> where it is.

Very cool mod though.

Soul_Rider · January 2012

I like it because it reminds me of the early days of gaming. This method is mainly used for spaceship firing systems in older games, and is used as a hud tracking device in films etc.

I'd have to give it a try, but I was thinking of using something like this for a 'pounce' system. An alien clinging to the wall presses the pounce button, activates free aim to track target and presses fire to pounce :)

Also, it depends on the game play type. If you spend a lot of time facing forward, with enemies coming at you from the front, free-aim works very well. If you have t0 do a lot of twisting and turning, free-aim can become a hindrance.

Forss · February 2012

It does work very well in some games:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acuji4npvMc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acuji4npvMc</a>

I think NS is a bit too fast for it to work.

Harimau · February 2012

Good stuff. I've had thoughts about this kind of limited free aim thing before. I never knew people had already implemented it in games.

I think it would be very interesting in a mech action game, since you could have (view) turn speed limited, but aim speed (within the aim box) unlimited. Maybe when the exo is released I'll have a look into this. :)

Hmm, I think you could also add relatively realistic recoil with this, since recoil wouldn't (shouldn't) cause your entire view (and therefore your entire body) to shift as it does in games like CS.

Soul_Rider · February 2012

I was just thinking, this is exactly the code needed for an effective 3rd-Person aiming system too. Not that I'm making a 3rd person mod, just thought I'd mention that :)

Agiel · February 2012

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Krizzen @ Jan 31 2012, 02:46 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1898277"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>I've played quite a few games/mods that toyed with this idea. Problem is, it just doesn't work.

- Trespasser...</div>
Having played quite a few games with free aim myself, I can say that this is probably the worst example you could come up with. Let's have a look at a few good examples, shall we.

Basically, there are two types of free aim that I'm aware of:

Type 1:
You have a "dead zone" in the middle of the screen where the aim moves freely without affecting the view. Examples include Operation Flashpoint (locked when iron-sighted), ArmA 1&2 (dead zone can be adjusted in the options) and Infiltration (Unreal Tournament mod and probably the first PC game I played with free aim).

Type 2:
The view moves normally as you move the mouse but the gun moves "ahead" inside the dead zone. Examples include Red Orchestra, Insurgency (both locked when iron-sighted) and Red Orchestra 2 (where I think you can choose between whichever type you like by editing the .ini files, although I've never tried it).

Some games cross the lines a bit such as True Combat (Quake 3/Enemy Territory mod) which I'd put in type 1 but the view still moves slowly while inside the dead zone, or Golden Eye 64 which uses type 1 when aiming and something like type 2 otherwise (the gun bounces back to the center when you stop turning).

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Wilson)</div><div class='quotemain'>It looks really cool but in practice it just makes it harder to aim.</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kouji_San)</div><div class='quotemain'>I would like to know how you would accomplish 180 turns :D</div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Soul_Rider)</div><div class='quotemain'>currently it interferes with turning-strafing around corners.
...
If you have t0 do a lot of twisting and turning, free-aim can become a hindrance.</div>
Now on the issue of turning vs aiming we can clearly see how these two types differ. In type 1 your point of aim moves linearly as you move the mouse, but you have no control of the view and direction of movement while inside the dead zone.

With type 2 you retain full control of the view and move direction but the point of aim will move faster inside the dead zone, thus making twitch shots maybe a bit trickier, although most of these games use normal aiming when iron-sighted so that's a moot point.

Most of the time the goal of free aim is to add to immersion while discouraging "unrealistic" behaviour like hip-firing, twitch shots and quick scoping. Having played all of these games and more over the years I can say without a doubt that type 2 is superior, because it solves all of these problems without making movement and turning feel sluggish. Which is why that's the type I decided to implement in this mod.

PS. Feel free to use my code in whichever way you like. That's the reason I posted it here and Lua is almost by definition open source anyway :)

Harimau · February 2012

With type 2, does that mean that the view 'catches up' to the "crosshair"? What happens, exactly, in both types when the "crosshair" leaves the deadzone?

Agiel · February 2012

No, there's no catching up. Let's say we move the mouse to the left. In type 1 the crosshair will move to the left until it hits the edge of the dead zone, at which point the view will start turning to the left. In type 2 the view will move to the left as usual, but the crosshair will move to the left a bit faster than the view until it hits the edge of the dead zone, where it will stay until you move the mouse some other direction.

zeep · February 2012

Nice this Free Aim! Plus aiming with weapon sights, my dream for NS2! ;)

Sewlek · February 2012

actually i like it. i play a lot of shooters, and i would not want to have something like this in most of them, but somehow it would fit to marines. i doubt we ever going to add that, but still i like it. is it client side only?

SkymanderX · February 2012

very intresting. I'm curious to know if it helps in combat.

zeep · February 2012

It changes the way you experience combat.

SkymanderX · February 2012

how so?

Soul_Rider · February 2012

Download the mod and give it a try. It's fun.

SkymanderX · February 2012

ok

mushookees · February 2012

Could you adapt this mod to work for the lerk ?

SkymanderX · February 2012

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mushookees @ Feb 10 2012, 05:30 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1901682"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Could you adapt this mod to work for the lerk ?</div>
+1

Harimau · February 2012

That... actually would make a lot of sense.

TekJ · February 2012

Not working for me. The Crosshairs don't move on screen.

The principe work because i can see impact on wall without the corsshairs moves.
i have a error message in console :/

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>and won't have the crosshairs other than as a place holder for iron-sights.</div>

Nevermind !
Whyyy ? need to try this in gather with mention of using this mod !

Free Aim Mod

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