Laser - dot rather than line? No max range "cutoff"?

[galzohar 31]

In my experience, unless the conditions are quite foggy and/or dusty, lasers should only show a dot rather than the whole line, especially in clear weathers like we have in Arma 2.

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Even when it's slightly dusty or something you still don't see much of the beam and mostly see the dot:

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A possible way to fix it is to make the "density" of the "line" depend on weather, and add a dot at the end (since currently a laser designator paints a dot on the target, it can't be that big of a deal to add it to weapons, or is it?).

The beam also seems to "cut off" at a certain distance rather than decay over distance, and the distance is relatively short. Also dot size should slightly increase with distance, making the laser sight less accurate over longer ranges.

Is the above completely impossible to fix for some reasons I'm not aware of, or is it just something that was overlooked?

[NoRailgunner 0]

Guess that BIS made those laser beams to entertain casual/mainstream players. Of course a smaller, less visible beam would be much better in the Armaverse. ;)

[no use for a name 0]

Not sure if it's an engine limitation or what. It seems they should just take the laser designator "beam" and somehow attach it to the rifle; but the IR beam is definitely not realistic

[Big Dawg KS 6]

I'm sure they just simplified/abstracted it.

You gotta draw the line between game (and what's efficient) and reality somewhere.

[Nicholas 5]

It's not an engine limitation. It's how it actually is.

Edited July 25, 2010 by Nicholas

[rstratton 0]

with a little bit of tweaking i have gotten the laser dot to show up.

[Nicholas 5]

To follow up what I said the other day, the reason you see the actual beam is because the military uses different lasers than what most people can get their hands on.

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Edited July 25, 2010 by Nicholas

[galzohar 31]

Well, the lasers we had on our LMGs definitely didn't have this sort of "line" visible, at least not in normal conditions. And I couldn't find the video but I also remember seeing one of a night patrol in Iraq getting contacts, and you'd see laser "dots" all over the place, but no lines.

[Nicholas 5]

There are more than one type of laser available. Just because you couldn't see it on yours doesn't mean it's not possible or not available. Operation Arrowhead is set in the future, they probably use different tech?

;)

[Curry 10]

I think no beam for lasers on weapon. I have no clue, but aren't these high powered lasers where you can see the beam?

[therev709 10]

The lasers i used (an/peq-4 maybe? cant remember) had visible lines while using PSG-14s. Makes it easier to know which 'dot/laser' is yours. Usually you'll have two or three people aiming at the same target, and with the visible lines you can tell that your dot is on target.

SF night battle in Iraq

Edited July 26, 2010 by TheRev709

[frederf 0]

Lines or not is simply due to the laser wavelength and particulates in the air. Light is light; there's no "special military light." Particles are required to scatter light, any laser powerful enough to be seen as a beam without any particles in the air does this by ionizing air molecules. Any laser that powerful is not practical (i.e. not used) for illumination/guidance systems.

Wavelengths make a difference in how the laser reflects based on the size of the particle. The ~1000nm IR military usual light is going to be slightly more penetrating than 500nm red visible for instance. All in all assuming 1.0xx micrometer light dust in air is the overriding factor determining what fraction of the laser energy is scattered back.

I just wish BIS would make the laser beams about 20-50% as opaque as they are currently and also put the LaserDesignator dot at the end of the vector as a secondary effect. The most complete effect would have the beam opacity be a factor of local atmospheric but that's a bit too much to ask.

Edited July 26, 2010 by Frederf

[lynxwolf 10]

what they are using is called an IZLID......Infrared Zoom Laser Illuminator Designator the peq and paq lasers ojn rifles dont show beams its mostly on Heavy Machine guns

[BlackLord 0]

I don't mind the beams but I miss that big glowing dot on the end of the lines. Also the beams should be a bit more 'fuzzy' and transparent.

[galzohar 31]

It has a lot to do with how much dust/smoke/whatever is in the air. If that could be a factor then great, but if not they could at least make it look more like the "average"/"standard" situation.

SF night battle in Iraq

Look at 0:52, you see plenty of lasers there that don't leave a "trail"...