ArmA III Ballistics Overhaul

[kawa 14]

Great work Spartan!

Would you have figures for 16 and 18 inches barrels

[Spartan0536 188]

Great work Spartan!

Would you have figures for 16 and 18 inches barrels

I can calculate them based off of available data, did not think many people would be using 18 or 16 inch barrels as most 5.56x45mm weapons usually fall into the 10.5 - 20 inch barrel lengths, I think the M249 SAW is 16 inch's though.....

BTW, when I start work on finalizing the M855A1 EPR, I will be boosting the penetration on it a bit as its currently set for a 14.5 inch Carbine barrel penetrating 3/8 mild steel at 350 meters, the M16's 20 inch barrel allows it to penetrate better.

[kawa 14]

As far as I know:

Minimi Para (late M249 should be close): 13.66 inches (347 mm)

F2000 Tactical (BIS' MK20): 15.75 inches (400 mm)

Tavor TAR-21 (BIS' TRG21): 18.11 inches (460 mm)

Sources:

http://11rdp.fr/rdp/docs/FNMinimiPara_ManuelFR.pdf

http://11rdp.fr/rdp/docs/F2000T_ManuelFR.pdf

http://11rdp.fr/rdp/docs/IWI_Tavor_TAR-21_assault_rifle_armorers_manual.pdf

[Spartan0536 188]

As far as I know:

Minimi Para (late M249 should be close): 13.66 inches (347 mm)

F2000 Tactical (BIS' MK20): 15.75 inches (400 mm)

Tavor TAR-21 (BIS' TRG21): 18.11 inches (460 mm)

Sources:

http://11rdp.fr/rdp/docs/FNMinimiPara_ManuelFR.pdf

http://11rdp.fr/rdp/docs/F2000T_ManuelFR.pdf

http://11rdp.fr/rdp/docs/IWI_Tavor_TAR-21_assault_rifle_armorers_manual.pdf

interesting, I always thought the M249 had a 16 inch barrel, I will try to calculate the velocities accordingly for 5.56x45mm

[kawa 14]

As far as Wikipedia can be trusted, early M249's barrel were 18 inches long while today's model have much shorter barrels:

1991

2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M249_light_machine_gun

[warlord554 2065]

Awesome stuff. I had similar rounds for an upcoming weapons pack, including ak rounds. I left the air frictions alone, I'm afraid all the ingame BDC's will be obsolete?????

[colinm9991 20]

Subscribed to this, I'm not a modder myself but it would be good to see some sort of PBO developed to overhaul the default ballistics.

[da12thMonkey 1943]

Subscribed to this, I'm not a modder myself but it would be good to see some sort of PBO developed to overhaul the default ballistics.

There's a mod that replaces the equivalent default ingame magazines with ones using Spartan's values, and allows those weapons to accept the other ammunition types in that calibre:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?174095-lkr_ammo

[Spartan0536 188]

There's a mod that replaces the equivalent default ingame magazines with ones using Spartan's values, and allows those weapons to accept the other ammunition types in that calibre:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?174095-lkr_ammo

Lukrop and I are working in tandem to bring a common library of ballistics data to the ArmA community, my values are for public use on any mod so long as I get credit where it is due. 5.56x45mm data is easy enough for me to come by using my contacts in a few ammunition manufacturers and on trusted websites like AR15 and TheHighRoad. Most of my pistol rounds are based off of a 4-4.5 inch barrel and I have no intention on working on a sub compact frame or a micro frame pistol; however for calibers commonly featured in sub machine guns I will eventually have data for their barrel lengths and they will be different across the board.

[twisted 127]

can i add how awesome this initiative is? big thanks to you for the calculations and to Lukrop for his easy implmenetation. love to see these become standard across arma 3.

[Spartan0536 188]

can i add how awesome this initiative is? big thanks to you for the calculations and to Lukrop for his easy implmenetation. love to see these become standard across arma 3.

thanks for the kind words :)

[lukrop 10]

Thanks for your new values Spartan. I'll have a look into the different barrel length variations as soon as I find time. :)

[Spartan0536 188]

Everyone please keep in mind I have a whole new set of revised ballistics using 4 different calculators to ensure the accuracy of my work, this is very time consuming and like many of you I am also a gamer so I like to play as well. A big thanks to Bakerman who pointed out quite a large error in the calculator I was using and for making the Community Ballistics Calculator that is now the standard for ArmA III.

[kawa 14]

Keep up the good work Spartan!

Is it any data one could provide to help you cover as much weapons as possible? (eg. so EBR, Mk48 and so forth)

[Spartan0536 188]

MAJOR UPDATE 6/8/2014!

Today I have released my 5.56x45mm v2.0 ballistics which are using the new ballistics calculation system that exactly matches ArmA III's engine specifications. These ballistics have been meticulously calibrated and calculated to match RL performances. I hope you enjoy these new ballistics and I will have more rolling out when they are completed.

Next up will be 4.6x30mm H&K(Mil-Spec Only), .338 Lapua Magnum (Mil-Spec Only), 7.62x51mm NATO (Mil-Spec only), 5.45x39mm Russian (Mil-Spec Only), 7.62x39mm Russian (Mil-Spec Only), 7.62x54mmR Russian (Mil-Spec Only).

After these I expect to start and or complete work on 6.8x43mm SPC, .300 AAC Blackout, 9x19mm Parabellum, .357 Sig, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP

[kawa 14]

Glad that you did it Spartan0536, it's paving the way for a serie of coherent HD ammo for each weapon systems once you'll have done them all.

By the way, what about non US standard barrel length? Could you please provide the figures for the following length or the formula so one could figure the right mv?

As far as I know:

Minimi Para (late M249 should be close): 13.66 inches (347 mm)

F2000 Tactical (BIS' MK20): 15.75 inches (400 mm)

Tavor TAR-21 (BIS' TRG21): 18.11 inches (460 mm)

Sources:

http://11rdp.fr/rdp/docs/FNMinimiPara_ManuelFR.pdf

http://11rdp.fr/rdp/docs/F2000T_ManuelFR.pdf

http://11rdp.fr/rdp/docs/IWI_Tavor_TAR-21_assault_rifle_armorers_manual.pdf

All the best.

[Spartan0536 188]

Glad that you did it Spartan0536, it's paving the way for a serie of coherent HD ammo for each weapon systems once you'll have done them all.

By the way, what about non US standard barrel length? Could you please provide the figures for the following length or the formula so one could figure the right mv?

All the best.

Kawa you are going to make me slit my wrists, just those 3 barrel lengths took me over 20 man hours to complete and that is not including research involved in getting the velocities. I do have plans for 18 inch barrels because that's what many DMR's have that are chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO. To me and many others barrel differences of 1 or 2 inches means very little in terms of performance (albeit 18-20 inches is within that scope its just that I have had numerous people ask for 18 inches and there are a wide variety of mil spec weapons that support 18 inch barrels). This being said, I am not refusing completely, I may once other calibers are done come back to 5.56x45mm NATO with more detail in barrel length and if the information is available from credible sources for those barrels and munitions I would work on them then. Sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear, but I just can't spend more time on 5.56x45mm NATO when there are modders out there who are waiting on my ballistics code to release updates to thier mods and every day I delay that I feel responsible for the communities loss. Oddly enough Wikipedia which I do not consider as an entirely accurate credible source says that an M249 SAW has an 18 inch barrel, when FNH says both their Para and Full Size M249's have a 20.5 inch barrel.

[kawa 14]

Well, the Minimi Para's manual I got my figures from is an official French army manual, I guess that they can be rated as a reliable source too.

Anyway, I got your point and I didn't realize you put so much man hour per barrel length.

Whenever you'll do it will be soon enough.

[Brisse 78]

I for one is tired of fivefivesix now and would not mind seeing some 7N6, and other stuff :)

And thanks for the 9mm, those were useful to me, altough I adjusted them a bit for my own needs.

[Spartan0536 188]

I for one is tired of fivefivesix now and would not mind seeing some 7N6, and other stuff :)

And thanks for the 9mm, those were useful to me, altough I adjusted them a bit for my own needs.

My 9mm values are ALL messed up, I would not suggest using them, I will have pistols out available soon though, and as for 7N6 in 5.45x39, I already have them, they are currently in closed testing using HLC's AK pack for maximal effect.

[Brisse 78]

Hence the adjustmensts. I will keep my eye out for updates though.

[Brisse 78]

Started experimenting with 7N6 according to data I found on some russian site.

airFriction = -0.00160;

[Spartan0536 188]

Started experimenting with 7N6 according to data I found on some russian site.

airFriction = -0.00160;

Interesting you got such a high AF rating, during my calculations I ended up with a -0.0013492727 airFriction, and that was calculated using a .282 G1 BC with an MV of 879.9576 m/s and a projectile weight of 53 Grains. Using my standard atmospheric conditions model and Hornady's ballistics calculator and then converting it to airfriction values based on time/distance and getting them to match down to the thousandth I got the results that were listed above.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Spartan0536

[Brisse 78]

Your value might very well be more accurate. I come up with values by testing ingame, not by calculating it. Change config->repack->start game->test at various range->start over until result is satisfactory.

I have been doing some other round too but is seems that overall I end up having more airfriction. I'm going to try the 5.56 today, that way I can compare my result to the numbers you published. Maybe that can reveal a flaw in my method?

[Spartan0536 188]

Your value might very well be more accurate. I come up with values by testing ingame, not by calculating it. Change config->repack->start game->test at various range->start over until result is satisfactory.

I have been doing some other round too but is seems that overall I end up having more airfriction. I'm going to try the 5.56 today, that way I can compare my result to the numbers you published. Maybe that can reveal a flaw in my method?

I do not mean to sound offensive with this, but all of my ballistics especially AirFrictions are based on the exact formula BIS developers use to give airfriction values in game. To calculate airFriction you need....

1. Ballistics Coefficient (G1) for the round

2. Muzzle Velocity of the round

3. A reputable ballistics calculator (I use Hornady's, its streamlined but also when using advanced options its very precise)

4. you take the MV and BC and plug it into the calculator, and that will give you a range card

5. find the velocity at the distance you are going to use as the standard and compare with muzzle velocity.

6. once the comparison is made you plug that into an acceleration calculator

7. once you get a number from the acceleration calculator you plug that into the BIS formula for calculating airFriciton

8. edit the acceleration values until they produce an airFriction value that aligns with your ballistic range card.

That is how (in a nut shell) I calculate airFriction, most of my values are literally within a 1%, and that is NOT propoganda, unless otherwise stated the airFriction values are spot on to the real deal and that I can prove (I kinda just did) mathematically.

Addendum: All of this work takes about 20-30 minutes on avergage unless you have a really solid base to work with, then dialing it in just right takes about 10 minutes and this is just for airFriction for 1 type of bullet for 1 barrel length. This does not even cover hit values, and penetration capabilities, those can take an extra hour (mainly the penetration values) if you are not entirely sure about the rounds performance in a certain medium.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Spartan0536