Working GTLD II Rangefinder

[Cougar69 0]

Thats exactly how it is, I go into the editor, add a sf recon and click play, then when Im ingame i select the laser and it acts like the normal laser. I dont see any options Range or Mark and I dont see any digits top or bottom. I only see the scopefix model.

[DaSquade 0]

That makes two . I'm running your other stuff plus the GMJ_SightAdjustment. Maybe it is interflecting (wild guess as i don't see why it doesn't work).

I only tested in the editor although i had to test it in MP but didn't want to be the person crashing the server...as you wrote not mp tested.

Just wondering, so it doesn't mather if the laser is in the second slot of secundary weapons (bino vs nvgoggle slot), but i did use the stock SF recon unit as test...will test tomorrow as i run out of free time now.

[Silverguy82 0]

I tried putting in the shortcut with the following target line

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">"D:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA" -mod=@NWD_ScopeFix;@NWD_RangeFinder

and instead of creating a shortcut to the game for launch... it created a shortcut to the Armed Assault folder in my drive  

I have had a lot of problems with shortcuts in the past with OFP...

any chance of this being released as a stand alone addon? I hate dealing with shortcuts... never seem to work on my computer.

Also... if you need help or want to check out a laser range finder where you just click a button and the laser range finder gets the range for you so you can get some ideas... you can find it on the snipers from XAM mod. In that addon all you need to do is "turn on" the laser rangefinder and hit a button to reveal the range to target.

It's a really nice addon... however again it runs on shortcuts    but thankfully myself... i was able to extract the addons needed to run the sniper portion and I play around with those.

[froggyluv 2136]

I tried putting in the shortcut with the following target line

"D:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA" -mod=@NWD_ScopeFix;@NWD_RangeFinder

and instead of creating a shortcut to the game for launch... it created a shortcut to the Armed Assault folder in my drive  

I have had a lot of problems with shortcuts in the past with OFP...

any chance of this being released as a stand alone addon? I hate dealing with shortcuts... never seem to work on my computer.

Also... if you need help or want to check out a laser range finder where you just click a button and the laser range finder gets the range for you so you can get some ideas... you can find it on the snipers from XAM mod. In that addon all you need to do is "turn on" the laser rangefinder and hit a button to reveal the range to target.

It's a really nice addon... however again it runs on shortcuts    but thankfully myself... i was able to extract the addons needed to run the sniper portion and I play around with those.

This "D:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA" -mod=@NWD_ScopeFix;@NWD_RangeFinder

should read like this

"D:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA\ArmA.exe" -mod=@NWD_ScopeFix;@NWD_RangeFinder

you were telling you shortcut to go to your Arma folder but not to ArmA.exe

[NonWonderDog 0]

If you're using GMJ_SightAdjustment, you'll also need the compatibility fix in the Extended Init post. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you. If you don't want to deal with the shortcut you could put the .pbo in your ArmA AddOns folder, but I really don't recommend doing that for something as buggy as this probably is.

That said, I hope someone besides me has gotten this to work?

It's not very hard to make a rangefinder that requires you to designate the target first. I could have done that, but there would be no way to mount something like that on a tank, which is my goal. I'd also like to get this working like the real thing. I'm currently writing an overheat script that will shut the laser off after 5 minutes and break it if you leave it on override.

I just wish I could find a way to either 1) keep the player from turning the laser on with the fire key, or 2) run the script whenever the player presses the fire key. It kind of ruins the overheating script if you can avoid it by pressing "fire".

[Cougar69 0]

Well adding the sightadjustment init made the range finder works

[Silverguy82 0]

cool! thanks so much froggyluv! That got the mod folder working...

but I'am still not seeing the rangefinder when I i put a "sf recon" guy on a map editor (i'am using Rahmadi as the test map)

When I go to the laser designator view it looks like this...

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums....der.jpg

please confirm i have everything in the right place...

-NWD_Rangefinder.pbo in the @NWD_Rangefinder folder which is located in the Arma folder

-Extended_Init_EventHandlers.pbo is in the Arma\AddOns folder

-NWD_ScopeFix.pbo is in the Arma\AddOns folder

[NonWonderDog 0]

NWD_Rangefinder.pbo should be in the "@NWD_Rangefinder\Addons\" folder, using -mod=@NWD_Rangefinder in your shortcut.

[DaSquade 0]

Got it working with the SightAdjustment_AutoInit.pbo aswell now.

Very nicely done and looking forward to a more stable version and a range on bino (please ).

From my tests, witch where all offline (editor):

I only had the range meter working in RANGE MODE once, the first time i ever tried it.

After that i think i always or 95% only had a range meter when switching to laser mode. Not sure if that is normal (part of your mentioned bug). But i tried a few restarts...

In the end don't care that much, as long we have a reading .

Could it be i briefly spotted the battery bolp flashing up?

Would be nice to get it always flashing when lasing/ranging and combine a 'working time vs battery life' script on it. But afaik that was on your wishlist.

But i'm sure you will try to make it as realistic as it can.

Anyway, very good start and a very usefull tool imho. Looking forward to some fixes and improvements when they come.

Keep it up.

(Will test it out online when i have the change).

[NonWonderDog 0]

It should work in either mode at mission start, it will just take a second or so to start displaying. All the digits are separate 64x64 textures since I can't add a font set, so there's a pause (in the display, not ArmA) to load each digit before the first time it can be displayed. I've been trying to get it to preload the textures, but I can't find a reliable way.

The battery life of the GLTD II is apparently 90 minutes, since it uses a giant brace of five BA-5590 batteries (it doesn't run on that silly little 9V in the equipment image ). This surprised me, since the battery lives of all the other man-portable laser designators in the Army are only 3-10 minutes.

That might be 90 minutes at a 33% duty cycle, though, which would mean only two 5-1-5-1-5 cycles. Or it could be 90 minutes turned on, which would mean the battery wouldn't be low until you've been in the mission for 4 or 5 hours, using the laser as often as you can. I might code battery drain anyway since it's so easy, but its life is longer than you'll ever use it in a mission.

I have the battery light flickering once because I didn't know what an average PRF was. I think I'll guess somewhere between 8-20 Hz. The XMT light should actually "flicker at the PRF rate," while the BAT light should "illuminate briefly following each laser pulse." I'll try to fudge something that fits this description, but it seems very odd to me. The BAT light is actually a low voltage indicator, so maybe the XMT light actually indicates capacitor charge?

[DaSquade 0]

Sorry my bad , i didn't read the 'how to operate it ' fully.

It worked as discrived.

The only real bug or annoying thing i find is, at least i think, when there is an ammo crate in the mission that contains extra laser markers or units with lasers, you get multiple range/mark in your action list. So the counting should be player only...but no scripting expert here, just reporting what i see but i suppose you are awhere of it.

I have briefly tested this in a MP mission. Didn't crash the server and didn't noticed peolpe do strange things..well not more then normally . But like said, you end up with a extreme long list of actions due to the amount of laser markers ingame. I suppose that made my game hang for a few secondes as it was counting them i think.

[Silverguy82 0]

this is very strange... I have everything where they should be in as far as the .pbo's and the shortcuts... but the display is still not showing up when I go to the laser designator with the special forces soldier....

here is what my Arma directory looks like

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums....uts.jpg

and here is what my addons folder looks like

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums....der.jpg

everytime I set a SF Recon guy in the editor with the Rahmadi map I go to the laser designator and it looks like this... http://s24.photobucket.com/albums....der.jpg

no option appears for using the rangefinder

[Cougar69 0]

get the gmj sightadjustment init eventhandler in your addons folder and it should work.

[Silverguy82 0]

where can I find the init eventhandler for gmj sight adjustment addon? I downloaded the latest version and all it has in the folder is the GMJ_SightAdjustment.pbo

[Pringles 0]

any way to stop the blue text spam that comes with the auto init?

[NonWonderDog 0]

You don't need any of the "example" pbo files from the extended init mod. Those are the cause of the spam text, and you can safely delete them.

You only need the "Extended_Init_EventHandlers.pbo" file.

The sightAdjustment compatibility fix is included in the same post as the extended init mod. Get it from there and put in the sightAdjustment folder if you use that mod.

[max power 21]

I finally got it working properly. I just dropped the compatibility fix into the gmj_SightAdjustment mod addon folder, and voila.

[=(+)=TheVoodoo 0]

The only real bug or annoying thing i find is, at least i think, when there is an ammo crate in the mission that contains extra laser markers or units with lasers, you get multiple range/mark in your action list. So the counting should be player only...

i can confirm this... really annoying...

[NonWonderDog 0]

Does it do that in single-player as well? I didn't test that issue on the last release, but the version I'm kicking around right now doesn't have that problem when I run it in the editor.

I've tried to make my code more mulitplayer-friendly, but I don't really know if I've succeeded. I've put a few things into player-specific globals that were kept in the code scope before, so I may have inadvertently fixed the action menu bug.

I have implemented mostly-working overheat code, though. You should be able to run any of the duty cycles listed in my source without too much problem, but exceeding the max duty cycle will overheat the laser. The HOT light will come on at 100% temperature, and when the temperature reaches 110% it will shut down and you won't be able to use it in MARK mode again for ten minutes or so (I've yet to implement override mode and laser burnout). The laser will cool with Newton's law of cooling when turned off, and heat up linearly when turned on (with heating rate based on the temperature when you turned it on--higher temp, lower rate--to better simulate whatever limits it to 5 minutes continuous). The code isn't realistic at all, but the results are better than I expected. Of course, you can still avoid all of this by using the fire button instead of the action menu to trigger the laser, and I haven't found a way to prevent that yet.

Actually... I can steal your batteries whenever you're looking through the optics and give them back whenever you use the laser in the action menu. That all sounds scarily bug-prone, but I think I'll try it. (This works perfectly. Even better, you don't actually need batteries to keep the laser on, you only need batteries to turn it on or off. This means I can make a dedicated rangefinder with this script, without including the designator.)

I also have the azimuth and elevation displays updating continuously whenever the display is on, in case anyone wants to pretend they're RoboCop. (There are rangefinders that find this info internally, and I think one of them is actually used by US forces. The GLTD II is not one of them.) This will be optional. It will also be in mils.

[343rdBadger 0]

NonWonderDog...I 've recently stumbled across these rangefinding threads in the context of tanking,...and noticed that there are others working on something similar. I gota wonder if there maybe should be some colaboration between you and the other modders working on the same thing? I can only assume you've seen the stuff in the other thread with the video??Would be nice to have the ultimate RangefindingBalisticDropDynamicLead  blah blah Tank sight that could be built..hehe

nevermind I see that you are talkin to one another now...cool

[Silverguy82 0]

that worked! I put in the SightAdjustment_AutoInit.pbo into my addons folder and it got the laser to do it's thing thanks a lot guys

[NonWonderDog 0]

v0.5 Released!

This hopefully fixes the action menu flooding, and adds new functionality:

# Laser heat is simulated, and you will no longer be able to lase continuously

# Override mode exists, and can be used to get around auto-shutdown at the risk of laser damage

# The elevation and azimuth displays work, and can be enabled with an optional .pbo

# The fire button no longer toggles the laser

# XMT and BAT lights now flicker at approximately 10 Hz when marking

I still need to make this work with units other than SFRecon, and I hope to simulate laser dispersion. Other than that, it should simulate the GLTD II pretty well.

[Silverguy82 0]

the new version is creating some small minor problems for me... for one.. it cuts off the reading on the GMJ sight adjustments... if I use the clicks to adjust my rifle sights it cuts off the reading...so I only catch a glimpse of how much I have moved my rifle sights up. Luckily for myself I can read what it is. You can also remedy this problem by dropping the laser rangefinder for a second to confirm your rifle sight adjustment.

Also... when you first try to turn on the laser designator you sometimes get this message

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums....er2.jpg

this usually happens only the first time you try to turn on the laser designator... when you try a second time it usually goes away.

in the last version I was able to give a sniper a laser rangefinder using the code...

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">this addmagazine "laserbatteries";this addweapon "laserdesignator"

but it seems that on this latest version it does not work it only works for the SF Recon guy

I hope we can get this thing solved so we can have it on any unit we please

[NonWonderDog 0]

Ooops, I forgot one of the debug messages. It's printing temperature out as a hint, and its not supposed to. I must have had that in my code twice, since I know I got rid of one of them. I've uploaded a version with that fixed.

I don't know why you're getting the divide-by-zero error, though. It seems to be complaining about an empty array, but that should not happen. Does that happen online, offline, or both? Does it only happen if others on the map have laser designators?

As to adding it to a sniper, I'm honestly surprised that worked in the last version. Could you describe "does not work"? I would expect the screen and action menu options to show up but for the action menu to do nothing. Is that what happens?

I still need a way to find the laser's weaponindex. I think the only way to do it is to load the player's weapon list, look up the number of muzzles and fire modes for each weapon, and count up to wherever the laser is. I'm trying to get this working, but the "weapons" command doesn't show the "put" and "throw" weapons. I think I know a workaround, so expect it to work with all units in the next version .

Right now, it assumes the third muzzle or fire mode in your inventory is a laser designator.

[Silverguy82 0]

I have not tried the click adjustment thing online with the this new version... but it has worked before. It's not that much of a big deal cause I can still see the moa adjustment, just it goes by really quick

this is how the inside of the laser desginator looks when I put it in the hands of a sniper in the latest version...

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums....ser.jpg

when I hit "range" on a spot it doesn't do anything... the numbers just say what it shows on the picture. Also when I use "range" the top left portion of the screen goes from red to white, and then back to red again. If I hit the "mark" and "Q/R" button it just turns the laser designator on and off

no problems when I put it in the hands of the SF Recon guy though   that works clean as a whistle