Muzzle flash needs variation.

[granQ 293]

PLEASE; INSTEAD OF WRITING HERE; VOTE ON IT

http://dev-heaven.net/issues/show/2724

Back in the days there was this game called Operation Flashpoint, if you fired a rifle like lets say 3 rounds, there was 3 different muzzle flashes. This was very nice when you had like a machinegun and put down covering fire.

Later came this game called arma1 where you only have one texture. When firing the mg at night it looks really really bad. So for the sequel they did nothing and decided to keep it as a "feature"...

Don't know what I mean?

Have a look 2 mins in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFDykaByYHs

its really annoying.

Edited July 9, 2009 by granQ

[bravo 6 0]

I agree. Would create a different and better feeling.

+1

[EDcase 87]

+1 Asolutely they need at least 3 shapes and slight random size.

I also think they should be brighter.

[Jex =TE= 0]

Agreed - currently it looks like an orange flower keeps appearing stuck on the end of the barrel. Some motion would be a welcome addittion but not high priority. Probably something the modders will take up?

[Nutlink 10]

100% agree. The original Aliens vs Predator on the PC from 1999 had multiple muzzle flashes, and that was 10 years ago.

[Maddmatt 1]

Agree. The animation needs to be sped up a bit too.

It's possible with mods. You can see in the SLX and ACE mods in ArmA some weapons have more than one muzzle flash.

[granQ 293]

Ofp had it.. so its been in the bis games for just as long.

I just hope they fix it, sure can be done with addons/mods. But i want to enjoy "vanilla" arma2 just as well.

[EDcase 87]

Please please get rid of, or at least reduce, the puff-balls coming out the muzzle. :icon_rolleyes:

Some smoke may be realistic and help to spot firing enemy but not blobs of white shooting out.

This is a good example of how bad it can look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2zPSqOAC9c

(Watch till the end... its a good example of FADE too ;))

Edited June 5, 2009 by EDcase

[That guy 10]

the smoke effects are just a result of the game engine

As far as the muzzle flashes go, that has always been something that annoyed me. Also, for 90% of the weapons ingame, the flashes are WAY too big. most muzzle flashes should be about the size of the m4SD's muzzle flash in the ARMA1 ACE mod (but no where near as bright).

make them smaller, and with more variation. Remember, almost always you cant see flash during the day. some weapons yeah, they flash. like the AKs with the 74 muzzle break.

[ahmedjbh 0]

they need several spirtes and then randomly use each one when firing.

Standard fps stuff.

[Griswoldz 10]

it looks horrible. I hope it'll get patched up, as it is just a small thing, but it would make us, gamers happier.

Edited June 7, 2009 by Griswoldz

[engen 0]

I completely agree with granQ.

There are several examples of older games using flat faces with a texture as muzzleflashes, where this fact was not as obvious as it was/is in ofp/arma/arma2. At the moment the flash seems unchanged since OFP, only transparency, colour and resolution(?) seems changed. As granQ suggests, have several flashes that differs, blur them out more and give them a realistic size, aswell as making them more rapid so they don't "linger".

With a slightly lower than average fps, firing at night, this issue becomes very clear. More than often i've wondered why there's a bright yellowredish flower sticking out of the barrel of the M249.

Also, there's the issue with using several alpha-channels ontop of eachother. Each texture uses an alpha channel to simulate transparency, this however creates for rather odd texturebugs when placed on top of eachother, for example when seeing the different textures from an angle. Hard to describe, but i'm pretty sure everyone that played the game(s) have noticed it. This is especially noticeable in firstperson when you often see the "front" muzzleflash-texture and the horizontal and vertical ones all at the same time. A very ad hoc solution to this that we applied for SFP4 was to simply remove the horizontal and vertical muzzleflash. Only the "front" muzzleflash remained, and as such the flash looked alot better and there was no alpha-channel issues with seeing buggy textures by looking through other alpha-channel textures.

I also agree on the previous statements made regarding smoke. The smoke moves too fast, and is most often too "puffy", and too white. Gray it out, make it slower so it lingers. This of course will affect fps. Also, most of the smoke comes from the housing where the casing ejects when firing a weapon such as an assault rifle. I believe adding this would not only add to the immersion, but also add to the "realism" that everyone strives for. Just a small suggestion, really.

Finally, there's always the discussion regarding on how the "small details" such as this would affect the "overall experience" of immersion in the game. Would fixing the muzzleflash issue really solve alot of problems regarding to immersion? Just like many of the other small things that people comment on? Of course not. The problem is however that the "overall experience" of the game is in these small details. If one would keep arguing that the "overall experience" is the most important factor, not the details, one would be missing the point. By only looking at the overall experience you miss the details. It's in these hundreds, if not thousands of small details, that makes a real difference in immersion and gives the game the true recognition it deserves for people other than hardcore fanboys/girls who already know how to score an RPG kill on a moving Hind from 800m's away. ;)

I'm not claiming that BIS should fix every single little detail, that would not be realistic nor reasonable to expect. I'm just bringing up that it's all the small things (No Blink 182 pun intended.), it's all these insane amount of details that truly makes ArmA great. The whole experience is in the details and the attention to them. I'm not saying BIS haven't payed attention to these details, however. OFP/ArmA/ArmA2 are full of them. And it's that fact that keeps me playing these games on and off since 2001.

...Aaaaand there we go! Four(ish) years of silence on these forums has ended. Had to make all that absence up with a bunch of text. ;)

[Blackbird_CaD_ 10]

I agree, i also think that the muzzle flash really looks horrible.

The flash should vary, and it should be in higher resolution.

Please BIS, make the muzzle flash nicer, i would become so happy then :)

Everyone who see this thread should write and give their opinion of this, because if many people "complain" then BIS will maybe fix it.

If only a few people complain, then they maybe wont fix it..

So everyone of you out there who is reading this and maybe haven't even registered on this forum yet: register now and give us your opinion :P

(I did that, but wrote in another thread..)

Edited June 13, 2009 by Blackbird_CaD_

[ahmedjbh 0]

Is there any way a talented graphics artist within the community could make an alternative?

[Cultivator 0]

+1

Oh... yes thats something the community suggested before release... and i hope its just not included in the german version.... because there was no time left ..... its a realy atmosphere-killer in i hope new ones will be included in the next patch.... Ace-muzzleflashs looked realy good ... ;-)

regards -rF- Culti

[wipman 1]

Hi, in the ArmA many weapons use the same muzzle flash texture when they shouldn't, the

G36s for example, they share the same one than any M4A1 or M16, when the G36s have a

different muzzle break, at least the K and C variants; the AK74s in the ArmA at least, use a

muzzle flash that's round, like a circle, when they should be using one that goes to the sides

instead have the shape of a pistol's muzzle flash or a saw-off shotgun. That should change

too. Let's C ya

[granQ 293]

wipman, agree with you.. a few more wouldn't hurt.. but first of all I want the "flower in the rifle" to be replaced with at least one proper muzzle flash..

come on BIS, wake up ;)

[Redkid Joker 0]

"flower in the rifle"

FLOWER POWER!

I agree, judging from the videos it does look a bit... shitty. But I would be happy with just a 5 degree rotation and it going back and forth between those two.

[galzohar 31]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0GUjBdynxU

You can probably find more.

[IronTrooper 0]

I would like some variations too or maybe, to make it simple, it would suffice if the actual texture was randomly rotated and possibly its transparency being dynamically changed during the shot.

[OmNomGiggity 10]

Please fix this muzzle flash. It neither is realistic nor pleasant to watch, though there are by far more important things to fix than that.

[Skodz 10]

It does look very bad on youtube video. Looks like 2d 10 years old graphics.

[=(+)=TheVoodoo 0]

It was already annoying in ArmA1, sadly they didn't change it for ArmA2.

I guess an effectscript like afterburner would look awesome for muzzleflashes. But i also think this would create insane lag ingame.

I hope BIS or the community will replace it soon with a nice alternative.

[TheBladeRoden 0]

Here's another video where you can really see the flower petal effect (2:49). Also note the flickery smoke columns(2:20).

Edited June 15, 2009 by TheBladeRoden

[max power 21]

I don't mind the smoke but I think the muzzle flash should be enhanced. Normally I'm not a stickler for such niggling details but think of how often you see muzzle flashes in the game. It's most definitely the event you see most, far more than anything else.