Sniping is impossible?

[thenoobdrew 10]

Howdy folks. As a long time OFP fan(atic), I've finally knuckled under and bought ArmA Gold since it was $19.99. I'm running 1.14.5256, or that's what it says on the startup screen. I haven't added any mods yet, so it's a nice, clean install. I ran through all the tutorial missions without any major problems, and then started the campaign. On the second (I think) mission where you can snipe the soldiers from the water tower, I noticed that the bullets wouldn't go anywhere near the guys when shooting with the zoomed in scoped Mk12 SPR. I don't remember taking so many tries with the M21 in the OFP "bomber man" mission. I saw a post somewhere about "zooming in" with the scope causing the ballistics to go whacko, but I can't find it anymore. I think it was buried in 2007 or something anyway. So, after a LOT of fumbling around, I somehow passed the water tower sniper mission (getting shot up big time in the process) and gave up for a few weeks. Today I started by picking out the "blood, sweat, tears" mission and got past the uniform collection checkpoint, but then again, after delivering and picking up the Mk12 SPR in place of the trusty silenced M4carbine, I noticed I can't hit anything in the town when zoomed in. I tried a few shots zoomed out and found that the gun is pretty much dead on (100-150 yard range), which leads me to think that there is an issue with zoomed scopes. Is there a patch for fixing this? Sorry to rehash old problems! I just can't think of what to search for. . .(ballistics, sniping, bullet issues, scope issues were too broad.) Thanks for any help!

-Andrew

my rig:

trusty old Fx60 on an A8N32-SLI

SLId 7800GTXs

All watercooled and slightly OC'd

2 GB RAM

XP Pro

Someday I'll build another uber-rig.

Edited July 20, 2009 by thenoobdrew
forgot signature

[Evil_Echo 11]

You should be running either patch 1.14 or 1.16beta.

ArmA models a bit more ballastics than most games, elevation and range come much more into play. You'll find that just like IRL, you have to account for that at anything beyond short range - typically when you would like to use that scope.

There are mods and add-ons for scope recticle adjustment to re-zero your sights. Being a member of the ACE team I recomend that naturally. :) You can also find a guide to markmanship using ACE on the BI Wiki.

[max power 21]

Also, using the water tower to snipe is a bad idea.

[oyman 0]

Mk12 SPR uses same ammo class values as the M4 ammo and thats why you cant hit anything.

[thenoobdrew 10]

@Evil Echo: The gold edition DVD was 1.08 and I did patch it (from the http://www.armedassault.com/downloads.html page) to 1.14.

@Max Power: Agreed. That's how I had passed the mission. . .by NOT using the water tower. :D

@oyman: Understood, but at 100-150 yards, they should be acceptable to use.

@all: Maybe this is a better description of the problem:

1. Non campaign mission "blood, sweat, tears"

2. During second "checkpoint" where guy drives bomb laden truck to radio tower, I snag the Mk12 SPR, hop on the moto and zip just outside the town.

3. The tower is listed as being 150ish yards away. Enemies are closer, so 100 yards or less.

4. Select optics (not zoomed optics).

5. Pick off enemies, first was a lucky head shot, then the rest center mass, no issues.

6. Using scroll wheel, zoom in scope for a "closer" view. (I'm actually using trackIR, so I just lean forward.)

7. Attempt to pick off more enemies, but NEVER hit them, even at the same range.

8. Decided to test shots at ground to see where bullet hits. The ground puffs are almost off the screen (at the very top of the "zoomed scope view.")

It's as if using the zoom in pushes the far end of the scope down while zooming, instead of just magnifying straight ahead. Does that make any sense? I did manage to get to the airbase assault, just never used the "zoomed" scope.

Thanks for all the input. I'll look into the ACE mod. I'm gettin' old and kinda burnt out on mods. With OFP, MSFS, GTR2 etc I spent so much time with mods, I hardly ran the actual sims. I'm definitely not one to "arcade down" the simulation though. I can just slum with COD4 if I wanted to do that.

[subs17 9]

The problem might be parallax when you use the trakir with the zoom. You should not be moving your head to the scope IRL to zoom in the scope you should be just pushing the zoom button instead. Because IRL the eye remains at the focal point from the objective lens instead the zoom is adjusted through the zoom knob on the scope. Also I'd stick with a heavier caliber like 7.62mm dragonov or M21 for longer range shots as it has the stopping power although IRL the Mk12 SPR should be no problem to shoot 150yds. IMO Acemod is probably the best mod for Arma as it adds realistic effects for sniper rifles you can also do all the OFP missions in arma with the CWR mod.

[max power 21]

I think zooming in might push the rifle zero back to 600 meters. Try aiming for centre mass.

I would do a short experiment in the editor.

[thenoobdrew 10]

IMO Acemod is probably the best mod for Arma as it adds realistic effects for sniper rifles you can also do all the OFP missions in arma with the CWR mod.

I keep seeing the acemod mentioned. . .I'd better give it a shot. I also saw someone mention something called XOD (I think?) What's that? Search turns up nothing. Maybe I misread XOD. . .

I think zooming in might push the rifle zero back to 600 meters. Try aiming for centre mass.

I would do a short experiment in the editor.

I'll give the editor test a shot. . .