Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: kamori on December 11, 2004, 12:22:10 PM
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I am having no luck changing the color of my weazel gun sight. Can someone post instructions on how to create or edit an existing sight. I did do a search, no return on the subject.
ty
kamori
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If you're just doing it in MS paint, you only have a certain amount of colors to choose from. If it is the same in AHII as it was in AH1, then you just need to experiment with different colors until you find one that changes it.
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http://www.irfanview.com/
About the only thing it does NOT do is create from scratch.
However everything else is quick, easy to the point of being simple.
Very nicely writen, small, highly configurable. Ohhh & did I mention its free?
BTW Dark red is my fav color for gunsights.
Shows against ground, air, water, and icons.
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Thank you...Ill give it a try..
Kamori
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Illuminated (alpha) gunsights are the way to go.
The _alpha.bmp is an 8-bit grayscale image.
Pure Black = NO color will bleed-thru
Pure White = FULL color will bleed-thru
Varying shades of gray will allow color bleed-thru depending on how close the shade of gray is towards the black or white end of the scale.
Here are the 2 that I use ...
For fighters ... the 13th TAS Dot 'O Death™
default.bmp
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/default.bmp)
default_alpha.bmp
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/default_alpha.bmp)
For JABOs ...
default2.bmp
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/default2.bmp)
default2_alpha.bmp
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/default2_alpha.bmp)
Here is what they look like ...
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/spitv.jpg)
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/f6f.jpg)
and if you want them there are here (http://24.151.4.182:82/images/SlapShotSight.zip).
Mitsu has a friend called AERO who makes the best alpha sights that I have ever seen. I created mine by cut and pasting from some of the sights that he created. You might want to try the same.
Here is a zip file (http://24.151.4.182:82/images/AeroReviSights.zip) that contains all of the sights that AERO made before.
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Thank you VERY much Slapshot!
Illuminated sights is one area I have not gotten into. These look VERY sweet.
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The problem with the gunsights is that they aren't really "illuminated". You set the basic colors, and use the alpha masking and opacity controls to make it feel "illuminated".
Therefore, if you make a gunsight with colors you would see in real gunsights, it looks great against a dark, contrasted background such as the sea or land. However, when the sight is aimed up against the light blue sky, since in reality it isn't really emitting any kind of light of its own, it tends to become pale and weak. because it blends in with the sky.
A work around would be making the gunsight colors firm and contrasted - except if you do this, the colors become soild without any opacity at all, which makes the gunsight more of a nuisance view-blocker rather than an 'aiming reticle'.
I've made some historic gunsights trying to replicate the feel you'd get in IL2/FB. Particularly I've been trying to find a sort of a 'middle point' where the sight would look historic and cool, but still retain much of its visibility. So far, it's not turning up any satisfactory results.
Here are some sample pics of the historic gunsights I've made myself. They're pretty excellent, against contrasted background as you'd see in the sample, if I say so myself. The problem is you can't retain this much quality when the sight is set against the blue sky.
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/232_1102967610_sightsample.jpg)
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True Kwe ... they aren't really illuminated. Using the right colors gives that effect.
As you can see on the sights that I created, there is no problem with the white dot being washed out on the sky, and those pictures aren't anywhere near as sharp as what I see in the game. The orange glow around the white dot is actually transparent to the point that you can see the plane thru it.
Have you taken a look at AERO's Revi Sights that are in the zip file that I posted the link to ? His sights don't seem to suffer the same problem as you described.
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http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=136621
Please vote to get more realistic illuminated gunsight.
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Have you taken a look at AERO's Revi Sights that are in the zip file that I posted the link to ? His sights don't seem to suffer the same problem as you described
Actually, I started practicing gunsight making by reverse-engineering :D Aero's sights. The "fuzzy wrapping" like you've mentioned was the first thing I was trying to get rid of.
WW2 gunsights are light emitted, but the light is grouped and concentrated and very sharp in contrast, and at the same time, has certain amount of transparency.
AH gunsights can't do that: they are either sharp/bright/non-transparent, or fuzzy/pale/transparent.
The 'fuzzy wrapping' as I like to call it, is a method which sort of tries to go around the problem by giving a contrast to the gunsight itself, by wrapping the crosshairs with another color higher in contrast.
I've started out from that method too, except my taste for gunsights was the sharp, clear, historic feel. Aero's was much too fuzzy and dirty for me. So I gave up that method totally.
I want to see something like IL-2/FB. The contrast is sharp and the gunsight is clear and clean - and still has significant transparency.
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I have never seen a real gunsight in action, so I don't know what it really should look like, but I understand what you are trying to explain and would have to agree that with the current implementation, we won't see it.
but ... I am very happy with my wittle dot ... :D
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Kweassa -
Those are some SWEET sights if I do say so myself... I particularly like the German Revi one...
Any chance of you sending them to me? Vudak@yahoo.com
Or is there a place you have them available for downloads?
I'm guessing each "notch" on the Revi indicates amount of lead, and going by your photo I'm guessing each stands for 200 yard increments?
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what is the new max texture size limit for gunsights?
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Vudak, I'll just send you the entire zipped "sights" folder. It's only about 2mb uncompressed, so it should fit e-mail size.
As for the crosshairs, I've really got no idea :D It's just cosmetic, but ofcourse, that won't stop you from actually using the notches :D
ps) oh, be sure to back up your original "sights" folder, in case you don't like the gunsights.
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kweassa can you send me a copy to scott@aquara.com?
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I would be extremely interested in your "sites" zipped file also if you don't mind.
Email them here :
fouriiii@adelphia.net
Please and TUVMIA
SS10
Originally posted by Kweassa
The problem with the gunsights is that they aren't really "illuminated". You set the basic colors, and use the alpha masking and opacity controls to make it feel "illuminated".
Therefore, if you make a gunsight with colors you would see in real gunsights, it looks great against a dark, contrasted background such as the sea or land. However, when the sight is aimed up against the light blue sky, since in reality it isn't really emitting any kind of light of its own, it tends to become pale and weak. because it blends in with the sky.
A work around would be making the gunsight colors firm and contrasted - except if you do this, the colors become soild without any opacity at all, which makes the gunsight more of a nuisance view-blocker rather than an 'aiming reticle'.
I've made some historic gunsights trying to replicate the feel you'd get in IL2/FB. Particularly I've been trying to find a sort of a 'middle point' where the sight would look historic and cool, but still retain much of its visibility. So far, it's not turning up any satisfactory results.
Here are some sample pics of the historic gunsights I've made myself. They're pretty excellent, against contrasted background as you'd see in the sample, if I say so myself. The problem is you can't retain this much quality when the sight is set against the blue sky.
(http://www.onpoi.net/ah/pics/users/232_1102967610_sightsample.jpg)
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Originally posted by SlapShot
Illuminated (alpha) gunsights are the way to go.
The _alpha.bmp is an 8-bit grayscale image.
Pure Black = NO color will bleed-thru
Pure White = FULL color will bleed-thru
Varying shades of gray will allow color bleed-thru depending on how close the shade of gray is towards the black or white end of the scale.
Here are the 2 that I use ...
For fighters ... the 13th TAS Dot 'O Death™
default.bmp
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/default.bmp)
default_alpha.bmp
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/default_alpha.bmp)
For JABOs ...
default2.bmp
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/default2.bmp)
default2_alpha.bmp
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/default2_alpha.bmp)
Here is what they look like ...
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/spitv.jpg)
(http://24.151.4.182:82/images/f6f.jpg)
and if you want them there are here (http://24.151.4.182:82/images/SlapShotSight.zip).
Mitsu has a friend called AERO who makes the best alpha sights that I have ever seen. I created mine by cut and pasting from some of the sights that he created. You might want to try the same.
Here is a zip file (http://24.151.4.182:82/images/AeroReviSights.zip) that contains all of the sights that AERO made before.
hey! i use the 'dot-o-death' also! have done ever since hearing 'Mathman' describe his gunsight in AH1. not realistic but IMO the best sight for ggaming by a mile. 13th TAS :)
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Originally posted by Citabria
what is the new max texture size limit for gunsights?
Gunsights are 128 x 128
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Originally posted by Vudak
Kweassa -
Those are some SWEET sights if I do say so myself... I particularly like the German Revi one...
Any chance of you sending them to me? Vudak@yahoo.com
Or is there a place you have them available for downloads?
I'm guessing each "notch" on the Revi indicates amount of lead, and going by your photo I'm guessing each stands for 200 yard increments?
Quoted from Andy Bush in another thread on gunsights ...
"The gunsight designer begins by establishing the scale of the display. This means he sets the dimensions of the display to represent a given range to the target. The simplest reference is the gunsight reticle. The designer intends that the diameter of the reticle is sized such that an enemy aircraft wingspan will equal the reticle diameter at that given range. Other types of display markings (lines, X's, tick marks, etc) all do exactly the same thing. The pilot simply compares target size to his display to estimate range...he knows what range he wants, so he closes on the target until it is the desired size relative to the sight markings."
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Been messing around with a few sights - can check them out in this thread.
http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=137877
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SLAPSHOT -
Could you describe a little bit how the lower dot is used for JABO's? I understand it's probably for bombs or rockets, but what kind of airspeed, dive angle , etc. are they designed to be used with?
I found the single dot one somewhere on these boards a while back and have been using it on all the fighters - I really love the precision aiming that's possible with the small dot. (Now if my aiming skills were up to the task....)
Anyway, Thanks in advance!
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Originally posted by debuman
SLAPSHOT -
Could you describe a little bit how the lower dot is used for JABO's? I understand it's probably for bombs or rockets, but what kind of airspeed, dive angle , etc. are they designed to be used with?
I found the single dot one somewhere on these boards a while back and have been using it on all the fighters - I really love the precision aiming that's possible with the small dot. (Now if my aiming skills were up to the task....)
Anyway, Thanks in advance!
The lower dot is basically good in the +/- 45 degree angle. Altitude ... hmmmm ... I usually drop at around 2k. Speed doesn't seem to be a factor when I bomb unless I am in a P-38.