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General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Rollio on August 15, 2003, 01:30:16 PM

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: Rollio on August 15, 2003, 01:30:16 PM

I've noticed something strange about the Browning M2 .50 cals on the P-47 although it possibly applies to others planes/gun.   When one gun is damaged, I end up with what appears to be a reduced rate of fire in the gun that it is paired with.  This becomes obvious when my ammunition runs dry on the undamaged pairs and 1 gun remains firing at a seemingly reduced rate.

Any idea what's causing this?  Is it just a bug?  I can understand that a situation like this might be possible if you had guns that were synchronized to fire through a propeller arc, but that's not the case with the Browning M2.  Any ideas?

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: gofaster on August 15, 2003, 01:43:16 PM

You sure its a reduced rate of fire and not just a reduced rate of sound effects?

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: Rollio on August 15, 2003, 01:49:29 PM

yes, still can see hit sprites from the that last gun.

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: Zippatuh on August 15, 2003, 01:55:31 PM

Does the 47 have the same shell count on all guns?

I notice the same thing in the P51, but it depends on which gun is hit because the shell count is different on one pair.  Going dry on a good gun with a low shell count, one gun with a high shell count is out, combining that with the sound effects could give the impression of a lower ROF.

I think it’s just the sound messing with us though :).

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: Ack-Ack on August 15, 2003, 04:34:02 PM

I think it's the sound that is causing what you think is a lower rate of fire.  From what I've gathered from making my own sounds is that each gun has its own sound file that gets played.  So on your damaged gun, the sound file isn't played for that particular gun while the other gun's sound files are playing normally.  So when you fire, it sounds like the guns are firing at a lower rate.


ack-ack

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: Rollio on August 15, 2003, 06:38:15 PM

I'm pretty sure it's not just a sound glitch.  When the majority of my ammunition is gone all but one gun will stop firing.  The one gun that is firing still shows tracers and will kick up dust on the ground and give hit sprites when hitting a target.  If it was just a sound glitch the visual cues wouldn't be present right?

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: Ack-Ack on August 15, 2003, 06:51:11 PM

If the gun is damaged, it shouldn't be firing at all.


ack-ack

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: Rollio on August 15, 2003, 08:05:14 PM

Ok, the discussion got me interested in proving it, I've got a couple films that do just that.

I spent some time in the training arena testing it several times.  My testbed was a P-47-D30 with 8 guns and 425 rounds per gun.  This plane was shot on the runway (by an LVT) until a gun was reported damaged.  The guns were always fired using the trigger that fires both primary and secondary groups simultaneously.  Here's what I noticed.

1.  This problem doesn't always occur.  It may be specific to certain guns.  On one flight I had one gun damaged and all the remaining guns ran out of ammunition at the same time.

2.  When the problem does occur, it seems as if one gun will have a significant amount of ammunition remaining after the others run dry.  This is in excess of 100 rounds as indicated by the round counters.  Additionally it appears as though all of the guns in a group of 4 (P47's have 2 groups of 4 guns) may be disrupted to some extent, as the undamaged group ran out of ammo entirely before 3 guns in the damaged group stopped firing.

3.  The one gun with remaining ammunition (due to reduced rate of fire?) is on the opposite wing from the damaged gun.  This is clear from the tracers and hit sprites coming from that side of the plane.  My assumption is that it is paired with the damaged gun.

4.  This is not just a graphics or sound glitch.  The last gun is definitely firing and dealing damage.  I shot down a squadmate with it to prove it.


Here is a link to a film of this test if anyone is interested in viewing.

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/rollio/_images/DamagedGun.ahf

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: Rollio on August 19, 2003, 02:12:22 AM

I had this happen on a 262 the other night in the MA, what gives?  Seems like just about anything with paired guns can be effected

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: ccvi on August 19, 2003, 02:31:00 AM

Anyone noticed that when one gun is damaged and you fire constantly without releasing the trigger ammuniation will never run out?

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: Urchin on August 19, 2003, 02:43:32 AM

The ammo runs out, you just keep seeing muzzle flashes... if you'll notice you don't see tracers coming out of that barrel anymore.

Title: Damaged Gun oddity.
Post by: Rollio on August 19, 2003, 03:50:51 AM

Don't confuse this one with the muzzle flash/sound effect bug.  In this circumstance an undamaged gun is still firing, albeit at a reduced rate