Toggle on/off VE at will in-game

[SeaVee]

There is a way to toggle on/off Vector Expansion while in-flight in the game BoB2. This is particularly useful when trying to line up a shot.

The command is: SHIFT+Numpad Enter which "Locks View to Gunsight". You may want to program a joystick button to this very useful command. I'd also suggest you program a couple of buttons to zoom in/out the FOV (CTRL+Numpad Plus or Minus) to use in conjunction with this command.

There is for the moment however only one small issue with this

Does anyone remember that in the past with TIR+VE in BoB2 the Spitfire's reticle was off-center low and left whenever one hit the TIR "re-center" hotkey? Back then it was only the Spit that had the problem, the other flyable A/C were fine. Buddye fixed it in the 2.04 patch and it remains fixed.

Well, when using this "lock to gunshight" command, the Spit reticle (and ONLY the Spit) is very noticeably off-center to the left (not low, just to the left).

I assume the error that Buddye fixed before must be related to this issue. Perhaps what was wrong before is precisely what is causing this too. I sure hope so so that a) this can be fixed b) it ends up being relatively easy for him to find and fix without tons of work. Hopefully this will be fixed by the 2.06 patch.

[VincentG]

So it wasn't resolved with patch 2.05?

[SeaVee]

Yes it was and it remains solved.

The main issue before was that the Spitfire reticle was not centered - period - upon hitting the TIR "center" hotkey. Buddye fixed that.

Until very recently, I and alot of others did not even know that BoB2 had a key command called " Gunsight " (shift+numpad enter). Gunsight in effect toggles off Vector Expansion making it easier to keep your plane's gunsight on target. It is ONLY when one toggles ON Gunsight that the Spit reticle is slightly off center to the left. While Gunsight is ON, hitting the TIR "center" key does not help. Turn Gunsight back OFF and it centers perfectly.

I did a little 9MB 1 minute video clip to show what is happening. It is easier to see it than describe it in narrative form. Look closely at the yellow reticle as I center and toggle gunsight on/off.
LINK to short video clip showing issue

In summary, this final unresolved issue is not a huge deal because the off-center Spit in gunsight mode is not alot. Once I first noticed it, I always notice it now though. We think this is an alignment issue of the Spit's 3d model cockpit in BoB2. There may be some workaround short of re-doing the 3d cockpit model, such as changing the "centering eyepoint position" value somewhere in the game code when gunsight has been turned on. This is a low priority issue to fix though because the majority of time people will not even use this Gunsight command and there is not otherwise any centering problem.

But for this minor issue, TIR+VE works superbly in this game. I could not, and would not play it (or any flight game) without it.

[VincentG]

OK, thanks for the info. I got a handle on it now.

[SeaVee]

Spitfireace over at the Shockwave forums just posted some pics that show it pretty clearly here:

Link to post with detailed pics

The good news is that one of BoB2's most important Dev coders who did not previously have a TIR4 is about to get one and he will be able to see this first-hand and eventually be able to correct it I think.

It is not a huge issue anyway as it is not very noticeable to most and the vast majority of the time most users won't be using this gunsight key command. A minor annoyance and the rest of the TIR implementation in this game is superb IMO.

[VincentG]

Yep, I see it.........

[Chivas]

I was just coming here to ask if there was a toggle between 6DOF and 2DOF. Its nice to hear BOB WOV has implemented one.

I have tried 6DOF in CFS3 and BOB WOV and alway end up going back to 2DOF because of gunsite issues. I just find in much easier to get back to a proper gun salution because you are always on plane with the gunsight with 2DOF. Maybe I just need more practice with 6DOF freedom.

Are there any plans to to make it toggle on the fly in the Naturalpoint program? I now I would get alot of use out of it.


~Salute~
Chivas

[VincentG]

I'm not aware of any plans to add that as a feature.

[Chivas]

Could I be so bold as to request this feature in the Naturalpoint software. Say F11 as a toggle between 2DOF and 6DOF.

~Salute~
Chivas

[VincentG]

I will run it by the development team.......