SWAT 4

Recent activities.

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Havn’t had a lot of spare time lately :

Survived my 20th birthday on the 20th, makes me wonder if I’m starting to get old in my own way lol.

My brother called and wished me a happy birthday, was good to talk with him even if I had to put up with a ‘lecture’ 8=). I know the old axim is “those who can’t do, teach” but in my families case it is lecture >_>.

Night before my birthday I managed to polish off one of my favorite burgers from Ruby Tuesdays. I remember the first time I had one, hehe a few years back I was the only guy involved in a project. So the girls had to throw a birthday party and what else but The Ultimate Colossal Burger xD

They always did know how to throw a party lol.

Ma also made 2lbs of Chili, so I’ve been feasting on that for the past couple days, hmm now that I think of it.. A little chili would hit the spot about now ;).

I spent most of my birthday eating, sleeping, and coding — three good things, especially since sleep is a premium for me +S. I ain’t done much of anything in C++ in about 3 years, sad considering November will be my fourth anniversary. But I’ve really been enjoying the C++/Qt4 work of late, even better I’ve got suitable development environments on my laptop and desktop. Lunch was a trip to the best all you can eat joint in town, so that went well hehe.

Still, it’s all overshadowed by one thing… But I guess that’s a different subject.

I’ve managed to get a bit of training in this weekend, been concentrating on the fundamentals of room clearing for Jonsi’s training. One nice thing about teaching it, I’ve been doing it enough in the virtual world, that I parts of it flow into the real world lol.

Ok, so is it that bad if you tend to stack on doors and button-hook entries ? haha

Started work today on a diagram for a new swat4 map, The [SAS] Killhouse Redux. I’ve got over 25 rooms and two floors with concepts for adding another wing on the first floor. What I like the most about the design, it’s trivial to build it in bits and pieces. Level 1As first wing, then the other wing or Level 2A, etc. My original “dream” for the ultimate training facility included like a 5-6 floor shooting house but no map maker got into the project.

The only big problem is me and the Unreal Editor used mix like water and oil. I should be happy though, as crappy as SwatEd is it really is less bothersome then the UnrealEd build shipped with Raven Shield. Although I’m more used to the Rvs build… At least the S4 one doesn’t crash so often!

I can do almost anything I set my mind to, it’s just a matter of time. Tomorrow I need to inhale one of the tutorials and set to work on more of the map. The main problem atm is adjusting the objectives, although I reckon I could always make a room in the middle of no where full of tangos lol. The old [SAS] Killhouse in RvS that we used to use before I even got here, had a lone tango hidden behind boxes. But that was more so because of issues with the game design, Swat4 is a little less, ehh irksome.

Today I also got some time on the SWAT4:TSS server for the first time in a good while, I really miss that game lol. The only bad thing I can say, is the MP5s don’t support full auto. I’d rather have a trusty MP5N but hey, the devs had to make it more ‘balanced’ :. The UMP.45 fires at about 300 RPM on their own scale and on full auto, while the MP5 is limited to three round bursts as respective alternatives to semi automatic.

I really prefer full auto because I can control the bursts. In RvS, I often like to use the MP5/10A2 because the way it was implemented. You can’t hit shit past about 30 metres and if you fire more then 2 rounds at a time, you won’t (consistantly) hit shit to start with ! The FAMAS G2 also has such a high rate of fire, that it’s great fun to put on full auto and try to fire one round from it per trigger pull.

SWAT4 has one of the worst simulations of ballistics I’ve ever seen but, Rvs has good shooting but the worlds most unreal physics.

Tomorrows plans, map making and training ops. With how long it’s been since I’ve really played SWAT4, I think I should take some drill time to work on my usual reflexive plan.

3-round burst to centre mass then follow up with a double tap or another burst to the noggin.

Me, I fire a lot of rounds per kill — because I keep firing till the f****er goes down. The advantage of video games is, once they die they start to fall over dead (realistically or not). The disadvantage is unlike the real world, getting shot doesn’t have much effect on the enemy. At the best you might jar their shots (rvs) or stun them briefly (swat4) for another follow up shot.

What I really would love to do some day, is set up sensors on the monitor and a laser pointer on a model weapon. And have the sensors on the screen detect the movements of the laser beam across their own beams and use that to generate mouse movement-input for the operating system.

That would make aiming a lot more reflexive then a mouse lol.

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The good news, I’ve got the first draft done on my report (yay!), the bad news is it is 0550Q and I’m less tired then I was at 1300Q loool. All that is less I guess is one or two more sections that I need to write.

One thing I really need to do is start organizing more of my common things into packages, I freaking love TeX :-).

Also good news is I’ve gotten auth for putting TeX Live PBI’s on their testing server so that means I can get cracking on field testing it here, then start trying to push it on to PBIDir.

With luck, tomorrow might be a SWAT4 Live Op so I’ll have time finish work on the site and get some more interesting work done too xD.

I was trained in Rvs, I took that route for the Selection Course and wouldn’t change that decision for any thing. But I do rather feel at home with SWAT4. I’ve been playing S4 since the beta and bought the game shortly after it came out. The thing I dislike about RvS is the door bugs, SWAT4.. Hey some suspects might draw faster then Jesse James but at least they eventually go down when you shoot them, can’t say the same for Raven Shields occasional super tangos dancing between bullets ^_^.

What pisses me off is I paid $50 for SWAT4, $30 for SWAT4:TSS and SWAT4:TSS although it is an expansion pack is implemented through the (very shitty compared to SWAT3s) mod system, which is probably the ONLY reason they ever released the SDK. Because the change in dev-teams meant a need for a quick way of hacking in the other 40% of the freaking game!

What a company…

task.done() ? rest : work;

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Not an overly busy day compared to the last few but the tiredness is catching up. Current plan of action is 5-10min to lay down and then start getting to work on things.

I need to finish evaluating things, start preparing my report, and get things done as necessary lol. I’ve also got a related appointment for this weekend so I’ve noted that my report should be considered due by Monday.

Managed to get in server for some SWAT4, *finally* game time this week. Only had time for two or three rounds though, got to move through on Point and First Cover positions. Been awhile since I’ve done any serious point work, much of my time as SSM/RSM had me in EL’s boots lol. Glad to see I’m still effective though, was able to keep a dynamic pace as Point with an MP5 and as First Cover with the M4A1 and still keep accuracy up.

Firing the M4A1 in SWAT4 when on the move is not very hard but takes practice to do it, gotta learn to control and manage the weapon. The recoil in the game is unrealistically appalling but it makes taking threats out as you move to your Point of Domination a little more challenging then in Rvs or using one of the SMGs.

It’s also nice to see how far one of our new Troopers have come, Big12… He’s come a long way since the first day he set foot in our server hehe.

It’s just the way I am I guess, work a bit, game a bit, work more. When I’ve got a big task list it tends to weigh on my mind to much to spend an entire day off totally lol.

Today also is my Fathers birthday, he was born in 1946 iirc so it would have been his 62nd.

Happy birthday Dad 😉

Breaking the new Training Grounds

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Got to play ab it solo on the new TG#1, didn’t want to have a slot opened for m e on PG#1 just for a couple games.

Latency and Ubisoft proved to be both friend and foe as usual, finding a tango standing on top of a table didn’t throw my aim off any. Put a burst square in his mid section (~4rnd), saw him jerk from the hits but died with no rounds hitting him 8=), even got shot (even with my cam jerking) in another round without getting injured from it lol.

RvS is a pile of horse crap, how on earth could any one dare ship a game like that. The amount of buggy doors and corners, even in the professionally created maps is tremendous. If I worked on Raven Shields development team, I think I would’ve resigned from the project rather then let my name go on the credits…

And much to the games credit I appeared to shoot a tango through a wall 🙂

RvS is the only game you can have a threat at 2 metres, put 5 rounds into a group smaller then a stomach, and have all 5 rounds hit the wall directly behind the tango ^_^

One thing I really like about RvS though is the admin functions, way better then SWAT4. Even with the Gez Mod RvS has a better admin system, but the code is even worse on stability.

It’s also nice that I can turn off my reticle and just use the weapon in the player characters arms as a reference instead. Engagement distances in RvS are usually short or long, often within 10 or 15 metres unless they are far away: far enough that an assault rifle is preferable that is.

At that range, aiming without iron sights or cross hairs is pretty easy.. With a little pratice even targets at ~20-25 metres are doable. The more you know your weapon the easiser it is, like me. I could use the MP5A4 blind folded in RvS, I don’t even need to look at the bean counter any more.. I can feel how many bullets have been fired.

I wish I could play SWAT4 online with the reticle off, the cross hairs are a nicer blue then RvS’s red and actually do reflect your aim and accuracy. In Raven Shield, I’ve always disregarded the rets as having any thing to do with point of impact, they mean almost nothing… So why bother using them? I train with both rets on and rets off, been a few months since I turned them on.. Now I’m starting to be able to chuck grenades with the same accuracy as with the rets off.

In SWAT, you rets show a lot about how your point of impact will be. I’d still like to go without them though because really you shouldn’t need them unless the enemy is far or you need a more precise shot. And in that case you should be using the weapons sights any way, not the shitty zoom-focus on the aiming reticle that RvS and SWAT4 use any way.

One thing I like about firing on Full Auto, is complete control of the trigger. Want one round? Easy, need 20? Ok no problem. Typically I fire 2 to 3 rounds per burst and will increase to 4-6 rounds as necessary to bring down the tango. It’s very easy to fire off a few sets of 2-3 rounds, much better then firing off like 5 rounds in a single burst.

SWAT4s MP5 lacks full auto and the UMP and AKM have their rates of fire set to pathetically unrealistic values. All weapons in SWAT4 were balenced on the grounds that a modifier of 1.0 Burst Rate Factor == ~600 Rounds Per Minute (RPM).

Following that line of reasoning, the M4A1 is given a burst rate factor (BRF) of 1.5, roughly equal to 900 RPM. The real M4A1 Carbine has a cyclic rate of fire between 700 and 950 RPM as far as I know, a good balance for a game. The AK47 will kill you in one round if fired from a suspect (1-2 if you are shooting them), while you need 2-4 rounds with the quick firing M4.

The UMP on the other hand has a BRF of 0.55 yielding approx 330 rounds per minute. The UMP is supposed to have a rate of fire on par with 600 RPM, making it horrible unbalanced, except by it’s powerful cartridge in SWAT4.

However the burst rate factor is handled I doubt it reflects well on real life. I remember for a Mod, I once recalibrated all weapons in SWAT4 to use real world bullet mass instead of the overweight rounds in SWAT4… Which was a left shift of two or three digits kind of off track, heck it would be like shooting grapefruit instead of bullets lol. luckily the weapons were already calibrated for the real world muzzle velocities.

Recalibrating the game settings to model real world factors, based on Unreal Engine units was totally destructive. Resulting in a long stream of dirty tricks to get the bullets ‘lethal’ again. I always knew the systems they used were horrid for modeling real world ballistics but when JHP rounds are going so fast the pass through a target without doing any damage and kept going until they hit some thing impossible to penitrate in the game engine, YOU KNOW YOU HAVE A PROBLEM !!!! The JHP ammo was more FMJ like then the FMJ ammo was after that test haha.

I’m no expert in physics but it doesn’t take much understanding to tell the Unreal Engine as configured in SWAT4 is worthless, retarded at best for any dream of realistic shooting.

I’d love to study physics some day, that kidn of stuff interests me. But I know as long as I’m living here, with my family around trying to learn any thing ‘interesting’ in that regard would be a headache and learning as good as in one ear out the other.

Just like in games, give me a sniper rifle, a mark to shoot at, and a secure firing position, and I’ll hit the mark. Give me some thing I’m interested in, a proper working environment, and I’ll inhale the fucking thing!

Give me a sniping position with every SOB and his dog trying to blow it sky high and I probably will be to busy to hit the mark, same case living here….

S4 HiJinks

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I don’t know if its a curse for living in the RvS Dept to long instead of my beloved SWAT or what.

But some times I have the distinctive feeling that I speak, and oh most no one listens to a word of it!

Both on and off line…… Well there was once upon an off line time.