Hello survivors! I've just finished tweaking my long-range scope overlay and would like to share it with the world. Click here to check it out. What it basically shows is the range of a player (in meters) using the minimum field of view setting (0.5).
It goes right up to 1000 meters. 900 and 1000 are marked in grey. There is also a 900 and 1000 marker under the crosshair - this is for shooting at that range when zeroed for 800 meters.
The markers underneath are a mirror of the top. You can use these as an alternative reference. This is being tested at the moment - I want to see which way is more intuitive to use. The ranges are not marked as I didn't want to clutter the overlay too much.
Now, you won't want to be running around with a minimum field of view all the time (fully magnified at 0.5 FOV), so you will want to know where a field of view of 1.0 is at. In the FOV settings, click on the neck of the "d" in "Field" - that is exactly 1 and you will also find that it is a fairly easy and quick way to change.
The brilliant thing about the change from 0.5 to 1.0 is that you can still use the overlay. You simply half the range on the markers to get the actual range, as the magnification is exactly half of what it was before.
Monday 5 May 2014
Sunday 6 April 2014
Visual zeroing overlay
I am pleased to write to you about visual range-finding with the long-range scope for the Mosin 9130.
In a nutshell, a player's size shrinks in an inverse linear relationship between target distance and size in the scope. From 100 meters to 200 meters, a player appears half a size smaller in the reticle, but appears only 1/6th smaller from 200-300 meters.
The pattern is simple: relative to a player's size at 100 meters, a player's size is 1/2th at 200 meters, 1/3rd at 300 meters, 1/4th at 400 meters, 1/5th at 500 meters, 1/6th at 600 meters, 1/7th at 700 meters, 1/8th at 800 meters and so on.
What this means is that if you calibrate your field of view (FOV) such that the known height of a player at 100 meters or so extends from the tip of the thick bar in the upper half of the duplex reticle to the centre, you will be able to deduce a player's distance by interpreting their height as a fraction.
This is immensely helpful for all those situations in which you do not have sufficient time to determine an exact range from a map and for me, significantly supplants the need for map ranging.
Try adjusting your FOV value in your playername.DayZProfile file to 1 (You can find this file in My Documents\DayZ). Note the position of the slider in the in-game FOV setting. It should be exactly on the right edge of the "d" in "Field".
A player should then be at around 100 meters as in the above image of the overlay. Note that when you decrease your field of view to the minimum, you double the magnification from 1 to 0.5. This means a player at 1/3rd size is now at 600 meters as opposed to 300.
In a nutshell, a player's size shrinks in an inverse linear relationship between target distance and size in the scope. From 100 meters to 200 meters, a player appears half a size smaller in the reticle, but appears only 1/6th smaller from 200-300 meters.
The pattern is simple: relative to a player's size at 100 meters, a player's size is 1/2th at 200 meters, 1/3rd at 300 meters, 1/4th at 400 meters, 1/5th at 500 meters, 1/6th at 600 meters, 1/7th at 700 meters, 1/8th at 800 meters and so on.
What this means is that if you calibrate your field of view (FOV) such that the known height of a player at 100 meters or so extends from the tip of the thick bar in the upper half of the duplex reticle to the centre, you will be able to deduce a player's distance by interpreting their height as a fraction.
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| Def's DayZ Scope Overlay |
Try adjusting your FOV value in your playername.DayZProfile file to 1 (You can find this file in My Documents\DayZ). Note the position of the slider in the in-game FOV setting. It should be exactly on the right edge of the "d" in "Field".
A player should then be at around 100 meters as in the above image of the overlay. Note that when you decrease your field of view to the minimum, you double the magnification from 1 to 0.5. This means a player at 1/3rd size is now at 600 meters as opposed to 300.
Wednesday 2 April 2014
Flanking basics
With 3 or more people it may be feasible to flank an enemy position with one member of the team whilst the others keep this enemy force decisively engaged.
Decisively engaged implies that neither force can remove themselves without one side being defeated. It is important not to have all your units decisively engaged unless at a climatic moment in the overall battle, as it directly reduces your freedom of action and can paralyse your units from taking any further actions.
With that in mind, it may be one of the safest and surest ways of knocking out an enemy force by enacting a flanking manoeuvre with a team member that is in reserve.
With regards to reserves, it can be useful to keep at least one or more team members in central rear positions within a formation so that they may be able to readily flank an enemy encounter whilst the forward positions are decisively engaged.
Decisively engaged implies that neither force can remove themselves without one side being defeated. It is important not to have all your units decisively engaged unless at a climatic moment in the overall battle, as it directly reduces your freedom of action and can paralyse your units from taking any further actions.
With that in mind, it may be one of the safest and surest ways of knocking out an enemy force by enacting a flanking manoeuvre with a team member that is in reserve.
With regards to reserves, it can be useful to keep at least one or more team members in central rear positions within a formation so that they may be able to readily flank an enemy encounter whilst the forward positions are decisively engaged.
Clock orientation
It takes practise but clock directions are a good and relatively quick way of describing the relative direction of an object using the analogy of a 12-hour clock. Just imagine the clock-face around you with 12 o'clock to your front, 3 o'clock to your right, and so on.
I find that people sometimes like to say "to your right" or "to your left" and there often being confusion about how much someone should rotate in these directions.
Allow me to set a standard by making left and right 90° angles and adding finer rotation with "by left" and "by right" to mean 30° rotations, equivalent to an hour's rotation on the clock face.
You could describe 5 o'clock as "behind by left". Though it may be simpler to only use "by left" and "by right" as adjustments to a "left" or "right" call, or as a refinement to the clock method.
Left and right orientation
I find that people sometimes like to say "to your right" or "to your left" and there often being confusion about how much someone should rotate in these directions.
Allow me to set a standard by making left and right 90° angles and adding finer rotation with "by left" and "by right" to mean 30° rotations, equivalent to an hour's rotation on the clock face.
You could describe 5 o'clock as "behind by left". Though it may be simpler to only use "by left" and "by right" as adjustments to a "left" or "right" call, or as a refinement to the clock method.
Compass orientation
The two major ways in which we can orient ourselves are in terms of compass directions and clock directions.
A compass has 4 major "cardinal points" at 90° to each other; north, south, east and west. This can be further divided by the "half cardinal points" north-east, south-east, south-west and north-west.
We sometimes want to be even more specific. The division of the half cardinal points are known as the "false points", otherwise known as "three letter points", as they take a major cardinal direction + a half cardinal direction for example ESE orients east by south-east. The 8 false points are NNE, ENE, ESE, SSE, SSW, WSW, WNW and NNW.
The last refinement I will describe are the "by points". These are the points dividing the false points and so there are 16 of them on a compass rose. For example, north by east is between north and north-north-east.
It can be handy to visually divide a battlefield into segments that can be quickly described to help pin-point an object of interest to your team. A rectangular area can be cut into 4 as the north-west segment, the north-east segment and so on.
A compass has 4 major "cardinal points" at 90° to each other; north, south, east and west. This can be further divided by the "half cardinal points" north-east, south-east, south-west and north-west.
We sometimes want to be even more specific. The division of the half cardinal points are known as the "false points", otherwise known as "three letter points", as they take a major cardinal direction + a half cardinal direction for example ESE orients east by south-east. The 8 false points are NNE, ENE, ESE, SSE, SSW, WSW, WNW and NNW.
The last refinement I will describe are the "by points". These are the points dividing the false points and so there are 16 of them on a compass rose. For example, north by east is between north and north-north-east.
It can be handy to visually divide a battlefield into segments that can be quickly described to help pin-point an object of interest to your team. A rectangular area can be cut into 4 as the north-west segment, the north-east segment and so on.
Squad formation basics
As an overture to formations I thought I would highlight one of the most important things to remember when running as a group and that is on distancing.
The interval between squad members in a formation is normally around 10 meters. Apart from this, the formation should expand and contract depending on the terrain being traversed.
When rough terrain, poor visibility, or other factors make control of the formation difficult such as trees or an urban area, the squad contracts. At all times each squad member should see each other.
When moving in less rugged terrain such as open fields where control is easier, expand the formation.
The interval between squad members in a formation is normally around 10 meters. Apart from this, the formation should expand and contract depending on the terrain being traversed.
When rough terrain, poor visibility, or other factors make control of the formation difficult such as trees or an urban area, the squad contracts. At all times each squad member should see each other.
When moving in less rugged terrain such as open fields where control is easier, expand the formation.
Monday 31 March 2014
Identifying buildings & objects
Though it may not perhaps be an complete list of all buildings and objects, the following list is backed up by images and their SDK names. I have attempted to deduce appropriate names and with this shared vocabulary, we can say good-bye to the ambiguity over what a building or object actually is or how best it can be described.
In the absence of an obvious SDK name, I'll offer an alternative backed up by my own justifications.
For buildings without a commonly known name, one method that I recommend using is by describing the roof type. If you familiarise yourself with the following roof types, you may find it fairly easy to recognise and accurately describe those unusual village houses and the uncommonly accessed/bypassed houses on-the-fly - no pre-existing name need be remembered using this method.
For an exhaustive list of how I have named buildings and justifications for those names you can view the online spreadsheet. Alternatively you can see the (incomplete) album for a visual reference.
Take note that some buildings and objects have not yet been named, for reasons of time and the further thought required. Feel free to point out any missing things and your own ideas and names.
In the absence of an obvious SDK name, I'll offer an alternative backed up by my own justifications.
For buildings without a commonly known name, one method that I recommend using is by describing the roof type. If you familiarise yourself with the following roof types, you may find it fairly easy to recognise and accurately describe those unusual village houses and the uncommonly accessed/bypassed houses on-the-fly - no pre-existing name need be remembered using this method.
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| The trailer |
For an exhaustive list of how I have named buildings and justifications for those names you can view the online spreadsheet. Alternatively you can see the (incomplete) album for a visual reference.
Take note that some buildings and objects have not yet been named, for reasons of time and the further thought required. Feel free to point out any missing things and your own ideas and names.
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