difference at bullet hole grouping

Here are some observations during extensive testing.
1. the decal's position is not material pixel dependent, meaning doesn't matter where the pixel begins or ends on the material it spawns(hits) on for the game to spawn them. The game always spawns them in the same location every time. (Needs more testing)
2. All the material categories including default have the same impact pattern, some like [liquid] do not render decals.
3. the render pattern is a pixel based (Muzzle to Target) cone and increases in diameter based on distance from material.
4. zooming in has no affect on the decal spread radius, nor the accuracy of the shot, it still spreads.
5. I am not convinced the placement of the decals have anything to do with the accuracy of the shot, it's purely cosmetic to avoid overlapping of decals, maybe to cover up how unrealistic it would be to hit the same spot with 10 shots fire back to back.
6. I have found a values that substantially decreases the decal spread radius, the decal's position is not affected. The game doesn't have any values for recoil that will affect our accuracy, so you can fire 10 shots in a row and you hit the same spot. That is not realistic at all. All the values are carefully tuned and linked, modifying one and not adjusting the other will definitely ruin the experience.
7. The placement of the decals is based on the time between shots. take slower shots and your accuracy increases. (Needs more testing)
8. The size of the texture doesn't affect the placement the placement of decals.
9. The UV mappings of the texture applied doesn't affect the placement of decals.
10 the corner edges of objects does affect the placement, 1/2 the normal distance between decals at the edges.

I have spend about 2 hours a day on this for the past couple of days. Currently skimming thru code to find the location of the random positions for the decals. Getting thru the SWT_Rifle_ skeleton animations is taking a bit longer. Maybe i'll throw an error on that decal by creating an 8 bit bmp to replace the decal and get me closer to the random positions and the decal spread radius.


I've updated the post. Please re-read.

Will I use what you discover in the mod? To be honest I am still not understanding what the problem is to begin with. Not trying to be a dick. I am just stupid sometimes (most of the time?).

Too many images to explain exactly what is going on.

1. Launch game with the following command lines, it can be any map but for this example -

2. turn left - do you see the ac unit? - align your pos and sights to the center of that ac unit -
open console and type

3. now take about 100 shots without moving mouse - after shots - inspect the decals -
see how decals are in a circular pattern, and none are overlapping?

4. restart map, this time get further away - take 150 shots without moving mouse -
notice the circular pattern got larger?

5. now take more shots attempting to shoot in-between those decals
notice you cannot shoot between decals and create overlapping decals. UPDATE: you can however fill in the missing ones.

6. now take more shots around the perimeter of the pattern.
notice the distance between decals doesn't change.

Problem-
How do we decrease the distance between decals causing overlapping decals and increase the appearance of accuracy?
and how to minimize the circular pattern caused by the randomization of shots that produces a recoil effect?

UPDATE: I suggest turning your volume down when running this test.
Go back and read my post again,
Take single shots with about a second between shots, and your accuracy increases.

"select all - copy - submit!"

Hmmm, still not understanding so guess ya I have to try it in game.

Of course with distance I expect the grouping to be larger.

Will have to try it out to wrap my tiny brain around it. So far it just sounds cosmetic and doesn't necessarily mean bullet accuracy when hitting a character hitbox.

thanks for all your effort.

and yea its a cosmetic thing.
atleast that is what i always have thought.

and i never wanted something what was accurate like a laser.
i mean i never had problems to place my shoots were i wanted.
everything is fine on the balistic side plus i have changed almost everything i could or what was important in my opinion to get more variation on the guns beside only the look.

sure its not very realstic to place many bullets into the same hole.
but this pattern with same space over and over again either.


i noticed all the rpm of suspect weapons are pretty low and dosnt represent their real model/type.
(even some swat weapons have low rpm not all some were already correct like the mp5)
and suspect ak47 used to have 223. caliber which i also changed to 762X39.
mb they wanted to be more user friendly > to avoid some frustation. idk
sometimes i had that feeling looking at all the stats.

its been a while when i worked on them so dont get surprised if something wrong what i said/wrote.



there is another cosmetic thing i forgot about.
it just crossed my mind while reading.
not lookin for a solution atm so plz dont overwork yourself.
i am already feel kinda guilty keeping you busy with that cosmtic stuff.

if one "bullet" penetrated multiple layers, not all of them show entry/exit holes.
here is an example which should better explain what i mean.

layer 1 has entry and exit hole
layer 2 has non of them
layer 3 has entry and or exit marks.

did they made this to save some memory or is ther some other reason?
i didnt made extra tests or something just noticed it sometimes.

sorry for drifting bit off the topic

Interesting find on the layering of materials.
There are quite a few combination of materials that can be layered at any given time any given map. I will run a few test to on my bullet decal test map to see if I find any that stand out.

Do you have the FAQs folder installed in your Swat folder?

Unzip into your Swat 3 directory

This file contains the FAQs folder usually installed on most Swat 3 installations.
Used as references, descriptions, and explains the uses of the common moddable files for Swat 3.

If you need answers, most likely you will find them in these easy to open HTML help documents.

Good stuff if you are into modding, mapping, creating new skins, camos and new models.