Small Arms Trainer

[Alex]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, so mods, feel free to move it if need be (Maybe the "what are you working on?" topic?). Anyway, I've been developing a do it yourself SAT (Small Arms Trainer). Military and law enforcement often use a SAT, which is just like a big cool army game. Usually there's a rifle or pistol, hooked up with CO2 to produce realistic recoil, and they stand in front of a huge screen to shoot at the bad guys in a big simulator. Develops muscle memory and firearms familiarity, and beyond that, it's just cool fun. So I wanted to make one.

Link to a 3 min video (it expires on Aug.23rd, couldn't be bothered to post it on youtube)



I hacked up the hardware from an EMS Topgun III and combined it with some quake modding and ah ha! The mod has a whole slew of different training options and is still in the works. The idea is for it to be training, while still kind of feeling like a game. That being said, the hardware can be used with other more "fun" games, like House of the Dead, and you still get that cool, realistic weapon and aiming experience. To fire you have to pull the trigger. When you aim, you have to use the sights. When you run out of ammo, you have to remove a magazine and actually reload. You have to shoulder it and stand properly. It gets heavy. All these things add an extra level of realism that make it a very different gaming experience.

I know someone out there is thinking why not just play wii, or PS Move?
1. The most important thing is a 1:1 sight/cursor mapping. Usually the cursor on a wii does not match up in a 1 to 1 ratio with where the wiimote is physically pointing so that using sights wouldn't accurately work.
2. Doing it on the PC lets me create my own training programs, modding quake is fun, nuff said.

Currently there's no integrated CO2 recoil, but maybe that will come waaay down the line. Future developments will include a few more "combat" game modes with actual enemies rather than just targets (some type of on-rails shooter, like house of the dead, or resident evil umbrella chronicles etc.), and cleaning up the menu system a bit.

Laslty, thanks to everyone who gave me help throughout this project, I wouldn't have got half as far without this website.

Alex

[ceriux]

thats pretty cool man. i dont have much more to say, but really cool. looked pretty fun!

[Spirit]

That is really awesome, mind if I upload it to Youtube so it can be easily linked to?

Is this Darkplaces? Did you have to modify the engine too or is it "mouse" input?

[Baker]

Holy shit!

[Alex]

[leileilol]

Yeah I was guessing from the video it was prydoncursor.


Makes me wonder why no one has bothered for that tacky Goldeneye/Vigilance/PerfectDark style aiming yet?

[CocoT]

Very impressive!!!

[Alex]

The link has been posted to Youtube (thanks Spirit) if anyone still wants a peek.

[WickedShell]

Looks very cool, and interesting. I could see spend a fair amount of time doing that, (although I'd have to resist the temptation to couch warrior it! )

I'd imagine it would encourage pushing/pulling on the trigger though, or is the IR tracking sensitive enough that pushing it is readily apparent? (if so I'm impressed, and clearly have been underestimating the responsiveness/accuracy of IR tracking like that) I ask, as this is the biggest issue I tend to run into with shooting, is pushing, especially when trying to speed up, I start to rush.

[Alex]

Luckily the way my TV is positioned the sensors pick up better if I'm standing anyway.

As for the jerking of the trigger (if I understand you correctly), it's not that big of an issue for a couple of reasons.

First, proper trigger pull (squeeze rather than pull), while important, is exponentially more important during long range and precision shooting. If you're doing quick, on the fly reflexive shooting it's not crucial. In other words, neither in my game, nor in most of the fast action light gun games out there do you really have to wait, relax, steady, hold your breath and squeeze. It's more about getting on target fast than a precision shot.

Second, consider actual size. To put it in perspective, the smallest targets I can reliably shoot in my SAT are about 700 units away. That makes them 3 cm tall on screen, shot at a distance of about 2.6 m. That's the equivalent of shooting at a 5' 9" man at about 150 m, and you're not going for a head shot or something silly like that, just a hit. With that kind of sight ratio, sure, jerking will start to throw things off a tad and at those ranges you have to pay attention a little bit more. But remember, that's the MAX range, otherwise it's not an issue. The hardware isn't sensitive enough to allow effective engagement much beyond that.

So does it encourage "poor" trigger control".... eehh... possibly. Does it encourage it any more than real life training in a CQB environment would? No. Does it encourage it at long ranges when it matters most? No.

Good question though, as I'm always fearing developing bad muscle memory/habits.

[Nahuel]

AWESOME!