As the more attentive might notice, I have changed the version number of my mod from v0.3 to v1.0. This was a decision I made a while back (but I forgot my self-decided version change before writing the previous developer diary ).

Reason for the version change was simply because to reflect the fact that my mod releases aren't really beta (they are throughly tested for skirmish / online use) with the only potential beta area being the single-player campaign which is untested. Also, the mod and its array of changes has now started to encompass the game in its entirety so I figured it was only sensible to treat the next release as a full one.

Anyways, before I go into the technical details of what I tried to accomplish today I thought I'd show a new piece of propaganda I made to help advertise the next release:

I think it prettymuch sums up the next release of Realmod in a nutshell. I just hope I can live up to the "coming soon" statement.

Today's more technical item was once again the tracer effects. As is the case with most modding efforts for a game, there is little available information in this area of the game and how it all works. I must admit Massive have covered alot of areas which is good and I guess its unrealistic for them to document absolutely everything.

I have been struggling to understand how the game handles the tracer rounds for the infantry (when to spawn them). Its not coded within the unittypes file as far as I can tell so I'm really unsure as to go about enacting changes on the code level of things. I did previously (and successfully) eliminate the white tracer line effects by editing the texture which was pretty easy and it had an immediate effect (the texture was shared across all units and sides).

However when it comes to actually trying to eliminate tracer rounds for certain units (such as the riflemen) I am stumped. It can't be done on a texture level, as the tracer textures are shared between multiple units (including the machine-gunners who I want them to keep their tracer effects). I am unsure how to do it on a code level. The last port of call is to look at the actual model itself ... and what I found there may hold the key to the answer.

Could Showbox have the key to unlocking the secret of the tracer rounds?

If you look more closely at the picture above notice how the tracer effect for an infantry unit (a machine-gunner in the picture above) is made up of two parts. One model is for the white tracer effect (the one I dealth with by editing the texture). The second model is the coloured tracer round (the one I want to try and regulate now).

While I haven't done it just yet (its getting late as is ), I think it may well be possible to edit each tracer model (of which there is one for each infantry unit) to use different textures. The riflemen would use my edited texture (which will not display a visible tracer) while the machine-gunners would keep on using the current texture. If this works out I'll be a happy modder indeed.

I also made a fairly significant change to the infantry in the form of their effective engagement range. I have doubled the range at which bullet-based weapons can fire while also doubling the accuracy penalty. I have yet to test this gameplay change as of yet but it should lead to some more realistic looking firefights between groups of infantry (in terms of the scale of World in Conflict).

Thats all for today. Thanks for reading!