WideSniper

WideSniper v1.1a
By Tim 'Zear' Hammock


It has finally arrived! Full screen zoom with a wide view in a window!

('Bout damn time, eh?)

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To install:

0. IMPORTANT: You have to have Presto v0.93 (or later) and NewOpts v0.966
   (or later) installed first!

1. Unzip WideSniper11a.zip into the <Tribes>\config directory.

Uh... that's it. Start Tribes.

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               ****                                     ****
               ****         VERY IMPORTANT!!!!          ****
               ****   READ THE SECTION BELOW ENTITLED   ****
               ****                                     ****
               ****          IMPORTANT ISSUES           ****
               ****          ================           ****
               ****                                     ****
               **** You *MUST* understand these issues  ****
               ****  to use WideSniper efficiently!!!!  ****
               ****                                     ****
               ****            READ IT ALL!!!!          ****
               ****                                     ****
               *********************************************
               *********************************************

Regards,

Tim '[SS-12]Zear' Hammock
[email redacted]

*** Visit Zear's Client-side Scripting at *** 

***  http://www.planetstarsiege.com/zear  ***

============================================================================

Using WideSniper:

Go to the Options|Scripts|WideSniper screen and set up the options there.

Mag Increase
Use this to set the zoom in key for WideSniper. Hitting this key will cause
the zoom to increase to the next higher level, to a maximum of 500x. Double-
tapping (less than 0.1 sec) will zoom all the way back out.

Mag Decrease
Use this to set the zoom out key for WideSniper. Hitting this key will cause
the zoom to decrease to the next lower level, automatically shutting
WideSniper off when the zoom gets to 1x (unless 'wide Always On', below, is
checked). Double-tapping (less than 0.1 sec) will zoom all the way in (to
500x).

Quickwhip
Use this to set the quickwhip key for WideSniper. When the quickwhip key is
held, mouse sensitivity temporarily returns to normal to allow you to whip
around quickly.

Instant Off
Use this to set the instant off key for WideSniper. The bound key will turn
WideSniper off instantly.

Wide Always On
When checked, the wide view will stay on even when WideSniper is zoomed
to 1x.

Active mag. levels
Unchecking a magnification level here will cause WideSniper to skip the
particular level. This can be handy, for example, if you want to limit
yourself to a maximum of 20x zoom (uncheck the higher levels), or if you
want to skip directly from 20x to 100x (uncheck 50x). This is also useful
if your video card doesn't handle high zoom levels (see 'About maximum zoom
problems', below) - just turn off the levels that don't work correctly, with
my condolences.

============================================================================

IMPORTANT ISSUES
================

About maximum zoom problems:
----------------------------

I have heard reports of high zoom levels causing an issue whereby zoom
appears to have turned off, but the wide view is still visible and your
sensitivity is still adjusted as if you were zoomed. I have only heard this
happening at 500x so far. This is because your video card does not want to
display the necessary graphic.

At 500x, on a 800x600 display, the 3d view has been resized to
400,000 x 300,000 pixels (that's a 120,000,000,000 byte image - that's
111.76 gigs folks!). While I can't say I even have a clue how Tribes and
the video card go about displaying that (obviously it is being clipped
very early on), apparently something about this scenario causes video cards
to bug out beyond a certain point. My Voodoo 3000 AGP bails on this at
about 650x (I forget the actual value).

The fix? Like the doc said, if it hurts to do that, don't do that! Look at
the option 'Active mag. levels' (above) and turn off the magnification
levels that don't work for you.

About mouse sensitivity:
------------------------
It should feel pretty close to your normal setting, properly adjusted for
the current zoom level, no matter what the zoom level is set to. Try it.

About 'lag':
------------
This script WILL slow down your system. On my PII/400 w/ Voodoo2, it is
very reasonable, but on a slower setup, you WILL notice the difference.
This also applies to running Tribes in window mode. On the other hand, it
runs beautifully on my PIII/500 w/ Voodoo3 3000. I know this will be a
problem for many Tribes fans, and I am sorry, but there is no way to
remedy this. Bottom line - it has to create two new 3d views to function,
for a total of three active views. These take extra time to draw etc.
Just a warning... You prolly won't want this thing on ALL the time.

About player indicators:
------------------------
Those little red and green triangles that appear over the heads of other
players will act a bit differently when WideSniper is active.

Let me explain:

The indicators will appear on the zoomed screen as if it were set to 120
degrees, because that is what the rendering engine thinks you are using.
WideSniper provides the 120 degree view in the window by doing the
following:

1. Set the FOV to 120 (that's one 3d view, the default).
2. Copy that view and expand it's size (keeping it centered) until the
    required magnification is achieved. Overlay that over the top of the
    default view (that's 2, the full-screen zoomed view).
3. Make another copy and reduce it's size to be appropriate for the windowed
    vie

• WideSniper.avl.vol 16.4 KB
• WideSniper.avl.vol/WideSniper.cs 8.3 KB
• WideSniper.avl.vol/WideSniperCrosshair.gui 148 B
• WideSniper.avl.vol/WideSniper.gui 6.1 KB
• WideSniper.avl.vol/WideSniperHelp.cs 1.6 KB
• WideSniper1.1a readme.txt 8.6 KB