Oleg
Mutated
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2006
- Posts
- 19,406
- Location
- Leeds, UK
- Avatar Name
- Oleg Oleg McMullery
I've had a couple of recent conversations here and in soc chat about whether or not using different combinations of 1st/3rd person, aim/cursor etc affects performance, and particularly reload times. I've always doubted that it does, and I've done a couple of informal tests in the past that suggested it made no difference, but tonight I decided to do a proper test to work it out once and for all, which, as far as I am aware, no-one has done before (or if they have, they haven't published their results here).
To test it, I fired 100 rounds from the TT pistol into a Atrox Mature and timed it with a stopwatch, starting at the moment I fired the first shot and stopping at the moment that the reload bar became full after firing the 100th. I did this 4 times, each time using a different 'technique'.
Obviously there would be some variation due to my non-pixel-perfect reflexes, but I would think this would be a maximum of 1/10th of a second. Everything else was kept as equal as possible - same mob, same location, though I did move around a little in between tests because I had to wait a while while the mob healed, which led to it eventually getting bored of eating me and wandering off a short distance. I used queued actions to avoid variation in the delay between shots due to my own reflexes.
TT pistol stats say 44 shots per minute, which would mean (assuming no rounding) that 100 shots would take 2:16.36 (i.e. 2 minutes, 16.36 seconds).
So, the stats:
Run 1: using third person view, cursor mode, clicking on mob's health bar to fire.
Time for 100 shots: 2:34.84
Run 2: using first person view, cursor mode, clicking on mob's health bar to fire.
Time for 100 shots: 2:33.66
Run 3: using first person view, aim mode, clicking on mob to fire (i.e. using the game's auto-centering).
Time for 100 shots: 2:32.67
Run 4: using first person view, aim mode, hitting hotkey to fire (i.e. free manual aiming).
Time for 100 shots: 2:20.70
So, it looks like I've been proved wrong. The first three runs are pretty similar, certainly close enough that the difference could be due to lag or human variation, but the 4th is obviously faster, so I conclude that using fully free aim mode does decrease firing time. I would think the difference comes in the small pause in between reloading and firing, due to a reduction in processing required by the system - i.e. there is a little pause as the game works out if it needs to re-centre the aim.
Probably not a very significant difference on small mobs but on something bigger it would certainly have an effect, with more healing time for the mob and more attacks received.
Interestingly, none of these tests resulted in a rate as quick as that suggested in the weapon stats (even if accounting for rounding error).
Another interesting point leading on from this - I never use free aim because this requires constant use of both hands (one mouse, one keys), which is difficult and painful for me, thanks to severe nerve damage in my left hand (temporary, I hope). Is this discrimination against the disabled?
To test it, I fired 100 rounds from the TT pistol into a Atrox Mature and timed it with a stopwatch, starting at the moment I fired the first shot and stopping at the moment that the reload bar became full after firing the 100th. I did this 4 times, each time using a different 'technique'.
Obviously there would be some variation due to my non-pixel-perfect reflexes, but I would think this would be a maximum of 1/10th of a second. Everything else was kept as equal as possible - same mob, same location, though I did move around a little in between tests because I had to wait a while while the mob healed, which led to it eventually getting bored of eating me and wandering off a short distance. I used queued actions to avoid variation in the delay between shots due to my own reflexes.
TT pistol stats say 44 shots per minute, which would mean (assuming no rounding) that 100 shots would take 2:16.36 (i.e. 2 minutes, 16.36 seconds).
So, the stats:
Run 1: using third person view, cursor mode, clicking on mob's health bar to fire.
Time for 100 shots: 2:34.84
Run 2: using first person view, cursor mode, clicking on mob's health bar to fire.
Time for 100 shots: 2:33.66
Run 3: using first person view, aim mode, clicking on mob to fire (i.e. using the game's auto-centering).
Time for 100 shots: 2:32.67
Run 4: using first person view, aim mode, hitting hotkey to fire (i.e. free manual aiming).
Time for 100 shots: 2:20.70
So, it looks like I've been proved wrong. The first three runs are pretty similar, certainly close enough that the difference could be due to lag or human variation, but the 4th is obviously faster, so I conclude that using fully free aim mode does decrease firing time. I would think the difference comes in the small pause in between reloading and firing, due to a reduction in processing required by the system - i.e. there is a little pause as the game works out if it needs to re-centre the aim.
Probably not a very significant difference on small mobs but on something bigger it would certainly have an effect, with more healing time for the mob and more attacks received.
Interestingly, none of these tests resulted in a rate as quick as that suggested in the weapon stats (even if accounting for rounding error).
Another interesting point leading on from this - I never use free aim because this requires constant use of both hands (one mouse, one keys), which is difficult and painful for me, thanks to severe nerve damage in my left hand (temporary, I hope). Is this discrimination against the disabled?
(but that's what I thought about the reload too!).
