The new Crossbow Scope and its setbacks

[odds]

The public beta branch for Black Mesa introduces a lot of new features. One of the more unspoken change is the new Crossbow Scope. While some annoying graphical errors/bugs have been dealt with, some new ones have emerged. Due to this, the new scope turns out to be only a little more comfortable than its counterpart on the public mainline branch.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1372360061
First off the new scope actually do a little better than the previous one. It finally gets rid of the horrendous zoom and its awful rendering. It also introduces a much better holographic image because of its higher exposure of red and its pointy sight. This is a lot better than the previous dark red and slim lines sight. The blur outside the scope when zoomed in, also is a nice feature.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1372360134
Even though these improvements are much welcomed, the scope mechanic still feels like an overlooked feature of Black Mesa. The new scope actually looks like it has been drawn in Microsoft Paint to be completely honest.
The scope itself, when zoomed in, doesn't reflect or in any way interact with light whatsoever. This is because the whole deal is a 2D drawing. If you look closely on the screenshot of the scope in the dark, you begin to notice white spots on the outline of the holographic image. This is properly because of poor carving by the developers, when they had to implement the drawing into the game. If you look on top of the screenshot there is a clear white stripe which is most certainly a remnant from the carving.
When you right-click to use the scope there is also no animation any more. Previously the crossbow had an animation which showed the scope coming closer to your head. Now you’re just instantly scoped in when you press the right-click. It just feels a little silly to instantaneously have a badly carved 2D drawing smacked onto your screen… Half-Life 2 didn’t have an animation, but at least it had this zooming motion to indicate that the played was zooming. No modern game instantly zooms in any more.

I know this is a lot of criticism for a single thing in a time with Xen right around the corner. But to watch the game downgrading itself for no apparent reason baffles me.
The Black Mesa mod version actually had a nice scope mechanic.[www.gnd-tech.com] (Without the red holographic sight unfortunately).
This old version of the scope worked nicely and had no criticism, as far as my knowledge goes. I wouldn't suggest that this exact scope should be implemented back into the retail game. It’s just a shame that the mod version nailed the mechanic better than the retail version does.

[LU-C4]

I absolutely agree. Also, the scope itself seems to be broken for me. Whenever I zoom in now, it's ONLY the zoom! No image, no blurr and, worst of all, not even A CROSSHAIR! Only a grey, translucent crossbow model in the bottom right corner! It used to work about half the time, shortly after the december update came out of beta and was put into the main game. Then it was sometimes gone after quickloading, now it doesn't appear at all! I don't know why this still happens, since I've already verified my game files. And from what I've read, I seem to be the only person having this issue. So if anyone know what might have broken the crossbow for me, PLEASE let me know!

[LU-C4]

Okay, it appears that my issue with the crossbow scope is caused by unchecking God Rays, for whatever reason.

[Springski]

What happened to BM really? They downgraded everything and stopped supporting Intel HD series of GPUs, which accounted for my loss of FPS after the last few major updates. And now they baffled me more with this low quality 2D scope. To be frank, the original 3D animated scope with a clear black cross is preferable given that BM is a remastered version of HL. This 2D scope feels that it belongs to games in the era of HL instead of the more modern BM.

[Just Chill]

Originally posted by odds:

The Black Mesa mod version actually had a nice scope mechanic.[www.gnd-tech.com] (Without the red holographic sight unfortunately).
This old version of the scope worked nicely and had no criticism, as far as my knowledge goes. I wouldn't suggest that this exact scope should be implemented back into the retail game. It’s just a shame that the mod version nailed the mechanic better than the retail version does.

Hey there, I just sent you a gift for that recommendation.
Fully support it. :)

[odds]

Originally posted by ~LaGGeRFeeD~:

What happened to BM really? They downgraded everything and stopped supporting Intel HD series of GPUs, which accounted for my loss of FPS after the last few major updates. And now they baffled me more with this low quality 2D scope. To be frank, the original 3D animated scope with a clear black cross is preferable given that BM is a remastered version of HL. This 2D scope feels that it belongs to games in the era of HL instead of the more modern BM.

Originally posted by Just Chill:

Originally posted by odds:

The Black Mesa mod version actually had a nice scope mechanic.[www.gnd-tech.com] (Without the red holographic sight unfortunately).
This old version of the scope worked nicely and had no criticism, as far as my knowledge goes. I wouldn't suggest that this exact scope should be implemented back into the retail game. It’s just a shame that the mod version nailed the mechanic better than the retail version does.

Hey there, I just sent you a gift for that recommendation.
Fully support it. :)

I thought my scope criticism was completely forgotten!
Thank you Just Chill

[odds]

Oh yeah, just an update - I think the devs stated somewhere that the new sight was just a temporary one. So that pretty much solves it all. Just a little annoying they didn't answer this post -.-

[stephen.snowdon]

My only gripe with the crossbow scope in BM (and I'm fairly new to this game) is the way that you are knocked out of “scope view” after you've fired. On the whole though, the crossbow is a serious weapon. My biggest problem is the fact you can only carry ×15 bolts instead of ×50 like in the original Half Life.

[KRON]

Originally posted by stephen.snowdon:

My only gripe with the crossbow scope in BM (and I'm fairly new to this game) is the way that you are knocked out of “scope view” after you've fired. On the whole though, the crossbow is a serious weapon. My biggest problem is the fact you can only carry ×15 bolts instead of ×50 like in the original Half Life.

Well, you can carry less of all types of ammo, not just bolts. There is only 18 of .357 rounds instead of 36, 150 9mm bullets instead of 250, 64 shotgun rounds instead of 125. I think only depleted uranium has remained at 100. It's all made in the name of balance. Original Half-Life had too much ammo.

[Olde]

Originally posted by stephen.snowdon:

My biggest problem is the fact you can only carry ×15 bolts instead of ×50 like in the original Half Life.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=733428180