deemit

Points: 319, Level: 6

Activity: 6.1%

After trolling these forums for the last week iv noticed, scattered throughout various threads that some prof players tend to hide weapon models, so im curious as to what advantages this brings and is it class dependant?

Yz50

Points: 785, Level: 15

Activity: 6.1%

there might be a bit of an advantage to be had because a part of your screen isn't covered by the view models anymore, but some people keep them on for aesthetics, sometimes it helps people aim projectiles up close because the projectiles don't come out of the center of the screen, come off-centered to the right i think

Renegade Replicant

Points: 520, Level: 10

Activity: 69.7%

FTFY

But yeah, some people remove them so they're less of a distraction and for more space on the screen.

I generally keep them, though I remove them for the scattergun.

GrieVe

Points: 80, Level: 1

Activity: 51.5%

Basically what has been said. Weapon models usually block a fairly significant portion of the bottom right of the screen. Granted, the advantage of that extra viewing space gainted by turning them off is pretty small, but some players just don't like to leave things to chance. I play with viewmodels off just because I don't NEED to see my medigun or my needlegun or anything like that. It doesn't offer me any advantage with them on, whereas having them off offers me at least some advantage, however small.

13375p34k3r

Points: 999, Level: 17

Activity: 9.1%

I'm surprised you'd have them off. Doesn't having view models on help with ubersaw timing? Not to say you'd pull out an ubersaw very often though...

Kuiper

Points: 5,165, Level: 49

Activity: 0%

Apart from issues of allowing you see things that the viewmodel might otherwise block, I find that I have an easier time focusing on aiming when I don't have a giant reloading animation superimposed on my screen.

Fish #641

Points: 2,875, Level: 34

Activity: 0%

I keep them on. I have yet to have anyone surprise me from behind any weapon model. Though this may change if they suddenly add a class that is like 2 feet high and can go invisible.

Renegade Replicant

Points: 520, Level: 10

Activity: 69.7%

A midget spy?

GrieVe

Points: 80, Level: 1

Activity: 51.5%

Not really at all. I pretty much know the timing in my head anyways, plus there are plenty of audio cues. Honestly, the only problem I ever have with ubersaw timing is if I am going for a saw -> switch to medigun -> uber with % I just got from the saw hit where I will accidently switch from saw to medigun a fraction of a second BEFORE the hit connects. That is something that viewmodels off actually helps me not do - because I don't see the saw swinging towards the enemy I can't mistime a switch back based on visuals. It lets me just rely completely on sound and my uber meter going up.

NeoRussia

Points: 2,949, Level: 35

Activity: 25.0%

I hate how sometimes I press one of my weapon keys or the "last weapon used" key and it doesn't change for some reason and I end up firing the wrong weapon. Anybody else have this problem?

Renegade Replicant

Points: 520, Level: 10

Activity: 69.7%

Yes, I've had that happen to me more than once. For example. I was solly, low on health and so was my opponent. He was running at my with the equalizer and was really close. I hit Q to go shotty, but it stayed rocket launcher and it killed both of us.

Yes, I could've gone melee as well, but shotty was safer.

JonDigweed

Points: 4,269, Level: 44

Activity: 25.0%

One potential fix is having your crosshairs match up to whatever weapon slot you're using. Of course if you have default weapon crosshairs you'd have different crosshairs for primary, secondary and melee anyway. But for people with custom crosshairs, I've seen players with different colours for the pipe launcher, sticky launcher and bottle. That way if you have no weapon models you can still tell which weapon you have out by the colour of your crosshair.

Sigma

Points: 7,327, Level: 59

Activity: 16.7%

The problem with that is that you assume that whatever is behind your viewmodel is going to surprise you by attacking you or somehow making their presence known, as opposed to, say, running by for a back cap. It's like saying "I have 75 FoV, and I've never seen a scout slip by on the flank, so it must not happen". I record clips with viewmodels on because it looks better, and in the small fraction of my play that I've captured, there are several events in which I react to someone who is completely obscured by my weapon.

For a while I had no viewmodels for any weapon, but currently I leave them on for melee. I use melee so infrequently that I would need to specifically practice to get the timing down as well as I have it with models, and that's just a waste of time. I don't put much faith in my ability to process additional enemies when a scout is all up in my face anyways, so I don't feel like I lose much by blocking my screen there. Though I admit it would be better if I could time swings properly with no model.

This is probably a result of whatever config you're using. It's impossible to read the game's state for use in a cfg file, so to implement any custom crosshair/viewmodel/sensitivity/whatever scheme tied into your weapon switches, you have to give something up somewhere. That is to say, since you can't switch weapons while dead, if you don't use the "remember last active weapon" cvar, or even if you do and try a weapon switch while respawning, the cfg will 'lose track' of what weapon you were on.

The best configs I have seen or been able to write require (at worst) 2 (but usually 1) weapon switches on respawn to restore the normal functionality of "lastinv" and "invnext/invprev" (mwheel switching). I imagine this is the case for any popular config out there, so just spam a few weapon switches upon spawning and you should be fine. If that doesn't fix it it's a bug with the game or a very poorly written config.

Grimm

Points: 1,541, Level: 23

Activity: 78.8%

I have viewmodels on for all classes but sniper, scout and medic, which I have the primary weapon models off for (secondary for medic, but medigun is essentially a primary ;]).

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NeoRussia

Points: 2,949, Level: 35

Activity: 25.0%

Not really a fix, this actually makes the not switching problem worse. Since both the switch and crosshair change function is bound to the same button, it performs one (the crosshair swap) and not the other (the weapon swap). So you are even more fooled into thinking that you are carrying another weapon.

2thumbs

Points: 3,805, Level: 41

Activity: 5.9%

With the nade launcher, I simply must have the model on for a reference since the pipe flies on an angle. When I'm off-classing, I just have a toggle binded to h for when I play scoot or med or heavy. Quick and dirty.

Sigma

Points: 7,327, Level: 59

Activity: 16.7%

What Digweed suggests is actually a very good fix. It's impossible to implement a consistent crosshair switching scheme with "lastinv" -- meaning all of your weapon switches will consist of "slotX;cl_crosshair...". So, while you may still encounter your weapon not switching (due to the reasons I brought up in my previous post), your crosshair will not change either. The only way to have the wrong crosshair appear for a weapon (assuming the cfg is done properly) is to attempt to change weapons while dead, and even that gets fixed by switching weapons again on spawn.

Though, I suppose leaving the default crosshairs works too, since they're also tied into the weapon.

I'm actually pretty curious to see your confg and figure out what's causing you these problems.

Jesus

Points: 4,136, Level: 43

Activity: 5.9%

He might be using Flame's version of the Competitive Config since the original was kind of abandoned.

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chipbuster

Points: 2,622, Level: 33

Activity: 9.1%

I have a crosshair changer and an autohealer rolled into one, and boy does it get messed up sometimes. It's a stock autoheal script (using and realiasing "+automedigun" and "-automedigun"). The changer is also pretty default. What I do is assign needle to mwheel up, bonesaw to mwheeldown, and medigun to f or to a side mouse button. That way, I can roll the mousewheel to defend myself and leave my healing options away from that thing (which doesn't always recognize clicks on my mouse)

The problem I have is that every now and then, I'll press my medigun key to go to my medigun. The autoheal is activated and the crosshair changes, but then I'll have a constant stream of needles come out, and because its on autoheal firing control, I can't stop until I swap weapons (often leaving some poor guy to burn to death if its a pub)

In addition, I was playing a lobby the other day, and my autoheal just plain quit working. I had just spawned with a solly, and I couldn't heal him. I reverted back to manual (I used to play with it, so its not hard), but I couldn't get it working again until I died (tried both switching weps to reactivate script and rexecing config). After I respawned, it worked for another 5 min and broke again. Any idea what happened there?

Renegade Replicant

Points: 520, Level: 10

Activity: 69.7%

I can honestly say I've never used an auto-healer. Not an elitism thing, I've just never done it. Doesn't interest me. I prefer to be in complete control.

Grimm

Points: 1,541, Level: 23

Activity: 78.8%

Autoheal scripts aren't always a good thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfAyHoCWGz4

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GrieVe

Points: 80, Level: 1

Activity: 51.5%

I don't, and never have, used the autohealing function. Frankly, I just never trusted it. Even though I don't have any real evidence to back up that it is buggy or faulty, I just never wanted to leave it up to chance. Plus, with it on I just don't feel like I'm _doing_ anything running around and not even holding down a mouse button. I feel much more in control the way it is manually.

chipbuster

Points: 2,622, Level: 33

Activity: 9.1%

yeah, I've been swapping back and forth between the two trying to decide which one I prefer, and I can't really say that I like the autohealer more. I'm thinking I'll give it a couple more days and if it doesn't show something amazing, I'll just drop it.

Renegade Replicant

Points: 520, Level: 10

Activity: 69.7%

I feel the same way, I need to be doing SOMETHING. I think my focus of the game wouldn't be there if I wasn't even holding down the left click. I'd probably get a little dis-engaged from the game, which is BAD when you're medic. Thats just me personally, but the auto-heal has never interested me.

Like I said, I perfer to be in control and I don't want to give that control up to a script. Thats why I don't use scripts. If I'm going to get good at something, I might as well actually DO IT.

deemit

Points: 319, Level: 6

Activity: 6.1%

aight, well personally i like the models of some of the guns so seeing as haveing models off doesnt make that BIG of a difference, i think ill leave them on even tho my graphics are shit. seeing as a few pro medics replied can i ask if u guys have the advanced healing option ticked or hold down click to heal?

GrieVe

Points: 80, Level: 1

Activity: 51.5%

I myself don't have autohealing on, as mentioned earlier. I'm also pretty sure that most higher level medics do it manually as well. I could be wrong, but I don't know of any that use autoheal offhand.

13375p34k3r

Points: 999, Level: 17

Activity: 9.1%

Holding Down to Heal really gives me a greater sense of connection to the person that I' am healing. Making things such as flick healing in a crowded area much easier for me.

Sigma

Points: 7,327, Level: 59

Activity: 16.7%

I reversed my left click for the medigun. Rather than holding click to heal and releasing to stop healing/change targets, I click to stop healing/change targets; no click = healing/searching for a target.

The tf_medigun_autoheal cvar really screws you because you need to react to your beam breaking and click to reestablish it if someone goes out of range or dies. Those 0.2s intervals where you're not healing and could be really add up.

Fish #641

Points: 2,875, Level: 34

Activity: 0%

Grieve you're the only higher-level medic that I've talked to that has said they don't do click-heals. From a purely technical perspective, you will be able to aim more naturally if you aren't constantly putting pressure onto one side of your mouse.

GrieVe

Points: 80, Level: 1

Activity: 51.5%

Really? Wow. I just assumed that everyone did it manually. It just feels weird to me not holding down m1. I guess unlike some people I don't really mash m1 as hard as I can, it's a pretty light pressure. "Aiming" isn't exactly a huge deal for Medics anyways so I guess I never felt that my ability was comprismised by it.