MGs: belt- or drum-fed?

[Seagull5]

Something that I keep noticing in shooters, is that all the MGs are drum-fed, and never belt-fed. Not that it's a real big issue, but still I wonder why. Are ammo belts that hard to create / animate, or do they harm performance? Also I'd like to hear from the devs how this will be in H'sH, if possible of course.

[kamehouse]

Either this (harm performance)or they try to be realistic.Belt fed MG's (I'll take the MG34 or MG42 as examples) were in defensive positions and on a tripod.
The one equipped with drums would be for assault troops and on a bipod.Reason is you wouldn't need another person(1 or 2 extra) to use the MG.
Again I am talking about the german army.Not sure about the american side of it.

[Mr. Romantic]

a drum is a lot simpler to model than a belt. A belt throws itself around = low FPS. One thing I would like to see in HH is reloading on the MGs.

[sgt_baker]

the americans elt fed there mg but the bullits were in boxes.The bullets were fold up in the box, the mg gunner would take the box open it and take the first couple of bullets and then shoot so the belt would enfold itself

[dudas_91]

Like Sgt_Baker said, American MG's used belt fed ammo, but the ammo was folded up in special ammo containers/boxes.

I own a few (4 to be exact) and you can buy one for $5 at a gun show. They are perfect for storing ammo because they have a seal and that close really tightly. You drop a few silica gel packets in the container and you can store ammo for hundreds of years.


http://www.surplusandadventure.com/i.../ammo_boxs.jpg

They come in all shapes and sizes to accommodate all different types of ammunition, but they all keep the basic design.

[botman]

Originally Posted by Seagull5

Something that I keep noticing in shooters, is that all the MGs are drum-fed, and never belt-fed. Not that it's a real big issue, but still I wonder why. Are ammo belts that hard to create / animate, or do they harm performance? Also I'd like to hear from the devs how this will be in H'sH, if possible of course.

Games usually don't do belt ammo because it's harder to make it look correct. You can have an animation of the belt moving, but that animation won't change as the gun moves around. You can create the belt using physics objects that are all linked together. That will move and look better but chews up a lot of CPU time and results in lower framerates.

Having a drum for ammo removes both of those problems. There's no need for an animation and you don't have to use physics for a moving belt.

botman

[tylerbrenner]

The MG42 did use drum ammo in rare cases, the majority of the time soldiers used 50round belts... they created a nice belt animation in Red Orchestra, why can't u guys do something like that for Hell's Highway?

[freshfreddy]

but let´s not forget H´sH looks way much better then RO. So, if the framerates are better using a druim box, well so be it As long as they get the animation for the machine gun bipod nicely done, I am a happy trooper
(and then, bring us helpless wooden sheds)

[sgt_baker]

i think they have belt

[Seagull5]

As long as the MGs have to be reloaded or overheat, I'm happy! Changing barrels on the MG42 would be really cool...