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Table of Contents:
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- What is the Omega Combat System Heads-Up Display?
The OCS HUD works by giving a user "hit points" and allows other users with OCS compatible and enabled weapons to take those hit points from the targeted player, up to depletion of those points, resulting in the "death" of the targeted player. It also ensures that the users of OCS compatible weapons are not "dead" at the time of use, and that they are compliant with OCS gameplay by application of various restrictions to promote fair play for all.
It also functions to form, organize and communicate between teams and team members in a combat theatre, and allows for multiple weapon effects based on real-world physics such as impact, blast, radiant, and velocity damage, and protection from those effects through the use of personal and vehicular armor and bunkers.
In December 2012, The Omega Concern introduced OCS HUD 2.0, which added significant functionality while reducing processing load over its predecessor, OCS HUD 1.5.
This manual will explain the use and functioning of the OCS system and the OCS HUD, version 2.
- The HUD and What It All Means
- Damage Direction Indicators
There are eight of these indicators around the very outside of the HUD face. Normally these are invisible, but when you take damage from OCS weapons, these will light up to indicate from which direction, relative to the direction your avatar is facing, you are taking damage. The brighter the indicator appears, the more damage you are taking.
- Hit Points
HP are a measure of your "life". You start with 100, and lose them in varying amounts when you take damage, until you reach zero. This number readout will show you the precise number of HP you have, and the half-ring to the right side of the HUD will shorten to the bottom and change color from green to red to aid you in quickly reading your HP level. If and when your HP reach zero, you will experience "death" which is explained later.
- Stamina
When you run, or walk up steep inclines, or worst-case, run up steep inclines, you will burn off stamina, and this indicator will shorten and change colour to indicate such. As you reach the end of your stamina, you will find your avatar will move more slowly, and if you keep pushing it, your screen will slowly fade to red. Stopping or at least walking will allow your stamina to replenish, and will make the red screen go away if you've really pushed it.
- Run Indicator
When your avatar is running instead of walking, or set to "Always Run" in your viewer, this will appear red as a handy reminder.
- Armour Indicators
Indicates if you are currently being afforded protection by personal, vehicular or bunker armor, from left to right respectively.
- Status Ring
Shows the current working status of the OCS HUD. When arming or in a cool-down stage (explained below) this ring will be yellow and will animate to slowly fill itself in, and once green, the HUD is armed and functional. If this ring is red, it means either your HUD has suffered an unrecoverable malfunction, or it is out of date and a replacement is being sent to you. Be sure not to decline any inventory offers. In either case, the HUD will not arm OCS weapons and in some OCS regions, you will be considered to be not using an OCS HUD and may be ejected.
If you are a theatre admin, you will have the option of "God Mode" which will cause this ring to turn a bright pink, to remind you that you're in God Mode.
- Level
This is your player level. You start at 1 and gain levels as you gain experience points through combat with other players and/or combat with autonomous combatants such as the drones in Fulda Gap. Each level requires greater experience points than the previous did to attain the next level.
- Experience
Experience points are awarded by taking hit points from other players. As you gain experience points, you will ascend in levels. The difference in levels between two combatants is taken into account for scoring experience points, such that to a lower-level player, a higher-level player is worth more experience, and vice-versa.
- Reputation
Reputation points (i.e. Rep Points) are won in much the same way as experience points, with several important differences. When you take damage, you will lose a number of them and the player who dealt that damage will be rewarded that same number. The amount transferred is calculated by the amount of damage dealt. Zero is the minimum number of Rep Points you may have, and if you have zero points, an attacking player will receive exactly zero Rep Points from you.
Ultimately, Reputation is meant as a way to separate and identify those who "level grind" to gain experience, regardless of how much damage or death they suffer, and those who are skilled enough to win more Reputation Points than they lose.
Rep Points can be lost, but can not be won if you are not using a viewer utilizing the RLV or RLVa protocols. This is explained in more detail below.
- Damage Direction Indicators
- Wearing the HUD
The HUD, by default, will attach to the upper-left screen attachment point. You may reattach it to another screen position and/or move it to any place you deem suitable, but keep in mind the damage direction indicators along the outside, so you don't accidentally make one or more unable to be seen.
If you are using RLV/RLVa and the theatre you are in is set to disallow editing of objects, you will not be able to reposition the HUD once it arms. However, you may reposition the HUD during the 30 second 'warm up' time.
The first time you wear it, it will ask you for permissions to animate your avatar and to teleport you. You must answer "Yes" to this dialogue or the HUD will not activate.
Also included is the Team Overlay HUD, which is explained below.
- Camera Restriction
Moving your camera more than 7 meters away from your avatar will cause you to face a blank, blue screen. Leaving it out there will cause the HUD to beep at you and to tell you, in open chat, to press escape to bring your camera position back in. Pressing "Escape" or any of the movement keys will snap your camera back within range and you will be able to see the world again. From vehicles, your camera will have more freedom, allowing you to cam out to approximately 50 meters.
- Battle Rattle
Why yes, it does rattle when you move around, and the faster you're moving, the noisier you will be. (This is a limited radius effect, meaning regardless of another player's sound settings, beyond a certain radius (which also enlarges and shrinks the faster or slower you move) you will be unable to be heard.)
- RLV and RLVa
RLV and its work-alike, RLVa, are a popular set of extensions for third-party Second Life viewers to allow scripts to have more control over particular parts of the viewer. The OCS HUD uses these extensions to prevent mini map, world map, and other settings that can be set on a per-theatre basis to help prevent the temptation for combatants to cheat or otherwise make themselves a pain to their fellow players.
The OCS HUD checks your viewer to see if RLV/RLVa is enabled, and while Rep Points can be lost, they can not be won if you are not using a viewer utilizing the RLV/RLVa protocols. This is done because while one can still play normally without the RLV/RLVa restrictions, the idea behind Rep Points is that it reflects on a player's actual reputation as a fair combatant.
In addition, using RLV will give you a 5x bonus on experience points earned.
If your viewer has RLV/RLVa enabled, the reputation display will appear green (as in the illustration above). If it is not enabled, it will appear red.
The OCS HUD does not function as a RLV relay, and does not expose your avatar to RLV "traps" or other RLV-scripted effects by third parties.
Some viewers that support the RLV/RLVa protocols are the original Restrained Love Viewer (looks and behaves most like Linden Lab's official viewer), Firestorm, Singularity, Catznip, and others which may be found on the Second Life Third Party Viewer directory.
- HUD Menu Options
Clicking the face of the HUD brings up a menu of various options.
- WWW
Takes you to your OCS player page.
- Depart
This is simply a polite way to message the other players in the region and let them know you're leaving the area.
- Help
Brings you to this very web page.
- Team
In OCS Theatres, this will present you with a listing of teams for the theatre, and from which you can join/leave teams, if permitted. A check mark before a team name indicates your current team. Selecting this team from the menu will ask you if you want to leave that team. An "X" mark means a team that has restricted membership.
- Roster
If you are on a team, this will list your teammates in the region, along with their player level and Reputation score.
An "[R]" indicates that they have RLV enabled, and thus are able to score Reputation points.
If you are a regional admin in God Mode, you will receive a complete list of players in the region along with the team each is on.
- Theatre Administrator Options
If you are a theatre administrator, you will see the following menu items also appear:
- Cl Region
Clears and resets OCS destructables and emplaced munitions in the region.
- Admin OFF
Turning off admin mode completely shuts down admin mode and renders you a normal player, i.e. you won't get the theatre administrator options, and can't re-enable them unless you de- and reattach the HUD.
- God Mode
God Mode will cause you to not appear to other combatants and will prevent you from taking damage. The HUD's status ring will turn a bright pink, to remind you that you're in God Mode.
- Cl Region
- WWW
- Integrated Weapon Switcher
As of version 2.0.8, the OCS HUD includes an integrated weapon switcher, which utilizes RLV/RLVa for fast and simple attaching/detaching of weapons and accessories such as weapon HUDs, and activation/deactivation of gestures. We'll cover the complete set up of the #RLV folder in your inventory.
First, if you do not already have one, we need to make a top-level (i.e. not inside of any others) folder in inventory, and name it #RLV. Inside of the #RLV folder, we need to make another folder called "OCS". It is inside of this folder we will place folders containing the weapons, HUDs and gestures you want to use - or more ideally, using links to those items.
In the above illustration, we've made the #RLV folder, and inside, we made the OCS folder (which we'll refer to as the #RLV/OCS folder), and inside of the OCS folder, we've made folders for the Mk17, Mk48 and XM109. Do note that these folders are sorted in inventory in the above example with the "Sort Folders Always by Name" option from the inventory window. This will become important if you want to switch weapons using numbers instead of names.
You can put the actual items inside these folders, this example used the "Paste as link" option to point to the original items elsewhere in inventory.
The weapon switcher takes commands on channel 4, such as "/4 detach" (without the quotes) which will detach all items which may be attached in the #RLV/OCS sub-folders. If you give it a folder that does not exist, you will still have all items in the sub-folders detached, but nothing will be attached to take their places.
When you attach your OCS HUD, when RLV activates it will scan for this #RLV/OCS folder, gather a list of the sub-folders inside and sort them alphabetically. If you make changes to the folders (add, remove or rename any of them) you can use the "scan" command ("/4 scan") to have it re-scan the sub-folder list.
To switch weapons, we can do it one of two ways. Using the example above, we can type "/4 mk17" (capitalization is ignored) and it will first detach all objects and deactivate all gestures in all sub-folders which may be in use, and then attach all objects and activate all gestures contained within the Mk17 sub-folder.
The HUD adds to existing attachment points, it does not "knock off" items currently attached to those points. In other words, if you have an item attached to your right hand which is not inside your #RLV/OCS folder, and you use the switcher to attach everything inside your Mk17 folder, the Mk17 will attach to your right hand in addition to whatever was there.
The other way to switch is by number. "/4 1" corresponds to the first sub-folder in the #RLV/OCS folder, in this case the Mk17. "/4 2" is the Mk48, and "/4 3" is the XM109. The HUD comes with pre-made gestures that address the weapon switcher entries in this manner. Giving it a number below 1 or number that is higher than the number of folders available will detach all items in the sub-folders.
While the HUD comes with four pre-defined gestures for addressing folders 1-4, you can have as many folders in the #RLV/OCS folder as you like, and address them by number or name from chat or gestures.
The weapon switcher gestures may be modified to suit you.
- Forces and Effects in OCS
OCS has several damage types, based on real-world physics, that serve to simulate real-world forces.
- Impact
This is damage done directly to a target, generally by bullets or shrapnel. Impact damage is only applied from a physical contact between the projectile and the target. Buildings and vehicles are almost immune to impact damage, with the notable exception of large-caliber anti-armor rounds.
- Blast
In technical terms, this is an overpressure from a point source. In OCS, this would be from explosions. Blast has the effect of damaging targets and pushing them away from the point of blast. Blast can deliver tremendous force to nearby targets, but it is important to know that blast damage falls as a cube of distance from its origin. This means an explosion that would be 100% fatal from 2 meters away may deliver only minor damage from 10 meters. This cube falloff does not apply to shrapnel, which falls as a square of distance.
Heavy armor vehicles such as tanks or fortified buildings offer considerable protection to the occupants from this type of damage.
OCS 2 introduces blast mitigation through blocking obstacles. Meaning, the damage by direct exposure to a blast from 20 meters is greatly reduced by the presence of a wall, terrain, or other solid object between the blast and the target. As a general rule, the thicker the blocking obstacle is relative to the distance to the blast, the greater its effectiveness.
- Radiant
Radiant damage includes such things as fire, intense heat sources, or radioactive sources. For instance, fire will damage players while they are too close. It will also damage objects, potentially destroying and setting them alight as well. By this mechanism, buildings can potentially burn down by the spread of a fire.
With OCS 2, radiant damage is also mitigated by intervening obstacles.
- Flash
Weapons such as stun grenades do not take off hit points, but can blind players for several seconds, making it much harder to take hit points off from other players.
With OCS 2, flash effect is also mitigated by intervening obstacles.
- Velocity
Falling from great heights will damage and possibly kill you. As will being flung against objects. It's the delta (i.e. change) in velocity that does the damage. As the old saw goes, "It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end."
- Drowning
If you remain underwater for too long, you will take damage and eventually you will die.
- Impact
- Bunny-hopping and Flying
A theatre administrator can disable the standard avatar jump, allowing instead for a much more realistic "hop" and preventing "Bunny-hopping" - jumping repeatedly while running to make one's self harder to hit. OCS theatre administrators may enable a flying damage penalty, applied to any player who is flying without the use of a vehicle in that region.
- Teleporting, Non-Physical Movement and Sit-Target Warping
Teleporting to a new region will result in OCS offensive capabilities being disabled for a 30-second "cool-down" period. Teleporting within the same region will result in OCS offensive capabilities being disabled for a 60-second period. Do note that in regions where you are checked for an OCS HUD, this 60 second window may cause you to be ejected.
Sitting on a box and editing the vectors to move about, or jump-sitting on a prim from a distance violates the laws of physics. Punishment for such violation is death.
- Player Skills and Accuracy
OCS features lifetime player stats, and among the most important to your combat experience will be your accuracy.
As a player gains experience and levels, he or she will gain accuracy and speed with all weapon systems, and more quickly with the weapons they use most. Therefore, a higher level player is generally a more effective combatant than a lower level player simply because they can land more rounds on target.
- Armor
There are three types of armor: Personal, Building and Vehicular. Personal armor is that which is worn, such as helmets, bullet-resistant vests and the like. "Building" refers to fortified bunkers and similar structures. "Vehicular" refers to armored vehicles such as tanks, armored personnel carriers and attack helicopters. Your armor protection is shown on the bottom of the HUD with three indicators, green, blue and orange indicating personal, building and vehicular respectively.
- HP, effects of low HP and HP Regeneration
Your Hit Points can be thought of as your health, on a scale of zero to 100. 100 means full health. Zero means dead. Your skills are affected by your hit points. Lower hit points will adversely affect your stamina, accuracy, reloading time, etc. A region may have enabled health regeneration. This means players who have less than 100 hit points will gain a certain amount of hit points per minute, until they are back to 100.
- Medical Assistance
Players may regain hit points faster than the regional regeneration rate by being assisted by other players with medical kits, or by spending time in an appropriate hospital facility if one is available.
- Death, Respawning, Recovering and Death Penalties
Death and destruction occurs when a player or OCS-enabled object runs out of hit points. For players, this results in a death animation, and the screen will go red and then the world will fade to black. The player's weapons will be shut down, and if driving or flying a vehicle, will release control of that vehicle. There is a "death wait" penalty during which the player simply has to sit and wait.
It is not advised to detach the HUD while "dead" as this can have unintended consequences. Wait until after respawning and the blackout screen has been lifted.
Respawning: If there is a respawn point for the deceased player, and he or she is more than 10 meters from that point, they will be automatically teleported to that respawn point. They will then be presented with an orange screen which they must click to clear, and then the player will be alive, weapons armed and ready to go.
As of version 2.1, if you are in a region that is not OCS configured, the HUD now implements a 'fallback' respawn point, which will be one of two places: A) Where you attached the HUD while in the region, or B) Where you landed when you teleported into the region while wearing the HUD.
Depending on the theatre settings, additional penalties for letting yourself get killed may be incurred. A player may lose experience points, and optionally, may even lose levels as their experience drops below the amount required to reach a given level.
Players will be immune to damage for a limited amount of time when they respawn.
- Player broadcast announcements, Region hopping
When a player enters a region while wearing the OCS HUD, or a player puts the HUD on or takes it off, other players in that region will get a message stating such. The message will state what the player has done, the unique ID for that player's HUD, and a version string. It is frowned upon to attach and detach one's HUD while in play with others, and in regions where the HUD is mandatory, may result in your immediate ejection from the region.
If a player makes more than one sim crossing in 30 seconds, their HUD will be disabled for 30 seconds.
- Teams, regions and theatres
Regions specifically configured as OCS battle areas can be grouped into theatres, such that a single theatre may have multiple regions that comprise it. For each theatre, there may be up to four separate teams, each with their own respawn areas for each region within that theatre, team name, flags, and team chat channels, and members of each team can locate and track other team members with the Team Overlay HUD, which is explained below.
- Teams
- Joining/Switching/Leaving Teams
The Team menu will present you with a listing of teams for the theatre, and from which you can join/leave teams, if permitted.
A check mark before a team name indicates your current team. Selecting this team from the menu will ask you if you want to leave that team. Theatres may disallow players from being affiliated with no team, in which case attempting to leave but not transfer to another team will fail.
Teams may have restricted membership, which will be indicated by an "X" mark in front of the team name.
- Team chat
The HUD comes with a gesture, "/t" which can be activated and used to send chat to team members in the theatre by typing "/t message". (Alternatively, you can use "/130 message") For example, April Heaney types "/t Hello!" and she and her teammates see:
[TEAM]: April Heaney: Hello!
Theatre administrators in admin mode will appear with "«GM»" after their name, and "«GM*»" will show for those in God Mode. Administrators who have shut off Admin Mode will not show either of these suffixes, as they have no special abilities beyond those of any other player.
- Team Overlay HUD
The Team Overlay HUD is a visual way of seeing where your team mates are in an intuitive, perspective-based way. From your camera position (be it in mouselook or third-person view) it will place a symbol in its proper perspective position and orientation to indicate the location and facing direction for each of your team mates in the region. The text above each symbol shows the player's name and range in meters from your own avatar.
You must be on a team in the theatre you are in (i.e. team "none" will not work) for other team members to appear on the overlay.
It uses different symbols and colors to convey additional information. A circle is an unmounted player, a diamond is a mounted player (i.e. in a vehicle). Normally the symbols are green, with a lighter green indicating a player in motion. A player will briefly appear yellow when they are taking damage. If a team member is killed, they will appear red until they respawn.
The symbols will grow/shrink and change opacity to indicate players who are closer or further away.
Typing "/5 overlay" (without the quotes) will pop up the opacity menu, allowing you to customize the overall opacity of the overlay.
The Team Overlay HUD must be attached to the "Center" or "Center 1" screen attachment point only.
- Joining/Switching/Leaving Teams
- Troubleshooting
If you are seeing an error, "Too many sound triggers," this is due to the parcel you are on restricting avatar sounds. Under About Land > Sound > Avatar Sounds the check box for "Everyone" should be checked to prevent this. (Or "Group" if you are an active member of the land holding group.)
If you have discovered a bug, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any relevant error messages, what you were doing and where, and as detailed instructions on how to reproduce it as possible to help us fix it and get an update out in a timely manner.