So, as the title reads, I believe that the M1 Carbine, more than any other gun in the game, is in dire need of a complete remodel. As it is, the model and textures are just ugly, and actually have a few historical inaccuracies. There are also some problems with the performance of the Carbine in game, but I will talk about the model first.
THE MODEL
The first and most glaring issue with the model of the M1 Carbine in my opinion is more of a texture issue: the wood texture. Currently the color of the wood is way too light, and there are strange artifacts in the texture (maybe they’re supposed to be scratches?)
The solution to this is to have the stock be a darker color, and more representative of the actual approved wood types that were used to make M1 Carbine stocks: Black Walnut and Yellow Birch (Black Cherry was approved but incredibly rare). Below is a photo of each wood type in good condition.
If the devs want to go with a more worn look to the stock, the stocks got darker in color and somewhat more dull as dirt and grunge got on it, such as my example below (which also sports a high wood stock):
The other major issue with the model of the M1 Carbine has to do with the top handguard. The model in game is lacking the rivet holes that were present on the handguard near the receiver. Of these, there were two types, one with two rivet holes (early pattern) and one with four rivet holes (late pattern). I suggest for this model to represent an earlier pattern M1 Carbine, with a two rivet handguard.
(I also suggest the use of the handguard with the deep sighting groove, as it should make the sights easier to acquire)
One last issue with the model have to do with the sights themselves. In game, the front sight is not even centered in the rear sight, and the camera is far too close to the rear sight as well, making it appear larger than it should. The camera should be placed where the shooters face would be: against the stock. The perspective should be one where the wings of the front sight “touch” the sides of the rear sight (or since in this game, apertures are made larger for the sake of gameplay, the sight should at least be centered). Having a correctly placed camera can make the sights less obtrusive and easier to use.
I will try to provide a photo of the sight picture from my M1 Carbine a little later, though my example has the later adjustable sight and not the early flip sight. I would recommend that the model keeps the early flip sight for this campaign.
SUGGESTIONS FOR THE MODEL
I suggest remodeling the M1 Carbine as an early-mid war examples with the features that I will list below. Not only are they more interesting visually since most real life examples have later features from armory rebuilds, but also because by the point of the Normandy campaign, most carbines would still be sporting a lot of the early features, so here’s a list:
- Early flip sights (already modeled)
- Two rivet handguard (shown above)
- High wood stock, meaning that the wood goes up and covers the operating slide. Later stocks were “low wood” like we have in game
- push button safety (right now the model has rotary safety)
- All major parts should be textured to imitate a parkerized finish, as most Carbine parts were finished this way, EXCEPT for parts such as the bolt, trigger, and magazine catch/release, as these were all finished in the blue (blued)
So that’s about all I have for the model of the M1 Carbine, next up is the performance.
PERFORMANCE OF THE M1 CARBINE
In game I believe the performance of the M1 Carbine is decent, but it has a little too much vertical recoil. In game it has 66 vertical recoil, which can make it difficult to make quick follow up shots, which are important for a gun with low damage. The solution is simple: Give the M1 Carbine the same 54 vertical recoil as the M2 Carbine already has in game. Both guns should perform the same in semi automatic fire anyway, and the M2 Carbine’s recoil is not only more realistic, but also much easier to use.
Lastly, another historical issue but this time relating to performance: Currently in game the M1 Carbine’s bolt gets held open on an empty magazine. In reality, the Carbine had no such bolt hold open mechanism; the bolt would simply close on an empty magazine and when a new magazine is inserted, the bolt would have to be cycled completely in order to chamber the new round. The bolt handle does have a manual push-button hold open, but the reload animation would just be faster if it wasn’t used.
So, I think that is everything. Sorry for the long post, but there is really just a lot wrong with the M1 Carbine currently, and I hope that it will soon receive a rework (including a full remodel as well). I will say that if anyone is interested in the M1 Carbine, they should definitely visit The U.S. Caliber .30 Carbines - Site Map (uscarbinecal30.com), as it is a great wealth of information, and probably unmatched on the internet.
So what do you guys think? Any opinions or things to add?
