So i've made my own FPS, graphics and guns and all of that cool stuff; When we fire, the bullet should take a random direction inside the crosshair, as defined by:
float randomX=(float)Math.random()*(0.08f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc)-(0.04f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc);
float randomY=(float)Math.random()*(0.08f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc)-(0.04f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc);
bulletList.add(new Bullet(new float[]{playerXpos, playerYpos, playerZpos}, new float[]{playerXrot+randomX, playerYrot+randomY}, (float) 0.5));
We calculate the randomness in X and Y (say you had a crosshair size (guns[currentWeapon].currAcc) of 10, then the bullet could go 0.4 to any side and it would remain inside the crosshair. After that is calculated, we send the player position as the starting position of the bullet, along with the direction it's meant to take (its the player's direction with that extra randomness), and finally it's speed (not important atm, tho).
Now, each frame, the bullets have to move, so for each bullet we call:
position[0] -= (float)Math.sin(direction[1]*piover180) * (float)Math.cos(direction[0]*piover180) * speed;
position[2] -= (float)Math.cos(direction[1]*piover180) * (float)Math.cos(direction[0]*piover180) * speed;
position[1] += (float)Math.sin(direction[0]*piover180) * speed;
So, for X and Z positions, the bullet moves according to the player's rotation on the Y and X axis (say you were looking horizontally into Z, 0 degrees on X and 0 on Y; X would move 0*1*speed and Z would move 1*1*speed).
For Y position, the bullet moves according to the rotation on X axis (varies between -90 and 90), meaning it stays at the same height if the player's looking horizontally or moves completely up if the player is looking vertically.
Now, the problem stands as follows: If i shoot horizontally, everything works beautifully. Bullets spread around the cross hair, as seen in https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16387578/horiz.jpg
The thing is, if i start looking up, the bullets start concentrating around the center, and make this vertical line the further into the sky i look. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16387578/verti.jpg The 1st image is around 40º in the X axis, the 2nd is a little higher and the last is when i look vertically.
What am i doing wrong here? I designed this solution myself can im pretty sure im messing up somewhere, but i cant figure it out :/
Basicly the vertical offset calculation (float)Math.cos(direction[0]*piover180) was messing up the X and Z movement because they'd both get reduced to 0. The bullets would make a vertical line because they'd rotate on the X axis with the randomness. My solution was to add the randomness after that vertical offset calculation, so they still go left and right and up and down after you fire them.
I also had to add an extra random value otherwise you'd just draw a diagonal line or a cross.
float randomX=(float)Math.random()*(0.08f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc)-(0.04f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc);
float randomY=(float)Math.random()*(0.08f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc)-(0.04f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc);
float randomZ=(float)Math.random()*(0.08f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc)-(0.04f*guns[currentWeapon].currAcc);
bulletList.add(new Bullet(new float[]{playerXpos, playerYpos, playerZpos}, new float[]{playerXrot, playerYrot}, new float[]{randomX,randomY, randomZ},(float) 0.5));
And the moving code...
vector[0]= -((float)Math.sin(dir[1]*piover180) * (float)Math.cos(dir[0]*piover180)+(float)Math.sin(random[1]*piover180)) * speed;
vector[1]= ((float)Math.sin(dir[0]*piover180)+(float)Math.sin(random[0]*piover180)) * speed;
vector[2]= -((float)Math.cos(dir[1]*piover180) * (float)Math.cos(dir[0]*piover180)+(float)Math.sin(random[2]*piover180)) * speed;