ScreamingMissiles — Nuclear Option BepInEx Mod

ScreamingMissiles overhauls IR missile behavior in Nuclear Option with wider launch envelopes, LOAL search/reacquire logic, stronger turn authority, seeker cue overlays, and configurable seeker audio.

• High off-boresight + wide launch gates — launch well outside vanilla arcs; shots outside seeker cone can still leave the rail in LOAL.
• Enhanced turning + motor tuning — tune PID turn rate, torque multiplier, thrust, burn time, and fuel mass per missile family.
• MMR-S3 LOAL + reacquisition memory — post-launch search with configurable timing/angles and flare-evasion relock behavior.
• View-slaved seeker cueing — pre-launch growl/overlay follows selected target or pilot view direction.
• Seeker overlay + ripple assignment — center-screen rings and target diamonds visualize cue quality and launch assignment.

Building

dotnet build AIM9XMod.csproj -c Release

Copy bin/Release/net472/ScreamingMissiles.dll and the SeekerNoises directory to BepInEx/plugins/

Unit Tests

Run unit tests for extracted seeker math logic:

dotnet test AIM9XMod.Tests/AIM9XMod.Tests.csproj -c Release

Installation

1. Build the mod.
2. Copy ScreamingMissiles.dll into BepInEx/plugins/.
3. Copy the SeekerNoises directory next to the DLL, for example BepInEx/plugins/SeekerNoises/.
4. Start the game once to generate BepInEx/config/com.modder.aim9xmod.cfg.

Configuration

After first run, edit BepInEx/config/com.modder.aim9xmod.cfg or use an in-game config editor.

Section	Setting	Default	Description
Features	EnableHighOffBoresight	true	Enables widened IR launch geometry and high off-boresight behavior.
Features	EnableEnhancedTurning	true	Enables higher-turn-performance IR missile handling.
Features	UsePeakIRThreshold	false	Uses the highest observed target IR for reacquisition blocking instead of the IR value at flare evasion time.
Features	EnableViewSlaving	true	Steers player-fired no-lock missiles toward current view direction while scanning.
Features	EnableSeekerGrowl	true	Enables pre-launch seeker cue overlay and growl feedback.
IRM-S1	OffBoresightAngle	50	IRM-S1 seeker cone half-angle in degrees.
IRM-S1	FiringGateAngle	70	IRM-S1 maximum launch angle in degrees.
IRM-S1	MaxTurnRate	6	IRM-S1 PID turn-rate limit.
IRM-S1	Flare rejection factor	1.75	Flare rejection multiplier for IRM-S1 lock logic.
IRM-S1	Motor thrust	2750	IRM-S1 motor thrust in newtons.
IRM-S1	Motor burn time	2.0	IRM-S1 motor burn duration in seconds.
IRM-S1	Fuel mass	4.0	IRM-S1 fuel mass in kilograms.
IRM-S2	OffBoresightAngle	70	IRM-S2 seeker cone half-angle in degrees.
IRM-S2	FiringGateAngle	100	IRM-S2 maximum launch angle in degrees.
IRM-S2	MaxTurnRate	9	IRM-S2 PID turn-rate limit.
IRM-S2	Flare rejection factor	2.0	Flare rejection multiplier for IRM-S2 lock logic.
IRM-S2	Motor thrust	18000	IRM-S2 motor thrust in newtons.
IRM-S2	Motor burn time	2.0	IRM-S2 motor burn duration in seconds.
IRM-S2	Fuel mass	25.0	IRM-S2 fuel mass in kilograms.
MMR-S3	OffBoresightAngle	90	MMR-S3 seeker cone half-angle in degrees.
MMR-S3	FiringGateAngle	180	MMR-S3 maximum launch angle in degrees.
MMR-S3	MaxTurnRate	12	MMR-S3 PID turn-rate limit.
MMR-S3	EnableLOAL	true	Enables lock-on-after-launch and reacquisition behavior for MMR-S3 only.
MMR-S3	Flare rejection factor	3.0	Flare rejection multiplier for MMR-S3 lock logic.
MMR-S3	Motor thrust	40000	MMR-S3 motor thrust in newtons.
MMR-S3	Motor burn time	2.2	MMR-S3 motor burn duration in seconds.
MMR-S3	Fuel mass	40.0	MMR-S3 fuel mass in kilograms.
Turning	TorqueMultiplier	3	Multiplier applied to IR missile torque.
LOAL	SearchAngle	90	Missile seeker search cone half-angle during LOAL.
LOAL	SearchTime	8	Maximum LOAL search time before missile goes ballistic.
Cueing	PrelaunchCueAngle	12	Center-screen cueing cone half-angle for pre-launch candidate selection.
Audio	GrowlVolume	0.1	Master seeker audio volume.
Audio	EnableWavProfileAudio	true	Loads seeker audio from WAV files next to plugin DLL.
Audio	WavProfileFolder	SeekerNoises	Folder containing seeker WAV clips.
Audio	WavStandbyFile	Aim9Caged.wav	Standby/caged seeker clip filename.
Audio	WavLockFile	Aim9UnCaged.wav	Lock/uncaged seeker clip filename.
Audio	WavFlaredLockFile	Aim9UncagedFlared.wav	Lock clip used when flares are inside detection cone.
Audio	FallbackToSyntheticAudio	true	Falls back to generated tones if no WAV clips load.
Audio	LaunchMuteSeconds	0.5	Temporarily mutes growl after player IR launch detection.
Debug	ShowDetectionPercentDebug	false	Shows seeker percentage text in HUD and emits seeker debug logs.
Debug	ShowLoalTargetDebug	false	Logs verbose LOAL target assignment and scan decisions.
Debug	ShowOffBoresightAngleDebug	false	Draws viewed off-boresight angle vs selected missile limits in HUD.
Overlay	WobbleMaxOffset	14	Maximum pixel wobble of target diamonds at low detection strength.
Overlay	WobbleSpeed	1.3	Speed multiplier for overlay diamond wobble.

WAV Profile Audio

• WAV files are loaded relative to the installed plugin DLL, for example:
  • BepInEx/plugins/SeekerNoises/Aim9Caged.wav
  • BepInEx/plugins/SeekerNoises/Aim9UnCaged.wav
  • BepInEx/plugins/SeekerNoises/Aim9UncagedFlared.wav
• Blend logic:
  • 0% - 30% detection: pure caged tone
  • 30% - 60% detection: linear blend between caged and lock tones
  • 60% - 100% detection: pure lock tone
• If flares are inside the detection cone, the mod uses the flared lock clip for the uncaged side of the blend.
• If no WAV clips load:
  • with FallbackToSyntheticAudio = true, generated tones are used
  • with FallbackToSyntheticAudio = false, seeker audio stays silent

Behavior Notes

• Selected targets inside the aircraft forward cone get pinned pre-launch seeker feedback instead of center-screen scanning.
• If a hard-locked target is outside the seeker cone, pre-launch feedback is suppressed and the shot remains LOAL-oriented.
• Player-fired LOAL missiles can steer toward the current camera view while they search.
• During LOAL, MMR-S3 missiles prefer their assigned target first, then fall back to the best in-cone IR source.
• Successful flare breaks create a relock threshold so the missile will not reacquire until the target's IR output rises above that threshold.
• The overlay can draw multiple target diamonds for launch-assignable HUD targets, and low-confidence or flare-contaminated cues wobble.

Debugging

• ShowDetectionPercentDebug = true adds seeker strength text to the overlay and periodic [SeekerDebug] / [SeekerState] logs.
• ShowLoalTargetDebug = true adds [LOAL-DBG] logs covering launch assignment, candidate rejection reasons, and preferred-target overrides.
• ShowOffBoresightAngleDebug = true draws a HUD debug readout and gauge for current viewed off-boresight angle vs selected missile off-boresight angle.