JTD Hide

[dmarkwick 261]

This is a simple little idea - a place to hide. Now that more & more AI addons are having some sort of a "search" functionality I thought it would be nice to be actually able to hide. To this end, this addon will spawn a doughnut-shaped viewblock object around you to hide inside. There used to be a visible element to this addon, but I removed it on request so now you need to be extra careful .

The doughnut shape means that although you can be hidden from AI that are searching for you, if they get too close they can see "down" into it, and see you. They have to be quite close, and they have to also be looking in your direction. The doughnut-shape will spawn under the ground, and over the course of 60 seconds or so will rise up, gradually hiding you. No insta-hide I'm afraid.

Also, each time you fire or throw a weapon (grenade for example), the hide will drop by 25cm, equivalent to half it's height. It will then start to slowly rise up again. This is so that snipers can hide out & snipe reasonably safely, but not too often lest they give their position away.After two closely spaced shots for example, you will be fully exposed for some time. If the hide gets below a certain depth under the ground due to too many shots too close together, it will disappear altogether and you'll need to re-hide, which you won't be able to do for a random amount of time not less than 20 seconds and not more than 40. Also, moving more than 1m in any direction from the initial hide position will also make it disappear. Dying will make it disappear.

This is probably functional in MP, but my guess is both server & clients must have it. It is totally untested in MP. Obviously you won't be invisible to human players, so if there's human players you must *actually* hide . Quite obviously this addon is meant to fool AI only, with severe restrictions. It works best if you remove yourself from the area you suspect will be searched and hide nearby.

Enjoy it for what it is, it's not meant as some sort of cheat, but rather a way to inject some amount of tension into a game that has AI enhanced search functionality, primarily for SP gaming.

This has been tested as having good gameplay with ACE2, SLX, ZeusAI and DAC. But especially DAC3, which will come looking for you.

*edit* there is an inbuilt anti-cheat mechanism that prevents two or more players from sharing one hide. So you might be ingenious for thinking that you can snuggle up to your hide-buddy while shooting all you like, but you'll both get exposed after a few shots. Other players will affect your hide if they're within 7 meters of you. (As far as I can tell anyway, as I said it's untested in MP.)

JTD Hide

Depositfiles Download.

Edited December 28, 2010 by DMarkwick

[HateDread 13]

Sounds lovely,

But could we please have some sort of picture? I don't really understand what you're saying :(

[dmarkwick 261]

Sounds lovely,

But could we please have some sort of picture? I don't really understand what you're saying :(

Well, I could post a picture, but the Hide object is an invisible object :)

However, I can post an image of a visible Hide that I made for testing purposes:

Edited December 27, 2010 by DMarkwick

[HateDread 13]

Ahh I see what you're getting at now.

So this object is placed in a mission (i.e. by editor), and troops can move into it? Or is it attached to a sniper unit to simulate ghille suit, etc?

[dmarkwick 261]

Ahh I see what you're getting at now.

So this object is placed in a mission (i.e. by editor), and troops can move into it? Or is it attached to a sniper unit to simulate ghille suit, etc?

No, you will have a "Hide" action in your action menu, and when you use it it will rise up out of the ground around you. You won't see it of course, and so there will always be an amount of uncertainty about it.

Edited December 27, 2010 by DMarkwick

[victim913 10]

I could see a sniper tent set up. Maybe have a portable backpack that can be deployed as a small or man tent made up of various ground covers, branches etc.. Similar to the MG NEST, but no sandbags and more natural looking and smaller.

Other than that having a barrier around someone will only make them stand out. Especially since people stand around feet tall and you can still look down into it.

[dmarkwick 261]

I could see a sniper tent set up. Maybe have a portable backpack that can be deployed as a small or man tent made up of various ground covers, branches etc.. Similar to the MG NEST, but no sandbags and more natural looking and smaller.

Other than that having a barrier around someone will only make them stand out. Especially since people stand around feet tall and you can still look down into it.

I get the feeling you haven't read the info :)

[demonized 20]

Sounds great DMarkwick, will deffinetly try this out.

[TYRAN 10]

Super hide version Metal Gear Solid...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBJ9R0TU8-s

Super hide version Metal Gear Solid 4...

DMarkwick plis up JTD Hide http://www.megaupload.com/

Edited December 27, 2010 by TYRAN

[domokun 515]

Love the idea but is there any way that it could just enable itself automatically?

I mean if I dive into long grass or a bush, I'm not sure how I'd "hide" short of breaking out my trenching tooth and breaking off nearby undergrowth to camo myself...

In all due respect (love your other addons btw, especially JTD Flies)

[maturin 12]

breaking off nearby undergrowth to camo myself...

And why couldn't you do that? You'd also want to position yourself so that the shinier parts of your kit (boots, buckles, metal parts) were flat on the ground or covered by your camo. The addon relies on player roleplaying a little bit in order to be realistic. Wouldn't really work for a Chedaki in urban camo on the Utes runway.

It would probably be possible to make Hide require a certain amount or type of grass nearby, as the spotting system checks for this anyway.

[LordJarhead 1725]

I don't know if this was posted sometimes but I getting an strange error:

When playing with my team about 5 or 6 men, I make "Hide" in the action menu. And its works fine so far. But after I moving again and shooting around, I have two "Hide"'s in my Action menu. And then three, four and more and more and more... than I have 20 "hide"s in the menu and I have to scrole down the whole menu to find something like "gear" or so...

Any Ideas? Maybe an different addon could make that. I have TrueMod, JSRS (of corze^^) asr, Anzins, some parts of scenetweaks and WarFX blastcore enabled and run on latest beta patch (don't want to put my DVD in all the time^^)

Thanks so far, and its a great Idea ;) Love to play around and sniping some AI's and they have no fucking Idea where I hiding :D

Jarhead

[Guest]

Release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

JTD Hide

[abs 2]

Love the idea. Can't wait to go home and test it.

Quick question: Does this addon have to be added to missions, or does having it reside in the pbo folder make it work automagically for all missions?

I'm at work, so I can't test it right now. :(

Abs

[SigintArmA 10]

I've tested it (With ACE2) and sadly kind of find it useless, in my opinion that is. I mean, it can be used to hide stationary waiting for that one hostile officer or who ever to show themselves but other then that, after the first shot you will have to relocate anyway, in turn revealing yourself from the hide.

When I tested the hide, 10 seconds after I fired (After wait 60 seconds after selecting to 'Hide') the enemy AI squad turned to my 'Last Known Location' from where my gun shot came from and unloaded their AK mags into my position. I didn't die (Right away) but they still use 'Last Known Location' to focus their fire.

From past sniper gaming Exp in ArmA2 I can do the same exact thing except actually hide myself in large grass/bushes and make the one shot count. Sadly I can't see a change in AI reaction to a sniper. I mean yes, it can be good for ducking and hiding from patrols for missions requiring a one man infiltration of a complex (The delay to reuse it after moving making the use of solid cover still requires) a tad easier. But from what I've tested and tried, it only gives the the ability to 'Hide in plain sight' (IE middle of a road or in the middle of the sand) making it -too- easy to hide.

It's a good idea! I will give you that but I really see it a tad... useless (For the lack of a better term) for sneaking since there are bushes/rocks/trees that can do the same.

But none the less ^^ It is a interesting addon

[phertiker 10]

So this is an invisible quick-built infantry fighting position that only affects enemy AI?

Wacky stuff, and a perfect example of why I love Arma and all of you crazy mod developers.

[Alex72 1]

Cheers DM! :)

"Affected only against AI"

From what i recall in ArmA it did hide you very well on open fields against humans as well due to its semi-transparent camo + your own camo.

[verde13 0]

Love the concept, but for me it's not working. At least not unless i manually paste JTD_HideAction1 = _thisUnit addAction ["Hide", "JTD_Hide\Scripts\Hide.sqf","",10,false,false,""] of HideInit.sqf to the init field of my units and change _thisUnit to thisUnit.

Only then i get the option to hide in the action menu.

[ray243 11]

Now all we need is a cardboard box and it'll be complete!

[prowler.wolf 0]

Love the idea but is there any way that it could just enable itself automatically?

I have to agree with domokun. I'm not liking the action menu way of activating this. I feel it should be automatic.

Also an added feature would be a sort of progress bar that gives you an idea of your current "hide status". Excellent work so far for such an awesome idea. Keep up the good work Dmarkwick. :)

[dmarkwick 261]

I don't know if this was posted sometimes but I getting an strange error:

When playing with my team about 5 or 6 men, I make "Hide" in the action menu. And its works fine so far. But after I moving again and shooting around, I have two "Hide"'s in my Action menu. And then three, four and more and more and more... than I have 20 "hide"s in the menu and I have to scrole down the whole menu to find something like "gear" or so...

Any Ideas? Maybe an different addon could make that. I have TrueMod, JSRS (of corze^^) asr, Anzins, some parts of scenetweaks and WarFX blastcore enabled and run on latest beta patch (don't want to put my DVD in all the time^^)

Thanks so far, and its a great Idea ;) Love to play around and sniping some AI's and they have no fucking Idea where I hiding :D

Jarhead

Hmm, well I remember this problem from when I first made this for ArmA1, but I haven't seen it since. I wonder why you're seeing it now?

---------- Post added at 03:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:58 AM ----------

I've tested it (With ACE2) and sadly kind of find it useless, in my opinion that is. I mean, it can be used to hide stationary waiting for that one hostile officer or who ever to show themselves but other then that, after the first shot you will have to relocate anyway, in turn revealing yourself from the hide.

When I tested the hide, 10 seconds after I fired (After wait 60 seconds after selecting to 'Hide') the enemy AI squad turned to my 'Last Known Location' from where my gun shot came from and unloaded their AK mags into my position. I didn't die (Right away) but they still use 'Last Known Location' to focus their fire.

From past sniper gaming Exp in ArmA2 I can do the same exact thing except actually hide myself in large grass/bushes and make the one shot count. Sadly I can't see a change in AI reaction to a sniper. I mean yes, it can be good for ducking and hiding from patrols for missions requiring a one man infiltration of a complex (The delay to reuse it after moving making the use of solid cover still requires) a tad easier. But from what I've tested and tried, it only gives the the ability to 'Hide in plain sight' (IE middle of a road or in the middle of the sand) making it -too- easy to hide.

It's a good idea! I will give you that but I really see it a tad... useless (For the lack of a better term) for sneaking since there are bushes/rocks/trees that can do the same.

But none the less ^^ It is a interesting addon

I understand that some people won't really dig the idea :) but as far as being able to make one shot count: that's fine if there's only one target :) also, the sniper thing is only one use for the Hide. Hiding from searches is another.

---------- Post added at 03:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:00 AM ----------

Love the concept, but for me it's not working. At least not unless i manually paste JTD_HideAction1 = _thisUnit addAction ["Hide", "JTD_Hide\Scripts\Hide.sqf","",10,false,false,""] of HideInit.sqf to the init field of my units and change _thisUnit to thisUnit.

Only then i get the option to hide in the action menu.

That's strange, I get the Hide action automatically. You are running Extended Event Handlers? I didn't put that requirement in the OP, but CBA is the best place to get EEH.

Edited December 30, 2010 by DMarkwick

[dmarkwick 261]

I have to agree with domokun. I'm not liking the action menu way of activating this. I feel it should be automatic.

Hmm, no I think Hide should be an initiated action rather than automatic. For one thing, you're probably moving around the ground most of the time, meaning that the Hide will be constantly destroyed and remade as you do so, and your Hide status will be even more uncertain :)

Also an added feature would be a sort of progress bar that gives you an idea of your current "hide status". Excellent work so far for such an awesome idea. Keep up the good work Dmarkwick. :)

There used to be a visual element to the Hide, but I removed it on request. As it stands, the Hide is more of a faith thing, I didn't want a definite "you are hidden" indicator, as it removes some tension and requires you to act slightly differently :) Right now, really the only indicators that you might be hidden is the absence of the Hide action in your action menu, and a lack of incoming rounds ;)

[xxbbcc 6]

If I were you, I'd even leave the menu item in place to have it even more uncertain. When active, the menu item simply wouldn't do anything. To give feedback to the player, you could have the addon show a message, something like "You're attempting to hide..."

[verde13 0]

That's strange, I get the Hide action automatically. You are running Extended Event Handlers? I didn't put that requirement in the OP, but CBA is the best place to get EEH.

Yeap, i'm using ACE, so i have installed the CBA.

Anyway Happy New Year DM, really appreciate your work.

[dmarkwick 261]

Yeap, i'm using ACE, so i have installed the CBA.

Anyway Happy New Year DM, really appreciate your work.

Oh, one other thing, you do realise that the Hide action will disappear for at least 20 seconds once you've used it right? While the Hide exists, you won't see the action at all, and once it's destroyed, you won't see it until a random amount of time (20 to 40 seconds) has elapsed.

And a happy new year to you too :)