Diving Under Water

[Feint 137]

@Raptor 6 Actual, I'm looking forward to the final product. Thanks for all of your hard work!

@JSF82nd Reaper, I was actually hoping to make the strobes IR if possible, not the flares. That's a good suggestion about looking into the lasers. I'm a little intimidated by configs and am worried about spending a few hours connecting the dots to find the original laser just to find out it's a texture trick. I was hoping that maybe if I just set the light to some color like an extremely dark red, then it would only appear in NV.

@Kremator, I have to pick my battles. :)

QUICK UPDATE: I've recorded the beep sounds from my Suunto Core watch and like them enough that they are now the new sounds for the dive computer. I've also renamed the dive computer from Divotron to DIVEMASTER. Sounds more badass. ;) It now also records maximum altitude as well as maximum depth reached and it switches from Altitude to Depth mode automatically. It's fun to just have it on when exploring the mountains of Clafghan or when you are flying around as a backup to your cockpit altimeter. It's also useful when skydiving so you can open your chute at a pre-planned height. I'm almost done with a video demonstrating the new features as well as a demo of the limpet mine.

Here are some WIP shots of a mission I'm working on. Playing around with adding a light to a boat house that you have to approach subsurface.

Edited March 29, 2012 by Feint
Added pics, yo

[Feint 137]

In this update video, I demonstrate the DIVEMASTER Altimeter/Depthmeter functions, it's Lar-V air tracking functions, surface aiming and the limpet mine functions.

This is a longer video showing most of a mission I'm working on. I've cut out some of the more boring sections but for the most part it's how the mission would play in real time.

fV_UHc9KQso

[J-Guid 10]

Good, BUT, I think ne more better to decrease distance of vehicles para (100-200meters be good), because in video, very spotable

---------- Post added at 16:13 ---------- Previous post was at 16:05 ----------

and what about to find more better anim for shooting in water, with avaliable to shoot with croshair? did you tri find it?

---------- Post added at 16:14 ---------- Previous post was at 16:13 ----------

some chanse to see this ACE compatible?! ;)

[Feint 137]

I was using the crosshair. Maybe you missed it.

[andersson 285]

It looked (and sounded!) very good :) I have a question regarding the shooting anim, is it possible to aim with the sight? I never play with crosshair.

[hcpookie 3770]

Nice looking boats you blew up in that vid :cool:

What other kinds of underwater "things" do you need? I can make wreck models of those boats. Obviously we need BIGGER wreck models to explore :)

What about underwater mines? The big round ones with spikes on them. I thought I saw one but not sure if it is in use? De-arming those would be an interesting mission.

What about those little bullet-shaped diving engines like this one:

I'm also thinking about retrieval missions where you must go find the "secret files" but is a briefcase suitable for underwater missions? What other underwater gizmos need to be modelled?

[orcinus 121]

@feint: great video, and great pictures - the red lighting look splendid :)

@hcpookie: not exactly a gizmo, but.... sharks!

[raptor 6 actual 13]

http://www.lightstormimages.com/gallery/games/arma2/scubatesting/full/sharkey-01.jpg

@feint: great video, and great pictures - the red lighting look splendid :)

@hcpookie: not exactly a gizmo, but.... sharks!

You mean like that one from post #49? :)

[orcinus 121]

You mean like that one from post #49? :)

Oops, I had forgotten that one - but will they attack?

Becoming a fish's dinner would bring a whole new flavour to the game.

[Feint 137]

It looked (and sounded!) very good :) I have a question regarding the shooting anim, is it possible to aim with the sight? I never play with crosshair.

I never do either. Not at the moment. But

EDIT: If you have a Laser Aiming Module on your weapon, you can use that accurately. But I also found another animation that allows you to aim down your sights. It's a kneeling position and I don't think it looks as cool, but it allows you to use your weapon more effectively, so that's cool.

---------- Post added at 21:29 ---------- Previous post was at 21:13 ----------

Nice looking boats you blew up in that vid :cool:

What other kinds of underwater "things" do you need? I can make wreck models of those boats. Obviously we need BIGGER wreck models to explore :)

What about underwater mines? The big round ones with spikes on them. I thought I saw one but not sure if it is in use? De-arming those would be an interesting mission.

What about those little bullet-shaped diving engines like this one:

http://www.diveaeris.com/Images/p_vehicle_voyager2.jpg

I'm also thinking about retrieval missions where you must go find the "secret files" but is a briefcase suitable for underwater missions? What other underwater gizmos need to be modelled?

Actually, J-Guid has volunteered to work on a diver propulsion system. But if you are dying to make something, feel free to create anything you want. Something I was playing with from Armed Assault that I semi-ported to Arma2 was underwater mines, like the kind that you describe with the spikes on them that are anchored with a chain to the sea floor that ships run into. They looked good and worked very well when lots of AI were storming a beach and they ran into them, but the single AI ships almost always saw them and tried to steer around them even attempting to steer onto land to avoid them. I didn't feel like tackling the problem of porting the whole mod of boats just for the mines and the mine laying ship, but it was fun to play with them. I tell ya, swimming toward a large undersea mine coming out of the foggy murk looked pretty cool. But they need to be made invisible to AI.

And yes, I love your boats mainly because they are awesome but also because there aren't that many OPFOR boats around. After seeing Act of Valor and the scene with the SWCCs, I've been replaying that whole thing in my mind with your SOCR boats too.

---------- Post added at 21:32 ---------- Previous post was at 21:29 ----------

Oops, I had forgotten that one - but will they attack?

Becoming a fish's dinner would bring a whole new flavour to the game.

I have "Sam" the shark which was given to me by Deansbeano. As he stated to me in a PM, she has mental issues. I had planned on making her into a boat that an AI could pilot with specific instructions given from a script for snake movement created by CSJ and his awesome snakes addon. But I haven't had time to tackle it. It's a good model and I'd like to use it, but as of right now I don't have time to make proper use of it. So it's off on the back shelf for now.

Also, FYI, there's already a shark available that attacks swimmers created by CSJ again. It doesn't dive below a certain depth, so if you ever want to get away from it, just swim deeper. But surfacing can be quite nerve wracking. It is available here:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=10272&highlight=SHARK

Edited March 31, 2012 by Feint
Changed animations for surface aiming

[hcpookie 3770]

I got your PM, I'll look into it.

Is that mine from the SC9 Ships addon? There's only one other underwater mine I found from the OFP "Floater with attitude" thread but its a dead link.

I have a thought on making that mine undetectable to AI. If you have the MLOD I could take a look at it. If you don't have the MLOD, then perhaps I'll just have to build a mine layer ship this week :)

[raptor 6 actual 13]

Well, if we keep this up, we'll soon have (the ArmA community) SEAL's for covert ops, Underwater Salvage Teams to remove damaged debris or collection of important material, Mine Layers to prevent shipping operations, and proper UDTs (underwater demolition teams...now known as SEALs) to remove said mines, and much more. Keeping fingers crossed, lol.

Looking forward to the next update shots or videos.

[Feint 137]

Watch me throw out brevity:

So after some diligent searching, I've found a new surface aiming animation that will work in the water. This one looks like you are kneeling, but I've set it below the surface of the water for half of the unit's body so you can't see his legs for the most part unless there are heavy seas. It's a bit dodgier than the last animation. What I mean is, half of the diver's body has to be submerged for the animation to look good. Apparently the game engine uses that info to decide whether or not your weapon will fire. Pros and cons:

• PROS
  
  • Looks ok when the seas are right
    
  • Allows you to aim in a natural crouching position with the ability to look down your sights
    

  [*]CONS

  • Partially submerged body means your weapon might not fire (even thought the weapon is well clear of the water) - It's an engine thang
    
  • Looks weird if the seas are bad (you might end up kneeling on low waves)
    
  • Higher kneeling body position might have some silhouette issues
    

What about the old prone animation in the previous videos (Zodiac Cargo 1)?

• PROS
  
  • Looks pretty cool, I think, even when the seas are bad
    
  • Weapon fires every time unless seas are really bad
    
  • Low prone body position might have some silhouette advantages
    

  [*]CONS

  • Can not fire down sights (have to use cursor or Laser Aiming Module with NV) -mofosob
    

PRONE VS KNEELING:

In other news, I've created a Dive Station Module. In the editor, place an object (a non-"Man" meaning anything other than a unit) on the map, place the Dive Station Module on the map, sync it with the object. It adds the actions to that object so you can do things like:

• Change to an Open Circuit SCUBA system
  
• Change to a Closed Circuit Lar-V system
  
• Add a Limpet Mine (adds 1 total to inventory)
  
• Add/Remove a Dive Light
  
• Replace Dive Computer Battery
  
• Replace Underwater Flares (adds 10 total to inventory)
  
• Refill Oxygen (available for Open or Closed Circuits)
  
• Refill Nitrox I (open circuit only)
  
• Refill Nitrox II (open circuit only)
  
• Refill Heliox 28 (open circuit only)
  
• Refill Heliox 21 (open circuit only)
  
• Refill Trimix (open circuit only)
  
• Refill Air (open circuit only)
  

The nice thing about making it a Module is that it runs a marker tracking script in the background attached to whatever object(s) you sync it to which keeps track of its position. Then it adds and deletes and re-adds a map marker ever 2 seconds. So if you make a truck or a boat as a Dive Station, and then you move it, or someone else moves it, or if it gets destroyed, then the marker changes position or disappears. Also, the actions get removed if the object is destroyed (but just from that object)!

Also, I set up another dive circuit besides open and closed. None. The "none" diving circuit. :) This way, you can take off your dive gear. Or put it back on. Or change dive circuits from open to closed and back to open if you want.

FYI, I've updated the dive computer to read these variables and it will say "SCUBA" when on an open system, "LAR-V" when on a closed system and "------" when you aren't using an underwater breathing apparatus (UBA). And the Underwater Diving Module scripts also keep track of these three "systems" and reacts accordingly. So if you have an open system on and you take it off, you have air in your lungs when you next time no matter what dive gas you were using. Or if you were using a pure Oxygen Lar-V system, take it off, then you have air in your lungs, not pure Oxygen. Why does this matter? If you dive with pure oxygen in your lungs, even if you don't take a breath the whole time, you won't be able to dive below 30 meters without some serious oxygen toxicity ruining your day. So if you want to practice free diving, you should be able to do that even if you just took off a SCUBA system that was full of Heliox 21.

FYI, I plan to add functions to allow you to take off your UBA while submerged. The ability to don and doft gear while submerged is SOP taught in CDQC (combat diver qualification course). So I had better have the code ready or I'll have some angry Navy Seals or MARSOC soldiers kicking my ass.

Either way, the dive computer and the rest of the code does keep track of the different circuit states, dive gases and how they all work together. It's not PURE REAL WORLD. I.e. I haven't added consequences for deco dives over the period of multiple days and how that can mess with you if you then go into a pressurized aircraft. That just gets complicated. And if you do a deco dive and you need to decompress, I have it so that you can decompress around 4 meters of sea water and over the period of about 5 minutes, you can remove all traces of nitrogen from your tissues. The process of staying there for 20 minutes just doesn't seem like fun gameplay to me though it would be more realistic and accurate for the real world diving community out there.

I'm also now using visiblePosition as the sort of gatekeeper to diving underwater. This is a new command that keeps track of your 3d rendered position. Basically it makes it MUCH easier to dive underwater without first calibrating your buoyancy control device (BCD). That way, if the sea is within a certain wave height, you can dive under right away. Sometimes, you just still can't and you have to calibrate. FYI, there's a major difference between getPos, getPosASL and visiblePostion. I'm using all three. visiblePostion to enable diving, getPosASL to stop diving and set average sea level, and getPos and setPos to actually change position in the water, i.e. dive and ascend.

What else... hmm... OH! I finally finally finally recorded some drowning sounds! This was a lot of fun and turned out way better than I could have imagined. I also added some minor blacking out while drowning using layered cutText elements.

So here's a video demonstrating a few of these things. Enjoy!

telKptVLxAI

---------- Post added at 01:33 ---------- Previous post was at 01:29 ----------

I got your PM, I'll look into it.

Is that mine from the SC9 Ships addon? There's only one other underwater mine I found from the OFP "Floater with attitude" thread but its a dead link.

I have a thought on making that mine undetectable to AI. If you have the MLOD I could take a look at it. If you don't have the MLOD, then perhaps I'll just have to build a mine layer ship this week :)

Yes, to the SC9Ships. That's what I was looking at. I couldn't get a hold of the original author to get permission to remodel their work so I don't have any MLODs. I basically just added it to Arma2 and loaded up the empty ships and added new Arma2 soldiers in the editor. That way I avoided the worst of the error messages.

If you want to make a mine, mine layer and anything else, that would be saweet. :)

---------- Post added at 01:35 ---------- Previous post was at 01:33 ----------

Well, if we keep this up, we'll soon have (the ArmA community) SEAL's for covert ops, Underwater Salvage Teams to remove damaged debris or collection of important material, Mine Layers to prevent shipping operations, and proper UDTs (underwater demolition teams...now known as SEALs) to remove said mines, and much more. Keeping fingers crossed, lol.

Looking forward to the next update shots or videos.

I've been fantasizing about adding "inflatable buoys" to an object using that rope you were talking about and simulating raising sunk ships or sunk cargo containers for salvage operations or rescue ops. Maybe someone else can work on that at a later date after the release of this thing. :)

Edited March 31, 2012 by Feint

[d-tox 14]

when we have the opportunity to try this mod?

[dialektiikka 10]

The decreased deco times sound reasonable enough for playability. Mind, you can always put together an additional module for a later release, eg. something called "HC diving module" with numbingly realistic deco times if you wish :)

For a crudish solution for a lifting balloon, maybe some retextured parachutes could be used? Dirty, oil-stained white or orange, with added hissing filling sound and slowed down opening animation, if possible. Don't know if they can be made to open underwater or how to make them raise upwards, though.

[DaveP 66]

One option could be to include a variable like "realistic_deco" that changes the times between 'gameplay' mode and 'authentic' mode -better to have options!

[Franklin 0]

I was going to say the same as DaveP. Though personally I would hate to have to sit staring at my screen for 20 minutes, doing nothing. I know my teammates would hate anything to do with diving underwater if it meant they had to do that as well. I think its a wise choice for gameplay to speed up the deco, but keep everything else realistic.

[hcpookie 3770]

Good news and bad news...

The good news is that I made a model for a water mine:

The BAD news is that I can't get the config to work as a mine object! It is in the game right now as a buoy object. I guess a trigger would work to activate it, but I really would like to see it work with "native" support as a mine.

I don't want to hijack your thread, so I am going to post a help request in the modelling section! ;)

[froggyluv 2136]

Spent last half hour watching all of these videos and all I can say is http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m594/froggyluv/this_gon_b_gud_gif.gif

Majorly outstanding - but need fishies :)

[Nike619 1]

Is there anyway to change the annoying swimming sound the chunk, ca chunk. To something else, Like the ambient echo, Best words I could find to describe it )that I hear whenever i'm swimming?

Great videos Feint. I truly can not wait for this to be released.

[Feint 137]

when we have the opportunity to try this mod?

As soon as possible but not before I'm satisfied it all will work. I have a few things left to do. I know that's not the answer you want, but, well, I'm not a full time game company.

The decreased deco times sound reasonable enough for playability. Mind, you can always put together an additional module for a later release, eg. something called "HC diving module" with numbingly realistic deco times if you wish :)

For a crudish solution for a lifting balloon, maybe some retextured parachutes could be used? Dirty, oil-stained white or orange, with added hissing filling sound and slowed down opening animation, if possible. Don't know if they can be made to open underwater or how to make them raise upwards, though.

One option could be to include a variable like "realistic_deco" that changes the times between 'gameplay' mode and 'authentic' mode -better to have options!

I was going to say the same as DaveP. Though personally I would hate to have to sit staring at my screen for 20 minutes, doing nothing. I know my teammates would hate anything to do with diving underwater if it meant they had to do that as well. I think its a wise choice for gameplay to speed up the deco, but keep everything else realistic.

I do have some "simulation vs. arcade" settings in the userconfig. So you can turn on "unlimited air" and turn off "underwater damage" and turn off "underwater bubbles" if those cause you any fps issues. But like Franklin said, sitting staring at your screen for 20 minutes can't be fun. I'll revisit making this even more complicated for those of you who want to use it as a semi-accurate dive trainer. But there are so many considerations I could get into that it would quickly turn into the FSX of dive addons and I don't think it would ever be released then. :)

Good news and bad news...

The good news is that I made a model for a water mine:

https://public.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p4bLxZtCkaXXA3-L8yraBaDKroRYaNMVZZOR2xTgg2H-QUoTS5bGFRw36JzLYk23864awNdtNuh9rNhrQ0cmZuw/waterminetest1.jpg

The BAD news is that I can't get the config to work as a mine object! It is in the game right now as a buoy object. I guess a trigger would work to activate it, but I really would like to see it work with "native" support as a mine.

I don't want to hijack your thread, so I am going to post a help request in the modelling section! ;)

You're not hijacking. I have some experience with the anti-tank mine vs. boat war and from what I can tell, it seems like results are mixed. Sometimes boats blow up from an anti-tank mine, sometimes they don't. Did you look at the SC9 addon? In the config for that naval mine, an eventhandler is used to run a script when the object is created in game. That script sets up a trigger around the mine. The first ship that enters that trigger area gets damaged assigned and an explosion is set off at the location of the mine. You could simply do the same thing and have a bomb spawn at the location of the mine (using noclip or whatever when using createVehicle array) when a ship gets within a certain radius of the center of the mine trigger area.

Spent last half hour watching all of these videos and all I can say is http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m594/froggyluv/this_gon_b_gud_gif.gif

Majorly outstanding - but need fishies :)

Only 30 minutes? ;)

I'll let others worry about undersea life. ADO_GMC made a fish in the other thread. But he didn't know how to get it to swim around. Sometimes a bird will show up underwater. And there are those specs of pollen floating around underwater sometimes which show up like stars at night while using NVGs.

[J-Guid 10]

hcpookie, PM me about mine, its model issue, i think i can help you :)

[orcinus 121]

Also, FYI, there's already a shark available that attacks swimmers created by CSJ again. It doesn't dive below a certain depth, so if you ever want to get away from it, just swim deeper. But surfacing can be quite nerve wracking. It is available here:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=10272&highlight=SHARK

Ooh! Aarggh! - that is terrifying. What a great addon, many thanks for the pointer :)

Agree with another poster - shark repellent needed!

Sometimes a bird will show up underwater. And there are those specs of pollen floating around underwater sometimes which show up like stars at night while using NVGs.

Cormorants, ofc :) Pollen specks - wouldn't worry me too much, there are lots of small luminescent species - krill, radiolarians, etc.

I'm not a full time game company.

..which makes your work even more impressive. Very much looking forward to the release - whenever you are satisfied with it.

BR

Orcinus

Edited April 1, 2012 by Orcinus

[[aps]gnat 28]

The 2 subjects combine to make a news headline yesterday;

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/diver-killed-by-shark-off-busselton/story-e6frg13u-1226315174087

6th death on 2 years, on the west coast.

But still, you're more likely to be struck by lightning ;)

[J-Guid 10]

Feint

PLEASE! change a swiming and water sounds :(