Diving Under Water

[Feint 137]

This is really cool, I'm pretty impressed with this, and interested to see where you will go with it Feint.

Couple things I'd like to see is the bug or problem with losing one's weapons when you get in the water, that really needs to be fixed.

Another idea I was thinking of is when on a boat how you would see divers sit on the side of the boat and then fall backward into the water.

That would be cool to have an animation for that.

Workin on the equipment loss with kju and boxter.dk. I'm confident that one of their solutions will allow for at least 5 hours of underwater time before equipment loss.

Well if you want some interesting areas adding to Ilha Marrom it can be done. PM me what you'd like to see and I'll add what i can.

Dealer's choice my man. The island is awesome with great buildings already. Underwater things I remember from other games include Splinter Cell: Conviction beginning where you swim into a building complex through a storm drain. I had the idea a while back of having a dam burst that flooded a valley. So basically you have an inland valley below sea level with a bunch of houses and buildings partially or fully underwater. Could make for an interesting area to explore swimming into all of those open houses. Have you ever seen that movie The Big Blue? Remember the diving bell scene? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmZPSLL2yXg Maybe a diving bell elevator could be used to get down to a secret underground sealab? Who knows? I think they go down 200 meters which is crazy world class depth.

BTW, I just tried to swim into the vanilla shipwreak model, but no joy. The windows are blocked by the collision model.

Now all that's needed are these

http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Ammunition-Handbook/40-x-46-AR-476-anti-diver-grenade-Bulgaria.html

pics are here

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2009/10/20/depth-charge-40mm-ammunition/

I think if you drop a grenade into water, it bounces off the surface like skipping a stone. Maybe that's a smoke grenade. Can't remember now.

Edited April 11, 2011 by Feint

[andersson 285]

Couple things I'd like to see is the bug or problem with losing one's weapons when you get in the water, that really needs to be fixed.

Its not a bug. Maybe a simple attachto can strap the weapon to the chest while diving? The rest of the equipment might be harder..?

[liquidpinky 11]

Its not a bug. Maybe a simple attachto can strap the weapon to the chest while diving? The rest of the equipment might be harder..?

Could have a script to save the loadout then remove weapons while the scuba gear is active, then replace them when back on dry land. Attaching the primary etc to the character while submerged would also be a nice touch though.

[Defunkt 431]

^

This, otherwise your units wil need to be pre-configured for diving. That is unless you plan to replace the whole unit with a separate scuba-equipped model (high degree of difficulty).

[Goos 0]

This is something special. I always found it absurd that one could not swim under water (it's been happening in games for decades) and in fact systematically drop everything that is secured to their body while swimming O.o (totally boggles the mind that one made no sense at all)

Here's hoping BIS take note and give us better water action in their next installment.

[Feint 137]

I think I mentioned it before, but kju is helping me with a script he's made which mostly solves the problem of "fatigue" while swimming (which seems to be the root cause of dropping all of your gear). I've been having issues with binarizing, but once I can solve that problem, I'm hoping to be able to keep one's gear in the correct spot for a long while. Armaholic thread was just updated with some new big news. :)

[cbfasi 4]

This is sounder rather interesting, I will have to ensure my underwater portions of ships actually look reasonsable (and YIPPPE the idea of diver delivered limpet mines on ships is almost possible !!)

[Goos 0]

I think I mentioned it before, but kju is helping me with a script he's made which mostly solves the problem of "fatigue" while swimming (which seems to be the root cause of dropping all of your gear). I've been having issues with binarizing, but once I can solve that problem, I'm hoping to be able to keep one's gear in the correct spot for a long while. Armaholic thread was just updated with some new big news. :)

Good news, good news indeed. You have a very unique mod going on here mate it has to be said.

[Feint 137]

This is sounder rather interesting, I will have to ensure my underwater portions of ships actually look reasonsable (and YIPPPE the idea of diver delivered limpet mines on ships is almost possible !!)

Haha, this is very true. All that modeling time spent on props and rudders can now be appreciated. On that note, I thought of a new mission type. You could possibly place a piece of wood inbetween the rudder and prop on a suitable ship using attachTo and some careful setDir settings which could simulate a blocked or fouled rudder and or prop. The mission could be to dive down and remove the obstruction. Who wants to invent underwater currents?

Speaking of missions, I found this rather obvious but still interesting list of diving jobs which could be turned into missions:

Types of diving jobs

• Aquarium maintenance in large public aquariums
  
• Boat and ship inspection, cleaning and maintenance
  
• Cave diving Technical
  
• Civil engineering in harbors, water supply, and drainage systems
  
• Crude oil industry and other offshore construction and maintenance
  
• Demolition and salvage of ship wrecks
  
• Diver training for reward
  
• Fish farm maintenance
  
• Fishing, e.g. for abalones, crabs, lobsters, pearls, scallops, sea crayfish, sponges
  
• Frogman, manned torpedo
  
• Harbor clearance and maintenance
  
• Media diving: making television programs, etc.
  
• Mine clearance and bomb disposal, disposing of unexploded ordnance
  
• Pleasure, leisure, sport
  
• Underwater photography
  
• Policing: diving to investigate or arrest unauthorized divers
  
• Search and recovery diving
  
• Search and rescue diving
  
• Spear fishing
  
• Stealthy infiltration
  
• Marine biology
  
• Underwater tourism
  
• Underwater archaeology (shipwrecks; harbors, and buildings)
  
• Underwater welding
  

Edited April 13, 2011 by Feint

[BasileyOne 10]

why use spear underwater, when you can use firearms ? like used by Russian combat divers[&bought by US coleagues in Russia].

sadly dont saw APS or newer dual-ammo[both uses APS and AK74 ammo, incl 7Ð22-7Ð24 line] in add-ons/mods yet.

Edited April 13, 2011 by BasileyOne

[dissaifer 10]

Thanks for your endless help man. Always appreciated. RE the un-PBO, I was being lazy not explaining my steps. What I meant to say was, "Even when I un-PBO and unBinerize a config.bin to config.cpp, if I try to re-binerize and re-PBO, I get all sorts of errors." So I'm guessing that it's not possible to unBinerize without errors or something. I'd like to figure this out. What tools do people use to un-BIN a config.bin file into a config.cpp and then rebinerize it without errors? I think maybe I'm just missing something and it's pretty frustrating. I use the command line interface with a program called pbo.exe to unbinerize and unpbo.

Hey I just started playing with the configs and found these tools http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=411

There is a tool called unRap that should keep the config.cpp clean.

Also, you don't have to have to make the config.bin from the config.cpp (at least I haven't and got stuff to work) but you can't have both the bin and the cpp in the pbo at the same time.

Mods looking good btw. :) it reminded me of the Shark

[Feint 137]

Thanks. I started using Eliteness again and since the updates it seems to be working for me. Thanks for the advice.

I was able to add a post process effect (blurry water effect) every time you emerge from the water for about 2 seconds. Adds a little something. I think I can also add depth darkness this way which is better than using setAperture. I'll play around with it. Maybe I can change the teal water color to more of a darker blue too. Not sure about that but it's worth a shot.

[Feint 137]

Does anyone know how to make objects that can appear in the user interface the same way the watch and compass appear in the game so that they are effected by the light that is hitting the player? eightball024 is making a dive board and I'm just wondering how to put it into the view of the player. I know you need a 3d model and I figure you have to tie it into a keystroke so that it will come up. I read something about a GUI editor but that's for dialogs, I think.

Anyone know?

Model by eightball024

[Defunkt 431]

You mean like the compass? I guess you'd just follow its config, others have put replacement compasses in game but I've no idea if there are commands to call up anything additional in the same fashion. I think the correct way (so it appears to others) would be to configure it as a weapon or, better yet, binoculars and see if it can be made to look okay with existing animations (perhaps by adjusting its position down slightly compared to the usual binoc position).

---------- Post added at 07:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:52 AM ----------

If you're interested in the binocs idea PM me a link to the model (in an O2 importable form) and I'll have a go.

[Feint 137]

When swimming, I'm not sure any animations other than the swimming animation can be executed. I tried using the hand signals animations while swimming and nothing happened. So even if you had the binocs or binoc replacement, I'm not sure if the binoc (or any weapon) could be taken out and used while swimming. However, the compass, watch and GPS can be shown through the user interface while swimming.

I guess I'll take a look at the GPS and see if there's a way to call that up and have it display something other than GPS data.

Decided to play around with making a depth gauge in Photoshop, possibly for use in a hint dialog. Then I decided to make it into an ad :)

Does anyone know if there is a way to have layers in a hint? So if I wanted to have the gauge face in the hint and the arrow on top of it as a separate layer, anyone know how to do that?

Edited April 18, 2011 by Feint

[Defunkt 431]

I thought the GPS was 2D (something you should consider for your dive computer BTW). I guess if the binocs thing isn't going to work you'd be best off replacing the watch or compass model with something that includes both things and can be rotated around a point offscreen to bring the desired element into view depending on whether you're scuba equipped or not. Tricky but probably possible.

[das attorney 858]

Have you thought about making some custom sounds for things like breathing underwater and 'limpet mine clanging on a ships hull' etc?

Looks really good BTW. :)

[Defunkt 431]

Tricky but probably possible.

Then there's always AttachTo to consider.

[Feint 137]

I thought the GPS was 2D (something you should consider for your dive computer BTW). I guess if the binocs thing isn't going to work you'd be best off replacing the watch or compass model with something that includes both things and can be rotated around a point offscreen to bring the desired element into view depending on whether you're scuba equipped or not. Tricky but probably possible.

I'd love to have the dive computer on the GPS (or duplicate the GPS and place the info on the duplicate). Nooooot really sure how to do this. :(

Have you thought about making some custom sounds for things like breathing underwater and 'limpet mine clanging on a ships hull' etc?

Looks really good BTW. :)

Thanks man. Yes, I already have three sounds in the mod. One for open circuit breathing, one for closed circuit breathing and one for refilling air tanks (open circuit). I have plans to add more, but I need to keep moving on the bigger issues (like making oxytox effects) for the closed circuit system, making a second module for closed circuit, etc.

Then there's always AttachTo to consider.

That's a possibility. I wonder if you attached an airplane to a unit, and then walked up and down mountains, I wonder if the plane's altimeter would work. If it would, then theoretically you could just attachTo a plane's HUD and do the same thing, right? And if you can do that, then you probably can make an in-game altimeter that updates, etc. Or...am I wrong? Maybe your unit has to be IN a cockpit for something to display in-world like that.

[BasileyOne 10]

underwater warfare is thing i missed in BIS games from OFP to A2 days :P

finally ! :)

p.s.

hope it[or similar work]find way into one of BIS DLC's or game sequel itself.

coverts ops w/o underwater actions [or underwater insertion options at least] is like food w/o salt :-P

p.s.

shark hunting, anyone ? :)

∧ bonus - repel attack of shark boss, armed with friggin lasers underbelly :-]

[SigintArmA 10]

Hrm, for the diving computer, might get ahold of the ACE2 team and ask how they set up their DAGR. It comes up on screen like GPS/Watch/Compass in the corner and can also be brought up to interact with, placing waypoints and other things VIA the DAGR system. Might be a good idea to understand how it's done

It's an idea?

[Feint 137]

Hey everyone I have a request for someone really good at coding:

I need to calculate what the tide is in meters. I can probably formulate a workaround, but I'm hoping that someone can take the information that appears here:

Tide Info

and make this into a function that I can call every time the diver enters the water. See, depending on the time of year and the time of day and position of sun and moon, the tide varies greatly. On Chernarus at 1600 hours, sea level is between 0.2 and 0 meters. But by midnight, the sea level is 1 meter - 0.8 meters. This creates all sorts of problems for being able to dive since I need to be able to calculate what sea level is.

Again, if someone out there can give me an answer in meters what the tide level is, I can plug it into my existing scripts. Otherwise, I have to figure something else out (which I might do anyway to tackle a different problem).

EDIT: Alright, I developed a workaround. Basically, you sit on the surface of the water, hit "calibrate", a short calibration program runs and then you have no problems diving at different times of the day/year (I think). I know what you experienced coders out there are thinking. "Just give him a few hours and he'll figure something out himself." :P

Edited April 19, 2011 by Feint

[Defunkt 431]

I need to calculate what the tide is in meters.

Might I ask;

Why do you need it?

Relative to what? AFAIK positions are generally returned as an offset from sea level anyway.

---------- Post added at 10:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:07 AM ----------

And if you want to PM me the mod as it stands I'll create a dialog you can skin for the dive computer (easier to do than explain how).

[Feint 137]

Thanks Defunkt! That would be fantastic! Now, my only issue would be that the dialog be informational only. Is it possible to have a dialog come up without having to click OK to get it to disappear? I'd like it to act the same way as the GPS acts now. Maybe User3 keystroke could toggle it on and off. Or, User3 or User4 could toggle it on or off, but User3 would be AIR MODE and User4 would be DEPTH MODE.

In answer to your first question, I have sea level doing a few things. Mainly, it determines when the unit is attached or detached from the invisible pond. If you don't detach from the pond by the time you reach sea level, you will just float up into heaven. I've tried getPos but getPosASL is more reliable. getPos isn't really reliable at all. I've read that modelToWorld is a better way to do this, and that might help me get around the issue of swimming near another flat plane (like another submerged swimmer with its own pond attached). Once I go below another plane surface (like a pond) while submerged, the getPosASL reads "0" and my script detaches me from the pond, snapping me up to the surface instantly. Apparently modelToWorld can help me avoid those shennanigans.

Anyway, back to the tides. As you probably already know, depending on the time of day, height of the sun and the moon and depending on the general nature of the sea (stormy vs. calm), the sea level can change dramatically. So when you surface, you aren't surfacing at "0", sometimes the average surface of the ocean is +1 meter. That's a huge difference. If I surface one meter below the surface of the ocean, I'll SNAP up once the pond detaches. If I surface 1 meter above the surface of the ocean, I'll just keep rising into heaven as the invisible pond then takes over as the ocean surface (which I'll never reach because I'm attached to it).

Anyway, it's all moot. I figured out a very effective workaround that works pretty perfectly the more I test it now. Basically, you run this little calibration program for 10 seconds, it measures your depth for 10 seconds, takes 10 readings, one per second, averages them together and declares that new value as "relative sea level". The averaging script works like a charm in any and all weather and times of day. It's a small pain, but I could just mask it as, "filling your buoyancy vest" or something so the end user would never know the difference.

QUICK UPDATE: Deansbeano and Al Simmons were nice enough to send me something they were working on. I'll see if I can incorporate it into the module. But it might end up just staying as a civilian animal as deansbeano has set up.

Edited April 19, 2011 by Feint

[jeza 5418]

Oh looks like a blue shark. Really like this concept Feint, implamenting the system so you cannot drop your weaps while diving would be cool.

Not sure if its been asked that i can see but when the player leaves the water, what uniform will the player be using?

Regards Jeza