TOH Community Preview - new scripting commands: setShadowDistance , getShadowDistance

[Dwarden 1124]

Hello to users of Take On Helicopters community preview,

there are new script commands related to visibility range for new distant shadows :)

(which may also turn to become part of graphics settings)

Function:

setShadowDistance GameScalar

GameScalar getShadowDistance

Usage example:

setShadowDistance 1000
_shadowDist = getShadowDistance

note:

increasing the range may decrease overal quality of shadows (quality vs quantity)

some example:

K-ibLjCwE1M

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1542468/temp/take_on_shadows2.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1542468/temp/take_on_shadows.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1542468/temp/tkoh_shadows.avi

p.s. this is experimental feature, it may be tweaked, optimized, improved or cut if needed ...

ARMA 3 may use this technology or parts for own distant shadows techniques

backporting of this feature into OA might be possible but is subject to further analysis (performance vs stability vs time)

Edited June 25, 2011 by Dwarden

[[aps]gnat 28]

Wow .... awesome.

ARMA 3 may use this technology or parts for own distant shadows techniques

My oppinion would be a game 12 months away SHOULD have such.

backporting of this feature into OA might be possible but is subject to further analysis

...... would be over the moon if it made it in :D

[twisted 127]

this adds so much. amazing stuff and just adds so much immersion. i enable it via trigger in editor - tried copy and pasting into trigger but got error?

Edited June 26, 2011 by twisted

[zooloo75 833]

If this and RTT officially makes its' way into the OA engine, then the A2 series will be completely polished :3

[KeyCat 131]

Great stuff and thanks to Dyslexi for the video, now I must test it out myself!

/KC

[Dwarden 1124]

Gnat;1966266']Wow .... awesome.

My oppinion would be a game 12 months away SHOULD have such.

...... would be over the moon if it made it in :D

it was meant that ARMA 3 may use it or not if something else better/faster is chosen ;)

[royaltyinexile 175]

Ok, ok, so, it's not fun, no, but I just need to emphasise this point, since this thread has been stickied:

The tech used by the Community Preview version is always subject to change. Features working now may not be workable in the final build of Take On, let alone any other separate project with its own goals and milestones. This is partly whey we're evaluating it in the public domain, and constantly reevaluating where we use our precious resources.

While Take On, the comm prev, and any future iteration of the project demonstrates the use of interesting new technology, the natural constraints of implementation (managing resources, competing priorities) will always take precedence.

The projects are two branches of the engine, and while we try to implement technology so it can be more easily ported across, Arma 3 is a distinct project, with a different set of needs. The A3 team will evaluate the use of new features on its own basis, and it's currently too early for them to make any concrete decisions or promises!

That said, it is fun to speculate where the engine can be taken in the future, and the new clouds tech particularly is something I'm really happy to see coming along well!

Best,

RiE

[-DirTyDeeDs--Ziggy- 0]

That said, it is fun to speculate where the engine can be taken in the future, and the new clouds tech particularly is something I'm really happy to see coming along well!

Best,

RiE

observation and question.

I noticed that I passed through a thin 'skybox' layer while playing the community preview valley flight senario, at about 3k meters altitude

Will this be the transition where you place this new cloud tech? :rolleyes:

[royaltyinexile 175]

-Ziggy-;1968432']Observation and question.

Our new clouds tech works much differently to what you see in A2, with numerous scripting commands giving you much more control then we've seen before.

Small note: none of the weather simulation aspect of the game was included in the Comm Prev.

Best,

RiE

[.kju 3239]

Any chance for a recent comref of TakOH to fill the BIKI with the new scripting commands?

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Isn't that a bit early, considering "not done, may be deleted, subject to change" etc at this point? Not sure what is best.

In the mean time, I've found a few pages which at least have the commands, and the builtin help on the commands at least show some information:

http://www.cityliferpg.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=16349

Note there are things like air density, new radio channel commands, battery that actually drains, APU (not tested), new wind stuff that appears to be equal to current but has different notes in the help, rope commands etc - many reasons to fall in love :p "New weather stuff" is mentioned, but I can't find any commands to obtain ambient temperature or moisture, or will temperature be based only on the temperature tables found in the world config? Will be interesting to see.

[.kju 3239]

Why too early? Explain.

The BIKI being a wiki, hence the name, is easy to update if needed.

The purpose of this preview is to test, right?

The sqf commands are part of that.

Remember they said they hand out this preview to allow

their beloved modding community to start digging into it - no?

PS: The stuff you "found" is from the BIKI.

Edited June 29, 2011 by .kju [PvPscene]

[moricky 210]

It should be possible to use generateComRef scripting command to create it on your C:\ drive.

Please note some new Take On command descriptions may be inaccurate or missing, as they are still WIP.

[xeno 230]

At least my ToH preview version doesn't support the generateComRef command...

Xeno

[mr burns 131]

Loosely related to scipting, but is there a listing of the arguments used to feed the new "scipted waypoint type"? With no entrys it just caps the flying height, but there must be more as seen in the example mission (timer, etc.). Any hints on this?

Another one loosely related, damaging tail or main rotors via "mala vrtule" & "velka vrtule" don´t work on the new chopper, can you tell us the new selection names? I´ve already had a look at the o² pic posted some time ago in devblog or whereever that was, but the names from there don´t work either..

PS: the new post icons are ..... strange

[.kju 3239]

Maybe this helps: http://pastebin.jonasscholz.de/1475

From the TakOH AIO.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Why too early? Explain.

Explanation:

Please note some new Take On command descriptions may be inaccurate or missing, as they are still WIP.

See i.e. the new wind commands. By description it appears they will be something new (force and rate of change). Using them, you'll see they do the exact same things as the current wind commands (wind vectors without rate of change). Filling in Biki at this point with the old data because they aren't finished, makes the Biki obsolete or inaccurate at release. The biki have the incomplete list of commands, but not the syntax and parameters that currently is incorrect. Filling out with incorrect information just feels a bit wrong.

The BIKI being a wiki, hence the name, is easy to update if needed.

Being easy to update doesn't mean it will be updated. Many examples still contain OFP data, making them less than trivial to try for those exploring scripting for the first time. Example: addWeapon - how is a newbie to know that "M16" is from OFP and does not reflect any M16s in A2?

The purpose of this preview is to test, right?

The sqf commands are part of that.

Not sure how much I agree on that. The preview is pretty much only a preview on the flight model and cockpit interactivity. It's not a beta of the actual game. So there are tons of stuff that can't be changed at this point.

Remember they said they hand out this preview to allow their beloved modding community to start digging into it - no?

And we are, aren't we? I try to make personal missions, but I tend to use OA at least until very late, as the TKOH editor is a bit twitchy and unstable (I get frequent crashes where OA works, so pretty much given up at this point). Also, even if unsuccessfully, I've tried to make a sound addon (personal use only, due to where the sounds are coming from). But this doesn't require Biki commands for commands that aren't fully implemented yet - it will only cause confusion, and I'm sure BIS have full control over what works as intended and what will come down the line.

PS: The stuff you "found" is from the BIKI.

Ehm, yeah? Don't see the point. I did say "a few pages". I used google to seach, sorry if that caused any confusion.

[mr burns 131]

Maybe this helps: http://pastebin.jonasscholz.de/1475

From the TakOH AIO.

I cannot believe it´s in english now :eek:

This certainly takes away some of arma´s magic (speak: incomprehensibility) but then again it can only be good for the newcomers, so thumbs up BI!

And there´s so many new hit selections too ... just great. Thanks Mister :)

[twisted 127]

Have questions about shadows.

in arma2:OA hills do not seem to actively cast shadows - which often results in the shadows of soldiers on the hill floating on terrain or on brightly lit houses nearby. now as far as i can tell it's just the side of the hill that gets darker depending on the light source.

On the video in the first thread of this topic the houses cast shadows. would terrain also start casting shadows? that would add a lot to the immersion when flying over at different times of the day and add in an important part of lighting that's a persons eye picks up as missing intuitively.

[ginger mcale 11]

That timelapse does look really nice. Thank you guys for thinking about the shadow draw distance!

I think this topic (shadow draw distance) is very important.

At the moment (in arma 2 / oa) the shadows disappear to fast in my opinion. When driving for example on a street surrounded by tree´s on chernarus you see a few meters away in front of you on the ground the lod change of the shadow and further away it goes fully away. :581:

I understand the decision, the shadow view distance does have propably high impact on FPS but it makes the game look not so good, or lets maybe say, outdated?

In chernarus the ground in forrests and under tree´s in general is darker, a clever workaround for not rendering the shadows of the tree´s so the player is not confronted directly with this "issue".

Without a darkened ground it does look like this:

Would love to see this in the graphics menu in every title running this engine ^^ :)

By the way, someone made a thread months ago where he did change the render distance in the map config file of grass and small trees and shadows if i remember correctly. He didnt has nice FPS then of course. I would like to try it too but wasnt able to find the thread. Does someone know where to find it?

Edited August 16, 2011 by Ginger McAle

[metalcraze 290]

It will be great to see this tech extend the shadow drawdistance based on ASL/ATL height

Like when you are on the ground you don't really see that much difference with what's far away.

But as you are getting higher you start to see the lack of shadows.

So the drawdistance automatically extending the higher you get (of course there could be a cutoff at some height to save resources) will be a nice one.

[Tom1 10]

This shadow extended range feature is more important than you think, check out this thread to see why it is essential this atleast needs to make it into arma 3.

[sberla101 50]

Hello everyone, i have a question for you; can i put inside ArmA2/OA this script?

Thanks