Animation Improvements in ArmA 3

[Smurf 12]

Maybe it's me, but I'd rather not see people hopping around after getting shot in the foot.

Hmm... now, if you are shot in the legs you HAVE to go around proned, wich sucks. If we could have an anim like the R6 ones were the soldiers drags his legs for "intermediarie injuries" would be nice.

While Active Ragdolls seems cool, I don´t think its viable in a game like ARMA.

[purepassion 22]

Enhancing the system would have the same pro's like implementing Ragdoll in general and as solidsnake said, it makes an huge different when you see your opponent actually reacting to his hits than just see him flying through air and falling on the ground.

Actually this was just one of the ideas i have in my head and i decided to write something of it down. But that doesnt change the fact this is an very neat addition next to the "standart ragdoll" ^^

I just think Arma 3 does not deserve something like this

[neokika 62]

Hi Big Dawg KS,

Imagine the old Arma 2 system, a unit is near a grenade and the grenade blows up, enough to disorient and possibly hit it in a way that would make the unit enter agony state, what happens now the unit does not show any feedback from being hit, other then his sight/angle of weapon gets up a bit then AIS/FA tells the unit in a script to play a stand/crouch stance to prone, then he turns around and the agony starts etc.

What would increase not only the eye candy but also the feeling of the connection between human characters and terrain/objects would be the unit get in Rag-Doll state after getting hit by the grenade with other(s) animations blended within the rag-doll animation, like his arms holding his head or something like that, while being in rag-doll, something like the video I posted earlier.

Now why, why is simple. The eye candy, is one of the reasons ofc, the feeling that the characters actually belong/connect with the terrain, imersion and great possibilities such has, a unit in agony being dragged by another, would keep the rag-doll animation (with a agony on top of that one (Since you could blend specific parts of the body like just an arm and do a anim just on it)), or a unit ejecting from a high speed vehicle like a car.

Obviously these are just mere examples, the possibilities are tremendous.

_neo_

[Big Dawg KS 6]

Still doesn't seem viable to me. There's a point where you have to seperate the game from reality for the sake of gameplay (or simplify reality). This is one of those situations where IMO it is not necessary to go any further. At least not until the system is otherwise perfect.

---------- Post added at 05:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:24 PM ----------

Hmm... now, if you are shot in the legs you HAVE to go around proned, wich sucks. If we could have an anim like the R6 ones were the soldiers drags his legs for "intermediarie injuries" would be nice.

While Active Ragdolls seems cool, I don´t think its viable in a game like ARMA.

Dragging your leg (or maybe limping is better) when wounded would be a nice intermediate between unwounded and being forced prone (perhaps also for a treated leg wound). Indeed, a single set of limping or generaly wounded moves would seem like a more viable option for units reflecting their health status in their moves.

[Minoza 11]

Still doesn't seem viable to me. There's a point where you have to seperate the game from reality for the sake of gameplay (or simplify reality). This is one of those situations where IMO it is not necessary to go any further. At least not until the system is otherwise perfect.

I think the point is, if you are already implementing something like rag-doll, do it right... Otherwise, no point to implement it at all.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

I think the point is, if you are already implementing something like rag-doll, do it right... Otherwise, no point to implement it at all.

It's not related to the ragdoll in ArmA 3 as far as I can tell, so I don't know what you mean by "do it right". Either way, we shouldn't draw any conclusions about ArmA 3's new system without any details.

On another unrelated note (well, related to my previous unrelated note), it probably seems really cliché but if BI's animators are looking fo ideas: a set of moves for holding a hostage as a human shield would be interesting. It could certainly spice up some hostage rescue missions. Or maybe I should start learning how to animate myself. :p

Edited July 19, 2011 by Big Dawg KS

[Smurf 12]

One of their point that I agree is this, between 0:12 and 0:15:

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The guy in the back dies, play a death anim then physics kicks in. There are better exemples of this in other BF2 early stages videos, but couldn´t find the one that I was looking for. (BTW, BF2 was better in early builds).

[zeep 3]

The current animation system is horrible, sometimes you kill an enemy and it plays a animation and keeps playing that animation then the killed animation after you shot em 20 times it looks wrong.

Im not sure but when i was trying make the player more fluid and remove the entire sluggish controls and clunkyness to the game i went thru everything..... The Man class is a sub-class of the Vehicle class, which is odd so it trys to be a human but its class is infact a vehicle based errrrh anyway i went on modding it out coudnnt fix it, but about the animation system it may be related to the animation system and how it plays the animation which causes the clunkyness feel to it.. As its trying to play the animation at its time and when you change direction it waits till that animation has finished playing and then plays the animation for the next action. For example your running running then you hit sidestep or something or you just want to STOP and it waits till it plays the end of the running animation then stops problem is you might have wanted to stop just that little bit before but because its still playing the run animation you get that delay feeling because it doesnt CUT the animation out and STOP. Its all to do with making the animations blend together which imo is wrong cause you might wanna do something else but cant, like when you accidently hit V to step over something your FORCED to wait till the animation has finished.

Sorry for the wall of text :/

Very much agreed. I feel this is one of the factors that make arma player movement so very clunky.

In addition to this, i was never too fond of arma's menu driven way to have the player interact with the world, switch weapons and fire mode.

..there's another thing, atrociously off-topic I'm afraid (sorry Big Dawg), but has to do with accurately representing reality in video games:

NORG: Natural order of realistic gameplay

It's some kind of philosophy/doctrine/concept for making realistic tactical-simulation games that's been introduced by Blackfoot Studios, guys behind development of Ground branch.

It boils down to:

If you can not jump with 30kg backpack on your back in real life, you can not do it in a game.

If you can not reload SAW in 3 seconds in real life, you can not do it in a game. ETC.

It works for everything, from infantry aspect to aircraft, anything really.

I wish BIS would adopt this concept.

Again, sorry for OT Big Dawg. But was it off topic? ;)

NORG!

Also, If you can jump in real life, you should be able to jump in-game.

I hate it when a game limits player actions -just because- they couldn't implement it well/realistic enough in-game. Arma players should be able to jump. Whether is it to cross small obstacles, small ledges, jump to prone or whatever.

[maddogx 13]

I wouldn't mind an ability to jump, as long as it's done in such a way that there's a significant incentive not to do it unless it's really necessary. There is nothing worse than bunnyhopping.

[dmarkwick 261]

jump to prone or whatever.

Jump to prone? You mean dolphin-diving? :)

I'm OK with no jump. I cannot recall any situation so far in ArmA when I thought I needed the ability to jump. The step-over animation does most of what I need.

---------- Post added at 03:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:01 PM ----------

As far as my own animation improvement suggestions:

I'd like to see more fine control in 1st person infantry. In that, I'd like to have more lean (I reckon the current lean is rather shallow), and I'd like to have the ability to control vertical crouch/prone head position. So that I can peep above grass, or peep above a wall. There is a perfectly good unused TrackIR axis for this :) but I don't really know of a good way to control it non-TrackIR. Maybe ctrl-movement, same as Alt-movement gives you freelook.

[Nicholas 5]

Jump is not needed. If you've ever really been in battle, you'd know that you never actually jump. You climb over things, but never jump. You might jump down from things, but gravity helps you there.

[2nd ranger 282]

but I don't really know of a good way to control it non-TrackIR. Maybe ctrl-movement, same as Alt-movement gives you freelook.

The 'fluid posture' way, as discussed in the cover system thread. Hold your posture key and move the mouse, your posture changes accordingly.

And kind of in that same vein; I wouldn't mind a Splinter Cell-style (or most third person console games, really) 'fluid movement speed'. That is - a system by which you control how fast you are moving by, for example, scrolling the mouse wheel. Though obviously the mouse wheel is usually bound to more important things like the action menu, and is the easiest way to manipulate such a system, so that idea is not too implementable.

Edited July 21, 2011 by 2nd Ranger

[wamingo 1]

snip

win-key = Fluid Posture

win-key + mousewheel = Fluid Speed

?

But I digress, I don't think either of them are likely.. or necessarily all that great. It's easy to overestimate ideas like these. They may only work well absent regular controls, and perhaps not in concert.

[kernriver 4]

...

NORG!

Also, If you can jump in real life, you should be able to jump in-game.

I hate it when a game limits player actions -just because- they couldn't implement it well/realistic enough in-game. Arma players should be able to jump. Whether is it to cross small obstacles, small ledges, jump to prone or whatever.

Nice to see another NORG "follower". :)

I don't think jump (as jumping in the air vertically) belongs in Arma, I'd rather call it like you said.

As DMarkwick pointed out, we already have step-over animation, maybe it could be improved.

Jump is not needed. If you've ever really been in battle, you'd know that you never actually jump. You climb over things, but never jump. You might jump down from things, but gravity helps you there.

+1

It would be, how can I put it ... "hazardous". :D

@all

I think "jump" was represented quite well in Hidden & dangerous 2.

[gossamersolid 155]

I wouldn't mind an ability to jump, as long as it's done in such a way that there's a significant incentive not to do it unless it's really necessary. There is nothing worse than bunnyhopping.

31g0YE61PLQ

[Big Dawg KS 6]

FPDR RIP topic...

[Choki 10]

I hope the anims improve in arma 3, I hate use a robot.

[maddogx 13]

FPDR RIP topic...

Have to agree. The dumbassery here is just ridiculous.

[Militant1006 11]

Almost all topics in the arma 3 general thread have that characteristic MadDog, anyway, I like the idea of having a small system of being able to jump, but not where you jump a meter in the air, someone like hopping up onto a tiny ledge that on arma 2 atm you would have to walk around, plus penalties for doing that should be in place, such a using a significant amount of stamina (jumping in combat load is not easy lol) and not being able to fire your weapon, or at least not being able to fire accurately while doing it.

[purepassion 22]

but what would then be difference and especially the advantage versus the old "jumping" system? We already have the possibility to hop over fences etc. I think one or two new animation for this would be totally enough.

[rye1 21]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DjNtc6-mAc&feature=player_embedded

2:55 and 3:30 lol. Bunny hopping skills. That kind of jumping? Plus dolphin diving, hella yeah. Note: I'm taking the mick. I do not agree with jumping but I wouldn't care less.

[Murklor 10]

The guy in the back dies, play a death anim then physics kicks in. There are better exemples of this in other BF2 early stages videos, but couldn´t find the one that I was looking for. (BTW, BF2 was better in early builds).

If I recall correctly, BF2 didnt have death animations and then ragdoll - just plain ragdoll. Crappy ragdoll at that. It beats fixed animations in terms of fun factor (serious fun factor, lol), but its hardly realistic.

Look at BC2 instead. It has improved ragdoll a thousand fold over BF2 (ie animations+ragdoll)... And it still look wierd.

As another person said, I hope they implement good ragdoll or they really shouldnt even bother. If its BF2 style flail-with-arms-and-legs-while-flying-5m then someone will need to mod it out >.<

[Kirq 0]

Will there be finally proper reloading animations for every weapon in Arma3? If so will there be dry and tactical reaload? Please include it this time, it's really a shame that simulation like Arma have not such a basic feature.

[danny96 79]

Will there be finally proper reloading animations for every weapon in Arma3? If so will there be dry and tactical reaload? Please include it this time, it's really a shame that simulation like Arma have not such a basic feature.

It was very hard to make it in ARMAII because there was a mass number of weapons. But in ARMAIII there won't be so much weapons so I think that they can make it.

[Archosaurusrev 12]

It was very hard to make it in ARMAII because there was a mass number of weapons. But in ARMAIII there won't be so much weapons so I think that they can make it.

Does not know what he is talking about.

The reason why they can't make them without using 2+ years of time is because the upper body and lower body anims are connected.

I'll let you figure out the rest.