Development Blog & Reveals

[Tonci87 163]

Yes..it's funny how when you peel away the zombie layer that aside from some extra survival things the two are nearly the same, just military vs civil with their own agendas.

I think W84EM said it best, people are most likely just tired of hearing about DayZ in everything Arma 3 and the attitude, hell even some of the DayZ community dislike those people.

Yeah people are tired of it. I mean even in a Video that features vehicels and Thermal imaging (Things you don´t see often in DayZ) you get those "OMZG DayZ will be so AWESOME on this!!!!" Comments. It is irritating and stupid.

[metalcraze 290]

Get your head out of the clouds mate, your daydreaming. The AI behaviour will be no different indoors then it was in ArmA2, I can already tell that by the way the AI behaves outdoors in the E3 footage.

True. Buchta said back at E3 2011 that AI now knows how to navigate well indoors - but since then (which is more than a year) we didn't see a single demonstration of AI even trying to find cover inside a building, let a lone some indoors combat.

But not only that - all new videos show that AI has no concept of cover and concealment anymore, running around like some counter-strike bot.

When escaping that vehicle AI was stopping each 3 meters as if deciding whether he should go prone as usual but it's almost as if some script prevented him from doing just that. And the second AI was just there as if nothing was happening.

[froggyluv 2130]

Yup, I agree Metal that we haven't seen really anything that supports an improved AI in this regards - they actually seem less competent then things I've seen in Arma2 ie..AI crawling under fence holes pretty reliably. That said, Im still holding out optimistically that it's all very WIP and they choose not to show it as it may look more broken then upgraded at this stage. I'm wondering if the new interiors (which so far seem far more spacious and CQB friendly) will have nodes for walls/door & windows for AI behaviour.

Heres hoping!

[b00ce 160]

HELICOPTERS:

How is the Take On Helicopters flight model ported into RV4?

How does this different flight model change the helicopter gameplay compared to ARMA 2/Operation Arrowhead?

So far it looks like the action menu and controls appear generally identical to ARMA 2, i.e. no need for a pre-flight nor a chance of a systems failure for skipping pre-flight, so the flight model is THE big announced change about ARMA 3 helicopters that I'd like to know more about!

Its already in RV 3.5 (Or whatever they call the ToH engine). As for gameplay improvements, it'll make flying helos more realistic. The E3 vid didn't have ToH physics because they wanted it to be accessible, I don't think they had it implemented yet anyway.

In ArmA3 the flight model and start up procedures will be difficulty options, you'll be able to switch back to the ArmA2 Flight model at any time.

[onlyrazor 11]

Yup, I agree Metal that we haven't seen really anything that supports an improved AI in this regards - they actually seem less competent then things I've seen in Arma2 ie..AI crawling under fence holes pretty reliably. That said, Im still holding out optimistically that it's all very WIP and they choose not to show it as it may look more broken then upgraded at this stage. I'm wondering if the new interiors (which so far seem far more spacious and CQB friendly) will have nodes for walls/door & windows for AI behaviour.

Heres hoping!

They crawl under fence holes? In my experience, they run right through the damn thing.

[froggyluv 2130]

They crawl under fence holes? In my experience, they run right through the damn thing.

That was introduced in a patch some time ago. Im currently testing TPWC Suppresion/LOS (credit to Saok here as well) around alot in Shapur and every test I see the AI going under the holes -not once have I seen one ghost. They're sometimes surprisingly good at it and take me out pretty often from those positions.

Edited July 4, 2012 by froggyluv

[2nd ranger 282]

For the infantry showcase though, it really MUST include INDOORS fighting of player vs. AI! We've already seen player vs. AI infantry and the new stances and tactical pace at E3 (I liked the changes)*, but indoors is how we'll see that ARMA has FINALLY "overcome the hurdle" that was CQB! You teased us with the exclusive screenshot on Facebook (in the Report In: Lighting!) of a soldier stepping and leaning leftward with his body around a corner INDOORS aiming a Kel-Tec KSG... let us see this stance/tactical pace use in combat action, let's see how the new animations systems -- thank you Smookie -- makes indoors fighting/CQB play out, and finally let's see how the AI fights indoors!

Get your head out of the clouds mate, your daydreaming. The AI behaviour will be no different indoors then it was in ArmA2, I can already tell that by the way the AI behaves outdoors in the E3 footage.

True fact. The only times I remember any developer commenting on the AI, it was in terms of fixes already made in Arrowhead patches. I don't think the AI will change much at all. What I am hoping though is that they'll at least move in a more human way, perhaps through improved animations. I remember a dev saying ages ago how they did want to focus on making the AI move and interact better with the environment.

True. Buchta said back at E3 2011 that AI now knows how to navigate well indoors - but since then (which is more than a year) we didn't see a single demonstration of AI even trying to find cover inside a building, let a lone some indoors combat.

What he actually said, when he was talking about every building being enterable, was that the AI copes "quite well" with them. Which doesn't fill me with hope. For all we know that could be his opinion of the AI's indoor navigation in Arma 2.

[ProfTournesol 956]

Dead animations? I forgot what this could mean since we have rag(e)doll, could You, sir, kindly please, try to remind me? :icon_twisted:

Great :icon_twisted:, i'm looking forward to seing less subliminal things :popcornsmilie:

[mr_centipede 31]

The AI do navigate indoors well... they just dont fight well in doors. But yeah, indoor fighting AI would be great

[Flash Thunder 10]

The AI do navigate indoors well... they just dont fight well in doors. But yeah, indoor fighting AI would be great

BIS just needs to fix the clipping issues with them, they walk through walls and clip through things too often for indoor situations to work well.

[-Coulum- 35]

The AI do navigate indoors well... they just dont fight well in doors. But yeah, indoor fighting AI would be great

Yes ai can navigate from predefined point to predefined point in a building relatively effectively, but what I would like to see is them being able to navigate to any point in a building, and of course be able to fight well indoors as well - being aware of doors corners, windows etc. and about 10x faster reaction speed - the problem is that this speed could cause problems in far range combat if implemented statically vs. dynamically.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Yes ai can navigate from predefined point to predefined point in a building relatively effectively, but what I would like to see is them being able to navigate to any point in a building, and of course be able to fight well indoors as well - being aware of doors corners, windows etc. and about 10x faster reaction speed - the problem is that this speed could cause problems in far range combat if implemented statically vs. dynamically.

That's hopefully the endstate BIS are looking at, but something makes me doubt that we'll see it out of the box in A3.

[Panda_pl 0]

BIS just needs to fix the clipping issues with them, they walk through walls and clip through things too often for indoor situations to work well.

The clipping issues are not AI exclusive. Countless players have died as a result of clipping trough a tree or building. Hopefully collision model will be reworked.

[chortles 263]

st_movement, like oktNoBlur, sounds like a mod that shouldn't be needed in ARMA 3, because they're of the "fix a flaw" variety... :( (And I don't mean ACE's idea of "fixing a flaw," ugh.)

[Flash Thunder 10]

The clipping issues are not AI exclusive. Countless players have died as a result of clipping trough a tree or building. Hopefully every model in the game will be reworked.

Fixed for accuracy.

[Panda_pl 0]

Fixed for accuracy.

You misunderstand.

Collision model is how collisions are calculated and resolved. How stuff does not end up inside other stuff.

It usually uses some sort of boxes that are either generated automatically or created by hand.

The boxes are probably not the issue here, it seems to be the lack of precision of the calculations.

So it's an engine problem, not content problem if I am correct.

[Flash Thunder 10]

^ Most likely due to code that hasn't been changed since OFP days LOL

[mr.g-c 6]

.....The only times I remember any developer commenting on the AI, it was in terms of fixes already made in Arrowhead patches. I don't think the AI will change much at all...

This would be huge downside and in my eyes a fail. The OA AI, even in latest (beta-) patches is not sufficient enough, they are still balanced between way to stupid and superhuman (aim-hit capabilities), cant even drive nor nothing "normal" which you would expect from an AI unit.

Personally for me, the AI is a CORE feature of the engine, as much as the graphics are for instance.

No improvement in this area and most if not all future A3 players would be pretty disappointed.

But i doubt that we will see no improvement. I cant believe that no Developer at BIS is working on the AI. A2s AI was a large step forward compared to ArmA1s AI for instance. I believe by final release in 2013, probably not in the Alpha-Stage, we will see a similar step forward for A3s AI. At least all well known AI bugs (Their NON-REACTIONS to sooo many things, no-cant-drive capability, etc) should be really fixed.

[HKFlash 9]

...cant even drive...

AI driving has improved dramatically since ARMA II's release. They still do some silly things but I can count on them to drive anywhere on the map now.

[De_little_Bubi 1]

this feeling when you have the money for a tank plattoon in warfare just to see them trapping themself in the center of the next village for the rest of the game :/

[HKFlash 9]

this feeling when you have the money for a tank plattoon in warfare just to see them trapping themself in the center of the next village for the rest of the game :/

Why send the platoon inside the village? That's not a military tactic, that's just dumb.

[De_little_Bubi 1]

there was no enemy trapping them - i just wanted them to move through it as the main road was going through it - the houses trapped them, i guess they where corrupt and the enemy payed them to place themself in such a way that the ai couldnt drive around!

[onlyrazor 11]

I would be much happier if 'Careless' behaviour would make the guys drive offroad. I set a waypoint for a BMP to move to the other end of the field it was on, guy turned around and went to use the road. Slightly annoying at times. It's like the AI drivers are all cabbies.

[HKFlash 9]

I would be much happier if 'Careless' behaviour would make the guys drive offroad. I set a waypoint for a BMP to move to the other end of the field it was on, guy turned around and went to use the road. Slightly annoying at times. It's like the AI drivers are all cabbies.

Careless is for onroad navigation. For offroad use Aware behaviour.

[onlyrazor 11]

Careless is for onroad navigation. For offroad use Aware behaviour.

Ooh, cool. Thanks for the tip. ;)