RQ-11 Raven A

[Feint 137]

Feint has already said that, due to it's size, it will be invulnerable. You won't be able to shoot it down - live with it.

It's ok. It's a fair question and not everyone was following along with the development thread. I'd like to be able to make it vulnerable. I just can't figure out how as of yet.

[jedra 11]

It's ok. It's a fair question and not everyone was following along with the development thread. I'd like to be able to make it vulnerable. I just can't figure out how as of yet.

Just been playing with this in a Domination port I made for Takistan. If I am allowed a few observations for future releases...

1. Making it vunerable would be a good idea - it's a bit too 'powerful' at the moment. I know your looking into this, so please don't flame me everyone ;-)

2. Currently it has infinite range and infinite 'fuel' - I think this should be changed.

3. For 'fuel', perhaps the backpack could come with batteries and spare batteries? Not sure how an RQ-11 is powered in real life - I am assuming batteries! Maybe different size batteries offer different operating ranges and communication ranges.

4. Maybe a version with a swivel camera (extra weight + swivel = less battery life)

5. With regard to operating range and communication range perhaps this could be configurable in a userconfig if different size batteries are not practical?

Please don't take these suggestions the wrong way - they are merely observations based on playing with this during a long mission. I have been playing with this all afternoon in Domination and it is good, bloody good - a brilliant addition to the arsenal!

[CoolFire 10]

Amazing addon, Feint! Thanks for sharing your great work with us. :-)

[[evo] dan 79]

Is it possible to get this so it is supported by LEA? (or can someone tell me how to do it manually?)

[m1n1d0u 29]

dan you need to ask on the dev-heaven page of lea or you can add it if you want i can explain you on ts3 mate ;)

[[evo] dan 79]

Me + Minindou could not add it manually to LEA and get it to work. We used the classname "MAV_RAVEN_BACKPACK" but it did not recognise it when I tried it in the editor. That was what it said in the manual for the raven backpack.

Btw, this mod is awesome, really liking it, cant wait for a swivelling camera version.

Edited May 6, 2012 by [EVO] Dan

[Feint 137]

Just been playing with this in a Domination port I made for Takistan. If I am allowed a few observations for future releases...

1. Making it vunerable would be a good idea - it's a bit too 'powerful' at the moment. I know your looking into this, so please don't flame me everyone ;-)

2. Currently it has infinite range and infinite 'fuel' - I think this should be changed.

3. For 'fuel', perhaps the backpack could come with batteries and spare batteries? Not sure how an RQ-11 is powered in real life - I am assuming batteries! Maybe different size batteries offer different operating ranges and communication ranges.

4. Maybe a version with a swivel camera (extra weight + swivel = less battery life)

5. With regard to operating range and communication range perhaps this could be configurable in a userconfig if different size batteries are not practical?

Please don't take these suggestions the wrong way - they are merely observations based on playing with this during a long mission. I have been playing with this all afternoon in Domination and it is good, bloody good - a brilliant addition to the arsenal!

1) working on it - no joy

2) see below

3) see below (batteries)

4) Swiveling camera will not be implemented for this particular addon - sorry

5) see below

The range limit was something I've planned on adding from the start, but I wasn't sure how best to do it. I think I've got a good method down now. When you select "New Target", a range limit elipse is created on the map. I've set the range limit to 8km. The real world limit is 8-12km line of sight, but 12km would encompass all of Chernarus which is equal to basically "no range limit". It is supposed to be line-of-sight but I don't know how to do that. So 8km is a good compromise I think. When selecting a new target, if you click outside of this 8km radius from the ground control station, you get a hinted error message and can click on the map again. Seems to be working well so far. :D

The battery limitation is more complicated. :confused: I could easily create a counter script that records the length of the flights. If the limit is reached, i.e. 60 minutes, the raven could return to the controller automatically for battery replacement. That's easy.

Here are my concerns:

• Having a timer running non stop for an hour could cause performance issues on slower computers. It wouldn't be a big performance hit, but it would be something.
  
• Battery Inventory problems:
  
  • I could use the Arma2 batteries that are used for laser designators and remove them from the player's inventory. But then the player would have to remember to pack batteries in their inventory (or mission makers would have to pack them for the player.
    
  • I could leave space in the raven backpack for batteries. But currently, the script deletes the backpack when the raven is assembled which erases the number of batteries that were in there.
    
  • I suppose the extra batteries could be kept inside the raven as it is flying around as a workaround, but that doesn't seem very realistic. Plus, it would be silly to disassemble the raven back into it's backpack form just to get the batteries, then reassemble the raven and install the new batteries.
    

  [*]Battery level tracking problems:

  • If the raven lands, I have to keep track of the battery level of that exact Raven in case the batteries are never replaced. So I have to juggle setVariables between the flying raven, the static raven, the backpack and vice versa.
    
  • I would have to add an addAction to the static raven to check its battery level since it would be lame to have to launch it just to check the battery level
    
  • Do I keep track of the level of energy in the batteries or do I just use them like bullets? I.e. if the battery level in the raven 25% and you replace the battery, can you reuse the old battery or does it just disappear from reality?
    
  • I have to create a battery level indicator in the in-camera display
    

  [*]POSSIBLE SOLUTION: screw batteries. I could have the Raven land and then just charge the raven over a period of say 2 minutes. Then I wouldn't have to worry about inventory problems or battery tracking in and out of a backpack

QUICK UPDATE:

I discovered that if you select a Raven target deep underwater, the Raven will go swimming quite well (good news for possible shark implementations, but bad news for the Raven realism factor). :) So I redid the way the Raven circles objects using a relative position rather than an absolute position and that seems to have fixed that problem. So far, here's the version 1.2 changelog:

VERSION 1.2

-Fixed addActions so that they can't be activated during team switching by another unit (thanks DeltaForce96)

-Tweaked DTV blurriness

-Fixed missing semicolon in strobe script

-Added more zoom levels (11 now instead of 4)

-Increased zoom max

-Added new zoom controls (in and out)

-Changed the way the Raven chooses altitude so that it no longer flies underwater when depth of water is below 30 meters

-Tweaked in-camera instructions so they are shorter for people running lower screen resolutions

-Tweaked in-camera data stream to better reflect altitude

-ADDED: Altitude ASL to in-camera data stream

-ADDED: Range limit of 8km (distance from Raven target to Ground Control Station) - marker elipse visible on map when changing targets

I'm going to see if I can create some sort of battery level limitation before releasing the update. Wish me luck.

---------- Post added at 17:52 ---------- Previous post was at 17:49 ----------

Dan;2145700']Is it possible to get this so it is supported by LEA? (or can someone tell me how to do it manually?)

I've never heard of LEA. What's that?

Classname for the backpack is indeed "MAV_RAVEN_BACKPACK". I just double-checked the config.

Edited May 6, 2012 by Feint

[[evo] dan 79]

I've never heard of LEA. What's that?

Classname for the backpack is indeed "MAV_RAVEN_BACKPACK". I just double-checked the config.

Loadout editor for Arma 2 - it allows you to create your loadout before the game, and then apply it as soon as you start the mission. I'm not too sure what I am doing with it, but if you want I could ask over in that thread for someone to add it in if you want?

[mrcash2009 0]

This is shaping up great, I can see your issues with batteries, is there any known way for the user to maybe have batteries added as secondary weapon ammo slots (ammo for handgun slots)?

Is there a way the raven backpack could be treated as ammo? (to pack the raven backpack within a backpack)? I have no clue on this or workarounds just throwing it into the mix.

I hope you can get some more scripters on board to assist to tweak the "fiddly parts" :)

[zephyrdark 10]

Just found a pretty annoying bug.

USMC, CDF, Russians, a.k.a ArmA2 Factions (not OA) do not get the "Take Backpack" action, so in other words, they cannot pick it up. They get the assemble action, but nothing else. Also, it appears that there is no weapon classname for the backpack... is there any reason for that?

[edit] I ran the command "weapons" and it didn't return a classname for the pack.

Edited May 6, 2012 by Zephyrdark

[SigintArmA 10]

As stated in above posts, the backpack is "MAV_RAVEN_BACKPACK". And Vanilla ArmA2 units (USMC/CDF/Russians) Don't come with a backpack proxy/option. You can't even use OA backpacks (From the US Army or Takistan Army) on the older units. It's a limitation for the older units that sadly, he may not be able to get around. :/ But, he's a genius so who knows

[DeltaForce96 1]

@Zephyrdark

Well I think that's because ArmA 2 standalone didn't support backpacks. I thought about ACE 2 but those backpacks are different so... Only Arrowhead factions. I might be wrong... Do you have Combined Operations? Or Standalone?

[jedra 11]

Re: The batteries. I guess I am used to playing with ACE where you have to remember to pack batteries for stuff! I guess my point regarding limiting the fuel was that as the Raven is currently immune to fire, you can basically keep it in the air for ever. So, whatever solution you come up with is great if the Raven cannot be deployed permanently. If it becomes 'too powerful' then mission makers would possibly not build it into missions? Anyway I am going to keep it in my Domination convertion and see how it plays out.

Personally I could sit there and pack/unpack it all day - that animation is so cool!

[Feint 137]

As stated in above posts, the backpack is "MAV_RAVEN_BACKPACK". And Vanilla ArmA2 units (USMC/CDF/Russians) Don't come with a backpack proxy/option. You can't even use OA backpacks (From the US Army or Takistan Army) on the older units. It's a limitation for the older units that sadly, he may not be able to get around. :/ But, he's a genius so who knows

In this case, hcpookie is the genius:

Backpacks for Arma 2 Units

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=14823&highlight=BACKPACK

[tholozor 18]

Hey Feint, love the addon. Talk about record time too! Concept to finished product in a single month, way to go! Thanks for linking that addon by hcpookie, it's a big help for older units.

Ran into a small problem though, not sure if it's a difficult fix or not, but when assembling the Raven on the deck of a ship (LHD, Nimitz), the backpack with parts falls through, and the assembled Raven ends up in the water. Thoughts?

[Baraka 10]

Hi Feint.

For the Battery: Maybe you can add a indicator on the Screen which is splitted into 4 or 5 parts like in a Handy-display.

You ran reduce one part every 5 Minutes now which makes 20-25 minutes for usage for example. With the last part ending, the Raven can land where it is, so players have to keep an eye on the display. After landing i would set a break for 5-10 minutes for charging. Less time may be still to overpowered.

[Feint 137]

Hey Feint, love the addon. Talk about record time too! Concept to finished product in a single month, way to go! Thanks for linking that addon by hcpookie, it's a big help for older units.

Ran into a small problem though, not sure if it's a difficult fix or not, but when assembling the Raven on the deck of a ship (LHD, Nimitz), the backpack with parts falls through, and the assembled Raven ends up in the water. Thoughts?

Thanks for letting me know. I'll look into it. Maybe I can spawn the blanket with parts a little higher. It has collision so it shouldn't fall through the deck, but maybe it's spawning slightly below the deck.

The nice thing is that the Raven does float in water. :) So it is possible to retrieve it, though it is a pain to have to do that if the Raven lands underneath an aircraft carrier.

Hi Feint.

For the Battery: Maybe you can add a indicator on the Screen which is splitted into 4 or 5 parts like in a Handy-display.

You ran reduce one part every 5 Minutes now which makes 20-25 minutes for usage for example. With the last part ending, the Raven can land where it is, so players have to keep an eye on the display. After landing i would set a break for 5-10 minutes for charging. Less time may be still to overpowered.

I think you guys will like the solution I came up with. I've added a battery status GUI to the in-camera display along with a numerical readout of the battery level. I also added the ability for individual ravens to hold their battery level after they land. So if you have more than one Raven on the map, you can fly one until it is down to 12% battery life, grab a new Raven and start flying it while the other one charges up. Recharge from 0% to 100% takes 5 minutes. The battery lasts for 60 minutes. The camera automatically shuts off and the Raven auto-lands near the player if the battery reaches zero (there's a short reserve left in the battery for return flights).

I've also set it up so that if a Raven is being recharged, it can't be launched. You can still pick it up and drop it, but you can't launch it. I'm still testing that though.

I have yet to change the addactions so you can't launch any Ravens that are out of batteries. They would just return to land immediately, but they shouldn't even start up. So I'm looking into that. Should be easy to limit the visibility of the action.

Here's a screenshot:

[short_German 1]

Great add-on its working well i have used it with great success to find a hostage

and about the USMC backpack problem i found that i can equip ace backpacks if i get them out of a box but not pick them up from the ground

[NoRailgunner 0]

Just curious: if wind/storm and heavy rain/snow does have an effect on this SUAV? Or will it be useable/effective under any weather condition? Does the AI notice the RQ11 (as sound/object) if its flying low/very low?

[kremator 1064]

Great idea on the battery life and recharge Feint!

[[evo] dan 79]

I tried using this code to add 2 backpacks to a vehicles cargo, and it did not work:

this addWeaponCargo ["MAV_RAVEN_BACKPACK",2];

and it gave me an error saying that item didn't exist.

EDIT: Also did the weapons command and it did not give me a classname either.

Edited May 7, 2012 by [EVO] Dan

[glowbal 13]

Dan;2145933']I tried using this code to add 2 backpacks to a vehicles cargo' date=' and it did not work:

this addWeaponCargo ["MAV_RAVEN_BACKPACK",2'];

and it gave me an error saying that item didn't exist.

EDIT: Also did the weapons command and it did not give me a classname either.

this addBackpackCargo ["MAV_RAVEN_BACKPACK",2]; (for cargo)

this addBackpack MAV_RAVEN_BACKPACK; (For a unit)

Guess that would work.

[zephyrdark 10]

Came across the issue that the sounds are not propagated across the server, as in, when they're played on the player who launched/constructed/etc. the RQ-11 will hear the sounds. This is probably because you're using the say command within the script the addAction calls. A work-around that I figured out a while ago (that doesn't use CBA because it seems you want to try to keep the dependency of your mod only to itself, though CBA does have globalSay and globalSay3D commands) is to have the addAction execute a script that executes another script. There may be another, more simple way of doing this, but that's a work around I've used in the past.

[[evo] dan 79]

this addBackpackCargo ["MAV_RAVEN_BACKPACK",2]; (for cargo)

this addBackpack MAV_RAVEN_BACKPACK; (For a unit)

Guess that would work.

Yes that worked for me (guess its not classed as a wep or a mag then). Going to see if I can get someone to add it to LEA for me so I can use it in missions easier.

[Feint 137]

Came across the issue that the sounds are not propagated across the server, as in, when they're played on the player who launched/constructed/etc. the RQ-11 will hear the sounds. This is probably because you're using the say command within the script the addAction calls. A work-around that I figured out a while ago (that doesn't use CBA because it seems you want to try to keep the dependency of your mod only to itself, though CBA does have globalSay and globalSay3D commands) is to have the addAction execute a script that executes another script. There may be another, more simple way of doing this, but that's a work around I've used in the past.

Interesting. Yes, I am using the say command, but the sound for the engine is played from a script which is called from another script. The sound is played once every second. The engine sound is rather quiet. Are they sure they can't hear it at all even when it is flying low or when it first launches? Did they try turning their speakers up?

Are other people able to hear the engine wind up sound that occurs right before the raven launches because that's a "say" command called from a script? Or are they not able to hear any sound at all? I don't have a problem using CBA since it's required for a ton of other addons. But if I am understanding you correctly, I'm already using the other fix that you recommended. So I'm wondering if the sound is just too quiet for others to hear. Can they hear the "beep" after the Raven lands and the strobe is blinking?

I'm also wondering why the Biki doesn't say anything about "say" being local only. :(

---------- Post added at 22:00 ---------- Previous post was at 21:58 ----------

Just curious: if wind/storm and heavy rain/snow does have an effect on this SUAV? Or will it be useable/effective under any weather condition? Does the AI notice the RQ11 (as sound/object) if its flying low/very low?

In regards to all weather performance, it seems to work fine in normal BIS storms. Haven't tested in any of the weather addon-created storms.

In regards to the AI noticing the RQ-11, I'm sure they can see and hear it when it gets within a certain distance. But it has the same properties as a bird. So they would react to it as they react to a bird, i.e they wouldn't care.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Feint