ShackTac ACRE Volume Control

[dslyecxi 23]

This is a very lightweight mod I created to give ShackTac the ability to control our voice volumes in adversarial gameplay using ACRE. This takes advantage of API functionality added to ACRE a few months ago. As of now let's just say that it requires ACRE 1.4.7 and TS 3.0.7 minimum. There should be no other requirements aside from that this must run on both the server and clients to work correctly.

I've created a video overview of it, with the voiceover text included below for easy reading.

ShackTac's ACRE Volume Control mod introduces a critical element that has been missing from ACRE until now - the ability to very easily control your in-game audibility. The effect this has on player-vs-player scenarios in particular is remarkable.

Note that this mod must be run both client- and server-side.

First, you will need to bind a key to 'Talk on Direct Channel' - found here. This mod hooks that key to activate the volume control menu - when you press it and hold it down, a slider will appear that can be adjusted by using your scroll wheel. When you release the key, it will set that volume of speaking. From left to right the settings are - Whisper, Close Contact, Normal, Loud, and Shout.

Whisper can be heard for a few meters maximum. Close contact is about half as far as 'normal'. Loud can be heard out to more than 100m, while Shout can be heard a bit further.

It is important to note that you can use the 'whisper' mode to talk on your radio when enemies are nearby without them hearing you - you will be heard clearly over the radio, while you will not be heard nearby.

That's it. It's a simple mod, with a dramatic impact on gameplay. Hope you guys enjoy it.

I am sharing this due to being asked to do so by people who've seen us using it in our videos. Don't expect feature requests or anything to happen - this is a really simple mod and I don't want to bloat it. It is what it is, use it if you like it, don't if not.

You can see examples of this being used to great effect in various recent videos by me, to include:

• 
  
• 
  

You'll note that each of these includes situations that, had we not been using stacre_volume, would have resulted in comm compromise by the enemy players.

Anyhow, enjoy! If you run into any issues, post them here or in our tracker.

Download here

[khaki 10]

Glad my Tumblr question got 'ansewered' :D

This is very very good, looking forward to using this in multiplayer. Thanks alot Dslyexci!

[panimala 25]

Great mod, and a feature that has been severely lacking from vanilla ACRE. Our server will surely add and use this!

[ArchAngelAlien 1]

Says I am not authorized to download?

403

You are not authorized to access this page.

[dslyecxi 23]

Says I am not authorized to download?

403

You are not authorized to access this page.

Try now, forgot that page was set to private.

[ArchAngelAlien 1]

Try now, forgot that page was set to private.

Roger that, your link is now working. I will pass this on to my 18th Tactical Regiment and see if I can convince them to use it for our servers. Appreciate it Dslyecxi. You rock.

[doveman 7]

Great enhancement to ACRE. Thanks for sharing. :cool:

[Guest]

Release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

ShackTac ACRE Volume Control



A.C.R.E - Advanced Combat Radio Environment

TS 3.0.7

[student 10]

very necessary mod,great job gyes

[columdrum 11]

Really nice addon :D

[SemlerPDX 10]

We were just playing Vietnam mods, with ACRE, and this would have helped considerably, as the only radio is on the RTO and the Slick pilot. In the dense jungles, all 8 men in a column cannot hear direct coms, so it's either have every soldier repeat commands down the line, or something like this "shouting" ability for ACRE.

Great work! Much needed!!

[ArchAngelAlien 1]

Where do I put the files to install this? Or do I just make a mod folder named like, @ACREP and place it in my OA folder? Sorry I am still new to this system.

[dslyecxi 23]

Where do I put the files to install this? Or do I just make a mod folder named like, @ACREP and place it in my OA folder? Sorry I am still new to this system.

Any mod folder, in the addons subdirectory of it. So, if you wanted, @st_acre\addons\

[Scar.Arg 12]

We are having some issues with the bar of volume control.. when we open it (using always the direct chat key) the bar doesn't go away.. it just continue on screen and we cant turn it off.

Could be TS3 version related?

We are using ACRE 1.4.7 , JayArmA2lib_new (SixUpdater) and TS3 3.0.8.. and the lastest ACE version of SixUpdater.

Thanks for this mod of a mod :P

[dslyecxi 23]

and the lastest ACE version of SixUpdater.

Could be an ACE change, or some other conflicting mod. Since it works with our modset (which includes an older version of ACE), I'm unable to spend time investigating why it might fail with other mods. United Operations uses it with a recent version of ACE and I haven't heard any issues from them. Could be something else in your modpack.

[Scar.Arg 12]

I will check that..

Thanks

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Since we don't use ACRE this is kinda irrelevant to me. But maybe you should change it so that when a player sets himself to whisper mode, he also sets himself setCombatMode/setBehavior (can't remember) "STEALTH", so that any annoying autoreporting that goes on (some servers still use this, and some users don't know you can turn it lower - not fully off) also uses the stealthy voice when appropriate. Dunno, just an idea.

[TOTAL22 0]

Hi Dslyecxi.

We've started to use this mod on our server and we are having a little problem.

People are saying that, when they started to use this mod they've noticed that 3D voice volume has decreased somewhat from that of the default ACRE volume. That is of course without touching the volume bar at all.

Also said by them was that shout was not effective as they were expecting it to be. It definitely does not travel 100m and beyond they say.

Could you be able to look into some possibilities of this happening with your mod?

Whisper works fine btw.

[dslyecxi 23]

Hi Dslyecxi.

We've started to use this mod on our server and we are having a little problem.

People are saying that, when they started to use this mod they've noticed that 3D voice volume has decreased somewhat from that of the default ACRE volume. That is of course without touching the volume bar at all.

This is by design.

Also said by them was that shout was not effective as they were expecting it to be. It definitely does not travel 100m and beyond they say.

Could you be able to look into some possibilities of this happening with your mod?

Whisper works fine btw.

There are too many factors that play into this to be able to give a definitive answer. Ambient noise, individual TS volume levels, whether people are using automatic gain control, etc.

[niv 1]

Hey. Love the idea, thanks for sharing. :) I do have a few questions and comments on this.

1) acre_volume uses the mouse wheel, which is by default bound to the action menu. I see in your videos that the action menu closes immediately after releasing the Direct Talk button .. how are you doing this in your key bindings? Or are you just manually pressing 2nd mouse button?

edit: here's an autohotkey script to press right mouse button after actioning the mouse wheel while in direct talk mode. You need to tweak the hotkey "sc029" (defaulting to `). Needs to be run as admin to get access to the arma2 win handle

#IfWinActive ArmA 2 OA

#NoEnv

#InstallMouseHook

#InstallKeybdHook

if not A_IsAdmin {

msgbox Must be run as admin

ExitApp

}

mwheel:=false

~wheeldown::mwheel:=true

~wheelup::mwheel:=true

~sc029 Up::

if (mwheel == true)

SendInput {RButton}

mwheel:=false

2) This was non-obvious for me: In order to get this to work (on default acre), I had to explicitly set a custom selectable curve, like so: ["ACRE_CURVE_MODEL_SELECTABLE_A"] call acre_api_fnc_setCurveModel; Took me a while to figure this out ..

3) Why don't you use the amplitude curve model? Too much hassle getting microphones set up properly, or are there any other issues?

Guess that's it. Hope 2) helps someone figuring this out.

Edited October 10, 2012 by niv

[hon0 10]

Acre forum.

One or the other solution.

VOIP is cool while testing the ACRE. Discovering the max radio range etc.. But then just turn it OFF.

For information. The Direct chat volume is related to the effect volume. All the others Voip channel's volumes are set up by the VON volume control.

---

A little astuce for all of you using the St_Acre_Volume ;

When you use it the side menu pop cause you have to use the mousewheel. This is a little problem as a lot of player use defaut key..

So while the menu is open they can't aim.. Can't shoot. Same things happens while they're leading with the menu.

Here is a simple solution that fix theses problems.

- You must have the same keybind on theses two actions ; "Direct Channel", "Return".

- You should unbind the right mouse button from ; "Return".

- You should unbind the left mouse button from ; "Selected action".

So now you should be able to aim and shoot while navigating in the menu.

To use the St_Acre_Volume ; "Press Direct Channel", "Set it up with mousewheel", "Release AND pressAndRelease again Direct Channel".

Now you can really set your Voice power On the Fly.

Original post in french.

If you have some gamer stuff you should be able to deal with this using macrO.

Here is how I've done it with my Logitech G13.

		if (event == "G_PRESSED") and (arg == 27) then

        PressKey("num6")  // St_Acre_Volume key


       elseif (event == "G_RELEASED") and (arg == 27) then
	ReleaseKey("num6")  
	Sleep(10)
	PressKey("backspace")  // Return key
	Sleep(50)
	ReleaseKey("backspace")  

Why don't you use the amplitude curve model? Too much hassle getting microphones set up properly, or are there any other issues?

Exactly. We don't all have the same materials, set up, etc.. It is also "impossible" to use with voice activation. Try to whisp in your mic and be sure you're transmitting.

Nope.. Way to much aleatory.

Edited October 15, 2012 by hon0

[niv 1]

Hi,

thanks for the guidance. I've refactored the AHK script I'm using: https://gist.github.com/3996289. It's more comfortable and maybe a little bit more intuitive that way as well.

Maybe it's of use to someone.

[doveman 7]

If you have some gamer stuff you should be able to deal with this using macrO.

Here is how I've done it with my Logitech G13.

		if (event == "G_PRESSED") and (arg == 27) then

        PressKey("num6")  // St_Acre_Volume key


       elseif (event == "G_RELEASED") and (arg == 27) then
	ReleaseKey("num6")  
	Sleep(10)
	PressKey("backspace")  // Return key
	Sleep(50)
	ReleaseKey("backspace")  

I've got a Microsoft Sidewinder X4 which has six Macro keys on the left-edge. Does anyone know how to adapt this script for that as I haven't got a clue?

[niv 1]

That script is just for Logitech G13/G16/etc. You'd have to use either the software for your device or AHK and custom-build it like I did.

[hon0 10]

Hello. Sorry I don't know the Microsoft Driver Software. Can't help you on it.

You don't like the "first" sample solution?

Here is a simple solution that fix theses problems.

- You must have the same keybind on theses two actions ; "Direct Channel", "Return".

- You should unbind the right mouse button from ; "Return".

- You should unbind the left mouse button from ; "Selected action".

So now you should be able to aim and shoot while navigating in the menu.

To use the St_Acre_Volume ; "Press Direct Channel", "Set it up with mousewheel", "Release AND pressAndRelease again Direct Channel".

That's what I use when using a "normal" (Razer Anansi :cool: ) keyboard. Work perfectly.

---

With Macro. Usualy you can tell ; On push to this. But you can't tell ; On release do this. That's the problem.

You can also use two macro key with this kind of macro. But.. I don't like that. Niv solution looks really cool too.

Num 6 = Direct canal

RET.ARR = BackSpace. To close the side menu

Edited November 2, 2012 by hon0