Underwater Diving Module - Arma3

[Feint 137]

Many of you have been following the development of the Underwater Diving Module for Arma2. That's something I'm still working on. But today I'd like to officially announce the development of the Underwater Diving Module for Arma3. What is the UDM? Basically it is a system that accurately keeps track of what's happening to your body as you dive under water.

Diving is a very complex and potentially dangerous undertaking. I'd like to help simulate that complexity in order to make a more realistic diving experience in Arma3. Some of the features include:

• Dive Computer
  
  • Tissue Loading Bar Graphs for O2 and N2
    
  • replaceable battery
    
  • battery level tracking
    
  • Dive Time (amount of time spent underwater)
    
  • Heading (tracks body heading vs head heading)
    
  • Gas Type Tracking
    
    • Oxygen (100% O2)
      
    • Nitrox I (32% O2, 68% N2)
      
    • Nitrox II (36% O2, 64% N2)
      
    • Heliox 28 (28% O2, 72% Helium (H3))
      
    • Heliox 21 (21% O2, 79% H3)
      
    • Trimix (10% O2, 40% N2, 50% H3)
      
    • Air (21% O2, 79% N2)
      

    [*]Circuit Type (closed vs. open vs. breath holding)

    [*]Gas Mode

    • Cylinder Pressure Level
      
    • BTR (breathing time remaining)
      
    • Partial Pressure of Nitrogen tracked (ppN2)
      
    • Partial Pressure of Oxygen tracked (ppO2)
      
    • Alerts when ppN2 or ppO2 reach unsafe levels
      

    [*]Depth/Altitude Mode

    • Current Depth or Altitude
      
    • Maximum Depth
      
    • Maximum Altitude
      
    • Current Sea Pressure Level
      
    • DECO Ceiling (decompression ceiling)
      

  [*]Buddy Breathing

  • Can be implemented if you don't have a UBA and need one, or if you DO have a UBA and you are trying to help another diver that has run out of air
    
  • Dive Computer keeps track of gas levels and partial pressures
    
  • Attaches your unit to your buddy's unit so you can ascend to the surface while buddy breathing
    
  • Able to be cancelled at any time and the UBA will be returned to its original owner (no UBA stealing)
    

  [*]Dive Gear Ditch and Don

  • Ability to remove and store UBA while submerged
    
  • Ability to retrieve and don your stored dive gear along with all variables such as cylinder pressure level
    

  [*]Underwater Medical Problems

  • Nitrogen Narcosis
    
  • DCS (decompression sickness aka The Bends)
    
  • Oxygen Toxicity
    

  [*]Refilling Station

  • Replace dive computer battery
    
  • Drain and refill tanks with 7 different dive gases
    

Things I need help with:

• How can I trigger rag doll effects (going unconscious)
  
• Can I have a diver appear to be wearing a UBA but be holding breath?
  
• I need a good ppEffects script to simulate the following:
  
  • blurred vision
    
  • tunnel vision
    
  • Desaturation of colors at depth
    

Future plans:

• Underwater Demolitions (Limpet Mine)
  
• Make the dive computer and battery an inventory item
  
• Holdable and attachable chem lights
  
• Ability to pick up dropped weapons while submerged
  

Here's a short video showing what I have so far:

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Edited March 14, 2013 by Feint

[bugkill 7]

Great! looking forward to this and to be honest, I think your work would be better suited in Arma 3 given how great the diving simulations can be done in this game compared to Arma 2.

[Feint 137]

I kind of agree, but it is my intention to follow through with the Arma2 version because it's such a big change for that game and a lot of people have been waiting for it and helping develop it.

[bugkill 7]

I kind of agree, but it is my intention to follow through with the Arma2 version because it's such a big change for that game and a lot of people have been waiting for it and helping develop it.

Oh, I know you would still support A2 and I was one of the people waiting for it. Just giving my opinion on what platform fits it best and I will definitely use it for A3.

[nbrc_fox 10]

Waitin since Arma 1 for such mod! Keep up the work, it sounds awesome to me.

Can't wait to start the first "real" Diving-Adventure in Arma ;-)

[Dennistp 11]

Great work :) maybe i should make a Diver school on stratis :D

[legolasindar 3]

Nice work

[HorbeySpector 164]

awesome you're making it for Arma 3 as wel. as a request; when a player emerges above the water while wearing dive goggles, could you add some water drops sliding down, like there's still water on the goggles? that would look amazing. :)

[Harine 40]

Oh yes !

[Feint 137]

Great work :) maybe i should make a Diver school on stratis :D

I think an Arma3 BUDS would be cool with surf torture, drownproofing, surf passage, etc. But you'd need to implement a DAY-Z-style hypothermia system because that's probably one of the main reasons why candidates quit the school.

If you put green helmets and green SEAL shorts on them, and have them all sitting in the surf, that would look like surf torture. You'll also have to get a few logs that they can all hold and carry into and out of the surf, and write a script where they all carry the CRRC out of the surf and onto land and then hold it above their heads. Ideally, we need a CRRC without a motor, and instead give each of the characters oars and new seating positions for the CRRC so they can row. But surf passage doesn't seem that hard in Arma3.

Oh, also you would need to create a swimming pool for all of those tests. Diving without goggles, rope tieing in 15 feet of water, crossing the pool while bobbing with your hands and feet tied up.

Definitely, the Underwater Diving Module could use some classroom training. I've learned a lot about DCS, partial pressures of gasses and how all of that stuff works, but it took me a long time to learn it from scratch. Closed circuit diving should be much easier for people to learn, but open circuit is freaking complicated at first. Writing the scripts for it took me a long time to just figure out. I used various NOAA dive tables to help me figure out what was going on.

awesome you're making it for Arma 3 as wel. as a request; when a player emerges above the water while wearing dive goggles, could you add some water drops sliding down, like there's still water on the goggles? that would look amazing. :)

It's theoretically possible because the new command "underwater" does indicate when the diver's head clears the water. It's not the easiest effect to create. Honestly, I don't know how to do it, especially if the droplets are animated. Maybe it's possible to just have drops on the screen that fade away, rather than steams of water trickles moving. I think that's how they do it in Crysis, but I can't remember off the top of my head. There is a blood splash on the screen effect that occurs in Arma3 when you get hit with a grenade. Maybe I could just do something like that. But I have no idea how to do it. Does anyone know?

[HorbeySpector 164]

..

Maybe it's possible to just have drops on the screen that fade away, rather than steams of water trickles moving.

That would do. :)

[Feint 137]

If you know how to do it, let me know.

[raptor 6 actual 13]

Hey Feint,

Let me talk to someone I know and see if we can't get the SDV we were talking about a proper periscope and texture. With the new render to texture video capability, we should be able to look into the instrument panel as well.

[Feint 137]

That would be sweet. I was able to put it into the game yesterday, but I couldn't get in to any of the seats. I also saw there there is an action called somethign like, "getInSDV" (vs. getInHigh or getInLow etc. which are actions used to get into the vehicles). Maybe that would help to get into the SDV while it is submerged without popping up to the surface first.

[themaster303 22]

looking forward to this addon ! great work !!

[trini scourge 1]

This looks amazing! Hats off to you sir.

[Messiah 2]

[*]Can I have a diver appear to be wearing a UBA but be holding breath?

Curious as to what you're simulating with the holding of breath here? Having run out of air?

[Feint 137]

Yeah. It appears to me that BIS has not implemented a way of lowering the amount of air you have when you are wearing a UBA. If you have a UBA on, then the remaining air level is always 1 or 100%, even if you set it lower. After 4 hours, most/all rebreathers will need to have their scrubber materials replaced. And once open circuit tanks are empty, they should give you no air. I want to be able to simulate this without having to remove the UBAs. For now, that's the workaround, but I don't like it.

[chortles 263]

Yeah. It appears to me that BIS has not implemented a way of lowering the amount of air you have when you are wearing a UBA. If you have a UBA on, then the remaining air level is always 1 or 100%, even if you set it lower. After 4 hours, most/all rebreathers will need to have their scrubber materials replaced. And once open circuit tanks are empty, they should give you no air. I want to be able to simulate this without having to remove the UBAs. For now, that's the workaround, but I don't like it.

I can't help but think that BI decided to go with "UBA = infinite air" because of the expectation that only certain people will design a mission to somehow last more than four hours...

[Messiah 2]

I can't help but think that BI decided to go with "UBA = infinite air" because of the expectation that only certain people will design a mission to somehow last more than four hours...

my thoughts exactlly - seems a fair choice when you consider the % likelihood of anyone wanting to stay underwater that long.

[chortles 263]

my thoughts exactlly - seems a fair choice when you consider the % likelihood of anyone wanting to stay underwater that long.

It feels like the BI devs had a different idea of how minutely the underwater aspect is simulated from what Feint wanted, and frankly I'm comfortable with BI's version.

[HorbeySpector 164]

..

For now, that's the workaround, but I don't like it.

what if.. you would take the UBA's model, copy it, get rid of the diving config so it would function as a backpack but still be there, and silently replace that one with the one in the players' gear when it's out of air?

[Brian 2]

If you need assistance, I'm a real diver and can help you making it as realistic as possible

[Nocureheles 10]

This doesn't have anything to do with the mod itself, but while looking at animations I found a cool SDV Anim get in script. I'll post the script soon.

---------- Post added at 17:15 ---------- Previous post was at 16:57 ----------

This doesn't have anything to do with the mod itself, but while looking at animations I found a cool SDV Anim get in script. I'll post the script soon.

[chortles 263]

Double post much, nocureheles? :P But I'm interested to see what you come up with -- I'm honestly more interested in "what the SDV will add to the underwater aspect" than anything to do with diving.