Underwater Diving Module - Arma3

[raptor 6 actual 13]

I have put out the request to get the periscope working on the SDV and I hope it's scheduled for this weekend to get a look over. The other issue is it needs to be textured....which I'm no good at unfortunately. Other than that, the gauges need some love in the way of either going analog or digital. With ArmA 3's video displays working in game, I'm wondering if it should be like the one that BIS showed us during the video previews a year ago?

It's up to Feint on what he decides...he's put so much work into this as it is.

[chortles 263]

How is this SDV intended to differ substantively from the SDV implementation that was showcased last year though left out of the alpha? Truthbetold I don't mind it looking "all digital", more of that "future warfare" look is always a plus in my book.

[Evgeny 10]

I would like to see oxygen tanks on the divers. I know they have rebreathers and all that but I would like to kick it old school.

[raptor 6 actual 13]

How is this SDV intended to differ substantively from the SDV implementation that was showcased last year though left out of the alpha? Truthbetold I don't mind it looking "all digital", more of that "future warfare" look is always a plus in my book.

I'll have to let Feint answer that question in the end. As far as I know, the only difference is the instrument cluster in the front being analog as opposed to the digital version. Both versions have the periscope, both have the ability to carry what seems to be around four divers, and other than minor differences, they provide the same function.

[Feint 137]

The UBA simulation that BI has implemented works ok for most missions in terms of air amount. They haven't simulated anything having to do with depth effects (effects on your body from ambient pressure) nor partial pressure of gases effects (the effect that breathed gas has on your body when that gas is pressurized or pressed into your body from an increase in ambient pressure). In other words, if you breath pure oxygen (as the Lar-V currently uses) below 10 meters, you will likely spike up to 1.6+ partial pressure of O2, get oxygen toxicity and be dead or unconscious rather quickly (in real life). I'd like to simulate those restrictions and effects just for fun and to learn and challenge myself. I think it will also lead to more realistic missions for those who want to use it. Anyone who wants to play the Arma3 way, that's fine. :)

Regarding the reasons why Bohemia chose to not simulate these things, I can think of many. For one, it's a coding nightmare to keep track of everyone's nitrogen and oxygen tissue levels for each unit in the game. Also, you'd have to keep track of the gases remaining in SCUBA tanks and the scrubber efficacy remaining in rebreathers. You'd have to allow for replacing scrubber materials, allow for replenishing of SCUBA tanks, allow for changing dive gases in those tanks and keeping track of those new levels, etc. Fortunately, it's very possible to do and I've solved most/all of these problems.

Regarding the SDV: It's very useful to have an underwater mode of transportation. I've honestly not put any work into the SDV myself. It's all been the great work of Gnat and Raptor 6 Actual. I'm hoping that after I release something, their work can be realized either as an addon to my release or as a standalone vehicle for Arma3/Arma2. As Raptor already mentioned, it only needs a few things to be a great working addon for Arma2. In fact, it works fine in Arma2 except for the periscope and instruments not working and not being textured. For Arma3, it needs animations and get out/get in stuff in addition to the dials, scope and textures. I'm always impressed by the good work of others on this forum and I'd love to see this vehicle realized and in-game for everyone to enjoy. How is it different from the forthcoming BI SDV? Their SDV looks like it is able to change depths more fluidly, it has PIP screens in front and who knows what else. Will the model be as good as what Raptor has made and Gnat has worked on? Doubtful. But who knows.

Regarding adding oxygen tanks... yes. I want that too. I already have the code written for open circuit diving. It's much much more complicated than closed circuit Lar-V UBA style diving that's already in Arma3. And there's more bubbles. :)

Making this addon for Arma3 is a little weird because the game is still revealing what they have in store. I just placed a request for a new feature in the issue tracker to add the ability to reduce the amount of oxygen currently being available for the diver while wearing a UBA. But even if they don't do that, I could just make a fake UBA-looking thing that's just a vest, then have the amount of oxygen available constantly replenished. I haven't tested this, but it's theoretically possible.

Thanks everyone for your enthusiastic response to this addon. :)

[johncage 30]

i'm fearful that all of these will be moot if the diving physics itself turns out badly. can you accurately represent the dragginess of moving in water for example. right now, there seems to be an instant or near instant transition from the standing motion in water to the forward flipper propelling motion.

or things like inertia. right now if you stop pressing buttons in the water, you stop dead. whereas i would like to see drifting implemented to simulate natural forces.

[mordeaniischaos 3]

Dear god that sounds incredible, cannot wait to see this stuff in action! One of the things A3 has me most excited about is being able to pull off some proper SEAL operations. Underwater demolition and more in depth diving all sounds really awesome.

[System98 10]

As OWD I welcome the announcement of your mod for ArmA III. I already look forward to it!

[sproyd 2]

Hey Feint - one thing that just occurred to me when testing out night diving and trini's dive computer mod but noone else has yet mentioned - what about having accurate BCDs? Like being able to let air out/in incrementally to create negative or neutral buoyancy?

[Brian 2]

Hey Feint - one thing that just occurred to me when testing out night diving and trini's dive computer mod but noone else has yet mentioned - what about having accurate BCDs? Like being able to let air out/in incrementally to create negative or neutral buoyancy?

Yeah! I was about to post that!! Also, the hand symbols would be good! or diving lights etc

[Feint 137]

i'm fearful that all of these will be moot if the diving physics itself turns out badly. can you accurately represent the dragginess of moving in water for example. right now, there seems to be an instant or near instant transition from the standing motion in water to the forward flipper propelling motion.

or things like inertia. right now if you stop pressing buttons in the water, you stop dead. whereas i would like to see drifting implemented to simulate natural forces.

Inertia is an engine thing. Nothing I can do about that. Also, the animations are what appear to be a bit too fast. The game is still in alpha and I've already noticed small changes in animations when I activated the development version of Arma 3. So I know they are still working on animations.

Hey Feint - one thing that just occurred to me when testing out night diving and trini's dive computer mod but noone else has yet mentioned - what about having accurate BCDs? Like being able to let air out/in incrementally to create negative or neutral buoyancy?

Buoyancy changes could be simulated with setPos perhaps. But it runs into issues when you get close to objects (you don't want to setPos into a rock). Seems like the game automatically "pushes" you out of rocks when you setPos into them on land. Not sure if that happens in the water too. I'd like to see what BI does during development before I work on anything like this. After they release Arma 3 (full version), I might revisit buoyancy. I noticed during testing today that if you put an ammo box in the editor above water, it falls somewhat slowly to the ground. So that's a kind of simulated drag.

Yeah! I was about to post that!! Also, the hand symbols would be good! or diving lights etc

Hand symbols are another animation. I'd post all animation requests in the request forum. There were 9 hand animations in Arma2 that came with the game. But they didn't work in the water while swimming. Maybe BI will implement these as well. I'd wait and see.

As for dive lights... if I can get them working underwater and I think they won't cause multiplayer problems, yes. My first test failed under water. The lights were just far too dim or didn't show up at all. Same problem I had when testing on Utes with Arma2. Lights are just buggy on different parts of islands. I have no idea why. I'd keep pushing BI to make their flashlights work underwater.

---------- Post added at 01:34 ---------- Previous post was at 01:32 ----------

I've got Limpet Mines working now (mostly). I just need to work out some timing issues and a few other things before release.

[Meatball0311 79]

Good to see you are working on a UDM for ArmA 3. Your work always rocks.. thanks for the time you put into these.

[trini scourge 1]

Brilliant!

[andersson 285]

Sorry for OT, what song is that you used as soundtrack?

[themaster303 22]

that is great ! whould be great if you have the ear ringing like hell ;)

cant wait for this addon !

[Feint 137]

Sorry for OT, what song is that you used as soundtrack?

It's called NY Infiltration Part 1. If you have Splinter Cell Double Agent, you can find the songs inside the game files. They aren't encrypted. I believe they are in a folder called "SCDA Infiltration Themes". There are a bunch of songs in the game files including Cinematics, Fight Themes, Full Themes, Menu Themes, Timed Cues, and more. Most aren't longer than a few seconds. But some are full length songs. One of my favorite unreleased soundtracks.

---------- Post added at 21:36 ---------- Previous post was at 21:35 ----------

Good to see you are working on a UDM for ArmA 3. Your work always rocks.. thanks for the time you put into these.

Thanks man. :) You rock!

[krigar 1]

looks really good

[PN11A 2]

Are you waiting to release this on the beta?

[dmarkwick 261]

If you're interested, JTD Flies for ArmA 3 has an underwater bleeding feature for units killed underwater. Units will bleed a lot for about a minute, then slower for another couple of minutes before stopping. Not based on anything other than looking rather cool at the moment, but fun nontheless.

[Feint 137]

looks really good

Thanks. Once I figure out setVectorDirandUp, I think I can give people the option to set the up and down angle of the underwater mine. It works awesome right now, but it breaks a lot. So I have to figure out why.

Are you waiting to release this on the beta?

That's a good idea as things are changing with the Alpha that are messing with my other mods.

If you're interested, JTD Flies for ArmA 3 has an underwater bleeding feature for units killed underwater. Units will bleed a lot for about a minute, then slower for another couple of minutes before stopping. Not based on anything other than looking rather cool at the moment, but fun nontheless.

I'll have a look. Thanks.

[Pandasyl 11]

Hey Feint ! I've been folowing your diving module for Arma since you started the project on arma2, and I really look forward to seing it released one day on Arma3. :)

If you're still up to it, I can help you with a couple things, I'm a 3rd grade student in 3D animation, I can do a lot of things from modeling to animation, photoshop, etc etc...

I am also a diver, I'm not an expert but I have my open water diver license :).

Hope to hear from you soon !

[horrorview 10]

Outstanding work!!

[bullet purveyor 85]

BIS should hire you and make: Take On Diving

[Pandasyl 11]

BIS should hire you and make: Take On Diving

Man, that would be so awesome !

The only decent Diving "realistic" game I've found so far is "diver deep water adventures", but the game is 7 years old now...

[Jalio 1]

BIS should hire you and make: Take On Diving

Awh now that would be good! Just imagine :)