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NordKindchen

elaboration about how to improve effects

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The last ACE Update has added shockwave effects to explosions. I can tell you that I really try to stay away from explosions now.

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Most games make great use of sprites. They're efficient and look as good as the texture used on them.. I'd be all for that.

yeah

skip to the end. the first part is just terrible gameplay(with some nice impact effects). see how the sprite is able to mimic the the classic high velocity v shaped debris/dust ejection effect from bombs.

now i wonder how many layers of sprite was used to create that. must have been a few.

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I just hopped into the old battlefield bad company vietnam addon and I must say: Even the effects from back then in 2010 are way better than the current effects in Arma III.

I uploaded some footage of BF3 effects as a reference for improvements. If theres one thing that was great about BF3 it was their effects. Not allways realistic but pretty damn well made.

This is a video with tanks firing and hitting oil tanks. The oil tank explosion is a good example of an impressive looking explosion. Usable for a JDAM for example. Or a big artillery shel.l

This video is a good example for HE-shells of tanks.

This is an example of how a mortar looks in BF3. Look at how a sprite is used to show off the first explosion for just a split second. In Arma III this part of the effect stays for too long. This lets the explosion look less powerfull.

Greetings

Ps: Last post is not less than 4 month ago

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I just hopped into the old battlefield bad company vietnam addon and I must say: Even the effects from back then in 2010 are way better than the current effects in Arma III.

I think, if they spent time to doing those effects we would got another "bad company", as a result. I saw how Arma 2 improves with time and Arma 3 is not exception. But i hope we avoiding this Mars terrain.:)

has added shockwave effects to explosions. I can tell you that I really try to stay away from explosions now.

Good news that AA3 already have it.

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Honestly - the tank shells in Bad Company look like a quite realistic HE shell.

Even exploding tanks are not that far from realism. Only obvious unrealistic part is that tanks allways explode. BUt so do they in Arma III vanilla...

And even if we get BF like effects it would be a huge improvement over what we got now.

But I am not talking about copying the effects from battlefield but ABOUT LOOKING AT HOW THEY DID THEM. They worked with sprites and with cleverly placed small effects.

BF3 effects for exmaple are not that hardware demanding. Why? BEcause they used what they got cleverly. Sprites can be used for really nice effects and dont reserve muich cpu power.

THe current system in Arma III only uses round cloud textures. Even flames are round textures and the wirbled up sand too. It looks very strongly like a placeholder. But since the effects in Arma II looked quite similar and we havent heard anything about if the effects are final or not - its better to give feedback.

And honestly - Arma 2 didnt improve regarding effects. Yes there came some addons which improved the effects but you cannot give BIS a medal for the work of a modder. And in the end the remade effects werent THAT professional either.

And saying Armas effects improved due to mods is like saying - well let the effects stay like they are. 2 Years after release we will definately get an addon which improves them.

Thats not what an Alpha/Beta is for....

Conclusion?

Battlefield effects may not allways be realistic but they are formidable made and can be used as a perfect reference of how to include effects. Even if then the effects get toned down to a realistic niveau.

And on top of that: Many effects are quite authentic allready in BF3. I could put up enough examples but if anyone wants to argue he can search for references first for himself...

Best regards

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I think, if they spent time to doing those effects we would got another "bad company", as a result.

what a bunch of nonsense...

@NordKindchen: i think we had another thread where me and others mentioned one of your points, which i think is a key problem. it's the timing of the effects which takes away the illusion of their power. in BF3 it's spot on. it's a fast expansion of energy and after that it's just the resulting smoke fading away.

which leads me to another problem. arma's sprites often times look like plain colour because of the way they are used. there's some colour variation and animation of transparency missing which results in those dull looking clouds of one colour sometimes.

let's just hope there will be an effort like with the AI to focus on the effects for a while. most of the time there isn't a whole revamp needed. just some detailed tweaks and polish.

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No - so because if they spent time improving the effects it wont get us another BF

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You are welcome

Btw: I made a little mock up of what I imagine explosions to look like.

Its a rough 10 minute sketch with photoshop so dont expect it to be hollywood;) but it delivers the idea:

Here it is

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Not perfect but I like where it is going.

The 40mm vehicle grenade launcher is a good example of how to do it wrong. The flash is visible too long

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lol 10 mins of PS work and the game looks better than what's been had for 10+ years lolle

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The 40mm vehicle grenade launcher is a good example of how to do it wrong. The flash is visible too long

Exactly what I am saying!=)

Also the "sand" (or more like round cluster of brown stuff that turns in cyrcles while flying up and down) that gets pushed up by explosions should be cut off completely. The way its made at the moment just looks bad - sadly. It would look better without it.

And thanks at Euroslave;)

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Another way to improve the effects:

Add some debris based on the ground type.

Other games do this and it makes explosions look really powerfull.

If something explodes on grass then make the explosion throw up some pieces of earth and grass, if it is on concrete then send some pieces of it flying around (depebding on how powerfull the explosion is)

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Take a look at the minigun effects with night vision in this video

Also this video at 1:00 JDAM Target and Close Air Support

Arma needs something like that!

Btw RealTimeImmersive is creating this simulator to train the US army :)

Edited by D_wolf

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Also the Flir is very well made in RealTimeImmersive.

And look at the groud textures....mhhhhhjamjam...

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Well RealTimeImmersive died silently - because noone wanted it but yes some effects are well done

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It died? D: Oh what a shame even though they had no plans for commercial use :(

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Its good :)

Wouldnt you rathr jus make some conig rather than all this time in PS though ? .

its simple just some easy changes , let me know what weapon ,ammo you would like on what vehicle and i get you started ;).

Caveat you will be doing the work lol

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No - so because if they spent time improving the effects it wont get us another BF

No - so because they don't improve this effects yet. I think it's obvious. Like all your examples about vizualizations.

Edited by Anachoretes

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