General Discussion (dev branch)

[nodunit 397]

Just thwacked my landing gear on a mound of dirt in the helo showcase..jarred the helo a bit but it was only the gear, did't cause it to go up in a ball of flame and running seems to be further slowed.

Edited April 22, 2013 by NodUnit

[chrisb 196]

I tried a simple fog test to see how the ai are coping, seems that the fog makes a real difference to the range at which they spot you. No news there then, but maybe there is, seems it makes them no more cautious, which is odd.

So, it effects their vision, but once they do spot you, their need to run forward still seems to be there, instead of a careful approach.

Couple of foggy pics..

http://imageshack.us/a/img837/7761/arma320130420191557212.png

http://imageshack.us/a/img534/3678/arma320130420191612255.png

[bad benson 1733]

the fog definately effects the AI. i was on a scary patrol with some friends today. it lead us into a valley filled with dense fog. i placed some ambushes on the way. when the fog got really dense we had to stick to the road to not get lost. suddenly i heard voices to my left. i cautiously sneaked in that direction only to bump into a small squad literally 4 meters away from me. they were as surprised as i was. their reactions were better though;). they killed me. as i respawned into a team member further outside the dense fog area i heard hell break loose for 5 seconds. then my two buddies were dead too.

this is really amazing. it makes for some totally new gameplay. very intense stuff. it literally made me jump which only happened like 4 times since ofp.

[lordprimate 159]

I keep getting an error "script InitJIPcompatible.sqf not found". I have looked for a ticket in the feed back tracker but cannot find one. Anyone else experience this. and How do I fix it. I started showing up in the last dev build (not the most recent 4/22)

[Masharra 10]

the fog definately effects the AI. i was on a scary patrol with some friends today. it lead us into a valley filled with dense fog. i placed some ambushes on the way. when the fog got really dense we had to stick to the road to not get lost. suddenly i heard voices to my left. i cautiously sneaked in that direction only to bump into a small squad literally 4 meters away from me. they were as surprised as i was. their reactions were better though;). they killed me. as i respawned into a team member further outside the dense fog area i heard hell break loose for 5 seconds. then my two buddies were dead too.

this is really amazing. it makes for some totally new gameplay. very intense stuff. it literally made me jump which only happened like 4 times since ofp.

Thats odd wording there. Totally new gameplay? Playing with fog isnt far off from playing without nvo's at night. Want intense? Play as bestfor vs bluefor at pitchblack night. Except give them nvg's and you use lee enfield.

Q- What direction were they facing? what difficulty setting? what formation was your squad in? EI squad formation?

ontopic ----

Max fog

my detection range- his engagement range (cant tell detection range as he doesnt appear to give a damn until 31 or I fire)

test 1 67- 31

test 2 Decided to stop at 32. he doesnt notice me.

360 Circle around @ 32 does not notice

Fire 1 round from rear. Instantly turns around and kills me.

test 3 My 75 (can barely make him out)

Fire 1 round from 3o'clock. Instantly fires on my position and kills me

test 4 Approach to 73 (when I saw him) retreat to 100 (0% visibility) and fire

1 round no response 2nd round Kills me.

test 5 Fire 5 rounds in general direction from 250m. 2 rounds in opposite direction (cant see weapon flashes)

AI opens fire and kills at 85m

http://s9.postimg.org/pa95m8zin/arma3_2013_04_23_02_10_48_12.jpg

My guess? They can see you. They just arent allowed to fire on you until x condition is met. Whatever x is, it is better than my eyesight

Edited April 23, 2013 by Masharra

[gpha5e 1]

ok thanks BI, now with that small new update im finally able to play :)

[ArgusNastyCrab 1]

I don't know if this was the case with the old fog, but the new fog also enters vehicles....

[Varanon 892]

the fog definately effects the AI.

That was already the case in Arma 2.

The question that I would like to have answered (Dwarden here, hehe ?) is will he AI above the fog boundary have better visibility/detection range than the AI in the fog below the fog boundary ? It shouldn't be hard to implement (modify AI perception range depending on altitude).

By the way, usually, sound is better transported in dense fog. Would be cool if A3 would lower the sound dropoff depening on fog density

[St. Jimmy 272]

Just like to know is it realistic see better into the fog from above than inside the fog (watching out)?

[gpha5e 1]

nighttime looks splendid now, and them sticks can make a hill look like christams, so much easier now, thanks BI

[coffeeshock 20]

The new unnecessary CoD/Micheal Bay style muzzle flashes on the MX rifles are unrealistic and therefore very annoying...it's perfectly fine and very realistic in the default branch version without them...

[sqb-sma 66]

Dev branch night-time is far too blue. It's like just after dusk, the sky might go that colour (might) for 10 or 20 minutes but it should get far darker, it should be black (like we had before).

[Colossus 2]

The lighting system is under going some changes, as mentioned in the SITREP #00008

The Development branch discussion thread has seen some active debate about ongoing lighting changes. The full changes are still not done nor deployed. Every single light source is in process of having its properties tweaked, so the results visible now are a mixed bag where things are over-bright, not bright enough, broken, badly colored, etc. The lighting technician in charge has been asked to provide details, motivations and what to look for as soon as he gets a moment.

[rogerx 11]

As I already posted to the relevant Bug #931 "Artificial light sources are too dim", I'll cross post my experience for Forum members here as well. ;-)

The latest developer version, glow lights at night look extremely bright and awesome when at ground level! They also help light-up the forest at night. (Ditto concerning looks like Christmas!)

Glow lights also adequately light-up the terrain and for targeting for landing for operations in route. We did notice, there was a bad "popping" effect when approaching the area by chopper. At first, viewers see no or little glow light from the air, then the glow suddenly appears. The glowing stays at a minimal until landed on ground. I found glow lights extremely beneficial for finding landing zones. I also found, I was able to fly without night vision, and only by moon light and looking for glow lights!

Also, the glow lights only appeared to work brightly during early evening for one or two hours, and their effectiveness or usefulness dramatically waned after those two hours, rending them useless. Flares display similar levels of effectiveness. Pretty much carrying dead weight, after the first two hours.

One thought, they should fit the mortars to launch glow sticks. I know it sounds crazy, but you would be able to light-up landing zones ahead of time, or suspected areas of enemy infiltrations within unlit areas for either targeting or insertions. Troops are restricted to carrying a limited amount.

Personally, I would much rather play on night missions versus day, due to the display of new graphics technology and basic challenge of game play. Currently, "#vote time night" or "#vote time 22:00" is not yet possible, and might aide in rapidly testing light levels on public developer servers. ;-)

[gpha5e 1]

The new unnecessary CoD/Micheal Bay style muzzle flashes on the MX rifles are unrealistic and therefore very annoying...it's perfectly fine and very realistic in the default branch version without them...

Dear, BI, i totally agree with this statement, remove the unrealistic effect, please!

[zimms 22]

Maybe those muzzle flashes are influenced by the WIP lighting changes?

[DnA 5143]

Some more details about the ongoing lighting changes were posted :)

[Tonci87 163]

A very nice Update. Now I understand what You guys try to achieve with the changes. Tell us when you have finished so that we can start to point out bugs again :p

[dna_uk 30]

Nice new event handlers in the latest dev build for inventories. Are we going to get any more of the kind? Like event handlers for moving gear from vest to uniform or adding/removing a weapon attachment?

[old_painless 182]

Just read the latest SITREP - some serious issues being taken on. Great to hear!

[coffeeshock 20]

Maybe those muzzle flashes are influenced by the WIP lighting changes?

Hmm...are the muzzle flash models/pics directly in or part of the weapon.p3d? Or is it possible to deactivate them with a simple config tweak?

EDIT: and btw BiS, the MX rifles feature the Smith Vortex Flash Hiders, which actually does an excellent job at HIDING the muzzle FLASH irl, especially in daylight... ;)

Edited April 25, 2013 by coffeeshock

[bus 11]

BIS: Are there any plans to hurry a limited update for the stable branch for this change?

•Small first of many stages to reduce MP security vulnerabilities: should no longer be needed to restart the whole game to undo the common functions breach. This should also prevent it from spreading (but does not help the current situation on default branch servers of course). More on the topic in the next SITREP.

Also, it'd be nice if whatever change you made didn't only take effect on server connection/disconnection but also mission change. As a work-around, it'd be nice to able to limit the damage to a single round by allowing an admin (or a vote) to simply start a new mission or restart the current one. Also, is it possible to add a server flag to disable the use of ... more sensitive commands in missions run on the server? For example, and I'm not an expert on the exposed functionality so others should weigh in, can it be made possible for an admin to set a flag to disable a broad set of scripting functions so that command executed either by a mission or by a player on the server are ignored? In this particular case, it might help to limit the exposure to only the players on the server at the time (new players would be unaffected by the hack distribution) and that after a mission change, even the affected players common functions would be 'cleaned'. It would be additionally better if that common functions disable flag were inherited from the server by the client while the client is connected to the server. This of course would reduce the commands available to mission designers but at least it would be an additional option for admins to use that could protect their servers. This would place burden on the server admins to ensure that the missions they run are functional even with the reduced functionality but at least they have a choice.

[gpha5e 1]

Hmm...are the muzzle flash models/pics directly in or part of the weapon.p3d? Or is it possible to deactivate them with a simple config tweak?

EDIT: and btw BiS, the MX rifles feature the Smith Vortex Flash Hiders, which actually does an excellent job at HIDING the muzzle FLASH irl, especially in daylight... ;)

this, BI

[ScratcH1 10]

Flash Hiders are not in-game yet. They should come at a later point as accessory like the sound suppressor

[bad benson 1733]

ok here's a short test for anyone having doubts about the fog (next time use the editor and just test it :p)

as you can see the engagement range is way lower in the fog.