General Discussion (dev branch)

[Lbbde 28]

1 hour ago, DnA said:

Major changes to Arsenal are also not likely at this stage, but people like killzone_kid occasionally get a moment to address concrete bugs.

Could you give a brief overview of how complicated it is from a development perspective, that in the actual arsenal it is possible to open the inventory? So an overview of how much and what would have to be changed, how much work you would probably have to invest in etcetc. Would that already be a 'major change'?

 

I mention again that this feature would be VERY helpful if, like me, you have a lot of different loadouts for different units, classes, and roles.
A general question: is there already a mod or a tool for the precise management of loadouts? I have not come across anything that is really helpful to me.

 

And one more thing for the devs and the PR team: since the release I've always noticed that many people simply do not appreciate your work. I think that if you tell us in detail how much work you spend on certain things, fewer people would complain and it would be far better to trace what we as a community actually get from you on the silver tablet. Especially how much effort expansions / changes to the engine mean and of course how many people, how much work with all the trimmings in the completion of a single asset.

[joostsidy 685]

7 minutes ago, Lbbde said:

And one more thing for the devs and the PR team: since the release I've always noticed that many people simply do not appreciate your work. I think that if you tell us in detail how much work you spend on certain things, fewer people would complain

 

I don't agree with this, you will always have these people. IMO the biggest complaints are 'drive-by' complaints from people who don't visit the forums regularly and do not take the time to learn more about Arma's development. I can see how for some people game development is hard to understand but IMO there are two main reasons for that:

 

1. How big organisations work: with your hobbies you can say 'hey I feel like changing this today, just try it, etc.' If you work with other people in teams and you need a stable software platform, you need to go through different channels for even small changes. That's why BI cannot 'throw in an extra vehicle' in the final dev weeks of Contact for instance. Is it BI's job to explain this to us?

2. How game dev works: I create games as a hobby and a bit professionally. It is hard. This morning I could play Arma for an hour, but instead I worked on a tree. I have been working on trees for a couple of hours the last few days because some trees are hard to make and there are a 100 ways to create a 3D tree. It is hard to explain to game PLAYERS, how hard game DEVELOPMENT is. Even creating a modest mod for Arma (a retexture) can take many hours if you haven't done it before. IMO everyone should try to create a game or mod to appreciate how much effort it is (it is also fun! 🙂

 

Another important point: I think my boss and my team-mates are allowed to ask me in detail how much work I spend on certain things, for other people it is none of their business.

 

At the end of the day BI is not our friend 😢 that you can share everything with, it is a company. I think BI is doing a good job considering company transparency. If you pay attention, they regularly tell us what problems they are dealing with, respond to feedback, show their roadmaps, have little dev-interviews, film their offices etc.

 

[DnA 5139]

It's mostly just that Arma 3 is 6 years into its life. Thanks to the on-going support of the game from players, we've had a chance to actively support it far longer and with greater resources than was initially anticipated. This is great for everyone! Meanwhile the full-time development team is very much reduced as compared to years ago. On the platform-side we primarily focus on critical issues, things caused by new third-party software updates, multiplayer security, etc. In addition there are still Bohemian devs who occasionally jump in to work on an internal or external request. Then there's of course a team focused on finishing Arma 3 Contact, but that means they are busy with that most of all at the moment. We want to cater to as many as possible things, but less is feasible now (also since backward compatibility with the full game and mod library is increasingly challenging). After Contact's release, we will give some more insight into this 'Live Ops' state / team of Arma 3 in a future SITREP 🙂

[haleks 8212]

1 hour ago, joostsidy said:

 

At the end of the day BI is not our friend 😢 that you can share everything with, it is a company. I think BI is doing a good job considering company transparency. If you pay attention, they regularly tell us what problems they are dealing with, respond to feedback, show their roadmaps, have little dev-interviews, film their offices etc.

 

 

Absolutely agree.

 

I'm not a bulimic player, but from all the games/devs I engaged with, BIS is pretty much the only one to keep a constant and direct interaction with its player base. Several devs are rather familiar faces here on the forum, and some of them were from the forum community before working at BIS. That relationship between devs & modders is quite exceptional and, IMO, contributes to the vitality of Arma.

[Lbbde 28]

2 hours ago, joostsidy said:

 

I don't agree with this, you will always have these people. IMO the biggest complaints are 'drive-by' complaints from people who don't visit the forums regularly and do not take the time to learn more about Arma's development. I can see how for some people game development is hard to understand but IMO there are two main reasons for that:

 

1. How big organisations work: with your hobbies you can say 'hey I feel like changing this today, just try it, etc.' If you work with other people in teams and you need a stable software platform, you need to go through different channels for even small changes. That's why BI cannot 'throw in an extra vehicle' in the final dev weeks of Contact for instance. Is it BI's job to explain this to us?

2. How game dev works: I create games as a hobby and a bit professionally. It is hard. This morning I could play Arma for an hour, but instead I worked on a tree. I have been working on trees for a couple of hours the last few days because some trees are hard to make and there are a 100 ways to create a 3D tree. It is hard to explain to game PLAYERS, how hard game DEVELOPMENT is. Even creating a modest mod for Arma (a retexture) can take many hours if you haven't done it before. IMO everyone should try to create a game or mod to appreciate how much effort it is (it is also fun! 🙂

 

Another important point: I think my boss and my team-mates are allowed to ask me in detail how much work I spend on certain things, for other people it is none of their business.

 

At the end of the day BI is not our friend 😢 that you can share everything with, it is a company. I think BI is doing a good job considering company transparency. If you pay attention, they regularly tell us what problems they are dealing with, respond to feedback, show their roadmaps, have little dev-interviews, film their offices etc.

 

I hope I have not been misunderstood here. I did not want to complain.

I know how big and complicated big projects like ArmA 3 are. I've been in the software development field for five years and have now switched to the administration/management/human resources division. I know all the problems like: you have 99 small bugs, you fix one, you have 110 small bugs, or how annoying team management is sometimes.

I did not want to give the impression that the devs had to justify themselves how they spend their working time.
Unfortunately I see these people over and over again who simply do not appreciate the greatness of A3 and BIS and who are always complaining about it.
I think that's a pity, because to be honest, BIS is really one of the few companies that really cares about the players (in other words their customers).
Of course, most people in the forum know better, but otherwise many people just do not understand that A3 is not just a game but a platform.
As I've said before, I've never thought that the devs will show us their working time in detail, but rather a kind of documentary, or a making-of ArmA 3, which will vividly show what happens in the studio and how, for example, a new DLC is created. My intention is that you put the focus on showing how much work is actually in the smallest details, how long it takes and how much the effort is, until a new update for the players is ready and what areas of work (Coding, animation, graphics, etc.) are involved (maybe with a nice pie chart, people love pie charts 😮 ). An example would be a "Making of A3 Jets DLC and the Sensor Overhaul" Video Series.

I mean, it should of course be a bit more detailed than the usual updates. Just something like a 15 minute video only about it such. the new Promet rifle was created, from planning, concept, design to coding and fine tuning etc.

 

I have learned that the spoken word always weighs less than the written word. In other words, you can always tell people how great BIS and A3 are, they do not believe it until they see it.

 

Personally, I also have a professional interest in it. Unfortunately, I have no experience with major projects like A3 and will probably not come in the next few years. Although I have management and management courses, in my studies we are very focused on micro-management in the team structure (for something like small teams of ~ 5 people) and I would just like to get a glimpse of the actual work of such a complex team as at Bohemia Interactive.

[killzone_kid 1330]

On 6/16/2019 at 12:56 PM, Lbbde said:

Another bug report: you can not load loadouts in the arsenal where scopes are in the inventory. It only shows the error: "Loadout contains non-arsenal item *xxx*".

Should be fixed in 144514 ( data )

[R3vo 2654]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/BIS_fnc_setCustomSoundController

Any chance that at some point we will see a standardized function header layout?

 

 

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/BIS_fnc_3DENMissionStats

This function has no functionality, please remove it from game data if it's  not gonna be used.

[Dedmen 2695]

On 6/17/2019 at 11:17 AM, Lbbde said:

A general question: is there already a mod or a tool for the precise management of loadouts?

ACE Arsenal can do lots more stuff than Vanilla Arsenal.

Like weapon attachments in backpack and much more.

 

 

[Glow 181]

39 minutes ago, Dedmen said:

ACE Arsenal can do lots more stuff than Vanilla Arsenal.

Like weapon attachments in backpack and much more.

 

 

There was that good mod that allows you to use Arsenal on every character in Arma3, even from scenarios.

That was beautiful thing: Take a guy from squad, press a Ctrl+button, load Arsenal profile on that guy and you had all team ready in very short time. No need to give some orders - move there - pickup that - rearm...

 

I cant remember the name of that mod, but last time when I look at it, was obsolete anyway. I miss that mod a lot.

[POLPOX 778]

 

Maybe too late to discuss about this, but that's what I've, and probably we all've been annoyed glitchy-visual problem (I know this isn't even a glitch, but an intended behavior), so I just made a video.

Note this is a highly scripted and private MOD footage, and the suggestion is: how about to make handAnim config per muzzle (or something similar way), and some config like pullRightFinger = 0; pullLeftFinger = 1; to define what finger to pull trigger, or even a config like customTriggerAnim[] = {}; for a muzzle? No idea how complicated to modify this trigger finger and handAnim system though, is this possible to make this as engine-based solution?

Also I'd say if there's hand transit movement animation just like any gestures when switch between rifle and grenade launcher or any underslung weapon like the video below (third-party game PAYDAY 2 footage), I'll be happy. I couldn't implement into the video mentioned earlier. 

 

And animation for change firemode. (Also third-party game Insurgency footage)

 

[lex__1 422]

On 6/17/2019 at 12:17 PM, Lbbde said:

I mention again that this feature would be VERY helpful if, like me, you have a lot of different loadouts for different units, classes, and roles.
A general question: is there already a mod or a tool for the precise management of loadouts? I have not come across anything that is really helpful to me.

For example - On servers with CTI missions, they have long used various methods of creating and managing downloads for equipping a unit. I like the implementation in the beCTI mission from zerty, which has its own arsenal interface. Therefore, the kits created there are not editable in the Arma3 arsenal. EUTW or Liberation missions use the Arma3 arsenal interface. The methods implemented in the missions are more than I have listed. Everyone has advantages and disadvantages.

On 6/17/2019 at 12:17 PM, Lbbde said:

And one more thing for the devs and the PR team: since the release I've always noticed that many people simply do not appreciate your work. I think that if you tell us in detail how much work you spend on certain things, fewer people would complain and it would be far better to trace what we as a community actually get from you on the silver tablet. Especially how much effort expansions / changes to the engine mean and of course how many people, how much work with all the trimmings in the completion of a single asset. 

People will complain less if they do not know how much BIS spends on their work, but they will understand this in the price tag for the product, for the quality of the game and the quality of the technical support work.
Again I give an example of a CTI mission. CTI missions aim to maximize the use of all content and Arma3 functions. Maximum - this means that the player experiences all the existing flaws in the content of Arma3 throughout the game. That is, any existing problems or incorrectly working functions, or functions with limited interaction (do not fully reveal the interaction of the subject). Problems can be divided into any categories (for example - small, medium, large). Any division for the player does not matter, since any problems were reproduced in different situations throughout the game. No matter how much time a player has spent in the game, it is always a long line of small / medium / big problems.
Any division or prioritization was an expected response to tickets. But besides the reaction to the tickets, players expected corrections or information on the progress of corrections. Often, there is no information about the progress of fixes in tickets.
- Previously, it was like this - "wait, we will look at it."
- Now, this is so - "sorry, there are no specialists and there is no time for this, there are other tasks."
That is, it looks like - help grandma cross the road, escort her to the middle of the road.
Often on forums they write in bewilderment, as it so happened that Arma2 had fewer problems and complaints, and Arma3 has a high rate of complaints. Practically there is always a similar answer: “You don’t notice how much Arma3 differs from Arma2?”.
Yes, it is very noticeable, but it is not the answer to the lack of work to correct problems. If there are not enough specialists or working groups in this area, this should not be a problem for the players.
I understand what tasks BIS has now, and I appreciate their efforts.
But I really hope that in future development we will see a different approach in this part of the interaction.

[bars91 956]

37 minutes ago, lex__1 said:

...

If there are not enough specialists or working groups in this area, this should not be a problem for the players.

I understand what tasks BIS has now, and I appreciate their efforts.
But I really hope that in future development we will see a different approach in this part of the interaction.

 

This.

[goko-- 147]

apart from the in-game stuff, I have a question for c++ programmers.

last week I was doing some tests on tbb memory allocator, compiling with different options, testing etc.

while reading various docs on net about tbb and memory, I came across parallel STL: https://github.com/intel/parallelstl/releases/tag/20190321

via this article https://www.bfilipek.com/2018/11/pstl.html

 

is there a way to implement this on game's main loop without changing much of the source code so it can benefit from these techniques and get boost from it?

[POLPOX 778]

I'm sorry since it's just a question,

1 hour ago, reyhard said:

Known Issue: CBRN Specialists don't automatically show the correct hose / filter by script

Is this a problem related to CBRN Specialists or Combination Unit Respirator? I think it's really odd problem...  how it would be a thing? setObjectTexture for backpacks... which isn't possible for now?

[reyhard 2082]

12 minutes ago, POLPOX said:

setObjectTexture for backpacks

it was always possible to do setObjectTexture on backpacks 😉

 

Here are some extra features that you can use

Hose visibility controlled via 2-4 selection. Example:

Hose base (common part for both APR & Regulator mask)

 (backpackContainer player) setObjectTexture [1,""] // hide hose

 (backpackContainer player) setObjectTexture [1,"a3\supplies_f_enoch\bags\data\b_cur_01_co.paa"] // unhide hose

Command to unhide hoses for APR

 (backpackContainer player) setObjectTexture [2,""] // hide hose

 (backpackContainer player) setObjectTexture [2,"a3\supplies_f_enoch\bags\data\b_cur_01_co.paa"] // unhide hose

Command to unhide hoses for Regulator mask

 (backpackContainer player) setObjectTexture [3,""] // hide hose

 (backpackContainer player) setObjectTexture [3,"a3\supplies_f_enoch\bags\data\b_cur_01_co.paa"] // unhide hose

When a CUR is connected to a APR, you should hide the filter by switching to a special scope protected variant:

player linkItem "G_AirPurifyingRespirator_01_nofilter_F"; //NATO

Insignia controlled via 5th selection. Example:

(backpackContainer player) setObjectTexture [4,"\A3\ui_f\data\logos\bi_white_ca.paa"]

 

Some of those things will be handled via CBRN module automatically but if you are eager to try it then have fun with it 😷

[POLPOX 778]

2 minutes ago, reyhard said:

it was always possible to do setObjectTexture on backpacks 😉

Aww what?! I never knew that! Alright, that was a dumb question, thanks for the info anyways.

[x3kj 1247]

V 1.95.145769 -  There is a "faulty" config line in CfgVehicles/Heli_Attack_01_base_F/Sounds/SlingLoadUpEXT:

class SlingLoadUpExt
{
	sound[] = {"A3\Sounds_F\vehicles\air\noises\", 1.25893, 1, 500}; //<<-- Soundfile is not specified (note the code highlighting), its only a path 
	frequency = 1;
	volume = "camPos*(slingLoadActive factor [0,1])";
};

 

 

 

 

[danil-ch 165]

Quote

Added: 3 Russian radio protocols

It is a pity that out of the three voice actors only one has normal pronunciation. I was hoping that the new Russian protocols will be better than in A2, but it turned out to be worse. 😔

 

 

[lumnuon 295]

I was wondering if it would be possible to give the Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus ("B_SCBA_01_F") the ability to work underwater instead of it being completely cosmetic

it would give divers another choice in terms of rebreathers with the bonus of keeping the vest slot open for combat vests

[R3vo 2654]

@killzone_kid Could you take a look at BIS_fnc_3DENInterface; ? It has a few variables not set to private which has just caused a huge headache for me because I wasn't aware of that. Thanks in advance.

[Glow 181]

13 hours ago, lumnuon said:

I was wondering if it would be possible to give the Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus ("B_SCBA_01_F") the ability to work underwater instead of it being completely cosmetic

it would give divers another choice in terms of rebreathers with the bonus of keeping the vest slot open for combat vests

I hope we will get official functionality for all those things. Places with poisonous gases or similar danger that you can place in Eden Editor with triggers and animations.

Something similar to this what Alias done:

 

[ISparkle 49]

1 hour ago, Glow said:

I hope we will get official functionality for all those things. Places with poisonous gases or similar danger that you can place in Eden Editor with triggers and animations.

Something similar to this what Alias done:

 

I am hoping for the implemented functionality to CBRN and APR really as well. But why do I get the feeling it won't be the case lol.

[lexx 1363]

Because vanilla A3 has no use for them? There are no gas grenades or other chemical weapons, thus there is no need for any "native functionality" - besides, a semi-skilled scripter can make his own thing in less than 5 minutes.

[lex__1 422]

On 6/17/2019 at 1:27 PM, DnA said:

It's mostly just that Arma 3 is 6 years into its life. Thanks to the on-going support of the game from players, we've had a chance to actively support it far longer and with greater resources than was initially anticipated. This is great for everyone! Meanwhile the full-time development team is very much reduced as compared to years ago. On the platform-side we primarily focus on critical issues, things caused by new third-party software updates, multiplayer security, etc. In addition there are still Bohemian devs who occasionally jump in to work on an internal or external request. Then there's of course a team focused on finishing Arma 3 Contact, but that means they are busy with that most of all at the moment. We want to cater to as many as possible things, but less is feasible now (also since backward compatibility with the full game and mod library is increasingly challenging). After Contact's release, we will give some more insight into this 'Live Ops' state / team of Arma 3 in a future SITREP 🙂

Any plans to fix these tickets?

https://feedback.bistudio.com/T127310#1856599

https://feedback.bistudio.com/T127626

The tank commander is experiencing some inconvenience in the management and interaction with the crew. This leads to the need to perform unnecessary actions and distract from the gameplay. The confusion of actions and problems in these two tickets, breaks the normal control of the combat vehicle and crew.

[ISparkle 49]

1 minute ago, lexx said:

Because vanilla A3 has no use for them? There are no gas grenades or other chemical weapons, thus there is no need for any "native functionality" - besides, a semi-skilled scripter can make his own thing in less than 5 minutes.

Well, I guess that is true. But it would be cool to have the vanilla functionality to them so we can bring some alien scenarios to other maps without having to wait for or bother the said semi-skilled scripter to implement alien features in small missions for myself and friends.