TPW MODS: enhanced realism and immersion for Arma 3 SP.

[tpw 2315]

Hi tpw,

first of all - thanks a million for doing a great job.

I used your combined mod and i´m out of words...the whole package works as it should and i got a feeling, too be involved in a real battle.

Lively air, ambient life, soldiers searching cover, moving with caution, the embedded radio-chatter arranged a special atmosphere etc.

to be continued....:)

Great job and thanks again - you made my day.

Cheers

McLupo

Gday McLupo, nice to hear from you again!

I'm glad you like the package, and thanks for the kind words as usual!

[Moon_chilD 200]

I have two questions:

1. Can the Mod Version be used on a Dedicated Server? (Probably have been answered but I'm to stupid to find it)

2. Does everybody in the Clan need the Mods? Or is it enough if the Server has this Mod running?

Anyway, I used this Mod alot before and I just want to say: Awesome work. You does what BI don't!

Thanks alot!

Many Greetings

Moony

[serjames 357]

Not supported for MP use. Sometimes it works, some features cause issues.

Good luck

SJ

[L3TUC3 32]

1. Can the Mod Version be used on a Dedicated Server? (Probably have been answered but I'm to stupid to find it)y

Just to save tpw the trouble as he probably won't answer you since this has been mentioned before. A lot.

As stated in the title, these are single player mods. They might or might not work in MP client, and will definitely not work on a server.

You're not stupid, just missed the part in the OP where it answers your questions. I bolded and enlarged relevant information so you won't miss it.

[Moon_chilD 200]

Mhhh still don't get it. xD No, thanks. I probably just over read it.

It's too bad. I would love to use it. >.< But still, great work!

[abdecken 1]

Is it possible to get the correct Asian civilians for the Zargabad and Takistan? I am not sure if the config file has them in it but you can selected Men (Asian) under civilians in the editor.

[tpw 2315]

Is it possible to get the correct Asian civilians for the Zargabad and Takistan? I am not sure if the config file has them in it but you can selected Men (Asian) under civilians in the editor.

Yeah I'm thinking about switching civilian types based on worldname. Refresh my memory, are Asian civilians East Asian in appearance or Central Asian (more appropriate for Takistan etc)?

[abdecken 1]

Yeah I'm thinking about switching civilian types based on worldname. Refresh my memory, are Asian civilians East Asian in appearance or Central Asian (more appropriate for Takistan etc)?

They are East Asian in appearance (NOT really appropriate for Takistan). Shame the are Middle Eastern faces (for OPFOR) but no Middle Eastern civilians in the configfile :(

All I can find is Faces for setIdentity

PersianHead_A3_01

PersianHead_A3_02

PersianHead_A3_03

Edited February 8, 2014 by abdecken

[tpw 2315]

They are East Asian in appearance (NOT really appropriate for Takistan). Shame the are Middle Eastern faces (for OPFOR) but no Middle Eastern civilians in the configfile :(

All I can find is Faces for setIdentity

PersianHead_A3_01

PersianHead_A3_02

PersianHead_A3_03

I'm holding my breath for Ohally to release middle east civilians with an update of his Aggressors mod.

[Rydygier 1304]

Lately I put together for myself some script pieces into kind of free roam mission, that should work nicely with mods, including this. Had no much time to play it yet, but during tests noticed one or two things, that perhaps could be improved somehow. It is about ambient road traffic component. With same userconfig this traffic may look reasonably or not, dependant on the place. Three cars around in well urbanized area will look like very low traffic. But if you are in the wilderness with only one road around, traffic generated by these three cars becomes suspiciously dense, just because it is wilderness with single, maybe even dead end road, so all the cars are spawned all the time on that road. In the effect all the time someone is driving on this road somewhere, while nearly no traffic is expected in such area. Perhaps would be possible to adjust dynamically amount of cars/pauses between spawns depending on area "urbanization" level? Not sure, which way could be optimal, counting road segments or buildings around may prove to be too heavy, so perhaps distance from nearest town location?

Noted also, that probably ambient radio chatter interrupts played currently music tracks (not sure about that, can be false alarm, I thought, such 3D positioned sounds are from CfgSounds, not CfgMusic, but few times radio chatter seemed to interrupt track played by my jukebox)?

Thanks a lot for the great addon. I am a fan of your work invariably. :)

Edited February 9, 2014 by Rydygier

[tpw 2315]

Lately I put together for myself some script pieces into kind of free roam mission, that should work nicely with mods, including this. Had no much time to play it yet, but during tests noticed one or two things, that perhaps could be improved somehow. It is about ambient road traffic component. With same userconfig this traffic may look reasonably or not, dependant on the place. Three cars around in well urbanized area will look like very low traffic. But if you are in the wilderness with only one road around, traffic generated by these three cars becomes suspiciously dense, just because it is wilderness with single, maybe even dead end road, so all the cars are spawned all the time on that road. In the effect all the time someone is driving on this road somewhere, while nearly no traffic is expected in such area. Perhaps would be possible to adjust dynamically amount of cars/pauses between spawns depending on area "urbanization" level? Not sure, which way could be optimal, counting road segments or buildings around may prove to be too heavy, so perhaps distance from nearest town location?

Noted also, that probably ambient radio chatter interrupts played currently music tracks (not sure about that, can be false alarm, I thought, such 3D positioned sounds are from CfgSounds, not CfgMusic, but few times radio chatter seemed to interrupt track played by my jukebox)?

Thanks a lot for the great addon. I am a fan of your work invariably. :)

Gday Rydygier

Thanks for the comments. You are absolutely right about the ambient traffic, I will attend to that ASAP. To be honest, AI are such shit drivers that I often designate large areas of a map to not spawn them.

Ambient radio chatter will interrupt your background music only if you are in a vehicle. I can't for the life of me get the chatter to attach itself to a moving vehicle, so I play it as music instead.

[Rydygier 1304]

I can't for the life of me get the chatter to attach itself to a moving vehicle, so I play it as music instead.

Yeah, checked in the config, seems, that indeed these are under CfgMusic (in CfgSounds only three I see). I wonder, if could be possible to define same sound files also under CfgSounds, so you could use say3D if for any reason wan't work with playSound3D.

To be honest, AI are such shit drivers

:)

[tpw 2315]

Yeah, checked in the config, seems, that indeed these are under CfgMusic (in CfgSounds only three I see). I wonder, if could be possible to define same sound files also under CfgSounds, so you could use say3D if for any reason wan't work with playSound3D.

I tried all this kind of thing, could never make it work. You're more than welcome to try!

---------- Post added at 20:42 ---------- Previous post was at 18:58 ----------

TPW MODS 20140210: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/481663/TPW_MODS_20140210.zip

Changes:

[bOATS 1.20, CARS 1.27] Added delay between spawning new vehicles, prevents constant traffic past player.

[Rydygier 1304]

You're more than welcome to try!

So I tried. playSound3D works, but sound does not follow the source, stays behind (also do not know, what isInside flag does). Odd. Not sure, if bug, or inteded that way, not sure why you can set there object AND position. Commands like say or say3d need sound defined in addon or description.ext, and I do not know way to reference in description.ext file out of mission folder, but stored in addon. If there is such way - could be used to define sound under cfgSounds in description.ext, I used regular addon way and did same thing in config.cpp:

class CfgPatches
{
class Radio_test
{
units[] = {};
weapons[] = {};
requiredVersion = 1.0;
requiredAddons[] = {};
};
};

class CfgSounds
{
class chatter1
{
name = "Chatter1";
sound[] = {"A3\Sounds_F\sfx\radio\ambient_radio10.wss",10,1,30,1,0,0,0};
titles[] = {};
};
};

RadioTest addon

In the sound[] line I know only, what first three number do (decibels, pitch, fade distance), rest I do not remember and was just copied from other sound defined in game.

This works. Now sound "chatter1" can be used with commands like say3D with static or moving sources. Problem, I couldn't solve is fact, sound always is quieter, when you get in the vehicle, always is assumed, source is outside. Would be nice to have an option to switch that assumption for "sound-from-the-inside-of-the-source", where become louder, when player get in and quiter when disembark.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Rydygier

[tpw 2315]

So I tried. playSound3D works, but sound does not follow the source, stays behind (also do not know, what isInside flag does). Odd. Not sure, if bug, or inteded that way, not sure why you can set there object AND position. Commands like say or say3d need sound defined in addon or description.ext, and I do not know way to reference in description.ext file out of mission folder, but stored in addon. If there is such way - could be used to define sound under cfgSounds in description.ext, I used regular addon way and did same thing in config.cpp:

class CfgPatches
{
class Radio_test
{
units[] = {};
weapons[] = {};
requiredVersion = 1.0;
requiredAddons[] = {};
};
};

class CfgSounds
{
class chatter1
{
name = "Chatter1";
sound[] = {"A3\Sounds_F\sfx\radio\ambient_radio10.wss",10,1,30,1,0,0,0};
titles[] = {};
};
};

RadioTest addon

In the sound[] line I know only, what first three number do (decibels, pitch, fade distance), rest I do not remember and was just copied from other sound defined in game.

This works. Now sound "chatter1" can be used with commands like say3D with static or moving sources. Problem, I couldn't solve is fact, sound always is quieter, when you get in the vehicle, always is assumed, source is outside. Would be nice to have an option to switch that assumption for "sound-from-the-inside-of-the-source", where become louder, when player get in and quiter when disembark.

Thanks mate, that's been very helpful indeed. I'll have a go at porting all the chatter over as cfgsounds. Since these sounds will only play using say3d when the player is inide a vehicle, I can just set their volume to be louder.

[Rydygier 1304]

Since these sounds will only play using say3d when the player is inide a vehicle, I can just set their volume to be louder.

Yes, but player can disembark during playing the sound. Effect may be... stunning then. :)

And regarding to this:

tpw_car_time = time + random 120;

how about:

_dst = 3000;
_nCity = nearestLocations [(position player), ["NameCityCapital","NameCity"],_dst];

if ((count _nCity) > 0) then
{
_cPos = position (_nCity select 0);
_cPos set [2,0];
_dst = player distance _cPos;
};

tpw_car_time = time + random (60 + (_dst/10));

That will make traffic lower in less urbanized parts of the island and vice versa.

Edited February 10, 2014 by Rydygier

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TPW MODS v20140210



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[tpw 2315]

Yes, but player can disembark during playing the sound. Effect may be... stunning then. :)

And regarding to this:

tpw_car_time = time + random 120;

how about:

_dst = 3000;
_nCity = nearestLocations [(position player), ["NameCityCapital","NameCity"],_dst];

if ((count _nCity) > 0) then
{
_cPos = position (_nCity select 0);
_cPos set [2,0];
_dst = player distance _cPos;
};

tpw_car_time = time + random (60 + (_dst/10));

That will make traffic lower in less urbanized parts of the island and vice versa.

Thanks again for the input Ryd. I'll give that nice little code snippet a test drive (pun intended). Even with the simple tpw_car_time = time + random 120; the constant traffic is greatly alleviated, but this will help finesse it.

[koschy8 10]

Assigning TPW MODS to different parts of a map

The following variables can be used to activate/inactivate the various TPW MODS ambient life behaviours whilst the game is running:

tpw_animal_active = true/false

tpw_car_active = true/false

tpw_civ_active = true/false

tpw_houselights_active = true/false

tpw_park_active = true/false

tpw_radio_active = true/false

For example, setting tpw_animal_active=false in the debug shell will prevent new animals from spawning (but won't remove existing animals). This behaviour can be automated using triggers. Let's say you want to exclude all ambient life stuff from a 5km x 5km northeast corner of Altis. In the editor create a rectangular 5000x5000 trigger (but of course it can be any shape, size and angle you require), place it over the appropriate northeast area of the map, and set it thusly:

I set up a trigger as described to disable the dynamic elements, but civilian AI cars, boats, etc. still continue to spawn when I'm within the trigger area. Do I have to use the scripts within the mission for this to work, or should it also work when running them as a general mod?

And a second question, when I use the scripts in a mission, do the individual scripts still get their parameters from the userconfig file?

[Rydygier 1304]

Perhaps one idea more (unless such is implemented already) - good chance for many loudly barking dogs (number dependent on amount of buildings nearby) at intense noise like shooting, booms (for these and at hits maybe also chance for triggering autoalarms in parked cars)...

[tpw 2315]

I set up a trigger as described to disable the dynamic elements, but civilian AI cars, boats, etc. still continue to spawn when I'm within the trigger area. Do I have to use the scripts within the mission for this to work, or should it also work when running them as a general mod?

And a second question, when I use the scripts in a mission, do the individual scripts still get their parameters from the userconfig file?

Hmm, the whole trigger thing definitely works for me. Does your mission start with you inside the trigger? That might cause an issue.

Perhaps one idea more (unless such is implemented already) - good chance for many loudly barking dogs (number dependent on amount of buildings nearby) at intense noise like shooting, booms (for these and at hits maybe also chance for triggering autoalarms in parked cars)...

That's a bloody good idea Ryd, and I will definitely look into it. On a similar topic, I've had absolutely no success using say3d (or any other bloody command) to play sounds inside moving vehicles.

[Rydygier 1304]

On a similar topic, I've had absolutely no success using say3d (or any other bloody command) to play sounds inside moving vehicles.

Hm. Indeed. Prepared such test working with radiotest addon linked earlier:

Test

Something strange is happening. If you are on foot guy - all is OK. When car passes, you hear sound in 3D. If you are driver and you enter trigger with external view - all is OK too. But try to enter the trigger from inside view (and later change view and back) - something is wrong. Perhaps like sound source stays behind? Not sure.

[koschy8 10]

Hmm, the whole trigger thing definitely works for me. Does your mission start with you inside the trigger? That might cause an issue.

That's indeed the case. Hmm, any ideas how I could work around this? Sadly it's not really a practical option for me to move the spawn location outside the trigger.

[tpw 2315]

That's indeed the case. Hmm, any ideas how I could work around this? Sadly it's not really a practical option for me to move the spawn location outside the trigger.

Hi mate, I looked into it a bit more, and the fix is simple. If you want to start with the player inside a trigger which is deactivating any tpw mods, then you'll need to put this in the condition field:

vehicle player in thislist && time > 10

This allows the mods time to actually initialise before you inactivate them.

Secondly, make sure you put

vehicle player in thislist

in the condition field of any other triggers, otherwise they won't activate if you are in vehicles.

[koschy8 10]

Hi mate, I looked into it a bit more, and the fix is simple. If you want to start with the player inside a trigger which is deactivating any tpw mods, then you'll need to put this in the condition field:

vehicle player in thislist && time > 10

This allows the mods time to actually initialise before you inactivate them.

Awesome, thanks for your help! Very much appreciated. :notworthy:

Secondly, make sure you put

vehicle player in thislist

in the condition field of any other triggers, otherwise they won't activate if you are in vehicles.

Yep, already did that. :)

Edit:

Just tested it, and it worked ... except for one car that seemed to have spawned immediately. Which got me wondering, because I called all applicable scripts with a 30 seconds start delay in the init.sqf. Took another look at the scripts and realised that because I'm using them in an MP mission, the start parameters from the init were being overridden by the default values within the scripts themselves - and the default startup delay for the car script is 5 seconds. Mystery solved. :)

For now I've just commented the part of each script where it assigns the multiplayer defaults, so that it won't override the values from my init. But I'm wondering, is there a specific reason why you made the scripts always use default values for multiplayer?

Edited February 22, 2014 by koschy8