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

[tpw 2311]

TPW MODS 20140410: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/481663/TPW_MODS_20140410.zip

Changes:

[ALL] Moduload exempt -Thanks again to LowFlyZone

[LowFlyZone 10]

I ran a test by running tpw_mods\init.sqf from the debug console many times over, and indeed all the mods are executing on top of one another as is expected. Only a problem when the init.sqf is run again which only ever happens by moduload.

[sonsalt6 105]

update available at withSIX. Download now by clicking:

[champ-1 40]

Last time I used TPW park, car despawned when I was inside. So I think it should perform some sort of check if any players nearby before deleting vehicles.

Otherwise if one player spawns car and other player takes it, as soon as he drives far enough from "owner" car disapear.

Good pack though, I learned alot from your well commented code, TPW.

Keep up the good work.

Edit: Oh sorry, I didn't realise this pack for SP only.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Champ-1

[Spectr3 14]

Hey there TPW,

Just wanted to say thanks for the epic work. The last time I posted was with regards to certain vehicles only spawning at certain times of the day...boy oh boy did you do a great job of implementing that, so theeeeen.....

I was recently doing a search for a script that deletes dead bodies/vehicles in Arma 3, found several, ALL turned out to effectively use the same code, except ONE which was different in that it not only deleted the relevant stuff after a set period of time, but ALSO checked how far away you are, albeit this feature is initially off and has to be set via the sqf. However, once I started using the "distance from" feature, the timer until any object is deleted became largely irrelevant because I was too far away to see it anyway...which in turn led me to wonder if you could implement something similar.

To be clear, can you implement a feature where dead bodies and vehicles are deleted once the player is a certain distance from the dead object, making the distance etc. definable (including the entire feature can be disabled as per all TPW modules) .

The original code was found here and might over far more insight into this powerful script: http://www.thebutcherbay.org/showthread.php?tid=63

I find that unless the mission consists of no more than some "attack the tiny village with your tiny squad who has no support(that isn't spawned in)" the deleting of dead units is almost compulsory for mission makers. With todays release of ZEUS it remains to be seen if this stays true, but since I mainly focus on single player, I was just wondering, anyway....cheers and kind regards

[tpw 2311]

Hey there TPW,

Just wanted to say thanks for the epic work. The last time I posted was with regards to certain vehicles only spawning at certain times of the day...boy oh boy did you do a great job of implementing that, so theeeeen.....

I was recently doing a search for a script that deletes dead bodies/vehicles in Arma 3, found several, ALL turned out to effectively use the same code, except ONE which was different in that it not only deleted the relevant stuff after a set period of time, but ALSO checked how far away you are, albeit this feature is initially off and has to be set via the sqf. However, once I started using the "distance from" feature, the timer until any object is deleted became largely irrelevant because I was too far away to see it anyway...which in turn led me to wonder if you could implement something similar.

To be clear, can you implement a feature where dead bodies and vehicles are deleted once the player is a certain distance from the dead object, making the distance etc. definable (including the entire feature can be disabled as per all TPW modules) .

The original code was found here and might over far more insight into this powerful script: http://www.thebutcherbay.org/showthread.php?tid=63

I find that unless the mission consists of no more than some "attack the tiny village with your tiny squad who has no support(that isn't spawned in)" the deleting of dead units is almost compulsory for mission makers. With todays release of ZEUS it remains to be seen if this stays true, but since I mainly focus on single player, I was just wondering, anyway....cheers and kind regards

Hi Lost_Samurai

Firstly, thanks for the kind words. Secondly, I'm not sure what you're after is deserving of a full blown mod, since it's only a couple of lines of code:

_removedistance = 500; // dead people and vehicles will be removed beyond this distance
while {true} do
{
	{
	if (_x distance player > _removedistance) then 
		{
		deletevehicle _x;
		};	
	} foreach alldead;
sleep 10;	
};

Let me know if this works how you want it.

[Spectr3 14]

I meant whether you'll consider including this into the TPW mods alongside the cars, fog, air etc. I meant to say that it may well not be an immersion orientated addition, but since most missions require some degree of cleanup, I thought that having it as a permanent and easily configurable part of your "TPW mods" compilation might be nice. I meant to say that you would take the "couple of lines of code" and permanently make it so the mission makers can simply define a few values in the TPW_MODS.hpp(like turning it on\off, setting the distance, maybe even including the "included and excluded" array from the link I send you) and thereby have a permanent feature that takes care of deleting dead stuff in the distance. Sounds nice to me anyway. Your mods add a lot to immersion and since dead object makes FPS take a nose dive after a while which in turn RUINS immersion, I would argue that adding this feature can also be considered an immersion enhancer.

Was just a thought anyway, I'll gladly continue adding it via scripting as usual, I merely thought mission makers might enjoy an permanent "deletion of dead objects" feature.

No worries mate :)

Edited April 11, 2014 by Lost_Samurai

[tpw 2311]

I meant whether you'll consider including this into the TPW mods alongside the cars, fog, air etc. I meant to say that it may well not be an immersion orientated addition, but since most missions require some degree of cleanup, I thought that having it as a permanent and easily configurable part of your "TPW mods" compilation might be nice. I meant to say that you would take the "couple of lines of code" and permanently make it so the mission makers can simply define a few values in the TPW_MODS.hpp(like turning it on\off, setting the distance, maybe even including the "included and excluded" array from the link I send you) and thereby have a permanent feature that takes care of deleting dead stuff in the distance. Sounds nice to me anyway. Your mods add a lot to immersion and since dead object makes FPS take a nose dive after a while which in turn RUINS immersion, I would argue that adding this feature can also be considered an immersion enhancer.

Was just a thought anyway, I'll gladly continue adding it via scripting as usual, I merely thought mission makers might enjoy an permanent "deletion of dead objects" feature.

No worries mate :)

Ah I get what you're on about now! You have a good point, so I'll look into adding it shortly.

[silverwave 11]

Need to be careful though because you don't want the automatic delete dead entities script to take more CPU time than what CPU load it takes to keep the dead entities in the first place.

This kind of script is only seamless if it happens far away from the player (otherwise you see the dead popping out of existence) and far away means a larger area, which could take more CPU time to execute overall (because 99% of the time, they'll be nothing to delete, so it's kind of running for no reason 99% of the time).

It's a nice idea though!

[Variable 322]

Playing as CSAT, just picked up "Tactical Shades" from a fallen NATO soldier, no HUD. Definitely running it, just double checked the user config (FOG is on as well).

Am I doing something wrong?

[tpw 2311]

Playing as CSAT, just picked up "Tactical Shades" from a fallen NATO soldier, no HUD. Definitely running it, just double checked the user config (FOG is on as well).

Am I doing something wrong?

Not playing in 3rd person by any chance?

I'll look into it, there's no code for the HUD to be BLUFOR specific

---------- Post added at 07:36 ---------- Previous post was at 07:27 ----------

Need to be careful though because you don't want the automatic delete dead entities script to take more CPU time than what CPU load it takes to keep the dead entities in the first place.

This kind of script is only seamless if it happens far away from the player (otherwise you see the dead popping out of existence) and far away means a larger area, which could take more CPU time to execute overall (because 99% of the time, they'll be nothing to delete, so it's kind of running for no reason 99% of the time).

It's a nice idea though!

The CPU load from running a distance check foreach alldead every 10 sec or so is negligible. The dead stuff is already in an array, it doesn't need to be scanned into one using nearentites or similar (which get heavier as the scan radius increases).

[gliptal 25]

Sorry this is taking time, damn real life getting in the way: a couple new of screens of the TPW Config I'm working on.

I decided to completely leave alone put() UI functions and just resorted to using the default OS look and feel (W8 in the screens). Would have preferred a personally built look and feel, but checkboxes required icons and thus I boarded the nope train to fuckthatville.

You can download the .java from my github repo ("Download ZIP" on the right pane), it's inside the "/executable" folder. Check the "/sources" folder if you want to have a laugh at how the program is coded.

Remember this is just the skeleton (2 mods out of 16 done for now), so changing the values will do nothing. I still need to dive in Java I/O (aka worst thing ever).

Yay!

[Iceman_TF_Timberwolf 12]

Oh, but you can! It's an interesting fun multiplier, especially when everybody else has no idea what's going on. Random dog attacks, civilian AI passing through on ATVs during a firefight, it really does change the way multiplayer is played.

We tried to use it on Zargabad and there was a ton of music playing at once. Even after we edited the config to turn off the music. No idea.

[Variable 322]

Not playing in 3rd person by any chance?

I'll look into it, there's no code for the HUD to be BLUFOR specific

No, I got 3rd disabled. Don't know if it has something to do with it, but I'm playing on regular difficulty with the following HUD related settings disabled:

Friendly tag

Enemy tag

Permanent extended HUD info

HUD waypoints info

HUD waypoints info permanently

HUD show group

Allow full HUD info

[13islucky 10]

We tried to use it on Zargabad and there was a ton of music playing at once. Even after we edited the config to turn off the music. No idea.

Eh, yeah. The amount of flybys, animals and the sounds tend to stack when more than one person is using it. It's usually best when one person has it (and even better when they don't tell anyone that they do).

[tpw 2311]

TPW MODS 20140412: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/481663/TPW_MODS_20140412.zip

Changes:

[AIR 1.25] Will spawn any aircraft, regardless of mods (thanks to Larrow for class based aircraft detection code).

[HUD 1.04] Structured text in HUD elements for improved aesthetics. HUD displays un-named map placed markers.

Please update your /userconfig/tpw_mods/tpw_mods.hpp

Firstly, many thanks to braveblades for contacting me with some HUD layout ideas which form the inspiration for the layout overhaul. By default the HUD will now sit bottom right, and has an improved look courtesy of structured text. After much experimentation I've changed the default colour scheme too. As always, if you don't like it then you can configure it until you do. Please be aware that your TPW_MODS.hpp will need to be updated.

Secondly, thanks to Larrow for some very nice config based aircraft class detection which now enables TPW AIR to use any aircraft you have, no matter what mods you have installed. I'll probably expand on this idea for other CIV stuff in the future.

@Variable, I've played through as CSAT and the HUD appears for me. The in game HUD settings have no bearing on TPW HUD. I'll keep looking for you.

[Guest]

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TPW MODS v20140412



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[Rydygier 1302]

New HUD design is step in right direction for sure :) . Only note about marking in 3D all not named markers - in some missions there may be lots of such markers, not supposed to be visible in 3D (too many, too messy, not needed, whatever...), so perhaps this should be rather only for markers with names eg starting with special symbol(s) (and optionally display also that name excluding these symbols)? And/or with limited range? And/or displaying markers should be switchable (at init/in game)? Perhaps also color of 3D mark could correspond with map marker color? Side problem is, I do not know way to remove once placed marker in game while sometimes I may want to mark something in 3D only temporary.

Also some note about FOG component. In one scenario I have set custom ground fog, that is at init and gradually disappears in the first half of hour. I don't want, it is changed. Yet, I tried to play with enabled FOG for heathaze. But, despite rest of features I disabled (snowing, breath fog, ground fog, rain fog), my custom ground fog is apparently under some unwanted fast changes from the start (eg disappears in the first minute) - observed always and only if I'm trying to use FOG with mentioned config.

[tpw 2311]

New HUD design is step in right direction for sure :) . Only note about marking in 3D all not named markers - in some missions there may be lots of such markers, not supposed to be visible in 3D (too many, too messy, not needed, whatever...), so perhaps this should be rather only for markers with names eg starting with special symbol(s) (and optionally display also that name excluding these symbols)? And/or with limited range? And/or displaying markers should be switchable (at init/in game)? Perhaps also color of 3D mark could correspond with map marker color? Side problem is, I do not know way to remove once placed marker in game while sometimes I may want to mark something in 3D only temporary.

Also some note about FOG component. In one scenario I have set custom ground fog, that is at init and gradually disappears in the first half of hour. I don't want, it is changed. Yet, I tried to play with enabled FOG for heathaze. But, despite rest of features I disabled (snowing, breath fog, ground fog, rain fog), my custom ground fog is apparently under some unwanted fast changes from the start (eg disappears in the first minute) - observed always and only if I'm trying to use FOG with mentioned config.

The HUD only shows the unnamed markers that you get on a map by double clicking (markertype = "hd_objective"). Any other unnamed markers are ignored. I've yet to see a mission spawn any unnamed markers of this type. Map placed markers are removed by holding the mouse over them and pressing delete.

I've found the ground fog problem, will release a fix shortly.

Edited April 12, 2014 by tpw

[Rydygier 1302]

markers are removed by holding the mouse over them and pressing delete.

I just knew, there must be a way. :)

As for markers, I'm reffering to my own Pilgrimage mission, where may be placed by code exactly hd_objective type markers and there may be even above 200 such markers on map in extreme case.

I've found the ground fog problem, will release a fix shortly.

Great. Thanks for all great work. :)

[teoleo 2]

yeahhh!!!

Edited April 12, 2014 by teoleo

[Variable 322]

There are some mission makers that use dots markers to present routes, like convoy routes. Will all these dots show in such case?

[tpw 2311]

There are some mission makers that use dots markers to present routes, like convoy routes. Will all these dots show in such case?

No. Only the "hd_objective" markers with no names. The more I think about it, Ryd's suggestion of only tracking markers named (for egotistical instance) tpw_blahblah, and then showing them on the HUD as balhblah is a good idea.

[gliptal 25]

What changed in the latest .hpp exactly?

Yay!

[tpw 2311]

What changed in the latest .hpp exactly?

Yay!

I've changed the default colours, and default layout. More importantly, the HUD text is now configured such that 1 = text size 0.03 (due to using structured text). Previously the text size was defined directly (0.03 = 0.03 size text). So if you use the old HPP with the new TPW HUD, your HUD text will be microscopic.