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

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Your set up is fine, but it might be a bug in TPW CIVS caused by recent ArmA III updates, I for once remember the civs spawned quite rapidly to populate an area. I remember @chick having a similar problem with very slow spawning civs lately.

You can try editing the module's code if you want, or otherwise just wait for tpw to get back from his holidays.

Yay!

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Hmmm, ok. I was aware you could set a delay before the civ spawn starts (tpw_civ_delay), but the delay while the civs are spawning seems a bit too long. A small town would take nearly 10 minutes to populate - so when you arrive it's a ghost town, and while you're moving through you'll gradually notice an odd increase in civs that appear out of nowhere (literally), then when you leave it's somehow a fully populated town. It's a little bit of an immersion breaker tbh. Am I doing something wrong or should I just edit the script's delay manually?

I think the civs spawn inside the houses so you have to wait for them to come out before you see them. If everything spawned all at once then it leads to spikes in resource demand and the game lags. Also if there are a lot of things all happening in the mission/other mods at the same time, scripts may run slowly and take longer to execute. It happens sometimes with missions where the AI is cached and re-spawned as you enter an area.

The town may be quiet when you get there, but if you spend time there it will be like a graveyard when you leave, when TPW CARS knock down and kill the TPW CIVS. The roads are littered with hit and run victims.

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@alky_lee Thanks for your reply.

I have debug mode turned on for tpw_civs so I can see exactly how many civs have spawned. As I mentioned in my previous post - the civ count starts at 1, and will gradually increase by 1 every 10 seconds or so. I'm aware of spawn scripts that like to stagger spawns in order to not cause sudden resource spikes, but they do not usually take as long as this.

As Gliptal said, it may be a bug due to the latest version of Arma (it seems that someone else is also having the same issue).

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Hi everyone

Sorry for the long absence, I'm back from holiday mode (sort of) refreshed and will get back onto TPW MODS.

Civs are spawning just fine as far as I can tell. I always run a small diagnostic script which will display various TPW MODS stuff on the map:

//MARKERS

_civmarkerarray = [];
_carmarkerarray = [];
_parkmarkerarray = [];
_boatmarkerarray = [];
_animalmarkerarray = [];
_housemarkerarray = [];
_airmarkerarray = [];
_bluformenmarkerarray = [];
_opformenmarkerarray = [];
_bluforcarmarkerarray = [];
_opforcarmarkerarray = [];
_houselightmarkerarray = [];

while {true} do
{
if (visiblemap) then
	{

	// Combatants
	_allmen = (position player) nearEntities ["camanbase", 5000];
	_allcars= (position player) nearEntities ["car", 5000];
	_bluformenarray = [];
	_bluforcararray = [];
	_opformenarray = [];
	_opforcararray = [];
		{
		if (alive _x) then
			{
			if (side _x == WEST) then
				{
				_bluformenarray set [count _bluformenarray, _x]
				};
			if (side _x == EAST) then
				{
				_opformenarray set [count _opformenarray, _x]
				};
			};	
		} foreach _allmen;

		{
		if (alive _x) then
			{
			if (side _x == WEST) then
				{
				_bluforcararray set [count _bluforcararray, _x]
				};
			if (side _x == EAST) then
				{
				_opforcararray set [count _opforcararray, _x]
				};
			};	
		} foreach _allcars;	

	{deletemarker _x} foreach _opformenmarkerarray;
	_opmanct = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["opman%1",_opmanct];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_dot";
		_name setmarkercolor "colororange";
		_name setmarkersize [0.75,0.75];

		_opformenmarkerarray set [count _opformenmarkerarray, _name];
		_opmanct = _opmanct + 1;
		} foreach _opformenarray;	

	{deletemarker _x} foreach _bluformenmarkerarray;
	_blumanct = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["bluman%1",_blumanct];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_dot";
		_name setmarkercolor "colorblue";
		_name setmarkersize [0.75,0.75];

		_bluformenmarkerarray set [count _bluformenmarkerarray, _name];
		_blumanct = _blumanct + 1;
		} foreach _bluformenarray;

	{deletemarker _x} foreach _bluforcarmarkerarray;
	_blucarct = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["blucar%1",_blucarct];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_triangle";
		_name setmarkercolor "colorblue";
		_name setmarkersize [0.5,0.5];

		_bluforcarmarkerarray set [count _bluforcarmarkerarray, _name];
		_blucarct = _blucarct + 1;
		} foreach _bluforcararray;	

	{deletemarker _x} foreach _opforcarmarkerarray;
	_opcarct = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["opcar%1",_opcarct];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_triangle";
		_name setmarkercolor "colororange";
		_name setmarkersize [0.5,0.5];

		_opforcarmarkerarray set [count _opforcarmarkerarray, _name];
		_opcarct = _opcarct + 1;
		} foreach _opforcararray;		

	//Aircraft
	{deletemarker _x} foreach _airmarkerarray;
	_air = (position player) nearEntities ["Air", 5000];
	_airct = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["air%1",_airct];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_box";
		_name setmarkercolor "colorwhite";
		_name setmarkersize [0.5,0.5];
		_airmarkerarray set [count _airmarkerarray, _name];
		_airct = _airct + 1;
		} foreach _air;

	//Civs
	{deletemarker _x} foreach _civmarkerarray;
	_civct = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["civ%1",_civct];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_dot";
		_name setmarkercolor "colorwhite";
		_name setmarkersize [0.75,0.75];
		_civmarkerarray set [count _civmarkerarray, _name];
		_civct = _civct + 1;
		} foreach tpw_civ_civarray;

	//Civ Cars
	{deletemarker _x} foreach _carmarkerarray;
	_carct = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["car%1",_carct];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_triangle";
		_name setmarkercolor "colorwhite";
		_name setmarkersize [0.5,0.5];
		_carmarkerarray set [count _carmarkerarray, _name];
		_carct = _carct + 1;
		} foreach tpw_car_cararray;

	// Parked Cars
	{deletemarker _x} foreach _parkmarkerarray;
	_parkct = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["park%1",_parkct];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_triangle";
		_name setmarkercolor "colorblack";
		_name setmarkeralpha 0.5;
		_name setmarkersize [0.5,0.5];
		_parkmarkerarray set [count _parkmarkerarray, _name];
		_parkct = _parkct + 1;
		} foreach tpw_park_cararray;

	//Boats	
	{deletemarker _x} foreach _boatmarkerarray;
	_boatct = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["boat%1",_boatct];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_triangle";
		_name setmarkercolor "colorwhite";
		_name setmarkersize [0.5,0.5];
		_boatmarkerarray set [count _boatmarkerarray, _name];
		_boatct = _boatct + 1;
		} foreach tpw_boat_boatarray;	

	//Animals	
	{deletemarker _x} foreach _animalmarkerarray;
	_animalct = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["animal%1",_animalct];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_dot";
		_name setmarkercolor "colorwhite";
		_name setmarkersize [0.25,0.25];
		_animalmarkerarray set [count _animalmarkerarray, _name];
		_animalct = _animalct + 1;
		} foreach tpw_animal_array;

	// Houses	
	{deletemarker _x} foreach _housemarkerarray;
	_housect = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["house%1",_housect];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_circle";
		_name setmarkersize [0.25,0.25];
		_name setmarkeralpha 0.5;
		_name setmarkercolor "colorblack";
		_housemarkerarray set [count _housemarkerarray, _name];
		_housect = _housect + 1;
		} foreach tpw_civ_houses;

	// Houselights
	{deletemarker _x} foreach _houselightmarkerarray;
	_houselightct = 0;
		{
		_name = format ["houselight%1",_houselightct];
		createmarker [_name, getpos _x];
		_name setmarkertype "mil_circle_noshadow";
		_name setmarkercolor "coloryellow";
		_name setmarkersize [0.35,0.35];
		_houselightmarkerarray set [count _houselightmarkerarray, _name];
		_houselightct = _houselightct + 1;
		} foreach tpw_houselights_housearray;	

	sleep 5;
	};
sleep 1;	
};

If you launch this script from the debug console or as part of the mission init, when you bring up your map you'll see the following:

White: civilians

Blue: blufor

Orange: opfor

Circles: infantry

Triangles: land/water vehicles

Squares: aircraft

Black open circles: habitable houses for civs to spawn into

Yellow open circles: houselights

Tiny white dots: animals

Black triangles: spawned parked cars

According to this, everything is working as expected on various A3 and AiAMP maps.

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I know TPW MODS was not designed with MP compatibility in mind, but I'm sure someone here has tried that - will TPW fall work on a dedicated server and affect the AI when hit, without ruin? If so, how do I need to set it up?

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If I remember correctly FALL should be active only on one client at a time, or the effect on the AI is applied multiple times.

Yay!

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If I remember correctly FALL should be active only on one client at a time, or the effect on the AI is applied multiple times.

Yay!

Thanks for the explanation. So wouldn't it be better to install it only on the server?

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Apparently there's a conflict with the new Blastcore Phoenix that causes tanks' HE canon rounds to have no visual effect whatsoever. See here:

Are you using TPW mods? I had this problem when using TPW together with Blastcore. I had to disable TPW for now.... Hope the next update arrives soon.

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Ah I have noticed no HE effect with Blastcore but hadn't tracked the conflict.

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Why is it that every time I change any of the config settings, I can't move forward when in walk mode?

It doesn't matter if TPW is installed manually or through SIX. It doesn't matter if I configure manually or through the included Java GUI, the second I change settings, I can't move forward when I toggle walk.

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Delete the trailing '/' charachters in the #defines section. The update for the GUI with the fix is on his way, but my exams are taking their toll on the available free time.

Yay!

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First off many thanks to TPW for an excellent mod.

Its amazing to see such dedication (constantly tweaking following BIS' patches), humility (integrating community & fellow modder's feedback) and attention to detail (its often the little details that impress).

1 question though, I see that by default the SKIRMISH and LOS modules are disabled by default.

Why is this? (honest I checked the readme, this thread & others but found no explanation)

Compatibility and/or performance?

Finally, you warned to disable "ambient civilians/traffic" to ensure compatibility with BIS's campaign.

Does this mean CIVS module? Or does it also include CARS? Any others? e.g. AIR?

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1 question though, I see that by default the SKIRMISH and LOS modules are disabled by default.

Why is this? (honest I checked the readme, this thread & others but found no explanation)

Compatibility and/or performance?

As far as I know SKIRMISH shouldn't be disabled by default, are you sure about that? LOS is an AI routine that solved some issues with CQB line of sight the game had: it isn't necessary anymore since BIS themsleves fixed it.
Finally, you warned to disable "ambient civilians/traffic" to ensure compatibility with BIS's campaign.

Does this mean CIVS module? Or does it also include CARS? Any others? e.g. AIR?

CIVS and CARS modules should be disabled, since they may interfere with the missions (wandering civilians and cars tend to mess up the already awful pathfinding of the AI, not to mention the amount of units that would get killed by hit and runs. You can keep AIR since as far as I know there is no interaction with the AI.

Yay!

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I think TPW disabled skirmish by default at the request of some of us a lot of posts back ;)

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Gliptal: thanks for the quick reply. Much appreciated! Grazie mille

I think TPW disabled skirmish by default at the request of some of us a lot of posts back ;)
Aha! Any reason why?

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First off many thanks to TPW for an excellent mod.

Its amazing to see such dedication (constantly tweaking following BIS' patches), humility (integrating community & fellow modder's feedback) and attention to detail (its often the little details that impress).

1 question though, I see that by default the SKIRMISH and LOS modules are disabled by default.

Why is this? (honest I checked the readme, this thread & others but found no explanation)

Compatibility and/or performance?

Finally, you warned to disable "ambient civilians/traffic" to ensure compatibility with BIS's campaign.

Does this mean CIVS module? Or does it also include CARS? Any others? e.g. AIR?

Hi domokun.

Firstly, many thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate them.

Secondly, I disabled skirmish by default because more people whinged about it than thanked me for it. Basically if you are playing various scenarios, user missions etc, then skirmish can really !@#$ up the dynamic. Personally, all I ever do is drop a squad on an empty island and let the full TPW MODS populate it with various ambience, civs and combatants.

Thirdly, yes I do advise considering disabling CIVS, CARS, BOATS, AIR etc when playing BIS campaigns. The performance hit is not that great, but having civs wandering into scripted scenarios might cause you issues.

YMMV though. I gave up playing BIS campaigns with Arma 2, so probably am not really well placed to give advice on this!

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Hey tpw, any chance you could lend me your mod's image in a nice .png format?

Yay!

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Hi domokun.

Firstly, many thanks for the kind words, I really appreciate them.

Secondly, I disabled skirmish by default because more people whinged about it than thanked me for it. Basically if you are playing various scenarios, user missions etc, then skirmish can really !@#$ up the dynamic. Personally, all I ever do is drop a squad on an empty island and let the full TPW MODS populate it with various ambience, civs and combatants.

Thirdly, yes I do advise considering disabling CIVS, CARS, BOATS, AIR etc when playing BIS campaigns. The performance hit is not that great, but having civs wandering into scripted scenarios might cause you issues.

YMMV though. I gave up playing BIS campaigns with Arma 2, so probably am not really well placed to give advice on this!

You should really try the Arma 3 campaign, it´s actually really good and bug free (can´t believe I´m using those words to describe a BIS campaign....). Getting Zipper5 on board really seems to have improved their campaign making skills.

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As far as I know SKIRMISH shouldn't be disabled by default, are you sure about that? LOS is an AI routine that solved some issues with CQB line of sight the game had: it isn't necessary anymore since BIS themsleves fixed it.

So if understand it correctly TPW LOS is not necessary? It is redundant and no need to use anymore.

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So if understand it correctly TPW LOS is not necessary? It is redundant and no need to use anymore.

Correct mate. You can use it if you choose, and the AI will react a bit faster than vanilla but not as smoothly.

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