Jump to content
tpw

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

Recommended Posts

TPW, upon every update through withSix now the userconfig\TPW_MODS\TPW_MODS.hpp gets re-written. And every time I have to disable most of the stuff. Is that intended?

And btw, I really think Skirmish should be a different mod. I think there may be quite a few people who want quick and dirty enemy spawns. But its somewhat off the tpw mods scope.

Furthermore, but you know I already asked for it, I really think every aspect should have an own pbo. The \TPW_MODS.hpp is just too centralistic for ArmA and its modding/mission dependency. You know the drawbacks when we play different missions with different mods and configs.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
TPW, upon every update through withSix now the userconfig\TPW_MODS\TPW_MODS.hpp gets re-written. And every time I have to disable most of the stuff. Is that intended?

And btw, I really think Skirmish should be a different mod. I think there may be quite a few people who want quick and dirty enemy spawns. But its somewhat off the tpw mods scope.

Furthermore, but you know I already asked for it, I really think every aspect should have an own pbo. The \TPW_MODS.hpp is just too centralistic for ArmA and its modding/mission dependency. You know the drawbacks when we play different missions with different mods and configs.

You can save presets if you use the GUI, that won't be overwritten at every update, unless PW6 completely deletes and recreates the folder.

Yay!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
TPW, upon every update through withSix now the userconfig\TPW_MODS\TPW_MODS.hpp gets re-written. And every time I have to disable most of the stuff. Is that intended?

And btw, I really think Skirmish should be a different mod. I think there may be quite a few people who want quick and dirty enemy spawns. But its somewhat off the tpw mods scope.

Furthermore, but you know I already asked for it, I really think every aspect should have an own pbo. The \TPW_MODS.hpp is just too centralistic for ArmA and its modding/mission dependency. You know the drawbacks when we play different missions with different mods and configs.

this is true...

when i update the mod from pw6 , then i have in userconfig folder two folders for tpw. one with a number in front of tpwname and a new one for the latest update.

So i need to run the jar again to disable the systems that i dont want.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

tortuosit and dragonsyr, you've stumbled upon two issues:

1 - I'm not responsible for PW6's update behaviour.

2 - People bitched when I had TPW MODS as individual pbos too.

Personally I'm happy with TPW MODS as a single mod suite with a global config file that is super easy to edit via Gliptal's TPW settings. It makes it easier for me to maintain and update, and saves me worrying about people trying to run different versions of the different mods which might have compatibility issues etc.

One thing I've learned over the last few years of modding is that you can't please everyone on this thread. Although there are occasionally periods where I release updates often, on average there's a new release every few weeks. I'm not keen on spending hours or days dissecting, repacking, bugtracking etc everything to save some people the minute or two it takes to reconfigure their HPP when updating using a system I have no control over.

Sorry if I come across as belligerent. I wrote the bloody mod, it's my prerogative!

Edited by tpw

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

@tpw,

I have no problem with that,

i simply told that what tortuosit says is true..

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I wrote the bloody mod, it's my prerogative!

Good for you mate! One mod with it all in is totally fine.

There IS an easy solution if PwS is continually wrecking tpw_mods :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

@tpw, just set up tpw mods after the marksmen patch. Awesome work mate, really takes the whole arma experience to another level. One thing though. Would it be feesible to have boats work like the air traffic does? Right now, boats are a bit of all or nothing. I mean, if i enable boats, then there is practically always a boat humming aroud. Its never peaceful and quiet cause theres practically always loud boat motor sound. Could you change the boat algorythm to be more like the air traffics one? 1. have a random time pause length between boats apperances (so you don't have a constant motorsound when near water, 2. have them drive along the coast in- and out of sight instead of zigg zagging around in close vicinty.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

How has EBS been affected by the 1.42 update? Does it still work or does it create conflicts?

I've basically stopped playing since the update because I hate trying to troubleshoot all the mods that get broken.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
@tpw, just set up tpw mods after the marksmen patch. Awesome work mate, really takes the whole arma experience to another level. One thing though. Would it be feesible to have boats work like the air traffic does? Right now, boats are a bit of all or nothing. I mean, if i enable boats, then there is practically always a boat humming aroud. Its never peaceful and quiet cause theres practically always loud boat motor sound. Could you change the boat algorythm to be more like the air traffics one? 1. have a random time pause length between boats apperances (so you don't have a constant motorsound when near water, 2. have them drive along the coast in- and out of sight instead of zigg zagging around in close vicinty.

Sure mate, I will look into it.

How has EBS been affected by the 1.42 update? Does it still work or does it create conflicts?

I've basically stopped playing since the update because I hate trying to troubleshoot all the mods that get broken.

HH EBS still works and doesn't "conflict" per se, but it is basically duplicating via scripting what the the engine now does natively. I have it disabled by default.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

tpw, I have been trying to get RHS units into the Skirmish settings. It shortens my list of unit / vehicle strings to one unit / vehicle. What should I put in the custom string field? I looked on the forums for an answer but didn't find any.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

@tpw, concerning the boat mod. Which boats are being spawned? Only the little civ speed boats, or could you spawn other boats like the trawler mod for instance or military vehicle as well?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Currently just these classes: "C_Boat_Civil_01_F", "C_Boat_Civil_01_police_F", "C_Boat_Civil_01_rescue_F", "C_rubberboat"

If there are enough other civilian boat classes I might modify the code to read all civ boats in from the config. There are no plans to add military boats.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Trawler isn't designed to move however is it ? Having it out in the water may add extra ambience however.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i downloaded the trawler mod but didn't test it yet. But i reckon you can go to the highseas with it. I'll check out later. Especially industrial ships would greatly enhance immersion.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Request:

Is it possible to add the option of ambient smoke (lightly drifting as a smouldering fire after an explosion) to the TPW mod?

@Gliptal:

Is it possible to add this option to your GUI and include a slider for smoke duration and view distance (for fps control) ?

We were ambushed in a small village and had to lob a few grenades. I thought it would be so immersive if after a grenade explosion there would be lingering smoke. I also appreciate the complex scripting for such an option but not knowing anything about that I would wonder if that is even possible.

Thanks!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
i downloaded the trawler mod but didn't test it yet. But i reckon you can go to the highseas with it. I'll check out later. Especially industrial ships would greatly enhance immersion.

If you can give me some classnames I'l implement it but they'll probably be unmoving ships out in the distance rather than buzzing around like the civ boats.

Request:

Is it possible to add the option of ambient smoke (lightly drifting as a smouldering fire after an explosion) to the TPW mod?

@Gliptal:

Is it possible to add this option to your GUI and include a slider for smoke duration and view distance (for fps control) ?

We were ambushed in a small village and had to lob a few grenades. I thought it would be so immersive if after a grenade explosion there would be lingering smoke. I also appreciate the complex scripting for such an option but not knowing anything about that I would wonder if that is even possible.

Thanks!

Have you tried Blastcore? There's a bit more smoke from explosions with that mod.

You are correct that it's quite technically challenging to add these kind of fx to explosions. Fiddling with configs runs the risk of causing compatibility with other mods. Eventhandlers can't be attached to grenades. That pretty much leaves kludgy workarounds. But I will have a look at it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

TPW,

Finally, oh FINALLY, I have your mod working as intended in-game! :yay:

THANK YOU again, oh genius one! :bounce3:

It might be obvious to some, and not so obvious to others (me), but the reason why I wasn't seeing any of the digital tracers via the tactical goggles was due to the fact that I had the "T" key assigned to my Inventory. The "Ctrl" key is bound to going Prone. I figured, wrongly, that since I was pressing a unique key-combination (Ctrl+Alt+T), that my presses should activate the digital tracers. It wasn't till I reassigned the Inventory binding to a different key that the combination finally began to work. It might be proactively helpful to detail this in the Read Me.

I've noticed that at night, TPW lights for buildings and streetlights don't work in the maps converted over from Iron Front: Gold Edition. :(

Is there any way that this could be enabled in an upgrade? The only concern that I think would be common for a lot of players is that the lighting scheme should be skewed for the technology level that was most prevalent during WWII. The electric-blue glow, that strongly conveys the sense of a TV set being active, would not have been commonplace back then. Also, it's probably likely that the orange-hued interior lights would've been fueled more by flickering kerosene lamps or candles than by a steady electric orange glow. Maybe we could configure these maps for a WWII (default setting) or a more modern era to skew the lighting sources more one way than another?

In any event, those converted Iron Front maps dearly need your handiwork to add mood to the nights. If needed, one can learn a lot more about the IF conversion to Arma 3 here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?170687-Iron-Front-as-mod-in-Arma-3

Thank you again for all that you do! :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think the key problem is BIS's fault, they've been revamping the whole system and CTRL combinations have been broken on the Dev Branch lately.

Yay!

Edited by Gliptal

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

tpw, for quick and dirty spawning of civilians or battlefield it was easiest for me to prepare some script calls and put them into support menu or into the menu (diary commands).

- I think the skirmish script is not robust against deletion of units (e.g. via MCC), is that correct?

- Also, how do your scripts behave on multiple calls, is that possible, could they work independent and could I call e.g. 2 working skirmish instances? I've seen there is a variable which I may use for checking if running.

- Is there a script way to destroy all units which have been spawned by your scripts? This would open up some possibilities. Spawn a battlefield for testing, then despawn everything properly...

thx

And an observation with ACE3 0.0.0.2a: If I spawn a battlefield with skirmish script command line, the cpu gets melted and ArmA is not reacting any more at the moments when units spawn...

Edited by tortuosit

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey TPW,

I wana say big thanks for TPW HUD.When it was implimented i disregarded it as useless for me as i never wanted futuristic stuff,but now that i see how much of a difference it can make for me personaly in veihicles and aircraft,i cant imagine Arma3 without it.

Before,in a tank i felt exposed,not threatening as one should feel in a few tonnes of armour with a cannon...Now im chewing up AI and it dosent feel cheap because of the config.

I can now see ground targets in a chopper.

I can now tell friendly jets from enemy and track AI jets in the air.The interface is very very well done.Big big thanks for this,its literaly game changing,wish i had of messed around with it earlier.

I just have one suggestion: The range of spottted units with appear next to the unit.(iv disabled text,only icons) Would it be possible to have an option for only one range(attatched to squad leader?Im thinking of lowering screen cluttuer.Its no big deal i wont even use it,just observation.

And regarding TPW CIVS,any chance of having spawned in camp fires? Iv started adding them into missions,they add good vibrance to nightlife.

Thanks again man,im off to dogfight ;)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

From redarmy:

any chance of having spawned in camp fires?

Brilliant! :bounce3: Yeah, that would be great to see. Seeing fire come up from burn barrels would also be VERY nice, such as the ones that are on the rightfully classic Namalsk island. The floor_light that comes with Namalsk is far too large in both diameter and length for the burn barrels.

If possible, have the script detect whether or not there are any civilian/military units nearby enough to make having these fires lit be "believable." It would be strange to infiltrate through a body of water, to land on a beach, only to find a lit campfire with no one nearby. If there aren't any units maintaining a presence within 15 m. of a fire, it shouldn't be lit at all.

Also, it would be great if we had a config option of declaring whether or not the light sources were in the process of failing due to damage. Some lights would frequently sputter off and on, with some systems showing being damaged in different ways, so that some lights would have random lengths of time of being lit and then unlit.

Perhaps all damaged buildings should be automatically assigned a "damaged" state for the type of light it emits? Buildings that had "candles" lit in them, once damaged enough for air to flow in, would find their candles flickering badly from the resulting gusts.

Also, I'm confident that it would be highly immersive to have electrical systems in a failing state as well, so that sparks would shoot out from outlets, fixtures, and shower down from nearby power lines.

If it's at all possible to "widen the net" of buildings that the lighting system "captures" to put to use, it would be greatly appreciated. There are a LOT of great maps out there that seem currently unaffected by the awesome lighting system that this mod brings. Again, I bring up the terrific Namalsk and Iron Front maps as examples, but there are also older buildings (ported Arma 1 and Arma 2 structures) that don't emit light at night. It would be FABULOUS to have them operational in-game.

By the way, the digital tracers haven't worked for me for the past couple of days. Have no clue as to why they're not working now. :(

Keep working your magic, and thanks again for your labor!

---------- Post added at 22:05 ---------- Previous post was at 21:13 ----------

Argh!

I knew I was forgetting something, and now I remember what it was I forgot! :)

Is it possible to have the features of the tactical glasses combined with other equipment the player is wearing? I really would like to have my avatar to be able to keep wearing his khaki-green face mask+goggles, but in order for me to have the GUI work, I have to take said facial gear off.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Kyle_K_ski, thanks for the detailed post and suggestions. Sorry I didn't reply to your earlier post, I've had to concentrate on other non-Arma stuff for a week or so.

First things first, TPW HOUSELIGHTS works for buildings for which I have classnames. I've tried to include various A2 buildings. I don't play Iron Front or on Namalsk, so if you want these houses lit, you need to give me the classnames.

Secondly, lights won't appear in damaged buildings. If there are lights in a house and it's damaged by explosions or whatever, then the lights will go out. This happens because damaged building classes are ignored when HOUSELIGHTS scans for buildings to put lights into.

I actually used to have flickering candle like light sources in the A2 version of HOUSELIGHTS, but retired them as a waste of CPU cycles because smoothly flickering lights actually need quite a lot of calculations. I will revisit the concept and see if I can reimplement something. Failing electrical systems would indeed be immersive. I will look at implementing some particle effects but can't make promises.

Virtual tracers are definitely working. Perhaps you have another mod interfering with the Ctrl-Alt-T combo?

Lastly, adding HUD functionality to specific facewear would require quite an overhaul of the code as it stands. The best I can promise is perhaps an additional variable in which the player can specify the classname of the facewear they wan't. But as with everything else in my reply, I make no promises.

Thanks again

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

@tpw:

(Disclaimer: Still lobbying here for my favorite mod ever TPW_FALL ;) )

May I try to persuade you to come back to TPW_FALL and give it a few caring touches?

It is still mostly working fine, but there are a few glitches, unit warping, break dancing and little things like that. I am not sure whether you can really fix those, as I suspect this requires fighting the engine...

I had hoped that BI would take the opportunity and fundamentally improve the hit effects with the Marksman update...)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

From tpw:

Kyle_K_ski, thanks for the detailed post and suggestions.

Your MOST welcome. It's the least that I can do in return for everything you've done for us. :bounce3:

I'm bummed that it must be one of my more recently installed mods that have derailed the digital tracers. :( Everything's that's been added is an island, except for that one Editor enhancement that allows people to install color filters (like the "blue ambiance" filter of Namalsk) into their game. Hmm...

I spent a LOT of time trying to hunt down classnames lists for both Iron Front and Namalsk. I had zero luck with finding ones for Iron Front, so I made a post hoping that Gunter can come through for us.

Namalsk, it seems, is a complete wash, as I understand it, due to the fact that most of the structures placed on said island were custom-made (ported). The only thing I could find classnames for was for music and sound effects for the Nightstalkers mod.

I'm wondering if there's a workaround for this? Many of the structures come with AI garrison locations, could your lights be assigned to spawn at the AI sentry locations inside these buildings, and, if so, which file would I have to look up that would have them for me to pass along to you...?

From tpw:

is perhaps an additional variable in which the player can specify the classname of the facewear they wan't

Yeah! If you could work this out, I am completely confident that this generous option would be a sweet boon for the community, of that I have no doubts. Thanks for considering it, and also for contemplating the damaged electrical infrastructure ideas that I sent your way.

I was actually thinking about developing my 3D mesh skills by making a "high tech" mask for Arma 3, something that looks similar to the ones we see in the new Call of Duty Blackops III commercial. Being able to specify it in a config would be sweet.

If I acquire those Iron Front building classnames, I'll pass them along to you ASAP. :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
rightfully classic Namalsk island.

I have to sign this a million times.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

×