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

[kecharles28 197]

Updated mod v2016.6.14 available at withSIX. Download now by clicking:

[tpw 2313]

TPW MODS 20160620: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/481663/TPW_MODS_20160620.zip

 

Changes:

• [ALL] Complete overhaul and optimisation of spawn position and waypoint assignment code, for a significant decrease in microstuttering and CPU load spiking. 
• [bOATS 1.30, CORE 1.22, CARS 1.44, CIVS 1.45, PARK 1.15] Tanoan civilians, clothing, cars, and boats will be used as appropriate. Superseded exclusion object code removed. Tanoan sheds removed from habitable buildings list. 
• [HOUSELIGHTS 1.12] Further adjustments to light intensity and attenuation.

---

Since the release of Tanoa on dev I've spent a lot of time on this beautiful map. Not unexpectedly the density and detail of this map push the player's computer pretty hard. I can handle a slightly lower framerate, but microstuttering and screen jerking due to GPU/CPU load spikes really piss me off.  Accordingly I've spent the better part of a week doing nothing but refactoring and optimising TPW MODS so that it hogs the CPU as little as possible and allows the engine to get on with presenting things smoothly. TPW MODS does a lot of spawning of vehicles and units to add to the ambience. Whilst there's not a lot I can do about the overhead of unit/vehicle spawning and AI, there was a lot I could do to optimise the code for selecting the best places to spawn, and assigning waypoints. I've gone through and basically replaced as many expensive spawnpoint / waypoint routines with simplified lighter ones as I possibly can. The result is actually a pretty dramatic increase in the smoothness of the game when TPW MODS is running, and I'm very happy with it. Note that the only way to get perfect smoothness in A3 is to a- never spawn AI and b- never move around. Please keep this in mind before cursing me! 

[spyderblack723 407]

 

Since the release of Tanoa on dev I've spent a lot of time on this beautiful map. Not unexpectedly the density and detail of this map push the player's computer pretty hard. I can handle a slightly lower framerate, but microstuttering and screen jerking due to GPU/CPU load spikes really piss me off.  Accordingly I've spent the better part of a week doing nothing but refactoring and optimising TPW MODS so that it hogs the CPU as little as possible and allows the engine to get on with presenting things smoothly. TPW MODS does a lot of spawning of vehicles and units to add to the ambience. Whilst there's not a lot I can do about the overhead of unit/vehicle spawning and AI, there was a lot I could do to optimise the code for selecting the best places to spawn, and assigning waypoints. I've gone through and basically replaced as many expensive spawnpoint / waypoint routines with simplified lighter ones as I possibly can. The result is actually a pretty dramatic increase in the smoothness of the game when TPW MODS is running, and I'm very happy with it. Note that the only way to get perfect smoothness in A3 is to a- never spawn AI and b- never move around. Please keep this in mind before cursing me! 

 

To reduce stuttering upon the spawning of multiple vehicles/units at the same time you can ensure the function is ran in a scheduled scope and have a small sleep (0.02 - 0.05) in between the spawning of each object. It's not perfect but you should see some big improvements.

[tpw 2313]

To reduce stuttering upon the spawning of multiple vehicles/units at the same time you can ensure the function is ran in a scheduled scope and have a small sleep (0.02 - 0.05) in between the spawning of each object. It's not perfect but you should see some big improvements.

Already done mate, but thanks for the suggestions.

[froggyluv 2130]

SOAP just fits tonoa so well -it justs brings the already jazzy place so much more to life

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

SOAP just fits tonoa so well -it justs brings the already jazzy place so much more to life

Every map needs to have it. It's freaking amazing. It's honestly pretty tough to play without it now.

I'd love for someone to support it for the purposes of dedicated servers. Though I haven't tried TPW's suggestion yet for just running it on clients and seeing what happens. Has anyone tried it as a client-side mod running in an online environment or made any adjustments for MP?

[tpw 2313]

Hey guys I'm glad you like SOAP. I sweated bullets trying to find decent Fijian sounds for Tanoa and I'm happy that it seems to be working.

[tupolov 520]

Every map needs to have it. It's freaking amazing. It's honestly pretty tough to play without it now.

I'd love for someone to support it for the purposes of dedicated servers. Though I haven't tried TPW's suggestion yet for just running it on clients and seeing what happens. Has anyone tried it as a client-side mod running in an online environment or made any adjustments for MP?

It would be awesome to see TPW, ACE and ALiVE working together in an MP scenario...

[Aniallator 164]

Question: I see TPW MODS incorporates the RDS A2 Civilian Pack. So should I download that seperately as well, or would that just be redundant and unnecessary?

[tpw 2313]

Question: I see TPW MODS incorporates the RDS A2 Civilian Pack. So should I download that seperately as well, or would that just be redundant and unnecessary?

TPW MODS will use RDS civs if you have them installed, and its own civs if you don't.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

It would be awesome to see TPW, ACE and ALiVE working together in an MP scenario...

Between the two of us Tupolov, one of us has the skill to make this happen.

*cough* You do! *cough*

;)

[tupolov 520]

Between the two of us Tupolov, one of us has the skill to make this happen.

*cough* You do! *cough*

;)

Lol quite. ALiVE is open sauce now, so anyone could plug in TPW stuff to ALiVE (as long as its credited to TPW) :)

We have neglected our weather module, I wrote code to take actual real life weather data (from an online service) so it can be used in game. We kinda stopped development though because Weather MP sync in A3 was broken. I believe that has been fixed. Along with TPW weather effects, this would be an awesome weather module..

Clearly, other modules like the ambience and civilian stuff would really add to what we are doing in ALiVE Ambient Civ module.

Obviously would need to work out what would run clientside, what would run on clients but be MP friendly and then any system that would need to be enhanced to work in MP.

Was the realism stuff included in ACE already?

[Aniallator 164]

TPW MODS will use RDS civs if you have them installed, and its own civs if you don't.

 

K thanks, will be downloading RDS as well then!

[tpw 2313]

Gday HeroesandvilliansOS and tupolov. Thanks for the kind words guys.

 

I have no problems whatsoever with people integrating whatever portions of TPW MODS they see fit - I'm happy to contribute if you're happy to attribute. I really only have a few thoughts on the matter...

 

1 - Don't ask me to write MP code. Pick apart my code and find out how it can be adapted. I put a lot of work into TPW MODS because it's fun and interesting. MP playing/coding is neither of those things to me.

 

2 - Don't take my ideas, reimplement them with your own code, and forget all about where the ideas came from. This has happened to me a few times and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

 

3 - Please contribute any improvements back so that TPW MODS users can benefit.

 

Please don't take this stuff as any sort of negative feeling on my part, I'm just letting you know where I stand :)

[Stormforge 37]

Really good to have SOAP to clean out my ears on Tanoa so I can hear all the ambience. Definitely enjoying it on Tanoa with Pilgrimage and other portions of the TPW Mod.

 

Also the explanations in the userconfig are a huge help. Keeps me from having to search for what something does and allows more time playing.

 

If anyone is unaware of this. I was playing around with the HUD portion, and noticed that if I change the Unit Icons text size to 0.01, the distance portion under the unit icon pretty much disappears.

[Guest]

New version frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

 

TPW MODS v20160620

Community Base addons A3

[kecharles28 197]

Updated mod v2016.6.20 available at withSIX. Download now by clicking:

[EO 11225]

Hi tpw,

 

Quick question regarding tpw_air, does it now include all Apex aircraft?......Or would it be feasible to add a tpw_air Apex preset to the config, civilian or military or both. :)       

[tpw 2313]

Hi tpw,

 

Quick question regarding tpw_air, does it now include all Apex aircraft?......Or would it be feasible to add a tpw_air Apex preset to the config, civilian or military or both. :)       

All aircraft are picked up automatically EO. Having the Apex light plane buzzing by occasionally is nice!

[jdot11 10]

Hate to sound like a noob in the tpw_skirmish script. To use a user defineed faction what line do you put the faction in?

[tpw 2313]

Hate to sound like a noob in the tpw_skirmish script. To use a user defineed faction what line do you put the faction in?

Have a read of the TPW SKIRMISH documentation mate, it covers it pretty well. 

 

Basically to use a custom friendly faction with the addon version you need to edit the HPP:

tpw_skirmish_friendlytype = 0

tpw_skirmish_friendlyunitstring = "string1"

tpw_skirmish_friendlyvehiclestring = "string2"

 

where string1 is a subset of the classname you want to use.

 

If you want to run the script as a script, then the instructions are in the header of the script itself.

[flv*venom* 83]

G'day!

I said it once and I'll say it again and again and again: This mod is a musthave. The level of customisability and functions it has is just wow. Been using it from close to day 1 of the release and I can't even think of launching Arma without it.

With the addition of Apex and the improvements that went into it, it is turning Tanoa into a place where I sometimes just fire up the editor take tour around the Island and feel like I'm on vacation :D
your Fiji soundsuite is just awesome.

I remember one the most satisfying moments that took place during a session of pilgrimage on Tanoa: alone in a village, my AUG running out of ammo, surounded by enemies and then: In one of the houses a choir starts to sing "amazing grace". True "final stand" moment (was an awesome firefight which I survived btw :D )

 

one question though: is it just me or is the walking speed back to vanilla values or even a bit faster now?  

 

Love the mod, keep on rocking and improving Arma! :)

[tpw 2313]

G'day!

I said it once and I'll say it again and again and again: This mod is a musthave. The level of customisability and functions it has is just wow. Been using it from close to day 1 of the release and I can't even think of launching Arma without it.

With the addition of Apex and the improvements that went into it, it is turning Tanoa into a place where I sometimes just fire up the editor take tour around the Island and feel like I'm on vacation :D

your Fiji soundsuite is just awesome.

I remember one the most satisfying moments that took place during a session of pilgrimage on Tanoa: alone in a village, my AUG running out of ammo, surounded by enemies and then: In one of the houses a choir starts to sing "amazing grace". True "final stand" moment (was an awesome firefight which I survived btw :D )

 

one question though: is it just me or is the walking speed back to vanilla values or even a bit faster now?  

 

Love the mod, keep on rocking and improving Arma! :)

Cheers mate, that means a lot.

 

Re animation speeds: it may well be that my animation tweaks no longer work properly given the state of flux of things. They are very difficult to keep on top of, so I actually just run the following small script that slows everything down a smidge:

 

// Slow everything down a bit!

while {true} do{
{
_x setAnimSpeedCoef 0.9;
} foreach allunits;
sleep 30;
}; 

Thanks again for the very kind testimonial. Rest assured I have some very interesting optimisations and features in the pipeline. 

[snowingjimbob 34]

TPW Goodsir, 

 

Much thanks for your many, many hours you've spent on this must-have mod--its an absolute game changer for me.  Your new "SOAP" edition makes the Diyala and Tanoa maps come alive.  And the new "FOG" feature makes Diyala feel much more dusty and lifelike.  I love it.

 

I think I've found an issue with your ambient Aircraft feature.  I'm running the latest Dev Branch version, 1.62.137126.  The only mods I'm running are CBA, your latest version of TPW, and CUP Terrains (all up to date).  FYI I don't think this issue existed until I recently updated to the Dev Branch in order to test out Tanoa, so take that into consideration.  I realize that its the Dev Branch and things might change, but i think there are a lot of people checking out Tanoa right now, as well as a lot of people using CUP Terrains.

 

The issue is:  When i launch the game via the Single Player Editor, i noticed there was a MASSIVE frame-rate drop and severe stuttering for the first 30 seconds or so.  I discovered that at the far SOUTHWEST CORNER of the map, right at the edge of where the satellite imagery/map ends, every AIR vehicle is spawning on top of each other on the ground, causing a massive chain reaction of explosions, fire, and smoke. With other mods installed, like RHS, it would spawn their aircraft as well.  Interestingly enough, this only happens on maps that have land in the southwest corners of the maps, ie Takistan, Shapur, Bystrika, Bokovina, Proving Grounds, Desert, Zagrabad, etc. (Chernarus has water in the southwest corner, so i didnt see this problem on that map).  I couldn't duplicate the problem on Stratis, Altis, or Tanoa, because they are islands with water all around.  

 

If i disabled the Ambient Air module via TPW HPP then the problem goes away.  

 

Again, I realize this is on the Dev Branch (I haven't tested on Stable Branch yet) but thought I'd give you a heads up in case it might be a problem for the future when Tanoa is on the Stable Branch.

 

Regards  :)

[tpw 2313]

TPW Goodsir, 

 

Much thanks for your many, many hours you've spent on this must-have mod--its an absolute game changer for me.  Your new "SOAP" edition makes the Diyala and Tanoa maps come alive.  And the new "FOG" feature makes Diyala feel much more dusty and lifelike.  I love it.

 

I think I've found an issue with your ambient Aircraft feature.  I'm running the latest Dev Branch version, 1.62.137126.  The only mods I'm running are CBA, your latest version of TPW, and CUP Terrains (all up to date).  FYI I don't think this issue existed until I recently updated to the Dev Branch in order to test out Tanoa, so take that into consideration.  I realize that its the Dev Branch and things might change, but i think there are a lot of people checking out Tanoa right now, as well as a lot of people using CUP Terrains.

 

The issue is:  When i launch the game via the Single Player Editor, i noticed there was a MASSIVE frame-rate drop and severe stuttering for the first 30 seconds or so.  I discovered that at the far SOUTHWEST CORNER of the map, right at the edge of where the satellite imagery/map ends, every AIR vehicle is spawning on top of each other on the ground, causing a massive chain reaction of explosions, fire, and smoke. With other mods installed, like RHS, it would spawn their aircraft as well.  Interestingly enough, this only happens on maps that have land in the southwest corners of the maps, ie Takistan, Shapur, Bystrika, Bokovina, Proving Grounds, Desert, Zagrabad, etc. (Chernarus has water in the southwest corner, so i didnt see this problem on that map).  I couldn't duplicate the problem on Stratis, Altis, or Tanoa, because they are islands with water all around.  

 

If i disabled the Ambient Air module via TPW HPP then the problem goes away.  

 

Again, I realize this is on the Dev Branch (I haven't tested on Stable Branch yet) but thought I'd give you a heads up in case it might be a problem for the future when Tanoa is on the Stable Branch.

 

Regards  :)

Thanks mate. In my quest to increase the smoothness during normal play I've experimented with prespawning aircraft and other assets, disabling their simulation and hiding them at [0,0,0] (SW corner), to be recalled when needed. I've actually since backed off on this stance because it does chew up resources and causes stuttering as you've observed for the first 30 sec. I have a new version of TPW AIR ready to go and will release it in a day or so along with some other changes.