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

[tpw 2315]

TPW MODS 20140419: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/481663/TPW_MODS_20140419.zip

Changes:

[LOS 1.10, BLEEDOUT 1.11, EBS 1.20, FALL 1.26] Functions shifted to TPW CORE 1.01

[CORE 1.01] See above

[HUD 1.12] Code optimisations.

Part of my ongoing effort to optimise TPW MODS. More redundant code shifted out to TPW CORE, and more performance optimisations for TPW HUD.

[kremator 1065]

Nice ... thanks tpw.

[Guest]

New version frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

TPW MODS v20140419



Community Base addons A3

=================================================

We have also "connected" these pages to your account on Armaholic.

This means in the future you will be able to maintain these pages yourself if you wish to do so. Once this new feature is ready we will contact you about it and explain how things work and what options you have.

When you have any questions already feel free to PM or email me!

[tpw 2315]

New version frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

http://www.armaholic.com/datas/users/news_download_a3_3.png

TPW MODS v20140419

http://www.armaholic.com/skins/Blaster07/img/required_addons.png

Community Base addons A3

=================================================

We have also "connected" these pages to your account on Armaholic.

This means in the future you will be able to maintain these pages yourself if you wish to do so. Once this new feature is ready we will contact you about it and explain how things work and what options you have.

When you have any questions already feel free to PM or email me!

Thanks Foxhound, especially for updating the description!

[Alex72 1]

Just noticed that the HUD doesnt pick up on static weapon enemies. It was in "Pilgrimage" mission by Rydygier so im not sure if its because of that. But HUD picks up on all other AI in that mission so far. Just a little report. ;)

Thanks for the quick updates on this awesome mod tpw.

[tpw 2315]

TPW HUD 20140420: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/481663/TPW_MODS_20140420.zip

Changes:

[HUD 1.13] Significant code optimisations - removed all flickering, reduced CPU usage. Simulated performance of HUD affected by distance, stance, day/night, rain and fog.

[PARK 1.09] Staggered parked car spawning to reduce CPU spikes.

Happy Christian Easter / Pagan Fertility Festival / Commercial Holiday everyone.

Today's update continues my optimisation drive. I have basically completely rewritten HUD - it looks superficially the same but under the bonnet it's been massively overhauled. HUD basically runs 3 concurrent loops of code: a 10sec loop, a 0.5sec loop, and a perframe loop. I have moved all computation (if/thens, maths) out of the perframe loop, so all it does is grab variables and display them. I have moved as much computation out of the 0.5sec loop to the 10sec loop as possible to reduce CPU overhead. I've changed array handling so that all flickering issues have been resolved, and all HUD icons should now be rock solid. I have implemented a CPU friendly way of simulating reduced HUD effectiveness under various conditions, and in a further push to realism, the HUD will display units uncoloured until it can get a fix on the units' side. I now have a solid foundation on which to build and intend to add other features such as vehicle and static weapon handling in the coming days and weeks.

OK, off to eat shit overpriced chocolate with the kids!

[WildFire6 10]

I want to say thank you because a lot of the features are amazing, and overall this is an amazing mod. Unfortunately I've stopped updating it and plan to let it sit for a while. For the last week or two every time I have come home and ran up my server and jumped on six there is an update for TPW_mods. I like the fact that you are updating it, its incredible how fast you work. Sadly I'm downright sick of rewriting all my values in the config every time I update which lately has been everyday. My only hope is that in the future maybe you can push game-breaking mods and leave optimizations for weekly/monthly updates. Updating a mod and rewriting configs on a daily basis is kind of a hassle.

With that being said, I still think your work is amazing, there is only a few things I turn completely off and the ones I keep on and use make the game so non-immersive without them. Thank you.

[tpw 2315]

I want to say thank you because a lot of the features are amazing, and overall this is an amazing mod. Unfortunately I've stopped updating it and plan to let it sit for a while. For the last week or two every time I have come home and ran up my server and jumped on six there is an update for TPW_mods. I like the fact that you are updating it, its incredible how fast you work. Sadly I'm downright sick of rewriting all my values in the config every time I update which lately has been everyday. My only hope is that in the future maybe you can push game-breaking mods and leave optimizations for weekly/monthly updates. Updating a mod and rewriting configs on a daily basis is kind of a hassle.

With that being said, I still think your work is amazing, there is only a few things I turn completely off and the ones I keep on and use make the game so non-immersive without them. Thank you.

Thanks Wildfire6, I think :)

I don't feel that I really have to justify my modus operandi to you or anyone, TPW MODS was never released as anything other than a WIP and it evolves constantly and rapidly due to user feedback and input. Let me put it this way - the amount of effort you have to put in to change your config is probably dwarfed by the effort I put into writing each release, so you come out in front I reckon. I think you've stumbled upon the perfect compromise - I'll release when I want to, and you can update when you want to!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's update, featuring full support for air and land vehicles and static weapons.

[Rydygier 1309]

I must admit, I'm charmed by this new way of simulating imperfections. Reall great job. Very convincing. :)

[corporal_lib[br] 396]

The bottom line of Wildfire6 rant is how PW6 handles constant updates... I only use PW6 to AiA, so I really don´t bother with it, but shouldn´t it have some option to only update when user ask to? (like disable automatic updating of ativated mods in a profile???)

Or at least disable the ability of PW6 messing with userconfig, which should be manually updated by the user, cus if PW6 will revert to default everytime the mod is updated, you lose your prerrogative of customizing the userconfig. .. anyway, Wildfire6 rant should be adressed to PW6, TPW is doing a helluva job (BIS: hire this dude, please???) adding cool stuff that is originally missing, he is even worried about performance (what most modders don´t focus normally) so this kind of rant - thou not meaned to be rude, I get it - should be better aimed to the real source of the hassle...

TPW, have a nice easter and wish you lotsa overpriced chocolat eggs, you´ve earned that buddy! I´m just trying to guess which new feature are your busy mind boilling for the near future (X-ray vision??? lol) ;)

cheers!

Edited April 20, 2014 by Corporal_Lib[BR]

[gliptal 25]

You might be able to solve your problems as soon as I'm done with my project, since I intend to give the possibility of saving presets. Provided that PW6 doesn't erase all contents of a folder but merely rewrites existing data, it should work.

Yay!

[Tonci87 163]

I think I found a little bug. Raindrops are not showing on airplane canopys.

[sonsalt6 105]

New update available at withSIX. Download now by clicking:

[Guest]

New version frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

TPW MODS v20140421



Community Base addons A3

=================================================

We have also "connected" these pages to your account on Armaholic.

This means in the future you will be able to maintain these pages yourself if you wish to do so. Once this new feature is ready we will contact you about it and explain how things work and what options you have.

When you have any questions already feel free to PM or email me!

Edited April 20, 2014 by Guest
updated to latest version

[tpw 2315]

I think I found a little bug. Raindrops are not showing on airplane canopys.

Not a bug, a design decision (couldn't get raindrops visually working well for non car vehicles).

[Rydygier 1309]

Few times so far saw a boat at full speed "ramming" the shore and entering the dry land. Is there a risk of waypoint on the land for them or is this rather another vanilla AI driving "feature"?

[tpw 2315]

Few times so far saw a boat at full speed "ramming" the shore and entering the dry land. Is there a risk of waypoint on the land for them or is this rather another vanilla AI driving "feature"?

There are no land waypoints, it's just another demonstration of AI pathfinding - if there are two water waypoints with land in between then the AI boat captain will just drive in a direct line between them. FPDR

---------- Post added at 22:35 ---------- Previous post was at 21:05 ----------

TPW MODS 20140421: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/481663/TPW_MODS_20140421.zip

Changes:

[HUD 1.14] Detects manned air/land vehicles and manned static weapons.

OK I finally cracked the secret of having the HUD smoothly/consistently respond to vehicles, so now manned land and air vehicles and manned static weapons will register on the HUD with a rectangle icon (1/2 rectangle if hidden), to distinguish them from footbounds. HUD performance degradation does not affect vehicles to the same extent due to their larger VIS/IR signature, so they should only "drop out" infrequently, if at all. Unoccupied vehicles will not register on the HUD.

[gliptal 25]

TPW Settings 1.0.0 is out! Quick, I need testers!

You can download the .jar from this same old git link. Just place it in your userconfig folder along with your TPW_MODS.hpp: provided you have the latest tpw version, the file should be automatically parsed and rewritten with your settings already loaded. You can also find a nicely markdowned README at the git link, but I'll copy it here for all the lazies.

TPW Settings

======

This small program should provide an easy and efficient graphical interface to configure the TPW MODS package, that has proven essential for a thorough enjoyement of ArmA III.

Everything is coded in Java, and simply acts as a graphical version of `TPW_MODS.hpp` that tpw himself has already set up to configure his mod package.

Changelog

======

[1.0.0]

First working release

Usage

======

The main window shows the collection of all available TPW Mods. The colored column to the left of every button acts as a quick reference to the state of the mod (green: enabled | red: disabled). Clicking on a button will open the relevant mod page, where changes to every value can be easily made. ENTER must be pressed after every change or the value will not register: this rule applies only on text fields, checkboxes and dropdowns do not require an ENTER press.

Tooltips are available on mouse hover, describing the whole mod (in the main window) or the single parameter (in the relevant mod window).

Next Steps

======

1. Working 'REVERT' button

2. Working presets

3. HUD section

4. HUD live preview

Limitations

======

- `TPW_MODS.hpp` must be in the same folder with `TPW Settings.java` for the program to work.

- ENTER must be pressed every time a change is made in the text fields for it to register in the file. This is due to Java limitations, and will hopefully be addressed in the future.

- HUD is still not implemented: you will have to edit those values manually.

Progress

======

07/04/14 | 0.1.0 | first skeleton

08/04/14 | 0.2.0 | expanded skeleton

12/04/14 | 0.3.0 | 2/16 skeleton done

13/04/14 | 0.4.0 | 4/16 skeleton done, expanded functionalities

14/04/14 | 0.5.0 | 11/16 skeleton done, refactoring

16/04/14 | 0.6.0 | 15/16 skeleton done, tooltips added

17/04/14 | 0.7.0 | basic file I/O set up

17/04/14 | 0.7.1 | fixed .gitignore

17/04/14 | 0.7.2 | fixed README.md

20/04/14 | 1.0.0 | first working release, refactoring

Links

======

- TPW MODS @ BI Forums

- tpw profile @ BI Forums

- ArmA III official site

Credits

======

All credits for the TPW MODS package go to its author tpw. Special thanks go to Bohemia Interactive, that have proven to be one of, if not the best game studios around.

The more of you try it, the easier it's going to be for me to make the interface better and more user-friendly. Don't be shy and ask for any feauture you think might be useful, and I'll elaborate on it and possibly add it to the Next Steps list.

Yay!

EDIT: Just noticed that in the README I didn't specify that you must press 'APPLY' either in a relevant mod window or in the main window to save the changes you made to the file.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Gliptal

[kremator 1065]

OK I finally cracked the secret of having the HUD smoothly/consistently respond to vehicles, so now manned land and air vehicles and manned static weapons will register on the HUD with a rectangle icon (1/2 rectangle if hidden), to distinguish them from footbounds. HUD performance degradation does not affect vehicles to the same extent due to their larger VIS/IR signature, so they should only "drop out" infrequently, if at all. Unoccupied vehicles will not register on the HUD.

Cool mate. Glad you got it sorted. Did the _squadmem, _unit fix it then? That's what I did and it had been perfect.

You also read my mind with empty vehicles not being picked up.

[tpw 2315]

Cool mate. Glad you got it sorted. Did the _squadmem, _unit fix it then? That's what I did and it had been perfect.

You also read my mind with empty vehicles not being picked up.

Fixed it by performing LOS calculations on the driver/gunner of the vehicle, not the vehicle itself. The bonus is that it ignores empty vehicles!

---------- Post added at 07:53 ---------- Previous post was at 07:50 ----------

TPW Settings 1.0.0 is out! Quick, I need testers!

You can download the .jar from this same old git link. Just place it in your userconfig folder along with your TPW_MODS.hpp: provided you have the latest tpw version, the file should be automatically parsed and rewritten with your settings already loaded. You can also find a nicely markdowned README at the git link, but I'll copy it here for all the lazies.

The more of you try it, the easier it's going to be for me to make the interface better and more user-friendly. Don't be shy and ask for any feauture you think might be useful, and I'll elaborate on it and possibly add it to the Next Steps list.

Yay!

EDIT: Just noticed that in the README I didn't specify that you must press 'APPLY' either in a relevant mod window or in the main window to save the changes you made to the file.

You're the man! I will install Java and test it out.

[gliptal 25]

Remember you just need the JVM, no need of the JDK. JVM should already be installed by default on all PCs anyways, since a lot of websites and programs depend on it.

Yay!

[LSD_Timewarp82 21]

So that means you can adjust the functions Ingame with this?

[gliptal 25]

So that means you can adjust the functions Ingame with this?

I'm afraid not, this merely acts as a GUI to modify the .hpp in a user-friendlier way.

Yay!

[LSD_Timewarp82 21]

Okay cool, and i have only to insert the .jar file into userconfig with TPW_Mods. Did i get this right?

[tpw 2315]

For some reason installing java jre on my computer is a nightmare, can't associate jar files etc. Eventually I got java 7 going well enough to test your program out and it works great gliptal, well done! Do you want me to pack it into the userconfig directory of the TPW MODS zip?

Just a couple of suggestions/questions:

1 - how about an "about" button with your program info?

2 - what is the empty pulldown list next to the delete button?

Edited April 20, 2014 by tpw