Blastcore: Phoenix 2

[CyclonicTuna 87]

For the effects i don't really blame BIS because i have spent like 7 years now working on effects for this game series and i was complete noob when i started i knew nothing about vfx as i was doing sound effects before and thought id have a pop at doing some vfx insted. The particle engine is still basicly the same as when i first started, A3 is a major upgrade tho but its still based on the same foundation.

So knowing what i know now i can't really blame BIS for not investing a huge amount of time or persons into the vfx design imo its a very hard dept to work in if your not familiar with the way its designed or how the engine works for that matter, its not very friendly its crude and a very inefficient way of doing it. I know that over the years ive kinda exhausted my modding spirit with this and i know its now time to bring it to a end and move on. Perhaps someone else will take a interest in VFX who knows, but like i said its a very hard thing to get into considering how other games manage the VFX with built in real-time editors. I expect i will still be about making some minor changes and updates but as for major stuff its definitely over for me.

Well that's actually sort of what I meant. And that's why I think you're the only one who has taken it upon himself to start modding VFX, because it takes a special type of patience to do. I've taken a crack at it once an couldn't last a week without completely breaking everything because I was to incompitent and impatient myself. I just hope that at one point BIS will make an fx editor (like you said) part of the modtools one day.

And that's why I do blame BIS partially, because there are indie studio's out there, who are working with a smaller team on (admitally) smaller projects with a modding community, who do provide the tools for animation and vfx. Its a very old and traditional way of making videogames that BIS is sticking to, which might even cost them a franchise in the future.

Edited January 8, 2014 by CyclonicTuna

[pravania 10]

Are we able to help you with these? Eg configs for smoke life time and size? Smoke trails and what have you? Would be keen to help out.

[Woodstock21 10]

Hello there, So i have looked through the forums for a answer but all the fixes i found did not work. So the issues is that we have a dedicated server box and we place the keys that came with the updated ones, the ones that are "WarFXPE.bikey" is what is on the server in the "Keys" folder on the arma3 root. and the "WarFXPE.pbo.WarFXPE.bisign" keys are what we the clients have in the addons folder. The Server doesn't actually have the addon on it, just the key in the folder. And when the anyone tried to join the server with the mod we always get the error of the Mod is not signed. In the first one we did try to rename the bisign key cause that was a issue but it still didn't work. Does the Server have to have the MOD installed and running as well? Please any help on this matter would be greatly appreicated.

Edit: we Have CBA, JSRS, and lsdnightvision Mods all running just fine, with only the Keys on the server, Rest being client side.

Edit 2: Saw post about the test build gonna give it a shot (will update)

Edited January 9, 2014 by Woodstock21

[-Apples- 10]

Put the test build on our server and can connect.. So it looks like you got it figured out!!!

[-Sputnik- 10]

Signatures work.

[-Apples- 10]

We will be running this test build on the =SEALZ= server until the next update, Can you leave the download up for people???

[rehtus777 10]

For the effects i don't really blame BIS because i have spent like 7 years now working on effects for this game series and i was complete noob when i started i knew nothing about VFX as i was doing sound effects before and thought id have a pop at doing some VFX insted. The particle engine is still basicly the same as when i first started, A3 is a major upgrade tho but its still based on the same foundation. Its a good engine don't get me wrong, but its based on a old engine which to me are really starting to take its toll on my enthusiasm. I did'nt want to end on just a give up attitude so i decided to make a final attempt at A3.

So knowing what i know now i got no faults at BIS for not investing a huge amount of time or persons into the VFX design imo its a very hard dept to work in if your not familiar with the way its designed or how the engine works for that matter, its not very friendly its crude and a very inefficient way of doing it. I know that over the years ive kinda exhausted my modding spirit with this and i know its now time to bring it to a end and move on. Perhaps someone else will take a interest in VFX who knows i don't mind helping them out with what i know, but like i said its a very hard thing to get into considering how other games manage the VFX with built in real-time editors which make it a much more simpler place to work. I expect i will still be about making some minor changes and updates but as for major stuff its definitely over for me.

Hopefully BIS is working on a new engine right now..... they've got to keep up with the times or they will become a dinosaur and irrelevant. I hate to bring up the Frostbite 3 engine, but that engine is incredible - especially when you look at the Urban Warfare part of it. The buildings and the city streets have the most realistic graphics I've ever seen....it almost looks real (the picture below doesn't give it justice do-to limited kb by the website.... google BF4 Shanghai and see what I'm talking about).

ArmA 3's buildings still look like they are 10 years old when it comes to graphics.

Now, with that said, when you compare the countrysides of BF4 v ArmA 3, ArmA 3 wins hands down. Also, the vehicles / weapons look much better in ArmA 3 - the BF4 vehicles look hokie. If ArmA 3 had the looks of the Urban Environment like BF4, ArmA 3 would be super super sweet. The only real criticism I have of ArmA 3 on graphics is the Urban environment (since you've fixed the particle effect). [side note: I use the Frostbite Engine as a comparison because I think it is the best engine out there for graphics when it comes to buildings and city streets.)

One time I heard an interview with Ivan Butcha and he said the following (paraphrased): "ArmA 3 is a step in the right direction on what I envision the perfect ArmA game to be, but we are not there yet." My interpretation was that he is talking about game graphics that look so real on youtube that you won't be able to tell the difference between ArmA and the real thing. Maybe I'm reading into what he said, but he has admitted that they haven't quite reached Nivanna with the ArmA series yet...but they are getting close. So hopefully they will come out with a new engine come 2017 or so.

Edited January 9, 2014 by rehtus777
fixed stuff

[nomisum 129]

hopefully they take their chance to build a new engine due to the dayZmoneypile. I couldnt stand another arma glitching through rocks like decades ago in OFP (with my oculus rift 4k in 2017) :D

back on topic: i am quite stunned to learn there is such hard limit for particles. proper dust and dirt kickoffs would bring much more to authenticity.

edit: btw a game which brings really nice looking explosions with great performance is coh1/coh2. quite the right amount of fire vs dust/dirt/smoke. granted the dirt is low fidelity, but fire and smoke textures are great. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J_tR09mCuE

Gesendet von meinem iPhone mit Tapatalk

Edited January 9, 2014 by nomisum

[Opticalsnare 12]

We will be running this test build on the =SEALZ= server until the next update, Can you leave the download up for people???

ar thats a sign of relief, yea i will leave it up. Next update won't be far off, be a small one followed by a big one then that should be it.

[nigrinus 10]

Opticalsnare...thank you very much for this!

Any chance for a small glimpse on what you are going to add in the 2 updates ahead?

I saw you effects on smoke with warfx particles on arma2 and i kind of liked the bullet impact effect. Are they going to see a return in blastcore A3?

Also smoke of burning vehicle duration and thickness something that is going to be added?

Feel free not to answer these questions, its just for excitement :)

[arziben 23]

really great addon, I was skeptical until a friend made me try it, and I can't really get off of it now :p

but in my opinion the sparks are too big and/or spread too far

[pellejones 1]

I just remembered something. During the day, when a vehicle explodes, it looks like tennis balls (or green ping pong balls) are spurting out of the wreck :/ it looks a bit strange. But other than that this is awesome.

[Nikoteen 24]

Hey OS,

Any plan to import your awesome A2 tracers into A3 ?

[-Coulum- 35]

Great job OS. My only feedback is that the smoke coming from a grenade explosions seems too white. Smoke grenades look fucking amazing and I actually find they don't hit my performance as much as the vanilla smoke grenades - great job.

Sad to hear you will no longer be modding arma. May I ask, are you leaving arma entirely or just the modding part?

Thanks for all your hard work, yet again you have created one of those "must have" mods for arma.

[Tritonv8 11]

This is a great mod. The visuals are a major improvement over vanilla. Thanks you OS.

We've run into a problem were we are getting fried from vehicles 100m+. We had an entire squad get burned to death from a vehicle that was on fire 100m out and also on the other side of a wall.

Seems to be conflicting with XMedSys as well. Units are not able to get back to 100 health with Blastcore and XMedSys both running. X39 mentioned it could be related to the EventHandlers.

Edited January 9, 2014 by Tritonv8

[MavericK96 0]

Great work on the new update. Just one bug report - the Red flare (possibly other colors as well) has a weird square around it as it falls.

[opendome 91]

I was wondering how this mod impacts performance? I love this mod and it was my go to in Arma 2 but having an AMD FX 6100 and GTX 660 I have been having performance issues with low fps. I was wondering if this mod has a large impact on performance or does it not affect it much?

[oktyabr 12]

I was wondering how this mod impacts performance? I love this mod and it was my go to in Arma 2 but having an AMD FX 6100 and GTX 660 I have been having performance issues with low fps. I was wondering if this mod has a large impact on performance or does it not affect it much?

LOL! I use this mod on my system (usually with JSRS) and I only have an AMD 955 quad (@3.2) and a GTX 465. For SP or small coop it's great! Online? I've had explosions turn the game into a slide show, but then again there are a lot of other variables there too. I think the extra eye candy is worth it but I'm also willing to drop some of my other settings a bit to keep them. Night missions with this mod will sometimes literally make me just stop and stare... They're beautiful!

[das attorney 858]

OS,

As much as I like Blaine avatar, I still prefer your Pinhead avatar.

But, as much as I liked WarFX and Blastcore for A2, I still prefer Blastcore for A3.

Good job man - many thanks :)

[Antorugby 2]

Hey OS, I'm loving your mod, can I suggest one little effect if possibile?

I love flying the chopper, what I think would be a cool effect is a lot of dust when a chopper land on a terrain without concrete, do you think that's something that will have space in your mod?

Anyway, thank you again!

[Variable 322]

Blastcore A3 R2

R2 Change Log

- Implemented AI Block Visibility to smoke grenades

I read the conversation regarding this, but I was left unsure. So let me just ask this simply -

Do I have to install Blastcore A3 on the server for the AI Block Visibility to take effect?

[Opticalsnare 12]

I don't know i never play MP.

[Variable 322]

I don't know i never play MP.

Ok :)

I'm pretty sure that the server needs to run Blastcore for the AI vision block to take effect since the AI are run by the server.

[=[TTK]= memphis007 10]

Signature of the mod is not working for multiplayer, this is still not fixed since ArmA II, please consider it quickly or no one will be able to use your mod on signature activated servers (and most of them have it enabled)

[artisanal 22]

Yet another white-knight who parachuted himself into the thread without using the search function. :party:

Hold on OS !