Battery Mod by Flyinpenguin WIP

[flyinpenguin 30]

Battery Mod: By Flyinpenguin

What is it?

This mod will introduce the necessity for batteries for certain devices used in game. These devices are: night vision goggles, flashlights, powered scopes (such as thermal), and IR lasers.

How will this change my game?

This addition will require you to pick up a battery to attach to devices applicable. Once the battery is attached, you will have about an hour's worth of time until the battery runs out. Of course, without a battery, the device won't work. Also, you will be able to extract the batteries from enemy devices. They have the possibility of being slightly used.

Will there be different types of batteries?

Possibly. There are two different methods I am toying with at the moment. One is need for a battery per item (possible two types, one for attachments, one for items.) The other is one battery to power them all. Still deciding on that one.

What will the release schedule be like?

The mod will be released in stages. The first version will be designed to perfect the battery integration and scripting. As this is the case, only night vision goggles will be supported at first. As the progress is made, more devices will be included for the mod.

Videos

I hope this mod sounds at least intriguing. Work is currently being made on, creating the model for the battery, and the scripting. There will be updates in this section as to the progress of the mod.

I would appreciate any criticism on the idea for the mod or any suggestions people may have!

Edited September 11, 2014 by flyinpenguin

[haleks 8206]

Great idea!

Looking forward to the release. ;)

[warlord554 2065]

Cool concept. But modern day nvgs will last much longer than an hour ;)

[flyinpenguin 30]

Cool concept. But modern day nvgs will last much longer than an hour ;)

I know... and I hate that I have to break realism for the mod, but if I put it at the realistic time frame, you would never have to replace the battery as no mission ever lasts that long.

[Dr_Defimus 10]

maybe make it possible to reduce the battery life time by missionmaker so you can start your mision with neraly all power uesd up ....

[warlord554 2065]

Ha it's all good brother def adds another level of immersion. Keep up the good work. Something I've always thought would be interesting is random equipment failure, forcing operators to improvise

[flyinpenguin 30]

Well there you go. Add a module that lets mission makers define starting battery life and have the option for random equipment failure. I shall add it into my plan.

I did forget to mention that I will probably have every piece of equipment start with a battery already attached. So you will not have to remember to grab and attach a battery, only remember an extra battery if you use that one too much. I know all to well how that can become an annoyance rather than an added realism.

Edit: actually, I will add that into the userconfig/module to either start with a battery or need to equip one.

Edited August 31, 2014 by flyinpenguin

[acta13 10]

It would be working like Dayz?

[flyinpenguin 30]

It would be working like Dayz?

No. To my understanding, batteries last forever in dayz. Also, Arma 3 does not have a right-click ability in the inventory system. So it will most likely be done through the scroll menu at first. The battery will be removed from your inventory when equipped and the empty battery will be discarded. If the battery still had a bit of a charge, it will be put into your inventory and retain its correct power remaining.

[bad benson 1733]

I know... and I hate that I have to break realism for the mod, but if I put it at the realistic time frame, you would never have to replace the battery as no mission ever lasts that long.

i wouldn't worry about this too much for two reasons.

1. interesting gameplay > realism

2. there is a time acceleration command now. so if you wanted you could actually base the whole thing on actual mission time (the one that your watch shows) rather than just a general timer. then it would still not be realistic but one could simulate several days of patrol and the supply management that comes with it without having to actually play several days :D

[flyinpenguin 30]

i wouldn't worry about this too much for two reasons.

1. interesting gameplay > realism

2. there is a time acceleration command now. so if you wanted you could actually base the whole thing on actual mission time (the one that your watch shows) rather than just a general timer. then it would still not be realistic but one could simulate several days of patrol and the supply management that comes with it without having to actually play several days :D

I don't think im going to use the time acceleration command. :( I think there would be too many ways to beat that system and make the battery depletion output become all weird (people would all have their NVG's turn off at the exact same time). I will however support mission makers being able to force time depletion on all equipped battery's. I will try to include some documentation on how to do this.

[bad benson 1733]

I don't think im going to use the time acceleration command. :( I think there would be too many ways to beat that system and make the battery depletion output become all weird (people would all have their NVG's turn off at the exact same time). I will however support mission makers being able to force time depletion on all equipped battery's. I will try to include some documentation on how to do this.

i think you misunderstood. what i meant is instead of doing..

while {bla} do

{

variable = 10;

sleep 10;

variable = variable - 1;

};

you could take the simulated time instead and check that and make the battery deplete according to how it changed. that way you could make it slower and people could tweak it according to their needs by using the time acceleration command in their mission.

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/date

read this to understand what i meant. maybe you already do that. just an idea to make it more flexible.

[flyinpenguin 30]

i think you misunderstood. what i meant is instead of doing..

while {bla} do

{

variable = 10;

sleep 10;

variable = variable - 1;

};

you could take the simulated time instead and check that and make the battery deplete according to how it changed. that way you could make it slower and people could tweak it according to their needs by using the time acceleration command in their mission.

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/date

read this to understand what i meant. maybe you already do that. just an idea to make it more flexible.

First, I want to say THANK YOU! This is the kind of back and forth feedback stuff that I love and need. It helps both me, define, add, or change aspects about the mod I would have otherwise not thought of; and hopefully, all of you to get an idea of what this mod is going to be, and to get a say in it as well. So again Thank you! Now onto my response.

I hear what you are saying. My issue is this.

A platoon is under seige by infantry contacts. The mission goes on for a while and players have left on their battery for NVG's. The mission progresses and the time jumps to act like they have been doing that all night. Suddenly everyone's NVG's goes dark at the same time

Thats the situation I want to avoid. If everyone turns their NVG's on at the same time, their NVG's will not run out of battery at the same time because every battery is different and every NVG uses a very slight more or very slight less amount of power. Onto another situation

People are sitting around at base. Mission time was set to 2100. Everyone has already grabbed NVG's and batteries and are using them. Mission time advances to 0400. Now everyone needs to go grab another set of batteries.

That would be annoying. So hopefully that makes sense why I am not doing that. It will run down on a custom made ticker that will be available for mission makers to mess with if they desire. I dont believe I could accurately predict what mission makers would want to happen when they advance time. Im not trying to shut down your suggestion, im hopefully conveying my current thought process on it.

Edited September 3, 2014 by flyinpenguin

[bad benson 1733]

you are overthinking :D

let me put it like this. use ingame seconds instead of real world seconds. that doesn't neccessarily mean everyone would be synced all the time. that depends more on how you approach it from the technical standpoint (actual code). i thought for example that battery life would also depend on if the NVGs are turned on or not. i'm not a realism at any cost kind of guy anyways so i'd even like to see something like a cool down almost like having NVGs turned on for a long time eating more battery than having it on occasionally only when you really need it. also using another type of time units doesn't mean that you can't use randomness to make it less predictable.

anyways. i'm just sharing my thoughts. it's not like i want you to make it exactly like that. i barely play the game so be sure i'm not trying to push you into making something after my personal preference. the whole mission time (probably the wrong term anyways) concept is just the thought i had when someone said it would be unrealistic.

i don't want to annoy you since i'm sure it will be a fun thing either way. just brain storming after i stumbled upon this thread since i thought the whole idea behind it is pretty cool.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Bad Benson

[flyinpenguin 30]

you are overthinking :D

let me put it like this. use ingame seconds instead of real world seconds. that doesn't neccessarily mean everyone would be synced all the time. that depends more on how you approach it from the technical standpoint (actual code). i thought for example that battery life would also depend on if the NVGs are turned on or not. i'm not a realism at any cost kind of guy anyways so i'd even like to see something like a cool down almost like having NVGs turned on for a long time eating more battery than having it on occasionally only when you really need it. also using another type of time units doesn't mean that you can't use randomness to make it less predictable.

anyways. i'm just sharing my thoughts. it's not like i want you to make it exactly like that. i barely play the game so be sure i'm not trying to push you into making something after my personal preference. the whole mission time (probably the wrong term anyways) concept is just the thought i had when someone said it would be unrealistic.

i don't want to annoy you since i'm sure it will be a fun thing either way. just brain storming after i stumbled upon this thread since i thought the whole idea behind it is pretty cool.

Trust me, not possible to annoy me.. wait.. i shouldn't invite trolls ;)

Anyways, I think I get what you are saying a bit more. And yes, the battery will not drain while you are not using the NVG's. It will only drain while they are active.

I have also been messing around with starting values. Aka, batteries will all start with a charge within a certain range that count as full battery. So one battery may last longer than another. Also, NVG's will drain battery charge at slightly different levels. Of course nothing will be so extreme that it will last for 5 hours or only last 5 min. It will likely result in outliers of 50min to 70min of time available when its all said and done.

Yeah, I think I thought you were talking about something completely different and went off on a huge tangent... XD, I do that sometimes.

Onto another idea I have been tossing around. You know that sound that is quite common in video games when you turn on an NVG?

Im thinking of adding this.

[bad benson 1733]

Onto another idea I have been tossing around. You know that sound that is quite common in video games when you turn on an NVG?

oh please yes! i could swear i heard that sound in the first bohemia zeus stream when they turned on the NVG mode when in zeus mode. are you planning on adding a little HUD for the battery life?

[cifordayzserver 119]

You can create right click context menu's on the existing items in your inventory (in arma2 at least), EHDSeven did it for our inventory crafting system on DayZ Sahrani, I can't provide much detail, but it's all publicly accessible here:

https://github.com/CiFor/DayZ_Sahrani/blob/1.1.0/SQF/dayz_code/actions/player_Craft.sqf

You should be able to do the same thing for A3 I'd assume.

[flyinpenguin 30]

oh please yes! i could swear i heard that sound in the first bohemia zeus stream when they turned on the NVG mode when in zeus mode. are you planning on adding a little HUD for the battery life?

still thinking about it. I know I am going to make it dim slightly as it gets weaker. Still not sure if a hud icon for battery life is a good idea. Anyone with experience with NVG's know if some or any of them have a battery indicator?

You can create right click context menu's on the existing items in your inventory (in arma2 at least), EHDSeven did it for our inventory crafting system on DayZ Sahrani, I can't provide much detail, but it's all publicly accessible here:

https://github.com/CiFor/DayZ_Sahrani/blob/1.1.0/SQF/dayz_code/actions/player_Craft.sqf

You should be able to do the same thing for A3 I'd assume.

Unfortunately, you cannot in Arma 3... :( I would totally do it otherwise.

[bad benson 1733]

well i guess the NVGs could get darker or something instead of a HUD. maybe use an overlay or ppeffect.

[flyinpenguin 30]

Here is the progress so far.

[Capt Harden 0]

I dont suppose this mode was ever released? We are looking for exactly this to ad to our private Liberation server. Cool concept.. hoping the mod developer will pick this up again!

[IS-7j 0]

If you ever were to return to this page and see this, just know that I am willing to pay you to finish this mod. My unit is in dire need of a mod like this one; and is willing to do just about anything for it.