Noubers action menu replacement

[DankestM114 10]

This is a Discussion, NOT a release thread for Noubers (potential) addon.

Noubers uploaded a video demonstrating an alternative to the Action Menu. Personally I can't wait for this to be released, what are the communities thoughts?

LINK:

[kgino1045 12]

need more good demomstration video clips.

such as what icon will pop up when car is parked right next to door and there are many items spread on the floor? how can we interact with this? should we search another icon for get in the car, open the door or grab some gear?

[Night 1]

But all it does it add a spiny thing to the existing menu :/

[haleks 8212]

It does more than that : action icons seem to be directly attached to the object, rather than in the middle of the screen.

It is such a basic idea (you see it in pretty much all video games nowadays) but it is so much more efficient than the dumb system we have right now...

At last you will be able to say exactly what object you are going to interact with (no more opening doors/climbing ladders behind you!).

Let's hope it is released soon!

Edited September 3, 2014 by Pepe Hal

[machineabuse 11]

That looks pretty powerful! Totally psyched for interacting with vehicle entry points! :) I hope this can be extended to other mods; I see lots of giggles letting air out of civilian's tyres heheheh. Maybe even the holy grail of clickable cockpits and cabin instruments!

[haleks 8212]

@Machineabuse : You might want to check Sakura's addon until this is released. ;)

[machineabuse 11]

@Machineabuse : You might want to check Sakura's addon until this is released. ;)

Cheers :) seems interesting!

[mordeaniischaos 3]

I don't want this for doors. AGM just binds opening doors to a key. That is by far my favorite solution for that. Doors shouldn't be a part of the same system as interacting with vehicles. This would be awesome for getting into vehicles in the spot you want to get into, stuff like that. Doors, not so much IMO. Curious where this will go though.

[kremator 1065]

I still miss the whole 'Get In' schematic we had (or were going to have) for vehicles !

[chortles 263]

I still miss the whole 'Get In' schematic we had (or were going to have) for vehicles !

If you're talking about the VBS-style screen... that's actually an action menu option ("Interact with <this vehicle>") so you're not entirely avoiding the action menu in VBS3. (Nevertheless, if you don't mind that part, within a week of the Arma 3 public alpha someone had already brought it over.)

[St. Jimmy 272]

I wonder if Sakura and Nouber got something going on together? Sakura already got pretty far with his mod but only published scriptless version. Action system replacement is the thing I'm waiting.

[serpicowasright 10]

This was right up the alley the Advanced Cockpit Interaction mod was going. Looked like he got pretty far but then dropped it.

All this new interaction stuff is really exciting. Improving the interaction would be resolving or improving something that has been going on since OFP.

[noubernou 77]

Heh, nice to see people psyched about this. Right now it is fully experimental though. It is meant to be a replacement to the action menu in general as much as possible. It is designed to drop into the current action menu definitions in vehicle configs, and hopefully with the default engine actions as well.

There are limitations though. As you noticed on the doors, the action location is stuck in the middle of the door frame. That is a limitation of the model, the action point is not actually attached to the door in BIS building models. This also applies to vehicles. Currently the engine uses proxy positions to locate where the actions should be on the model. With out the ability to inspect proxy information on a model this limits the functionality significantly. I plan to make a few feature ticket requests for some simple to implement commands to pull back proxy information from models (this would open up wide possibilities for addon makers).

Second, there is no way to actually disable the normal action menu short of removing the configs from vehicles, but that sort of defeats the purpose of this being a drop in replacement for the action menu.

Third, I am still trying to figure out a good way for interacting with yourself.

Finally, this is meant to go into CBA at some point and be an extension for use in other mods with an API for other mod makers. Remember, CBA is working to make your lives easier through coding standards and frameworks that help ensure quality content across the board and better, smoother gameplay for everyone.

---------- Post added at 01:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:47 PM ----------

Also here is a little demo video of the system more fully implemented when I started on it last fall. It kind of sat on the backburner while I worked on ACRE2 till the last couple of days when I was doing CQB drills with people in A3 and got fed up with the doors.

[enex 11]

I always wondered with picking up physical objects, another step would be possible - hand animation of gripping

object and carrying (rather magic flying).

[kremator 1065]

WOuld need some MOCAP or IK stuff to fulfill that wish enex, but I agree that it would look great.

Nou this looks wonderful mate!

[PenguinInATuxedo 18]

Hmm I feel like this is going to be in ACE for A3, The day that comes out will be a good day as angels will shout beams of light down from the heavens upon noubers majestic brow.

[Night 1]

I understand what you are trying to do now with the new video you put up. Makes way more sense to me now. Good work.

[das attorney 858]

nvm 5 chars

Edited September 4, 2014 by Das Attorney

[machineabuse 11]

That's looking pretty phenomenal Nou! Even if it is a non-diegetic approach it certainly looks like a more tactile and substantial way of doing interactions than messing with a scrollwheel. I particularly like that you're cascading through menus.

I wouldn't get too caught up with the doors though. As nice as it would be to be able to identify door handles it's not a game breaker. Hope that this beast is as extensible as it looks :)

[frederf 0]

NouberNou, you're doing God's work and I love the direction you're going but here's a related but different problem I've been having with the default action...

I hate where it's placed on the screen. I hate that I can be aimed down rifle sights and if someone walks within 900m of me with a backpack the WOULD YOU LIKE TO OPEN THIS BACKPACK!@?!?!?!!! comes on dead center in the screen. I see in the demo video your action icons are transitioning from 2D to 3D space and the 2D one is vanishing. That gives me hope that there is some clever way to make the 2D default action icon/text not so devastatingly obtrusive. Some code that requires a key press to show default action or to have your weapon lowered or require staring at for a small length of time or SOMETHING to counter the current disaster that is the default action UI element.

[noubernou 77]

NouberNou, you're doing God's work and I love the direction you're going but here's a related but different problem I've been having with the default action...

I hate where it's placed on the screen. I hate that I can be aimed down rifle sights and if someone walks within 900m of me with a backpack the WOULD YOU LIKE TO OPEN THIS BACKPACK!@?!?!?!!! comes on dead center in the screen. I see in the demo video your action icons are transitioning from 2D to 3D space and the 2D one is vanishing. That gives me hope that there is some clever way to make the 2D default action icon/text not so devastatingly obtrusive. Some code that requires a key press to show default action or to have your weapon lowered or require staring at for a small length of time or SOMETHING to counter the current disaster that is the default action UI element.

You are seeing the default one still, I can't disable it easily. Mine only shows up when you hold down the interact key.

It also does a depth search in terms of what ones are active, and I also plan to add in a LOS check to make it so if you can't see the interaction point (or close to it) then it wont show up.

[enex 11]

WOuld need some MOCAP or IK stuff to fulfill that wish enex, but I agree that it would look great.

Nou this looks wonderful mate!

I see yes, maybe there is mocaped animation for carrying somewhere stored unused? (Like mounting accessories animation for example)

[St. Jimmy 272]

I always wondered with picking up physical objects, another step would be possible - hand animation of gripping

object and carrying (rather magic flying).

Something like this is possible:

[enex 11]

Something like this is possible:

Yeah true, I was keeping close eye on sakura work, but then he decided to work on different addon.

I like they way it grabs cannister that is really next step for me.

(If ACE ever comes our way, that is one thing I would like to see - no more floating barrels and crates)