VBS2/3 Discussion thread - the one and only

[captncaps 26]

Wow, that really sucks.

Are they sure they don't want our extra money?

I would really like to have VBS...

[Flax 397]

I know what you mean but excuse me my 26GB download just finished VBS3 testing time.... Muhahaha

[chortles 263]

You can hang onto "at this stage" (specifically, "we will not be releasing VBS3 PE for sale at this stage, except to academic institutions", but the fact is that until that post, BISim was publicly ambiguous about whether there'd be any provision for VBS3 PE at all.

P.S. Going through the user's manual, and it's certainly more evolutionary than revolutionary...

[Gruman 123]

Been playing arround a bit. As Chrotles said, nothing revolutionary.

From a mission developers standpoint VBS is top notch. RTE help out a lot.

From a players perspective... its Arma 1 with some goodies. Other than the walk in cargo function and the ability to use 20000VD when in the air (because of the new rendering of distance objects) its one step forward, 10 steps back.

Btw... forget about this beautifull map shown in

. Its not available, since its just a showcase. Currently you have Sahrani, Porto, Prison, Takistan, Takistan with 127kmx127km of desert all arround and some example biotops, which are just ... low detailed.

Enjoy your times in Arma 3. Add the assets from the modding communities and you will have a much better expierience.

VBS is for training, not to "enjoy" at home. Do not think VBS is more realistic and better... It's isnt. It's just focused on the military usage in training.

Best regards

[papanowel 120]

What is really missing in VBS3 is a new walking/running animation.

Edited August 9, 2014 by Papanowel

[Flax 397]

I agree with swissMAG completely. ArmA 3 with mods is by far the better game (and dont forget VBS isn't a game). ArmA 3 looks better, has some really nice features that aren't in VBS and will only improve with time and DLC's. So don't feel you are missing out on anything.

[jsmuk 13]

You can hang onto "at this stage" (specifically, "we will not be releasing VBS3 PE for sale at this stage, except to academic institutions", but the fact is that until that post, BISim was publicly ambiguous about whether there'd be any provision for VBS3 PE at all.

P.S. Going through the user's manual, and it's certainly more evolutionary than revolutionary...

To be fair hanging onto "at this stage" wouldn't be too unreasonable, don't forget that they changed their mind on upgrading previous customers.

[Alpha Whiskey Romeo 17]

What is really missing in VBS3 is a new walking/running animation.

Yeah, it's just still too clunky for gaming purposes. Still fun to toy around in though.

[captncaps 26]

Well, I still hope we get at least a few features from VBS in ArmA4...

I would really like to see that armor simulation, gore, resting weapons (I mean... for real BI!?) :P

also a few other things (like rivers, why has arma no rivers!? It's not like they are rare in nature...)

[kdub40k 12]

Does anyone know if community base addons (CBA) work with vbs 2 or vbs 3?

[miketim 20]

I would assume not..

Why would you need it?

I never used anything besides jcove lite, but I assume it has some more advanced abilities, especially with external interaction (the type of stuff cba does) because it interacts with like 30 other programs and tons of other software crap if I remember correctly.

Also it probably has a whole library of crap that makes cba obsolete.

[simon1279 52]

I remind you: VBS ain't for gaming purposes, it's a training tool not a game, and it really contains all the stuff for what it is designed for, you can't compare a training tool with an entertainment product (game), you would need it if you 'd like to have a real sim, you wouldn't need it if you're looking for a game such as ArmA 3 is

[noubernou 77]

Yep, and in some ways Arma 3 is more "realistic" than VBS because training doesn't need the "realism" to actually train.

[jsmuk 13]

I would assume not..

Why would you need it?

I never used anything besides jcove lite, but I assume it has some more advanced abilities, especially with external interaction (the type of stuff cba does) because it interacts with like 30 other programs and tons of other software crap if I remember correctly.

Also it probably has a whole library of crap that makes cba obsolete.

It does have a lot of stuff that makes CBA obsolete but it doesn't mean stuff that requires CBA will magically work without it.. If I recall correctly anyway it kind of did work. At least that was a while ago.

[noubernou 77]

VBS still doesn't implement anything like extended event handlers... It makes developing for VBS way harder than it should be, especially when you do not know what other products your product is going to be running with.

[papanowel 120]

New video:

[eliott 10]

omg, vbs3 is just totally awesome :O

[miketim 20]

I just was playing some vbs2 jcove lite, wow the ai is awesome, 300 civvies and they run in crowds, angry ones even tried rushing a tank... :cool:

And all the buildings are enterable, they must've done a lot more to the engine than a lot of you guys seem to think..

Anyway jcove lite is actually really cool gameplay wise,

If anyone wants jcove lite, PM me or add me on steam ( MikeTim), me and my friends have a torrent going

(Before anyone freaks out, it's freeware)

[chortles 263]

New video:

From what I recall, wasn't this basically one of the US Army Games For Training contract requirements? If so, that highlights how VBS3 development differs from Arma 3 development...

@ MikeTim: Actually, I gave JCOVE Lite a shot in years past, and it wore its "ArmA 1 derived" flag even more blatantly than VBS3 does... unfortunately though, other your description of the AI, I remember JCOVE Lite being mostly the (inferior as a game) user experience of VBS without the content development tools/benefits that were VBS's real far-and-away advantage over Arma, and presumably without the third-party applications support that is also part of the VBS 'advantage'... to be expected because JCOVE Lite was supposed to be a recruiting tool the way America's Army was supposed to be, but still...

[miketim 20]

The best parts of JCOVE lite is the map, which is a pretty big iraq city map that is fun to fight in,

Also the fact that I can place like 100 ai and it wont go to 2 fps and crash like arma 2/arma 3 will

The editor is pretty suck because no modules, but overall its fun to dick around in with friends who are familiar with arma, fun to try out the features and all that stuff, its not super amazing but its free and only 2 gb so I enoucrage anyone who is always freaking out about VBS but hasnt played it, to play it so they can understand the differences etc

[Laid3acK 79]

Pointman interface by the US Naval Research Laboratory for USMC :

https://bisimulations.com/showcase/us-marine-corps

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointman_(user_interface)

[denco 16]

Pointman interface by the US Naval Research Laboratory for USMC :

https://bisimulations.com/showcase/us-marine-corps

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointman_(user_interface)

No offense to you J3Aleine but this is the most retarded thing I've ever seen.

[JimT 10]

Regarding the Pointman user interface:

No offense to you J3Aleine but this is the most retarded thing I've ever seen.

It gives you more control over your avatar.

What is there about the interface that you don’t like?

-JimT

[chortles 263]

I think the idea was specifically designed around the assumption of use with a PS3/XB360-style controller and therefore working around the limitations of such a controller without resorting to mouse and keyboard...

[JimT 10]

I think the idea was specifically designed around the assumption of use with a PS3/XB360-style controller and therefore working around the limitations of such a controller without resorting to mouse and keyboard...

Pointman was primarily designed around providing a form of virtual locomotion control capable of supporting tactical infantry movement: moving with respect to cover & concealment. That includes pie-ing corners, moving to & taking cover, and peeking around & shooting from behind cover. The human ability of redirecting the heading (the direction the body faces) and adjusting the course (direction of movement w.r.t. the body) while moving at different speeds & in different postures is quite demanding. Yet that is required for scanning with the weapon at the ready on the move.

The Immersive Simulation Lab at NRL explored a variety of entirely leg based virtual locomotion techniques, including stepping-in-place (while standing) and sliding the feet on the floor (while seated). But in the end these approaches were deemed either too awkward to use or too demanding to learn to use in order to perform realistic tactical infantry movement.

The adoption of a seated interface was motivated by the desire to perform squad level training in a classroom setting.

The gamepad (PS3/XB360-style controller) was originally selected because it could be used while wearing a fully immersive head-mounted display. But HMD’s have been slow to evolve and one-to-one head coupled view control worked well in practice, especially for aiming. Having a pair of thumb sticks available to directionally control the course & heading goes a long way to supporting pie-ing/scanning movements. Outside of the thumb sticks, the gamepad serves mainly as a weapon controller.

-JimT