ARMA3 - useful knowledge

[redarmy 420]

So, i had a thought about this...sharing what experience i have as a mission maker,optimizer and general Arma3 enthusiast.

My 3000+ hours has led me to learn many things including bugs,mechanics,quality of life tricks etc etc.

 

Most of these things pertain to the editor/mission design but cross over into "ingame" usefull tips.

 

I want to share some things,i hope others can contribute too..as we have had many years and much has been learned.

 

1(long time bug) AI (wether AI or player ordered) cannot rearm if they are carrying a pistol.

2(feature?) Squad leaders make too heavy use of binoculars(even in combat)

3(feature) AI will lase targets..however AI air support will actively lock onto laser(even if lasing unit is pointing laser 5 feet in front of himself,and usually does) and kill friendlies

4(feature) Squad AI walk around fences/some objects. Non squad AI phase through most things(performance?)

5(feature) "this enableAttack false;" can prevent groups(handy for vehicles) from leaving WP's in order to engage enemies(they still engage but adhere to WP's)

6(bug/feature) crashing a helo as pilot with passangers inside and causing them all to die will make you hostile to those sides units(important if you get revived)

7(feature) you can use "passive resting" on soldiers

8(feature/bug) to have corpse collector work you need to save/reload scenario

9(feature) AI will use grenades/40mm more often if they have more in inventory(this is unproven,just observed by me in testing)

10 (BUG)T-140Angarra K will not use auto cannon against low flying Helo's(possible issue relating to Helo speed,tested with helo on gaurd WP)

11(FIX) AI drive better when you place real objects next to editor buildings as they register them and avoid them.

12(FIX) Support for logistics is broken.To have actual logistics,use a logi truck(ammo/repair etc) in the virtual support air transport module...Truck will spawn in Air but damage will be handled and disabled until after truck is touching ground.

 

Thats off top of my head. if you have any other ones,share. Always useful info going around because even with thousands of hours in editor im learning new things and most of them by testing and stumbling on them.

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

there are many many ...

 

to kick it off, a small one:

 

if you are having trouble with AI spawning inside rocks, use this function on spawned units.

_unit setVehiclePosition [(getPosASL _unit),[],10,'NONE'];

it will put them ontop of the rock instead of under. careful not to use this on units placed in buildings, as it will put them on the roof!

 

so it would look like this:

 

_unit = (creategroup west) createUnit ['b_soldier_f',<spawn position>,[],0,'NONE'];    // maybe spawned inside a rock
_unit setVehiclePosition [(getPosASL _unit),[],0,'NONE'];                              // will set them ontop of the rock

.....

 

One other. If you want to nerf thermals in your mission, use "setDate" to change the month to december (winter). terrain is colder so contrast will be so high that it is not useful.

[redarmy 420]

13 minutes ago, fn_Quiksilver said:

there are many many ...

 

to kick it off, a small one:

 

if you are having trouble with AI spawning inside rocks, use this function on spawned units.

_unit setVehiclePosition [(getPosASL _unit),[],10,'NONE'];

it will put them ontop of the rock instead of under. careful not to use this on units placed in buildings, as it will put them on the roof!

 

so it would look like this:

 

_unit = (creategroup west) createUnit ['b_soldier_f',<spawn position>,[],0,'NONE'];    // maybe spawned inside a rock
_unit setVehiclePosition [(getPosASL _unit),[],0,'NONE'];                              // will set them ontop of the rock

.....

 

One other. If you want to nerf thermals in your mission, use "setDate" to change the month to december (winter). terrain is colder so contrast will be so high that it is not useful.

Very nice. i do wish there was a perf friendly way of detecting if AI are stuck in rocks via WP'S/ARMA2 buildings,as this happens alot on Malden/Takistan buildings

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

2 minutes ago, redarmy said:

Very nice. i do wish there was a perf friendly way of detecting if AI are stuck in rocks via WP'S/ARMA2 buildings,as this happens alot on Malden/Takistan buildings

 

you can check for AI that are not in combat and not moving, despite having waypoints. if they not moving then use line detection for overhead objects. if the object has "rock" in the model name then set the bot up, and save that position to server profile as a "problem spot". over time you'll have a short list of problem areas to not spawn stuff in

[redarmy 420]

5 minutes ago, fn_Quiksilver said:

 

you can check for AI that are not in combat and not moving, despite having waypoints. if they not moving then use line detection for overhead objects. if the object has "rock" in the model name then set the bot up, and save that position to server profile as a "problem spot". over time you'll have a short list of problem areas to not spawn stuff in

This is real?? holy hell. i didnt realise. Extremely helpful

[redarmy 420]

also coordinates 0,0,0,(botom left of map) is the debug corner. often times one man named east hq, one man named west hq and one named idependant hq get spawned here. as well as hidden logics and other stuff.

 

its creating an awful issue for me where planes set on gaurd WP will directly fly to bottom left of map(and vehicles drive there if terrain is all land) and just fly around,is there any way to fix this or would creating a trigger to delete all units at 0,0,0, break something?

 

edit: planes even NOT on gaurd waypoints fly and loiter there.

[Harzach 2507]

2 minutes ago, redarmy said:

often times one man named east hq, one man named west hq and one named idependant hq get spawned here

 

These should be hidden and have simulation disabled. They are just there to create centers. I still use them out of habit, but I don't think they are required in A3. See createCenter.

[redarmy 420]

4 minutes ago, Harzach said:

 

These should be hidden and have simulation disabled. They are just there to create centers. I still use them out of habit, but I don't think they are required in A3. See createCenter.

Anyway to disable them? because even though they are disabled sumulation they cause all planes to fly there wether they have a gaurd WP or not and it also causes any helos/boats to fly sail there. presuming west is seeing east and gaurd WP is activating

 

would creating a centre for west somewhere else fix the issue?

[Harzach 2507]

Open the mission in the editor and uncheck everything in the "special states" tab on each unit's attributes page.

 

Or, just delete them.

 

If you look at the createCenter entry I linked, you'll see that A3 creates all side centers automatically, so these units are redundant. If they are referenced by scripts or are synced to modules, however, then just do the first thing.

[redarmy 420]

4 minutes ago, Harzach said:

Open the mission in the editor and uncheck everything in the "special states" tab on each unit's attributes page.

 

Or, just delete them.

 

If you look at the createCenter entry I linked, you'll see that A3 creates all side centers automatically, so these units are redundant. If they are referenced by scripts in the mission, however, then just do the first thing.

in the mission editor?? they only appear ingame (hence the issue) not following your solution.

[Harzach 2507]

2 minutes ago, redarmy said:

in the mission editor?? they only appear ingame (hence the issue) not following your solution.

 

Well, you're probably going to have to share the mission file, then. Scripting them into place like that defeats the purpose of having them.

[redarmy 420]

7 minutes ago, Harzach said:

 

Well, you're probably going to have to share the mission file, then. Scripting them into place like that defeats the purpose of having them.

No i think your missunderstanding what the issue actually is. it doesnt matter what i do in EDEN editor. when i load the game these 3 entities called west HQ IND HQ and EAST HQ are in the water,invisible with sim disabled(hidden) a coordinates 0,0,0. I can actually see them by opening zeus and delete them even,but i dont want to have to do that and am concerned that doing so will break something(they must be there for a reason).

 

 [0,0,0] is known as "Debug Corner". The default position param for all arma spawn functions is [0,0,0]. This includes waypoints as well. 

 

This is normal in Arma has always been there. The issue is that other units on gaurd waypoints are finding out about them and travelling to 0,0,0 and its breaking the mission.

[Harzach 2507]

I am aware of these things. I also understand that they do not exist when you open the mission in the editor. They are being created by a script, which is silly, since the point of having them is to avoid scripting side centers.

 

I want to see the mission file so I can understand why they are being created this way, if the reason is other than creating centers.