ARMA addons

[soul_assassin 1750]

alot of controversy it seems over the name of the tool, i just typed O3 so that it is DESTINGUISHABLE from the current O2 For all i care it could be called doodles i'd still use it.

Quote[/b] ]

Does that mean that we will be able to for example move only an arm, while the rest of the body just walks left/right/whatever, while just creating an anim for that arm instead of 3000 different anims for every direction/stance?

Quote[/b] ]so it would be possible to make, say, a starwars ATST to walk and it would still be possible for it to turn it's head?

an ATST is a good example. a better one would be an ATAT with its hinged legs, so you could have a proper walking animation.

[dm 9]

Was only being pedantic

As for the animations thing, not that I'm a starwars nerd or anything, but the ATST has hinged legs too

But yeah, it means all sorts of things can be done, like proper crane arms, loading ramps that hinge in more than one place, turrets within turrets, mine flails etc etc

Should open up a lot of options for new addons

[andersson 285]

About this "high poly" talk, I thought arma will use about the same polycount as ofp but use another mapping technique that makes it look good? So called normal mapping. I can be wrong though..

I`m afraid that addonmakers start making highpoly addons that fits better in photos than in gameplay...

Normal mapping, is that "easy" so addonmakers in general can use that method instead of compensating with performance killing polys??

[Delirium 0]

About this "high poly" talk, I thought arma will use about the same polycount as ofp but use another mapping technique that makes it look good? So called normal mapping. I can be wrong though..

I`m afraid that addonmakers start making highpoly addons that fits better in photos than in gameplay...

Normal mapping, is that "easy" so addonmakers in general can use that method instead of compensating with performance killing polys??

Come on. You are aware that PC industry progressed since OFP release and it can handle much more these days.

It would be a valid point for developers to make ARMA Vista compatible as it is said (I know it has been said many times before) to come out this year.

I would recomend making higher poly models and higher resolution normal maps as the opposite looks crap.

And, to cut the graphics crap, simulation includes visual resemblense.

[Espectro (DayZ) 0]

I would love to see some proper mechwarriors, or simply just use the new technology to create nice animated tanks.

**Imagines a carrier ship fully functioning with nice animations**

[dm 9]

Come on. You are aware that PC industry progressed since OFP release and it can handle much more these days.

It would be a valid point for developers to make ARMA Vista compatible as it is said (I know it has been said many times before) to come out this year.

I would recomend making higher poly models and higher resolution normal maps as the opposite looks crap.

And, to cut the graphics crap, simulation includes visual resemblense.

The other side of the coin is that those extra polys available from more powerful hardware could be used to add more objects into the environment.

Would you rather have 5 25,000 polys tanks and 100 5000 poly bushes, or 50 2,500 poly tanks and 10,000 50 poly bushes? (ok, a little extreme but you get the point)

I think its safe to say that ArmA WILL support higher poly counts, but I believe that it would be better to use these "extra" polys to populate the environment rather than model the chips in the paintwork or the wires between the dials on the dashboard.

As for Vi$ta, fat chance we'll be seeing it until 2007 at the earliest, plus there are a whole heap of issues with directX10, which requires Vi$ta to run, unlike the previous dx's which were windows independant (ok not 3.1 but, 95/ME/NT/XP) so if you make your game dx10 it can ONLY run on machines with Window$ Vi$ta on it. This will instantly alienate a HUGE chunk of players, as not everyone can afford the necessary upgrades to run Vi$ta.

People seem to be driven more and more by "pretty" things rather than seeing the bigger picture. And your recommendation clearly shows that. Ok, some games might be prettier, but what other game offers the scale and scope of OFP/AmrA (flogging a dead horse here, but still) You try FarCry "prettiness" on the OFP scale, any PC will just fall over and die under the load.

You must remember that simulation also includes the environment AROUND the unit

[Edit] Some interesting reading is the Steam Hardware Survey, which shows that a very small portion of the "gaming community" (yes this is only a small section of all gamers, but it is quite representative) are using high end harware, the vast majority being in the mid range, which while capable isnt the sort of hardware needed to run even 2 year old games (like HL2) at top spec. Just something to think about...[/Edit]

[Edit 2]

I`m afraid that addonmakers start making highpoly addons that fits better in photos than in gameplay...

They already have [/Edit 2]

[Delirium 0]

Ok Dead. Wouldn't you agree that todays mid-range PC is a far better than it used to be 2-4 years ago.

I agree that it'd be nice to populate the environment some more but it is still a game and it is still about combat simulation. This is why I wouldn't put 50=50 weight distribution on game units and environment population.

It isn't a Simcity for Christ sakes. It would be nice to have population like that some day, though. All of them unscripted, just reacting to local situation. An urban fight with all of those chicken-like citizens running around. Ehhh, dreaming...

[dm 9]

Ok Dead. Wouldn't you agree that todays mid-range PC is a far better than it used to be 2-4 years ago.

I agree that it'd be nice to populate the environment some more but it is still a game and it is still about combat simulation. This is why I wouldn't put 50=50 weight distribution on game units and environment population.

Yeah, I do agree that the technology HAS moved on. But I think people are still hung up on graphical prettiness of the "hero" units (those which you play and interact with) Sure its nice to have them photo realistic and such, but if it is at the expense of the environment I would rather sacrifice the detail on the player than the detail in the environment.

And I'm not specifically talking about other "people" in the environment. Look at OFP - the terrain is barren. Sure there are bushes here and there, forest blocks scattered around and the odd "town" but realistically speaking they were pathetic. The terrain offered little to no cover, if you were caught in the open, that it, you were screwed, few bushes to hid in, no ditches, no undulation of the terrain (yeah there was the "very high" terrain detail setting, but thats not achievable with this engine). The "towns" consisted of a dozen houses, fine for a small farm, but not for a "town" with "10,000 people in it." ALL of which would be better use for the extra processing power than modelling the acne on random private #7's face.

For that reason I'd weight the game unit/environment distribution more like 25:75 or even 10:90.

Something to think about

[Friedchiken 0]

As a now college student, I now bow towards developers that support "low-end" computers.  While a really good desktop system is well within my financial reach, I need too much cash to buy a laptop of similar specs (need to take this thing to the airport).

The customization for low-textures low-LODs low-Shaders, ect is the main criteria when I buy a game nowadays.  Games like GRAW and Oblivion absolute do not work on either of my rigs, and I'm better off buying an XBOX 360, which is excessive since it doesn't write my essays and reports.

And for the record, OFP, HL2, America's Army, and Red Orchestra work fantastically on my laptop.

1.6Ghz, 512MB RAM, X300 64MB Radeon

Scalability is important, and if a certain graphical feature doesn't allow that, I think its a terrible idea.

I also agree that I prefer object counts over detail.  You do not look at a tree, just to miss the forest.  Where on earth have the collective imaginations of gamers gone?  What happened to the days where gamers were able to ignore the eye-burning pixels and imagine a world for more expansive than the monitor screen?  Physics is phun though.

BTW, the nice thing about buying "classic" games is that after years pass, you can pick up these now-senior games and play them on full crank, while enjoying phenomenal frame rates.  And you contributed to the early release success of the game too!

A bad example, but now I can play Morrowind at full blast on this funky laptop.

It's a bad example because I sort of hate the gameplay of that RPG (Baldur's Gate II was better IMO). And the max view distance is nothing compared to Flashpoint.

[Apache-LOL- 0]

@ June 01 2006,21:49)]ukranianboy dont come here and post that crap like you do most of the times...if u eventually read my question, i asked who's working on 3d models to be used in arma, and in that case to show them here.

and if u bother to post crap like that at least point the threads links so we can see. but it's no need...i know what threads are that, and no, they arent exactly what i'm talking here.

i'm sory if i sounded rude, but this isnt the 1st time i see this crap happening. so can we plz keep the thread talk here? TY

BergHoff that link u posted give me a dam weird screenshot...but the funny thing is, by this afternoon i saw the same pic and worked fine...maybe the error is here duno..

but that's the only screenshot (3dmax rendering) of something being done to arma. and it looks awsome!

That ukranianboy is a nutter is never saw him post a normal reaction or post himself he remind me of a player called kypok and a other dude .

But for ArmA addons iam working with 3dmax a lot also made some maps for Vietcong in the pas drawing fully in max .

But its hard to make something for ArmA because the game is not out yet ,,,,, so let see wot possibility's the game have when it is released ..

Anyway there should be 3d max compatibility accourding to the interviews i have wred .

Greetings

[Placebo 29]

@ June 08 2006,16:09)]That ukranianboy is a nutter

Please refrain from flaming/flame baiting.

[Sennacherib 0]

france is in the 505 area, so i need to wait Q1 2007. but if i want to create a soldier. can I do it like that? (i take this example from the BW-mod: http://ofp.gamepark.cz/news/pics3/panorama1.jpg i mean with the standard position. that will work in the new oxygen 2?. or as in ofp, the soldier will have his own position.

sorry i didn't find any replies for this question

[Ian Malcolm 0]

france is in the 505 area, so i need to wait Q1 2007. but if i want to create a soldier. can I do it like that? (i take this example from the BW-mod: http://ofp.gamepark.cz/news/pics3/panorama1.jpg i mean with the standard position. that will work in the new oxygen 2?. or as in ofp, the soldier will have his own position.

sorry i didn't find any replies for this question

Because of the new animations i guess the basic pose will be different (the old one was pretty bad anyway). So we should wait until somebody will show us the new one. On the other hand it should be easy to adjust any character in some classic basic modeling pose (for example the T) into any other possible one when we will finally discover wich one was used by BIS.

[Sennacherib 0]

well, thx, i just hope now, that we will have a good pose for the soldier