AnimationPhase and LOD bug

[[aps]gnat 28]

Heres one for the books cant find a report by any one of this .........

And it could explain the dedicated server bug also ....

OFP does not execute or phase-report correctly Animations if the current visible LOD does not contain the object to be animated .........

I found this out while I was testing attaching choppers to my frigates.

Visible doesn't actually mean with-field-of-view either. The bug acts the same if you have your back turned on the addon.

And if the object is not visible at all, the animation object must be in the highest (lowest quality) LOD otherwise it will fail to activate and report properly.

So why might this not been reported before? Possibly because no ones been trying to remotely toggle animations via scripts etc as I've been doing. They may have done there in-game testing up close and personal on the closest LOD.

I tripped over it because I was only using the animation as an On-Off switch.

I solved my problem by coping the named animation object from LOD 0.0 and pasting it into all other resolution LODs (and the pilot/cargo LODs just to be sure )

.... and the "dedicated server" comment, well ....stay with me on this. If the Server itself doesn't "display" the resolution LODs and they aren't "seen" locally then locally the reporting of the phase will never work.

sooooo ..... is there a LOD that the server DOES see ?

Now, can someone actually find a positive use for this bug .... LOL

[[aps]gnat 28]

Oh crap ........... its worst than that !!

Its directly related to the number you have dialed into your VISIBILITY slider under OPTIONS->VIDEO.

And you do have to be looking in the direction of the addon

Even if its behind a hill, so long as you are looking in that direction. $##@$#@$%#@$ .... crap, that sux.

So the condition is;

- Object less than "VISIBILITY #" distance away

- AND local user (server) is looking in direction of addon.

OK, off to test if there are other LODs I can add the animation object to so to get around this problem

BTW, I don't proclaim to be 100% correct at this stage, still experimenting/testing.

Any expreience in this, feel free to chip in

[UNN 0]

Quote[/b] ]So why might this not been reported before?

I mentioned it a while back in another thread, can't remember where exactly. But I noticed it while testing aircraft for my ATC stuff. If you tried to get more than one aircraft to takeoff at the same time, weird things started happening with the animations.

I did notice some aircraft did not appear to suffer the same way. But never got round to looking into it any further.

Quote[/b] ]OK, off to test if there are other LODs I can add the animation object to so to get around this problem

What about the memory LOD? In theory that should always be accessible.

[BraTTy 0]

Corsair F4U uses animations to keep track of kills.From my testing it works fine on regular server.Not tested on dedicated server

edit: just for the note I know you can animate geometry,maybe that helps

[Messiah 2]

its a known bug, blackblood came across it with his british stuff, and ive come across it when making a flashing light script.

[UNN 0]

In some respects, it's the logical thing to do. If animations were only every intended for visual effects, then there is no need to worry about them when out of sight. Same goes for things like the drop command and user actions. I can understand the view distance limit, but not the looking directly at, part.

Unless you can find an LOD that works all the time. Perhaps the only way round it, is to look for other ways to record these changes in state, global arrays, game logics or dummy weapons\mags. At least with Arma, that should not be such a big deal.

[[aps]gnat 28]

<span style='font-size:22pt;line-height:100%'>BINGO!</span>

I just needed to go one more LOD, the GEO LOD fixed my problem. I can now lock a chopper to the deck anywhere on the map. (Now I just gotta get AI to successfully use the "release" UserAction command )

Yep UNN, total agree, I can see exactly why they did it this way. The animation does actually catch up once you finally "look at" the addon. Shame it also works if your looking in its general direction cuz it could have been a very good "Has Seen" trigger.

I guess you can still do this if you limit your animation to the lower LODs, hence a "Has Seen (up close)" trigger.

I can also see why it now works when animation is in the GEO LOD, thats because it can cause the addon to interact with the environment around it, where as the Resolution LODs are purely visual only.

Now ..... does that mean animations will report correctly on a ded. server if you use the GEO LOD ? I might try that one day if someone hasn't/doesnt beat me to it

Got to give it to BIS, there is some AMAZING shyt built into OFP that truely makes it a repeatable experience and future-proofing genius. The flexibility does really outshine the few "bugs" it does have.

[LizardX 0]

Gnat @ Sep. 11 2006,13:13)]Got to give it to BIS, there is some AMAZING shyt built into OFP that truely makes it a repeatable experience and future-proofing genius. The flexibility does really outshine the few "bugs" it does have.

Aggreed! The OFP engine is MUCH MUCH better, has more freakin in-built features than a lot of people would think!