LOVE the game.. HATE the grass

[Scrub 0]

This is taken care of in 1.05 patch. And frankly (my origonal post messed up here so, sorry if it becomes a double) most player issues with grass indicate to me that the shooter needs to change position close to the edge of a road or grassy field, or to a hill as Albert and others mentioned. Either way, in the flats that comprise most of the green covered ArmA landscape, you have the same issues there were in Vietnam, or WWII in the fields of wheat and corn. Obscuring but hidden, or clear and exposed. Like real life.

If you get cought in the middle of a field, it's a pain in the ass. Like real life. It bugs me, but I've finally learned to check before crossing open spaces to avoid said PITA. (kudos to BIS for the PITA feature, it's a tactical marvel)

[R3MF 0]

Real grass isn't out of phase from our dimension so that it can't be trampled down to make a better firing position nor does it turn invisible at distances over 100 meters.

agreed, looking forward to the 1.05 patch.

[memnoch 0]

Personally I looove grass (in Arma at least).

It’s a great addition to the game atmosphere. The grass block your view ? So what ? It would do the same in real life.

That isn't the issue. The issue is that the enemy is not affected by it at all. It's like going into combat with a welding mask on!

[USSRsniper 0]

Grass blocking view realistic, but currenty when you are in grass you cant aim but guy far away can see you since grass only appears around the player(MP modem in single player Ai cans ee through grass)....

[Scrub 0]

Again, do check the 1.05 patch list. This is now fixed.

[Maximus_G 0]

*edit*

see this thread. last post on page got my hopes up. My post on that page (second from last) links to a pic of a possible solution, BIS may be doing something like that. Or I hope so.

Looks almost like a solution to me.

IMHO, 1 thing needs to be added. When you look beyond the point where the grass is no more rendered, you see the surface as if it's not covered with grass. So you presume there is no grass. And if there appeared some part of a human body "hanging in the air", it would look a little weird.

(let me use Mr Reality's screenshot)

In the lower part there's a usual "plain-textured" distant terrain, and in the upper - a distant grass.

The whole terrain should look like in the upper part. It could be just a simple 2D combination of grass textures + plant textures overlaid, but imho it definitely should be there.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

it would be funny to see that the grass far away dissapears but remains a meter around the place where hostile soldiers are hiding, so you would always see bushes or grass moving!

[MamiyaOtaru 1]

Quote[/b] ]Main new features and improvements since version 1.04 are:

====Gameplay====

* grass is now simulated for AI and multiplayer (including largerd view distances)

From the readme! So we knew about AI, but it looks like this confirms at least something for multiplayer, either transparency or ground color on parts of soldiers below the grass line.

Someday we will be able to render grass out as far as we can see, but until then this makes grass at least workable, more than eye candy.

Sure hope I interpreted that line right hehe. We'll see soon enough.

[enforcer1975 0]

How do i deactivate the grass on a dedicated server? Didnt they say one could deactivate grass in 1.04? There was no parameter given...

[HulkingUnicorn 0]

Quote[/b] ]How do i deactivate the grass on a dedicated server? Didnt they say one could deactivate grass in 1.04? There was no parameter given...

Set the terraindetail to very low.

[frederf 0]

Quote[/b] ]Main new features and improvements since version 1.04 are:

====Gameplay====

* grass is now simulated for AI and multiplayer (including largerd view distances)

From the readme! So we knew about AI, but it looks like this confirms at least something for multiplayer, either transparency or ground color on parts of soldiers below the grass line.

Someday we will be able to render grass out as far as we can see, but until then this makes grass at least workable, more than eye candy.

Sure hope I interpreted that line right hehe. We'll see soon enough.

I'm pretty sure that means AI in SP and AI in MP.

[tophe 69]

Quote[/b] ]

I'm pretty sure that means AI in SP and AI in MP.

No, acctually they did something about MP, and not just AI.

When you look at someone lying in the grass at distance they are a bit under groud. So the lower part of the soldier is hidden. Seems like a good idea acctually.

The grass seems a bit shorter and not so dense now, bt I'm not sure. It's good that AI considers it, btt the should consider it more. It still is a pain to fight AI in grass, Since they will still somewhat see you when they are proned in it but you can't see them.

Looks good though.

[pathetic_berserker 4]

Grass is good!

Would you take a lawn mower to war with you?

[causticwindow911 0]

Quote[/b] ]

I'm pretty sure that means AI in SP and AI in MP.

No, acctually they did something about MP, and not just AI.

When you look at someone lying in the grass at distance they are a bit under groud. So the lower part of the soldier is hidden. Seems like a good idea acctually.

The grass seems a bit shorter and not so dense now, bt I'm not sure. It's good that AI considers it, btt the should consider it more. It still is a pain to fight AI in grass, Since they will still somewhat see you when they are proned in it but you can't see them.

Looks good though.

yes the new patch added this and it's a very good idea. i think it works fairly well as a placeholder until they can figure out ways to tweak it. in the forest, a prone soldier is sunk quite low into the ground, it makes him rather hard to shoot at

[MamiyaOtaru 1]

Well, it's something, and shows they want to do something about it. I'm not sure sinking the soldier into the ground is a great way to do it though. In addition to making him hard to see it makes him hard to shoot as well doesn't it? Coloring the part of him that is hidden by the grass green seems preferable. Well, I should wait to try it befor saying anything I guess

[Maddmatt 1]

Well, it's something, and shows they want to do something about it. I'm not sure sinking the soldier into the ground is a great way to do it though. In addition to making him hard to see it makes him hard to shoot as well doesn't it? Coloring the part of him that is hidden by the grass green seems preferable. Well, I should wait to try it befor saying anything I guess

It doesn't seem to actually sink the soldier in the ground, it just makes the parts hidden by the 'grass' transparent. Seems to work ok.

[MamiyaOtaru 1]

Sweet then. That's at least as good as coloring the "hidden" parts, maybe better. Looking forward to finally having some time to settle in and try things!

[Radic 0]

I haven't of course played the full ArmA with 1.05 yet so perhaps the following is all moot, but in Joint Ops: Typhoon Rising don't they have a concealment ssytem for grass - how does that work?

And in a broad sense this whole grass issue is close to my heart - for a long time I've been pondering editing the islands in OFP campaigns to place fields and much larger areas of scattered "grassy bits" - ie. in OFP there are those reed type clumps as well as small shrubby things and also some poppy looking things - 'm pondering making fields and large zones of these. Slow ups is the unknown issue.

Back to ArmA - within half an hour of starting the Demo I had the following thoughts about the grass and distance visibility:

1. From prone position (in the grass) the viewpoint needs to be just a tad higher - that's all it would need to enable proper looking thru the stalks.

2. The general visibility rules seem not quite right - ie. when looking toward open areas - ie. ungrassed terrain and on streets etc. your character doesn't "see" things (ie. as reflected in spotted objects calls and then shown on the map) properly - even when pressing the reveal button.  Ie. in the co op mission, if I'm on the slope near the road looking down that main street - I'd expect that all the soldiers I can visibly see right there running about on the road should be showing up as targets on the map - especially if I'm centering them in view and pressing reveal - but they don't - they only show up really close - in fact they can even be very close with me watching them quite clearly on my screen creeping in and my character won't call them. This is important in context of what follows.

3. Further to 2 above IMO the whole visibility issue should be handled fundamentally within that "seeing things" mechanic that already exists (reflected by "man", "soldier", "vehicle"  calls and their subsequent appearing on the map) - ie. If you can't register a badguy within the "visibility" / shown-on-map rules then they should be invisible entities - BUT ONLY WHEN THEY ARE WITHIN A GRASSY AREA - ie. in the case above if you just arbitrarily applied that rule then there'd be a whole heap of badguys that would be running about on that street but totally invisible (ie. not even rendered) to the player.  I gather the visibility rules alter according to the object/man firing and also there must be some tie in as far as infosharing  amongst each side respectively and along the lines of within a radius etc. - so an opponent could be invisible either far away or even relatively close - and then pop into visibility when they open fire - then fade out again as time passes and they don't fire (ie. exactly inline with the way the little "Q" signs on the map fade as object visibility is "lost").  That way you could be in cover - see someone pop into visibilty as they fire, then fade out again - but have the option of staying under cover but you'd know that altho they're not visible there is a badguy in that area (or there was when you saw them at that occasion) to be dealt with when the time is right - just like real life situation. Not sure if I'm being clear on what I mean? - hopefully so.

All this might well be how it's done in 1.05 I guess? (hope).

[MamiyaOtaru 1]

The new grass layer (lets AI and people in multiplayer hide in the grass even far away) is nice.  Many kudos to BIS for doing something about hiding in the grass  

There are a couple things about it that bother me though.  

1:The texture of the grass layer is far less detailed than the ground texture.  

2: Setting terrain detail higher increases the range at which actual grass is drawn.  Unfortunately it does not increase the range at which the new grass layer appears.  Why not?  If grass is drawn farther out, the grass layer shouldn't need to appear until farther out!

Screenshot with notes:

Higher resolution texture would be nice, one like the ground underneath it.  It's really most noticable right where it begins to appear, when you are zoomed. Far away, even zoomed, it looks just like the ground. Basically it just needs to be as detailed as the ground underneath it. Maybe save mem/fps by not drawing the ground underneath it with as much detail where it isn't seen?

And letting the distance at which it appears be controlled by terrain detail would be nice, keep it appearing where the grass disappears.  Thanks BIS!

[frederf 0]

Very cool solution on BIS's part in PvP grass hiding. Explains what I saw playing earlier today.

On the subject of HumanVsAI in grass. I think the AI is harder to detect you initially while in grass, but I don't think it makes them any less killer shots once they find you.

It seems that the AI's detection of player's position is very binary or boolean. 0 or 1. AI has no clue where you are and then all of a sudden knows your exact location, birthday, and telephone number. AI never seem to know you're--over there somewhere.

[pap 0]

I'm having a strange experience. I played a Coop on a server that had grass disabled. Now every map regardless of server there is no grass. Anyone else experience this? It is nice to have the higher FPS, but I would like to have the choice of going back and fourth.

[W0lle 1050]

Let me see if I understand that correctly. You mean you have the grass disabled in the game even if you're no more connected to a server? Like:

- You have grass enabled in your options

- You connect on a server where grass is disabled

- You disconnect and in your options grass stays disabled?

If you're on a server which has grass disabled then of course there is no way to enable it just on your machine.

[Undeceived 392]

I had this bug too and reported it at the ArmA Bugtracker (http://bugs.armed-assault.net/view.php?id=2078 ).

But I played a singeplayer-mission instead...

Take a look and comment, if you had other experiences.

[W0lle 1050]

OK got the mission and try to take a look at it and the result.

But AFAIK there's no way the mission designer can turn on/off the grass.

[Maddmatt 1]

But AFAIK there's no way the mission designer can turn on/off the grass.

Setterraingrid command controls terrain detail, which controls grass. So mission editor can turn it on/off.

I also experienced this bug, I joined a server without grass, then when I played SP the grass was still off. I couldn't turn it back on with the terrain detail setting. Exiting and restarting the game got the grass back though.