DMSmokeEffects Beta 4

[dmarkwick 261]

I was talking about single player.

But what you said explains, why when tanks make a smoke screen (using XAM 1.3:05) I see on the map blue symbols named DMViewBlock, but when anybody in the game throws a smoke grenade there is no ViewBlock object generated, so the LOS of the human player is blocked but not the AI's.

Umm, OK, it should work 100% in single player, the only problems with the smoke grenades should occur in MP only.

Also, there should be no symbols on the map for viewblock objects, I disabled them for release.

Looks like I'm going to have to download XAM & see why this stuff is happening.

[kroky 1]

I think the symbols appear because of sickboy's SIX pack1.

Because there are other symbols (not related with your mod) showing on the map too.

[dmarkwick 261]

I think the symbols appear because of sickboy's SIX pack1.

Because there are other symbols (not related with your mod) showing on the map too.

No, I use SIX Pack1 too. And there's no reason for it to pick up on an icon I had disabled for an object. I will muddle around with this a bit, see what's going on.

*edit* BTW, are you using XAM mod?

[kroky 1]

Ok here the whole list of mods I'm using in the exact order:

DBE1

@TrueMods

@SoundMod (Basically FDF_Sounds changed to my gusto)

@SIX (including tracers, CRDS, markers, misc... everything)

@XAM (1.03:05)

@UserAddons (unit replacements, sandbagfix, animation fix, real M136, Editor Update 1.02...some other useful stuff.)

@RLK (Relikkis addons, since I use it as replacement)

@Proper (not all stuff just 3 minor changes)

@DurgsVegetationsFix (patched with Kegetys lowplants 1.1)

@NWD_Ballistics

@NWD_ScopeFix

@Q11 (correct ROF, sharper recoils, weapon jamming)

@Suppression (Seconds suppression pack as PBO)

@DMSmoke Effects (version 4.3b)

@ArmAEffects (version 0.51)

After fiddling a lot with the sequence with the mods I found this is a very good one.

Letdowns: no rain texture and AT backblast from Maddmatt's ArmAEffects and no view blocking smoke grenades

Maybe it has something to do with DurgsVegetationFix since it uses some viewblock system.

[dmarkwick 261]

Ok here the whole list of mods I'm using in the exact order:

DBE1

@TrueMods

@SoundMod (Basically FDF_Sounds changed to my gusto)

@SIX (including tracers, CRDS, markers, misc... everything)

@XAM (1.03:05)

@UserAddons (unit replacements, sandbagfix, animation fix, real M136, Editor Update 1.02...some other useful stuff.)

@RLK (Relikkis addons, since I use it as replacement)

@Proper (not all stuff just 3 minor changes)

@DurgsVegetationsFix (patched with Kegetys lowplants 1.1)

@NWD_Ballistics

@NWD_ScopeFix

@Q11 (correct ROF, sharper recoils, weapon jamming)

@Suppression (Seconds suppression pack as PBO)

@DMSmoke Effects (version 4.3b)

@ArmAEffects (version 0.51)

After fiddling a lot with the sequence with the mods I found this is a very good one.

Letdowns: no rain texture and AT backblast from Maddmatt's ArmAEffects and no view blocking smoke grenades

It's XAM that's stopping the smokeshell viewblock working from what I've seen on these forums.

Maybe it has something to do with DurgsVegetationFix since it uses some viewblock system.

All models in ArmA use a viewblock system.

[bangtail 0]

Hey there!

First off, excellent mod DM, Love it.

For some bizarre reason I get a "This effect or whatever is dependant on downloadable content dmsmokeVB" error whenever any DM effects are used for the first time in a mission. The effect still plays and I never see the error again. Its more annoying than anything else.

I have tried removing my addons but it is still happening. It isnt always DMsmoke, just whatever effect it is trying to use. As I said it only happens the first time and the effect plays no problem.

Cheers

E

**EDIT** Looks like this is a known problem.

[dmarkwick 261]

Right, I think this is because of the viewblock functionality. I take it the missions that have the problem are all missions you made yourself, and which you tested out in Preview mode in the editor yes? And during the Preview, at some point either a smokeshell viewblock or a smoke viewblock (if you're using 4.3b) was spawned.

In this case the editor adds in DMSmokeEffects as a required addon to the mission.sqm, as a 3rd party object is being spawned. It's the same as if you'd placed in a vehicle made by an addon maker, the editor must add that addon as a requirement.

For some reason replaying the mission brings up that error message as though you don't have that addon, even though you plainly do. I don't know why it does this, and I don't know what I can do to get around it. Unfortunately it's a consequence of having spawning viewblock objects.

[bangtail 0]

Yep, they are my missions. Its not really that big of a deal, just very annoying. Sort of kills the immersion when you are hiding in a ditch in the pouring rain waiting for a patrol to go past only to be confronted with that fecking error message.

Im sure it'll get figured out eventually.

Great mod m8

E

PS : Its not in the Mission.sqm, I've just checked. I dont know where it is making those calls from

PS2 : Will using 4.3a stop this from happening?

[dmarkwick 261]

Yep, they are my missions. Its not really that big of a deal, just very annoying. Sort of kills the immersion when you are hiding in a ditch in the pouring rain waiting for a patrol to go past only to be confronted with that fecking error message.

Im sure it'll get figured out eventually.

Great mod m8

E

PS : Its not in the Mission.sqm, I've just checked. I dont know where it is making those calls from

PS2 : Will using 4.3a stop this from happening?

Possibly, depends if you use smokeshells anywhere in the mission. I'd guess the smokeshell viewblock object is exactly the same.

[bangtail 0]

Ahhh, guess its back to 4.2 for the time being then

Thanks for responding so quickly.

E

[teilx 4]

very cool effects!!!!

but i hate the wind info^^ i delete the script and the path in the config but it doest work please help.Addon work with VFAI??

[dmarkwick 261]

very cool effects!!!!

but i hate the wind info^^ i delete the script and the path in the config but it doest work please help.Addon work with VFAI??

In the config if you delete the Extended Event Handler code that calls the Wind action init event you shouldn't see the wind info any more.

And yes the addon is made to work with VFAI

[sickboy 13]

DM, could you get me up to speed a lil?

I'm interested in: Smoke Viewblocking and your Smoke Effects in general.

But I am also interested in MaddMatt's ArmA effects, esp explossions, bullet/fire effects and so on and so on.

Is there a combination possible without double effects or killing all effects of one addon? Or would this require me to create one big happy addon that combines what I want from Matt, and what I want from you?

Thanks in advance!

(hmm just reading a bit of the posts above me, it seems there is no real valid way other than making a compilation of the best of both worlds I guess)

Just reading some posts in DAC thread for smokeshells:

Btw, to fix the Loading Addon message when first smoke shell appears

Add to config:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">class CfgAddons

{

class PreloadAddons

{

class DMSmokeEffects

{

list[]={"DMSmokeEffects"};

};

};

};

replace DMSmokeEffects with the real name of the addon (cfgPatches entry).

Atm im thinking why my tracers don't popup these messages.

Might be 2 things:

[*] They are subclasses of the class CfgNonAIVehicles

[*] I'm using createVehicleLocal or camCreate (don't remember atm). Might be that for locally created vehicles, there is no error in arma when the addon was not specified inside mission.sqm

I have not looked at your configs yet, but if they replace standard smokeshells etc etc and do not add new classes, so they only overwrite... then it is possible that you have setup the overwrite improperly, e.g. missing the correct setup of requiredAddons in your CfgPatches class.

[dmarkwick 261]

DM, could you get me up to speed a lil?

I'm interested in: Smoke Viewblocking and your Smoke Effects in general.

But I am also interested in MaddMatt's ArmA effects, esp explossions, bullet/fire effects and so on and so on.

Is there a combination possible without double effects or killing all effects of one addon? Or would this require me to create one big happy addon that combines what I want from Matt, and what I want from you?

Thanks in advance!

(hmm just reading a bit of the posts above me, it seems there is no real valid way other than making a compilation of the best of both worlds I guess)

OK the situation with DMSmokeEffects is as follows:

It's still really a SP eye-candy effect. "killed" is only a local event so in MP only the vehicles you're driving get the effect applied to it. And only you see it, no-one else, they see effects from their vehicles. In SP of course, all vehicles are local.

I'd like to change this so that on "killed" event, each machine sends some info to the server, which will decide what sort of smoke to apply (settings are different each time) and pass that info out to the clients, who will then generate the appropriate smoke. That way everyone sees the same sort of smoke.

DMSmokeEffects are two kinds of effects, scripted and config. The config is there really to make the default smoke more appropriate to my scripted smoke, and to add some cool stuff like realistic grenade effects. The scripted stuff is as you would imagine layered over whatever config effects there are, which is why people like to use both Maddmatt's addon and mine, but they need to be loaded in the right order. Maddmatt uses a total config file with changes to certain effects, while my config file only has those config settings that I've changed, so Maddmatt's configs can "show through" the "holes" in my config.

Now, as far as viewblock goes, both 4.3a and 4.3b have smokeshell viewblock, but this will change. I've already separated out the smokeshell viewblock as a separate solution. I figure a standalone smokeshell viewblock is important enough to warrant this without forcing people to using the whole DMSmokeEffects package. You're welcome to use the DMSmokeGrenadeVB item as soon as you like, but there is an important limitation to it. There is a serious (to me ) bug in ArmA where a thrown action is NOT captured as a "fired" event IF you're a client in a MP game. Which means players cannot throw viewblock smoke. However, if they're grenadiers they can fire successful viewblock smoke. The bug is only with throw.

DMSmokeEffects 4.3a is basically smoke only, as it's always been, and represents the most appropriate addon for most people. But with 4.3b I introduced full viewblock smoke as an experiment, so all scripted smoke effects now effectively block AI view. Durg's vegetation viewblock addon showed me that you can have almost as much viewblock as you like with hardly any FPS hit, however if you need to constantly spawn and delete viewblock objects this can drag your FPS down. I cannot make viewblock objects float & move coincidental with the smoke so I need to constantly spawn & delete then, as wind & smoke changes. That said, you only really see a slowdown in deliberately intensive smokey battlefields, of which ArmA has hardly any really. The tests you see on my Youtube account (DMarkwick) are stress tests.

Also, I have to say I'm still in two minds whether viewblock battlefield smoke is really worth it, the low-lying and drifting smoke is OK, but I have doubts whether the tall plumes need it. I have hidden from helos before, but it's a long shot for tactical use There is also the longer term issue of whether its appropriate for viewblock to be generated on all machines in a MP game (looking forward to when DMSMokeEffects is MP-friendly). It needs to be, as otherwise only server-side AI will be affected, but the strain on everyone's machine might not be worth the trouble. I mean, it's a nice effect and you can use it, drifting smoke down a street is a great atmospheric effect, especially if you know there might be AI on the other side who you cannot see, and who cannot see you. (Although I do allow for "glimpses" between VB objects, just as sometimes you can catch glimpses through particles.)

Anyway, it's turned into rather a long post if you've got specific points you wish me to drone on about some more, let me know

[dmarkwick 261]

Just reading some posts in DAC thread for smokeshells:

Btw, to fix the Loading Addon message when first smoke shell appears

Add to config:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">class CfgAddons

{

class PreloadAddons

{

class DMSmokeEffects

{

list[]={"DMSmokeEffects"};

};

};

};

replace DMSmokeEffects with the real name of the addon (cfgPatches entry).

Atm im thinking why my tracers don't popup these messages.

Might be 2 things:

[*] They are subclasses of the class CfgNonAIVehicles

[*] I'm using createVehicleLocal or camCreate (don't remember atm). Might be that for locally created vehicles, there is no error in arma when the addon was not specified inside mission.sqm

Thanks for the info SB, I will try that out as soon as I can

I have not looked at your configs yet, but if they replace standard smokeshells etc etc and do not add new classes, so they only overwrite... then it is possible that you have setup the overwrite improperly, e.g. missing the correct setup of requiredAddons in your CfgPatches class.

Oh I've no doubt it's set up incorrectly configs are not intuitive to me. The addons only really work in the first place due to extensive trial & error

[sickboy 13]

Thanks a million for your reply DM, much appreciated. I will be following the projects and see what it ends up with

If you want I can have a run through your addons some time and help out or give some comments here and there?

A few ideas for MP compatibility:

The killed event being local is no problem. Basicly what you need I think is using setVehicleInit and using processInitCommands.

This way, whereever the fired eventhandler was 'fired', that machine decides the 'start' variables for the smoke effect. Then you can either make the server use those variables and create the smoke and or viewblocks and keep them synchronized in MP.

Or you could make all clients create the same effects and viewblocks, locally, based on the start parameters given by the client where the vehicle was local and ingame parameters (wind etc).

You can for instance use this code once in init:

if(playersNumber east+playersNumber west+playersNumber resistance+playersNumber civilian==0)then{DMW_SP=true}else{DMW_SP=false};

Then based on DMW_SP variable you can decide if the effects should either be broadcasted or not. With some smart functions this is all fairly easy to get done.

[dmarkwick 261]

Thanks for the extra tips there SB I'll need to make myself an espresso & read it a few times & try & let it sink through the outer shell of protective idiocy that I have

I'm not a natural coder so every step is a plod for me

[dmarkwick 261]

Just reading some posts in DAC thread for smokeshells:

Btw, to fix the Loading Addon message when first smoke shell appears

Add to config:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">class CfgAddons

{

class PreloadAddons

{

class DMSmokeEffects

{

list[]={"DMSmokeEffects"};

};

};

};

replace DMSmokeEffects with the real name of the addon (cfgPatches entry).

Looking at the config, I already have something like this in it. Currently it looks like this:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">class CfgAddons

{

access = 2;

class PreloadBanks{};

class PreloadAddons

{

class DMSmokeGrenadeVBAdded

{

list[] = {"DMSmokeGrenadeVB"};

};

};

};

So you can see I called the class DMSmokeGrenadeVBAdded for whatever reason. Class name is not important is it?

[sickboy 13]

First I would remove access = 2 and remove the class preloadbanks {};

I do not think the classname should be the same name as the entry in the list array.

If you still get messages about loading the addon when first smoke shell arrives, I think it has to do with the requireAddons setup of your mod.

If you like I can run around ur stuff in the weekend and give a better analysis

[dmarkwick 261]

I don't have any required addons listed in the config, it's empty.

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">

requiredAddons[] = {};

Is it appropriate to list same addon in here? So that it reads:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"> requiredAddons[] = {"DMSmokeGrenadeVB"};

*edit*

I guess not, "circular addon dependancy"

[sickboy 13]

I don't have any required addons listed in the config, it's empty.

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">

requiredAddons[] = {};

Is it appropriate to list same addon in here? So that it reads:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"> requiredAddons[] = {"DMSmokeGrenadeVB"};

*edit*

I guess not, "circular addon dependancy"

Mate, could you please copy/paste your config.cpp into: www.pastebin.ca

and then send me the pastebin link? Please put the ContentType to "C++ Source" thanks.

[dmarkwick 261]

http://www.pastebin.ca/850735

Cool site there.

[sickboy 13]

http://www.pastebin.ca/850735

Cool site there.

I think so too

Try this one:

http://www.pastebin.ca/850753

(best would be to copy/paste from the large editbox below the top box, if you know what I mean )

Changes:

[*] Added the Units and RequireAddons to the cfgPatches

[*] Removed unnececairy class inheritances

You could also try this one, includes CfgNonAiVehicles setup just like my tracers: http://www.pastebin.ca/850756

[dmarkwick 261]

LOL you know what? I removed those units about ten seconds before pasting up the code I couldn't see why they were there. There's often a lot of fluff gets left lying around as I flail about trying to get a config working

I'll get right on it, thanks

[teilx 4]

very cool effects!!!!

but i hate the wind info^^   i delete the script and the path in the config but it doest work please help.Addon work with VFAI??

In the config if you delete the Extended Event Handler code that calls the Wind action init event you shouldn't see the wind info any more.

And yes the addon is made to work with VFAI

Thx. This one??

class Man

{

DM_Init_Man="(_this select 0) addEventHandler [""fired"", {[_this select 0, _this select 4] execVM ""\DMSmokeEffects\Scripts\ViewBlockSmokeShell.sqf""}];_DMNum1 = (_this select 0) addAction [""Wind info"", ""\DMSmokeEffects\Scripts\DMWindage.sqf"","""",10,false,false,"""&am

p;qu

ot;];";

};

it works  but viewblock doesn't work.^^sorry need example      big thx for your help