Startled birds

[paragraphic l 2]

So DM is it possible to give the birds an visible position in the trees? So you can avoid them? And offcourse if you integrate them do you select specific trees and make the possibility of them appearing at night less than during daytime?

[[aps]gnat 28]

Wow ... very cool and original

Couple of suggestions

- Flocks have random size

- Flocks not only go up but a random direction

- Smaller flock / slower moving / large dark bird and give it Crow sounds

- Random occurances(far less frequent) where there is no one actually near them.

[paragraphic l 2]

btw why don't you use the original arma birds? makes it more challenging to spot a flock of birds instead of just a small default arma group flying around

is this not possible or does it hits on the performance?

[andersson 285]

What if you make an invisible object that fly up with the "birds" that AI sees as an enemy? If you tweak that object so the AIs react on it but doesnt shoot they will probably go into a more aware status and move to that area.

Just an idea..

edit. Maybe create that object and delete it after a very short time so the AI dont get enough time to shoot it. If you create a couple of "invisible enemies" after each other they will for sure be aware of something going on over there.

[andersson 285]

btw why don't you use the original arma birds? makes it more challenging to spot a flock of birds instead of just a small default arma group flying around

is this not possible or does it hits on the performance?

Hawks doesnt fly in flock, seagulls doesnt hang around in tress

[paragraphic l 2]

retexture the seagulls into something fitting

but DM is a 3D model to intensive for a script like this?

[xr6turbo 0]

great idea, but you should be aware of the randomness it could bring everytime seeing the flock go up

[Dwarden 1124]

remember to react also to nearby non silenced gun fire and explosions...

more units iin group == bigger chance

is it repeating ?

i wonder if it would be possible after 'situation get's safer' to use reverse effect of bird group return

[lee_h._oswald 0]

Hawks doesnt fly in flock, seagulls doesnt hang around in tress  

So, why not create a new species in arma?

Maybe pigeons or something.

MfG Lee

[-Soviet- 0]

Hi,

Very good idea!

But I'm agree with these 2 gentlemen:

remember to react also to nearby non silenced gun fire and explosions...

more units iin group == bigger chance

is it repeating ?

i wonder if it would be possible after 'situation get's safer' to use reverse effect of bird group return

Gnat @ April 12 2008,08:08)]Wow ... very cool and original

Couple of suggestions

- Flocks have random size

- Flocks not only go up but a random direction

- Smaller flock / slower moving / large dark bird and give it Crow sounds

- Random occurances(far less frequent) where there is no one actually near them.

Another thing: for realism, the birds must not re-fly until the unit leave or before longtime without any movement in the area.

Great work and good day!

-Soviet-

[wolfbite 8]

This is what i commented on you tube. Its a great idea man keep it up. Its these out of the box ideas that just add that extra level to arma

Theyre like tiny mig-25's on an intercept... Awesome idea... Only thing i would say is if you can make them go up a bit initially.. then circle round and head of in some direction.... and maybe a "kee kee keee" kind of sound too. Nice so far though.. keep it up

[dmarkwick 261]

(Also edited into first post.)

Improvements include sounds, change of direction.

[The-Architect 0]

Looks good. You've got a winner here. Keep it as a standalone and I'll definatley use it. Did you add a series of different sounds as not to have the same one repeat over and over?

Also, how do we use the script? Can we set the height and direction and all that stuff? Tell us more about the details.

[Col. Faulkner 0]

Do these birds exist in some form while perched so a player

has a chance of spotting them and avoiding startling them?

[Pathy 0]

I think you should alter the "flock" sizes, it looks strange that that many birds fly up, although it's a fantastic idea and a great piece of work so far, I think the number of birds created should be randomised in each case, so that it could be anyhting from 1 or 2, to 15 or 20.

[sphoenix 11]

This is great, DM.

Now you just need to make the direction change less instantaneous, and to reduce the density of the flock.

Maybe you could also add a randomness in the sounds (I'm not sure if you already have), with sometimes a raven inside (they make a lot of noise).

Keep it up, it's wonderful

SPhoenix

[dmarkwick 261]

Again, thanks for the positive comments

To answer a few questions:

The birds are currently simply called by passing an object (tree) to a script, from where the birds appear. In the vids this is done with triggers, but I don't know how it will be done in the final. Whether it will be applied to area, or units, I don't know yet

The flocks are randomised in numbers, but as the sprites are generally only simple flapping shapes they're kept small to disguise this, so flocks are larger. Finches starlings etc do live in this size of flock so it's not unrealistic. Easy enough for me to write in another parameter to pass in though, as well as possibly height of appearance (trees can vary a lot in height).

The birds change direction suddenly as per any number of flock videos you can see on Youtube. They do not exist until triggered so you cannot avoid them think "poof of smoke" but birds instead of smoke. however I might make some sort of randomly looping bird noise in a general area, to warn you to keep slow & steady.

There is only one soundfile at the moment, which I cobbled together from separate sound files. I guess I could make more, but they will sound more or less the same.

[malick 0]

Excellent idea, DM !

I'd like to see some randomness, both in numbers, size, direction, speed etc... A flock could decide to move because of sound (gunshot) or movement (based on speed/size of the unit, maybe).

The same scripts can be used with rabbits or any animal, running from a bush when other units approach.

This will add so much to the immersion factor in game !

Malick

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

The last video shown seems perfectly fine.

Now, if you could add a few bird droppings instead of fleeing when activity is seen or heard, maybe it will land on those snipers scopes to aware them.

[wipman 1]

Hi, if you could transform those annoying seagulls into ravens (or any

other animated bird model) will be great, for jungles, deep woods

and some other areas like seaports, lighthouses etc.. but what will

be really pimp (to me) will be to spawn the birds models rasting in

a tree or group of trees like random local fauna so you can see 'em

and before enter in theyr "danger" zone and make 'em go away fast,

change you're route to avoid this thing to happen, if you want...

and then "deactivate" the trigger (and make the birds models dissapear)

so the players may preffer to change theyr route. That's a great

improvement for the tactics. Let's C ya

[paragraphic l 2]

I like it, it is a great improvement over the first vids BUT;

- If the flock is WIDER you see it easier in a forest with less birds

- If 1 flock is startled I won't expect to see a second in the nearby area being startled by units again

- How about electricity wire?

- There allready is an animated bunny, any chance of having it running over a field when scared? It's small and fast but will still alert you

[Shins 0]

Awesome idea. Looks superb. Good work man. I think ideally this would be packaged in two forms. 1) A 'general' gamelogic that when placed in a mission acivates random sizes of flocks across ALL woodland and 2) an 'Area Effect' trigger that only functions within the trigger area.

[sandzibar 0]

Wow great stuff! I look forward to a release. Though id have to echo the thoughts that so many flocks in such a small area is a bit unrealistic. Though im sure youve just done that as a technical demo. Is it going to have to be hardcoded in missions? or will it work as a standalone pbo?

[Helmut_AUT 0]

One of the best ideas I've seen in a long while.

[snkman 351]

What's happend with the Bird Life?

Is the project dead?