Enter/Exit Vehicles animations.

[Focha 0]

Hi there,

Can you guys do a enter/exit vehicle animation instead of the old one jump character animation? Did you already addressed to this? If so I am sorry and disregard this opinion if not I would be glad if you consider this.

Best regards to all and great work.

[Balschoiw 0]

This would include moveable doors and afaik Arma 2 will not have such.

[dentist guba 0]

they have improved the animations a bit, people take a little bit longer to get in tanks, but i don't think they have the resources to capture enough animations to have full "open door, get in, close door" animations.

maybe they could make it so that the door of the vehicle has to be open for you to get in (e.g. apc drivers have to open the door for peopla to get in).

[LJF 0]

I woulnd't regard it as a top priority myself, but damn would it look awesome! The epic immersion would be ... epic!

But on a more pessimistic note, can you imagine making animations for EVERY vehicle!?!??!

[SaBrE_UK 0]

Thing is, if it was included, people would complain that the leisurely animation of them getting out would look too slow, unless there were variants. I think it's not top priority, but yes it would be a nice addition. If it was done, it'd have to be done really well in a game such as Arma II, though.

[Raphier 0]

This would include moveable doors and afaik Arma 2 will not have such.

Well, they have animation for openable hatch of UH rotor aircraft

[Gustav62 0]

Thing is, if it was included, people would complain that the leisurely animation of them getting out would look too slow, unless there were variants. I think it's not top priority, but yes it would be a nice addition. If it was done, it'd have to be done really well in a game such as Arma II, though.

That crossed my mind too. Any kind of scripted animation takes a certain length of time to play. In some cases, the player needs to leave the vehicle quickly, in other cases he would do it leisurely. If he needs to get out quickly and the animation takes three long seconds, there is a good chance to get shot (and there's no way to avoid it).

Plus, if the vehicle is slowly rolling as you jump out, a full, "realistic" animation would have the character's feet sliding across the ground until the animation finishes. With the way people "pop" out of vehicles now, the roll doesn't make it look any more strange.

[Gustav62 0]

This would include moveable doors and afaik Arma 2 will not have such.

Well, they have animation for openable hatch of UH rotor aircraft  

In Armed Assault, tanks and fighting vehicles had slideable / hinged hatches which would open and close depending on if the crew "buttoned down" or went open. Except, even here, the character would just "pop" out when the hatch finished opening.

Personally, I'm happy with the kind of "man using vehicle" animations which already exist in Armed Assault -- my imagination is healthy enough that not everything has to be displayed in ultra-realism. I think the people who are pining for detailed super-animation of every single toenail, eyelash, etc. should look to Operation Flashpoint 2. The developers of that game seem to be taking the hollow approach of putting all their stock on the visuals and nothing on the actual game content.

[sparks50 0]

The thing is, correct enter/disembark animations takes very long time to make.

You have to build real size models in correct scale of every tank and vehicle for the motion capture recording,

and how would multi seat vehicles like Blackhawk work?

It would be a cool feature/eyecandy, but wouldn't add to game play and in my opinion not worth it.

[Gustav62 0]

The thing is, correct enter/disembark animations takes very long time to make.

You have to build real size models in correct scale of every tank and vehicle for the motion capture recording,

and how would multi seat vehicles like Blackhawk work?

It would be a cool feature/eyecandy, but wouldn't add to game play and in my opinion not worth it.

Amen, exactly my thoughts.

Plus, there are infinitely many ways to enter a car, let alone crawl up on a tank and climb into the hatch. Even if they made one set of animations for every entry / exit, people would eventually complain that they are the same every time. (Think scripted death animations -- there are so many, and still, people eventually memorize all of them).

There is no satisfying a person's eye-candy appetite.

[Pyronick 21]

and how would multi seat vehicles like Blackhawk work?

This is done through AnimTrees and a set of multiple animations.

Amen, exactly my thoughts.

Plus, there are infinitely many ways to enter a car, let alone crawl up on a tank and climb into the hatch. Even if they made one set of animations for every entry / exit, people would eventually complain that they are the same every time. (Think scripted death animations -- there are so many, and still, people eventually memorize all of them).

You are thinking way too pessimistic. If this was the mindset of BIS, we'd still have Direct3D 7 rasterizers and basic Operation Flashpoint features.

There is no satisfying a person's eye-candy appetite.

So sad, yet so true.

[Raphier 0]

The thing is, correct enter/disembark animations takes very long time to make.

You have to build real size models in correct scale of every tank and vehicle for the motion capture recording,

and how would multi seat vehicles like Blackhawk work?

It would be a cool feature/eyecandy, but wouldn't add to game play and in my opinion not worth it.

well, it's not bigger than animating the gun in soldiers hands :P scale is not the problem. you can change that.

and let's not have animated gun reload, that's just eye candy too :P huge explosion smoke too.

those little things are what makes the game, not actually graphics, but the details in animation side. They are what get you into the game alongside the sound effects great gameplay.

[Gustav62 0]

and let's not have animated gun reload, that's just eye candy too :P huge explosion smoke too.

those little things are what makes the game, not actually graphics, but the details in animation side. They are what get you into the game alongside the sound effects great gameplay.

Have you played the first Ghost Recon? That game didn't even attempt a first-person view of the player's hands / weapon. The reload "animation" was a little turning clock-face that indicated the progress of the reload. So, in effect, absolutely zero eyecandy in that regard. And people loved Ghost Recon -- for its intrinsic content.

Frankly, the way Armed Assault in its current state does the first-person depiction of the character is the best I've ever seen in any game. I haven't heard of any other game where you can see your own feet, shoulders, etc. Or a game where you can point the gun in one direction and look in another. I think that kind of novelty and "outside the box" thinking makes up tenfold for the shaky reloading and less-than-lifelike motion capture.

Just my opinion.

[Gustav62 0]

You are thinking way too pessimistic. If this was the mindset of BIS, we'd still have Direct3D 7 rasterizers and basic Operation Flashpoint features.

Maybe I am. I like to think of it in terms of man-hours. If the game developers concentrate on the visuals (a time-consuming chore), that means less time for adding or improving actual game elements.

Operation Flashpoint and Armed Assault are in a completely different genre and aimed at a different audience than games like Crysis, Call Of Duty 4, and other such juvenile games. For Armed Assault II to compete with those on their terms (i.e. pretty graphics) means assured failure, anyway. OFP paved its own path through the games market, and people apparently liked what it offered.

[dentist guba 0]

This would include moveable doors and afaik Arma 2 will not have such.

Well, they have animation for openable hatch of UH rotor aircraft  

In Armed Assault, tanks and fighting vehicles had slideable / hinged hatches which would open and close depending on if the crew "buttoned down" or went open. Except, even here, the character would just "pop" out when the hatch finished opening.

Personally, I'm happy with the kind of "man using vehicle" animations which already exist in Armed Assault -- my imagination is healthy enough that not everything has to be displayed in ultra-realism. I think the people who are pining for detailed super-animation of every single toenail, eyelash, etc. should look to Operation Flashpoint 2. The developers of that game seem to be taking the hollow approach of putting all their stock on the visuals and nothing on the actual game content.

i wouldn't mind if the people just popped out, it would still be nice if people had to open the hatch before getting in. At the moment people can just jump into an APC without the door being open, in rl you have to open the door and expose people inside to let someone in.

[Focha 0]

Personally, and please don't get me wrong at this, but I probably would like better to see those animations made (and it's not that difficult to make those animations) than to have a new video or film almost every week. Sometimes are those small details that make the sim advance to a new level... Personally this have already should been address before. We are getting those jump out animations since OFP. As someone already said I don't make this a priority rather than a secondary thing that should be implemented. That and better animations on the weapons. But that's another talk for another topic. I hope you guys understand me and don't take me wrong please.

Best regards to all.

[bravo 6 0]

I'm with you Focha.

Such should be already implemented.. Not a priority as you said, but why not improve the feeling game it even more?

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

Have you played the first Ghost Recon? That game didn't even attempt a first-person view of the player's hands / weapon. The reload "animation" was a little turning clock-face that indicated the progress of the reload. So, in effect, absolutely zero eyecandy in that regard. And people loved Ghost Recon -- for its intrinsic content.

The reason that people loved Ghost Recon was because their opinion was engineered by PC Gamer U.S.A., who had a long-standing relationship with Red Storm Entertainment.

PC Gamer U.S.A. criticized OFP for the having the very things that it praised Ghost Recon for possessing.  I completely lost faith in PC Gamer U.S.A. in those days, especially since PC Gamer UK gave OFP the thumbs-up.

Now, the game can't suck on one side of the pond and be the cat's meow on the other side.

The only thing that Ghost Recon did well was the CQB, even though soldiers in rooms didn't roam as they did in Rogue Spear.  You could shoot through the corners of indoor walls, and that added a bit of suspense, because the A.I. could, too. (In fact, that game engine was a lot more fun in "The Sum of All Fears", which returned to an indoors CQB mission-type...makes sense, because the Ghost Recon game engine was essentially mimicking the very large "Hunt for Osama Bin Laden" maps made by a modder for Rogue Spear.)

It should be against international law to even compare Ghost Recon to OFP.  The first was nothing but a larger-room CQB shooter (you didn't even see the enemy A.I. group into "teams" until Island Thunder, I believe it was! and the second was a full combined-arms experience.

I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach just thinking about how many hours I *did* put into Ghost Recon.

[HellToupee 0]

IMO this is a must have, anything beats just appearing inside or outside of a vehicle, tanks it should take you time to bail out of instead of just teleporting instantly out of.

Alot of vehicles already have animated doors hatches, you don't need a separate animation for every vehicle

[Gustav62 0]

The reason that people loved Ghost Recon was because their opinion was engineered by PC Gamer U.S.A., who had a long-standing relationship with Red Storm Entertainment.

Admittedly, I'm not as knowledgeable about these things as you are. Honestly, I've never even heard of PC Gamer, so the reason I liked Ghost Recon is strictly that it fit my own taste.

Quote[/b] ]It should be against international law to even compare Ghost Recon to OFP. The first was nothing but a larger-room CQB shooter (you didn't even see the enemy A.I. group into "teams" until Island Thunder, I believe it was! and the second was a full combined-arms experience.

You're making my point for me. Ghost recon was praised by the critics even though it completely lacked any first-person gun view. That's what I'm driving at -- a game doesn't have to dazzle people with hyper-realistic detail to be a fun experience.

If it turns me on to watch people realistically getting in and out of cars, I'll go to the Walmart parking lot.

If I want to see realistic grass, I won't beg BIS to put it into Armed Assault II. I'll simply go to the park.

[HellToupee 0]

A game does not have to do alot of things to be a good experience buts thats no excuse to not strive to improve basic features to improve the experience.

Why then even bother making new games when you can just play the old ones......

[Gustav62 0]

A game does not have to do alot of things to be a good experience buts thats no excuse to not strive to improve basic features to improve the experience.

That's true. If they're already planning to have such animations, that's great. And if they will leave it the same as in Armed Assault, I don't have a problem with that, either. Actually, exiting animations could prove to be even more problematic in the game than "popping" out, because that means that the player is uncontrolled and vulnerable for a few seconds.

Like I said above, if they have to choose between making new animations and improving the gameplay (like not getting your character stuck in buildings), then I'd rather see improved gameplay.

[quicksand 0]

I'm in agreement with the original poster,the animations from Operation Flashpoint always bothered me a bit and I even remember a mod that added cars that would open their doors before you entered them.

So what I'm actually expecting from BIS is no pie in the sky costum animations for every vehicle,chopper etc. all though that would be excellent for immersion.At the very least doors should open before entering a vehicle,an APC etc. and slightly better animations then teleportation if it's not too much to ask.

[NoRailgunner 0]

If there will be some extra+proper animations I guess some or many(?) people/kids will moan and bitch about this little extra animation time they need to get in /get out of vehicles.

Automatic opening/closing doors should be implemented only if player/AI really like to get in /get out. Would be strange if player/AI walk or run close by vehicles and doors are mystical open/closing.  

[telejunky 0]

At GC 08 they showed us the compromise. If you enter a tank, th soldier climbs up the tank stoops himself and disappears. I think they made it well, It look better then seeing this 'ladder climbing' animation. To capture this in a MoCap i think they simply used a big box or so...

If I correctly remember, bording passengers of cars do the 'open the door animation' while this is only the animation and the car was one model without openable doors. But Marek said, that this was a good compromise to realism and performance.