JTD Fire And Smoke

[dmarkwick 261]

The vehicles take progressively more damage with time, until they eventually reach fully damaged. But, they don't emit flames. At least until they blow up :)

[manzilla 1]

DMarkwick,

Fantastic job here bud. I was glad to help out. Once again this is a game changer for me, just like the A1 version. And just like the original I doubt this will ever be "deactivated" when I play. I couldn't play A1 with out it and so far the same goes for A2. This is a masterpiece!

Thanks

[dmarkwick 261]

OK, a little information about The Birds :)

Yes, for those who've expressed an interest, it's the same startled birds from way back when. Implemented at last in a meaningful way :D

They work like this:

There's a very small chance that units moving sufficiently fast will startle a small flock of birds from their tree. When I say sufficiently fast, I mean that a normal ArmA2 walk will set them off, but a crouched walk will not. So stealth will pay off in MP pvp games.

Any unit on the map will have this small chance of scaring up birds, but it is a very small chance per unit. This means that one, lone unit walking through a forest might never set off a flock, but a whole platoon probably will eventually. A group made to walk through a forest will have a definite chance of setting off a flock, increasing with group numbers. A group made to walk through a forest but set to stealth, has a much smaller, but non-zero, chance of scaring up birds. So again stealth will pay off.

The faster a unit moves, the further ahead is the possible random position of the flock. A tree is needed for a flock to appear. Vehicles will also scare up birds.

Also, a firefight will set off all the flocks in the whole area, not to return for a long time (several minutes at least). So the flocks of birds is a "quiet time" ambient effect. The first time a weapon is fired, flocks all around the area will take to the skies. After several minutes of inactivity (weapon wise), normal bird logic will resume.

As far as the birds themselves go - they are an ambient atmospheric effect. They're sprites used to suggest a flock of birds, and while very effective, close inspection might reveal some birds apparently flying backward. There's nothing to be done about this, as it's difficult for me to know from what side each player will view the sprites, and which way they'll be flying for that matter (although for MP synchronicity I think they all go the same direction anyway). So please, take them for what they're meant to be, an atmospheric effect, useful for becoming suspicious and paranoid in missions involving stealth :D

In any case, almost every time you'll see them you won't be able to tell which way they're facing, you'll just get the subliminal flapping object effect, which was always the intention.

Oh, and one other thing. While testing, I found out that rabbits can also set off birds. I spent a paranoid ten minutes hunting down God Knows What in a map that I thought I was all alone in before finding that out :D

Edited September 11, 2009 by DMarkwick

[Fox '09 14]

you also added view block thingys lol, its like a giant pill.

[dmarkwick 261]

you also added view block thingys lol, its like a giant pill.

Ah, yeah, I meant to delete all those :D they're no longer needed, as particles block AI view by default. Enjoy them, for they will be gone in the next update ;)

[Fox '09 14]

bug dude, can't see it though glass.

edit:

oh lol, do they come with ArmA II or did you make them? they might be useful. the ai view blockers

[dmarkwick 261]

bug dude, can't see it though glass.

Yeah, that's an ArmA2 bug. All particles cannot be seen through glass.

oh lol, do they come with ArmA II or did you make them? they might be useful. the ai view blockers

I made them, they were originally to be used for AI smoke viewblock but then I found out that they weren't needed as particles do that anyway. (They did not in ArmA1.)

I've had some fun using them with camo netting to hide tanks etc in a realistic way. But although you can place them in the editor, they don't have any visible 2D editor presence so placing them is very difficult.

As I said, I'll be pruning them out next update.

Edited September 11, 2009 by DMarkwick

[Fox '09 14]

great! I just realized that you cant see. shame.

Anyway, does it destroy buildings? i would like the fire to burn a building down, or at least destroy parts of it.

[Dwarden 1124]

aaah birds i was ... waiting soo long ... so happy they ... out :)

[bushlurker 45]

I spent a paranoid ten minutes hunting down God Knows What in a map that I thought I was all alone in...

This is just SOO good!!! It was always such a good idea it was worth an addon of its own!

Presumably other fast moving animals will startle the birds too - creating the possibility that the "Whassat over there?", after much careful creeping, turns out to be a false alarm! - hehehe

Brilliant.....!

B

Edited September 11, 2009 by Bushlurker

[MSGT Montgomery 1]

Would it be possible to get keys for this addon?

[dmarkwick 261]

Would it be possible to get keys for this addon?

Certainly, for the next update possibly. As it's the very first beta, I didn't really figure on any public servers using it, and of course private servers don't really need keys ;)

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

Alright, while we're here, what are keys exactly? I've been using them since OFP and idk what they are.

[dmarkwick 261]

Keys prevent unwanted (cheat) addons from being used, and also prevent altered addons being used.

[Alex72 1]

You dont use key's client side. They are used by servers. Only the addon and its signed file is needed when playing.

[bushlurker 45]

Use of dta folder - if that userconfig folder really is a standard, I will use that in future

An interesting point... external .hpps are deeply handy and I hate putting stuff in "official" folders (I always forget they're there for one thing)...

CAA1 and Deadfast's counter are both using subfolders within the "userconfig" folder already so, while it's hardly a standard - as yet - it might be good to make it one!, with an addon such as this, which will see such widespread use....

B

[greenpsycho 10]

awesome mod man. I'll try to throw up some screenies and vids a bit later

maybe a stupid question: is there a way to embed a certain mod (this one) into a map PBO? In other words, no need for clients to run the mod, it would be part of the map they auto download

[dmarkwick 261]

You mean as part of a mission PBO? (Mission PBOs are the only PBOs auto downloaded.)

I doubt it. There's maybe lots you can stuff into a mission PBO but if there's any config stuff, no. IMO, what ArmA2 could do with is an optional system similar to Unreal Tournament where the required addons are auto downloaded from the server.

[greenpsycho 10]

yeah, thats pretty much what I was getting at. I agree, with all the mods and whatnot, it would be nice to have a UT or even I believe they had a similar system since Q3 arena.

[Fox '09 14]

Here is a bug/problem.

When My bunker is bombed, there is a fire OUTSIDE and it is still burning me, this could be a config issue, but the radius for fire is much larger than the fire itself.

[no use for a name 0]

can't really say anything else but WOW!!! keep it up!

I just tested it out and it's looking good! I just have a couple suggestions...

Make the sparks move and spread out faster like about the same speed as the smoke. I think it will look a lot more "natural".

Make the smoke more white for vegetation fires

Shorter/faster flames in light fuels (grass, shrubs, bushes, etc.)

Add a little more of a reddish hue to large tree flames (for some reason mine doesn't look the same as in your pics )

still, for a first release it's kick-ass! Also didn't notice much of a performance hit with all the extra smoke/flames, although I didn't put it too the test (aka several forest fires)

Edited September 12, 2009 by No Use For A Name

[Tankbuster 1733]

I miss being able to run the mod client-side in multiplayer. I understand why you can't, but it still sucks. :(

This was something that was discussed during beta testing. DM originally had his own, proprietary system that should have broadcast fires between clients, without server side software, but despite lots of testing, it didn't work, so he had to fall back on the traditional server-client relationship.

As far as I understand, this has some implications for JIP players, in that their updates are rather slower than originally planned.

[NoRailgunner 0]

Nice fire and smoke effects!

Flames are imho too bright/white and need some red color.

Btw didnt test explosions - did you change the secondaries explosions to a minimum? Or there are still those "entertaining" (not realistic) 3-5 explosions for all verhicles?

[luki 53]

Excellent Addon! It runs quit good on my older rig. Congratulations especially for the Birds, my favorit part. That was something i waited for, perfect for living environment feeling and a good combo for gl4 ;)!

Edited September 12, 2009 by Atsche

[vengeance1 50]

An interesting point... external .hpps are deeply handy and I hate putting stuff in "official" folders (I always forget they're there for one thing)...

CAA1 and Deadfast's counter are both using subfolders within the "userconfig" folder already so, while it's hardly a standard - as yet - it might be good to make it one!, with an addon such as this, which will see such widespread use....

B

I have to agree, when doing Yoma for clients I don't like the idea of editing the DTA folder wish there was another way.

Great Mod, hope there's an alternative sometime.