ArmA2 Point! (as in "hey you, go there" *point*)

[noubernou 77]

Here is a video showing the opacity/size changes.

cOOybpB7qyo

I think I have an acceptable color with it being blackish... My theory is that during the day its going to be much easier to see where someone is pointing at. At night it will be harder. At night the black blob blends more into the night sky, during the day it remains somewhat hard to see at further distance but its still easier to see as you move closer to the person pointing. At night it also has the benefit of being fairly easy to see while using night vision.

As for how it is engaged, I have tied it directly to when the circular object is on screen. This solves a couple issues. It gets rid of a key bind, which is annoying, it will bind directly to whatever you have the default quick command menue to be. It also prevents you from firing while pointing, since you can not fire in that menu with out clicking out of it, and in turn disengaging the pointing. I still think I need a better way of showing where you are pointing when it is engaged. I wish I could solely rely on the circular crosshair object, but you can actually turn your head in a larger field of view than that (and I sample the center of the screens world position). Unless I can work out a way to actually match that then I will need another UI element. Also that object unfortunately doesn't move when you are standing still... which seems odd.

---------- Post added at 01:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:26 AM ----------

Also in the video notice that as the person pointing moves in and out of my field of view I can no longer see where they are pointing... unless I am within roughly 1.5 meters. Then they are able to point "over my shoulder" or be close enough that in reality you'd be able to see their arm pointing.

[Relemar 10]

mhm, who will use this when under fire though? good idea, but if your getting shot at last thing on your mind is this surely.

[noubernou 77]

Pointing at the person shooting at you? I hope that isnt the last thing on your mind. You need to help direct your base of fire on the target... If you can see where the fire is coming from then point it out to a your fire team or squad leader and help get fire pouring in on that location so you can begin to maneuver. Your squad leader should also be directing, verbally and if need be via pointing where he wants his fire teams to advance and how he wants them to engage.

Believe me, this will help... :p Remember, you need to be cool, calm, and collected under fire, otherwise you're going to be dead. ;)

[kremator 1065]

NICE ! This will indeed help to target enemies that perhaps you cant see immediately. I think the activation needs to be slightly farther from the 'pointer' but not too far. In battle if you are that close a 'nade will take you out !

[noubernou 77]

NICE ! This will indeed help to target enemies that perhaps you cant see immediately. I think the activation needs to be slightly farther from the 'pointer' but not too far. In battle if you are that close a 'nade will take you out !

Yea to get around that I am going to implement something along the lines of you look at the person pointing and then even if you look and they are out of your field of view you will be able to see a static, non-moving, fading out pointer blob... That way you can be parallel to them, but some distance, and still be able to get a general idea of what they are pointing at.

[Defunkt 431]

Good job, I think your attention to detail will pay off in as much as it will feel more natural and inherently 'make sense'.

Having looked at the video I think it might be good if there was either some simple way to prevent the indicating player from moving while pointing or removing the indicator if they do turn away, people don't tend to walk around with their arm stuck out and while they may indicate with a sweeping motion I think it would be a small loss against removing the bobbing laser-pointer-like appearance it can assume at present.

So; press to point and remove either when the key is released or the pointer turns away more than 3 degrees or so, this would mean that the blob doesn't track or move, just appears at discrete locations. The indicating player might need some leeway for the first second or two (before the location is transmitted globally) to allow them to better place it.

---------- Post added at 12:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 PM ----------

Actually the turning is really neither here not there (though the point should always be within +/- 90 of forward), main thing I'm proposing is that once transmitted it doesn't track and the pointing player must release and re-point to indicate a different (discrete) location.

[kremator 1065]

Although if you have an AREA you want pointed out and not one single point ..... the wavy arm pointing would be helpful too !

[Defunkt 431]

Agreed, I just think it's the lesser evil to forgo that ability in favour of preventing it being bounced like a ball on the horizon. You could in fact still allow vague areas to be described if you did something like expand the blob (and decrease opacity) while also holding the LMB down (to represent a broader waving gesture), release the LMB and it shrinks to its usual size. Of course it is easy to suggest such things when I'm not doing the scripting...

[kremator 1065]

^^ hehe exactly. Let's see what our guru scripter can do first then, after we love it to bits, can make suggestions IF and only if it's not perfect :)

No pressure !

[noubernou 77]

I mentioned a speed thing, I am thinking something along the lines of this...

• Standstill: Be able to point wherever, moving your area that you are pointing as you see fit. This helps in planning things, directing people to go places, especially when not under fire.
  
• Walking: The same as standstill, though I might make this actually based off a function of speed (or something like that).
  
• Running: Only be able to wave around for a few seconds before being unable to point. Possibly using a fading pointer as an indicator for how much longer you are able to point. This would simulate not being able to actually run well while holding your gun with one hand and swing your other arm around.
  
• Double time: No pointing. You have to keep your gun in both hands otherwise you are probably going to let it swing out of your hand and that would be the suck.
  

With all of these I had planned to make it so that the maximum opacity and the accuracy of the blob would be affected by speed. The faster one runs, the less able others are able to see what they are pointing at.

These are all pretty easy steps. I would like to try and avoid using any binds to clicking or holding the LMB. As far as I have seen its fairly hard to take focus away from that while still maintaining other functions of the game. I think the space bar quick command magic range finder bind is pretty decent way of handling it because it disables users from firing and pointing, its a solid bind, its usually bound to the space bar, and its fairly obvious for people to pick up and start using immediately.

[kremator 1065]

I think the spacebar is great. Another idea would be to use the RMB (as it is also REVEAL). To me the RMB would fit more easily into my playing style.

This is the addon I'm most looking forward to!

[noubernou 77]

Thanks, I should have some more stuff today, hopefully a release soon. I am the release early, try to release often mindset. :P

[kremator 1065]

I could kiss you .... in a non-gay way :)

Keep up the good work mate..... if there is anything that we, the community, can do to support you just ask !

[noubernou 77]

Since I plan to make it a script to be released to mission makers and as an addon, advocate its use where possible. ;) :p Also test and feedback, that always helps. :D

Right now though I have to go install a light fixture...

[kremator 1065]

Damn RL interfering with A2 life :)

[noubernou 77]

Well, slight hiccup... I didn't realize that pressing space while prone or crouching made you stand up... :( So it is back to another keybind. Right now I will make it static. In the future I will more than likely add it to a userconfig.

[kremator 1065]

Will we still be able to keybind it to RMB as well? That way it wouldn't interfere with body positions.

I keep checking this thread every hour :)

[noubernou 77]

Possibly in the future a mouse binding will be available.

I am running into more issues now (that I am sure have been solved someplace). I am trying to determine the players posture, which is more trouble than I think it needs to be.

Oh well, I'll figure something out eventually, or release with some features left out for right now.

[noubernou 77]

OK, so to speed development and forgo lots of pain on myself right now, the purely script version will be put on hold. Right now I am going to be focusing on it as an AddOn. This should make a lot of things easier because I was trying to avoid using CBA.

Also I think I will be developing this with ACE2 running to insure compat.

[kremator 1065]

Superb !

[noubernou 77]

Fading blob is now working. It's actually pretty cool because it simulates being able to somewhat draw a line between what someone is pointing at even if they are out of view. You look at the pointer and then turn towards the directions they are pointing and you can see a blob fade out. This actually got me thinking about a couple of other little things that could be done for helping in that situation, but thats far off for now.

Will implement pointer/viewer movement speed effects (as in if someone is walking around pointing it will not be as clear) tomorrow. Also looking to implement being able to see what someone is pointing at when they are pointing from within a car.

Considering the performance hit of nearestObjects function. It calls it 4 times a second on a 20 meter radius. I have not noticed any noticeable hits. I am thinking about replacing it with an event system, but that might be less efficient.

I also ran into a weird issue with CBA key event handlers. They seem to not reset when you restart a mission in the editor. It seems to add the event listener on top of the previous one. I have to leave the mission and relaunch from inside the editor screen. Will write up a bug report if I can't find any documentation on this.

Edited January 2, 2010 by NouberNou

[AliMag 0]

Hi,

I had tried something similar but using markers. The results were promising but RL got in the way.

Here's a youtube link (very bad quality) of what it looks like.

Cheers

[noubernou 77]

Woah thats awesome!

My thing is not really meant for AI, but dang, that is pretty sweet.

[stilpu 0]

AliMag, you should at least post that for beta testing/feedback on OFPEC, it looks very nice.

[kremator 1065]

OMG AliMag ..... RELEASE IT mate please !.... that is totally awesome.