ARMA 2's player movement "feel"

[Logan9773 10]

Too many problems. I was just playing it for a while.

1. No movement mode in between run and walk.

2. Gun instantly ( light speed ) whips up and down as you sprint and stop. Unrealistic and looks like crap.

3. Lowering your binocs completely blocks your view.

4. As you walk while sighted, gun unrealistically saws back and forth in front of you. Very annoying.

5. And many, many more, obvious problems. I've started calling my character Mr. Roboto.

But I get the bad feeling BIS is NEVER going to try to correct any of this. How long ago was this game released? And they just keep coming out with addons that don't correct anything already released? Its a shame. A great sim. Just needs to be tweaked.

---------- Post added at 09:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 PM ----------

Thanks! Forgot that one. Added to the list!

---------- Post added at 09:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 PM ----------

Agreed. No one wants to see COD / Quake 3 ice skating. But your character acting like he's drunk at times and not being able to steer through a door at a run, missing it by two feet and smashing into the wall, doesn't make sense either. Wow, if I ran like that in confined places, I'd be dead by now. Its hard to say exactly what is wrong at times, but I would expect a company to put out something better movement wise than this.

---------- Post added at 09:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:15 PM ----------

And I think herein lies the problem.

This is a great sim, but it needs work.

I think the BIGGEST PROBLEM is that the camera is tied to the model. That doesn't work. It needs to be free floating and highly tweaked. This allows you to keep what is real, and correct what is not. Also, I'm no expert at animation, but it seems they are what are causing the weird, drunken movement at times. Anyone can run normally down some stairs and go through a door. A lot of times my character can't move right and hits the wall. Thats unrealistic and unplayable. It needs to be fixed.

[zeep 3]

I think the BIGGEST PROBLEM is that the camera is tied to the model. That doesn't work. It needs to be free floating and highly tweaked. This allows you to keep what is real, and correct what is not. Also, I'm no expert at animation, but it seems they are what are causing the weird, drunken movement at times. Anyone can run normally down some stairs and go through a door. A lot of times my character can't move right and hits the wall. Thats unrealistic and unplayable. It needs to be fixed.

Is it possible to make a floating camera for 1st person view? I asked here in the Editing forum and one person thinks it perhaps can be done.

Wouldn't that be creating a basic camera.esq script and running it?

If a mod can force a floating camera in 1st personview then it could 'dampen' the spasms caused by the animations. Seeing there's a lot of people who who like to see movement improved, maybe someone who can script/code would like to test it out?

And no COD comparisons already, that's not at all what i would like to see. Play Infiltration, or check out video's, that's more the direction i'm thinking of.

[liquidpinky 11]

1. No movement mode in between run and walk.

There actually is analogue movement speed, this is why I use an xbox controller and mouse combination. Like I have said elsewhere, you don't see many analogue keyboards around.

[Andre 10]

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Edited January 31, 2013 by Andre

[Pummel 10]

Moving around inside a house makes you feel like a hippo.

lol! :)

Yeah it is a bit clunky, I don't really care though. I don't spend too much time in the houses and if I do, I think it's ok to be a bit clunky because I pretend it is simulating having a large backpack and rifle etc. Even a real soldier would have to move a bit more carefully in a small house.

[Defunkt 431]

I hope BI will make it credible one day, so that I will be able to come back into ArmA series.

I personally find it very credible, come the day there's no penalty to accuracy while moving then I will probably stop playing.

[Andre 10]

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Edited January 31, 2013 by Andre

[Defunkt 431]

Try to understand what people that you quote are talking about before posting such answer.

If you are able to understand what I write in an average english level, go back to my last post and see what I am talking about:

Disagreeing with you does not mean I don't understand what you're saying; I am simply disagreeing with you. And, while you may not be aware, your English is distinctly below-average something it would serve you to be aware of before correcting a native speaker on comprehension.

Do you see it moving back and forth like into ArmA ? Of course not ! Doing so, your weapon will be one with your body and keep stuck on your shoulder.

And should it be so on THIS terrain?

And on THIS terrain?

Be sure the engine will use the same animation in every case regardless of the ground underfoot. As an approximation that serves all purposes (and all games necessarily resort to such approximations) I find it to be very credible, excellent in fact. If you tell me you can traverse those terrains, sighted, in boots and gear at a full walk (these are not tiny steps, try the same thing in Crysis and then you'll see truly slow movement) without losing significant accuracy (in fact I'll warrant much more-so than is depicted in ArmA2) then I will simply call you deluded.

[Andre 10]

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Edited January 31, 2013 by Andre

[Defunkt 431]

Come on, do you really think soldiers in real life must stop walking to be able to aim with good accuracy?

Er... well yes, that's precisely what I think, that's how they're trained and that's exactly what they do. Find me actual combat footage of a soldier firing while moving and I'll find you 1000 clips showing the opposite.

Or maybe they just didn't attend the right ninja-commando academy...

[Andre 10]

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Edited January 31, 2013 by Andre

[maturin 12]

I highly doubt soldiers are trained to fire aimed shots while moving at a target any more than 20m away. (It would be nice if people would post evidence.) And at that distance I can still hit people while moving in-game, even with the exaggerated sway animation.

Sure, your weapons moves more than in real-life. But the entirety of shooting in-game is easier than it is in real life. You could practice for a lifetime and still never achieve Arma 2's flawless trigger pulls. You get that advantage but you get some messed up muzzle sway and excessive muzzle climb to make up for it.

[Atkins 10]

OP pretty much described how the A2 movement feels to me too. It is clunky and small sideway moves feel spastic. And by reading other gaming forums, a lot of ppl feel the same way.

The game is still playable and I am already used to the clunkiness but I can't imagine that it is helping to get more players to the game when they feel that the avatar movement is so awkward when trying A2 demo for example...

[galzohar 31]

Well, I have to agree "back and forth" makes no sense, but you also shouldn't have much accuracy while walking past 10-20m... But then again the game also kills recoil while walking, which doesn't make much sense either (engine limitation to my understanding).

[maturin 12]

Well, I have to agree "back and forth" makes no sense, but you also shouldn't have much accuracy while walking past 10-20m... But then again the game also kills recoil while walking, which doesn't make much sense either (engine limitation to my understanding).

Hasn't that been fixed?

[zork 10]

Yes, i need to agree with some of my previous posters here -- the movement animations and the overall *feel* of them is completely wrong in the Arma series, feels very robotic. And if you ask me it was the same way since the very beginning of Operation Flashpoint. Not too much has changed since then.

Take a look at the smooth animations of America's Army 3 -- in my opinion much much better.

Edited July 26, 2011 by zork

[metalcraze 290]

There are no player movement animations in America's Army 3. Just a floating camera with a gun glued to it, which doesn't feel real at all.

Animations in ArmA give a proper feel that your body has weight.

[zeep 3]

There's room between the two.

Clunky -------- better ------ Floaty

[aiwaplay 10]

It can be improved a whole lot got to remember cant have a realistic game without realistic movements. Dont get me wrong im not a Cosmetic gamer at all but its very important to have realistic movements that would be comfortable in real life. cause honestly when firing a weapon in combat or not i dont advise the movements most of these characters make it will wear you out beyond no belief exspecially the crouch move animations. but yes the characters can look like minecraft but if they move realisticly and as a human or soldier would then it would be fine with me lol

[Logan9773 10]

Yeah, I was just playing. The movement SUCKS! Walking, it feels like you're Frankenstein's Monster. CLUNK, CLUNK, CLUNK with two stiff wooden legs. In tight spaces, its almost impossible to move correctly. It destroys the immersion. If its this way in Arma III, I'm not buying it.

[metalcraze 290]

Give an example of a good and realistic movement in a first person shooter game then

[Millenium7 0]

I really liked the movement in hidden and dangerous 2. I looked at it as OFP movement massively improved.

Basically you rolled the mouse forwards and backwards to set your 'speed'. I believe it had 5 levels, so if you roll your mouse down all the way then you would crawl (laying down) or walk (standing up/kneeling) very slowly and precisely.

Roll mouse wheel forward once its a bit faster, once more its now a regular walk, one more it's now a jog and the last one was a run/sprint

I'd 100% stand by this system as it allows you to simply and quickly select your speed wherever appropriate.

I think we can simultaneously get rid of the hopeless slow and inefficient action menu, and replace it with a simple tap of the 'F' key to be bring up a catagorised menu. I.E.

F-2-1 = Menu->Vehicle->Drivers Seat

F-2-2 = Menu->Vehicle->Gunners Seat

F-1-4 = Menu->Self->Use Medkit

F-1-3 = Menu->Self->Switch to RPG/Secondary Weapon

F-0 = Close Menu

F-F = Context sensitive, interact with whatever mouse is pointing at

[metalcraze 290]

FYI ArmA2 has 4 speeds of movement, what you suggest is already there, except not as horrible as in H&D2 or Splinter Cell where if you were crawling and wanted to run you had to go through the walking speed which was clunky-incarnate. In ArmA2 it's just double-tapping W and you are immediately running.

Also what if vehicle has several gunner positions?

Edited November 21, 2011 by metalcraze

[dmarkwick 261]

FYI ArmA2 has 4 speeds of movement, what you suggest is already there, except not as horrible as in H&D2 or Splinter Cell where if you were crawling and wanted to run you had to go through the walking speed which was clunky-incarnate. In ArmA2 it's just double-tapping W and you are immediately running.

I don't think that's a really valid criticism, the mouse scrolling speed mechanism in H&D2 was excellent, and very intuitive and immersive. Scrolling down the speeds as you approached some area was very fluid. Saying you need to scroll through the walk speed isn't much of a criticism IMO, as you can scroll just as fast as you need to. Bit like me saying you need to press W to walk, then again to sprint, double-tapping is not much improved from fast scrolling :D

IMO ArmA could benefit from having a fluid movement speed system, where you scroll to any speed you wish to. Would be a matter of blending the animations together fluidly though. Quite often I cannot achieve the "right" movement speed or precision.

Also what if vehicle has several gunner positions?

I like the VBS2 vehicle GUI system, where you get a little "map" of the vehicle for you to use.

[metalcraze 290]

Scrolling is not as precise as pressing a key. You sprint with one key, with scrolling you need to find that sweet spot. And imagine how clunky it will be in MP. Right now when squad leader orders to sprint you just hold W and immediately move at the same speed as everyone else. I don't see what's wrong with the current speed system. It's fast and responsive.

I like the VBS2 vehicle GUI system, where you get a little "map" of the vehicle for you to use.

Having that in ArmA is a much better solution since it's fast too - as selecting sweet spots with a mouse is faster than scrolling through the menu.

As I understand with VBS2 2.0 BIS tries to unify VBS and ArmA engines (seeing how they show the footage of ArmA in promotions and VBS2 2.0 release date being the same as ArmA3's) so maybe we will get sweetspot interface instead of scroll-action menu at least for vehicles