Arma2TS

[zio sam 77]

Hi folks i had this problem with my last game...

We were about 25 players in one ts3 channel using this beatiful addon,but for the first time since we use it,arma2ts had some weid behaviour:sometimes it was possible to hear people very far away without the use of the radio(also people 5 km far away)like they were next to me,so ruined our gaming experience because we were splitted in some teams that were supposed to communicate only with the use of the radio.

Is this a known bug of this nice addon?is there a fix? or simply we were doing something wrong?

Thx in advance for your answers ;)

[gonk 0]

This sounds like a fantastic rework of this mod... great work! Looking forward to the upgrade...

[TOTAL22 0]

Hi folks i had this problem with my last game...

We were about 25 players in one ts3 channel using this beatiful addon,but for the first time since we use it,arma2ts had some weid behaviour:sometimes it was possible to hear people very far away without the use of the radio(also people 5 km far away)like they were next to me,so ruined our gaming experience because we were splitted in some teams that were supposed to communicate only with the use of the radio.

Is this a known bug of this nice addon?is there a fix? or simply we were doing something wrong?

Thx in advance for your answers ;)

We too are having the same problem when we have a coop session of about 30 people. The problem is already known, and I've heard that the next version will have none of these problems anymore.

[noubernou 77]

Below is a signal test visualized. Brighter red is better signal, darker/fainter red is lower quality signal.

Jaynus is writing a better app to visualize the data we get from our tuning tests. :)

[gonk 0]

impressive.. took awhile but I found the dot at the airfield.

Thx...

[zio sam 77]

We too are having the same problem when we have a coop session of about 30 people. The problem is already known, and I've heard that the next version will have none of these problems anymore.

thx for the info,i've read about the clipboard flooding but i don't know the behaviour of this bug,so i assume it's the problem that came when 20+ people are togheter in the same ts3 channel and can hear each other also when they are Km far away

Is there a date planned for the next update?

[Scrub 0]

Is there a list of servers (or players on servers) using this on a regular basis?

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Had a weird experience last night using a2ts. When a friend spoke direct mode, his TS light indicator would go on and off like it was on autofire, and just intense clicking would be heard (I have them turned on). On short range radio (no LR available at the time), everything worked well. Going back to direct, and the same happened. Eventually crashed my whole TS. After restart everything worked as it should again.

I hope the LR radio signal decay feature will be possible to turn on or off on a per mission basis. For the following reasons:

1) Seems to me to have a big potential for bugs, and TS is already crashing frequently for some.

2) For some public communities, this kind of depth may not be desired. Frequently loosing comms could result in a2t not being used.

3) Although fully understandable in some kind of missions, others might have simulated some kind of airborne relay (if only for the sake of "convenience", which I'm generally against).

4) Gaming is also supposed to be fun. I'm usually heavily into realism, and for me realism tend to be fun. But that is not for all. If a2t takes away comms (and thus fun), it might not be used. And that takes away the fun for me as well.

5) Quality maps needs to be either precalculated (memory) or on the fly (cpu). In both cases it could mean undesired resource requirements. I'm already struggling with ACE.

Those wore my highly personal "worries". Devs can choose to ignore them completely naturally, I just want them to be aware of not going "too far" :)

[noubernou 77]

Had a weird experience last night using a2ts. When a friend spoke direct mode, his TS light indicator would go on and off like it was on autofire, and just intense clicking would be heard (I have them turned on). On short range radio (no LR available at the time), everything worked well. Going back to direct, and the same happened. Eventually crashed my whole TS. After restart everything worked as it should again.

I hope the LR radio signal decay feature will be possible to turn on or off on a per mission basis. For the following reasons:

Your concerns are understandable. :) I will try to address them.

1) Seems to me to have a big potential for bugs, and TS is already crashing frequently for some.

We have totally rewritten the code from the ground up. TS hasn't crashed on us in days, and this includes regularly restarting ArmA2 and not even touching TS3. "It just works" is what we are aiming for with the TS3 plugin. Jaynus is an excellent coder with many years of professional C++ experience and a background in very deep debugging of issues. :)

2) For some public communities, this kind of depth may not be desired. Frequently loosing comms could result in a2t not being used.

We are looking into a way to make a more "simple" range model. Sickboy also suggested a mode that replicates the ArmA2 VON channels, that is also an option potentially. On the other hand if you are not looking for at least a more comprehenisve radio experience then this addon might not be for you. We think though that this will offer another medium of gameplay for people that are maybe more interested in the logistical side of things. Not everyone has to (or wants to) be a pilot, sniper, or even grunt. Some like to do technical junk!

3) Although fully understandable in some kind of missions, others might have simulated some kind of airborne relay (if only for the sake of "convenience", which I'm generally against).

We are looking to implement a multitude of retrans platforms, including UAV, and eventually a satellite radio simulation (possibly including actual simulation of coms satellite positions in the sky and adjusting antenna as such).

4) Gaming is also supposed to be fun. I'm usually heavily into realism, and for me realism tend to be fun. But that is not for all. If a2t takes away comms (and thus fun), it might not be used. And that takes away the fun for me as well.

Fun is relative. For example, I was in a large milsim group. When we did operations with 40+ people I played Fire Direction Center for the troops. I barely even moved. The most I got ever in a mission was a Hind that made it past air defenses and took out my post and my guns! That is fun to me. Handling coms, procedures, etc. Radios for the most part, with a little bit of adapting should be fun. It adds another layer of depth to the over all game.

5) Quality maps needs to be either precalculated (memory) or on the fly (cpu). In both cases it could mean undesired resource requirements. I'm already struggling with ACE.

Our algorithm is very quick. A lot of the overhead actually I would imagine (not tested, Rommel can maybe give you more insight) would come from the direct speaking calculations which involves a lot more calls to the games 3D positioning calculations. Most of the math in the signal quality calculations is fairly basic arithmetic.

We can not cater to all crowds CPU stats. I hate to be blunt like this, but its not really our concern if what is able to be handled by the majority of people can not be handled by the minority. Gaming moves forward, its the nature of the PC platform. New resources are their for our exploitation and we shouldn't feel bad leaving people that are on the trailing edge behind. Sorry if that comes across as rude, but thats my over all view of the PC gaming market.

That being said, please do not take it as a sign that we are going to not optimize our code. That is of course a top priority!

I hope I answered your questions. :)

[Rafalski 10]

What do you think ? Is it going to be easy make version which works with Arrowhead? Or BIS does something to make it more complicated ?

[noubernou 77]

We do not foresee many issues porting this to OA when it comes out.

[jaynus 10]

What do you think ? Is it going to be easy make version which works with Arrowhead? Or BIS does something to make it more complicated ?

I am predicting (and hoping) that OA will be in sync with the changes they are making to beta when it comes to an actual script/execution standpoint (multithreading, some internals changes, etc)

Assuming that - I already have arma2lib working for the latest beta builds; so it shouldn't be an issue at all. Otherwise -it's just more work for me :)

[Rafalski 10]

just thinking.... as a2ts is the killer of a2voip :)

[Daniel 0]

Excellent work NouberNou and co! Eagerly awaiting your version of ArmA2TS.

To be very picky, 4000mW = 4W... :D

[CarlGustaffa 4]

On the other hand if you are not looking for at least a more comprehenisve radio experience then this addon might not be for you.

Oh, I'm looking for a more comprehensive radio experience, trust me. Or else I wouldn't be interested in this addon in the first place :) But for my group, the potential to "loose comms" when we have the needed long range radio might just feel a bit too much. Seems to me we've got to choose between supersimple radio that none of us really wants, or a superadvanced radio with potential to cause us problems (needs to be seen/tested naturally), instead of that golden middle way we have now that at least we are happy with.

It's not the range range I'm worried about, only the signal blocking caused by terrain. I have terrain blocking my view from the airport some kilometers away, but I'm still able to tune in my Maycom and get the chatter or ATIS or whatever. But yeah, at the wrong places I will loose reception. The real world tend to be slightly less binary than a computer world :D But, time will show I guess.

But, if I can have a UAV up at all times to act as a relay, that would be problem solved for our purposes. I could give "UAV in air" as a difficulty option in the mission.

But, my worries was listened to, that was all I was hoping for. I won't try to stop you from doing whatever you feel for :)

Edited May 21, 2010 by CarlGustaffa

[jaynus 10]

Also - on top of the UAV style "relay" we plan on implementing (that's in the future), don't forget the two following line items:

1. Aircraft (obviously) have much better clearance over terrain

2. Radio's will support "PA" mode. This is 40,000mw :)

[noubernou 77]

Also - on top of the UAV style "relay" we plan on implementing (that's in the future), don't forget the two following line items:

1. Aircraft (obviously) have much better clearance over terrain

2. Radio's will support "PA" mode. This is 40,000mw :)

Yes, not only that, but with multiple types of radio (and in the future multiple types of antenna, if the radio supports different antenna) will allow quite a bit of flexibility in terms of range.

Also, the concept of long range and short range radio is gone. All radios, if they are on the same frequency, can hear each other... As long as they are able to draw a good enough signal. :)

---------- Post added at 08:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 AM ----------

To be very picky, 4000mW = 4W... :D

:p

Ya, internally our engine uses milliwatts since its easier to work with integers in a lot of cases for what we are doing (and also FSPL and ITU use mW in their calculations).

[Serclaes 0]

Ya, internally our engine uses milliwatts since its easier to work with integers in a lot of cases for what we are doing (and also FSPL and ITU use mW in their calculations).

Not to speak of the performance boost of integer vs. floating point processing ;)

[m1n1d0u 29]

hey hi , tomorow we make a coop mission with different french team and i want to know if you release the new udapte tomorow or not ? take care !

[noubernou 77]

Earliest we look to release to everyone is Sunday after we do testing tonight and some tomorrow.

[m1n1d0u 29]

roger thanks for you answer =)

[oktane 0]

Hey I had a thought, jaynus can easily hook the current channel selected in memory. As in the client selected channel (direct, side, vehicle, global), and perhaps that would be a part of the a2ts interface too? It really helps to have a unified and coherent user interface, it's one of the major shortcomings of ofp/arma.

Would you rather jaynus hooked it, or would you like me to make a BIS feature request for it? I think it would be a useful scripting command to have, getCurrentChatChannel or some such..

[mr.g-c 6]

Yes, not only that, but with multiple types of radio (and in the future multiple types of antenna, if the radio supports different antenna) will allow quite a bit of flexibility in terms of range.

Also, the concept of long range and short range radio is gone. All radios, if they are on the same frequency, can hear each other... As long as they are able to draw a good enough signal.

Nice! So what is with the small Radios the soldiers are carrying normally? What Range do they have/get in A2TS3?

And will everything Radio-Device related from Russians aswell as underdeveloped Factions such as NAPA/CHDKZ side be modeled too?

So it can be a real disadvantage when those factions have not so good devices :p:)

[noubernou 77]

Nice! So what is with the small Radios the soldiers are carrying normally? What Range do they have/get in A2TS3?

And will everything Radio-Device related from Russians aswell as underdeveloped Factions such as NAPA/CHDKZ side be modeled too?

So it can be a real disadvantage when those factions have not so good devices :p:)

Not sure what the range is on the AN/PRC-148 (the squad radio everyone gets) but its max transmit power is actually a full watt higher than the AN/PRC-119. Amplifier technology advanced a lot between the 119 and the 148 obviously... The 148 does have a smaller antenna though for the most part (I think you can attach a whip antenna though about the same length as the 119 manpacked one though).

For the eastern factions we will be including radios for them.

I assume NAPA/Chedaki will get a mix of western and eastern radios, maybe older sets. That will be another element of tactics, dealing with your poorer old radio equipment.

Of course they could always spring for some satellite phones! :D

Anyway. Here is a new signal gen map. This shows an interesting effect of the ITU terrain model. It really hates when you have a transmitter up close to a steep hill. It can create a very distinct shadow.

Moving the transmitter about 30-40 meters to the south west towards the center of town seemed to be better. I am running another map generation on that result to see. :p In that deadzone I was getting only a signal level of about -400dBm to -700dBm...

[noubernou 77]

Here is the result of the test of moving the transmitter. Forty meters to the southwest and there is no longer a dead zone! :D

Also Rommel provided the nice new coloring code for my data! :D Looks really good now, much easier to visualize!