Iroquois Pliskin

This. :( No official footage after GC makes for a painful withdrawal. :(

True, so a single interaction button, no Action scroll lists, no radial menus, eh? Explosives could be operated the same way grenades would be, by cycling essentially: Hit number row key 8, this selects the satchel, left click to place it, hit 8 again, this selects the "DETONATE" function, whatever it may be in the case of satchels - radio detonator? Anyway, left click again to detonate/touch off. :) Very nice. :borat: Same mechanic for remotely detonated explosives is used in a lot of games, though they do actually have a 3D model of the detonator in hand, but this is not required as long as you know you have DETONATE function selected via the number row. Claymores will have exactly the same operation as satchels. Tripwire mines: Hit 7 key, selects an IED, left click to place it, then move away 20 m left click again, this places the tripwire spanning the whole length of 20 m Me likey. :p P.S. Just so that everyone follows, I'm using an arbitrary weapons/equipment number row map: Key 1 - Primary weapon; 2 - Sidearms (handguns etc); 3 - Under barrel grenade launchers of the primary weapon (M203/GP-25); 4 - AT launchers/RPGs; 5 - Grenades (hitting 5 repeatedly cycles through various grenades if you have them: frag, smoke (red), (green) etc); 6 - ??? 7 - Mines: Claymores, Betties, IEDs (hitting 7 repeatedly cycles between mine types, also cycles the detonator); 8 - Satchels, explosives (C4?) (operation is exactly the same as with mines); Although, you could have the detonator separately from the mine/explosive dedicated key, let's say key 9 or 6. :) Bottom line: map all of the weaponry and equipment to the number row, work out the explosives' detonator mechanic (already outlined), then map out the same keys for in-vehicle interaction as detailed above. After everything is said and done, you can take a look at what's left of the Action scroll menu and how to proceed next.

That's a big IF, IF BIS do map all in-vehicle interactions like this, Then the number of Actions left on the scroll list rapidly decreases and they could use a single MMB press interaction with world objects: Doors, ladders, etc. But how do we operate satchels, which arguably would be the last problem to solve? For satchels: How about you aim the crosshair, press the *NEW* interaction button, which would be MMB, and set the Timer with each stroke, then Touch Off would be done by selecting the satchels again via the number row (I would assign Satchels/explosives to key 8), and if you left click now, you detonate it. Hell, or do away with the Timer functions entirely. :icon_mrgreen: I agree with eliminating the scroll Action menu and not introducing a radial menu - having a single Interaction key (Middle Mouse button) with world objects (doors, ladders) would bring ease of use and functionality to the game.

Right, any Action menu, which doesn't rely on the scroll wheel to operate (i.e. radial), could have its hotkey fully re-mappable. Let's suppose that middle mouse button would be default. So, we have: 1) 1-9 number row for weaponry and equipment, selection of the same weapon type is done through cycling, i.e. Key 5 for all Hand Grenade types; 2) 1-9 number row for in-vehicle interaction (you don't want to have 8+ Actions on a radial menu, which you use very often); 3) As the second system component there's the radial-rose Action menu, operation is subject to review: middle mouse button depress -> mouse swipe -> MMB release vs. depress a key/MMB -> left click to select Action -> release hotkey; 4) Finally AI command menu, which is left completely as it currently is with the same mechanics, because I honestly don't know what to do with it - it needs a major overhaul in number of commands and command positioning. Points are 1-3 are top priority for basic gameplay and multiplayer.

You're kinda right on activation of this Crysis menu: middle mouse to open the radial, left clicking to navigate would operate a lot smoother in ArmA - satchel/mine setup could become easier, i.e.: you click the setting once, timer goes to -30 sec, twice and it's -60 sec, then set the needed parameters and middle mouse button to close the rose-radial. :) But then how do you operate doors, which require semi-instant activation in combat? Open menu, mouse over, then left click is vastly inferior to open menu by depressing middle mouse button, mouse swipe in the direction of the Action, release MMButton. So many good options, so little input from Devs. :(

It's the definition of radial menu, in fact, best I've seen. Let's suppose we use the same principle, but in an octagonal array of icons, or an octagon with 8 partitions - why would there be a problem with "dynamic" Actions, and what would those "Actions" be? I can only recall satchel settings, satchel touch off, open/close door, climb ladder as the Actions, which are often used in ArmA. Is there anything else? I wish Devs would chip in and answer our Prayers, or dispel the illusions. :( I understand this is a user thread, but not many knowledgeable users are present. :icon_mrgreen: Something like that: the radial Action menu could be wedged in there, but then again, we don't know yet if the old squad row iconography survives ArmA III. Spot could be defined as the lower half of the screen, either side/edge would do.

I'd say context-dependent interacton works very well, if proper deadzone activation area is used by the Devs. See door -> approach door -> point centre mass of door -> middle mouse button -> mouse swipe to "Open Door". Forgot to mention Satchel and mine settings in the Action menu - these could be used the same way they are now, by pointing your crosshair at them, though again, deadzone needs to be increased, so people wouldn't be frustrated as they are now, while looking for a small group of pixels to get within the "activation zone". So what are your thoughts on that Crysis menu? Looks pretty neat to me. [FHA]Dynamo, Here's another reason why we need to displace it off centre: you may sometimes want/need to have it open, like you do now with the scroll list, if you have satchels setup and you are waiting in ambush. I'm sure there are other reasons you may want to do it in certain scenarios.

Hand in there, Thr0tt, I feel your pain. You should find out what's current and popular today in terms of missions and use their names in the filter, in example: Warfare, Domination etc. Use http://arma2.swec.se/server/list and type in "Warfare" in the mission filter, you'll get 7-8 vanilla servers. ArmA 3 should be more user friendly in terms of multiplayer coherence - I personally hope it comes with standardised game modes which had been tried and tested in previous iterations of ArmA: CTI, TvT, small scale Co-Op.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhysX#PhysX_in_video_games The number of games having "particle, fluid and debris detail simulation" in their respective "PhysX Effects" warms me from the inside. :p ArmA 3 is on the list, as is Planetside 2, which has "Gravity on players and bullets, weather, dynamic fog and clouds, vehicle simulation." in its "effects" description. BIS, what are you hiding! (J*O*)J

Number row keys for vehicle interaction is Crysis 1 setup in a way, it works great... almost too good, that's why Devs could add a (black screen?) transition delay of 1-3 seconds, or any other timeframe to account for immersion and balance. :) ---------- Post added at 16:14 ---------- Previous post was at 15:48 ---------- Well, unless we drastically reduce the number of Actions for the menu, there's gotta be something. Funny thing you mentioned Crysis 1, it actually has the exact implementation I'm looking for in an Action menu, HLddvNiXym4 Single key (middle mouse button) activation, can support more Actions than this pentagonal design. We could displace it off the centre and include Actions like: climb ladder, open/close doors, what else? :p Better demo in combat, VzkupbMRMSU Instant activation, crosshair still on target, movement is not impeded. I personally completed both Crysis 1 and Crysis Warhead on Delta difficulty - what a rush, there was never a break in immersion with this type of menu. If you want an extreme demo of the menu, here's me playing a few years ago, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOkBtVELu7c :icon_mrgreen:

And as I said, the disillusioned customers don't regard it as such. They think they "own" that library of games, to which they won't have access to if Steam ceases to exist tomorrow.

Real life footage in this thread is redundant. I can dig up vids of firefights in Chechnya that will put these clowns to shame. You haven't seen a real firefight, till you're in a situation, where you know there won't be A-10 CAS, arty support or whatever else backing you. What can be seen in those Iraq/Afghan videos is devolution of the individual soldiers, who don't exhibit intuition, or robust psychological integrity to survive ANYWHERE but the confines of their F.O.B. People are asking the Devs to place everyone under a common lowest denominator of performance. Do you people know why firefights "work" cinematically in games like BF 3? 1) Arbitrary Blur effects; 2) Five shots or more to kill an adversary with regenerative health et cetera; 3) Low muzzle velocity for ammunition, I think it's 600 m/s for most weapons in BF 3, even assault rifles. Vanilla ArmA II, ba87Rr-F6os This person already has trouble making out where the fire coming from, if you want to add some arbitrary effects to the situation, then you're officially a masochist.

Run to the hills! (J*O*)J People will adapt, provided they're motivated enough. An HMD, a chair plus a steering wheel and pedals, on the other hand, in a sim like rFactor or Project CARS is a dream come true for some.

That's great! But if I can't have access to whatever property I purchase without having to resort to third parties, then I won't be doing business with them, or anyone else who indulges in this practice. If, on the other hand, the customers of Steam define their payment as a subscription - a renting fee, then I don't see a problem.

Please understand basic game design: you start with your character, you go through basic training - how many AI can you order to shoot the drill instructor? Right, zero, there's only YOU with CRAP scroll list mechanics and the firing range. That later is amplified whenever you do not have an AI squad under your control, thus making ten keys in the prime real estate of the WASD area useless. Ten keys! AI command is an advanced feature of the game, and like I said everyone uses weapons, equipment, not everyone takes command of AI. The number row is the most optimised layout there is, because of the design of the keyboard - it has been thus for decades, because people have figured out the best mechanics for competitive entertainment, anything else - you're just thinking up things on the fly, which don't apply here. How is 1 (ONE) key press not totally superior to everything else? You're not cycling: if I need my M203 and I need it now, I hit 3, fire the nade, hit Reload to load another nade in or go straight to my primary again with the 1 key. If I need to clear the area behind a wall, I hit 5 and no further cycling is required, because hitting 5 once is = Frag greandes, tapping 5 twice = Smoke grenade (red), hitting 5 again would be Frag grenade, if you don't have any other grenade types in your inventory. Simple! Satchels and mines mapped to 8 and 7 respectively would be a joy to use, select mine -> left click, go around the area left-clicking and then quickly ready yourself with 1 Primary weapon key. Did I mention sidearms would be number 2? Quick swap, as quick as the weapon transitions animations by Smookie would allow - all perfectly usable in CQB. In fact, this is the only mechanic, which works in CQB. I'm interested in detail, not demagogy, so why not let us know exactly which keys you have in mind? I have posted whole layouts for everything: from infantry weapons and equipment, to in-vehicle Actions mapped to the number row key. Then that's double standards by you, saying that dual-purpose keys and/or fingers is unnecessarily complex.

And there's nothing like a physical (copy) manifestation of an object, which can be used anytime, anywhere, provided the "copy-protection" is reasonable and doesn't prevent the person from utilising it in the capacity as advertised without third parties involved. BIS "copy-protection" is spot on: you can't really play the game and enjoy it, if you sail the Seven Seas of Piratebay. I have Operation Arrowhead installation folder with 7 files in it somewhere on my hard drive - "digital download", though nothing apart from the CD-KEY is required.

You'd have to tailor the layout to your left hand, I can already access almost everything from the WASD area: N, M, V (optics), Z, X, C, R, G - not much else is needed, I'd say you could easily adapt to remember these keys. Or have a cut-away just below your eyes, though these light-stoppers are used to provide maximum contrast and brightness for the display = immersive-ness.

I was never against a reasonable game mechanic, let me quote myself, so everyone will see that we already have it, This is more akin to a fatigue system, where a character's heart is racing due to the gravity of the situation - an uncontrollable survival reflex of the nervous system, but no blur, no spasms, no falling down. Nothing more than that. Since it is already in the game, might as well expand on that. Physical fatigue is more manageable and realistic, than arbitrary emotion responses.

Bethesda is still being a tight-ass, there's no TIR support in Skyrim as far as I'm aware. Something like this in future games would go a looong way, http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/6002 lqs2lTyP2Uo Decoupling head from torso, hands from torso = win.

Left my hat here. I could agree to additional "heavy breathing", "aim shake" for every "registered" bullet that whizzes by your character, in say, a bubble of 10 metres. Could the Devs implement that? Bullets landing in your direct proximity already trigger this, but on the other hand, clearly audible bullet cracks, which are fired in your direction, do not, though both are equally "scary". Nothing else apart from the above.

For what it's worth, http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/69153-guide-setting-up-an-xbox-360-controller-for-dayz/ chBCzT8vLmE Throw a radial Action menu interface and you'll be seeing ArmA III/IV on XBOX 720.

Pliskin passing by again. There must be some kind of subliminal indoctrination going on, when one plays arcade COD/BF games, because one can't possibly advocate the introduction of an ADD blur derp effect into ArmA, simply because they don't somehow feel the terror of a gun pointed in their direction, while everybody else appears to be shitting their pants in PvP, myself included. HuOus-Y5cCM Everyone, observe how by virtue of the sound mod used, in this case - ACE2_SM, you can feel the facemelting fire happening on the other side of the hill. The OPFOR squad must be pierced by fear. Vanilla sounds and certain particle effects are lacking in this respect, so advocate for better, "powerful" audio, not blur filters!

Technically, ArmA already supports HMDs in the form of head free-tracking - only work to be done is to program for the gyro/accelerometer motion tracker, which pretty much is like TIR with 1:1 tracking scaling. Four new updates since I posted in this thread, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game/posts/288523 Update #4 is the most interesting, PC game engines by companies like id Software, BIS' RV, VALVe's Source, UnrealEngine, Unity3D, whatever engine Bethesda uses for their games - these will be the most supported. I almost included CryTEK there by mistake, but that company is an unquantifiable value nowadays. Some fellow already built a copy of Oculus Rift from the parts listed, http://www.mtbs3d.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=140&t=15247&start=105#p79162 ---------- Post added at 20:26 ---------- Previous post was at 20:09 ---------- P.S. That whole HAWKEN mechwarrior game presentation with CEO of an indy studio speaking has so much cohesion and a ton of humility on top of that by all the people involved. I can totally see people going out and buying this headset for their favourite game.

Scary situation with Steam, actually: one day, it may come crashing down in some capacity and the millions of disillusioned c0nsumers will cry out and then be silenced like the ADD victims that they are.