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LockDOwn

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Posts posted by LockDOwn

  1. Posted

    A more complex damage system for vehicles could be possible with HitPoints class in configs. In that class you can define armor values for different parts of the vehicle, it's also possible to make parts impenetrable. Not sure if it's possible to make different penetration levels though.

    I'm thinking of a tank that has front, side, rear and turret armor made of different classes with different values. Of course it would still be possible to take out a tank with a rifle but for AT weapons it could open new possibilities.

    However the general "armor" value for vehicles would still be there which essentially defines how many (static) health points they have in total.

    Watch the vid. You will see hit points, no matter how you use em, will still be just hit points.

  3. Posted

    Mmmh, in all honesty, we don't have a clue how difficult it is to implement transparancy for infantry in grass, and how it can hit FPS, and how should the AI relationship with be done, etc....

    That's something we'd like to see. How long it takes to do, how difficult it is, who knows?

    The games in which I saw it being used were probably 5 years old. I think the technology wont hurt FPS much at all :)

  4. Posted

    banner.jpg

    As we've seen lots of launchers popping up we thought we need to give goArmA a little update, to support ArmAII. So the charlie squad from the Storied Veterans aka [stoV] has lifted goArmA up to version 1.9.7. And ya, the version number indicates it: goArmAII is in the pipeline. With fresh new ideas for goArmAII itself and for upcoming plugins, as goArmA now can handle them.

    goArmA supports ArmAII now!

    Features:

    Splash interface with queries and indicators for servers and stuff. You choose a profile and hit one single button to start it all. This is, what goArmA was made for: LAUNCHING ALL THE GEAR WITH A SINGLE-CLICK SOLUTION!

    Profile editor with->

    ArmA support (mods/sounds/gamedefs/serverlist/serverquery)

    ArmAII support *new* (mods/sounds/gamedefs/serverliste/serverquery)

    TS2 support (with superuser features and serverquery)

    TSO support

    start external apps

    Interface for plugin development

    ...and more! Want to know more? Watch the linked tutorial video from goArmA 1.0.42 to see how it works. Updated vids will follow with goArmAII.

    If you have goArmA installed already, the update should be announced by goArmA itself. If not, try the downloadlink.

    System requirements:

    Any ArmA

    some mods

    some funny sounds (wav/ogg)

    something to display it

    a mouse

    a keyboard

    singlecore (lol, you can play around with goArmA and ArmA at least ;))

    XP32/64, Vista32/64, Win7 (32bit tested only)

    THANKS TO KJU goArmA HAS NOW A BUGTRACKER/FEATUREREQUEST AT DEV-HEAVEN

    l9rbmOvwX2I

    Dang that music is annoying but great job with the video. I wish more people would give a video demo on how to install and use their addons.

  5. Posted

    Because A2 also focused on hundreds of other things WWIIOL didn't touch (I looove exageration :) )

    Or BI focused on infantry

    Or BI lacked time/knowledge/will to change armor system.

    Or any mix of the above

    Chose you poison :)

    Changing armor system means a lot of work. not happening anytime soon, I guess

    Agreed. The blurring effect is a quick and much needed fix for infantry. The ballistics is a time consuming one but will expand the game greatly.

    ---------- Post added at 07:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:52 PM ----------

    Very clever suggestions LockDown.

    I for one would really like to see some changes to the damage system as well.

    thanks

  6. Posted · Edited by LockDOwn

    In a game selling it self as a "war sim", there are two areas I believe BIS MUST address in order to put this game over the top.

    1. Distance blurring for infantry that kneel or lay down.

    - I think it is obvious to anyone who has played this game, especially in PvP, that they fact you are surrounded in grass on your screen yet in plain sight to a soldier at distance is VERY frustrating. Now we know you can not put grass everywhere for performance reasons, but this issue was brilliantly addressed by the Delta Force developers, 'Novalogic'.

    What they did to solve this issue is to make a soldiers LOD (level of detail) at a distance turn into a "blur" that matches the ground textures (think of the alien in the movie 'predator'). It does not make them invisible but it does make them very difficult to see unless you use binoculars or they move. It is an easy fix to a very annoying issue in this otherwise fun game.

    2. True armor ballistics as found in the MMO WWII sim "Battleground Europe".

    (old video but it explains it well)

    - This will again bring greater detail to a sim game that would add another level of strategy that is needed to stop the boring and mindless "hit point" system.

  7. Posted

    This video is of the only game I know that uses a true balistics to armor and internal components. It is the MMO Battleground europe. The video is old with out dated graphics but the mechanics are the same.

    If ARMA could move away from the gamey "hit point" system and implement something like this, it would go a long way in cornering the market for being a true war sim.

  8. Posted

    1. Please improve MP performance. This game has some of the worst lag of any online game.

    2. Please allow PvP to be a filter option. Playing AI all the time is horrible game play.

    3. Please improve MP performance. This game has some of the worst lag of any online game.

  9. Posted

    I have no military experience, but I do know that body armour given to troops is to stop multiple rounds of 7.62 , as for helmets - Im not so sure . In game at least, a centre mass hit or 2 is enough to kill. Surely this is not the case IRL. Is it possible for BIS to patch this - or perhaps no one is wearing any ?. The back of US forces have water pouches ...perhaps underneath ?

    Is it possible for a modern US soldier, say in Iraq, to 'take' 3 or 4 7.62 rounds to the torso and continue to fight - admittedly with bruising. As for helmets, they seem to have little use in game.

    Great post and something I wish BIS did as well.

    The marines in the game are fully equipped but die just as fast as a militiaman with a t-shirt on!

    This, with true armor ballistics as found in www.battlegroundeurope.com, MUST be added in ARMA III

  11. Posted

    Define more precisely "full realistic" and "extremely powerfull".

    All is relative, especially over the time.

    BGE is from technology point of view pretty old, but with VERY impressive results. Leaving beside the old graphics it is pretty nice.

    And the damage model is the lower minimum I expected in OFP and ArmA1 already.

    Agreed.

    Once you play a game like battleground europe that has damage models, games that use hitpoints because less attractive to play.

  13. Posted

    This video is of the only game I know that uses a true balistics to armor and internal components. It is the MMO Battleground europe. The video is old with out dated graphics but the mechanics are the same.

    If ARMA could move away from the gamey "hit point" system and implement something like this, it would go a long way in cornering the market for being a true war sim.

  16. Posted

    I never even thought of that. I forgot that you can change all the keys DOH! Thanks for the tip. Now I'm the biggest ass around.

    The only problem with WWIIO is that it's very complex and not only that, it limits you to one thing at a time. So you can only drive a tank or fly a plane or be a soldier. You don't get the same variety as you get in ArmA2. ArmA2 is more of a pickup and play type of game, compared to WWIIO where you have to read a manual before you start figuring out what all the knobs do. The reward is great but I don't like it. I like to see ArmA2 as between the hardcore BGE style and a pickup and play BF2-esque shooter.

    That system is great, but too complex. A simplification of it would be great. We already have directional armour and we have key tank components marked and can be disabled. Now we just need a few more variables so we can mix things up.

    WWIIOL's ballistic system has nothing to do with actual game play as you compare it to. It is done behind the scenes and does not depend on how quickly you can get in a vehicle.

    It is a programming issue in which CRS rules the roost on.

  18. Posted · Edited by LockDOwn

    First off, is the hitpoint system. I don't mind hitpoints, there's no other way to portray damage or calculate damage other than hitpoints.

    You must have never played www.battlegroundeurope.com

    It is THE biggest war sim that takes place during the early years of WWII. Made by a very small company but has been going strong for over 8 years!

    They are the ONLY developers I know that actually use a true ballistic system. They calculate different rounds from their size, velocity penetration, fragmentation as well as EACH unit have armor thickness in all its areas as they were in WWII. Which means only certain rounds will penetrate certain armor. Even after that, CRS still modeled crews and fuel lines, oil, tracks, ammo etc.. within each vehicle that can be individually knocked out.

    So it can be done. And once you play a game that has a system like this, you will get bored of games that use a 'hit point' system very quickly.

    ---------- Post added at 06:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:06 PM ----------

    I'm not sure if this is an impression post or suggestion or just a general rant, but I think it might be worth a topic of it's own.

    What I mind is the one-size-fits-all solutions that have been present in this engine since OFP. They're not huge gamebreakers, but enough to make me go ugh, because I've seen far simpler games with better solutions. I'm aware that ArmA2 is all about infantry but most of what I'm about to say does touch the infantry aspect.

    First off, is the hitpoint system. I don't mind hitpoints, there's no other way to portray damage or calculate damage other than hitpoints. What I mind is the implementation. There are simply not enough variables in play. I can blow up tanks with an M249. to be precise I tried to blow up the T72, it took 1000 M249 rounds. No huge deal you might say. You'll never have a chance to take 1000 shots at a T72(took nearly twice that much for the BRDM2). True, that'll almost never happen. But the problem lies with a tank that takes a hit, or gets some splash damage from a bomb. It's a bit damaged but still running. Lets say you have somebody with an M249 and he fires a few shots at a tank. He hits a track that's borderline damaged and it gets to the red/yellow state where the AI crew bails out. That's possible. So you get an abandoned tank from an M249 shot.

    next up is the generic blow up/on fire thing. It's a small niggly bit. But still, everything blows up. Full of fuel they blow up, empty they catch fire. Why I don't know. I like the HMMW, how it gets the shot up texture when you fire upon it. Very nice, but if you continue firing it either blows up or turns black and catches fire. Not really awsome. I know it's a way of conveying the message that the vehicle is knocked out for sure, but there are better ways. The game should distinguish between small arms destruction and if a rocket or bomb was the cause of destruction. Also, tanks always blow up or start burning. I wish it wasn't always so. The crew abandoning it is great, but they do that too soon and expose themselves. Destroyed tanks shouldn't always blow up or burn. A good example is the Liberation 41 mod for OFP. The tank combat there was amazing. When tanks got destroyed they didn't always blow up or start burning. They went through some stages and slowly after some minutes perhaps blew up. Or it was a bit random. But in any case, it was brilliant because you had knocked out tanks on the battlefield, but not a million burning shells. It was really impressive.

    Now lets look at a much simpler game called C&C Generals. I used to mod this game and it had very handy things for armour. You could define different armour values for each weapon type. Granted the game only had a few different weapon types(smallarms, gattling gun, rocket, shell, and I think bomb) but you could define armour values for each of these. You could make tanks like tanks, small arms couldn't touch them. Along with that you could define a destroyed FX for each of these weapon types. By default the armour values for tanks against small arms was around 50%. So infantry could destroy a tank if you crowded them and they fired on it and the tank didn't run over all your men. But when it got destroyed it didn't blow up. You could define what kind of FX happens when small arms destroy it. Brilliant!

    So you could define what happens to vehicles when you destroy them with different weapons and if those weapons can actually do any damage to it. And that's from a 2003 RTS with a rather shitty engine.

    One other small issue is the wheeled vehicles and optics zoom. You cannot have a fixed zoom like in a tank or any other vehicle, but you need to hold the zoom key in order to have the optics zoomed. And that means you only have two zoom levels compared to the tracked vehicles zoom where you can set it at the depth you like. Pretty annoying.

    I've mentioned this before, but I don't think I can do any harm if I say it again.

    All very valid points that are well said.

  19. Posted

    Get what? Demo? i've already pre-ordered the game and dying to get it. I have been watching youtube videos nonstop. ArmA is the best game PERIOD in the universe. I have to work on buying a gift for my wife (bribery) so she would let me play long hours :-(

    lol. Me too. In fact I asked for fathers day to let me play Arma2 ALL DAY uninterrupted and she said ok!

  20. Posted

    Those of us in the EU are waiting patiently for the non German version on friday. However, thinking about it, how many of us will actually wait until the demo is released before taking the plunge.

    I know I'm sorely tempted to buy straight off, but feeling like I was burned a little on ArmA and seeing some of the negative feedback has made me wonder whether I should wait and see just how long the demo takes to come out, and what sort of experience it gives.

    (I'm aware that the game will change past the demo, but looking back on ArmA, while it did improve, my enjoyment levels didn't really match the expectations looking at the potential.)

    Resist? I pre-ordered as fast as I could. :)

  22. Posted

    About cheating AI,

    found this vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6mI410K_ZU

    I would guess this kind of test that walker have been preaching about

    test is flawed. Once you respawned to new location, you were a NEW player to the AI. So they of course were still reacting to last known position. Fire from a building in a city and see how long it takes for them to come straight for the one building you are hiding in.

    ---------- Post added at 04:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:14 AM ----------

    If you blindly believe the statement that "AI cheats and see through all objects", sure. But this statement is wrong in all accounts

    I never said they could see through walls did I.

    I stated that if they immediately return accurate fire from a sniper at long range.. THAT is a game killer in my opinion.

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