Evil_Echo

Thanks all for starting this list. I'll try to get more info out there now.

The numbers on blast radius are based on very accurate calculations of overpressure values for those weapons. Radiation levels and time for fallout arrival also derived from real physics. All unclassified. No - I got sidetracked getting the ruck system up. After I get some more documentation done, especially the class lists, I'll get back to the nuclear weapons again. Not many people have seen a tactical weapon - almost all the videos of above-ground tests are for much larger weapons. The look and damage effects scale a bit differently at these sizes. I do plan on continuing to improve the look, but keeping a good frame rate takes priority. EMP - it may happen. But it's nasty to have all the GPS, radio, NVG, etc in an area all fry to a crisp - especially in a night mission. You sure you want that?

Yes...

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions_about_ACE2#I_think_I_found_a_bug._What_do_I_do.3F

Funny about that comment on "poor documentation". People keep repeating the same answers here again and again - no one bothers to read those or the wiki. EASA module - you have to GET OUT OF THE PLANE, GO TO THE TRAILER, AND PICK YOUR WEAPONS LOAD-OUT - wait a few moments for the armaments to be added to the pylons. Use a tow vehicle to move your plane close to and away from the trailer if needed. Interaction and the right windows button. US and German keyboards have a different notion of what that keycode is - left or right, so you can't win documenting what the default is. Don't have a windows button? Remap it using the instructions in the lousy FAQ. Loading CSW - works like a charm if you have the correct ammo and treat the CSW the same way you'd interact with an ammo crate ( stand back a bit and look at it ). How to use goggles - read that poorly written FAQ again. Sight adjustments - keys binds are listed in that poorly written "Features of ACE2" wiki page and again in the even worse key bindings table. Surprisingly - the keys actually work if you press them while holding a weapon with adjustable sights in zoom mode. Wind measurement - works great. I can routinely rapid-fire a M-24 at 5 men 500m away in stormy conditions and drop all five after gauging the wind. Why custom updater vs SVN? Sickboy tried that angle and it did not scale well for large binary files - that's why. Why are we using the windows keys in the first place? Because the game is running out of free keys, trying to access critical functions via a long action menu does not work well, and we are trying to improve the ergonomics with a radial menu UI. But you can't please everyone all the time, sorry to say.

They are on the way - on the BI wiki. Been typing all day long and remembering those memorable words from the Beatles - I have blisters on my fingers! :butbut:

Virtual machines and fair-share scheduling FTW.

Not needed. The new updater for ACE2 uses some pretty cool tech. It's smart, fast, configurable, and very safe. In my case, I configured the updater to manage ACE, ACEX, CBA and the beta patches for ArmA2. The initial installs for those items finished in less than 15 minutes. In comparison just the download of the old ACE1 1.08_full file took 25 minutes and you had to run the installer after that. As a developer I need to track the daily builds as well. The updater can sync my machine in less than 3 minutes on most days. Unlike a torrent, the updater only grabs the changes - that saves huge amounts of bandwidth. Also, a lot of people including myself have security concerns with torrent. The updater uses rsync for a secure, one-way flow of data - no one can browse you machine like torrent tends to allow.

A little while ago we received notice from Kronzky - he states that ACE is abusing the BI wiki with too many pages and images. The limits now being imposed are just of one page and just a couple images. BI is going to purge the wiki pages unless we comply. In fact they have already altered one page and removed the ACE2 category. The new limits would make it impossible to provide the quality of documentation that ACE users deserve. Since BI owns the wiki, we don't have right to challenge their decision. All that can be done is move the information somewhere else. That process is already underway. At the moment I cannot say where or in what form those documents will be. I'm personally asking everyone NOT to flame, criticize, or complain to anyone at BI about this. ACE prides itself on being professional - let's all do the same and just get through this calmly.

I optimized the nuke code for minimal lag. Much better than the Gigan variants IMO. I've dropped a 5kt weapon on the harbor district of Elektro and even with all the building destruction I needed to add a debug hint during the development to be sure the weapon had detonated ( I don't loiter around a nuke drop to admire my handywork ). BTW - the addtional damage is class-dependent, an unreinforced building is much easier to destroy than a human. So you can actually survive a nuclear blast as a ground-pounder sometimes. And if you watch carefully you can see the shockwave rolling out at mach-2.0 toward you.

You should not be. We are talking about tactical nuclear weapons. In the case of the B-61 bomb, I implimented the 0.3 - 5.0 kilo range of the "dial-a-yield" settings. The damage radius from initial burst is quite managable. The fallout pattern depends on the wind. Watch your maps and don't hang around long if you end up in a zone. The SADM is still a WIP because of time working on ruck system, but those will be out there sometime. But be warned - those weapons are extremely heavy. Even SEALs had a tough time hauling them any distance. They will be on the upper end of my yield range - 10 kilotons. Unlike the scuds out there - with any of the ACE nukes you are going to have to do more than click on a map. You have to deliver it yourself - taking a lot of risks along the way. There are plans for "release authority" to be supported too, so mission makers can control access to these weapons even better. Pilots are going to have to learn some extra tricks too. Dropping a B-61 takes a lot more skill than dropping a Mk82 or laser-guided weapon. I suggest anyone thinking about trying out the nukes first brush up on toss-bombing and details of how lay-down mode works.

If you find them before they find you - yes.

Actually both happen. You get dust flying outward during initial shock-wave ( out-in motion ) and then inward rush NEAR the column as the vortex cloud rises. As I said on another thread, I admire anyone who actually codes a nuke in ArmA because of the technical challenges of getting all the special effects to work and not bringing the game to a screaching halt. So kudos for Drew.

About ideas for accessing the throw mode. Those would be cool if we had the ability to change the interface to the game engine to allow. Of course a lot of things would be cool if we could change the game engine. As it is we have to work within certain limits. Also I did mention we working on some further ideas. But first you make it work, then you make it pretty.

I have 3 females in my clan. All sniper certified - 85% one-shot rate at 900m.

Regular grenades fall into two catagories, offensive or defensive. Defensive grenades are heavy on fragmentation effects and meant to be used from cover. They have much larger kill and wound radii than offensive grenades ( which are used by troops in the open and on the move ). Using a throw mode for a frag grenade that has less range than normal does mean you should back away or take cover. As per origin of the throw. Part of the soldier model is designated the "muzzle" for throwing objects ( similar to a rifle ). That should be the right hand - any designer doing otherwise had better make very obvious warnings. Keep that in mind when leaning and throwing.

Odd, I count only 6 modes. Which is less that the combinations possible for movement on foot. This is basically the same grenade system ACE1 had. No one said you have to use the grenade modes, unbind the key if you like and you'll never change from the same vanilla 'nade toss that ordinary A2 has. I just happen to like rolling tear gas into a room, being able to hit that 2nd story window in one try, and dropping a smoke marker at the exact LZ spot. There may be another way to select grenade toss mode sometime, but it still is going to require a key press or mouse action unless BIS starts supporting brainwave reading or voice commands.

Who are you to demand it? Another poster mentioned that there are veterans that play, yet wish not to relive that level of detail. I'm one of them, know first-hand what claymores do to what used to be a human being. Highly recommend seeking mental help and having real-life access to any weapons take away now.

I've been trying to prototype a new weapon. Part of which requires special particle effects. The info on the BI wiki for ArmA on particle effects could be politely described as "limited". Not even the full list of available effects was listed, and those that were not all described in detail. Outside tutorials filled in some of the gaps - albeit in a cut-n-paste fashion for the most part. Not the best when trying something very different. The situation for ArmA 2 is far worse. I have learned after a day's worth of digging that the particle effects are merged into a new .p3d file and there is absolutely no documentation on this at all anywhere I'd searched. Could those in the know actually write some decent documents on particles and cloudlets for coders who are not rated as P-12 telepaths?

WRT - KIA soldiers dropping ruck intact and not scattering contents. Already working and polishing that code up even more. The PDM/EUM stuff mr.g-c mentioned is long gone. As I said before, total rewrite of that feature.

You could honor the ACE team by reading what has already been written by others and watching the teaser videos before posting. Much of what you talk about has been answered many times before. Gore effects will NOT be added to ACE. While it's part of war, all it is in a game is frame-eating eye-candy. Worse, a lot of immature people get their jollies watching body parts fly. The last thing ArmA people should want is kids giggling about gibs instead of working as a team. That would turn a fine combat sim into a lousy imitation of Mortal Kombat - plus alter the game's violence rating to unacceptable levels. ACE2 has blood trails for wounded soldiers. That is it.

YAGP - Yet Another Gigan Port. Gigan designed a really nice system. But how about doing something new rather than "borrowing" from Gigan?

Old topic. I'm in favor of it. But as a mod.

Eye-candy vs good gameplay. Hmmm - I'll take good game play. Very few of my victims in combat are close enough to me for the details of their face to matter.

No way in the stock game. Let a mod handle gore, something I can refuse to download.