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An Fiach

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Posts posted by An Fiach

  1. Posted

    If you adjust the fade too far it can be a bit of a jolt as things start to fade then suddenly silence and black screen then it explodes into action again. I was fortunate to be able to find just the right spot where it would get enough preload to avoid ugly LODs and not have it activate fully, it can be abusive to the senses, not sure if you can do much about it but some folks will find it problematic. I really enjoyed fiddling with it. Great fun to play with.

  2. Posted

    I might just do that then. I thought it trivial enough to not want to start a ticket, but if the devs ignore requests made here I might as well.

    There are 4000 posts in this thread, how likely is it that someone will happen to see such things here, or that they will remember to document it while trying to help the dozens that come here with questions about installing and running the mod? It's a matter of practicality, not wanting to ignore anyone. :)

  3. Posted

    I admit that I haven't really looked much into coding for Real Virtuality 3. It seems to me though, because of what I've seen so far on the wiki and on the forum, that RV3 is kind of odd in comparison to a western engine like CryEngine 2.

    CE2 is very well structured and designed. In matters of modding it let's you compile your own mod DLL which extends the engine, it let's you integrate your own LUA scripts (no command line like coding) and AI Behaviors based on those scripts, vehicles have proper physics, there is an animation graph which you can add to to implement your own animations and more.

    I'm sure you can do most if not all of this by using RV3 as well, but CE2 seems much more structured and defined (I worked with it for some months).

    Another thing is the editor which Bohemia Interactive let's you use in their games.

    It's a mix of UI and command line like code. An example: Let's say you want to give a specific weapon to a grunt. This has to be done by script code.

    In Crysis' editor (called Sandbox 2) you do this by using an attribute editor.

    In SB2 you create equipment packs, which can be given to any character. You can calso create character archetypes on which to base other characters.

    I'm all for scripting where it is needed, but basic things like assigning equipment and setting properties should be done by UI.

    The whole system of expanding the game code & content seems much clearer and defined in CE2 (even though I admit that there is very little documentation to be found about how some things in Crysis work which is kind of a bummer, you'll have to find most out by yourself).

    RV3 has many strongpoints as well mainly because it is a simulation first and a game second.

    I'd like to see the advantages of an engine like CE2 combined with the simulation fidelty of RV3.

    I'm not saying RV3 is bad and should be thrown away but it's far from what it could be (not that CE2 is perfect by the way, it has major issues too like no support for streaming in levels).

    I never said it wasn't written in C++ nor did I say it wasn't object-oriented. I only said what my perfect engine would look like, which also included those concepts.

    I stated that I wanted it to be more modular. I'd appreciate it if Bohemia were to implement middleware engines like Havok and Euphoria. I'd also like to add that I would love to see a different archive management system for game files like used by CE2 (and also by it's predecessor) because it would cut down on the time used for patching archives.

    RV3 is patched like its predecessors by extracting existing game file archives, overriding obsolete files and repacking said archives. That takes a long time.

    In CE2 old archives are left intact, instead new archives are added containing the files which need to be replaced. The new files will than be loaded at start of the game instead of the old ones.

    CE2 was packaged to sell to other developers, VR is not, hence the difference, same with Unreal. Indy developers like BIS create their own engines because the mainstream engines built for making the cookie cutter games we see released all the time do not offer the features that they need to develop their projects. If VR had been designed to be packaged and sold to other development companies it would be much different.

  10. Posted

    I'm trying to join *any* server. There's no such thing as vanilla Arma2 I guess. You call me ignorant because you think I didn't read your "manuals".

    1. Some links just don't work. The Arma2 steam manual link = broken.

    2. Your guides skip steps entirely, usually the most important ones. They just assume a mod is already installed and you're connected to a server already.

    3. Most mod sites for Arma2 I've been to are literally "Heres the file. Go." No install instructions whatsoever anywhere, even in the FAQ's, which is just retarded.

    I guess I have to bring this down to a super super simple question:

    How/Where Do I install Mods so that I can play Coop, and tell me in a step by step way. God.

    I've been playing on Vanilla servers all week and nobody called you ignorant, just lazy. (me)

    Wolle gave you a helpful tip and you got pissy about it, expect the responses you received.

    Right click ArmA 2 in your Steam games list and choose view player manual to get the game manual.

    He said to read the readme files with the mods (some have special instructions) and despite your whining, sites like Armaholic have a link on every download page to instructions on installing custom mod folders.

  11. Posted

    To me it's completely on par with the needed scale for the game.

    There's no other game that can achieve so much scale with so many units visible at such distance.

    It comes with limitation, that's inevitable.

    I don't think the engine can possibly send the same amount of updates per second for every unit on the map to every client connected. Because of scale, number of units and number of players (combination of which is unrivaled by other games), at some point, for some unit to certain players the engine will reduce the number of update per second. And to determine this, the logical parameter to use is distance between player and unit. The farther the unit from the player, the less update per second the player will receive.

    If BI didn't do this, they'd have 2 choices :

    * Accept that their server have subpar performance as soon as mission makers puts many units in a mission, with many players connected, on a server setting high view distance (or any combination of these parameters)

    * limit the maximum number of player, units, and max visible range to avoid this. I know a game that ended like that, it's called OFP-DR

    So it's quite logical that distant unit gets less updates and it can end up with visible warps, depending on server config (and that's exactly the usage of the minErrorToSend parameter).

    If you don't accept this kind of warp on distant unit on scopes, imho you shouldn't expect the scale and number of units as seen on ArmA2

    That said, if there's improvement possible to make it less visible, BI should definitely get a look on it.

    You don't get updates on every unit on the map, just the ones that you can see (occlusion) and the scale is not the issue. ArmA 2 is big, but not the biggest game out there. Also, the complaint is about AI and not human players, meaning if human players don't see it the way the AI does, it is an AI issue.

  15. Posted

    Odd, I clicked it and I became an old woman wandering around on the Khe Sahn, even passed a scenario where I had to avoid enemies and survive....

    ---------- Post added at 08:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:34 AM ----------

    Does it to me every time and when challenges come up, I still remain on the ship.

    ---------- Post added at 08:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:36 AM ----------

    Finally got in, but no troubles with it yet.

  21. Posted

    @Zach: Rockstar has won many awards for their unbelievable games. Please refrain from trashing a studio that works extremely hard; what makes PC gaming so much better than consoles? It's just gaming, so please dismount your high horse.

    Awards from who? Awards these days mean nothing, they are handed out like candy. You either like what they do or you don't but don't bring up meaningless awards.

  23. Posted

    :j:

    BIS is making this game open enough for ACE & such to exist

    It's one of the major selling point of the title. Of course they have to care about custom content, they have capitalized on it for years now!

    But you still didn't answer the question : What would be the problem in implementing this auto-downlad system?

    Aside from the issues it would cause on the servers and the potential for unsuspecting people to download viruses there is also the fact that there are many mods that require an individual to do editing on the client side for it to operate.

    I don't exactly have a problem with the concept but the idea that a person wanting to use 3rd party content finds it too inconvenient to understand what they are installing and how it works/changes their game just sends me for a loop, it's like buying turbo tax and expecting it to enter the correct info for you without you having to type. Custom content is a MAJOR selling point to those already familiar with it since we already expect the campaign to be mediocre at best and for online modes that ship with the game to be a waste of time. The way you want them to care about custom content, you'll be wanting them to regulate it too so that nobody downloads a crappy mod and is disappointed.

    ---------- Post added at 06:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:14 PM ----------

    I never said it did.

    But after finally navigating the intructions, download sites and running an

    unnessarely user unfriendly piece of software to get ACE installed thats what I was faced with and no clear explanation as to why I couldn't fly a chopper.

    I wasn't the only one, player after player joined, running around from vehicle

    to vehicle trying to play but were prevented from even reaching the battle

    most just gave up because the ones flying refused to answer anything

    or gave obscure answers. Go this site, register... blah blah blah

    There are so many stumbling blocks put in your way it's no big surprise

    so many people give up.

    I was simply too tired from installing ACE to jump through the hoops

    to get permission to fly a chopper.

    As for there being plenty of vanilla servers. Sure there are

    but their mixed in with the dozens and dozens of others running mods and addons.

    Bohemia needs people who can take a look at the game

    and come up with some solutions to make it less intimidating

    without neutering the core of the game itself. a Realistic sim.

    If the engineers who invent and design HDTV's wrote the manuals

    and the onscreen display for controlling them chances are very few people would buy them because they'd be a nightmare to operate.

    Cars are extremely sophisticated machines with multiple computers

    but you don't need to be a rocket scientist to operate one

    Why? Because car companies have people who's job it is to make

    them easy to use for anyone.

    Except you have to be trained to drive a car, right? So far they haven't released a car that drives for you. Nevermind customizing one.

    Sure, I can see being annoyed at not being allowed to fly, but everyone is familiar with servers having rules about one thing or another, that isn't a stumbling block for the game, neither is installing ACE which is a 3rd party mod and is also still in Beta, which anyone would know after a few minutes of reading.

    I agree that there are things that could be improved and streamlined, but they can only go so far. I've seen a ton of people complain about user made missions because they were complex and the player didn't know where to start. They need to make some solid stuff that comes with the game right out of the box, but beyond that, who is gonna hold your (not you specifically) hand when you log on to a server like that. Sounds like you were on a Domination server that has a mobile spawn unit, so likely people were quite able to get to the fight, just didn't know how. If you couldn't get any help you weren't on a good server with good people, that's a fact of life in every game.

  25. Posted

    I'd thought it was very relevant seing as hordes of servers use mods. And with many of them you're not given a clue until you join. And when you do you're met with gibberish.

    If you want people to stay past their first try, you need to give them something more appealing than frustrations.

    There are plenty of vanilla servers going, however, the suggestions for an improved server browser that tells you such things have been made already, hell half the people don't get so far as to try MP before they uninstall.

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