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Echo38

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Everything posted by Echo38

  1. Echo38

    X-Ray Vision AI

    All, bar none, of the CTI/Warfare missions I've played have the command mode. I think it's integral to the Warfare game. Even the missions which come with the game have it. I'd love to get rid of it somehow, while still remaining able to command my armies. I play on max difficulty settings except for A.I. skill level; I want to have to navigate by map & compass, but that can't be done with all the unit icons on the map.
  2. I know neither of you two, nor the project in question, but you, Rock, are coming across to me as excessively touchy. Just sayin'.
  3. Echo38

    X-Ray Vision AI

    I'd call it stupid mission design which allows for cheating : D
  4. Echo38

    X-Ray Vision AI

    If I could let my Fraps run for 12 hours of gameplay, I would sooner or later get a good example. Unfortunately, I can't do that because it slows down my Arma, and also because of the file size of the raw videos. As with most software anomalies, reproducing it deliberately isn't as easy as it sounds, since there's no way to tell from sporadic occurrences what conditions cause it. Maturin, I'm well aware of how the predictive A.I. works, and if you read my previous posts, you'd see that I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about the A.I. following me with its machine-gun fire when I was moving unpredictably behind a solid obstacle of some sort. How the A.I. does this, and under what conditions, is still not known, although (as I said) I suspect it only occurs in CTI (in which, I believe, the AI uses the Command Mode to see things it shouldn't, as can a player-controlled commander also). The question isn't whether or not the A.I. cheats. It absolutely does. The question is, when and how. (Oh--the question is also "in which game and version." A.I. behavior may differ greatly between A2 and A2OA.)
  5. I don't know. I've never used TrackIR with OpF/Arma. Sorry.
  6. Falcon 4's flight model has always been balls. Almost as bad as Arma's, really, which is sad for Falcon because it was supposed to be super-realistic. To be fair, the avionics & systems are very impressive, but DCS does the same level of detail for those while also having very good flight physics. I wouldn't say that DCS's focus is on dissimilar air combat. DCS is a series of study sims, and it happens that they've gone for some dissimilar aircraft. I don't think that the point was to model dissimilar aircraft; I think that the point was to model some of the developers' favorite aircraft which haven't ever been well-portrayed in a sim before, and it's just coincidence that they are dissimilar aircraft. It's really a shame about the DRM that Eagle Dynamics has chosen to use for DCS, because the latter is the only proper "hardcore" military flight sim available for P.C.
  7. Last time I checked, you have the entire throttle range if you bind it to a joystick slider, although it feels a bit wonky because throwing the slider all the way back doesn't only put the throttle to idle, it also engages the spoilers/airbrakes.
  8. The mouse steering for land vehicles in OpF/Arma doesn't work like an axis. Joystick and keyboard directly control the steering wheel, but mouse does not; instead, the mouse moves an invisible cursor around the screen, and the vehicle automatically attempts to move toward that cursor--using a sort of autopilot to do it. So, as long as you bear in mind that you're moving an invisible cursor around which the automobile or tank will attempt to travel toward, you should be able to predict what the vehicle will do, to a reasonable degree. I mostly use the keys for steering land vehicles, and only use small mouse movements to "boost" the steering wheel rotation acceleration when I need it. Keys are much more predictable, but being binary switches with fixed steering wheel rotation values, it takes longer to fully deflect your wheels when using keys than it does when using both keys and mouse in the same direction. Aircraft work a bit differently, if you bind the mouse to "bank" instead of "turn." More like a joystick, although still not able to produce a constant stick deflection.
  9. I now know where the various switches and things are located (battery switch, starter, etc.), so I'm looking to make things so that the cockpit icons aren't on all the time, even when I'm not looking at them. Ideally, it would only display the action menu off to the side. Problem is, I'm running on absolute maximum realism settings, and the icons are still there. I even looked in the configuration file; I can't figure out how to turn them off. Is there a way to turn off these cockpit icons, which label all the clickable switches?
  10. Echo38

    X-Ray Vision AI

    Iron Front is not Arma. I have no reason to assume that they didn't adjust the A.I. I'd be surprised if they didn't. Regardless, I've seen what I've seen. My computer can't run Arma well while recording, but I'll see if I can record a little test. Update: Hmm, this is interesting. It appears to only occur on CTI/Warfare. I tried a test in the editor, in the same spot where it happened to me on CTI, and the AI acted clueless. I believe, as I said on the last page of this thread, that the AI in CTI cheats by using the command mode HUD display to find you. Try it out for yourself, so that you can see what they see; start a LAN game of Warfare, vote yourself as commander, and run around in command mode during combat. Cute little icons that you can see through buildings and walls and stuff, even when you have no LoS. They refresh constantly and are pinpoint accurate, unlike radar targeting. This even on absolute max realism/difficulty options.
  11. Like I said, "unless one already has the market cornered." Eagle Dynamics has a monopoly on the hardcore modern air combat sim; they can afford to develop DCS for for P.C., as I understand it, because at least one military pays them to make real flight simulators. That's where most of their money comes from. (It also means they can afford to be pricks to the customers--see Starforce DRM and said bug-fix wankery, which is really too bad, because there is not a more realistic flight sim on the P.C. than DCS.) Because DCS holds the market, there isn't really room for an independent developer to make another high-fidelity flight sim of modern aircraft. This is even more true of the Second World War and the IL-2 series--just no room for another company to get their foot in the door, even though there are other companies that could do a better job of it. Well, there is one exception: DCS P-51D. ; )
  12. Echo38

    Opinions on manual gun cocking?

    As OnlyRazor noted, it does add gameplay elements, but even if it didn't, it should be included for the simple reason of realism and immersion. The Arma series is marketed as "the most realistic infantry simulation," and for it to have unrealistic chambering & cocking mechanics (as it has so far) belies that claim. Now, making the chamber mechanics realistic wouldn't harm gameplay, so there's no decent reason to not do it.
  13. The fixed-wing flight model in Arma 2 is indeed far from realistic (though not entirely arcade, either), but it's able to support formation flying. It's the netcode that isn't able to handle formation flying, and the netcode is one of the things which is said to be improved in Arma 3. I myself would like to see almost nothing more than a super-realistic flight model in Arma 3, but this simply isn't going to happen. The market dynamics just don't support it, sadly. Realistic flight sims are the most complex type of game to make, and have just about the smallest market in gaming. High development costs + low sales = not a profitable venture, unless one already has the market cornered or something.
  14. Echo38

    Steamworks, add it in or not?

    Also: one-man boycotts never work, no matter how justified. I would know--from long, unpleasant experience. So telling someone to "vote with their wallet" is basically telling him to go fly a kite. A few perceptive people may recognize a major problem with a given business practice (insurance, DRM, McDonalds, Facebook, whatever)--but as long as throngs, masses, and hordes blindly buy it, it unfortunately doesn't matter if the few boycott it. The irresponsible and immoral companies can thrive without the support of the few. Ugly system. Just as ugly are those who would force it on others.
  15. Echo38

    Steamworks, add it in or not?

    I'm starting to really like you, Celery. Seems like every time you open your mouth, sense comes out. : )
  16. Echo38

    X-Ray Vision AI

    I did a pretty solid test myself in which a tank repeatedly followed me around a city, without my ever coming close to exposing myself (except for the initial shot at him). He did not, in fact, ever actually have line of sight on me--when I fired on him, he was looking the other way with both turrets, and I popped behind a building 0.5 seconds after firing the rocket. And yet he managed to follow me through a city, even though I never let any part of myself come close to showing to him. However, this was CTI, which has the "strategic icons" even at maximum difficulty options. I suspect he may have been using the command mode icons to find me. There's no doubt at all that the A.I. cheats. It cheats like hell, even at very low A.I. skill settings. Is it ridiculously stupid, too? Absolutely. But "two wrongs don't make a right," and so an A.I. blatantly cheating by seeing (and shooting!) through things it shouldn't be able to see through (houses, walls, grass, trees, and sometimes even hills) does not somehow "make up" for the A.I. being stupid. The stupid kills immersion, but the cheating kills immersion even more. Final result? Extra-extra killed immersion. Some might think that the A.I. is merely doing the "predictive" check, or engaging in suppressive fire, but this isn't true. It really does cheat. I did a test once where I crawled along behind a small embankment--completely covered, no part of me showing above it--while a tank's machine gun bullets kept following me, kicking up dirt right above my head the entire time as I crawled along, out of his LoS. If he doesn't have LoS, he shouldn't be tracking my movements with his gun. Not predictive, but 100% accurate tracking regardless of where and when I move. It also can't be true that they only aim for chest and head--the vehicle A.I. often shoots a player in the arm as the latter creeps around a corner, before the player is fully exposed. We're talking about getting shot before you come around the corner, even if you're in a full run. It starts shooting a half-second before you come around the corner, and kills you with multiple bullets to the arm before your chest is in its LoS. Fix the cheating first, and then worry about making the A.I. less stupid. The A.I. is, in my opinion, the largest weakness in this game (followed closely by the unrealistic weapon mechanics).
  17. In a realistic flight sim, yes. Even in TOH (which doesn't claim to be a "hardcore" flight sim, but does a pretty good job regardless), I'd say a joystick and pedals are a must (or at the very least, a joystick with twist). I don't fly flight sims unless I've got my joystick and pedals hooked up. However, Arma 2 is not a flight sim, and it's quite controllable with mouse and keyboard alone. I can't use a joystick at present, due to a hand injury, but there's another problem with using a joystick for Arma: last time I checked (which was, admittedly, in old OpF), the game was lacking something that every flight sim must have: an option for direct controller input (that is, no curve). By default, and apparently hard-coded, there's a hefty curve and/or dead zone in the BIS games I've used a joystick with, which makes joystick worse than mouse. In a real aircraft (of any kind), you get a response with the tiniest motion of the controls. In OpF, I had to make huge, ham-fisted joystick motions before I got any response, because it wouldn't let me remove the curve for the more realistic direct input. These ham-fisted motions result in much less precision. With mouse, I get a response from a tiny motion, like in a real aircraft, so in Arma (unlike in flight sims), I prefer mouse to joystick. Maybe I should plug in my joystick and see if they've improved on this since Flashpoint.
  18. You need to be more gentle. You only nose forward slightly, and perhaps increase the collective a bit ("thrust up," default key Q, I believe--I rebound mine), although fiddling with the collective is technically not necessary in this game on level ground, because, unlike in a real helicopter, the Arma helicopters automatically increase collective slightly when you pitch forward a little bit. If you nose down steeply, you will begin to lose much altitude, as you noticed. So do not nose down steeply--only lower the nose a little bit, and hold it there until you are moving forward at a comfortable pace. Then raise the nose back to level. Same for slowing down--raise the nose until you stop moving, then lower it. This is, by the way, why you are going backwards after taking off--you are inadvertently raising the nose. Flying a helicopters is a little bit like balancing a plate on your finger. But not altogether--bear in mind that you have an upwards lift vector, so any bank or pitch (tipping the helicopter in any direction) will cause some of your upwards-force to be sideways-force, and so you will start to lose altitude if you do not also increase your upwards-force by adding thrust (increasing collective). See?
  19. Echo38

    how to get a C 130?

    I presume that you're playing a Capture the Island (A.K.A. Warfare) game? The "Superpowers" mission has C-130s available from the airfields, which are capturable. Simply go into the hangar at the end of the runway (not the hangars beside the runway) and you should be able to purchase a C-130.
  20. There's no way to reset an objecting without restarting the mission. That said, I don't think you need to restart--in order to begin your marksman test, you must fire off an entire magazine first. It doesn't matter if you hit any targets. So, when he says "fire off a few shots," he really means "blow that whole mag, then we'll start the test with a new one" (which it magically adds to your inventory after you empty the first mag). I completed the objectives in order for that mission, saving right before the final objective. I recommend doing this, or if you aren't yet comfortable with anti-tank weapons, saving right before the second-to-last objective. Actually, however, there's that old semi-cheat about deleting the savegame file so that you can make a new save, so you really can have unlimited saves if you don't mind alt-tabbing out every time.
  21. Even at absolute maximum difficulty, there are quite a few arcade icons and displays which seem to be unable to be removed. Some of these appear to be hard-coded--for example, the team leader icon when in a vehicle. But what about the large icon and text in the middle of the screen when selecting context menu options (e.g. take magazine)? Since the same information is also displayed on the context menu on the left side (like in old Flashpoint), the one in the middle is redundant and unnecessary--not to mention in the way. Any way to get rid of it, so that it works like old Flashpoint, with only the menu on the left--instead of the menu of the left and a copy of the current selection in the middle? Also, and this is a really important one for realism: is there any way to get rid of the "reload" icon which pops up when you fire your last shot? On that note, how about getting rid of the ammo counter (preferably without getting rid of the magazine counter)?
  22. Thanks. I presume these mods are incompatible with anyone who is not using them? If so, is there any way to get rid of the icons and stuff without making it incompatible with un-modded Arma?
  23. Echo38

    Will ARMA3 feature realistic tank armor?

    In TOH, the rotors can indeed be destroyed separately of the aircraft, with the fuselage and pilot surviving. There is, unfortunately, as Max Powers mentioned, a rule in TOH that a pilot is killed upon being inverted on the ground, no matter what. It isn't, however, for the same reason that helicopters explode in the OpF/Arma series.
  24. When a group leader (including A.I.) gives a player an order to disembark from a vehicle, the player is magically removed from the vehicle whether he wishes to comply with the order or not. Is there any way to remove this effect? Currently, the only solution I can think of is to make all players in separate groups. This is inconvenient. Any other way? Example of what I'm looking to remedy: today, I was playing a mission I'd made wherein I was a subordinate infantryman being attacked by an enemy helicopter. The enemy helicopter crash-landed but its gun turret was intact. The (player-controlled) gunner remained in the vehicle, attacking my A.I. troops, so I flanked the helicopter and shot the gunner. I then entered the gunner's position to attack the downed pilot, who had run away from the crash and picked up a rifle from a corpse. However, my dullard of an A.I. commander told me, "2, disembark!" and POOF I was magically teleported outside of the helicopter. I quickly got back in before the distant pilot could shoot me, but the command once again magically dismounted me remotely. This happened repeatedly--I was unable to utilize the gun position the way that the guy I'd just shot was able to, because my A.I. commander wouldn't quit Jedi mind-tricking me out of it. But, never mind whether or not the command was tactically sound--the commander should never even have that ability, let alone use it, in any of my missions. Help, please?
  25. "Turn left" and "turn right" are more or less autopilot functions. Using these two functions, with helicopters, the computer chooses whether to bank or yaw, depending on your airspeed. For this reason, I recommend not using them. They are an arcade aid and limit the control one has over one's aircraft. (I don't even have them bound.) "Bank left" and "bank right," and "yaw left" and "yaw right," are the functions which should be used for as realistic of control as one can get with Arma's rather limited flight model. To be fair, it has pretty decent basic motion physics, mostly, but complex aerodynamic & rotary phenomenon are not modelled in Arma 2. We'll have to wait 'till Arma 3 for that. (Although I believe the fixed-wing F.M. will still be simple.) You can, if you rebind your controls as I recommended in my last paragraph. Using the mouse to bank left and tapping a key to yaw right, you can fly sideways just as though you were using joystick and pedals. It's less precise and smooth (especially the keys, being a binary switch instead of an axis), but it's quite doable.
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