Development Blog & Reveals

I wonder if there are plans to improve the existing weather effects such as rain and lightning strikes.

Currently, rain is a pretty bland visual effect in A2, that mostly goes unnoticeable besides the sound it makes and not even a small hindrance.

Fog could use some kind skybox altering as seeing the sky and horizon at heavy fog breaks the effect and makes it weird.

Lightning bolts would probably be a decent option for a light source that casts shadows (not the case in A2, just checked), possibly even overriding the sun/moon cast shadows for brief moments.

Yes it would be nice if rain were more of a particle effect rather than an overlay..I think the droplets are currently dependant on post processing because I swear they don't usually appear unless that is on..plus it looks very strange when the overlay vanishes at distance or has the "distance" bug where you see a small plane of rain but nothing around it.

Though if it rains shouldn't the scene also be a bit darker as well?

The only thing I didn't quite like about the Tactical Pace is the way of holding a gun: right before your face in a typical FPS position. I can imagine that constantly having your rifle on extended hands is pretty exhausting. I'd rather move with a gun in a "medium ready carry" position, i.e. rifle is tilted at forty-five degrees from a horizontal axis in order to not obstruct field of view and yet be ready for the rapid start of shooting. That goes for both Tactical Pace and walking with a weapon at the ready. Something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutQJtXj3wM&feature=player_detailpage#t=22s

I already wrote about it here.

The only thing I didn't quite like about the Tactical Pace is the way of holding a gun: right before your face in a typical FPS position. I can imagine that constantly having your rifle on extended hands is pretty exhausting. I'd rather move with a gun in a "medium ready carry" position, i.e. rifle is tilted at forty-five degrees from a horizontal axis in order to not obstruct field of view and yet be ready for the rapid start of shooting. That goes for both Tactical Pace and walking with a weapon at the ready. Something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sutQJtXj3wM&feature=player_detailpage#t=22s

I already wrote about it here.

I thought that the entire point of the new animation is to allow for some kind of resemblance of accuracy when shooting while moving, so having the weapon point to the ground would kinda break its purpose.

I thought that the entire point of the new animation is to allow for some kind of resemblance of accuracy when shooting while moving, so having the weapon point to the ground would kinda break its purpose.

Ok, it seems that i missed that point, so I stand corrected - holding your weapon that way is ok. But still, I hope that constantly holding your weapon in a ready to fire position like this will result in fatigue of our avatar's arms and greater muzzle sway (which we don't have in Arma 2, IIRC), like when you use ironsights/optics for too long in the previous games of the franchise, so you'll have to relax a bit by putting your weapon down (double tapping of left CTRL in Arma 2).

Today I decided I'll take a closer look at the new screenshots. They were quite dark so I thought I'd light them up a little. And surprise surprise, next to the lightcones in this picture, there is actually a second diver holding on to something which looks like a Diver Propulsion Vehicle. :)

And as if this wouldn't be enough, it looks like this guy is having some sort of metal plate in front of his face.

What in the hell could that be?

Nice finds.

NVG's? Looks a tiny bit like the rangefinder model which is quite funny.

Flippable NOD's, flashlight or helmet camera attached. Intense.

Possible strobe or LED on head.

Erm... bullpup rifle (or shotgun?) without a magazine inserted?

Palm trees of different sizes, whoop.

Backpack straps actually fitting the character model, not going through it when you hold certain stances etc.

Handgrip with your hands on it (unlike that article months back where the hand wasn't properly on the grip)

Front sight post laser, unlike A2OA's left or right rail laser. Excellent choice for accuracy.

Rear sights put down due to the other sight attachment.

i think the "metal plate" is just a balaclava but the NVG's cover the holes

Yeah there's no metal plate. you're seeing the helmet chinstrap, and then like Slatt mentioned, a balaclava that's just creating some kind of neutral lighting effect that looks like some low-lit flat surface.

Hmm that might be right, yes :) Tough it makes the face/balaclava look somehow strange.

Erm... bullpup rifle (or shotgun?) without a magazine inserted?

It is the Keltec KSG shotgun indeed ;)

Oh it's not a magazine-fed shotty. Nice find, again.

a Neostead 2000 type of shotgun?

a Neostead 2000 type of shotgun?

Similar at least

See here

or here

for some variations

Nice finds.

NVG's? Looks a tiny bit like the rangefinder model which is quite funny.

I believe that is the 4th gen hybrid NVG US ARMY is testing

Yeah there's no metal plate. you're seeing the helmet chinstrap, and then like Slatt mentioned, a balaclava that's just creating some kind of neutral lighting effect that looks like some low-lit flat surface.

Where are you guys seeing a balaclava? Just looks like a dude with NVGs to me. I'm pretty sure that's NOT a balaclava...

Where are you guys seeing a balaclava? Just looks like a dude with NVGs to me. I'm pretty sure that's NOT a balaclava...

I don't see it either. All I see is a helmet strap and NVG's.

Where are you guys seeing a balaclava? Just looks like a dude with NVGs to me. I'm pretty sure that's NOT a balaclava...

The lack of visible facial features may suggest that he's wearing a balaclava. I suppose it could also be due to the lighting.

The lack of visible facial features may suggest that he's wearing a balaclava. I suppose it could also be due to the lighting.

May also be that the gun and NVG's are covering half his face from viewers.

The lack of visible facial features may suggest that he's wearing a balaclava. I suppose it could also be due to the lighting.

Pretty sure it's due to brightening a dark image.

May also be that the gun and NVG's are covering half his face from viewers.

I'd expect to at least see a little bit of cheek/nose detail.

Pretty sure it's due to brightening a dark image.

There are areas of the image that are still darker than the face even after PurePassion brightened it.

I guess we may be jumping to conclusions based on too vague clues here... Might be better to wait till E3. :p

I'd expect to at least see a little bit of cheek/nose detail.

There are areas of the image that are still darker than the face even after PurePassion brightened it.

I guess we may be jumping to conclusions based on too vague clues here... Might be better to wait till E3. :p

Now, believe me, I really want there to be a balaclava that's separate from the helmets. So I hope I'm wrong. Man I wish E3 was this week and not next...

I believe those are street lamps right above the guy's helmet and it looks like they are being reflected off the right side of the helo's windshield. But i wonder what the light source is on the other side of the cockpit, above the pilot's head.

http://www.bistudio.com/images/stories/blogs/developer/light/Lighting_2.jpg

I believe those are street lamps right above the guy's helmet and it looks like they are being reflected off the right side of the helo's windshield. But i wonder what the light source is on the other side of the cockpit, above the pilot's head.

http://www.bistudio.com/images/stories/blogs/developer/light/Lighting_2.jpg

I bet it's another street lamp offscreen.

you might be right, i thought the placement was a bit strange for anything within the cockpit. too bad we can't make out much detail of the pilots in this pic.

Dynamo;2157315']using a video which is captured by a camera' date=' is no way to depict what is seen through an operators eyes. our eyes have this awesome ability to stabilize our view during movement. i have done some off roading as well as shooting on the move. what ever you are focused on is automatically stabilized by your eyes, if it wasn't for that road signs would be useless. i would love for BIS to make the player's camera view from vehicles untethered. it would make for a much more natural feeling in-game, and not the jarring blurry mess we have with ArmA2 and every other game out there. it's one of the main reasons why it's almost impossible to hit anything when on a moving vehicle. i have been in airsoft games with offroad vehicles, it is real easy to aim at targets on the move.[/quote']

I couldn't agree more! I hope the developers include something like this.