Grenade interface suggestions

Agree, the new ranged throw ability is a big (massive) step forward, but there's still work to be done!

I really pine for the ability to cook off grenades like in America's Army...

True, but that would probably require a major overhaul to the way grenades work. On the other hand, they have already made a huge change with the ranged throw, so maybe cooking grenades wouldn't be completely impossible.

I haven't bought OA and I uninstalled the demo, do grenades still bounce 20 meters? lol That's an issue too.

I haven't bought OA and I uninstalled the demo, do grenades still bounce 20 meters? lol That's an issue too.

Yeah, they were still made of flubber last time I checked...

When was the last time you used a grenade within 10m (and survived)? It makes no sense that the lowest "power" of throw is literally dropping it at your feet. If they don't reverse it, then at least make the minimum distance you throw a grenade 10-15m...

I guess you got used to throwing/using grenades from another game.

IRL people can do more, different and precise movements but in games animations are more simplified and not that complex.

The question is what is possible to implement - without making it cumbersome and clunky.

Honestly guys all that's needed here is to have one cycle key to switch between weapons, and a different cycle key to switch between modes of that weapon. That way nobody will accidentally throw a grenade when what they meant to do was switch from automatic fire to semi. It's a simple change and it would eliminate the UI bug where cycling 1 too far and then clicking results in a catastrophic outcome--which is easy to do by mistake when you are under fire and trying to react quickly.

There's currently a key that switches between main gun and pistol. Just extend that to rotate between rifle/pistol/grenade/launcher and use the current cycle key to rotate between full/semi. We can have some useful debates about whether the GL is the same weapon and whether smoke and HE are modes of grenade. In any case some reasonable separation between what any other game would call weapon slots so that you can switch quickly to the gun that you want.

Here's a radical proposal:

How about a 2-key combination to select a weapon. First press the select weapon key, then press a number key corresponding to the weapon slot. So main gun select-1, pistol select-2, grenade select-3, etc., very small chance of error but OH NO we're stealing ideas from other FPS's can't have that in ArmA next thing you know there will be CoD heads playing ArmA and that starts with C and that rhymes with T and that stands for TROUBLE.

Polar Bear there are (quick) commands which are already mapped to number keys. Interface design for great games which offer more than jump, run and gun isnt that simple. But implementing + testing stuff out requires time and time is money...

AnimalMother92 its more a workaround to select a throw mode instead of using a grenade/stone/whatever in a more natural/fluid way = more and better animations + proper physics.

Maybe someday we will be able to use somekind of holodeck. High speed gestural user interface for computers already exists but they're still to expensive for consumer. :cool:

Polar Bear there are (quick) commands which are already mapped to number keys.

I'm suggesting you'd press a weapon select key first to distinguish from other use of the number keys. Say you bound it to 'T', then T-1 would be rifle, T-2 pistol, T-3 grenade, etc., and once you had selected a weapon you would use 'F' to cycle between the settings for that weapon (auto, semi, GL).

What I was suggesting actually is pretty close to AnimalMother92's solution, main difference to what I suggested is it appears to rely on shift key instead of a preceeding modifier. Same idea really--something like that should be the default in the game.

How about like the action games? Think rewamped user interface in general.

1 - Sidearm modes, switch to it if you don't have it selected.

2 - Rifle modes, switch to it if you don't have it selected. When you select it, it should default to "safe" though (or nobody would ever use safe at all).

3 - Underbarrel/secondary modes, switch to it if you don't have it selected.

4 - Throw weapons (grenades).

5 - Put weapons (explosives).

6 - Launcher.

7 - Unclassifieds (misc equipment etc).

Press to select the weapon.

Hold to bring up a menu associated with that/those weapon(s). I.e. reloading a different magazine, zero adjustment, attachment changes etc. Menu is shown while the key is held.

Complex menu could be moved to the numpad menu. Does anybody use this? We use it for radio commands in LAN games, but then we don't have AI or use any complex commands at all. Would at least make it a consistent right hand operation.

Reason I put throw and put at 4 and 5 is that they are "relatives", 4 is easy to access, 5 requires a bit more stretching. Launcher at 6 may be hard to reach, but so is your launcher weapon on your back (requires more effort).

And best of all, it doesn't interfere with the current cycle system (there are always nay sayers to new methods).

Edit: Tried to put it more into perspective. The general idea is using quadrant menus arranged into lists. The purpose is to allow a lot more options than the game currently allows. Soon we'll have bullets that you can program to hit a specific target, and there are already elements (not even fuze selection) of the modern battlefield that simply is not in the game. Why? Because every "special consideration" probably needs its own special menu. My idea here is to generalize and organize the system so it can be used with "anything". It tries to remain as consistent as possible, and with little to no practice it becomes intuitive where to look for a specific item, since everything is similar.

So, UL, UR, LL, LR represents menu quadrants Upper Left, Upper Right, Lower Left, and Lower Right.

So an Mk12 might look like this:

  UL MENU           UR MENU (2)
  M855 Standard     Safe
  M856 Tracer       Single
  Mk 262            Semi

  LL MENU           LR MENU
  Attach Silencer   Zero 100m
                    Zero 200m
                    Zero 300m
                    Zero 500m

The (2) indicates that these will be cycles if you press the 2 key.

And the system (now includes mounted and static guns as well):

1 - Sidearm.

UL: Tactical reload.

UR: Fire modes (full, semi auto etc).

LL: Not used.

LR: Not used.

2 - Personal weapon.

UL: Tactical reload from list of magazine types.

UR: Fire modes (safe, single, auto). Defaults to safe when weapon is selected.

LL: Attachments (silencers, sights, not UBGL). Anything that deals with animated parts.

LR: Zero adjustment (if appropriate for the weapon).

3 - Underbarrel equipment (M203 etc). Should also apply to standalone, such as M32-MGL or Mk13.

UL: Reload from list of magazine types.

UR: Normally not used, but could be used to set fuze settings for advanced munitions.

LL: Normally not used, but could be used to set timer fuze if appropriate.

LR: Raise/lower attachment sights, or set the sight to desired mode. Replaces the zeroing.

4 - Throw weapon.

UL: Select from list of frag.

UR: Select from list of smokes and markers (IR Target etc).

LL: Select Throw Mode (short, preciscion, long etc).

LR: Select from list of specials (CN gas, flashbangs etc).

5 - Put weapon.

UL: Select from list of all put weapons.

UR: Select mode of operation (timer, remote, code).

LL: Remote control, where you can select the code(s) to send.

RR: Set timer if timer mode is selected.

6 - Launcher.

UL: Select from list of ammunition types.

UR: Configure ammunition type (timer, distance).

LL: Select sight mode (iron sights, night sight etc).

LR: Zero adjustment (if appropriate for the weapon).

7 - Unclassifieds (could be GPS in inventory, showel, or wire cutter options).

UL: Select from list of unclassifieds.

UR: Custom menu #1

LL: Custom menu #2

LR: Custom menu #3

8 - Mounted guns (while occupying position with gun), static or vehicle:

UL: Select from list of ammunition types (and coax if appropriate)

UR: Configure ammunition type (timer, distance, could be useful for artillery).

LL: Select sight mode (could be anything, highly dependant on weapon).

LR: Zero adjustment.

9 - Statics, while unmounted:

UL: Select from list of ammunition types (allows you to ready weapon without "activating it").

UR: Configure ammunition type (timer, distance, could be useful for artillery).

LL: Options to reposition the weapon.

LR: Options to disassemble the weapon.

What I'm saying is that the modern battlefield is getting extremely complex, and "cycle weapons" simply doesn't allow to reflect this level of complexity. The process needs to be re-brainstormed. Why don't we have timed FFARs with illumination? Why don't we have proximity fuses for artillery? My guess is due to lack of interface for setting it up in the first place, without the interface becoming unique to each item.