SimFlak! AA ambiance with no AI :D

[Grendel]

Hey there everyone, heres a little nifty little script for your enjoyment.

SimFlak uses the Drop command to create simulated AA MG tracer fire as well as truly lethal AAA Flak, uses no AI, needs no special vehicles and is generally just kick @$$.

Remember the news footage of a certain Iraqi capital under air attack?  The languid arc of tracer fire that seems to hang in the air, the popcorn like puffs of Flak...Well here you go.  The regular simulated AA MG fire does no damage and is purely for ambiance and deeper immersion.  The Flak is visually similar, but is also quite lethal.  SimFlak can be "attatched" to any unit (even empty units), compensates for lead, range, and speed, and just has to be seen to be appreciated fully.  I'm sure it will find a welcome home in any mission designer's arsenal.

This is a Beta and is being improved as you read this.  Any feedback and/or suggestions (and naturally compliments   ) are welcome!

-Grendel

[Grendel]

The zip with the ReadMe.txt was 1 frickin K over the 50K limit so heres the ReadMe for those interested...

-Grendel

[sa8gecko]

I just tried out your sample mission: it looks really good. One suggestion
would be to elevate a little more over the target (in function of its
distance from the shooter), because as now the tracer appear to arrive
low on target. This critic a part, I like the explosion of the shells, even
if they should be reserved for 40mm or more weapons (I think).
Anyway, this script could be used to give a lot of atmosphere in a night
mission. Or using it aboard big ships (simulating a Phalanx, perhaps).
Finally, a request: can I borrow some of your code, should the need arise ?

[Grendel]

Thanks for the feedback!  I am working on fine tuning the alogorithms to help adjust the for the "arc".  The math is a little rough right now, and I admit I was putting more effort into the lead calculation than the elevation, but I am tweaking it.  The explosive Flak is supposed to represent a 40mm (bofors equivalent), I just had the m163 as a placeholder unit to demonstrate the flexibility of being able to "attatch" the SimFlak to any unit.  You could easily set it up to work on a ship to simulate the Phalanx defense systems.  I have to tweak a few lines to have it look right on moving vehicles though.

The latest update ( V.91) is already done, and will be ready for upload tonight.  It has an autonomous target tracking/managent script that works pretty well.  The script tracks any number of air targets, and engages any contacts that come within range.  Once a target is destroyed or flies out of range, the script will begin tracking again, and will engage the next victim that comes within range.

Feel free to use code from my scripts, just include me in the credits please! ;D

-Grendel

[Grendel]

Heres the latest incarnation, sorry this is brief (it's my birthday today!).

It features the new auto target management feature!

-Grendel

[sa8gecko]

I gave a look at the new version. Since this is betatesting ...
The first time I tried it, OFP spitted some error (the scripts work ok
anyway), but I wasn't able to replicate. radar.sqs is empy: future
version ? (or am I blind ?). Targeting wasn't particularly accurate
(as in first version): maybe trying with 'velocity eair', so to take into
account z direction ? Anyway I believe you are just starting, and I
don't want to contribute to your divorce. The script is already good
(I think) to be used in some night/dusk/dawn mission, for those daring
pilots on enemy skies ...
BTW: I put myself in a target chopper: quite impressive to
be in the wrong place ! This is definitely a must see in a night
mission!

[Sniper_Kyle]

YA, Now if only there was a way that sum1 could make an addon that, when you shoot the aaa cannon after a set period of time the bullet would blow up like a real flak!

Cheers,
   Sniper_Kyle ;D

[Grendel]

Ok, I'm back (and still hungover from roughly 3 gallons of Dublin's finest Stout  )

Thanks for the additional input sa8gecko, your continued interest is appreciated!  I will be addressing all the issues you brought up post haste.  Ha ha, glad you brought up what it was like to be on the recieving end of SimFlak!

YA, Now if only there was a way that sum1 could make an addon that, when you shoot the aaa cannon after a set period of time the bullet would blow up like a real flak!

Hmmmmm, I think I can work something up without making an addon, per say...The power of scripting rivals that of a diety-

*gets struck by lightning*

...Or not.

-Grendel

ps: I'm fine, it turns out the lighting was just drop created....hmmmm that gives me an idea

[sa8gecko]

Ha ha, glad you brought up what it was like to be on the recieving end of SimFlak!

You should really put up some screenshots, I bet interest will raise
quickly.

About the timed explosion, I'm not an expert, but when a drop
particle 'dies', a script can be executed, isn't it ? The problem will
only be then to calculate exactly TOT, and set the 'life time'
value of the particle accordingly. But, well, I like it most when simply
tracers fly around you, when you're in a plane being targeted.

[Sniper_Kyle]

Aww man do you know just HOW MANY PEOPLE would be interested and drooling over an actual firable FLAK GUN!!!!???  I would be drooling like a SPED!

Cheers,
    Sniper_Kyle ;D

[Grendel]

Aww man do you know just HOW MANY PEOPLE would be interested and drooling over an actual firable FLAK GUN!!!!???

Work has already begun, and shows early promise...

-Grendel

-Update:  

actual firable FLAK GUN

is now a reality screeies to come soon.

[Grendel]

Ok, here's the deal,

All the proof of concept work is done on the player controlled Flak.  It uses a bullet tracking script to track each fired round, waits untill the round travels the distance to the target, deletevehicles the round, and camcreates the Flak effect.  And It works great ;D

Like all my scripts, it is very flexible and can work with any unit.  In fact, to test it, I turned a PK into a death spewing Flak machine  .  

I need to impliment/refine a few features: I just realized ( duh) how to use the pythagrean theorem and the ASL height function to calculate distance in 3D, so I need to add this.  I need to come up with a user friendly targeting interface as well.  Screen shots/beta zip coming tonight!

-Grendel

[Sniper_Kyle]

3 words....Oh....My...God....I have been waiting for something like this for SO long and now it is finally becoming a reality!  I cant wait for the screenies! (begins to drool )

Cheers,
    Sniper_Kyle ;D

[General Barron]

Wow. Another great script Grendel! I have a few comments though:

The tracers don't really look right, IMO. They look more like fireballs (maybe cause they are fire particles lol). I think you should use the cl_fired particle instead of cl_fire; both of them glow in the dark, but cl_fired doesn't have the fire-color like the other one. I'm not sure the color of real flak, which is something to look into; but I know it should have a constant color all the way through, not red here, yellow there, etc.

You should also make the particles smaller. And to make them look more like a "line" (a point of light travelling at high speed looks like a line, not a point), you could drop maybe 3-5 of them with very little delay between, giving  them all the same velocity. Thus you would have a line of particles travelling through the air; find the right balance between size of particles, delay between them, and number of particles per "shot", and it should end up looking much better.

Now if only there was a way that sum1 could make an addon that, when you shoot the aaa cannon after a set period of time the bullet would blow up like a real flak

Check out the Wargames mod; it has exactly what you are looking for (from what I've read). It wouldn't be too hard to script either; just use a fired EH to catch fired bullets, and run a simple script on each one that waits a second or so, then camcreates in some explosives at the bullets location.


Say, Grendel... little off topic, but I've got a question about your ACH-130 script. I really want to use it in a mission, but I want to have the real thing; meaning, the ac-130 plane, not helo. I tried using the script with a c-130 addon (Cpt. Moores I think?), but it didn't work quite right. The plane would make a much bigger loop than the helo (as expected), but when it fired, it would aim too low, so the rounds would fall way short; it kinda looked like it aimed in the same place the helo would aim, only now it had a much larger radius around the target. Any chance you could modify the script so it is useable with a C130 addon? If so, I would even recommend getting together with the author of a c-130, and integrating your scripts into the addon for easy AC-130s, and more publicity for yourself.

Hey, have you ever thought about joining the ECP? We could use more great scripting talent like you.

[Grendel]

   Gosh, I am overwhelmingly flattered  

First off, here's the new zip with the player fired Flak!  I don't know if it works like the Wargames MOD, but it times the "fuze" on the shell depending on the distance to the current "radar locked" (the script based radar not the hard-coded lock) target (or, if no lock, the shell "self destructs" after a bit). So there you go Sniper_kyle, If you, or anyone else for that matter, wants the fireable flak gun script separate then let me know.  It has the advantage that it can be attatched to any fireable weapon/vehicle/unit.

Hey again General Barron, I will try to work on the realism of the tracers...This project started as a litle script for Capt Ryan and escalated into something much larger!  I still have to refine the targeting algorithms for the aa mg's and the non AI Flak (got sidetracked integrating the fireable Flak )  I am experimenting with different cl_* particles, if anyone has done a comprehensive list of what is out there beside cl_basic/cl_water/cl_fire (and now cl_fired) I would be interested.  So hopefully things can be made to look better in the future.

 BTW, the spooky script is still being refined.  Too-Tall and Trench Feet are both using/working on incorporating it into future addons, and I am still sorting out some kinks with it  :-\  This project (as well as all the other stuff Ive got going on) is about to be dwarfed by a soon to be released uber-script based MOD, so the going is relatively slow.

Hey, have you ever thought about joining the ECP? We could use more great scripting talent like you

 

Thanks!!  I have been in touch with the project leader...alas the forementioned projects and real-life have me swamped right now.  I do intend to contribute what I can in the future.

Without further adoo(or whatever)  heres the new Zip.  Sorry but I included one non-BIS unit:  I put in a "VIT APC" ZSU-23m(hd) (see DKM MODs to get it) as the player firable Flak unit, if you don't have it yet I'm sorry (If you guys want I'll release a version with an empty M2a2 instead...I just need some sleep at the moment).  You will need to get in the ZSU to activate the AAA cluster's "radar". The current locked target now has a "HUD" targeting feature.  Enjoy and unleash the contructive criticism...

-Grendel

Sorry for the lack of screenies  I can't seem to get the files down to a reasonable size (I'm a PSP n00b )

[Sniper_Kyle]

Testing player fired flak at the moment.   Will you marry me?


Cheers,
   Sniper_Kyle ;D

[Sniper_Kyle]

OK, just got done testing this wonderful script.  I love it...now just some suggestions:

1.  Make the flak more visible (for night time) by maybe adding a  drop effect on the flak shell125s when they blow up, besides the drop you already have (the black smoke).

2.  Make it more adjustable, make it so the user can easily edit parameters to adjust when the rounds go off in the sky, what type of round blows up as the flak, etc.

No more suggestions at the time, i love this script.  Thank you for making me happy    .  (Now to make me more happy, make Soldner : Secret Wars come out earlier!   )

[Grendel]

 ;D Glad you like the results so far!

Will you marry me?

LMFAO!! errmmm...thanks, but I'm spoken for.

1.  Now that the bulk of the ground work is done, I will be working on the cosmetics of the whole thing when I can.  I admit it is pretty simplified right now.

2.  I'm still  playing around with this...I reworked the bullet tracking script last night to see if I could make it more efficient.  Then I started playing around with modifying the script to make normal bullets "contact fuzed" which was actually pretty fun (scripted it so an AW-50 has enough punch to knock out an APC with one hit complete with "steel on steel" particle effects. (this will be something I'll add to my forthcoming Sniper/Spotter MOD for HardTargetInterdiction/anti-material capability ala Raufoss .50 cal multipurpose ammo )

After thinking about it a bit,  I'll probably go with an Action Menu interface to manually select fuze range (I wish Dialogs didn't pause the game ).  If anyone has suggestions on this, I'm all ears.

As far as making Soldner come out sooner...I'll give it a shot:

Zim Zalla Bim Bam Ba, Zolla Doh Zolla Dem!!!...Und Keine Eier!


*poof*

With any luck it won't backfire and turn Soldner into Vaporware.

-Grendel

[Sniper_Kyle]

Sweet, i cant wait for the next version and that enhanced sniper ammo thing!

Cheers,
    Sniper_Kyle ;D

[General Barron]

Dialogs don't pause the game; unless you use 'setAccTime 0'

[Wadmann]

Hello Grendel!

         I checked out your script over the weekend and really enjoyed it! :thumbsup: As my scripting knowledge is quite limited, I struggled to get the tracers to look correct coming from VIT's ZSU 23. I finally got it looking o.k. but it seems that sometimes the tracers fly south while the unit looks north. I think that I was able to modify it so that when the gunner is dead the gun stops firing, but I will not be able to test this until later. I added a line that looks something like "?(!alive gunr)goto:done" at the start of the script. Will this work? I can deal with that for the time being but the only real issue that I had with your script was the fact that when you put the AA unit in a city, the tracers go through the buildings as they travel towards the target!  :-\ I can only imagine how tough it would be to have the script check for nearest object to insure that it does not fly through the object but if you could do this it would really improve your already great script! Keep up the great work!

                                                                                 Wadmann

[Grendel]

Hey Wadmann,

"?(!alive gunr)goto:done"

This is close, you just need to move the "!" and ":" and add some quotes like so:

Code: [Select]

?!(alive gunr):goto "done"or just

Code: [Select]

?!(alive gunr):exit
Also, to make sure the script checks if the gunner is dead before every shot, you need to put it inside the loop, not just at the beginning.

  HA! I didn't think about the particles going through buildings and such!  I suppose it would be easier (and maybe more realistic) to setpos the AAA on top of buildings in a city...damn, I guess this limits the usability of the drop based "tracers" quite a bit.

I was messing around and stuck an AI unit into the ZSU-23m with the fireable Flak, and it works pretty well.  If the tracers were more visible, it would look a lot better I guess.  Anyone know how to modify tracer color/intensity? Is it a Config.cpp thing (never had time to mess with addon making yet).

-Grendel

[General Barron]

Tracer color is very easy to change in the cpp. Basically, every bullet type has a tracer color property, which is in RGBA format. With high RGB and especially Alpha values, they can get very visible.

Oh yeah, remembered something bout yer script. I've seen it too where the "firing" unit doesn't yet see the air unit, and so it will be aiming south while the plane is north. To fix this, you should throw in some "reveal" and "dowatch" commands, if you haven't already. Especially at night, it could take a while for the guns to see the aircraft.

[Grendel]

  Thats what I'm talkin bout! Keep those suggestions rolling!

The 'new' version actually will probably use the actual AI along with some scripting to make them less lethal (the AI tears the arse out of air units too quick!).  I want to make AI AAA lethal, but not absurdly so.

The new version will try to make easily copied/pasted yet independent AAA clusters capable of target management/assesment and hand off.  I see some "take out the AAA before the Air Assault" missions coming for my new MOD...

I guess the drop based particles could still be used to some extent.  I was thinking of using those exclusively for small arms fire (with a lot smaller diameter of course)

-Grendel

[Sniper_Kyle]

Hey every1 wassup?

@Gen Barren-I have had the wargames mod and I have never noticed any air-bursting flak cannons  

@grendel-Keep workin ur magic, I cant wait for this thing to work so smoothly.  (Thinks to self about how he could make money off of this grendel character) lol jk  


Cheers,
    Sniper_Kyle ;D

[Grendel]

Howdy folks!

I downloaded the Wargames 4.0 MOD last night and played with it a bit.  The Vulcan ammo does "airburst" if you fire it high enough (and zoom in to see it). I don't think as much specific effort was put into it their AAA as I'm putting into SimFlak, but then thats  what I do best: Highly specialized and focused script based MODs (if you can call them MODs...mini-MODs?). Anyway, work continues...

-Grendel

[Sniper_Kyle]

Keep us up-to-date man, I cant wait for the next version....BTW, I have this little mini-movie about the Soldner Demo!  You gotta see it, because it is so stupid, now click! http://mm.dfilm.com/mm2s/mm_route.php?id=1730750

Also I edited a Blues News banner to reflect my anger....right here...http://www.freewebs.com/sniper_kyle/soldnerad.JPG


Ok I cant wait for your new version!

[MrZig]

Can you camcreate/createvehicle the stuff inside the script please? I don't want to have to copy paste already made objects into my map, then its very limited, you can make it very effecient, 1 script by camcreating stuff AND execing it like [vulcan,su25] exec "Tracer.sqs"

please.

[Grendel]

Can you camcreate/createvehicle the stuff inside the script please

Sure, I guess...It just seems like more work if you want to change the unit types that way.  Instead of clicking in-editor, and using the dialog menus to select the unit you want, you would have to go in and manually type the object names and coordinates etc.  

This is going to be a very adaptable end product. Ideally, in the final version you will only have to edit the init.sqs to reflect the unit names you want to be aaa, small arms, or radar.

Heres how it will prrobably end up:

each radar will be the "core" of each cluster.  They will each independently scan for targets within their search radius.  The units in the radar's group will be the aaa/small arms nodes.  Each radar will communicate with it's nodes and prioritize/assign targets.  If you take out the radar, the Flak will lose the ability to accurately adjust for range, greatly reducing it's effectiveness, and the flak gunners will be stuck using AI (confused by invisible targets.  

So you could place a unit where you wanted, name them "r1","r2" or whatever, name the Flak vehicles "f1","f2",etc.  Then in the init.sqs, you just plug the radar into the proper arrays (radararray=[r1,r2,r3]), each radar will exec it's own scan.sqs, and will assign targets to units in their group array (_flaklist=units group _r) where _r is passed with the scan.sqs exec array.

Oh, and you don't really need to name each target.  As of the last version, it uses an uber-trigger to ID all of the air units and put them into an array.  If your mission camcreates air units after the init runs, you could easily move them into the target array with some easy scripting.

Hope that made sense...

-Grendel

[MrZig]

Well can you have it so they can fire aimlessly at the air? Just like a real airborne/flak moment?

EG the footage from Iraq in desert storm, that would be awesome.

oh and if you have a target too far (did this in first ver at least) the dropped commands would go underground ect, it wouldnt work right

[Grendel]

Well can you have it so they can fire aimlessly at the air

Of course!  I was thinking this over actually, and it would be easy to do.   I'm thinknig of scrapping the drop created tracers entirely...Funny how this has evolved over such a short time. It has gone from a ambience enhancing project to a very lethal simulation of actual Flak Batteries. Go figure.  

I was thinking that I could work in a simple "skill" system, to vary how lethal the flak will be.  If you assigned a hub (radar) with a value from 1 to the max number of nodes, this would directly affect the number of actual nodes using "radar" to track any targets.  Another skill value will affect the overall accurracy of the targeting by increasing the number of invisible targets and the distance they are from the actual aircraft, and then you could also directly adjust the skill of the units via the editor or with a script. The nodes not actually tracking real targets will basically be chasing invisible targets, giving the effect of blind saturation fire (which can still work of course ) I'll play around and see what I can actually implement.


-Grendel

[Sniper_Kyle]

sweet  I cant wait for this thing man!  Please relieve my anxiousness by posting some pics or actually releasin it!  

Cheers,
   Sniper_Kyle ;D

[Grendel]

Please relieve my anxiousness by posting some pics

Well, I feel n00bish admiting this, but I can't seem to be able to save a screenshot without it being over the 50k limit (using JASC paint shop pro 7).  I guess I could zip some, but I know there is an easier way to do this depending on how you save the file.

The project is coming along nicely. I keep getting sidetracked with tweaking the other projects, but this is a priority.

-Grendel

[Sniper_Kyle]

About the pics...did you try saving them as JPG or JPEG?

Cheers,
    Sniper_Kyle ;D

[Grendel]

JPEG...let me guess, .jpg is what it should be right?

I guess I should break out the ol' manual and have a look.

-Grendel

[Sniper_Kyle]

OFPEC doesnt allow you to submit JPEG picture files, so be safe and just save them as jpg.  So...when is the expected release of this improved version of the script?

[Grendel]

A fully functional enhanced version will be ready by friday at the latest (barring any unforseen glitches).  Wow, now I know how those software publishers feel when they get beat up about release dates  :beat:

The reason it's taking so long is due to the flexibility thats being designed into it.  The final product should be pretty spectacular, and will incorporate a slew of custom features.  

Oh, also, I got sidetracked this weekend on a little exploding barrel script I did for DDT (its over on the scripting:General page), but it was worth it. Check it out and have some fun while you wait for the next installment of SimFlak.  

Thanks for the tip on .jpg files.  I will have some pics posted soon.

-Grendel

[Sniper_Kyle]

Lol I get the hint that you have some kind of crazy obsession with explosives, lol!  And about that whole thing with you feeling like u are like the programmers of some game awaiting release, u sure are better than most by at least keeping us updated, KEEP IT UP  

Cheers,
    Sniper_Kyle ;D

[Sniper_Kyle]

Well its now Friday, where is it? lol (PRESSURE!)   im getting mad.  Its late.  Oh my god another release just like the soldner demo, LATE!    this upsets me! :'(

(all of the above except for "Well its now Friday" is completely just kidding)

                                 

[Grendel]

  LOL!

Hey, It's still Friday during "work hours"  in my neck of the woods!  When I get home, unwind a little and appease my wife...then I'll post a demo of the latest version:

So far I've done most of the ground work for the AI compatible SimFlak (guess I need to see if someone can edit out that "no AI" bit).  

All the mission designer has to do is place an empty unit on the map where he wants the "radar" vehicle to be, name it, and place that name in the radarlist array in the init.sqs.  The script will then create flak guns with AI crews around the radar vehicle.

The user can also edit commented portions of the init.sqs to define parameters like what you want the flak unit to be, how many per radar, how far from the radar they are placed, what unit they are crewed by (all so far-more options to come).   This all works now, and all the created units have the radar fuzed airbusting ammo feature.  

Still in development is the target handoff feature, skill adjustment, and invis target spoofing.

-Grendel

[Sniper_Kyle]

Sounds purrty good, now go "appease" yurr wife u little stud u!    lol  


Cheers,
    Sniper_Kyle ;D

[Grendel]

  mission complete!

Heres the latest update, still rough around the edges, and the AI tears the choppers apart too quickly (even without target hand off), but it shows off the existing features nicely.

-Grendel

[Sniper_Kyle]

  YAY  Im downloading and testing right now...


Cheers,
    Sniper_Kyle ;D