Plans for Nimitz in Arma 3 beyond 0.99

After the release is before the release, or so they say. Some ideas got implemented in Nimitz for Arma 3 0.99, but not all. So this is an overview of what might happen in Nimitz 0.100.

First, an already completed but untested task was the upgrade of the SAM systems, the Mk-29 Sea Sparrow launcher and RIM-116 RAM. Both systems now use a BI function to move the missile to the correct launch tube. Also they deploy Pookie's smoke script and generate some smoke upon launch.

Now onto the uncharted territory. With the advent of working radars with the sensors update as part of the Jet DLC, the anti air assets were already upgraded to use sensors. Now the Nimitz itself needs a long range radar to assist those weaponry and of course the planes. Work on this had started during 0.99 development, but was never completed. And when speaking of long range radar, I mean long range for the typical Arma 3 island, something in the range of 10-20 km.

The customization of the carrier for different versions of the Nimitz class is another topic to be discussed. The aft mast, located behind the island, is quite different between those subclasses and ideally we would have different models to show these differences. Further the island itself differs between the latest Nimitz class carriers and the original. And finally the numbers look a bit different on the real carrier than they do on our virtual one.

The hangar is quite an important part of the carrier, but lacks in details and 'liveliness' currently. I would hope for a complete overhaul, similar to what was done to the exteriour of the Nimitz already. It's undecided yet if ambient objects will be directly integrated, or left to the mission makers idea. Both approaches, an empty hangar, or one filled with objects, have their purpose and it's a hard decision which path to go down.

Sitting below the hangar is the 2nd deck. It can be considered a first approach of supplying additional rooms for communities on the Nimitz. The deck needs to be completely overhauled to look more ship like and equipped with objects. Mind you, there will be enough empty rooms available, so a mission maker can equip them as he deems fit.

Weapon carts are a needed addition to the carrier's properties list. The work on them has been contracted from the remaining donation money and should be available later in 2017.

For Nimitz 0.99 Shockley did a tremendous job at adding textures to the hull, which look more ship like than before. Hopefully this work can be continued for the flight deck textures and improve the textures further.

Script wise it would be interesting to add a teleport module for those player that don't want to walk/run around the carrier. There are already some memory points in place that can be used for that. Probably the best approach forward is to publish the nimspots lod, which contain those memory points, so mission makers can integrate their own teleport systems.

A completely different area is that of sounds. Late in the 0.99 release cycle the air conditioning sounds and engine sounds were added to the Nimitz. What's missing is now some general quarters alarm and other ambient sounds via speaker systems. Any suggestions are welcome here!

Yet another tech available in Arma 3 that has not been made widely available in the Nimitz are the Picture in Picture possibilites. The nautical's bridge monitor system is a good place to start on this, but more control rooms in the carrier's interiour could be thought of that get a view on the outside world via cameras.

Camera's are also found on UAVs, which are currently not exactly compatible with the Nimitz systems. The scripts for launching and recovering planes could use an overhaul so UAVs are supported as well.

The Tilly crash crane is currently a static property, as time to make it a carX simulation is rather scarce. Eventually it would be made fully driveable.

Last on this long laundry list is the IFLOLS system which sits untextured on the side of the carrier. Here a better texture, some light source magic and scripting is needed to make it a believable system.

As you can see from this post, we can really use some help in any of the above areas. Feel free to reach out when interested in helping, and join our discord server. There's also the possibility to hire modellers and texturers to assist with some of the above tasks. When doing a donation please let me know in the comment which part of the carrier you would like to see improved: Donate. The money raised so far helped with the following parts: RIM-116 RAM, Phalanx, nautical bridge, medical station, interiour objects, fuel pump, weapon carts (when completed) and new ammunition models.

NDB Navigation

One of two aircraft related mods that I planned to do is the NDB non-directional-beacon navigation support; the other one is the MAAS system, which is still sadly lacking a nice model.

At the end of summer I got contacted by madsolosniper on the BI forums who had a mod idea for adding navigational aids to arma 3. When a few weeks later NightIntruder wrote me about his aircraft sign mod I sat down and wrote a couple of test missions at the end of September. One of them eventually was released by NightIntruder with his mod.

Then the project sat idle for quite a while. This weekend I then finally converted the sample mission into a mod, which still needs testing, especially in multiplayer.

The mod as it is now (2017-03-19) is quite minimalistic. It consists of an invisible NDB object and some actions on players to control the NDB navigation. The basic work flow is to add one or more NDB objects to the map at places like airfields, aircraft carrier, or the NDB building from NightIntruder's mod. On the object the frequency for the NDB can be set. In the mission players in aircraft can then change their direction finders frequency to that of any NDB. For publication of the NDB frequency for example a map marker or a note in the mission briefing can be used.

In the mission a player in an aircraft has three action menu entries:

1. change frequency of direction finder to NDB frequency
2. show the direction arrow on the HUD
3. hide the direction arrow on the HUD

The implementation is quite straight forward and might be in need of optimisation for performance later on. In the config.cpp the "ttt_ndb1" class defines the invisible beacon object. It's main purpose is to keep the "Frequency" stored in a like named variable. Further it uses an init event handler to store the object in a global array (ttt_ndb_beacons) and initialize the mission event handler for showing the arrow on the HUD (addMissionEventHandler EachFrame). Also the Man class gets an extended init eventhandler to add the above mentioned user actions.

The init eventhandler for the Man class calls fn_addUI.sqf. The code there sets up the arrow for later use and adds three actions to the scroll wheel menu for the player. It relies on the locality of the global variable beaconActive and a few others to determine the state the system is in, e.g. if the arrow is displayed on the HUD or not. From the "Enter beacon frequency" action the dialog for entering the beacon frequency is triggered.

The init eventhandler for the beacon class "ttt_ndb1" checks if the global variable ttt_ndb_beacons is present. If this is not the case, it will be initialized and the mission event handler "EachFrame" is added to display the directional arrow on the HUD. Also the beacon object is added to the "ttt_ndb_beacons" array.

When the frequency is changed through the dialog, the "ttt_ndb_beacons" array is traversed and checked for the given frequency. If found, the new active beacon is set and the arrow points toward it. If not found, a message via "vehicleChat" is shown to the player that no such beacon frequency exists.

As this is pretty much my first attempt at changing the UI via mod, there might be other ways to achieve the wanted behaviour. Maybe some are much better than the way chosen, and I'd be glad to hear about them.

Nimit for arma 3 0.96 plans

With Nimitz for arma 3 0.95 out of the door, it is time to think of what is ahead for version 0.96. Currently we have a few open issues and bugs that we would like to address.

The Phalanx model has been enhanced by TheSnk4k3 and got a new set of textures, including secondary ones. It currently needs to be integrated into arma 3 properly. Also on air defenses we're re-evaluating the turning restrictions on the air defense assets, as some are still prone to hit the Nimitz itself. Some research will be done on anti missile defenses and if they are more successful than in the tests leading up to 0.95 will be included. Lastly in this area we would like to introduce a general quarters alarm that raises the alertness of the crews (set combat status to red).

Next on the list is the Tilly salvage and crash crane that is a static object right now. Making it driveable and operational in arma is quite an undertaking, we will see how far we get in the time frame for 0.96. If all goes very well it will be a fully functional carx and allow sling loading or at least attaching objects. Staying with cranes, the Nimitz crane should be made operational as well, we will be evaluating different UI approaches for it.

A new topic on the horizon are navigational aids for the Nimitz. In the form of a non-directional beacon aboard the ship it should be easier to find via a bearing indicator on aircraft. There is already a sample mission on Stratis (vanilla without Nimitz) available at http://tetet.de/arma/arma3/nimitz/experimental/missions/beaconFrequency.Stratis.7z Feedback is welcome.

In preparation for 0.95 we had two community members approaching us with a better IFLOLS experience, utilising arma 3 lights at the IFLOLS position on the carrier. Hopefully one of these will be made available at least as a mission if not Eden attribute for the Nimitz 0.96.

The holes that were pierced at the bow will be covered by some sort of gate, so the hull looks intact again. Via Eden attribute the opening can then be revealed when at harbour and closed when on sea.

On bug fixes the textures on the bridge will be inspected and reversed maps will be corrected. Further the bridge model will be split into separate models that hopefully can be reused for an airboss and prifly room. Unfortunately the donation campaign was not very successfull so far, so we cannot afford to source complete airboss and prifly rooms. Nevertheless thanks to the three donators who were very generous!

Foxone will provide an upgraded version of the test engine stand, which was previously dropped in 0.95. This is an all new model with upgraded textures. Again the sourcing of further ambient models hinges on further donations.

While we have no exact timing for the 0.96 release it will not land before December 2016, and is more likely to be in the first quarter of 2017.

Update on 0.95 and donations

The Nimitz has been upgraded in the past months to a new level. With the help from paid-for modellers from cgtrader and of course volunteers we were able to assemble a nice model of the carrier. The planned release date is end of September and we're currently looking for some more dedicated testers that help us to find issues with the Nimitz. If interested please drop me a private message.

Work done and completed so far is:
o Added nautical bridge (yeah!)
o Added fuel pump as object
o Added locker as object
o Added medical station equipment as objects
o Added briefing chair as object
o Added briefing screen as object
o Added pipes as objects
o Added air defense assets (mk29 sea sparrow launcher, Phalanx CIWS, RIM-116)
o Better Eden integration via attributes and menus

There is further work ongoing, namely the creation of a set of video tutorials for the carrier, the use of Eden attributes and menu items for creating ambiance objects on the Nimitz, the use of the IFLOLS system with Arma 3 lights and the creation of a help system within Eden. On medium term goals from a developers point of view, the module system will hopefully be completely integrated into Eden attributes and menus, making it easier to use.

From our point of view the use of payware models for enhancing the carrier has been quite a success. We would like to continue to use this method and hence look for donations for further funding. I have setup a paypal donation button for this purpose and hope we find some contributors.

Models that would likely to be acquired next are:
o bunk beds
o cage seat for hoisting guests aboard
o exercise room
o cinema
o shower room
o canteen
o fire fighting carrier car
o airboss room with flightdeck
o radar station / operations room / CIC
o interior rooms

The donation button can be found at http://tetet.de/arma/arma3/nimitz/donate.html

TeTeT

Future plans for the Nimitz for arma3

In a recent query on a Nimitz for arma3 youtube video the valid question was raised what the long term plans for the Nimitz are. In this blog post I try to answer this.

First, the development is driven by two distinct forces: one is the known issues (bug) list, the other is the interest and area of expertise of the involved developers. Ideally both would overlap and issues are resolved on the fly. In reality this is of course not always the case.

For example there is a number of texture problems and also needed model improvements on our known issues laundry list, but there is no active developer taking care of it. This of course limits the known issues we actually fix per release.

On the other hand we have areas which match the interest of a developer. For example Leshrack is on his way to improve the many scripts for aircraft and carrier operations in regards to multiple users and multiple carriers on map. I myself added some rooms to the weapons room level, as I was interested in exploring this part of modding. Then there are areas like testing which benefit from dedicated people like Moony, who basically gets to the see the changes first.

Besides the basically dedicated staff of the Nimitz, there are one-off contributors from the larger arma community who improve the carrier from time to time. For example in the beginning of the Nimitz for arma3 project, we had several submissions of texture sets for the hull and flightdeck.

In addition to the community effort, we're currently exploring the use of paid for models via a website named cgtrader. This is kind of a last resort move, as our calls for texture and modelling help could not be answered by the larger arma community. However, it's too early to tell if this approach will be successful.

Given this background it's hopefully clear that speaking of the plans for the Nimitz and the long term path for the carrier is necessarily a wishlist topic rather than a set in stone goal path.

Having said that, our goal is to provide a carrier that is operable in single and multi player arma3. It should support a simple and complex mode of operation, with the simple mode being intuitive enough for a new player to merely follow a tutorial mission and being able to utilize the carrier capabilities. The complex mode of operation tailors toward players not minding reading documentation and going the extra mile for a more realistic carrier experience. The current mode of operation is clearly a mix of the two - most functions are easy to use, but some like fueling an aircraft are not that easy to discover without reading the documentation.

Another huge topic for many player is seeing the carrier move through the water. If it ever will largely depends on the future development of the arma engine. We've seen with vehicle in vehicle transport capabilities that there's hope on the horizon. Support for the Man class (e.g. people) sticking to a moving and rocking surface is needed though.

Speaking of personal preferences, I certainly would like to see an integrated air defense system aboard the Nimitz. Currently an improved model for the sea sparrow is in the making and we might be able to source a phalanx or sea ram from cgtrader. In a first step these systems might be rigged as default arma3 anti aircraft systems. But in the future a working radar which controls these assets and is able to track missiles as well as aircraft would allow a player to play air defense coordinator aboard the Nimitz. In multiplayer this could be augmented by pilots on CAP as well as OPFOR pilots. Of course a Hawkeye to expand the radar capability of the carrier would be useful as well :)

Changing the focus from air operations to the carrier interior, we're currently working on providing a whole new deck on the level of the current weapons room. This work is driven by two motivators: one is the request for more empty space aboard the carrier for milsim units to use it as a base, the other is the relative unease of operation of the weapons elevator. So in February 2016 we started to explore the addition of new rooms roughly 2 meter above water level. This has resulted by now in a whole new deck under construction that reaches from the fore to the aft section of the carrier. Currently we're looking into the availability of floor plans to make these new rooms as carrier characteristic as possible.

Staying with the interior, there's a spot that's been under construction for a long time now: the island. While the stairwells from the arma2 LHD now give the island a refreshed look, the bridge and connecting parts are empty. Goal is here to use the sourced models from cgtrader to provide a nautical bridge and an airboss room. But as written above, we need to first see if this approach yields any success.

Coming back to future plans, above we've seen what are some immediate, mid and long term goals of the Nimitz for arma3 project. These should be sufficient for the next year. Beyond that, currently there'll be dragons. A lot depends on the future development of the engine and its capabilities in the air/sea area. But not everything: a long term goal is to make the carrier walkable from the heights of the island to the water level deck, another is the above mentioned integrated air defense capability, yet another is the creating of a simple and a complex mode of operation. But as it is with dragons, there's room for uncertainty - maybe some brave soul from the community steps up with her own ideas and those will alter the above set course!

Roadmap for December 2015

After quite an absence from Nimitz modding in November, it's now time to tackle the roadmap for future developments in December 2015 and probably in the first quarter of 2016.

First, the list of known issues is getting longer by the day. So let's go over this list, also found on http://tetet.de/arma/arma3/nimitz/KNOWNISSUES.txt

New: 
o JIP players do not get auto-sync of modules

This one seems easy to fix, the remoteExec call needs to be used for JIP players. Will be fixed.

o flightdeck/hangar/simple module resets units heights upon JIP 

Most likely an error in the module treatment of multiplayer on dedicated server. Both isGlobal and isPersistent are set to 1. This means that the scripts are executed on any connected system, even for
JIP players. It's probably better to execute the main sync script once on the server and use remoteExec calls for syncing player related actions. Will be fixed.

o dedicated server crashes mission when Nimitz is spawned via Zeus 

May require a bisection of the init.sqf to learn which part of the Nimitz spawn process terminates the mission and in at least one case the dedicated server. With some luck I can isolate the problem, but a fix is quite unlikely.

o hangar on icon does not match hangar of model 

I'm not an graphic artist, so anyone interested in a correct icon, please submit one :) I have already gotten a slightly improved version. At least a partial fix is possible.

o containers and other items are not pushed by the elevators, just vehicles 

The current elevator scripts checks for AllVehicles and only pushes them. I'd like to get the upper class for the containers and other items that may be transported by an elevator and add them to the nearestObject call.  Likely to be fixed.

Textures: 
o new textures at times stretched, especially in hallways 
o texture missing at elevator 3 
o JBD 4 still has old textures o not all carrier areas freshly textured, hangar 4 for example
o missing ceiling texture in hangar 4, small room 

When it comes to texturing I'm dependent largely on Odyseus and other modders help. While I know how to generate a simple procedural texture or apply a single texture to a polygon, the high art of uv mapping a complete section of the ship is beyond me. There is a small chance that the textures will be fixed in the next update though.

General: 
o carrier not assembled correctly when place too far off map 

This seems to be an engine problem rather than a scripting one. I plan to create a large 100x100km all water test map and see if these assembly problems occur in different spots there. Basically I'm looking for a way to reproduce the assembly problems reliably. A fix is unlikely.

o water access platform not working well yet, weird texture

The ladder going from water level to the platform is barely functional. Somehow the climb ladder marker hardly appears. I'll experiment with the memory points of the ladder some more and see if it works any better. A fix is unlikely.

o high possibility to glitch through floor at Nimitz information poster 

The area from island to hangar should be moved to a p3d model of its own, so the glitching chances are greatly reduced. In general the complete hangar needs to be split into more models to prevent these glitches. For the next update however a fix is not that likely.

o towing module for Nimitz still needed for ambiance module 

I will decouple the current towing module from the ambiance module, as I deem Lesh's towing module to be superior to the built-in towing. Will be fixed.

o shooter animation not mirrored on cat 4 

Unfortunately we don't have the sources for the shooter animation. Will not be fixed.

o see through wall glitch in hallways 

This might involve more strict geo lods. That depends on Odyseus availability to improve the model there. Most likely will not be fixed.

o rescue module boats are quite far from carrier 

The range of the boats is already configurable. Already fixed.

o wires on some planes get drawn up in the air 

This seems to have been a problem with the old wires script, that snatched planes even floating a few feet over the deck out of the air. Should be fixed already.

o flight operations still very experimental 

This module option needs some further thoughts on where to progress it. Would be nice to add the launched plane to the BI CAS module, or even to AlIVE CAS when present. A 'fix' is not very likely, still work in progress.

o light only gets created on a client, not on all 

The createVehicle command only creates lights globally, needs to be replaced by a remoteExec call. Will be fixed.

Aircraft: 
o vanilla arma3 planes don't work to well with the carrier 

It's unclear what makes the planes explodes at times. The best bet is that the assembly of the carrier leaves cracks between parts and the suspension from the vanilla planes get stuck there. We will experiment in adding a phsyx lod to the carrier and see if the vanilla planes work any better. A fix is unlikely, though.


o UAVs don't work at all with the carrier 

This is another area of nail biting. The Greyhawk stumbles over the deck as if it would be full of holes. I'll do some experiments with towing the Greyhawk and see if that's feasible. If that's successful  I'll check the cat script to launch the UAV. A fix is not very likely.

Elevator: 
o weapons elevator at times not functional going up 

I'll add some more bumps to the weapons elevator script, or probably even an evil setPos when the player gets stuck on the floor. A fix is unlikely, a work around likely.

o weapons elevator can be quite deadly

The path of the weapons elevator needs to be checked for colliding geo and roadway lods. A fix is likely.

Beyond these there is a wish to get a reset function for the carrier functions. The scripts can be brittle when for example aircraft are destroyed while being in the catapult or using the wires. While it will be a good practice to make the scripts more robust, some debug function for resetting various carrier pieces will be good to have. Likely to be included in the next update.

Further we might be able to add an improved version of the Mk29 sea sparrow launcher. It's unclear if it will be configured as standard arma AA asset or only be used with a custom radar script.

So it all looks like a very busy December mod wise. Let's hope for the best and a release of the 0.94 beta version in January!

Nimitz 0.94 alpha release

It's been a long time since the last update of the Nimitz. Almost two years passed since the 0.93arma3v10 was released. After the Christmas period of 2013 the project fell into hibernation and was only resurrected in winter 2013/2014 when I got contacted on the Bohemia Interactive forums by enthusiasts who wanted to see the project continued.

Progress was rapid at the start, Odyseus started to re-do almost all of the carrier. He set up a pipeline from Blender to Object Builder to arma 3 and modelled the carrier that way. In this process the number of different objects was increased drastically. Earlier the flightdeck would be composed of half a dozen objects, it's been a whole dozen now. The reason behind these were the frequent gaps in the carrier deck and the inspection of the ArmA 2 LHD object.

From the LHD a lot of different textures and objects were integrated into the Nimitz as well. This gives the carrier a much nicer look overall. Combined with new flightdeck textures and a new island texture the Nimitz has a complete new appearance.

As with many projects, the Nimitz likewise suffered from completing the conversion in time. While different areas of the carrier were changed, not so many were finished and so the number of open TODOs grew and grew. We tried to focus on the most important changes then and push for completing them, rather than continuing to increase the TODO items.

Unfortunately this means that a lot of improvements, like new objects on the flightdeck, new rooms in the carrier inside, a radar script, an air defense system, and a renovated bridge, fell short for the update.

Now with 0.94 alpha out for a few days, first fixes were already implemented and are waiting to be released. Among these are a fix for the auto sync process on a dedicated server, the basic use of the Nimitz with Zeus (unfortunately not really that useful), an update to the towing config to support the F-14 and Peral's tractors, and hopefully a fix for the despawning problem in alive.

But the TODO list of course doesn't stop here. On the wishlist of features to complete is the boat room, the radar and air defense system and fixing textures.

Currently I believe we will release a beta build for the carrier within 2015, probably in December.