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.

Integrating Nimitz into ATC mission

Currently I'm working on an Air Traffic Controller mission for ArmA3 on Altis. So far planes get spawned North, East, South and West and also at the center airport. These are usually Buzzards, though if the F/A-18 mod from John_Spartan/Saul is detected, F/A-18E and F are added to the mix for some variety. With a basic GUI the player can command the planes to take off, exit the airspace at one of the above directions, or land at the airport or any of the airfields on Altis.

The Nimitz is not part of the mix, yet. What follows are some thoughts on adding it. First there needs to be a check if the config for the Nimitz is present or not. If it's present, I also want to check for FUTARM maritime units by BloodOfTheScribe. If present their appearance add a lot of atmosphere to the soldiers on the carrier.

Given the Nimitz mod is present, it needs to be spawned somewhere in the water. Ideally dynamically and not to close to the coast. For a start it will be just a single spawn position, marked by an empty helipad. A dynamic spawning function might look like this: Use the four exit markers N, S, W and E (also empty helipads) as a base. Create an offset of lets say 1 to 2km to the center from there. Use these points as base for picking a random position within a 2 -3 km circle and place the carrier there if the coast is more than 1km away. Disadvantage might be the lack of randomness in these position. Ideally I'd write a function that detects sea positions on a grid over the map and use these sea position as base, rather than the static setup of the exit helipads.

Once the Nimitz is on map I need a couple of helper helipads for the automatic landing procedure, namely Approach1, Approach2, Approach3. In the traffic mission I simple placed them on map manually. Placing them dynamically should be not much a of a problem, I like to use a macro named CIRCLEPOS2 for that. It takes a center position, a direction and a distance and returns a point x and y coordinates:

#define CIRCLEPOS2(p,d,r) CIRCLEPOS((p select 0), (p select 1), d, r)

#define CIRCLEPOS(x,y,d,r) [x+r*sin(d),y+r*cos(d)]

Once these points have been setup I need to integrate the traffic missions functions. The traffic mission generates flightpaths that have the plane take off, visit some waypoints and return to the carrier via the Approach helipads. This needs to be changed, as the flightpath now is determined by the planes tasking and the ATCs commands. So instead of a single control function, two needs to be present, one for take off and one for landing.

Next is a big question: Should the player grant the taxi and take-off permissions on the carrier, as at the airport, or leave it to the AI? I think the player should take over this part. However, right now it's different from the airport: At the airport when a parked plane gets a take-off permission, it taxis and takes off in one go; on the Nimitz the path is divided into legs and a plane needs to get permission for any single leg. Like first getting access to an elevator, then taxiing to the catapult, then take-off permission. Actually not a bad separation, so I probably add the dividing of paths to the airport later as well.

Given that planes now ask the ATC player for taxi and take-off permission, there needs to be a GUI for this. It needs to hold the following information: general name of the location (Nimitz, airport), current plane position (elevator, hangar, taxi lane, catapult, runway) and desired plane position (taxi lane, catapult, runway, take-off) and a button to grant permission to do so.

Once all of this is in place I'll write what worked and what not :)

Converting the Nimitz from ArmA2 to ArmA3

A couple of months ago a new mod appeared in ArmA3: The F/A-18 from John_Spartan and Saul. As I always liked planes, I tried it out ASAP and thought what a great mod it is! I modified a small mission by me on a Landing on Altis and swapped the Buzzard out for the Super Hornet.

Soon I thought about how nice it would be to have the boats and planes not spawn out of thin air, so I tried to create a form of pontoon, a 300 by 100 meter wide cube floating in the ocean. These were my first steps in oxygen2 and they were not exactly successful. With that in mind I tried to create an artificial island made of existing objects: Containers, bunkers and H-Barrier were all on the menu. The H-Barrier kind of worked with the F/A-18 - which is really forgiving when taxiing, taking off and landing on less than smooth surfaces. A short video on this attempt, featuring the F/A-18 and the H-Barrier island :)

Next I scrounged the BIS forums for any ships in ArmA3. There were quite a few work in progress threads, but nothing was released so far. Naturally the ArmA2 Nimitz thread started by piedebeouf  got my interest. The errors he reported seemed somehow familiar, as I tinkered with other ArmA2 mods in ArmA3 before. Soon I had something working, went ahead and posted a link to the modified scripts in the forums.

Foxhound took the initiative and informed JDog, the creator of the Nimitz for ArmA2, on the scripts. JDog replied on the forums and gave me permission to modify and improve the Nimitz. Since then a number of preview releases were made available to the ArmA community and hosted on Armaholic.