Traffic Accidents (Explosions)

[Art Blade]

Some random traffic accident. It kept on going for like 20 minutes. What a spectacular series of explosions  :)

[smg id=3622 type=link align=center width=500 caption="GTA IV 019"]

[Art Blade]

One more of the same accident.  :)

[smg id=3623 type=link align=center width=500 caption="GTA IV 020"]

[PZ]

Wow - what a pileup!

[Binnatics]

It's just that I know better but otherwise I would think the explosions are a demonstration of patriotism  :-D

By the way: What a wonderful screeny and nice spot to cause some chaos like that!!! Are you on top of one of the skyscrapers near main street in Algonquin?

[Art Blade]

 :-D

I'm in the golden Infernus (together with Brucie). It is to the top right of the pile-up. Better: To the right are two taxis, one top, one right. I'm in line with the right taxi, to the left of it, next to and halfway on the zebra crossing.

Here a pic of us.

[smg id=3624 type=link align=center width=500 caption="GTA IV 021"]

[Binnatics]

urrhm, taxi? Right? Left? Zebra? Let's just say you're in the only car that is not exploded ^+-+ :-X

[Art Blade]

Just for you, Binnatics, so you can retrace your steps and try find my car again in the previous pics.  :-D

[smg id=3625 type=link align=center width=500 caption="For Binnatics."]

[Binnatics]

 ^+-+ So you weren't located at a high building there, but just inside you car? LOL You used the cinematic camera to take the shots? That's a great idea. But how did you manage to not get blown up??!!

[Art Blade]

Hehehe  :-()

^+-+ So you weren't located at a high building there, but just inside you car?

Yes.

You used the cinematic camera to take the shots?

Yes.

But how did you manage to not get blown up??!!

As you can see, the wrecks protect me from the explosions. After the first couple of cars had formed that wall I just drove close and watched the spectacle from there.  :)

[Binnatics]

You are getting a 'traffic-infarct-master' Art!! Really good job there ;)  :-X

[Art Blade]

 ^+-+ Thanks, matey :)

It is still difficult for me because I can't see the pattern or rule behind it. I don't know why sometimes the fires seem to extinguish themselves, why sometimes burning tyres won't spread their fire to blow up the vehicle but rather pop or why traffic sometimes keeps coming and driving into the pile of burning cars causing a chain reaction while other times they won't.

As far as I can tell, turning the camera view away sometimes causes a few up to all wrecks to disappear allowing cars to pass again. Also, turning the camera away might cause traffic (cars) to spawn again. Turning the camera away from a wreck burning out and then back on it again might cause the fire to relight the car and finally blow it up. However, all of the previously mentioned works sometimes but not always. Some kind of randomness involved, I guess.

It looks on one hand as if something (wrecks) blocking the view at oncoming traffic causes traffic to spawn which keeps a chain reaction going while on the other hand the wrecks start to pile up and choke the traffic until it completely stops spawning. When I time it right and shift the camera around for not too long, some of the wrecks will still be there and the traffic starts to spawn again so I may keep the chain reaction going if I keep moving the camera around. The cinematic view helps because it periodically switches away from the wrecks (clearing the mess a bit) and back on (showing new traffic starting to blow up again). You can help the cinematic camera by tossing the mouse either away or to the sides which causes the camera's cinematic point of view to change.

A good thing to do seems to block view with your own car, just position the car between the chaos and the camera. Like that, the game engine seems to keep producing traffic in case you wanted to look around again and that causes the cars to dash into burning wrecks resulting in explosions. When you keep changing the point of view it seems that you're able to keep the chain reaction going.

My longest chain reaction took roughly 20 minutes (that's when I created around 300 screenshots, some of which used in the previous posts).  :)

[Art Blade]

There are accidents you're not going to be proud of, like this one:
[smg id=3626 type=link align=center width=500 caption="GTA IV 022"]

What had happened was this: I crashed frontally at very high speed into another car causing me to go through the wind screen of my car, screaming. I landed on the street, struggled to get up and.. got run over by my own Infernus which was still rolling and literally tried to catch up with me.

Bye-bye, wake-up call in the hospital..  :D :-D

[Art Blade]

Back to the big accident: Here you can guess for how long it must have been going as it is a different time of day (actually, daylight). The light coming from the right obviously is from yet another nearby explosion. Funny detail: the traffic lights sailing past in the foreground of the screen.  :-()

[smg id=3627 type=link align=center width=500 caption="GTA IV 023"]

[Art Blade]

Still the same accident:

This is not  a malfunction of the exhaust pipe of my Infernus but a nice and friendly pop-up of some cheap car in the background.  :-D
[smg id=3628 type=link align=center width=500 caption="GTA IV 024"]

Here another beautiful example of a blow-out of a fellow traffic participant.
[smg id=3629 type=link align=center width=500 caption="GTA IV 025"]

[Binnatics]

You're making an art out of it!! :-X ^+-+

[Art Blade]

It's in my nature and Art is my first name  :-D

[Binnatics]

Speaking of Art; Let's poke around a bit in the Macbook options...

Spoiler

Like this:
[smg id=3630 width=500]
Or this:
[smg id=3631 width=500]

[Art Blade]

Interesting.. first a pic of a new accident, then artw%&k of the same motive you chose.
[smg id=3632 type=link align=center width=500 caption="GTA IV 026"]

Spoiler

Created with IrfanView.
[smg id=3633 type=link align=center width=500 caption="GTA IV artwork 01"]

[Binnatics]

Cool, nice effect. Too bad I couldn't find any photoshop-like filters to use in the Macbook. Had to use only color- and light-related adjustments. The first idea was in fact to pixelize the accident. The effect was kinda nice though ;)

[Art Blade]

All of the changes I made (and we're talking about perhaps 20 or 30 steps) are colour-related. Only the radial blur that I used to finish it is a more sophisticated change. :)

[Art Blade]

Having acquired my new favourite car, a Korean mobster's version of a Sultan, I watched a little fight between other Korean mobsters and the police. The car has got very decent characteristics, great for drifting and sprints, very agile. It comes in blue, just like this one, and has a rear spoiler as well as a modified engine bonnet with huge air intakes.
[smg id=3684 type=link align=center width=500 caption="GTA IV 028"]

Escaping from a death trap (which it was for the rest behind me, at least) in my now white-painted Sultan.
[smg id=3683 type=link align=center width=500 caption="GTA IV 027"]

[Binnatics]

The Sultan is one of my favorites as well, nice find for the mobster's version ;)
Hope I'll solve my BSoD issue soon when I get home. I'm dying for some nice exploding uploads  ;D