Mobile Mortar Team, How?

[Von_Lipwig 10]

First off, I'll say that I have tried searching for this and I have also gone through about 5-10 pages of the editing forum but I haven't found a solution yet. If there already is a solution to this that you know of, please send me in the right direction and sorry for bothering you ;)

In a mission I would like to have a mobile mortar team (human players, don't worry) to support the frontline troops. Arrowhead offers the ability to actually pack up and move a mortar, but this does create a problem for me: I have no idea how to make it so that you can get the targeting system appear for the gunner. In the editor preview I have not yet been able to set it up so the gunner is able to target by anything than pure luck and intuition.

So far, I've tried:

-doing it all clean, no modules (set up mortar by picking up mortar back and assembling on tripod, no targeting system appears)

-artillery module synchronised to the tripod and the mortar bag (hey, I'm desperate!)

-artillery module synchronised to tripod, mortar bag and player

So, it's probably something real simple that I'm missing, but in my defence I'm a bit stupid sometimes, I mean inexperienced. :p

Thanks in advance for any help. :)

[hund 0]

place down a static mortar (all assembled and shiznit), synch with module and sync module to whoever needs to be firing it.

[Von_Lipwig 10]

And then you can still disassemble it?

Or in other words, can you by default disassemble all static weapons in OA? because the critical part of the mission is that the mortar team must be mobile. :)

Thanks already, I'll try it asap. :)

---------- Post added at 04:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:31 PM ----------

I just saw that you can! I never knew that!

OK, one more question: is it possible to re-arm the mortar? I see it only comes with 8 shells and I was wondering if it's possible to either increase this amount or pick up more ammunition. :)

Thanks in advance!

[Evil_Echo 11]

It just might be possible to access the aiming system used for human players outside of normal sync means, but it would take some heavy scripting magic. Have not tried it myself ( yet ) but it seems so based on what I read in the arty module source.

Another thought is that ACE has a slightly modified version of that module, supposedly tweeked to eliminate the need for sync.

[kylania 568]

In a few weeks the BAF DLC will be out and that includes a new system for mortars so might see how that will work.

[Von_Lipwig 10]

I'll be looking forward to that!

So far I have gotten it to work in the editor preview at least whichis a blessing. ;)

Edited August 9, 2010 by Von_Lipwig

[shuko 59]

You dont need to sync it in OA.

zgPagbMPuNs

To reload, place this in the init field:

this addAction ["Get more ammo","reloadmortar.sqf",[],1,true,true,"","(count magazines _target) < 1"];

reloadmortar.sqf (pick right ammo):

(_this select 0) addmagazine "ARTY_8Rnd_82mmHE_2B14";

[Von_Lipwig 10]

Oh thanks! So as long as there's an arty module present ni the map, no synchronisation is required! Awesome!

Also thanks for the reload thing, great stuff!

I'll start a seperate thread ont he revive issue I'm having.

[Von_Lipwig 10]

Hey I was wondering, does this also work if you want to add ILLUM and WP shells to a mortar unit's inventory? How exactly would I do that? Add three different reloadmortar.sqf-esque files, or can I do it with one script?

Because now that I see this, I also see the possibilities of having several different kinds of mortar rounds, should make things more interesting! :)

Thanks in advance!

[Cougs 10]

You just need to find the class name for the ammo you need

"ARTY_8Rnd_82mmHE_2B14" is one type - there are several other types. Search for 'object classnames' and you'll find something you like.

[Von_Lipwig 10]

Thanks :)

Yet another question: is it possible to zoom in on the targeting screen? Right now all I get is a two-digit grid which doesn't make for very accurate fire missions. Also, as the numbers on the aiming reticule are pretty small (the ones giving the time before impact in seconds) it's kind of hard to see when the shells will arrive.

Is there any way to zoom in on this or make it bigger (I already changed my interface size from very small to small with no real noticeable difference, and still not three-digit grid), or is there no option but to start looking for scripts/addons to provide an alternate way of manually aiming artillery?

Actually, on that subject, would this certainly have to be an addon or is a script around for this?

[Von_Lipwig 10]

So there's no way to do that?

[shuko 59]

There are few Artillery scripts around.

As for zooming the default targeting screen, I'm going to say that no. The Arty module uses a hard coded value of 0.3 for zoom, which is used inside a loop with 0.1sec interval. :(

[fatty86 10]

I'd like to hijack this thread and ask a related question.

I would like to start a mission with a mortar team equipped with the bags on their backs. Is it possible to change the loadouts in the bags to equip them with the proper ARTY_ rounds? Will this approach work with the artillery module? Editor testing shows that simply placing mortar bags on the ground and assembling a mortar out of them doesn't give it the targeting interface.

[shuko 59]

[] spawn {
 private ["_isVeh","_veh"];
 while {true} do {
   waituntil {vehicle player != player};
     _veh = vehicle player;
     _isVeh = getNumber(configFile >> "CfgVehicles" >> typeOf(_veh) >> "ARTY_IsArtyVehicle");
     if (_isVeh == 1) then {[_veh] call BIS_ARTY_F_initVehicle};
   waituntil {vehicle player == player};
 };
};

I guess you could add a vehicle type check in there and replace the ammo as well.

[fatty86 10]

Good idea shk. So I take it this would go in init.sqf?

If I wanted to replace the ammo, I suppose I could put it in this line...

if (_isVeh == 1) then {[_veh] call BIS_ARTY_F_initVehicle};

...using addmagazine/removemagazine and referencing _veh? There will likely only be one kind of artillery per mission so an extra check is unnecessary.

Thanks for the code!