Deep Sandbox (for Zargabad)

[jedra 11]

Kyle - try and find your Arma2OA.rpt. If you are running Win 7, it should be in ...

c:\users\username\AppData\local\Arma 2 OA

You will have to turn on 'show hidden files' in folder options to see the Appdata directory.

In the report it will show you probably what cause the CTD. I will bet my hat that it was an out of memory error.

Not a lot you can do about it though other than cut down on the mods you are using. It's a known problem with Arma2 and they are working on it with the Beta's.

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

I would like to see some civilians, including goatherder + goats or old woman + chickens, and a penalty in quarters for killing them.

I have found that this works well with ASR's AI addons, especially the rearming one, and DAPMAN's First Aid addon.

I would like to see the OPFOR go into buildings and up onto roofs.

VBIED's.

I have noticed that occasionally I will find a jet completely intact and engine running on the ground, stuck by some trees. Spawning of unit may not be set to "Flying"?

It would be nice if a stash had a poorly-armored vehicle with a mounted weapon on occasion.

More randomized drop-zones? The one on the other side of the wadi is a bit of a pain in the neck.

An icon on the map appears when you have located a stash?

I've been having fun with it. Thanks for making it.

[jedra 11]

I have noticed that occasionally I will find a jet completely intact and engine running on the ground, stuck by some trees. Spawning of unit may not be set to "Flying"?

This is due to the Urban Patrol Script taking a little while to start managing the waypoints of the plane after it's been spawned. The planes just drop out of the sky!! You have to set the the UPS flying height higher in the code. UPS wasn't really designed for planes (but for helicopters) although I have found that if you set the height right then it works for both.

This phenomina doesn't happen with helos as they hovver by default (although if you have a lot of UPS units being controlled they do become sitting ducks in the sky unitl UPS gets around to taking control!!).

[dmos 10]

managed to break my installation. might take some time to work out

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

Played the mission for an hour last night, from the last Save that I had made. Whatever caused the CTD around that region didn't occur at all. Very strange, but I'm not complaining. I'd like to point out that all mods were in effect (which means that the RWS sound mod was still enabled).

My comrade with the SAW still never rejoined the group in spite of multiple requests (we even worked our way back to him, but still no luck with getting him unglued from his standing position).

After I cleared the area, I came across a firefight between some US infantry and the Russians. They were lying prone at the time I had them join my team. When their icons were displayed, only one of them came up with the color red, indicating that he was injured, so I rendered first aid to him. That didn't help, as he stayed prone and wouldn't walk. The other infantryman who was prone at the time, when his icon was added it was NOT red, which would imply that he's healthy, yet he too stayed in the prone position. I didn't have the means to apply a field dressing to him to see if that would help at all.

So, those two guys just crawled behind me the whole time. Poor guys, they looked like wounded seals that needed another hit from a club to finish them off to make them into fur coats! :o

From then on I moved across the entirety of the map. I came across another ammo crate by an abandoned cart. It had mostly rocket launchers, and yes, I was happy to find another ammo/weapons crate.

If it was setup to quickly reammo the whole team, I didn't see such an option. Where would I find it? :confused:

For the rest of my time, I only heard two additional sorties, but they were between a Bradley and an Abrams. I could hear and see them shooting--if they received enemy fire I didn't hear it nor did I see it.

In fact for the rest of the mission, I encountered no enemies. Not even my teammates (which grew to a squad of 10) saw any. Every time they saw an "unidentified man" it ended up being a friendly.

So, after half an hour of walking about, I tossed a frag at my feet and ate it to force a respawn to see what would happen - I was hoping it would trigger a "reset" and get the enemy AI going again. We were all reincarnated in the Chinook, and parachuted out. The first time we jumped, two of my men were killed by slamming into buildings, and 3 were badly injured by landing on them. I reloaded and the next two times of parachuting generated results similar to the first, which caused me to ask: am I penalized for when my men are killed under such circumstances? If so, that sure doesn't seem very fair to me, as I have no control over the circumstances, not even the jump point. And then having several men rendered helpless from colliding into buildings... Eep! Maybe you could make them invulnerable to everything except for rocket/round hits till their feet hit the ground and their weapon is readied? :confused:

After accepting the sad set of circumstances I was stuck with and my badly incapacitated squad (now down to the size of an element), we walked about for 20 more minutes, and still no enemy encounters. In fact it was dead silent, not even the tanks or the A-10s were engaging. So, assuming that the enemy weren't being triggered anymore, I exited the game. :(

I tried recruiting downed pilots - two of whom were found by their copters. Neither of them were recruitable, and one ran away from me in such a hurry he never came back to his chopper. Maybe my armpits were stinking too badly? The other pilot just stayed standing by his downed Little Bird, and I could ask him questions about the weather (seriously, this happened). Was he waiting to be rescued?

Now that would be cool, and add another immersive element to the sandbox nature of this game. Investigating a crash site and discovering the survivors could open up a Dialogue option, something like, "We're here to rescue you." At that point, the pilot acts as a TEMPORARY teammate. A Radio dialogue would then become active and would be available for the Player to use whenever he felt he had reached a SAFE area. When that area's reached, the player would call in for an Evac, and guard that region till the Black Hawk (maybe with 1-2 FFAR-deploying Little Birds as escorts?) arrived. When the chopper was at a range of 100 m. the pilot could be released from the Player's team, and the pilot would then proceed to the Black Hawk, and then the Player would get a huge $ bonus. Yeah, I like this idea a lot.

What would also be very cool is if one could call in an Evac for high-value targets, enemy officers (maybe located near obvious high-value areas, such as the mosque, the airport, etc.?) and downed enemy pilots, and the like. Perhaps rarely when a HQ-BMP of some sort, or some other type of vehicle is disabled, and the crew bails, there's a small % chance that a high-value target also flees the vehicle; if they're scared/wounded enough, they'll surrender and put their arms up. In such cases, a dialogue option would become available, "You're under our command! Comply with all orders as we're taking you prisoner!" Now I'd make this kind of Evac mission a bit more troublesome, as the prisoner would not be armed, and would not be too responsive to normal orders. In fact, he'd stay within 15 m. of the Player at all times, copying his stances. In all other respects, this type of Evac mission would operate as described above, only the bonus $ for the Player would be substantially greater because of the substantially larger risks involved.

Have I already mentioned about supplying tricked out AKs to the ammo crates yet? Ones with Cobra aiming aides, suppressors, drum magazines, grenade launchers, and (I don't know if a weapon pack's already been for ones such as these) one's with Western aiming aides attached, such as ACOGs (we could use the ACOG's attached alternate iron sights for engagements within 50 m.) and the like. Just making sure I said it before I "forgot" again! ;)

I tried thomasb's Flashpoint mission here: http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=11138 and a really good time doing so. What I really appreciate about it was that enabled the Player to define just how random that mission could be. A lot of the dialogue structure's could probably be used to setup the Lone Wolf, Buddy, or Limited Element options that you were contemplating earlier. But, I really liked EVERY option that he presented, and I think that it would draw quite a few more downloads if such options were made available. Being "random-only" might be a turnoff for some players, and by offering such options to the community would certainly make it more tempting on a number of levels.

If something like the above were to be implemented, I would certainly always make it an in-game option for players to add more units to the ranks of his element/squad whenever it's so desired.

Oh, and keep the player-can-become-a-rabbit at the end of a limited mission feature. That was VERY cool to run around and watch the AI battle. I did that for like 20 min. !

Alright, have to go to my Dad's for Father's Day. Bye for now!

[Uziyahu--IDF 0]

Maybe add Repair and Ammo trucks and an ambulance (preferably armored) on Support waypoints on the edge of the map for each side?

Also, some randomly present ZU-23's randomly placed around the map and maybe 1 or 2 set-pos'ed to the top of the parking lot buildings (it is possible to get to their top floor, right)?

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

From Jedra:

In the report it will show you probably what cause the CTD. I will bet my hat that it was an out of memory error.

Ahh, that's reassuring to know! Sort of! I'd rather it be something like that than the fault of a sound mod!

Also, thanks for letting me know where/how to locate the error report. I've seen references made to it in the past, but when I went to the Wiki on ArmA II the directions that I found were for what I zipped earlier.

Here's the Report: http://www.mediafire.com/?7ss4aoe3sz11y4j

In regards to using ACE II... I've come across two postings regarding other mods that ACE isn't compatible with. I think that I'll wait longer and see if they come out with another (large) update that takes care of some of these compatibility issues. Doing that online incremental-update thing makes me nervous and, for some reason, kind of stresses me out in a freaky kind of way. It reminds me too much of how some of the key mods for Jagged Alliance II are updated, and to me, it's a headache when it's not supposed to be.

Hah! I forgot to mention that I came across a couple of grounded yet intact jets as well. It's strange how I forgot to mention something of that rather severe nature. :o

I too would like to see the infantry utilize buildings better. Especially snipers in the upper stories who aren't just static, meaning that perhaps they'll scope out of one window for 3-5 min., and then if there isn't any action, moves over to a window with a different facing. Rinse, wash and repeat.

I meant to mention earlier that I was a little disappointed to investigate the airport and not find any kind of weapons cache. That was more than a bit jarring, especially because of its militaristic aesthetics, and due to its vast size. That's a whole lot of work not to be rewarded for it. I'd ensure that the airbase always had a large weapons cache present, but its exact location on the base kept randomized. I'd also ensure that some kind of military transport was available there. Perhaps armed with M2s, Mk 19s, or armed versions of Urals.

I don't know if it would be possible to do, but it would also make some sense to keep the airbase "hot" in regards to action. The AI that's in control of the base would be able to have more of their aircraft (and/or better quality) in the skies above. Not that these aircraft would be taking off/landing from that airport, but that just possessing said site would give a 25-35% superiority bonus to the site's holders. How that superiority could be determined seems flexible to me. Perhaps it's an upgrade in the quality of the craft fielded to the region. To go from an A-10 to a F-15E or a Typhoon setup for close air support would be quite a boost. And/or the quantity of aircraft could be increased, so that instead of being just individual aircraft, there would be a number of them that would be spawned as flight sections. And/or possessing the base would open up Radio capabilities to call in a quickly delivered CAS to a specific site, markable either through the satellite map or through the IR strobe---this might still have to be earned by having enough $ in one's account, or the speed of the response is dramatically heightened by possessing the airbase.

I'd make sure that if the base was taken, that the fight has to include clearing not only the hangar bays, but also the interior of the flight control tower. Once that's cleared, and the rest of the base as well, it needs to be held long enough for reinforcements to arrive to maintain it. It shouldn't take too long for the reinforcements to get there, after all, one's military leaders are certainly going to know when you're planning on assaulting such a location, so they'll be sure that the reinforcements are ready to go. Once the reinforcements have arrived, and the Player's troops have left the base, a group of friendly AI will be spawned in good defensive positions inside the said control tower and around the base's perimeter.

To "free up" the player to go back out into the city, the base is guaranteed not to be assaulted by a major force of enemy AI for at least 45 min-1 hour. That is, a long enough time to guarantee that the Player will get bored and then be compelled to go out into the city. A radio transmission could be sent once all of the reinforcements have arrived, something like, "Excellent work! We'll take it from here. Now get checked out by a medic, rekit and get your asses back out there. We have a battle to win!" Or (and I think that this is better) the Player has 10 min. to heal/rekit his men before they have to get to a Black Hawk or Chinook from which they're randomly dropped from. If the Player doesn't rekit within 10 min.(I'd have a red countdown in the upper right hand corner), then the screen fades to black with a dialogue line similar to, "Are you going AWOL on me son? Here's an escort to your transport! Good luck!" And when the screen fades to the Player's surroundings, he's in/on the chopper(s), fully rearmed with whatever weaponry he was last carrying, and with everyone fully rehealed and refreshed.

I wouldn't give the Player an option to drive off of the airbase, or leave by foot. I'd setup an invisible border, so that if something like this is attempted, the Player gets the above "AWOL" dialogue and then gets the auto-flight out of there. The point of this is to get the Player far enough away from the airbase so that they're forced to fight their way back if they want to defend it again, and to get their butts out into the thick of it once more.

It might be also pretty sweet to see the Comanche in this mission, and whet the appetites of drooling fans awaiting the release of ArmA III ( http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=7132 ), and maybe the equivalent of this for the OPFOR would be the Mi-28 ( http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=12094 ). No matter where one would be in/around the city, seeing these guys roaring around would be a SURE sign of who is in control of the airbase!

That's it for now. Back to textbook work I go.

[zonker3210 1]

Just played this (update 6) for a bit tonight for the first time. Really fun mission. Two (minor) issues:

- PMC faction showed up as OPFOR

- error message at startup about missing addon (ACE Sandbags, I believe)

Also, a few suggestions/requests/comments:

- I really hope this mission stays addon-free. I like the fact that you've allowed for some addons without forcing players to download the extra content if they don't want it.

- A few optional objectives (SecOps) would be nice. Not sure how exactly this would work, though.

- The respawn was...weird. I parachuted into an airfield under heavy fire at basically the same point I'd already died. I'm didn't really care for that. I can't think of a better alternative, though, so... ;)

- After respawn, the remaining AI team member was #2 while I was #3...is that intentional? Would be cleaner if you'd clear the group and then re-attach each group member under the player.

- Default weapons...the rest of the team had decent weapons. Mine was lousy. At the start, I had those holo sights which I despise. After I respawned, I had some weapon with iron sights. I'm not sure if you're forcing that sort of loadout but if so.... why? The rest of the team had perfectly good weapons. I'm fairly sure that the team leader unit doesn't have those sorts of weapons by default so it just seems a bit odd that you'd intentionally start the player with them.

- The reward system: not sure why there's a 25-cent bounty on each OPFOR. I mean, I understand the reward concept but...a cash bonus? Of 25 cents? If you want to assign points, why not just assign points/karma/reputation...and then maybe players can use the points for resupply, airstrikes, mortar support, vehicles, etc. Just a thought.

Overall, though, it's a really nice mission. You've obviously put a lot of time and effort into making it and you've done a fine job. Thanks for making it!

- z

[jedra 11]

@Kyle - had a quick look at your report file but I can't find the crash. I think the report file must have been re-created after it happened. It sure is kicking out a lot of errors though! One of your mods is screaming out for the latest version of CBA - unfortunately the report file is not so good at identifying which one. I might have closer look later on.

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

From Jedra:

One of your mods is screaming out for the latest version of CBA

Thank you for doing this. What's quite strange is that I already have the most up-to-date version of Community Base Addons installed, ver. 0.7.4.156. Hmmm...

From zonker3210:

If you want to assign points, why not just assign points/karma/reputation...

I'm embarrassed to admit this, especially with my love of role playing games, but I like his suggestion of changing it from $ to something else. It not only "sounds" better, but it also seems to make more sense than an enlisted man being paid a quarter per kill to buy military support for his element/squad. I don't know what to call it exactly. Karma sounds pretty good to me. Store up enough karma, and it can be spent on whatever it is you're planning on implementing.

[jedra 11]

Lol - from a theological standpoint I am not sure that Karma should be associated with killing things (except negatively of course!).

Perhaps 'tokens' is better?

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

From Jedra:

Lol - from a theological standpoint I am not sure that Karma should be associated with killing things (except negatively of course!).

Yeah, I thought about that too. It's an endless argument once it gets started. The OPFOR "deserve" to die for the things they did, and the BLUFOR "deserve" to die for the killing and the destroying that they're doing.

In the end, I decided to endorse "karma" because of the above endless loop.

It reminds of the line from one of Clint Eastwood's best Westerns, Unforgiven, when he responds to the young rookie punk who had been spouting his mouth the whole time about what a tough and brutal killer he was. After that punk experiences the real consequences of violence for the very first time, he tries to sound tough and brave over the shock of what he's seen and participated in by saying, "He had it comin'..."

And Eastwood looks at the young baby punk, and softly whispers,

"We all have it comin' kid."

So, Karma seems just as apt a word as any.

Yeah, we all have it comin'.

[jedra 11]

In that case perhaps the points should be called 'Clints' or 'Eastwoods'!

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

From Jedra:

In that case perhaps the points should be called 'Clints' or 'Eastwoods'!

:laugh:

That's brilliant Jedra! I'll vote for "Eastwoods!"

Here's a fact that's pretty darn ironic. Let's say we keep the Clint Eastwood nomenclature going: do you know the name of the character he was playing in Unforgiven?

Bill Munny.

That's right. "Bill," as in "dollar bill," and "Munny" which sounds exactly like "money!" So, here we are, trying to take a step away from the $ system, and even when we try to Unforgiven-ize it, Fate steers us back towards the $ sign.

I'm almost getting goosebumps just thinking about it (not really).

But I'm getting a big kick out of calling the karma-points "Eastwoods." It just sounds way cool. :)

Or maybe we should split it up the middle, and call the karma-points "Buddha Bucks," or "Krishna Cash," or "Gandhi Geld." ;)

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

I'm going to be extremely busy through Sunday, and it's highly unlikely that I'll even have much of a chance to check my email, let alone anything else. So, if there's an update released, and there's no usual response from me, you'll know why.

Have fun folks!

[Dealz 10]

Just a quick update to my CTD and someone mentioning that it might be a out of memory issue.

In my task manager my total memory for Arma when it crashes is around 633,000K

[jedra 11]

Just a quick update to my CTD and someone mentioning that it might be a out of memory issue.

In my task manager my total memory for Arma when it crashes is around 633,000K

The best way to check what caused the CTD is to look at the Arma2OA.rpt file, which I mentioned a few posts back. The most common cause (for me anyway is an out of memory error). The devs are working on this problem with the latest beta as if you have a lot of memory and a 64bit OS it should not be a problem. You could try running with some of the recent Beta's (although the very latest one seems to have a few reported issues).

The other cause of CTD's I have seen are usually specific mods loaded or combination of mods. One I have seen a lot is when a mod tries to access a turret on a 'vehicle' that does not exist.

Anyway, the rpt file usually tells you what caused it to die.

[dmos 10]

Sorry for the inactivity on my part. I read through your ideas and really liked most of them :) To be honest I'm starting to loose interest in single player. At the end of the day it just doesn't cut it. And unfortunately with my copy it's the only option. That's due to my financial standing.

I do have plans on continuing this little project, but in about a week I'm leaving for the summer so things might come to a halt.

If anyone would like to continue this project, you have my blessing. Yes, Jedra, I'm looking at you :) Give me a shout when you have a release and I'll add a redirection to your thread. or maybe it's possible for us to co-author this thread? Anyway good luck with that.

If I don't have time to check up before I leave, which isn't very likely but still, – I wish you all the best.

Btw: jedra, I made a quick and simple cargo drop script that I posted in these forums not long ago. I didn't have time to implement it, but here it is, maybe you'll have use of it.

[jedra 11]

Sorry for the inactivity on my part. I read through your ideas and really liked most of them :) To be honest I'm starting to loose interest in single player. At the end of the day it just doesn't cut it. And unfortunately with my copy it's the only option. That's due to my financial standing.

I do have plans on continuing this little project, but in about a week I'm leaving for the summer so things might come to a halt.

If anyone would like to continue this project, you have my blessing. Yes, Jedra, I'm looking at you :) Give me a shout when you have a release and I'll add a redirection to your thread. or maybe it's possible for us to co-author this thread? Anyway good luck with that.

If I don't have time to check up before I leave, which isn't very likely but still, – I wish you all the best.

Btw: jedra, I made a quick and simple cargo drop script that I posted in these forums not long ago. I didn't have time to implement it, but here it is, maybe you'll have use of it.

Cool - I am still busy working away on a version of this. Originally it was Malden, but that map was so big it was causing performance problems. I then ported it to Icebreakr's excellent Isla Duala and it is proving more successful there. I did pick up your cargo script and am in the middle of combining it with Demonized para-drop script. Basically the idea being that there will be OPFOR and BLUFOR paradrops (both requested and triggered) as well as heavy/medium and light vehicle drops for both sides at various points in the game. There are also a few 'secrets' hidden about for players to find. These are both useful and just 'interesting'!

Isla Duala is another big island, so I am currently trying to balance performance against a reasonable amount of both ambient and directed combat zones. I want the player not to have to wander too far before coming across something to do.

I have also started to implement a system for using the credits, although this is unlikely to get implemented for the first release.

The other main feature is that rather than do this for a pre-defined set of mods, the game will utilise any units the player has loaded - using the configs to determine the side/faction and unit make-ups. It will also now work in both Vanilla OA and ACE. Although this perhaps takes away some of the gritty realism you had in the original, it does make for some interesting face-offs!! It has been this that has delayed me somewhat as getting the performance right when getting the game to read a shed-load of configs was difficult, but I think I have doe that now with the game only taking 30 seconds to load with over 60 mods loaded!

Anyway, I myself an away for a week and will be back working on this when I get back. Watch this space...

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

Wow. Some HUGE developments while I was gone!

Exciting ones though. I'm looking forward to see what lies down the road for us!

---------- Post added at 02:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:32 PM ----------

Here's a suggestion I made on one of thomsonb's Flashpoint threads that I think would also work well here:

It would also be nice if the Player could order up an "end battle" stopping point, and what I mean by that is if the Player so desires, he can order a battle to end, which freezes all respawning, so that the only units left active are those that are on the battlefield. Once one side has won, the mission ends with a victor being declared based on performance.

It feels more satisfying to conclude something rather than just letting it "hang" there forever.

Edited June 28, 2011 by Kyle_K_ski

[Vympel 10]

Cool - I am still busy working away on a version of this. Originally it was Malden, but that map was so big it was causing performance problems. I then ported it to Icebreakr's excellent Isla Duala and it is proving more successful there. I did pick up your cargo script and am in the middle of combining it with Demonized para-drop script. Basically the idea being that there will be OPFOR and BLUFOR paradrops (both requested and triggered) as well as heavy/medium and light vehicle drops for both sides at various points in the game. There are also a few 'secrets' hidden about for players to find. These are both useful and just 'interesting'!

Isla Duala is another big island, so I am currently trying to balance performance against a reasonable amount of both ambient and directed combat zones. I want the player not to have to wander too far before coming across something to do.

I have also started to implement a system for using the credits, although this is unlikely to get implemented for the first release.

The other main feature is that rather than do this for a pre-defined set of mods, the game will utilise any units the player has loaded - using the configs to determine the side/faction and unit make-ups. It will also now work in both Vanilla OA and ACE. Although this perhaps takes away some of the gritty realism you had in the original, it does make for some interesting face-offs!! It has been this that has delayed me somewhat as getting the performance right when getting the game to read a shed-load of configs was difficult, but I think I have doe that now with the game only taking 30 seconds to load with over 60 mods loaded!

Anyway, I myself an away for a week and will be back working on this when I get back. Watch this space...

You making this for Isla Duala ? I must play this right now , all the Afghan and eastern Europe style maps are getting on my nerves . Also you wanna give approximate release date for this ? playing this on Isla Duala will be like getting laid.

[jedra 11]

You making this for Isla Duala ? I must play this right now , all the Afghan and eastern Europe style maps are getting on my nerves . Also you wanna give approximate release date for this ? playing this on Isla Duala will be like getting laid.

Lol - I have been away for a week and I am away again until Tuesday (Take That at the O2 arena - don't ask!).

I am probably about a week away from a 'beta' release of this. It's coming on well and the battles are intense. As I mentioned I have moved away fromt the gritty realism of Dmos' original as it will use whatever mods you have loaded (vehicles, armies, weapons) - so it's up to you to add the right OPFOR/BLUFOR mods for a 'sensible' fight!

Should have something released for next weekend, but I do have some real life work to do next week (as well as looking after 4 year old twin girls all day, every day!).

[Vympel 10]

Lol - I have been away for a week and I am away again until Tuesday (Take That at the O2 arena - don't ask!).

I am probably about a week away from a 'beta' release of this. It's coming on well and the battles are intense. As I mentioned I have moved away fromt the gritty realism of Dmos' original as it will use whatever mods you have loaded (vehicles, armies, weapons) - so it's up to you to add the right OPFOR/BLUFOR mods for a 'sensible' fight!

Should have something released for next weekend, but I do have some real life work to do next week (as well as looking after 4 year old twin girls all day, every day!).

Only mod I use is ACE , will I need more mods to run this ?

[jedra 11]

Only mod I use is ACE , will I need more mods to run this ?

No, it will run with or without ACE (if it detects ACE it will issue earplugs, epi, morphine etc). Currently you do need OA and you may need CBA (for one of the scripts). I have not implemented ACE wounds as it seems to do strange stuff when UPSMON is also running. Instead it uses a simplified healing system.

It will run with vanilla OA with no mods loaded or (as with my performance testing) with 103 mods loaded and counting!

At the start it trawls through the configs looking for the mods that are loaded and then creates Armour, Unit, Weapon pools accordingly. With no mods loaded this takes a few seconds. With a hundred or so mods it takes about a minute.

Basic Premise :

• Isla Duala is split into 'zones' with action taking place around those zones. It's a big map so I had to split it up like this to give the player something to do and also to help with performance.
  
• There are random 'events' that trigger occaisionally such as enemy and friendly troop paradrops, vehicle drops and weapon box drops.
  
• There are other things hidden around like UAVs and static weapons - up to you to find and use them.
  
• You will start in a random group with a loadout based on the config for that unit type. Your team will be of the same type of group. You may indeed start weapon-less - you'll have to find some.
  
• There are weapon stashes dotted around the place.
  
• You get credits for killing enemy units and armour - although as yet the system for spending them has not been built.
  
• There are other surprises hidden around the island.
  
• You can team switch between members of your units.
  
• You can recruit any friendly forces you encounter.
  
• It utilises UPSMON for the AI patrols (both OPFOR and BLUFOR).
  
• Ability to call in precision air strikes and CAS missions if you find the control terminals! (This may not make the initial release).
  

99% of the above is done, with just a few issues to be sorted out...

Issues I need to resolve before first release...

• There's a problem with recruiting other units.
  
• If the player moves around the map too quickly, too many AI units are created causing performance issues - basically need to clean up any units not near the player.
  
• Some of the ammo crates dropped are not very useful - need to try and see of I can control this via the configs. If not, you will just need to hope you get a good one!
  
• The player is very occaisionaly not resurrected after death - probably due to script load - am working on this first.
  
• Healing system does not always work as intended. Because I am using Dmos' original system I have probably broken it doing other stuff!!
  
• I have hacked and slashed a few scripts to get this going quickly - need to clean them up and add proper comments in case someone un-pbo's it. At the moment I would be embarrassed at the state of some of the code!
  

[Kyle_K_ski 1]

99% of the above is done, with just a few issues to be sorted out...

For you to have gotten so much accomplished and so quickly while caring for two twins is more than impressive.

I'm excited to give your build with Isla Duala a good solid running.

Have fun with your kids too!