Orienteering Mission

[delta99 34]

Thanks Beavaroo.

I was going to include some pace counting for folks but never got around to it.

I tried Map Plus but didn't find it nearly as good as what is in ACE and it didn't update the compass either which is a big thing for me. The default compass is horrible. If I remember correctly Map Plus was upgraded and moved into ACE and there were no plans to provide it as a separate addon unfortunately.

[delta99 34]

Which reminds me, there's actually a really cool guy on YouTube that uploads videos of this airsoft sport called Hunteering, which is hunting and orienteering, and I would really love to see something like it in Arma. Here's a link to the main video, it's an hour and a half long film, but there are other much shorter videos as well if you just want a taste:

Does anyone know the rules to Hunteering? I can't seem to find anything actually written about it.

[daman3 19]

I really like the idea of orienteering missions, would like to test them out

but I don't play with ACE.

[delta99 34]

I really like the idea of orienteering missions, would like to test them out

but I don't play with ACE.

Perhaps if I get around to it I will put out an official beta non-ACE version and people can struggle with the mapping tools. What I would really like is to strip the mapping tools out of ACE as that is really the only part I need.

[delta99 34]

Hi all, I've been back dabbling with this a little bit now and then.

A couple of notes:

1. I am removing the ACE requirement so that this is much more widely useable by the masses. One can use Map Plus for distance measurement on the map and all will just have to struggle with the lousy in-game compass.
   
2. I have come up with a way to "nudge" your player so that you cannot stay directly on course by just lining up and hitting the W key. You will now have to continually correct your course as you go. Still a bit of tweaking on it to get it just right but works as is.
   
3. Your starting position will be randomized so never the same twice. All CP's are randomized. Much longer term down the road I was thinking I've providing a system to save your course so that you can send it to someone else to compare your times.
   
4. Need to finish working on a HINT system which will give you a time penalty of some sorts depending on the hint requested.
   
5. Need to finish the automated task creation and solving as you reach the CP's.
   
6. Should work on any island/map as long as locations are defined. Will be extending this so that a mission modder could define their own locations and the mission will pick up on them.
   
7. 
   

Once I've gotten things a bit further I can likely release a new version for testing purposes.

[delta99 34]

Hi all,

I have a beta 1 WIP (Work In Progress) mission if anyone would like to check it out. You can try it without any addons but I suggest using Map Plus addon so that you can measure distances and directions on the map more accurately.

See the video for a demonstration of using Map Plus and the course I ran. Interestingly enough after running this hundreds of times I haven't come across a course where there were 3 CP's so close together in one area (I've seen 2 a couple of times). It does happen now and then and likely happened in this case because we started along the shore so only so many areas to select for a CP. I can also prevent it from happening but may not be worth the effort.

Here is the video:

A couple of notes:

1. You should run this in VETERAN mode so that the map does not show your location. Final version will check for this and just not run the mission of it isn't set this way.
   
2. There is a "show my location" in case you get completely lost on the map. In the final version this will give some sort of time penalty.
   
3. Currently CP's are 200-300m apart from each other for testing so that you aren't running around too much. More interesting is something like 500-600 meters which is what I have tested. Likely might even make this a parameter that one can set in the mission.
   
4. You have to use the action item "start course" to run a course. Hopefully I can get rid of this but had to do this due to the map showing your position on start no matter what I tried.
   
5. Notes will record your elapsed time and total time to each CP.
   
6. You need to check in to CP's in order. No penalty right now but final version will give out a penalty of some sorts.
   
7. There is no real end game and you can re-start a course. Notes get piled up and so do tasks. I don't think there is a way to delete notes and not sure about tasks. Really only meant to be run once.
   
8. 
   

You can download the beta here.

Hi all, I've been back dabbling with this a little bit now and then.

A couple of notes:

1. I am removing the ACE requirement so that this is much more widely useable by the masses. One can use Map Plus for distance measurement on the map and all will just have to struggle with the lousy in-game compass.
   
2. I have come up with a way to "nudge" your player so that you cannot stay directly on course by just lining up and hitting the W key. You will now have to continually correct your course as you go. Still a bit of tweaking on it to get it just right but works as is.
   
3. Your starting position will be randomized so never the same twice. All CP's are randomized. Much longer term down the road I was thinking I've providing a system to save your course so that you can send it to someone else to compare your times.
   
4. Need to finish working on a HINT system which will give you a time penalty of some sorts depending on the hint requested.
   
5. Need to finish the automated task creation and solving as you reach the CP's.
   
6. Should work on any island/map as long as locations are defined. Will be extending this so that a mission modder could define their own locations and the mission will pick up on them.
   
7. 
   

Once I've gotten things a bit further I can likely release a new version for testing purposes.

---------- Post added at 18:24 ---------- Previous post was at 18:21 ----------

BTW, see this video as it shows what I initially wanted to create but have deviated from because I'm not sure it would work well with ArmA. Although it probably could a lot of manual work would have to be done to create a course etc and then it would pretty much be static and possibly not that much fun.

[DMZ_Scout 1]

Delta good work, great idea

[RecondoLRRP 1]

hmm is there any way to change the mission to play with ACE? It is really hard to use just the vanilla compass.

[delta99 34]

hmm is there any way to change the mission to play with ACE? It is really hard to use just the vanilla compass.

If you read the thread you'll see that so many people complained about ACE requirement that I took it out. That way people can play with the pretty much unusable vanilla compass or at the very least use Map Plus addon which is the older Map Tools that you'll see in ACE. I believe you should still be able to run the mission with ACE but I can't remember. The problem you will likely have there is with the ACE stamina system.

[RecondoLRRP 1]

If you read the thread you'll see that so many people complained about ACE requirement that I took it out. That way people can play with the pretty much unusable vanilla compass or at the very least use Map Plus addon which is the older Map Tools that you'll see in ACE. I believe you should still be able to run the mission with ACE but I can't remember. The problem you will likely have there is with the ACE stamina system.

Is it possible for me to edit the mission to put back in the map tools and stamina module? Or will that require major surgery with the scripting?

[delta99 34]

Is it possible for me to edit the mission to put back in the map tools and stamina module? Or will that require major surgery with the scripting?

Just run it with ACE and you should be good.

[rangerlump 1]

Love this mission,

Edited April 24, 2013 by rangerlump

[delta99 34]

Love this mission,

Thanks rangerlump.

[becario 1]

Hi!

I was thinking about doing something similar to this for Arma 3.

It would not be a orienteering mission as such, but more a survival orientation mission. Something like you begin in a random point in the island, and have to get to another random point 8-10 kilometres away (more or less 1 hour of gameplay, as it takes 4 minutes to run a kilometre+time lost in orientation). You only have a map which shows the destination point, and have to deduce your position with just the help of the map and surroundings, no compass.

There would be also a food and water element, as you would have to search for them in towns (this is not a problem I think, as I am sure there is some script for this, like the one in Wasteland).

Seeing that your mission is quite similar in some aspects, can you tell me some tips to do this? I am only familiar with basic mission editing :?

I would like to do random group spawn of civilians, and a random endpoint, and setting both of them in a pre-set distance (some 800-1000 meters to try, then as I said increase tenfold the distance), I think this is more or less what you did, right? How can I do it?

[delta99 34]

Yes, I am casually working on something similar using the Unsung Vietnam maps which are extremely brutal to try and navigate in. Rather than just navigating there would be 1-2 unit enemy patrols all over the place. A couple of tests of this though proved deadly especially in the jungle. I need to work on the amount of enemy etc so that it is not impossible.

The food and water scripts will probably be pretty involved so I wouldn't bother with them unless there is something out there that you can take and just use.

As for explaining how to do various things, difficult to do that and/or where to start. I'd take my mission and take a look at how I did things. That should give you a good start and ideas. Most everything I did with configurable variables for distances etc. and also with debugging if you turn it on to display various points of interest etc.

[becario 1]

I already set up a random spawn, so a group of "civilian" players will spawn at a random place at the beginning of the mission (for testing purposes I put 10 spawns, but I can set up as much as I want in no time, just copy, paste and group). I already managed to do this, so this is not a problem.

Now I would want a single marker to spawn at a random distance between (this is an example) 1500 metres and 2000 metres from the random spawn point chosen for each game. Then make that marker the endmission (one trigger for each of the players, so if one of them gets to the marker the "race" ends and a message saying who won appears, I have 4 players, so I need 4 different triggers). And if it is possible, make some stuff appear in the "goal", like some people, a flag, and some decoration.

I cannot use your mission to take a look as I don't have Arma II installed at the moment. If you could tell me where yo start it would be great. If you can't now I'll try to get the code from your mission and paste it in an arma3 mission and see if that works :confused:

Water and food are not essential, but I am sure there have to be some script for it, as it is used in Wasteland. Just a matter of searching.

I am using Stratis for the time being as a test ground, but I will make this for Altis due to distances.

[delta99 34]

I already set up a random spawn, so a group of "civilian" players will spawn at a random place at the beginning of the mission (for testing purposes I put 10 spawns, but I can set up as much as I want in no time, just copy, paste and group). I already managed to do this, so this is not a problem.

Now I would want a single marker to spawn at a random distance between (this is an example) 1500 metres and 2000 metres from the random spawn point chosen for each game. Then make that marker the endmission (one trigger for each of the players, so if one of them gets to the marker the "race" ends and a message saying who won appears, I have 4 players, so I need 4 different triggers). And if it is possible, make some stuff appear in the "goal", like some people, a flag, and some decoration.

Almost everything I do is via script for this. I think about all I do is place the player in the mission editor. Script takes over everything from there even re-positioning the player at start etc. All trigger creation etc. is done via script.

For finding locations at particular distances I am using BIS_fnc_findSafePos function. You should be able to find info on that. Although I am now looking at using SHK_pos (search for it here) as a replacement because it does a better job. It is used now in my Unsung version.

I cannot use your mission to take a look as I don't have Arma II installed at the moment. If you could tell me where yo start it would be great. If you can't now I'll try to get the code from your mission and paste it in an arma3 mission and see if that works :confused:

You shouldn't need Arma2 or Arma3 to look at it. Sounds like you are new to scripting etc. so you'll have to figure out how to DePBO a mission to get at the scripts. Lots of info on the forums for that.

BTW, my mission should work straight away in Arma3 as well. I will probably port it over there once I finish with the Unsung version (if that ever happens).

[becario 1]

As I said, I am fairly new to editing, I used few scripts (vehicle respawn, and little else, and I took them as is, only changing some parametres). But I know how to decompress .pbo files, so I'll try to take a look a the code and see if I can understand anything.

[delta99 34]

As I said, I am fairly new to editing, I used few scripts (vehicle respawn, and little else, and I took them as is, only changing some parametres). But I know how to decompress .pbo files, so I'll try to take a look a the code and see if I can understand anything.

Well, knowing how to DePBO files is half the battle. My code is simple enough and should be easy enough to understand.

[becario 1]

Not half the battle, you just need the PBO reader for that hahaha it was more like a skirmish

Now the battle begins...

[tortuosit 485]

Question of RecondoLRRP: "Is it possible for me to edit the mission to put back in the map tools and stamina module? Or will that require major surgery with the scripting?"

Just run it with ACE and you should be good.

I've got the same question. I'd like to play it with ACE and ACEs map tools, but they aren't in my gear.

[delta99 34]

Question of RecondoLRRP: "Is it possible for me to edit the mission to put back in the map tools and stamina module? Or will that require major surgery with the scripting?"

I've got the same question. I'd like to play it with ACE and ACEs map tools, but they aren't in my gear.

Ah, my bad, I wasn't thinking when I said it should just work with ACE. I'm am 99% sure Map Tools are not in your gear by default and I had to add them in for the ACE version.

If/when I find some time I will cleanup both versions and release both of them as is as they function well enough but are not complete missions with proper debriefings and such.

I'd like to port it to Arma3 as well as I think they should just work as is. Hope to find time soon to do this but no promises.

[tortuosit 485]

If/when I find some time I will cleanup both versions and release both of them as is as they function well enough but are not complete missions with proper debriefings and such.

I'd like to port it to Arma3 as well as I think they should just work as is. Hope to find time soon to do this but no promises.

Very nice of you, I hope you'll find some time :)..

[delta99 34]

Ok, for those that were asking for a non-ACE and ACE version I released a v1.1 of this thing. The thread can be found here.

The port to Arma3 did not go smoothly at all so that will have to wait.

Edited August 3, 2013 by Delta99
fixed grammer

[delta99 34]

As for the port to Arma3 I posted over here on that.