[TvT/FFA/CO-40] Dynamic Zombie Sandbox

[Craig_VG 20]

This mission is something I have been working on for a while now, and I finally see it as ready for public beta.

(Devheaven page:

Devheaven)

What is it?

Dynamic Zombie Sandbox is a fully customizable, random, zombie mission. It is different every time, no matter what. Much like cipher from A2. The goals of the mission are in new positions with each run of the mission. It can be played as a quick mission. Giving yourself a marked objective, or hiding the location of the objective and searching the entire map for it, increasing the difficulty drastically. The parameters below account for either the easiness or difficulty of the mission.

This mission was made to accomplish a couple things I wanted to see in zombie missions. The first being island independence. You can change the .chernarus on the pbo file to any other island and the mission will work. The only thing on the map is the playable characters. Everything else is generated via scripts.

Along with map independence I wanted as much randomness as possible. The player will be spawned at a random town or position on the map. Vehicles spawn next to buildings with random vehicle types with random weapons inside. Military vehicles spawn by military buildings, civilian with civilian. The players weapon, if he chooses to start with one, will be randomly chosen also. A lot of things are also choose-able in the parameters screen

I wanted to add as many parameters as possible, more are on the way.

My vehicle spawning system spawns vehicles at buildings on the map, so they are not limited to just towns. Weapons only spawn within vehicles at the moment.

It can be played on a listen server or dedicated.

This is still in beta so bugs will probably be encountered.

I plan on adding a lot more to the mission in the future, this is just the first release. I would like to add many more game modes and tasks. Maybe even a structured storyline, we shall see how it goes. :cool:

I list the mission as TVT/FFA/COOP because the game can be played in anyway you want. You could fight over resources, get a team together and fight the rest of the people. Or unite and fight with one another.

SEE: HERE for more info!

Downloads:

Once again I am going with the 3 versions, and one bundle of all three.

Donations:

As you know we don't get paid for this mod, I've put a lot of my free time into it. If you want to keep DZS going and promote future features feel free to donate as much as you wish. Also for any donation over 10 USD we will send a DZS wristband to you home. Just include your address when you donate.

Donate!

Combined Operations Version V1.25 (CO)

Requires patch 1.62 of ArmA 2 Combined Operations. No other mods/addons required.

DOWNLOAD

Operation Arrowhead Version V1.25 (OA)

Requires patch 1.60 of ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead . No other mods/addons required

DOWNLOAD

ArmA 2 Vanilla/Free Version V1.25 (A2/A2F)

Requires patch 1.10 of ArmA 2 or ArmA 2 Free. No other mods/addons required

DOWNLOAD

DZS 1.25 Pack

DOWNLOAD

Dynamic Zombie Sandbox V.90 TOH

ArmaHolic Download:

ArmaHolid DL page (1.25)

ArmaHolic Thread:

ArmaHolic Thread

Thanks to:

SRU team, thanks for the ideas and the testing

Deth - Helped a lot with sounds and testing

Tonic - Told me to abandon construction, and made the new Loading screen! thanks :D

VVC team

Loyal players

Everyone who hosts the mission

Celery for making the zombies!!

B&B for making the zombie system introduced in .90

Images

ChangeLog V1.25

Full Changelog, with info on each ticket can be found at Dev Heaven

Bug #38458: Zombies stop spawning.

Bug #38459: FPS drops for everyone

Bug #38461: Side missions and markers don't update on Jip

Bug #38466: Base sidemission spawn on already existing base

Bug #39635: Zombies with loot would stay on the map indefinately

Bug #39637: Players lost NVGs on respawn

Bug #39648: Disable "E" parameter was broken.

Bug #39649: Dead players clog up mission.

Bug #39783: Entering Searchlights Kill Nearby Zombies

Bug #40008: Markers wouldn't work if the sidemission was called twice.

Bug #40009: On zargabad, people spawn at bottom corner of map.

Bug #40028: Sidemission Marker Variable Error

Bug #40166: Vehicle damage at start is messed up

Bug #40167: With new zombie scripts, zombies attack too fast.

Bug #40216: Mission marker was not deleted for JIP

Bug #40738: Changing weapons spawning parameter didn't work.

Feature #41869: Added Helicopters

Feature #41870: Bandage Counter on the bottom of screen.

Feature #46235: New GameMode: Infected

Feature #46282: New GameMode: Clear out a town (Beta)

Feature #46338: Random Hordes

Feature #46717: Repair, Refuel and Ammunition vehicles

Task #39633: Convert Celery's zombie scripts to .FSM format

Task #39636: Create a new spawning system, and make it .FSM

Planned Features

A Quarantine-esque buy/sell feature, get points for zombie kills

Simulate beginning of apocalypse (Game mode)

Help the military eradicate virus (Game mode)

Storyline (Game Mode)

Kill a certain amount of zombies (task)

Random option for every parameter, making the mission completely random.

PDF

Feedback

Very important for the direction of this project, if you have any at all to give (positive or critical) please give it!

Make a full game of this and its GOTY hands down bro :DDD

Ces't super cool!

Yeah its really damn cool i had to say it in another language. Thanks bobtom/Craig!

Mission is really great and even day time gave me some good scares :D

I forked in £25 quid just for this mod! :) was worth it, keep working on it dude, you got my support :D

So much fun :D

Great Missions. Love playing them :D

Me gusta

Edited January 31, 2013 by bobtom

[icebreakr 3157]

Wow, nice job! Will try it out with my team.

[stk2008 14]

Nice this sounds different TvT zombie shooter interesting.

Sorry to ask does it support ACE?

Thanks

[Craig_VG 20]

Nice this sounds different TvT zombie shooter interesting.

Sorry to ask does it support ACE?

Thanks

It is TvT If you want it to be, otherwise can choose to work together. You can be greedy and attack other players. :)

No ace support yet, but I plan on making an ACE version soon.

The mission works fine with ACE on, it removes stamina automatically, but it doesn't include any ACE weapons or vehicles yet.

Edited December 15, 2011 by bobtom

[stk2008 14]

Great news thanks I will wait for the ACE version then.

Good work

[taro8 806]

This is really nice mission, I must say Im really pleased. There are some oddities like starting with Rocket Launcher only (but overkilling Z's like that is pretty funny).

Here are some ideas:

-Random survivors pockets, where you can get some ammo or recruit some helpers, but such pockets would be very rare

-A mission type: The Siege - you need to hold point for few minutes, hours or days. Z's attack in waves, you have option to skip time until next attack, or you can try your luck finding equipment out in the field. After set time you are rescued by military (chopper on convoy)

-new goals:

*get to the green zone cordoned off by military

*find extraction zone and wait for chopper

*get to survivor stronghold

*get rescued by military armed convoy (random position, they drive around the map blowing shit up)

*get to the boat and sail away

- the fog is very nice, but you should give options to set weather as well, fog with thunderstorm would be really creepy

All in all its very nice mission, very L4D like.

BTW: Some zombies are really sneaky, lying prone in tall grass and all :p.

[jb4500 1]

Good mission, the ability to customize this much is great and just what I have been looking for.

Some suggestions:

Parameter to determine zombie speed.

Ability to build things, particularly barriers that actually keep zombies out (I guess the idea here is to build your own safe zones).

Parameter: Randomize spawn location of zombies, some in cities some in country (if possible).

Parameter: Destructible buildings are a great idea, but could we have a parameter that adds more: such as wrecks, smoke and fire (JTD Fire and Smoke, this gives the battlefield a history), destroyed barriers (ala The Walking Dead Atlanta).

Parameter: Ambient aircraft: Every now and then a helicopter or jet flies by.

Save Function for LAN. Would be great, if possible.

Bug:

The parameter: Find and Defend Military Base doesn't work, it loads the mission as the script initiates the splash screen reappears zoomed and won't go away.

Thanks for the hard work.

[bracer 12]

Nice work!

Scary mission.

Tried it on Emita, worked fine!

Except the bug that jg4500 mentions, that at some point it freezes at the splash screen.

Cheers!

[dcal 16]

Very cool! Downloading now

[giorgygr 61]

I have set it up making "MY" dedi server and on my teams Dedi server but it always "stucks" while in map (i see only a 'splash screen'/no options *pretty much the same bug as jb4500 mentioned* )

I tried it at least 5-6 times :(

Any suggestions?..

[OldFossil 0]

Nice mission,

due to lack of servers in the net, until now I just soled it for a bunch of times.

I know that this mission is not designed for solo players, but I noticed that to get to the chopper is enough to get a spare vehichle fueled enough to get to a gas station or to the chopper, or to run like hell and try to flee off the pursuing Z's horde running into forests to leave it behind and join the vehichle location.

When you can make that you are safe, the Z's don't attack you when you are near the chopper, and you can fly off and escape with no problems at all (maybe this behaviour depends on my game 1.59 version).

I hope to get some player to enjoy the true spirit of this great mission.

Thanks a lot for your job!

[Craig_VG 20]

Nice mission,

due to lack of servers in the net, until now I just soled it for a bunch of times.

I know that this mission is not designed for solo players, but I noticed that to get to the chopper is enough to get a spare vehichle fueled enough to get to a gas station or to the chopper, or to run like hell and try to flee off the pursuing Z's horde running into forests to leave it behind and join the vehichle location.

When you can make that you are safe, the Z's don't attack you when you are near the chopper, and you can fly off and escape with no problems at all (maybe this behaviour depends on my game 1.59 version).

I hope to get some player to enjoy the true spirit of this great mission.

Thanks a lot for your job!

The Chopper task is indeed an easy one, but if you want a quick game that is what it is for. I will be adding more tasks with the next version, and maybe an option to turn off the task markers on the map, so you have to go searching for the chopper.

The mission is definitely for single players! Heck, I did most of my testing with only one player. :) The difficulty is up to you, if you find it to easy, make the zombies harder (via aggro distance or put on super zombies).

The parameter: Find and Defend Military Base doesn't work, it loads the mission as the script initiates the splash screen reappears zoomed and won't go away.

Except the bug that jg4500 mentions, that at some point it freezes at the splash screen.

I have set it up making "MY" dedi server and on my teams Dedi server but it always "stucks" while in map (i see only a 'splash screen'/no options *pretty much the same bug as jb4500 mentioned* )

I cannot seem to recreate this bug, I've tried it both on dedi and listen server, with multiple different parameters. Does it happen every time you play? What map are you all using?

I will keep looking into it.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will keep working on them. When I get this loading screen bug sorted then I will make an ACE version, and a RH weapons version.

Edited December 18, 2011 by bobtom

[jb4500 1]

I cannot seem to recreate this bug, I've tried it both on dedi and listen server, with multiple different parameters. Does it happen every time you play? What map are you all using?

It happens every time that parameter is set on Chernarus (I haven't tried it on any other map).

I've tried:

Using @CBA

Starting the game from the Beta Expansion Shortcut

Using @Degen (figured why not)

Changing the Parameters

Changing my roles (happens on Blufor,Opfor,Independent).

I am using the current Beta Patch 87469

The mission file is 3.68 MB (perhaps the download went wrong, but I've downloaded it multiple times).

Hope that helps.

[Catgut 1]

Hi, I was experiencing the same thing and took a look through the PBO. Basically, it was doing this every time I chose the 'find and defend' mission, or hosted on a dedicated server (with any settings). I think I've narrowed down the problem, in tasks.sqf. When running a dedicated server with the helicopter mission, it's getting hung up on this section:

if (taskType == 0) then {
startLoadingScreen ["Loading Tasks", "CVG_LoadingScreen"];
if (isServer) then {
	_choppatype = ["Mi17_Ins","Ka52","Mi24_P","Mi17_rockets_RU","Mi17_CDF","Mi24_D","MV22","UH1Y","MH60S","Mi17_Civilian"]  call BIS_fnc_selectRandom;
	_Pos = getArray(configFile >> "CfgWorlds" >> worldName >> "centerPosition");
	_towns = ["CityCenter",[_pos,50000]] call bis_fnc_locations;
	_town = _towns call BIS_fnc_selectRandom;
	_newpos = getpos _town;
	_townpos = [_newpos, 0, 500, 15, 0, 60 * (pi / 180), 0] call BIS_fnc_findSafePos;
	Choppa = createVehicle [_choppatype,_townpos, [], 0, "NONE"];
	publicVariable "choppa";
};

waitUntil {!isnil "choppa"};

newTask = player createSimpleTask ["Get to the chopper and escape!"];
_choppos = getpos choppa;
newTask Setsimpletaskdestination _choppos;
newTask setSimpleTaskDescription ["Get to the chopper, and fly away to safety, ASAP", "Escape!", "Chopper!"];
newTask setTaskState "Assigned";
player setCurrentTask newTask;
player sidechat "loading tasks DONE";
endLoadingScreen;

By taking out the startLoadingScreen and endLoadingScreen calls I was able to get it to work (as in, players could enter the game and not be stuck on an infinite loading screen), but it's definitely failing to generate the objective- "loading tasks DONE" never appears in the side chat, and ingame the helicopter icon with distance isn't there, although I'm not sure if the helicopter's still spawning. I just got this game a few days ago and have no experience with coding in it, so I'm afraid I can't do much more, but hopefully you can replicate the problem and hunt it down knowing this.

Edit: Oh yeah, and just to clarify, the helicopter mission works A-OK when hosting a listen server (and clients have no problems). It's only when either hosting the find and defend mission (on listen or dedicated) or the helicopter mission on dedicated that clients get hung up.

Edited December 28, 2011 by Catgut

[Craig_VG 20]

Yep, that's the problem. The reason I never experienced it was because I had fixed it and forgot about it. :) My bad. I've made some more optimizations since then, and fixed some bugs. A new version should be coming soon.

After this version I'm going to work on adding more features.

-Written with BlackBerry

[Catgut 1]

Awesome! Also, I noticed that the time in the current version is always midnight for everyone except the host, no matter what the time of day is set to via the parameters. I was able to fix this by moving the skipTime command in preload.sqf up a little bit in the file, to right after progressLoadingScreen .9;, and now it seems to work as intended.

As for feedback, I really like how the zombies can be set to spawn in and concentrate around towns, but then they don't spawn elsewhere at all. Would it be possible to get a setting that would have them mostly spawn in and around towns, but then spawn a few out in the countryside as well- maybe with like 1/5th the density of in the towns?

Also, I find that even with the number of vehicles set to Small there are usually a couple in each town. Personally I'd like vehicles (and the weapons they contain) to be fairly rare, making fuel more important as a resource since you can't just go to another town and grab the first car you see. Perhaps an additional Minimal setting for Vehicle Spawn Number?

Edited December 28, 2011 by Catgut

[Craig_VG 20]

Alright, I added the Minimal setting for the vehicle spawning. I'm working on the the concentrated spawning right now.

I'm looking into the bugs you gave me, thanks. I haven't had much time to test or work on this for a while as I had exams and the usual Christmas pizzazz. I'm hoping to start working on this more now. The bug with the position of tasks is being addressed right now also.

The next version, with a variety of fixes will be released tomorrow.

[Craig_VG 20]

Dynamic Zombie Sandbox .80

Second beta release of my mission. Multiple bugs have been brought to my attention, and fixed.

What's fixed?

I see this as a detailed changelog.

After dropping into a few servers that were playing this I received some quality feedback, and some of that made it into this version, and more to come.

As stated in the BI forums there was some issues with the loading screen, this has been fixed, along with the tasks. Zombie behavior has also been improved. When a large number of players were connected zombies tended to stop spawning, or to become very rare, this has also been improved.

ChangeLog:

[Fixed] Tasks did not show up for clients or JIP

[improved] Zombie Behavior with large number of clients

[Fixed] The base did not spawn for clients

[Fixed] Loading Screen would fail to complete

[Removed] Loading Screen for tasks

[Added] Parameters for less vehicles

[improved] Strain of server for tasks

[improved] Removed chance of a launcher being given to a player on start

[improved] Reduced download size

[improved] Optimized many scripts

[improved] Scripts are fully commented

[Fixed] Time wasn't synchronized ththroughout the server

[Fixed] Chopper task wasn't ending

[Fixed] Random position wasn't working

[fixed] Base task ending was broken

Plus many more (That I forgot)

DOWNLOAD:

Requires patch 1.60 of ArmA 2 Combined Operations. No other mods/addons required

Dynamic Zombie Sandbox V.80

Thanks to:

All beta testers

Celery - Excellent Zombies

VVC team - Constant support and help

EDIT:

Some more problems were brought to my attention and the issues have been fixed. Version is now .80

Edited December 30, 2011 by bobtom

[-=Grunt=- 10]

I've been playing this mission with some random guys the past day or two and I really like it.

But I would like to make a couple of suggestions:

- OA weapons, seems that I have never seen any OA weapons spawn in vehicles

- Being able to recruit a limited number of armed or unarmed survivors that are randomly spawned in towns that could range from civilians to soldiers

- Random hostile survivor spawns at towns (AI)

- Toggle-able respawn system parameter that respawns the character at a random town without any equipment (Except for map when it's enabled in the params)

[Craig_VG 20]

Guess what??

You guessed right. I got a DevHeaven page.

If you have any bugs or suggestions you can head on over to DevHeaven and make a ticket. But posting in this thread still works too, I wont make a fuss about it.

Thanks!

-Craig

I've been playing this mission with some random guys the past day or two and I really like it.

But I would like to make a couple of suggestions:

- OA weapons, seems that I have never seen any OA weapons spawn in vehicles

- Being able to recruit a limited number of armed or unarmed survivors that are randomly spawned in towns that could range from civilians to soldiers

- Random hostile survivor spawns at towns (AI)

- Toggle-able respawn system parameter that respawns the character at a random town without any equipment (Except for map when it's enabled in the params)

-Done

-Planned

-Planned

-Sure

Making a ticket in the link above would be appreciated, but not necessary (Cause I just promised not to make a fuss on the subject). :)

Thanks for the feedback!

PS, Almost forgot (actually I did, that's why I'm editing the post...)

Version .85 will be released tomorrow. Check devheaven for current progress.

Edited January 6, 2012 by bobtom
Forgot

[Craig_VG 20]

Dynamic Zombie Sandbox .85 Release

Overview

Third beta release of my mission. Focus was on gameplay, but all known bugs were fixed. The past 2 releases have been lacking in this important element. Put it this way: I got scared playing this new version a few times.

What's fixed?

Focus on gameplay. With the right weather and fog settings, along with view distance this can be quite scary now.

I added some tasks, but the sidemissions are still planned for next version, which will focus on goals. This version redid a lot from a weapon an vehicle perspective also, they are a lot more customizable. I tweaked the default parameters also.

NOTE ABOUT MAPSCREEN:

Once you load (if you are server) a loadscreen will appear. Wait until that is done, then wait until the task appears in your list. The longer you wait in the mapscreen the less chance of anything getting messed up, but that chance is a lot less likely now. Fasttime was added so you can experience the whole day in a shorter time. Its a parameter if you don't like it.

ChangeLog:

Bug #27532: Weapons were not selected at mission start

Bug #27534: The helicopter's location was not clarified

Bug #27538: Players were not spawning in the right town

Bug #27540: JIP players spawned right next to players already ingame

Feature #27530: Weather Options

Feature #27531: View distance options

Feature #27533: Fastime option

Feature #27535: Option to remove task location

Feature #27536: A task that provides no escape, open ended

Feature #27539: Redid weapon spawning

Feature #27559: Added amount of weapons paramter

Feature #27560: Create a condition of vehicles paramter

Feature #27565: Weapons based on type

Task #27537: Added more shotguns

Task #27541: OA weapons added

Default Island is now takistan, but that can be changed by just changing the .takistan to another mapname

DOWNLOAD:

Requires patch 1.60 of ArmA 2 Combined Operations. No other mods/addons required

Dynamic Zombie Sandbox V.85

Thanks to:

All beta testers

Celery - Excellent Zombies

VVC team - Constant support and help

Got bugs???

Devheaven

Edited January 9, 2012 by bobtom

[sniper pilot 36]

Ces't super cool!

Yeah its really damn cool i had to say it in another language. Thanks bobtom/Craig!

[Craig_VG 20]

It seems as if I let some major task and JIP bugs slip through... They have been fixed, and the links have been updated. The version remains .85.

If anyone experiences any issue with not being able to use your gun, just click F a few times, your weapon isn't selected. The problem should be eliminated, though.

Ces't super cool!

Yeah its really damn cool i had to say it in another language. Thanks bobtom/Craig!

Thanks mate!

[tyxo 12]

Can you tell me how to enable the backpack using ace ? (sorry for bad english)

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

How do I tell where the extraction helicopter is? It says it's within 500m of "this location", but there's no indication of where "this location" is.

Can you tell me how to enable the backpack using ace ? (sorry for bad english)

I second this.

Edited January 10, 2012 by JuggernautOfWar