[SP] Lost v 4.0 - Like a mash-up of 'Dogs of War' and 'Manhattan' (without the bugs)!

[markb50k 1]

Sorry for the quick update...

Version 4.7:

- does NOT require a restart IF you are currently running 4.4+. If you are running an earlier version, it does.

- bug fix: error when finding friendlies during house search.

- adjusted up the probability of finding loot when searching houses

- adjusted range of probability of enemy partisans when searching houses

- added ability to ROTATE and DRAG static weapons in defense construction

Edited April 3, 2012 by markb50k

[Meatball0311 79]

Sorry for the quick update...

Version 4.7:

- does NOT require a restart IF you are currently running 4.4+. If you are running an earlier version, it does.

- bug fix: error when finding friendlies during house search.

- adjusted up the probability of finding loot when searching houses

- adjusted range of probability of enemy partisans when searching houses

- added ability to ROTATE and DRAG static weapons in defense construction

Sweet!

[dale0404 5]

Gonna have to download this again!

[DogonCrook 1]

Excellent mission. Best sp mission ive played! I have two issues though. No matter how many forces i add at the begining i get good fps but a stutter every 30sec to a min. Sometimes it freezes and i have to reboot. Seems to coincide with the victory progress indicator, but not always. Its a minor issue though its still very playable. I run it with ace&mcc which could be the problem. After i load a save, but not on a new game i get an ace ruck error. Im not using rucks but i would like to. I also cant find the ruckSack ammo crate in mcc. Maybe i just cant find it, but did you by any chance disable rucks? I dunno if thats even possible maybe they are conflicting with something and dont show up? This would be an awsome mission in takistan as well, i've always wanted a cia embed helping locals overthrow the gov. or expelling russia type mission. This would give a similar feel on the tak map. Just a thought, great mission.

[markb50k 1]

Excellent mission. Best sp mission ive played! I have two issues though. No matter how many forces i add at the begining i get good fps but a stutter every 30sec to a min. Sometimes it freezes and i have to reboot. Seems to coincide with the victory progress indicator, but not always. Its a minor issue though its still very playable. I run it with ace&mcc which could be the problem. After i load a save, but not on a new game i get an ace ruck error. Im not using rucks but i would like to. I also cant find the ruckSack ammo crate in mcc. Maybe i just cant find it, but did you by any chance disable rucks? I dunno if thats even possible maybe they are conflicting with something and dont show up? This would be an awsome mission in takistan as well, i've always wanted a cia embed helping locals overthrow the gov. or expelling russia type mission. This would give a similar feel on the tak map. Just a thought, great mission.

Funny you say that since I am probably a day or two away from releasing a takistan version of this. The code is so dynamic that it is really quite simple to put it on any map. So stay tuned. Also I'll probably add BAF troops if you have them.

I really appreciate your kind words and am glad you are enjoying the mission

As for your issues I don't know what the problem is. Obviously some part of the background script is chugging which is unfortunate. I have made them about as efficient as possible and I suspect it may have to do with your mods. Not sure what mcc is. If you want maybe you can run the mission without those mods and see if you still get the stutter. Im not doing anything specifically to mess with rucks either. Well have to see what happens in the takistan version with all the ruck capable troops.

[DogonCrook 1]

Very good news! check out mcc it alows you to edit a mission on the fly. It can be a cheat or whatever but its easier than editing missions. Uses 3d editor too. The threads about it explain it all, but its an overlooked tool. Half of the requests ppl have can be handled if they use mcc. Its also very good for testing balance, and whatnot. aside from the ruck error (i think it is ace related) it works really well with your mission. I started a new one but didnt feel like hoofing it so i spawned a heli and flew to the friendlies. As soon as i landed i had to deal with 3 hinds because of my not so subtle entrance. Good times! Exactly what i look for in a mission, a very logical response from the ai.

[DogonCrook 1]

My stuttering/freezing issue was an unrelated gfx issue. Sorry for any confusion.

[Kommiekat 11]

Was wondering about the Green boxes over the towns with numbers?

I'm at my second town and have noticed Search House can get you ammo. When can I start to gather men? I'm getting killed out here alone!:butbut:

[markb50k 1]

Hi Kommiekat, I can help you with that..

- The green numbers show the "support" each town has for you. if the number gets to 50, a hint will show what house you can search to find partisans. In addition, the higher the number, the more likely that the town will provide you markers on the map where they see enemies, vehicles, and ammo crates.

- Even without the hint, every town somewhere in it has hidden partisans, so by searching each house you will eventually find that town's partisans. Also, houses can also hide other soldiers, usually wounded, who you can recruit as well

Just so you know, alot of this information is all contained in the Task descriptions and there is also a 'Hint' section in your diary that talks about the more subtle features of the game.

Also to everyone, I have finished a Takistan version of the mission and will be posting it up probably sometime later today!! Stay tuned!

---------- Post added at 13:38 ---------- Previous post was at 13:37 ----------

My stuttering/freezing issue was an unrelated gfx issue. Sorry for any confusion.

Thanks for the update! Hope things are going well for you in the mission!

[markb50k 1]

Version 4.8:

- MARKB50K_LostAddon updated! you must replace your old version in your /Addons dir.

- Version DOES NOT require a restart unless the feature you want is specified below as needing it.

- bug fix: friendlies misplaced in house search

- house fix: adds in houses with interactive doors as 'searchable' (requires restart to add these in)

- Chernarus : incorporates BAF woodland camo equipment if you have BAF (requires restart to add these in)

- NEW VERSIONS for Utes (Woodland), Takistan, and Zargabad (Desert conversion using all new equipment)

- Takistan/Zargabad : incorporates UN, ACR, GER, BAF, and PMC troops if you have them.

[heklos 0]

Version 4.8:

- MARKB50K_LostAddon updated! you must replace your old version in your /Addons dir.

- Version DOES NOT require a restart unless the feature you want is specified below as needing it.

- bug fix: friendlies misplaced in house search

- house fix: adds in houses with interactive doors as 'searchable' (requires restart to add these in)

- Chernarus : incorporates BAF woodland camo equipment if you have BAF (requires restart to add these in)

- NEW VERSIONS for Utes (Woodland), Takistan, and Zargabad (Desert conversion using all new equipment)

- Takistan/Zargabad : incorporates UN, ACR, GER, BAF, and PMC troops if you have them.

Zargabad is sweeeet. One thing. This is probably ACE2 related, but since zargabad is a smaller map did you adjust the reinforcement range to take that into account? Right now it seems like I shoot one round at a guy and the entire half of the map army shows up minutes later hunting me.

Great work.. I play this and the zombie and the forgotten few missions pretty much every week.

[markb50k 1]

Hmm, well the mission is smart enough to dynamically react to the smaller size of maps, BUT i didnt adjust the reinforcement 'alarm' radius. Thinking about it, I'm not sure whether its a good idea to do so, realistically a smaller map would be a bit more 'deadly' in that respect, no? I guess the best way to deal with the smaller map is to lower the amount of enemy groups out there, thus they'll be more spread out, etc.

Welcome your thoughts, I'm just thinking out loud about this...

Thanks for the feedback and I am glad you are enjoying the mission! I'm still trying to get through my Chernarus version before i take on the desert maps! I can't wait!

Oh, and i'm busy putting out new enhancements that you'll see soon, so stay tuned!

[heklos 0]

Hmm, well the mission is smart enough to dynamically react to the smaller size of maps, BUT i didnt adjust the reinforcement 'alarm' radius. Thinking about it, I'm not sure whether its a good idea to do so, realistically a smaller map would be a bit more 'deadly' in that respect, no? I guess the best way to deal with the smaller map is to lower the amount of enemy groups out there, thus they'll be more spread out, etc.

Welcome your thoughts, I'm just thinking out loud about this...

Thanks for the feedback and I am glad you are enjoying the mission! I'm still trying to get through my Chernarus version before i take on the desert maps! I can't wait!

Oh, and i'm busy putting out new enhancements that you'll see soon, so stay tuned!

Sounds great. Looking forward.. I really like the on the fly objectives that show up real nice system.

For the alarm radius.. Putting it that way. Makes sense.. It could also just be the added ACE2 AI enhancements making it that more difficult with the distance, its just at times it feels like every unit in the place is coming after you... But thinking again.. Its just what you are looking for. So yeah. I withdraw my previous objection.

Great work as always.

[markb50k 1]

Version 4.82:

- DOES NOT require a restart unless the feature you want is specified below as needing it.

- NEW : cargo load system where you can load multiple objects on vehicles (currently only one object can be loaded onto each vehicle). It uses the bounding box of objects to estimate how much cargo room the vehicle can hold.

- NEW : menu option to advance time 1 hr

- NEW : backpack compatible troops are given backpacks at spawn

- NEW : 'Scavenge' function of ammo cache now pulls from corpses backpacks as well

- fix : spawn actors from house using a more safe position calculation to prevent spawn deaths

- fix : merged one background script into another, reducing processing

Edited April 10, 2012 by markb50k

[Kommiekat 11]

It's good to see that you are still tweeking this mission. I'm enjoying it so far.

Was wondering:

I managed to get two guys to help me out.

In one town, I noticed two Partisans popped out of a house when I searched it. So, Partisans cannot JOIN? Who can join?

I also noticed some FRIENDLIES way far away have been completely massacred. Will more FRIENDLIES spawn up at that location or some other location?

[markb50k 1]

It's good to see that you are still tweeking this mission. I'm enjoying it so far.

Was wondering:

I managed to get two guys to help me out.

In one town, I noticed two Partisans popped out of a house when I searched it. So, Partisans cannot JOIN? Who can join?

I also noticed some FRIENDLIES way far away have been completely massacred. Will more FRIENDLIES spawn up at that location or some other location?

The partisans can join you. They were created as a group under your command in the High Command interface.

- hit Ctrl+Space to enter High Command mode

- select their group

- go to the COMMS-> High Command menu and select the "Group -> Join Player Group" option (0 - 8 - 1 - 2) I think.

- hit Ctrl+Space to go back to Squad command mode

- of course you can just order their squad around in high command mode as well, your choice.

As for other friendlies:

- any survivors that you come across that are still alive can be added the same way

- you can find friendly POWs at enemy camps

- you can find partisan or US/CDF soldiers when searching houses

You might want to go to High Command mode and see if you ALREADY have troops that have joined you. The mission adds them as High Command squads so you might already have friendlies and you dont know it. Good luck.

And dont hesitate to ask any other questions, as well. Thanks!

[giorgygr 61]

I noticed some 'mini' issues friend.

While approaching a village (Chernarus) there are lots of times that enemy "seems" to expecting me-and engaging me from 1000 meters

ruining my stealthy attack/approach but..

other times while in a village- enemy soldiers passing me to 5 meters without to engage me.

BTW i m using ACE

[markb50k 1]

I noticed some 'mini' issues friend.

While approaching a village (Chernarus) there are lots of times that enemy "seems" to expecting me-and engaging me from 1000 meters

ruining my stealthy attack/approach but..

other times while in a village- enemy soldiers passing me to 5 meters without to engage me.

BTW i m using ACE

Definitely look in your briefing for hints, because it talks about this there too, but here is what might be happening...

- A really important part of this mission are the 'houses', the houses that have little white markers on them. If you are within 100m of one of those houses, there is a periodic chance that your position will be 'reported' to the enemy. There is a script running in the background that will do this. The chance you are reported is based on the support rating of the town (which is written in green on the map for each town). If the rating is 0 that means that there is pretty much 100% chance that the town will report your position if you are close. If the support of the town goes up past around 85, the town wont report you no matter what. In between the chance falls somewhere in the middle, but no matter what, if you hang out around the houses, you will eventually be reported if the towns support is less than 85, it just may take a little longer.

As for the guys walking right by you and not seeing you, thats the BIS code because I dont mess with that.

[giorgygr 61]

Oh..seems i missed the part with *cough*'detection' issue.

..and about the 5m non-engaging-combatants...yep..i thought so it might be BIS issue.

Love the mission tho :)

p.s. can you tell me in what min/max distance enemy can spawn?

I have a suspicion i witnessed a 'very close' spawn (or i haven't noticed them coming)

In any case maybe....a parameter for player to select desired min/max spawn distance?

[markb50k 1]

@Giorgy

i think i know what you are seeing there too. were they partisan guerillas?

normal troops will get spawned around 1250m out and there are several redundant pieces of code that prevent near spawns so i doubt that is what happened.

the only exception is certain spetsnaz/mvd troops and guerillas who spawn from houses when you begin searching houses in towns. there is a small chance that enemy guerillas will form somewhere in town while you are poking around, and several towns are randomly chosen to have spetsnaz guys also. theyll spawn from a door that is NOT the one you search and theyll react towards you so i can see that instance you get suprised by some enemies who seemingly come out of nowhere. let me know if that makes sense.

[Choki 10]

Really nice job mate! I love it so far. A hard job

[giorgygr 61]

Yes man..it does makes sense.

Thank you for everything ;)

[markb50k 1]

Really nice job mate! I love it so far. A hard job

It is hard, but your feedback makes it worthwhile. Thanks!

---------- Post added at 14:18 ---------- Previous post was at 14:17 ----------

Yes man..it does makes sense.

Thank you for everything ;)

awesome!

Also an update as well!

Version 4.83:

- DOES NOT require a restart unless the feature you want is specified below as needing it.

- NEW : tweaked calculation on how much cargo a vehicle could have. decreased by a little bit to be more realistic.

- fix : Also removed Tanks from cargo capable vehicles.

- NEW : Added sandbag fortifications as objects you can load/drag/rotate (must RESTART to get this ability)

- update : Now houses that you search will NO LONGER provide intel to the enemy. It is assumed you either 'convince' them not to report you or you confiscate their communications equipment

- update : Added more realistic behavior to civilians. Now they will periodically return to their house and stay inside for a short while. Also, each civilian will have a betime and wakeuptime where during those times they will stay in their houses overnight.

[markb50k 1]

Hey, I am just about done adding new features to the mission, so I am looking for ideas...

- any unit packs that you would like to be compatible with the mission? I was considering Chechen Rebels, project CDF among others. For the Chechens, wasnt sure if we wanted them because they would be fighting alongside the RUS and CHDKZ...

- any other side mission ideas??

- I cant promise i'll implement these but I'll definitely consider them. I have to weigh the value of the enhancement with the portability and the ability for the enhancement to be dynamically added to game since it will have to be portable to all maps at once. So, if the idea is, "hey make a big enemy camp at the devil's tower castle", thats a great idea, but it is so specific to Chernarus that it wouldn't be code-able in the dynamic random nature in which this mission is coded. But I'd like to here those ideas anyway because we may be able to figure out an out-of-the-box solution to the issue.

- any other islands to add this to? The island will have to have named "locations", and the house structures will have to have certain AI spawn points to make the mission work right, but other than that, this mission will probably take 5 minutes to port to another island. Seriously.

Thanks again to everyone who is enjoying the mission. I really want to make this a completely open-ended wandering adventure that is never the same twice.

[Kommiekat 11]

The only thing that I see missing from it is.....a story. Basically, the hero goes all over the land, searches homes, gathers extra men to form a team.

I think later, the hero gets enough of a team or squad going, he gets a base going with vehicles and ammo caches ( at least that is what I think the later stage will entail ).

I see that you have side quest going as well but for what purpose? The Doctor, Engineer and POW's ( I've yet to finish any side quests ).

So......my idea is this:

Get a story going with some interaction/cut-scene stuff between the hero and specific characters that develops more into a story with meaning.

In all honesty, I like SOAKS mission "ZUB" because of the story, but I like your mission because its less laggy for my machine, I've never had a crash nor lag nor any "player turns into invisible man with only uniform on" stuff.

I especially like how you update it where it actually updates it for me as I play in the upper right corner of the screen. I don't have to restart a whole new game with each of your updates. I like that you build on-top of your previous versions, so I don't lose my 15 yours I've put into the game.

So for me, a Story.

Just my thinking....

Edited April 11, 2012 by Kommiekat