[SP/MP] Dynamic Whole Map Missions by SaOk

[SaOk 112]

New SP version 1.8 is released with change log:
1.8:
-New AI functions (AI may hear your movement or sounds from bolted animals/civilians)
-AI may also react on dead bodies
-Voices for the function are made by SavedByGrace (more coming in next version)
-Much text corrections by Kommiekat
-New hidden CDF cutscene
-Player may now find weapons/ammo from houses and enemy camps (credit to DayZ for idea)
-British Units added as rare faction
-Russian status script improved
-NAPA soldier no longer shoot player rarely
-Player may ask now help from friendly soldiers too in first task
-Civilian talking system (+insertion) works now with any civilian
-Player is now saboteur (with backbag and ability to repair)
-Version 1.04 of "Project CDF by GossamerSolid" now supported
-Added custom dialog to set amount of ambient life and BIS`s advanced first aid system (if set on, a custom injured event is set off)
-Russians ignore player in vehicle now in peacetime (safe to drive, unless you drive over)
-Many other tweaks/fixes/additions (Thanks for feedback)

See the first post for download links.

Let me know if there is any issues. The AI functions could be still partly buggy. E.g. I didnt yet add limiter to avoid quickly repeating voices.

Edit: I will add it for next version. There could be quite annoying moments now sometimes. Edited May 21, 2012 by SaOk

[bugatti 10]

Thanks for the update SaOk :) I played for about an hour and didn't find any bug. I don't know about the new voices function since I try to avoid civilian and stay in the forest as much as possible ;)

Did you add the russian marker? I still cannot reveal them on my map. If you don't mind, can you show me how to enable it (if it's just a simple value change or add a line.....)

[SaOk 112]

The yellow marker shows up if you go too near. I wanted to keep it more challenging. The change of escalation is half of what it was before and now if player is inside a vehicle, there is no risk unless he drives over.

The new AI function may bug mostly in NAPA base, friendly AI dosent see player with knowsabout value so they act partly wrong now. I will try to improve it or limit it more for friendlies.

[bugatti 10]

Ah...so it only show when too near. That's good enough for me :). I've been in 2 NAPA bases but didn't notice anything strange. But it may due to the fact that they were busy fighting with the enemy (I was chased by a bunch of enemies so I ran to them to lighten up some pressure :))

---------- Post added at 10:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:49 PM ----------

Oh another question, right now if i ambush an enemy patrol and kill every one of them in the first minute, they still send reinforcement after few minutes! Who is calling reinforcement? The patrol I killed or another enemy nearby? Is it possible that you make enemy only send reinforcement only if there is survivor(s) after a first few minutes of a firefight? Otherwise, if nobody survive the ambush and no friendly nearby, they won't detect my location and sending reinforcement. Also, is it possible to make enemy not sending reinforcement in some mission related task? I haven't try in 1.8 yet. But in 1.5, I once helped defending a NAPA camp and we successful prevent the enemy attack. However, because of the enemy sending reinforcement once it detect me. The camp was wiped out in a few minutes later when reinforcement arrive :(

[SaOk 112]

The nearby enemy groups head to player´s unaccurate position after any enemy knowsabout player (player´s position updated on every 30. second if someone still knowsabout you and your team have got damage). And fast and slow reinforcements with their delay. I think you could stay unnoticed if using sniper or keeping team-members ahead you, but its challenging. I may tweak that more at somepoint, maybe also adding difficulty levels. Mission can be quite over-deadly now sometimes. :)

[NoRailgunner 0]

Hehe, tried two times and the helicopter crash was placed somehow too close to russians first time I got this message about going into cover (thought no combat/battle was going on) and the second time I managed to get away within 20 sec. Just curious - why the NAPA HQ has to be so close to Krasnostav/Russian border? Imo the spawning of enemies could be a little reduced or placed further away it feels like they use some kind of portal.... ;) It seems there is a issue with AI recognizing friendly/enemy units at the start where you have to follow and support a small group. Chedakis were standing very close (~5m) to NAPA units and did only fire at me. :confused:

[SaOk 112]

Seems like a rare bug, the russians shouldnt spawn near player. I check that for next version. There is no more enemies in Krasnostav (that elsewhere unless with bad luck), but I agree it close to border. Anyway the cutscenes and other stuff for it took much effort so I leave it in. Its only 1 of 3 possible locations for the NAPA HQ. The NAPA units in the first task are task spawned, I had to use extra commands for them to keep them close to doctor. Its a quite clumsy task, there wouldnt be quarantee of them surviving in dynamic scene so I made them also immortal. They are only immortal units with doctor, and leaders. For next mission (for Iron Front), I will try to have better insertion tasks with maybe more freedom for actions.

Edit: New gameplay video, this time with synced sound:

Edited May 22, 2012 by SaOk

[Clayman 20]

Claymans odyssey through Chernarus - Part 2 :D

After I've reached NAPA HQ and checked all the tasks I had to fulfill, I decided to go to CDF HQ. But before I wanted to take care of the artillery. My tactic of sticking to the forests as much as possible worked quite well before, so I continued to do so, avoiding open areas as much as possible. The only enemy I encountered for a while was a T72 standing idle somewhere on a road. My AT guy took it out quickly and I moved on. In the next village I met a NAPA soldier, who pointed me towards Mr- Swartz' location - a nearby forest directly on my route to the artillery. It felt like my lucky day, I didn't even have to make a detour. But my luck was about to end.

On my way I had to cross a field where a insurgent UAZ and some soldiers were patrolling. It wasn't hard to take them out, but as I was halfway across the field, more insurgents showed up and opened fire on me and my men. I managed to reach the forest where Mr. Swartz was hiding and triggered the conversation, while still fighting off the insurgents. There were some more NAPA guys in the forest who kindly helped me out. After Mr. Swartz told me about the antenna and the AT weapons near devil's castle, there was only one insurgent UAZ left. I was just about to take out the crew, when a russian BTR stopped next to me and a warning appeared I should back off. I did so and the BTR drove away. Now I could take care of the UAZ, just to find out that two more UAZs and several infantry were coming in my direction. I used the first UAZ's SPG to take out the other enemies. Then a BMP2 appeared from behind me. Unfortunately the SPG ammo was already empty, so I tried to get back to my men in the forest. But they were already under fire by a fourth UAZ and even more infantry.

What followed was a bit like a time paradoxon - reload, wait for the BTR to pass by, take out the crew of the UAZ in the north, use the SPG to take out the BMP coming from the west while avoiding the other UAZs in the east and trying to keep my men hidden from the troops coming from the south - again and again. At some point I even started thinking about killing the BTR crew... but I feared that then more russians would show up and I would have to face even more enemies.

After some time I gave up on my plan, left the NAPA guys behind and just ran to the AT weapons cache while avoiding any enemy contact as much as possible. Meanwhile I had spotted the artillery right outside the forest where the antenna was located. I left most of my men at devil's castle, equipped me and one more soldier with AT weapons and continued towards the antenna. On my way I didn't encounter a single unit, neither friend nor foe. Probably all units had joined the ongoing battle between NAPA and insurgents. I have to say the atmosphere was fantastic. Trying to complete my objective in the middle of a warzone, one that actually deserves this name, with constant fighting basically all around me - that was a great immersive moment which I really enjoyed. Even more as I didn't have to revert every two minutes. :p

The antenna was only guarded by a single BMP2. But for some reason it just stood there, pointing it's turret at me but it didn't even attempt to fire at me. I could walk right past it and nothing happened. As it wasn't any threat I managed to only damage it and force the crew out. Unfortunately one of the tracks was destroyed so driving was quite limited.

The fighting outside the forest had meanwhile turned into a massive onslaught between countless insurgents, small NAPA groups with static weapons in the forests and even some CDF troops. The area between me and the artillery was filled with dead soldiers and burning wrecks. I took the BMP and carefully left the forest, just far enough to have a clear line of fire on the artillery guns. Quickly they were history. While I was already in the middle of the battle, I decided to help my allys a bit and started taking out all insurgents I could spot. It wasn't that a good idea, with countless insurgent groups all around me I soon took several hits from RPGs. Getting back into the forest with my damaged BMP wasn't possible, so I had to leave it behind. After blowing up the antenna I headed back to my men. There was still no sign of an end of the battle, so I decided to leave the area as quickly as possible. With the ongoing fighting to the east and the minefield in the west, south was pretty much the only way to go. But meanwhile even the forests had turned into a battlefield. NAPA and insurgents were fighting each other everywhere in the forest with several BMPs and BRDMs patrolling the areas outside. At some point I even gave up on keeping all of my men alive. As long as the casualties weren't too big and my medic was still alive, I continued to try and leave the area alive. But even after one kilometer of fighting my way through the forest, insurgents were still chasing me down. After a while I reached the edge of the forest north of Altar Mountain. With all the enemies in my back, lots of open fields up ahead and at least two BRDMs and a BMP around me, I saw no chance to get out of that mess alive. As I slowly ran out of ammo and most of my men were already dead anyways, I finally gave up.....

This mission offers a very strange mixture of fantastic enjoyment and absolute frustration. While playing I had to take several breaks because I just couldn't stand it anymore that I had to reload once again. But after a while I just had to continue playing because of the great challenge. :D

I am still completely blown away from the dynamics and the immersion of your mission. But at the same time it seems these dynamics can turn into quite a problem. There seems to be no limitations. Once the fighting has started, more and more units appear until you leave the area. And if you stay for too long, you'll reach some point where you just can't escape any more.

Nonetheless this is a fantastic mission and I will definitely try the new 1.8 version when I find some time. Hopefully I'll have more luck next time. :)

[SaOk 112]

Very nice continuation for the story :) always cool to read, I agree the difficulty level goes sometimes very crazy. Only small help could be the yellow smoke grenades (to call help), but it dosent often help much (or in time). I will need to continue tweaking the scripts, I believe its not big task at the end to balance the difficulty level more. I can add more mistake for enemy waypoints (so they might move past the player and continue searching misplaced sectors), also decrease the reinforcements or make more random. There could be enemy commanders and other stuff that player could take down to make the enemy less skilled. I will work on those and release updates somepoint. I also try to get the MP version updated. Before those its time for some Iron Front. :)

[sweguy96 10]

This version runs alot smoother on my computer with the ambient life on half and some FPS saving mods. I also made my onw version with meatballs MARSOC units and some other smaller weapon mods. And no bugs so far. :)

[SaOk 112]

My Iron Front missions will be found here:

http://forum.iron-front.com/showthread.php?211-SP-MP-Missions-by-SaOk

And here:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?135028-SP-MP-Missions-by-SaOk

I released early demo of my first mission "Operation Staszow" for it. You can already play with the generateing scripts from Zub (after first task), but there isnt yet much tasks or cinema.

Edited May 29, 2012 by SaOk

[SaOk 112]

New 1.9 version is here with Line Of Sight updates that came with the recent beta. To play you need to have GAME VERSION 1.61 or (1.60 with beta 93296 or newer). See the first post for download link(s).

Change Log:

1.9:

-THIS VERSION REQUIRES GAME VERSION 1.61 or (1.60 with beta 93296 or newer)

-Line of Sight and Body Direction checks added for many functions

-Dead Bodies need to be seen now for alarm

-Civilians react now on certain things only when seeing it

-In peace time russians dosent react on hidden player now

-Some other functions updated with the LOS command/Body direction

-AI function voices are now much less repeating

[turin turambar 0]

You are already using the new functions? Good job Saok!

How is the performance with the LoS checks, is noticeable?

[SaOk 112]

So far good, but not sure if there is moments when its slowing the game down for weaker CPU´s. Its only used with units in low range (20-100m) that have certain conditions (e.g. not already alerted).

[McLupo 118]

Hello "Godfather of mission build" :)

...after a lot of frustration playing the v1.8, see Claymans report and i agree with him, i wouldn´t give up, because the mission is to much one of a kind:cool:

And i thought by myself, if i managed the hardcore "Zero" from Clayman, i will handle your mission, too. So i gave the v1.9 a go and what a difference...

sure i´m at the beginning (Task: Destroy the radiotower), but the mission starts in a better condition...The conversations are smoother, the text is much better to read, now i can sneak, no friendly troops trying to kill me:rolleyes:

I know, it´s the beginning of your great mission, but i have more fun and as yet no showstopper, bug, or any frustration, like in the v1.8...

To cut a long story short: Up to now it is a pleasure to play...

Thanks for the update and keep up your outstanding work!

Cheers

McLupo

[SaOk 112]

Thank you, :) actually the badly buggy version was 1.5 (with the friendly fire problem). The new 1.9 is near the same than 1.8 which improved already much. I only added the LOS/Body direction checks for AI functions and improved russian status script more.

I will next do some final tweaking and maybe add some better outro cinema, before attaching the mission to CGR-campaign which will have czech translations too now (by tslava). I will release it after the 1.61 update so the new LOS commands will work for everyone.

[ceeeb 147]

Hi, SaOk. After playing through your other fantastic single player missions I've start playing through Zub and generally it's been great, hard fun. I really like the atmosphere of this mission.

My current progress through Zub 1.9 is below (I have not got near completing it):

• We crashed in the forest to the east of Zelenogosk, south of Green Mountain (the hill with TV tower) in the south west of the map.
  
• I headed north and found a sole NAPA soldier in a field. He told me to head north to find a camp.
  
• Found camp, was told of NAPA HQ (as Clayman found, the base is pretty much the extreme opposite end of the map). After a bit of fighting I found the doctor.
  
• I returned to chopper crash with the doctor. Doctor heals teammates, then runs away.
  
• Stealthily headed roughly east towards Vyshnoye, killing lonely ChDKZ and taking RPGs. I encountered several small NAPA patrols and camps, but no one was interested in talking.
  
• Noticed NAPA fortress NE of Zub. As I approached several MH-60s arrived dropping many ChDKZ paratroopers. Again NAPA had no interest in talking, but I helped them defeat the first wave of attack.
  
• Further ChDKZ appeared to the N, followed by artillery. I retreated S, then SE following the forest.
  
• The forests seem to be the safest place to travel. We travelled without incident till we got near Pusta. We arrived during a battle for the town behind flank of ChDKZ force. We finished them off, and again the NAPA soldiers have no interest in talking to me.
  
• I'm now attempting to head North into CDF controlled map maker towards the NAPA HQ...
  

Here are a few observations and possible improvements (aiming for perfection):

• Use of english language could be improved. Do you want specific help/input?
  
• I have not played the prequel campaign/mission. Some brief background story and info for people in this situation would be helpful. I do not understand Russia's relationship with the any of the other sides (I know I should try to avoid them, but do they react to NAPA or ChDKZ?). I have not seen them engaged in fights at all yet.
  
• Russian troops appear to have noticed my presence (i.e. looked directly at me) but have not reacted in any way. I see a hint suggesting it is bad to be near them but I have seen no consequences.
  
• After healing my team, the doctor ran away from us screaming. It would be good to disable this effect on him :)
  
• Some attempt to make contact with US HQ after the crash would seem logical, since my team seems to have a radio. (maybe we can only receive and they assume we are all KIA?).
  
• Maybe some interest in the chopper crash by NAPA/CDF/ChDKZ/Russia would be good, maybe forcing the player to urgently heal his team (they could be captured?).
  
• NAPA HQ is apparently deep in ChDKZ territory, no where near the "NAPA base?" map marker.
  
• Civilian dialogue script is neat. However, maybe should limit it to one or two uses per civilian (especially if the first answer is I do not feel safe taking to you).
  
• Would be good to be able to talk with the NAPA soldiers I meet, especially at larger bases (even if they only say I cant speak english or something like that). Presumably same for CDF (although I have not met any yet)
  
• NAPA tell me about incoming artillery by radio, but I have no other radio communications?
  
• Why are the ChDKZ are flying US choppers?
  
• Opposing NAPA/ChDKZ camps are sometimes within clear sight of each other, and seem to be randomly distributed throughout the entire map. The map markings suggest distinct areas of NAPA and ChDKZ areas of control, but I am finding both everywhere.
  
• Performance has been smooth considering the scale and action of the mission (overclocked I7-950, GTX570), and I have not noticed any units spawning/disappearing near me.
  

Thanks for the mission, I hope to finish it soon...

[SaOk 112]

Thank you for feedback, :) I will work on many things. The insertion and NAPA HQ are at random place. Sometimes the trip is short, sometimes long. In the CGR campaign, MH60s was captured from US carrier and brought to Chernarus by ChDKZ spy. They use the chopper time to time, until shot down.

The civilians talking system definitely needs some more tweaking and I should add similar system for the friendly soldiers. I blacklisted the doctor before for new AI function, but seems like its not fully working (the blacklisting), I check that.

The NAPA/ChDKZ camps can be 200m away from each other as min. Since the terrain is varying its almost impossible to make the spawning so that they never see hostile´s camps, without adding so much space between them that player would find camps only very rarely.

I liked to keep the mission less informative with limited radio chatting. But the artillery would feel quite unfair, if there would be anything to warn player. Instead of hint, I ended to use the radio. I had plans to add scared birds or distant sounds something instead of that, but havent yet.

The factions are very limited in ArmA2 unless you use some kind of addons, e.g. I cant make russians to engage other factions without engaging player. The russians are there to protect their trade route, just patrolling peacefully. Only player can make big mistake and attack them which create additional hidden path of tasks. Its just an extra feature, if player get tired of guerilla way and wants some bigger action. :)

The insertion could be definitely better, I could add some extra animations and tiny tasks to help the injured team-mates (e.g. pulling away from the burning wreck and regeneration). Its a little tricky part with the dynamic location, but I may work on it if finding good mood.

But the mission will stay more unfinished. It was more experimental project with some design flaws that I will try to avoid with next dynamic missions (including the one I am creating for Iron Front currently). I will do some more tweaking and release this mission with the campaign.

[SaOk 112]

Found a nice gameplay video that someone had made when playing with ACE2 and many other mods.

While waiting new Iron Front version (that would make it more stable for me), I am planning again to continue working with this mission. Also update the COOP version.

[Kommiekat 11]

Hey Saok,

Still trying to get through this mission.

Do enemy respawn or are there a limited amount of enemy?

I know that enemy will show up soon after a firefight, but I want to clear out towns and the only ones that show up are the ones from neighboring towns and NOT respawns.

So, what's up wit dat, bro?

[SaOk 112]

Hello Kommiekat, :)

you cant capture any areas in the mission, only to descrease or increase the amount of how many infantry/vehicle squads each faction can have, through your actions. I meant the mission to be more survival type - player is only a tiny part of the conflict with small effects until the last tasks. All AI units spawn and delete, they dont respawn, but there is always new stuff/life generateing (randomly inside certain radius, with random angle/fixed radius, or with selectbestplace function).

For some time, you can have areas cleared, but the enemy flows back slowly like water. Randomly/dynamically there is more dangerous places and more peacefull places.

I planned to add some locations to capture that the friendly factions could then populate (or I have one structure like that in late game, but it have basically no effect). I see if I will add some capture points for upcoming versions, but I try to keep them meanifull and in small doses. I wanted to have a much different gameplay than in the warfare where player(s) need to capture one by one all the cities and purchase stuff. This mission would be more story driven with relationship values instead of money. Still a lot to do.

I have made some progress with next version, but not sure yet when to release it. I like to add much more, also do some new cinema (e.g. the current outro is terrible)

Current change log for next version:

-THIS VERSION REQUIRES GAME VERSION 1.61 or (1.60 with beta 94103 or newer)

-New russian harbour base

-Added conversation system for friendly soldiers

-Added civilian tasks (to unlock civilians cars in villages)

-AI function improvements

-Enemy can now update player´s position only with line of sight (+old conditions)

-Enemy camps have randomly a static weapon

-Random convoys

-Friendly factions sometimes now commit assaults against enemy (while enemy isnt after player)

-New dialog/scenery

-Added random animations for civilians

-Many other tweaks/fixes/additions (Thanks for feedback)

[Kommiekat 11]

Thanks for the reply.

Just a little confused. I remember clearing a town and somewhere/somehow got a message that the civilians are much happier with the efforts I did for them.

If that's so, I have no idea how that will assist me.

If I'm wasting time and ammo "assisting" them, then it's better I stay in the woods/high ground and save my ammo.

This seems not only survival, but basically hit-and-run tactical survival.

Cheers

[SaOk 112]

Sometimes there are insurgents in villages with hostages and massgrave. Saving the civilians increase relationship rating which make armed civilians to appear more likely to help you when in enemy contact. In next version the cars in villages will be also locked. Player locally need to do favors to unlock them (destroy marked enemy patrol/camp/vehicle or find a lost granny from woods). I try to add more small tasks like that.

[SaOk 112]

SP Version 2.0 is released which REQUIRES GAME VERSION 1.61 or (1.60 with beta 94103 or newer). If you have CBA addon, the mission also features "TPWC AI Suppress (TPWCAS) by TPW && -Coulum- && fabrizio_T"-script. I will update the mission again at least when the new DLC arrives. See the first post for download links:

Change Log:

2.0:

-THIS VERSION REQUIRES GAME VERSION 1.61 or (1.60 with beta 94103 or newer)

-Added TPWC AI Suppress (TPWCAS) by TPW && -Coulum- && fabrizio_T (enabled if CBA addon is detected)

-New russian harbour base

-Added conversation system for friendly soldiers

-Added civilian tasks (to unlock civilians cars in villages)

-AI have now randonly mortars in camps and uses it against random enemies (thx rejenorst for idea, blakeace for spawned module template)

-AI function improvements

-Enemy can now update player´s position only with line of sight (+old conditions)

-Enemy camps have randomly a static weapon

-Random convoys

-Friendly factions sometimes now commit assaults against enemy (while enemy isnt after player)

-New dialog/scenery

-Added random animations for civilians

-Added fleeing civs when village is under attack

-Many other tweaks/fixes/additions (Thanks for feedback)

[fabrizio_t 58]

SaOk,

this is a great mission. One of the best i've seen in 12 years.

Still playing it.

I'll tell the very few minor things are disturbing the immersion in my opinion:

* Civilians wander around too far from towns at night. A bit innatural seeing people walk around in pitch black.

* On the contrary towns are pretty desolate even on day, nobody around.

* Once player is wounded and uncapacitated, with first aid active, 80% of times your medic prefers fighting and lets you die (it's a problem even in vanilla ArmA2 though)