SupportCall - "Cheat" module

[katipo66 94]

PPS: Also I would like to see the vehicles which are flying in the support items, to be "downshotable".

I mean the should start from somewhere on the map physically, it would take time until they would arrive at the location of the player (or the marked location) and the enemy should be able to shoot down the air transport. So it would be kinda random if the support arrives or not. What do you think?.

Or some sort of delay maybe, would be more immersive if it didnt spawn on the player and disappear just as quickly?? or thats what it feels like..

other than that its a fun but very useful script :)

[kronzky 5]

- I would rather see a "unstuck your AI teammate" then unstuck yourself. Usually I can get unstuck by some acrobatics, but if AI's are not "teamswitchable" you can hardly get them unstuck...

Good suggestion, and it will be in the next build!

I never ran into that situation myself before (I only managed to get myself stuck), but I guess it *can* happen, and could theoretically ruin your mission.

It would be nice to have Pixelart Studio SatCom View integrated in this tool. So you could use the great Satellite pictures during the missions.

I wasn't familiar with that addon, but I'll check it out, and will get into contact with the author, to see what can be done.

Update: I did check out the module, but, while it looks promising, it still seems to be work-in-progress. I got errors during the demo mission, and there seem to be some other people having issues with it too. So perhaps I'll check it out again in a while.

Also I would like to see the vehicles which are flying in the support items, to be "downshotable".

I mean the should start from somewhere on the map physically, it would take time until they would arrive at the location of the player (or the marked location) and the enemy should be able to shoot down the air transport. So it would be kinda random if the support arrives or not. What do you think?

The problem with that is that you have unlimited resources. So even if one gets shot down, you just request another.

So, other than annoying you a little bit, it wouldn't really have any effect on game-play...

Or some sort of delay maybe, would be more immersive if it didnt spawn on the player and disappear just as quickly?? or thats what it feels like.

The problem with delays is—if they're acceptable for a game, they're basically ALL unrealistic... So, rather than have you wait a whole minute for the supplies, which is about as far from real-life delays of SEVERAL HOURS (if you're lucky) as the current immediate delivery is, I may as well not waste your time...

it would be perfect to have audio when calling the support. This would give the player the "feeling" actually calling the support. You could use the existing audio files in A2OA, something like "requesting support at". This sound is played when using the built in menu pressing 5 and then requesting support for medic, fuel, ammo etc.

I'll see what's available, and how it would fit into this module.

Edited June 13, 2012 by Kronzky

[taro8 806]

The problem with delays is—if they're acceptable for a game, they're basically ALL unrealistic... So, rather than have you wait a whole minute for the supplies, which is about as far from real-life delays of SEVERAL HOURS (if you're lucky) as the current immediate delivery is, I may as well not waste your time...

About that.

You could add a setting with would allow player to set random delay and radius where support will be dropped. This could add a bit of unpredictability that is controlled by player.

Delay can be done like this: two settings: Delay and Random_Delay. Delay is a hard value and Random_Delay is added to it. Also 2x Random_Delay could subtracted from Random_Delay to create +- randomness. In short:

support_delay = 10 + Delay + (random Random_Delay - 2*(random Random_Delay))

This way you can create your own scenarios on the fly, like defending town for 10 minutes (+- 2 minutes for giggles) before help arrives. Its rather simple to implement.

Radius would be just: random Radius. Good if you want some challenge in reaching supplies.

THis is just to spice up your addon so it wont be total "cheating" if you set things up.

[old_painless 182]

Hi Kronzky, just tried out your module and airdropped some great stuff in. But I got a Bradley, which I could not board. Only action available was "Rearm at Bradley". Am I not supposed to be able to drive the vehicles that are airdropped in?

It was a simple SP mission "MOUT Clean up.Takistan", in which I am not team leader. Can that have something to do with it? Other things: I run ASR_AI and a few other mods, could they be conflicting?

cheers,

OP

[kronzky 5]

But I got a Bradley, which I could not board. Only action available was "Rearm at Bradley". Am I not supposed to be able to drive the vehicles that are airdropped in?

Any dropped vehicle should be fully functional, and all positions usable.

But it looks like the problem is that you're not the group leader, and in that case Arma isn't giving you an option to board a vehicle by yourself.

I might have to add an option to the module, to either leave your current group or become their leader, but for now I'm afraid you'll have to walk... ;)

[old_painless 182]

Heh, yeah, other things in the Vehicle category, such as grenade launcher tripods (GMG mini tripod) were not useable either. I thought about the unlocking vehicle menu item, but that does not appear in my Other Assistance category. Would that be a team leader-only feature too?

[kronzky 5]

Yeah, the issue with the spawned vehicles seems to be an engine bug. I even tried joining the vehicle to the player group, but nothing helped. (Once you're the leader, or left the group, you can use any new vehicles normally.)

So, a new build has been posted (1.3.2), that contains the following new features:

• Player can be promoted to group leader
  
• Other AI units can be forced out of obstacles
  
• Up to 3 weapons or magazine types can be dropped at once
  

[old_painless 182]

Noted another thing - had an L85A2 ACOG GL dropped in. It has a grenade launcher attached to it, but there were no grenades for use in the container so couldn't reload it. The normal bullets were fine, got plenty of magazines, but no grenades

Doh, hasn't tried requesting a magazine drop yet - stand by ...

Ok, back from Takistan:

Couldn't make out what mag to request for the L85A2 ACOG GL. Requested the M4A3 ACOG GL in stead and then called for some M203 HE shells.

Thanks very much for the speedy response, gonna try the new version tomorrow.

Cheers,

OP

Edited June 14, 2012 by Old_Painless

[anthropoid 1]

I love this already and I haven't even DLed it yet . . . now back to play Freedom Fighters the proper way!!

[xxbbcc 6]

It's not my usual play style but I enjoyed the heck out of abusing your addon Kronzky, thanks for making it. :D

As a suggestion, it'd be nice to have a "Clear Weather" and "Rainy Weather" option. It'd be nice to replay some missions in different circumstances without having to unpack the .pbo.

[Kommiekat 11]

It (obviously) only works in Single Player. [/url])

Thanks for you reply.

Got it going and works like a charm!

I love using it for the Dynamic Missions the guys are making recently.

I cheat and I feel GOOD about it!

[taro8 806]

As a suggestion, it'd be nice to have a "Clear Weather" and "Rainy Weather" option. It'd be nice to replay some missions in different circumstances without having to unpack the .pbo.

I totally second this. Maybe also "Random Weather" button as well.

[kroky 1]

Yeah, the issue with the spawned vehicles seems to be an engine bug. I even tried joining the vehicle to the player group, but nothing helped. (Once you're the leader, or left the group, you can use any new vehicles normally.)

So, a new build has been posted (1.3.2), that contains the following new features:

• Player can be promoted to group leader
  
• Other AI units can be forced out of obstacles
  
• Up to 3 weapons or magazine types can be dropped at once
  

happy to see "other AI units can be forced out of obstacles", will report in after checking "in practice".

Thanks!

[kronzky 5]

I totally second this. Maybe also "Random Weather" button as well.

You got it...

Just don't forget to bring your umbrella! ;)

[old_painless 182]

Can now use all airdropped weapons and there is proper ammo for them. Had a few issues when I made myself group leader. It seemed like they were still following the "old" orders, but I probably just need to sharpen up my commanding skills and "reset" them somehow. And then make them do what I say.

Had a really nice experience in that I played this oldie mission: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?108304. I asked for a better rifle, an ACOG to have a better scope. Then later on we killed off an ZSU-23 crew (a truck with a largish machine gun in the back) but we could not use the truck. Then this addon to the rescue - voila, suddenly we were racing around the desert in search of the crashed plane. Cheating? I think not, why should we not be able to use a perfectly fine truck that we fought down.

Thanks for the very nice recent updates - they made it a quite complete addon

-OP

[katipo66 94]

How about spawn enemy groups/unit with distance from player, direction, patrolling or guard, behaviour?

I realize it's going against the phylosify of the cheat idea and probably out of scope for the mod but had to be asked :)

[taro8 806]

Is all about spawning a group and giving it 1 waypoint with this:

nul=[group this, position this, x] call BIS_fnc_taskPatrol;

And they will start milling around.

[orcinus 121]

Hi Kronsky

Thanks for this, it will make certain over-restricted SP missions much more fun. The 'unstick AI' will be really useful, for example in several MP missions I've tried as SP where base design meant that team members got stuck in tents, etc. When I get time to play some more, that is <sob>

[xxbbcc 6]

How about spawn enemy groups/unit with distance from player, direction, patrolling or guard, behaviour?

Yes, I agree that this would be nice - it simply throws in a few extra AIs on the enemy side. Extra AI may wreak havoc on a mission, though, so this may be hard / unsafe to implement.

[kronzky 5]

How about spawn enemy groups/unit with distance from player, direction, patrolling or guard, behaviour?

I realize it's going against the philosophy of the cheat idea and probably out of scope for the mod but had to be asked :)

Yeah, like you say—it's not really within the "philosophy" of this addon.

Also, there are plenty of other tools out there, to generate dynamic missions, and unless the OPFORs are hand-placed in strategic positions, it's basically a turkey-shoot...

I rather spent my time on a Boomerang shot detection system:

This module indicates any shots fired by OPFORs on a circular grid (relative to the player).

It also gives the absolute azimuth, relative elevation and exact distance.

The location on the grid is updated as the player moves—so once you circle around that suspected location, and point at it from a different position, the relative position indicated will be different.

You can also recall the last 5 shots via the arrow buttons at the top.

(When you first activate the module (by pressing the "Request" button), it will go through a "calibration" routine, where different shot locations are indicated on the grid. These *should* be on the 500 & 350m circles. If not, then there may be an issue with the set aspect ratio, or my script. Contact me (via email) if that happens, and we'll do some troubleshooting.)

I'm not sure yet about the practical range, though.

The real thing is calibrated to 250-750m, but, even though I already reduced that range for Arma to 200-500m, it may still be too large, as you will hardly ever have AI engage you at that distance.

I may also turn this feature into a standalone addon at some point, but I want to collect some more experiences and feedback with it as it is now, before I go that route.

[katipo66 94]

Oh bro, I like that... Very cool!

And yes it would be a nice stand alone option I'm thinking

Edited June 17, 2012 by Katipo66

[old_painless 182]

Looks nice - will try it out very soon. Could be useful for the missions where the clock callouts are useless, if the enemy detected are firing. And perhaps keep it in the "cheat" package as well as a standalone?

-OP

[kroky 1]

Ok, I kept this for me for about 6 days now... but it seems that your "cheat module" causes CTD. I experienced quite a lot of them in recent tests. First I thought it has to do with the latest betas, but I definitely don't experience any CTD when not using the "cheat module". It worth to mention that I run it (of course) with a lot of other mods: ACE2 (whole package), ASR, ASR_AI, JTD FAS, JSRS, OKTANE_NOBLUR_BETA and some other tiny mods (like PROPER, LandTex etc.).

Each time I use any feature of the "cheat module" after some time the game will crash. Tried this with a bunch of different missions, campaigns on different islands.

Can anybody confirm this problem?

[old_painless 182]

I had a single CTD, once when I had just changed to a newer version of SupportCall and ran Arma 2 CO for the first time with that version. Other than that single CTD I haven't seen much instability. I run ASR_AI and a few other mods as well

-OP

[Kommiekat 11]

Hi,

I've called in support drops at higher altitudes and experienced the Jet crashing into trees. It seems to be flying at a lower altitude in the newer version, though I'm not certain.

Cheers