SupportCall - "Cheat" module

[doc_no1UK 10]

Been playing this lately and only one thing missing is ability to call for a few extra soldiers for either side,i know lots of people might not want this so dont use it then :-} great so far loving it just would be great to call in some extra guys,cheers.

[kronzky 5]

You can recruit soldiers to your group, if they exist in the mission already (but you cannot spawn them).

If you find one you want, approach him and select the "Recruit nearest soldier" from the "Manage Units" menu.

Also, if there's a locked (or occupied) vehicle already in the mission, you can unlock it, and the crew will disembark.

Then you can recruit them as well.

[old_painless 182]

Had another CTD just now - as soon as I selected to take a rifle from a container that was flown in, I CTD. Will send dumps to Dwarden

Am running JSRS, ASR AI, STHUD, Gam clockfacing as well, hmmm

[kronzky 5]

I've been running the 93701 beta for a while myself, but no crashes yet.

But then again, I'm not running any other mods, so that might have something to do with it.

I can't really imagine that the SupportCall module is causing it, as there's nothing fancy (or even permanent) happening in there.

But you can try to pin down the source of the problem by running Arma without the SupportCall module, and check if you still get the crashes.

You could also try equipping yourself from a normal ammobox, to see if that works.

And does it crash no matter which weapon you chose, or only with specific ones?

[old_painless 182]

My setup is not prone to CTDs otherwise, so I guess I am having a conflict. I will try with SupportCall only and I'll see if there is a pattern wrt. weapon type

[cbfasi 4]

A most useful tool for developers, when testing my ships, I can just call in another vehicle to test with, I no longer have to put all the bits in the mission to start with!

Even air dropped onto one of my ships ! (although watching the M1A2 miss and land in the water was funny).

[xxbbcc 6]

I've been running the 93701 beta for a while myself, but no crashes yet.

But then again, I'm not running any other mods, so that might have something to do with it.

I, too, had one crash earlier that specifically happened while using the support addon - I had the dialog up on the screen and it was still loading item lists when I tried to move my character forward using the arrow keys on the keyboard. (I didn't expect it to work but I wanted to try.) When I pressed the button, the game crashed.

I haven't tried reproducing it yet (I don't have much time to play so I just don't press keys while it's loading) but otherwise I don't have crashed (and didn't have one for a while).

Yet another feature request: request backpack drop! (All backpack types.) I'm getting greedy. ;)

[old_painless 182]

Yes - backpacks, please! I had a mortar dropped down and wanted to move it. So I reassembled it and it was on the ground in two bags, but I could only pick up one of them. Guess a larger backpack would help? Ended up simply asking for a new drop, but that takes some time to happen

[kronzky 5]

Good idea on the backpacks!

But while implementing them was pretty straightforward (they're under Magazines now), I then realized that a lot of missions will probably use player models that are not compatible with backpacks yet, so I also had to add an option to switch models (which is probably a good addition anyway).

So... now you have access to all backpacks (as long as you're running OA), you can switch to any other unit type, and (these were additions that were already pending), you can switch the resolution of the Boomerang grid to 500, 250 & 125m, and you can also drop fuel barrels in case you're running out of gas, and you feel like dropping a whole fuel truck is overkill (they're under Vehicles).

When selecting a unit type there will be a "(B)" behind the class name of those that are able to use backpacks.

Edited June 24, 2012 by Kronzky

[xxbbcc 6]

Thanks for the fast updates! :) One issue, though: seems like the 1.6.1 archive on your website is corrupt - I downloaded several times, it always downloads as supportcall.zip, 123,388 bytes but when I open it, it cannot be decompressed.

Edit: I also noticed that upon reloading a mission, the support addon gets corrupted and it seems to corrupt the mission as well. I'm trying Flashpoint Zargabad 1.19 and when I request 1 extra weapon, a few satchels and some extra ammo, they get dropped but if I reload the mission the addon dialog comes up empty and the action menu of the mission doesn't work anymore (it comes up but the menu items don't do anything).

I also get these errors (~30 of them) in the .rpt:

Addon kron_supportcall (entry KRON_SC_Supplybox) not found in the list of active addons.

One more bit of information: when the problem (whatever it is) kicks in, the savegame size goes up from ~20 MB to ~130 MB.

Edited June 24, 2012 by xxbbcc

[old_painless 182]

Kronzky, thanks for the last update - switching unit mid-mission is very nice ! Haven't had enough time to test it out thorougly yet, but will over the next days. As a side note, if you are being led you will not be able to use, say, a mortar. But before, I used to make myself group leader - turns out that it is enough to leave the group. And then rejoin afterwards.

[Stealthyman 1]

Can you add artillery strikes and friendly paratroopers?

[kronzky 5]

I also noticed that upon reloading a mission, the support addon gets corrupted and it seems to corrupt the mission as well. I'm trying Flashpoint Zargabad 1.19 and when I request 1 extra weapon, a few satchels and some extra ammo, they get dropped but if I reload the mission the addon dialog comes up empty and the action menu of the mission doesn't work anymore (it comes up but the menu items don't do anything).

I also get these errors (~30 of them) in the .rpt:

Addon kron_supportcall (entry KRON_SC_Supplybox) not found in the list of active addons.

One more bit of information: when the problem (whatever it is) kicks in, the savegame size goes up from ~20 MB to ~130 MB.

It seems you might have a corrupted installation.

Could it be that you might have two version of SupportCall installed (in two different modfolder perhaps)?

Or did you perhaps load a game save that was done with a previous version while you had loaded a newer one (that would definitely cause issues, as dialogs and some global variables change all the time).

I've tried that mission, dropped a few vehicles and weapons, even got a few guys on my side to join me, to crew a tank, but my game-save never got beyond 13MB (but I only played for about 20min).

As a side note, if you are being led you will not be able to use, say, a mortar. But before, I used to make myself group leader - turns out that it is enough to leave the group. And then rejoin afterwards.

I assume you are talking about dropped mortars?

The next build will actually have a solution for this issue. I did finally find a way of allowing the player to board dropped vehicles or static weapons, even if he's not the leader.

But, yeah, in the meantime, just leaving the group should work as well as becoming the leader (after all, in a group of one you will always be the leader).

Can you add artillery strikes and friendly paratroopers?

No real plans at the time... As I mentioned before, I don't want this module to *remove* any challenges, but rather, to offer you *different* ones. And having unlimited units or airstrikes available would just lead to using those units as cannon-fodder, or to carpet-bomb the whole map...

One approach that's been floating in my head is that you might be allowed to do an airstrike if you've conclusively scouted out the target area; e.g. let's say you need to have at least 50% of the units in the target zone identified (via binoculars, etc), before you can order an airstrike. (The real-life inspired justification would be to ensure that you're not bombing the wrong targets.)

But even with a limitation like that in place I feel that airstrikes are sort-of a "lazy" solution to a mission challenge... ;)

Edited June 25, 2012 by Kronzky

[old_painless 182]

I assume you are talking about dropped mortars?

The next build will actually have a solution for this issue. I did finally find a way of allowing the player to board dropped vehicles or static weapons, even if he's not the leader.

But, yeah, in the meantime, just leaving the group should work as well as becoming the leader (after all, in a group of one you will always be the leader).

I mean dropped mortars, yes, sorry for not being specific. But great that you solved it, nice find!

Just noticed xxbbcc talking about save games: One thing I *think* I noticed in SP missions, is that when suspending them mid-mission, it seems to not have a save to return to ("Resume" option) if I wanted to pick up where I left. I'll see if there is a pattern as to whether supportcall has been activated, or if I am just imagining things. Will post back if there might be an issue.

Cheers,

OP

Edited June 25, 2012 by Old_Painless

[kroky 1]

I played about 4-5 missions now without your Support Call module - and had no CTD. (I already mentioned that I had no CTD, before using Support Call module). As soon as I add your Support Call module Kronzky, the game crashes after a while. Of course I'm running it with full ACE, ASR, ASR_AI, JSRS, JTD FAS, OKT_NOBLURBETA, and always with the most recent beta versions. :( really sad that it crashes the game, because your module is really a must-have mod (addon). Can I help somehow by giving any details you can work with?

[xxbbcc 6]

It seems you might have a corrupted installation.

Could it be that you might have two version of SupportCall installed (in two different modfolder perhaps)?

Or did you perhaps load a game save that was done with a previous version while you had loaded a newer one (that would definitely cause issues, as dialogs and some global variables change all the time).

I've tried that mission, dropped a few vehicles and weapons, even got a few guys on my side to join me, to crew a tank, but my game-save never got beyond 13MB (but I only played for about 20min).

Hmm, I'm pretty sure it's not that - I have a dedicated folder for your addon and I only ever copy it there. Plus I restarted the mission I had the problem with the previous version of SupportCall that corrupted the mission, so I tried 6 or 7 times (same mission, but 6 or 7 restarts). I'll try again to see if I can reproduce it - if I can, I'll let you know.

I also have quite a few other addons but my .rpt only had that message related to the SupportCall not being recognized.

[old_painless 182]

I mean dropped mortars, yes, sorry for not being specific. But great that you solved it, nice find!

Just noticed xxbbcc talking about save games: One thing I *think* I noticed in SP missions, is that when suspending them mid-mission, it seems to not have a save to return to ("Resume" option) if I wanted to pick up where I left. I'll see if there is a pattern as to whether supportcall has been activated, or if I am just imagining things. Will post back if there might be an issue.

Cheers,

OP

OK - back from testing. Had no issues resuming missions from saves during which SupportCall had been activated. So no problem in that respect.

Couldn't help thinking that with the CTDs that some are seeing, if the lists of items that are being populated upon first invokation, could eat up too much memory or chew into memory already allocated or something like that? I have seen some CTDs while I was running JSRS which I hear is heavy on memory, and I have only 4Gb of RAM on board. Just food for thought, thats all

[kronzky 5]

I can't quite imagine that the variables used in this mod would make you run out of memory—all the global variables used don't use more than about 6KB. (Of course, it could just be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Anything's possible...)

But I know there used to be an issue with the *number* of global variables used (especially in mission saves). I'm not quite sure if that issue has been fixed in the meantime, but I've created a test build that doesn't use the large ones at all anymore (which stored the class listings), and only a couple of very small ones.

Perhaps someone with a crash-prone system could give this one a try, and let me know how it behaves.

Of course, the drawback of that is that now every time you access the drop options the list will have to be re-read (which will take a few seconds), but if this approach does indeed get rid of the crashes, then I'll think about some different way of optimizing the lists.

So... if anybody feels like giving the test version a run, it's available here. (Make sure to delete the regular pbo, when testing the beta!)

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[old_painless 182]

Kronzky, thanks for your tireless support !

As for memory leaks/usage, would it matter what version CBA one was running (I suppose you call modules from CBA)? Perhaps the latest has fixed memory issues compared to earlier versions.

Not having a particularly CTD-prone system I like that I only have to wait for the lists to be populated the first time. If it's no big change, could that be made optional somehow?

-OP

Edited June 26, 2012 by Old_Painless

[kronzky 5]

As for memory leaks/usage, would it matter what version CBA one was running (I suppose you call modules from CBA)? Perhaps the latest has fixed memory issues compared to earlier versions.

I'm not calling any other modules, apart from the UAV/ULB one. Everything else is coded directly in my module.

Not having a particularly CTD-prone system I like that I only have to wait for the lists to be populated the first time. If it's no big change, could that be made optional somehow?

Well, the reason I disabled the internal saving of the list (which prevents the delay) is to pinpoint the CTD. If you're not experiencing any crashes, then you probably shouldn't bother with the test version, and just keep using the regular one, until the next official release.

[kroky 1]

I can't quite imagine that the variables used in this mod would make you run out of memory—all the global variables used don't use more than about 6KB. (Of course, it could just be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Anything's possible...)

But I know there used to be an issue with the *number* of global variables used (especially in mission saves). I'm not quite sure if that issue has been fixed in the meantime, but I've created a test build that doesn't use the large ones at all anymore (which stored the class listings), and only a couple of very small ones.

Perhaps someone with a crash-prone system could give this one a try, and let me know how it behaves.

Of course, the drawback of that is that now every time you access the drop options the list will have to be re-read (which will take a few seconds), but if this approach does indeed get rid of the crashes, then I'll think about some different way of optimizing the lists.

So... if anybody feels like giving the test version a run, it's available here. (Make sure to delete the regular pbo, when testing the beta!)

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

Ok, my system is not crash-prone, but it is crash-prone with the support call module, so I will test it.

Another thing that I observed, (it didn't bother me, so I did not comment on it) but now maybe it's good to mention, is that when starting the support call module, the first time it's telling me populating the list, but nothing happens, when Esc and starting it again then the list gets populated very quickly. This "bug" is persistent since the last 3-4 updates.

[old_painless 182]

Kroky, just to make sure, in my case it lasts about 10 seconds the first time it builds the lists. Do you wait that long?

[kronzky 5]

Yeah, the speed of the list creation really depends on the number of addons you have installed, and what kind of CPU you have.

With Combined Operations (A2 & OA) running it takes me about 20 seconds on one machine to get the list filled, and about 3 seconds on the other, so you really have to be patient if you have a slower CPU.

The good thing is though (and it looks like that's what you're experiencing) that the list generation will be continued, even if you close the dialog (so that it will be available immediately once you open it the next time).

[kiberkiller 10]

Would it be possible to add more weapons to the list? I miss one of my favorite weapons, AS Val. Maybe you could give an option to show ALL weapons, even though it would make first time loading somewhat longer.

Also, would it be possible to add helicopters to the vehicle list?

And maybe the ability to teleport to a chosen location on the map?

[Roflskates 1]

Any chance to be able to get air vehicles?

Sometimes on combat patrols I just wana fly man