Kildar's A2F Missions

[Kildar 1]

Foreword

I've been playing Arma 2 Free for about six months now, first starting off on TF Blackjack's graciously provided A2F Domination server. Then a few months ago I started scouring Armaholic and BIS Forums for all the A2F compatible missions I could find and hosting them on my own listen server. Some were great, some were bad. There was in particular this one mission pack by Sander with tons of simple missions with punny names* that was the source of hours of entertainment for myself and whoever managed to join me on my server. Last week, I made the jump into mission creation, and those same missions proved very helpful in getting me started.

Recently, I've been encountering completely new players on my server who are mute until I give them the gift of speech by telling them "Press / to type." To these, I hope they stick with Arma despite it's high learning curve long enough to experience the moments of camaraderie when you're dragging buddies out of fire and screaming for someone to pop smoke, or the panic that ensues when your squad leader yells out "CONTACT 50 METERS!". Though I may someday crack open my wallet and purchase Combined Operations, or later this year, Arma 3, I also offer these A2F compatible missions in the hopes that that they find something more than the public madness (as fun as it was) of Domination, or looking at Arma solely for DayZ.

With that, I release to you the first of my missions:

Co02 Switch and Bait v1.35

Covert amphibious assault on Drakon Island

Co02 Widow's Pik v1.00 (NEW)

Scale a mountain for the shot

Co05 Belly of the BMP v1.15

Get smuggled into an enemy base (personal favorite)

Co05 Hedgetrimming v1.10 (NEW)

Bushwhacking in the Old Fields of Chernarus

Co05 Pepper Spray v1.36

Forest intel and demolitions raid

Co05 Premiere in Theater v1.10

Utes I: Secure Strelka

Co05 Second Entendre v1.10

Utes II: Push inland

Co07 Third Strike v1.00 (NEW)

Utes III: Seize the airfield with CAS

Co07 Swamp Meet v1.06

Contested amphibious assault on Otmel Island

Co10 The Long Haul v1.06

Convoy mission from Balota to Elektrozavodsk

Co06 FOB Balota v1.15

FOB showcase with SECOPs

Misison pack with all above missions (updated 2012-07-16)

Armaholic mirror: Kildar's A2F Coop Missions (updated 2012-07-16)

Notes: All v1.00 missions have been not been tested from start to end in a full multiplayer session, but there is no reason why they should not work. For Pepper Spray and Switch and Bait, I am also having troubles with getting scripts with addAction to work for all clients, and though I know this has been addressed many times there is quite the confusion as well. If anyone can help me with this, as well as provide feedback on any other issues or suggestions, it would be much appreciated.

I am also trying to maintain a sort of continuity with my missions. Therefore, I intend to start most USMC missions from an FOB in Balota (derived from edgardeth's template) despite the fact that this will add about 200+kb of arguably unnecessary data and potentially long and buggy helicopter rides to each mission. However, this does give the chance for anyone who forgot some ammunition the chance to address this issue, and of course the cool factor counts as well. You will notice with some of my missions that the briefings (perhaps I wrote too much in them, but please do read them) also refer to previous missions as well.

Finally, in my missions you will notice a lot of semi-dynamic clutter in my missions in order to address the painful lack of cover in Chernarus and Utes (trees hardly count). Hopefully most of this turns out well and doesn't create too many clipped objects or disrupts AI pathfinding.

Mission Requests

At this point, I am welcoming mission requests. Please keep in mind that I am attempting to keep my missions addon-free and A2F compatible, and as script (and therefore headache) free as possible. Helping design the environment goes a long way to making your mission a reality, especially if you want anything specific in your missions, as one of the most tedious parts of mission design is placing things exactly where you want them, something that requires multiple tries because the editor image doesn't match the actual object, or worse is represented by a gigantic question mark.

^ I usually host my own listen server whenever I play. Keep an eye out for 'Meat Grinder' if you're looking for some A2F cooperative fun.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Kildar
Missions updated (changelogs within PBOs)

[Phantom Six 25]

Congratulations on your mission release Kildar, I'll check some out after I finish with some this new rig. Keep up the good work.

[Kildar 1]

3 new missions added, other missions updated. Enjoy!

By the way, Phantom have you had a chance to try my missions yet?

[Phantom Six 25]

Not yet, sorry, I've been busy with multiple stuff. Trying to get some other guys to play with but they haven't been available too much.

[Variable 322]

Uploading to the CiA coop server! Thanks for the missions Kildar, I promise to provide feedback.

Edit: Are the missions feature any sort of respawnvive?

[Kildar 1]

Uploading to the CiA coop server! Thanks for the missions Kildar, I promise to provide feedback.

Edit: Are the missions feature any sort of respawnvive?

My pleasure! With the exception of FOB Balota, which features a base respawn due to the SECOPs nature of it, all missions are no respawn and feature BIS first aid modules. I may implement Norrin's revive suite at some point as soon as I can get it to work the way I'd like it to, with medic revive only and limited bandages/medkits.

[Phantom Six 25]

My pleasure! With the exception of FOB Balota, which features a base respawn due to the SECOPs nature of it, all missions are no respawn and feature BIS first aid modules. I may implement Norrin's revive suite at some point as soon as I can get it to work the way I'd like it to, with medic revive only and limited bandages/medkits.

Be sure you add an option to disable revive if you do that. CiA coop don't play with those :P

[Phantom Six 25]

I just tried out switch and bait with a friend and we're experiencing some bugs. The first one was the ammo crate that was at where the chopper landed, I can see weapons but my friend cannot see them. I can see them but I can't take them. Another issue we had was after we cleared Drakon Island, the guerilla boat never showed up. I also blew up some ammo caches (I don't know how many of them there are but the mission trigger for that never triggered either. I also have a recording on FRAPs if you would like me to upload it later although it takes a while for my slow internet :P

[Kildar 1]

I just tried out switch and bait with a friend and we're experiencing some bugs. The first one was the ammo crate that was at where the chopper landed, I can see weapons but my friend cannot see them. I can see them but I can't take them. Another issue we had was after we cleared Drakon Island, the guerilla boat never showed up. I also blew up some ammo caches (I don't know how many of them there are but the mission trigger for that never triggered either. I also have a recording on FRAPs if you would like me to upload it later although it takes a while for my slow internet :P

First of all, thanks for trying it out. The ammobox is meant to be the crate from which your Zodiac was (automatically) loaded with weapons, and I believe I cleared the contents of the crate. Should remove that to avoid that confusion? Also when you destroyed the supplies did you also destroy the fuel tank? Perhaps it wasn't clear enough in the briefing. These issues aside, how did the rest of the mission go?

Be sure you add an option to disable revive if you do that. CiA coop don't play with those :P

I took another shot at working in Norrin's revive again, and it was still a bit too complicated for my tastes. Regarding the revives, I don't play with revive myself, but I wanted to see if I could use his medical supply systems with limited bandages and only medics being able to revive a set number of times (instead of the current unlimited incapacitation system). But as it is I think I shall stick with BIS first aid modules, unless you have a better suggestion for A2F.

[Phantom Six 25]

I'd stick with BIS first aid modules. I use to play with revive, but not anymore. It's fine for newbies, but then revives to me take out the challenge and a good plan and approach to a mission will keep people alive anyways.

I didn't destroy the fuel tank (only brought 1 satchel :( I should've brought more). We cleared the island but the enemy boat that was suppose to come never showed up so we ended it there.

[Kildar 1]

I didn't destroy the fuel tank (only brought 1 satchel :( I should've brought more). We cleared the island but the enemy boat that was suppose to come never showed up so we ended it there.

I hope you didn't destroy the supplies before waiting for the boat, before which the island should have been secured first. I suppose it may be a bit much to hope that everyone would play it the way I planned, although I made an effort to write a detailed briefing. That being said I may have to reduce the size of a trigger because the AI sometimes like to go for a swim from 100ft cliffs. There should also have been satchels on the boat.

[Phantom Six 25]

I hope you didn't destroy the supplies before waiting for the boat, before which the island should have been secured first. I suppose it may be a bit much to hope that everyone would play it the way I planned, although I made an effort to write a detailed briefing. That being said I may have to reduce the size of a trigger because the AI sometimes like to go for a swim from 100ft cliffs. There should also have been satchels on the boat.

We destroyed the supply while waiting for the boat. After the wait was getting a bit too long, we decided to blow up the supplies instead.

[MavericK96 0]

Yeah, Phantom and I gave the mission a shot yesterday. In addition to what he's said:

1) At the beginning of the mission where you get in the helicopter for insertion, there were a couple AI guys jumping in and out of the helicopter. The first time we tried the mission we both got into the helo, and then it started to take off but then landed again to "wait" for two more AI guys to jump in. The second time we tried it, the AI guys didn't hop in but the helo still took off. Not a major issue, just a minor curiosity.

2) On the second mission attempt, the helo seemed to get stuck at the insertion point (i.e. did not fly away after we got out).

3) As Phantom mentioned, there was some weirdness with the ammo crate that appears once you trigger the Zodiac spawn crate. He claimed he could see some XM8 weapons in there but was unable to pick them up. I didn't see anything in the crate at all. This was running the mission on a dedicated server so it was not local to either of us (though the dedicated server is on a machine in my LAN).

4) After we cleared the island (we got the "island clear" message properly), I got a notice about "Unknown ship, 11 o' clock (I believe that was SE or so), 1000 meters", so we figured that was probably the warlord's ship. It was foggy so we couldn't see more than probably 500m or so, but after waiting for about 5 minutes or more, no ship ever came. At that point Phantom blew the large ammo boxes.

Other than those issues, the mission seemed to work well. One suggestion might be to throw a couple of backpacks in there so it's easier to take satchels for the ammo caches and tanks. Otherwise you end up using up half of your inventory for necessary satchels.

Which boat was supposed to have satchels on it? The Zodiac?

[Kildar 1]

One thing I forgot to ask earlier was if you had used the updated version, because I changed the activation from the addAction to a proximity trigger that ideally should have worked better. The ammo crate should have been empty as it was for you, but I think I will go ahead and delete it because afterall a crate is expected to have something in it. The two guys with the helo are semi-integral to the way the helo insertions work and sort of double as 'LZ security' and the AI flying is prone to quirks any way you cut it, but for the sake of continuity at the FOB I'll leave them in.

The warlord's ship should be working fine, although in the fog he may be easy to miss, and from his start location it shouldn't take too long for him to reach the island, but I'll take another look at it if I have the chance. Regarding backpacks, I just yesterday worked in Xeno's backpack script (since I can't use OA backpacks) into all my missions, almost exactly for that reason and the fact that I'd like to carry a few more grenades. I did modify it to prevent players from taking a second primary weapon, however.

Finally, yes, the Zodiac should have been preloaded with satchels. Thanks for playing, and let me know if you have a chance to try my other missions.

[MavericK96 0]

Yeah, we'll definitely give the rest a shot too. I don't have much time to play during the week with work and all. :(

I'm not sure which version we used, as Phantom sent me the files, so you'd have to ask him. We will try it again with the latest version as well. :cool:

[Variable 322]

Hey Kildar! Thanks again for this mission pack. Several of the concepts are very appealing and really motivated us to play them!

We have tested all of your missions on the Comrades in Arms coop server (a dedicated windows server). "Tested" meaning a 5-7 minutes of gameplay to see that the mission is solid. By no means a thorough test.

here are the results:

Belly of the BMP

1. The team leader is in different squad, all by himself. I suppose that wasn't intentional?

2. All the team members have radio mission select options which are not relevant to the mission and I guess are a remnant of your FOB Balota mission.

3. Insertion chopper and BMP - both of them leave the second someone gets inside them, leaving the rest of the squad behind. We had to time our entrance to the chopper to be at the same second to get us all inside.

4. One of the crewmen of the BMP was found dead by it when we reached the rendezvous point. A small suggestion here would be to have the BMP crew outside the vehicle when we reach them.

Pepper Spray

1. That mission showed no briefing (no "notes" and no "tasks"). We didn't test forward.

FOB Balota

1. After choosing a mission out from the radio menu it takes a while until it initiates, which is fine biut anxious players click the desired mission again, leading for the radio commentary to be broadcast again. I guess it will be better to block the radio menu once a mission is selected.

Swamp meet

1. The enemies on the island are moving back and forth in short lines (like 1 meter forward and 1 meter backwards). Looks pretty silly like that... Maybe better to have them stationary instead, I guess the island terrain is driving them crazy... Except that this is a great mission!

That's for the buggy ones. The rest are good missions! I especially liked the Utes assault ones. The sniper AI team covering your assault on Strelka was a really nice touch :).

I do hope you release a fixed version for the pack. Looking forward to play these missions!

[Kildar 1]

Thanks for the headups on these bugs Variable!

With Belly of the BMP, all those transport issues should be tied to me somehow not grouping the rest of the squad to team lead, and yes somehow I managed to copy and paste the SECOP triggers from FOB Balota into that mission. The dead BMP crewman was supposedly a easter egg/prank thing of how one member didn't want to defect so the rest of the crew took care of him, but I suppose it's confusing so I'll take it out.

The briefing with Pepper Spray should be fine, but I think the order in which I ran my init file may be delaying the execution of briefing.sqf. I did experience a problem like this while testing another mission so I made init ordering changes across the board, but have yet to post the new versions, and will do so shortly along with two new missions.

Regarding FOB Balota I copied the SECOPs setup from Gloopy's Utes mission, and I think it may be a little too much work to justify fixing that issue, but it's not really a mission anyways so forgive me if I'll let that one be.

I'll try changing Guard waypoints to Sentry for the Swamp Meet squads, so when I release the update let me know if that fixes the running around issue. I have high hopes for this mission, and if you get a chance to play it through I would love to see a recording. It might be unplayable nonetheless, as it can be quite difficult reaching the island in one piece in broad daylight, but I hope the provided mortar and snipers with good time on target practice and recon will make a combat landing survivable.

I've also just added Xeno's backpack script for most missions and made the insertion helicopters start on the ground for missions that begin in the FOB, so hopefully AI pathfinding within the base won't cause any grief.

PS: Some of the missions (the second Utes in particular) may have objective completion issues that should be fixed with my next update as well.

PPS: I was just checking out your mission list and noticed your comment on Second Entendre about fire starting on the BMP. This mission is the immediate sequel to Premiere in Theater, so I wanted to give the feeling of a war already started and that was the BTR HQ you destroyed in the last mission. In my upcoming third mission on Utes, you'll see more of these 'pre-destroyed' objects, including the AA guns on the hill and some of the vehicles in the outpost.

Edited July 14, 2012 by Kildar
Post Script

[Variable 322]

The dead BMP crewman was supposedly a easter egg/prank thing of how one member didn't want to defect so the rest of the crew took care of him, but I suppose it's confusing so I'll take it out.

Don't take that out! That's a great idea, and will add greatly to immersion. Just have the remaining BMP crew waiting by the corpse and refer to it on text. Something like:

American Team leader: "What happened to him?"

BMP commander: "Well, Vadim had second thoughts and started to fight with us, so I had to silence him. We went down this road and we can't go back. Get in, we have to leave."

Regarding FOB Balota I copied the SECOPs setup from Gloopy's Utes mission, and I think it may be a little too much work to justify fixing that issue, but it's not really a mission anyways so forgive me if I'll let that one be.

Yeah... that's no biggy.

I'll try changing Guard waypoints to Sentry for the Swamp Meet squads, so when I release the update let me know if that fixes the running around issue. I have high hopes for this mission, and if you get a chance to play it through I would love to see a recording. It might be unplayable nonetheless, as it can be quite difficult reaching the island in one piece in broad daylight, but I hope the provided mortar and snipers with good time on target practice and recon will make a combat landing survivable.

We actually managed to get ashore on the island, I think it's well balanced, especially with the good visibility and the anti material rifle.

PS: Some of the missions (the second Utes in particular) may have objective completion issues that should be fixed with my next update as well.

Good you let us know, so we will wait for the next version before playing this mission :)

PPS: I was just checking out your mission list and noticed your comment on Second Entendre about fire starting on the BMP. This mission is the immediate sequel to Premiere in Theater, so I wanted to give the feeling of a war already started and that was the BTR HQ you destroyed in the last mission. In my upcoming third mission on Utes, you'll see more of these 'pre-destroyed' objects, including the AA guns on the hill and some of the vehicles in the outpost.

Oops I forgot to report about this one. Yeah that's well understood, I really like your attention to detail on this respect. Since the OFP days, not many mission makers try to think immersion wise and add those little things that provide the players with the added value for the mission. However, seeing that BMP starting to burn "from nothing" and that net suddenly turning flat feels a bit misplaced. Let me suggest placing the players facing the other direction or a bit back so they won't have the chance noticing these two things happening, but still see the burning BMP as they move westwards.

[Kildar 1]

Mission pack updated. Backpack script by Xeno added across the board, tweaks and fixes, and three new missions! Changelogs can be found within the PBOs.

Edited July 17, 2012 by Kildar

[Variable 322]

Mission pack updated. Backpack script by Xeno added across the board, tweaks and fixes, and three new missions! Changelogs can be found within the PBOs.

Thanks for the update Kildar! Have you fixed the chopper and BMP leaving when the first man from the team gets into them? I didn't see it on the changelog.

[Kildar 1]

Thanks for the update Kildar! Have you fixed the chopper and BMP leaving when the first man from the team gets into them? I didn't see it on the changelog.

Haha sometimes I forget to record changes. But yes all the bugs you found including the BMP one should have been fixed. I believe that particular issue was tied to the squad leader being in his own group, which I resolved. I must say I didn't exactly test it but it should no longer be a problem.

[Variable 322]

Great :)

Uploading to the CiA coop server!

[Kildar 1]

Great :)

Uploading to the CiA coop server!

Just remembered that I forgot to move things around so you don't see the spontaneous explosions. I'll fix that right now but the update will have to wait. The mission should still be playable though :)

[Variable 322]

Hey Kildar, I checked the new version of "Belly of the BMP". The chopper insertion works fine now but the mission has no briefing.

[Kildar 1]

Sorry for the late response. I've finally gotten Combined Operations so I've been rather busy enjoying the buffet. Anyways I think I may have found the issue. There was a missing semi-colon in init.sqf than prevented the briefing executing. You can edit that yourself, if you'd like. I'm waiting for a chance to test Third Strike and fix any issues with that before releasing another update.