[SP/MP] Dynamic Whole Map ArmA3 Missions by SaOk

[evmeister88 10]

So I just came back to check up on your mod and am very surprised to see this mod coming to an end. I guess I have missed much since I have been away from Arma! From what I can tell you got screwed over by BIS, I read a couple pages back. I just want you to know, you're mod was the reason I played Arma for so long. I'm very much a solo player and usually shy away from multiplayer. Your mod really made it worth playing and sucked me in. Made me really appreciate Arma! I want to thank you for the excellent mod and all the hard work you put into it! I will follow you though and see what you do with the Unreal Engine!

[submdi 0]

SaOk,

 

I've loaded your 8 player version onto my server and modified a couple of things like less foggy weather, longer view distance, earplugs and a few others I can't remember right now.

I mostly end up playing by myself, but I've had a few friends join in occasionally, and they've been pretty impressed by the mission.

Currently I have an instance that has been running for about 4-5 days now and it's still running fine.

I really wish you would still support this mission.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know you have another fan.

 

Thanks for your awesome work mate.

 

PS: Is there a keybind to hide the UI? I like to use the camera to zoom around the map and capture screenshots, but would like to do so without the UI.

[Flatulent Robot 10]

Singleplayer here as well.  

 

Currently i'm playing on Altis on top of one of the big hills with a military base on top, I like to take over the minimum areas around it then I build it up into a big firebase with heavy defenses and mobile artillery to pummel surrounding cities to rubble when I spot enemies.  Random encounters and missions are just icing on the cake.   Great mission, great fun.

 

Thank you Saok!

[MichaelZFreeman 20]

Hi, started playing this and got the DLC adverts all over my screen ... the crosshairs icon on the right hand side and then it puts crosshair images all over my screen. I come to these games to get away from this kind of marketting. What an immersion killer !  :icon_rolleyes:  I'm not seeing any DLC listed as a requirement for this scenario. Anyone know what's going on here ?

[Flatulent Robot 10]

Hi, started playing this and got the DLC adverts all over my screen ... the crosshairs icon on the right hand side and then it puts crosshair images all over my screen. I come to these games to get away from this kind of marketting. What an immersion killer !  :icon_rolleyes:  I'm not seeing any DLC listed as a requirement for this scenario. Anyone know what's going on here ?

 

DLC weapons and vehicles are automatically added to the mission since they are already included in Arma 3 by default.  If you don't want to see those annoying advertisements for the DLC, do not pickup and use any of the DLC weapons.  

 

Although friendly AI and enemies can still use DLC stuff - it is nice to see some of the DLC choppers flying around dropping off troops like the dual rotor Huron, you will get a message to buy the DLC when actually trying to fly or drive DLC vehicles.

 

But I agree, it is really lame with the BIS in-game advertising.  Because of this, I purposely did not buy their DLC nonsense - there are so many better mods out there anyway!

[MichaelZFreeman 20]

DLC weapons and vehicles are automatically added to the mission since they are already included in Arma 3 by default.  If you don't want to see those annoying advertisements for the DLC, do not pickup and use any of the DLC weapons.  

 

Although friendly AI and enemies can still use DLC stuff - it is nice to see some of the DLC choppers flying around dropping off troops like the dual rotor Huron, you will get a message to buy the DLC when actually trying to fly or drive DLC vehicles.

 

But I agree, it is really lame with the BIS in-game advertising.  Because of this, I purposely did not buy their DLC nonsense - there are so many better mods out there anyway!

OK, thanks. Good point about seeing the AI use the DLC without any nagging from popup's. The first time I played this scenario I did try and pick up a dropped sniper rifle and it said (non-obtrusively) that it was DLC only, fair enough. However the scenario author seems to randomly generate gear on player spawn that includes being sourced from the DLC. I don't want to get into a debate about Bohemia's approach (probably endlessly debated elsewhere) I just want to find a way, if there is a way, to block scenarios from using ANY dlc, or failing that at least warn me that I'm going to get nagging popup's.

 

EDIT: A possible solution.

[jamie1992 17]

Any way to get the hud back? Reloaded my save, and now can't see any of the prestige and so forth.

 

ALSO any AI mod recommendations, cause for some reason the AI are BEYOND stupid in WLA. Friendly/Squad AI especially.

[Flatulent Robot 10]

Any way to get the hud back? Reloaded my save, and now can't see any of the prestige and so forth.

 

ALSO any AI mod recommendations, cause for some reason the AI are BEYOND stupid in WLA. Friendly/Squad AI especially.

 

You have to 'restart' mission then click "Continue Save".  The way Arma works, I have to do this everytime I play.

 

For AI mods I use ASR & TPW mods - in combination I notice the AI will engage at longer distances, use cover, react to shots fired at them and target me alot quicker than the standard AI.   

[jamie1992 17]

You have to 'restart' mission then click "Continue Save".  The way Arma works, I have to do this everytime I play.

 

For AI mods I use ASR & TPW mods - in combination I notice the AI will engage at longer distances, use cover, react to shots fired at them and target me alot quicker than the standard AI.   

 

Yeah, turns out it took me having to reload via your method twice before it came back, but hey it works so thank you!

 

Will check those AI mods out. :)

[Skanda 2]

I don't know. I'm a more solution oriented person and don't want to stick to the problem as you do. I would really like to try to convince you developing WLA further but it seem there is no way. If i understand you correctly, than it is neither the money nor the contest. It is just that you haven't got the appreciation from BI that you thought you earn for this.

 

I think you are blind if you don't see the appreciation of the people who are playing your mod.

(Which is, in my point of view more important.) So there are to parties who either be grateful or not. And with not further developing WLA you are just affronting those people who really appreciating it alot.

I think the only people who loose are the players out there. BI doesn't care about either the players or the modders. It's visible in all the bugs that get never fixed. So... Fuck them. It's just a company.

 

Here again is my proposal: Open up a payPal account and try to get some money out of it: I would pay for WLA, and i think alot of people will do the same.

Then you could kill two birds with one stone: Earning some money for you effort and emancipate from BI.

 

And here is another solution: Give your work to somebody who could go on with it and cares more about the players than about what a company thinks about him.

 

What do you think about?

[Skanda 2]

Any way to get the hud back? Reloaded my save, and now can't see any of the prestige and so forth.

 

ALSO any AI mod recommendations, cause for some reason the AI are BEYOND stupid in WLA. Friendly/Squad AI especially.

i use bcombat... works pretty good in WLA

[pd3 25]

So from what I gather amid all the drama is that WLA is not being updated, and I just downloaded it to give it a crack again after some time and for some reason it simply crashes when I try the singleplayer version?

Is this because some functionality requires updating or is my installation of A3 not liking this mission?

Sad to hear about the turn of events with regard to the author, WLA was always pretty fun. I also appreciated their contributions for Arma 2 as well.
 

[MichaelZFreeman 20]

So from what I gather amid all the drama is that WLA is not being updated, and I just downloaded it to give it a crack again after some time and for some reason it simply crashes when I try the singleplayer version?

Is this because some functionality requires updating or is my installation of A3 not liking this mission?

Sad to hear about the turn of events with regard to the author, WLA was always pretty fun. I also appreciated their contributions for Arma 2 as well.

 

 

Had no problem with it. No crashes and was just in it for ~2 hours. I don't have any other addons activated apart from the animal sounds / voices. Wow, so this time I played I think I got over the hump. It's  quite a lot to take in for new players, especially when you get plastered every 5 seconds at the start. But I think I picked a bad insertion location. I've gottta do a youtube vid about this mission. The depth of it is not obvious at the start. I thought those were simulated units moving around on the big map of the island. Then I found out that I can click on them and get a little popout of what the unit is, as well as give them orders (its all in the briefing section in the map menu). I did not realise that the mission is also hooked into map infrastructure so capturing a port and power generation gives access to a factory, etc, etc. Another thing that new players might miss is auto reinforcement (turned on by default). It was quite a moment while pausing with a single squad mate by the beach to, out of the blue, have a boat appear with reinforcements that then joined ! :lol:

[SaOk 112]

I don't know. I'm a more solution oriented person and don't want to stick to the problem as you do. I would really like to try to convince you developing WLA further but it seem there is no way. If i understand you correctly, than it is neither the money nor the contest. It is just that you haven't got the appreciation from BI that you thought you earn for this.

 

I think you are blind if you don't see the appreciation of the people who are playing your mod.

(Which is, in my point of view more important.) So there are to parties who either be grateful or not. And with not further developing WLA you are just affronting those people who really appreciating it alot.

I think the only people who loose are the players out there. BI doesn't care about either the players or the modders. It's visible in all the bugs that get never fixed. So... Fuck them. It's just a company.

 

Here again is my proposal: Open up a payPal account and try to get some money out of it: I would pay for WLA, and i think alot of people will do the same.

Then you could kill two birds with one stone: Earning some money for you effort and emancipate from BI.

 

And here is another solution: Give your work to somebody who could go on with it and cares more about the players than about what a company thinks about him.

 

What do you think about?

 

I dont need any appreciation from BIS, but they should have fully reviewed both WLA entries which they didnt do. There was no limits set in rules so it was their problem to learn properly the game and play all entries from start to finish and give points depending what the entry had to offer, not what they happen to like. I am open for all kind of people, but taking advantage of others is no go. I dont want to have anything to do with people like that. They made me work on something that was only to be skipped over, just because it wasnt what they seeked (which they didnt let me know in rules).

 

I will not gather any donations, my work is here as result of hobby. That competition wasnt however a hobby but hard work. BIS owns me much for that 1 year waste of time. It was voluntary competition, but it ended as such hoax that I keep waiting apology and full compensation for tricking me to be part of it. I should have never entered that, but I did and since BIS stays silent my support for their games ended. I of course appreciate all player support, but my next work for you is made in Unreal Engine 4.

 

WLA can be freely edited, but its probably easier to create own mission from start (like Barbolani is doing - havent yet made far in Antistasi Altis, but planning to play it forward more in near days). I didnt expect others to work on WLA so the scripts are quite messy (even performance should be top-notch) without any guidance. Could be quite slow to jump in those. But if someone tries, I suggest to use notepad++. I used much the search-function in that to work on the endless scripts. Very essential, and also to keep showscripterrors enabled.

[grandelemental 21]

I've gottta do a youtube vid about this mission.

Please do! I'd love that! =)

[pd3 25]

Had no problem with it. No crashes and was just in it for ~2 hours.

I'm assuming it probably doesn't like some of the addons I have installed then.

[MichaelZFreeman 20]

Please do! I'd love that! =)

 

Will do :) Still learning the scenario so may as well find out the cool features before doing the vid.

 

A couple of questions.

 

Can jets be made to land at airports ?

 

Is there a unit camera system like there is in Benny Warfare where you can switch to soldier/vehicle/air unit camera ? I suspect the big map units are often simulated so there would be no unit camera to switch to, but I could be wrong. I guess it could be done for soldiers in the squad.

 

EDIT: Bug ? Noticed this when I wanted to get WLA working with DVD and had to restart the entire thing. WLA asked to "Continue from previous state" and suddenly there are a load of extra icons on my screen; Prestige, Factory, Power (and one off the bottom that is not displayed) and a load of unit icons. Thought I was missing something ! Don't know how I lost them in first place.

[SaOk 112]

Yes those GUI gets missing sometimes which requires the restart (and continue progress). Its a bug, seems like there have been some changes in game which trigger that (probably when resuming the mission from scenarios menu). You can get jets from captured airfield, may need also require progress in tasks.

 

You can use soldier cams only for own team-mates using the Shift+8 (or was it 7 or 9). Those map units are simulated with math (A* pathfinding, custom AI, bit civilization style battlesolving, also the weaponry matter. The fuel, ammo, damage state is saved and also transfered for spawned state and back from spawned to simulated) and only spawned when player gets near.

[Flatulent Robot 10]

Saok, I want to only play with RHS vehicles so I edited the mod options from shift+1 to only have all RHS vehicles, click 'save' then 'reset veh zone'.  

 

A majority of the vehicles changed to RHS yet I still get some random Arma 3 vehicles spawning such as green army reinforcement hunters and some CSAT mobile artillery that spawned while patrolling.   How is that supposed to work?  Do you think I need to reset the map i'm playing completely from start?

[SaOk 112]

There is some events and tasks forgotten that mod section dont affect. You would need to change the Hunter classname in vehiclearrival.sqf's. There wasnt RHS artillery when I made the template so CSAT arty is used, that might be editable in createvehiclezone script and arty scripts. Bit forgotten where each code is since so long pause from editor.

[MichaelZFreeman 20]

Yes those GUI gets missing sometimes which requires the restart (and continue progress). Its a bug, seems like there have been some changes in game which trigger that (probably when resuming the mission from scenarios menu).

I wonder if a better place for a lot of the HUD info woudl be in the map menu's ? Might see if I can modify my own copy of WLA to do this.

 

You can get jets from captured airfield, may need also require progress in tasks.

I meant getting the AI to land jets for refuelling repair, buts its not essential.

 

You can use soldier cams only for own team-mates using the Shift+8 (or was it 7 or 9).

Oh, I luv mai AI camera's ... will try that. Cheers :)

 

EDIT: Yay, got it !

 

 

Those map units are simulated with math (A* pathfinding, custom AI, bit civilization style battlesolving, also the weaponry matter. The fuel, ammo, damage state is saved and also transfered for spawned state and back from spawned to simulated) and only spawned when player gets near.

Crikey. The wonders of game design. Reminds me of an interview with Steve Jackson (tabletop RPG game designer, "Fighting Fantasy" books, etc). Might play a tabletop RPG/Strategy one day just to understand the history that we see in A3 with this.

 

EDIT: I'm getting the AI radio spam about running out of ammo which is apparently not the main weapon but too few pistol mags. I was thinking of writing my own script to auto add mags for evrey AI soldier (or just remove the pistol entirely) but ran across this in the WLA addon, Lin 48 of SaOkGearInit.sqf:

if (handgunWeapon _this != "") then {if (count (handgunMagazine _this) > 0) then {SaOkGearOther = [SaOkGearOther,((handgunMagazine _this) select 0),1] CALL SAOKADDORREMOVE;};SaOkGearPistol = [SaOkGearPistol,handgunWeapon _this,1] CALL SAOKADDORREMOVE;};

Am I barking up the right tree ? Also I wonder if there is any overview document of how the addon is coded ? Or is it all described "in the code" ? BTW I should add any modifications I make are for my own personal use. I am NOT going to get involved in public releases of updated scripts.

[jerrydrake 10]

Hello to everybody,

First: thanks to SaOk for this wonderful mission.

I have two problems with WLA that I was not able to solve googling...

I list them here hoping someone can answer...

1) when I buy teammates they paradrop near me and immediately after they cut their parachute and fall to the ground. Seems a problem in the code for spamming them. Made a change to it for test purpose and now it works well. I would like to know if somebody else has this problem or is a problem generated by my configuration.

2) when I click on the map (any point) it starts the platoon control and map tools from ace are not working anymore. This happens even outside of high command mode (ctrl+space). Is there a way to deselect units or disable platoon control?

 

Thanks for any help you would give, bye,

JD

[Flatulent Robot 10]

Hi Jerry,

 

I paradrop teammates often and never had the issue you described.  You also mentioned in your second point about using ace?

 

Have you tried the mission without using any mods to see if you have the same issue?  

 

Good luck.  FR

[jerrydrake 10]

Thanks FR,

I've tried only with RHS. I will try vanilla Arma3 and let you know.

 

Cheers,

JD

[jerrydrake 10]

I've checked with vanilla arma and it happens also in this configuration. It seems more a problem of scripts timing. If I swap some instructions in the code it does not give any problem... It seems that one instruction that moves down the unit after having given a parachute to him detaches the parachute. If I move this instruction before having given the parachute to the unit the problem is no more present...

Strange thing.

 

Cheers,

JD