Looking for some help/testers for upcoming dynamic mission

[burdy 11]

Hello, I am making an Invasion 1944 mission and need some help with it. I'm sure some of you have seen me posting here the past few days - but basically i'm trying to make this mission compatible for up to 50-60 players on dedicated servers.

The problem is, any amount of players on a dedi server, and the mission goes to literal shit. There is no desync, solid 45-60 FPS most of the time, yet the triggers and scripts just fall apart. The C47's takeoff scripts go nuts, the planes rubber band like hell, and the mission generally breaks in the first minutes (this is before any DAC is even activated)... If you get through the drop, your met with solid performing AI and good FPS, yet the AI still rubber band like hell (but they do maintain there sharp reaction skills and good shots). I am making the mission on a framework consisting of a mix of DAC and placed, cached units.

I made a video showcase/explanation of the mission + example of it breaking ( 7:30 ) .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooufaz7vlzs

Bear with my bad mic and stuttering - no script to read from/doing it off my head didn't go very well :p

Anyway, if you have any idea what is going on, please reply to the thread. Also, I will give you the files to the mission if you ask, as you guys may be able to find what I did wrong as I simply cant.

Thanks!

[SavageCDN 231]

Sent you a PM Burdy :eek:

What are you using to cache the non-DAC units and are you using DACs built-in reduce function for the DAC groups?

Have you tried a fresh mission with just the DAC stuff to see if it's related to that? You said "before the DAC stuff is activated" - are you delaying the DAC init until later in the mission?

[burdy 11]

Sent you a PM Burdy :eek:

What are you using to cache the non-DAC units and are you using DACs built-in reduce function for the DAC groups?

Have you tried a fresh mission with just the DAC stuff to see if it's related to that? You said "before the DAC stuff is activated" - are you delaying the DAC init until later in the mission?

Some AI Cache script I got off a forum post, you'll see in the mission, name escapes me.. And yes im using the built in reduce function for DAC.

I have not - and when I mean before its activated, is that I set all the DAC zones as [x,1,0] (or however there disabled) so they dont enable till we fly over.. It does run off the bat on the init, so maybe that needs a little delay?

[SavageCDN 231]

Got your PM I'll check out the mission tonight. OK a barrage of questions....

From the video it seems that the problems start once you are in the planes? What if, for testing, you skip that part of the mission and teleport yourself to the AO? (ie: eliminate mando takeoff script as a possible issue)

It does not seem like DAC is the problem as those zones are not activated when the stuttering starts.

Here's what I would also try:

Disable the non-dac caching script, disable coretime.fsm, disable FPS manager, disable cly_removedead - test

What other scripts (if any) run when you get in the planes? Are there a bunch of triggers that are activated by aircraft flying over them?

[burdy 11]

Got your PM I'll check out the mission tonight. OK a barrage of questions....

From the video it seems that the problems start once you are in the planes? What if, for testing, you skip that part of the mission and teleport yourself to the AO? (ie: eliminate mando takeoff script as a possible issue)

It does not seem like DAC is the problem as those zones are not activated when the stuttering starts.

Here's what I would also try:

Disable the non-dac caching script, disable coretime.fsm, disable FPS manager, disable cly_removedead - test

What other scripts (if any) run when you get in the planes? Are there a bunch of triggers that are activated by aircraft flying over them?

I will try the first suggestion when I get home, as the initial problem with the planes is the main problem.

I will try disabling those, but, a lot of those are essential in keeping FPS playable for everyone.

Most of the triggers that activate with the planes are over the AO. I believe the issue could be linked with mandos, but the issue continues after the script completes which I do not get

[SavageCDN 231]

Yeah just disable them temporarily for testing. So this problem happens before the planes reach the AO correct?

Have you tried mando's script in a clean mission with just the planes, etc? If it works fine there then perhaps a conflict between scripts in the mission...

[burdy 11]

Yeah just disable them temporarily for testing. So this problem happens before the planes reach the AO correct?

Have you tried mando's script in a clean mission with just the planes, etc? If it works fine there then perhaps a conflict between scripts in the mission...

Disabled them, planes had the same effect.

Didn't get to try mando's script clean tonight, will try tomorrow... But, the issue was also here before mandos, where the planes would rubber band like crazy in air (bit different then what is in the video but basically it was intense rubber banding where 5 feet forward = 4 back.)

[burdy 11]

Okay so I got around to testing it a bit more.. I narrowed down the issue. Its from the AI Spawned in the map (Hand placed into buildings and what not) - so now the question is, how could I spawn in the units in there hand placed positions through a trigger/script of some sort?

I looked into Murklor's script for editor based ai spawning and the AI would not spawn in a setpos and ran all over the place/ignored the setspeed commands and stuff.

So how could I either A) Get Murklor's script working with the commands I use, or B) What is an alternative to this?

[SavageCDN 231]

Great glad you were able to narrow it down!!

How many AI are we talking here (ones that are hand-placed into buildings)? I've never used Murklor's script but I have used Wolffy's:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?101971-cB-Random-House-Position-and-Patrol

(works on individual units only I believe)

You could also try Zorliya's Garrison script (works on groups and individual units)

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=17678

[burdy 11]

Great glad you were able to narrow it down!!

How many AI are we talking here (ones that are hand-placed into buildings)? I've never used Murklor's script but I have used Wolffy's:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?101971-cB-Random-House-Position-and-Patrol

(works on individual units only I believe)

You could also try Zorliya's Garrison script (works on groups and individual units)

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=17678

I'd say 100-150 Range. I was thinking of a way to place them into a building after they spawn in, would it be possible to set pos and setspeed0 etc for a spawned, named unit?

[SavageCDN 231]

Wolffy's script teleports the unit to the housepos I believe. The garrison script it is an option - they can teleport at mission start or actually move to the housepos instead (also can be done in a trigger onAct).

[burdy 11]

Wolffy's script teleports the unit to the housepos I believe. The garrison script it is an option - they can teleport at mission start or actually move to the housepos instead (also can be done in a trigger onAct).

Okay so I tried The Garrison Script, and it works with spawning the units in (They spawn, move to marker, then on act they warp.) now the problem is - some of the buildings in I44 don't have hospos, which means I would have to use the init. to get them in a house. How would I give the units there default Init's?

Edited October 26, 2013 by Burdy

[SavageCDN 231]

Hmmm...so you want to spawn in units and have something in their init line like a setPos to put the unit where you want, correct?

I'm not sure how you are spawning the units but check this thread:

http://www.armaholic.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=18745

or some results from BIS forums:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=arma+2+spawn+unit+init+line+site:forums.bistudio.com&safe=off&espv=210&es_sm=122

[burdy 11]

Hmmm...so you want to spawn in units and have something in their init line like a setPos to put the unit where you want, correct?

I'm not sure how you are spawning the units but check this thread:

http://www.armaholic.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=18745

or some results from BIS forums:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=arma+2+spawn+unit+init+line+site:forums.bistudio.com&safe=off&espv=210&es_sm=122

Alright - I got the spawning right. So far the performance is A LOT better. Now, I am having a new issue (of course) - Some of the placed units with nothing in there Init's (just regularly placed guys) appear invisible to some players. I will send you the latest build of the mission in a PM for you to check.

Also, a few more things DAC related that you can maybe look at when you see the mission.. First, I am having issues where it keeps saying zone name is incorrect even though for the life of me, I cannot find the problem/duplicate name :P Second, Can you check if the respawn is working (DAC Respawn)? Been having trouble with that.. And finally, do the AI automatically ride in the back of spawned motor vehicles? In my tests, they seem not to be.

[SavageCDN 231]

Usually invisible units are caused by the player not having the correct addon or version of the addon loaded with their game (ie: it's not a mission thing ).

If the DAC group is large enough yes units will ride in the back of motor vehicles.

I'll have time probably Friday to take a look at the mission.

[burdy 11]

Alright Thanks!

New question - How can I spawn a DAC Group midair? (Spawning Planes - have there class names all set up, just need them to spawn midair so they fly instead of sit on the ground)

Edit : Alright, I have been working on my Night of Nights for the past few hours and I can confirm that the units dissaper off the map for whatever reason. Try starting in St L. and riding over to Cabourg - the AA guns and emplacements will just be missing. Very odd phenomenon going on now

Edit 2: Further Testing shows that this could be linked to the "fpsManagerdynamic.fsm". If this is so - big blow to Frame rate. Any idea of an alternative/way around this?

Edited October 31, 2013 by Burdy

[SavageCDN 231]

I don't think it is possible to spawn aircraft using DAC other than choppers... at least I've never tried it myself. I think the DAC manual specifically mentions that this is not possible.

With regards to the caching fsm you could try a different caching script (I assume these units are not controlled by DAC?) - you might have to do some searching on Armaholic to find one.

Sorry I did not get any time to look at the mission (and my I44 files went missing I needed to re-download them) but will do this week.

[SavageCDN 231]

Hi Burdy - any progress on your mission? I took a quick look this afternoon but couldn't find the issue with DAC zones with the same name... I tried going through the mission.sqm file as it was almost impossible in the editor due to the # of triggers :p

[burdy 11]

Hi Burdy - any progress on your mission? I took a quick look this afternoon but couldn't find the issue with DAC zones with the same name... I tried going through the mission.sqm file as it was almost impossible in the editor due to the # of triggers :p

Hey!

Basically I have rolled back to my previous versions due to that the version I sent you, for whatever reason, was not spawning in DAC units in multiplayer. If you can investigate this and see if you can see why/ways to improve performance that would be great :D.

Also, I did start a thread earlier for another question that I was hoping to find an answer to but never did.

Basically, is it possible to have a trigger hold from spawning a DAC Zone when there are more then 300 units on the map? My current init in the trigger (don't have Arma with me atm so cant send off the top of my head) has it so as soon as there are less then 300 units the countdown begins, but it fires at the end of the countdown, even if the number exceeds 300. Is there a way for the trigger to hold at the end of its countdown and wait to see if the condition is still true?

[SavageCDN 231]

I think the no spawning was probably due to the zone name errors but hard to say. PM me your 'rolled back' version and I'll take a look.

Regarding the trigger.. perhaps it's a timeout you need to use instead of countdown? I thought that it would have to have the trigger condition true for the entire length of the count in order for it to fire..... You might also be able to set it up with more than one trigger.

[burdy 11]

I think the no spawning was probably due to the zone name errors but hard to say. PM me your 'rolled back' version and I'll take a look.

Regarding the trigger.. perhaps it's a timeout you need to use instead of countdown? I thought that it would have to have the trigger condition true for the entire length of the count in order for it to fire..... You might also be able to set it up with more than one trigger.

PM'd

It does use timeout, and it checks the variable right as it is set true (trig activate) but does not check it again and will spawn units even if the number is over 300.

[SavageCDN 231]

Roger sorry for the delay gonna check it out Friday when I get some free time

[burdy 11]

Hey just seeing if you ever got around to lookin?