THE ONLY ONE ULTIMATE COOP (Kinda save mission progression in mutiplayer game)

[tratsh 10]

Hi to all the scripta killa, and particulary Nikiller

+ THE STORY : ( if you want only the fact jump down to FACT section below)

While i was diggin deeply into the nikiller script pack, I found those threads about this amazing Spawn squad UPS . :459:

This lead me to a mission idea :

Make a huge coop revive on nogova where you have to really conquer the whole island with something like 20-30 different objectives (take/hold village, destroy convoy, liberate hostage, destroy strategic things, protect vip , escort squad, and many other thing to do)

So this script apparently can make it ( with "few" modification i guess) without creating lagg.

But this will make something like a 15 hour mission...

-And nobody can hold that (or maybe with coffee drip in you veins)

-Server will crash at a time ( like many time before):computer:

-Some player will drop.

-Player will keep asking for joining or "how much time before the end?" ( as far as I know, In-game joining is beyond scripter's skills)

-OFP actual players are rare and come from all over the world . So have very different schedule. -> hard to set a full clan game for more than 1 hour.

So for this adventure we obviously need a saving game capability a bit like in a campaign.

But only "a bit like" because the idea behind flashpoint is freedom and unpredictability and I want that spirit in this mission.

I have a dream that any player of this mission can start by any objective he want and finish by the one of his choice . ( get out this body Martin !!)

Then ofp will do the rest. Means changing the game experience as players are doing objectives in a different order each time.

So my idea was that each achieved objectives unlock two new objectives.

But after many drawing of possibility and probability trees my mind start blow up and I give up. FPDR

What else ... Mmm ah yeah , a nespresso of course ! :ill:

My mind blow because upon all those possibilities. I wanna deeply implement a kind of increasing difficulty and increasing means of action accessible to the player (from rifle to tank to helicopter to plane...) as players go through the objectives.

So finally this will be a one way mission . no different path . one objective lead to one another.

My mind start feelin better at that point.

But the saving problem asn't be solve yet.

So my idea was that technically the mission always start at the begining But as you reach a specific triggered object ( i think about a computer) there is a kinda menu appearing that propose you to start at your last saving point. But this is not possible like that .On the other hand it's possible to give access to your last objective by entering a password in this menu ( like in my lovely old genesis game ) .

This password will be given to player at each objectives ends. And by entering it in the computer "menu" will bring ( spawn) the whole team to their last objectives.

You will told me: "yeah sounds great but there is a simpler way"

Just do several short mission . make a series with number ( Band of commrad 1-2-3-4-...) and play it in the right order.

But that's creating what i hate the most is those series The non-realism:

let me explain with an exemple : Mission.pbo A is to take airport and Mission.pbo B is to take a village next to the airport.

i play the mission A: As the mission.pbo A is set with enemy only at the airport . if I choose for strategic reason to move to the village ( the one im supposed to attack in mission.pbo B) there is nobody !! the village will be empty... and i can attack the airport from this village without being annoyed by enemy that will appear by magic when i will play the mission.pbo B and so on with mission.pbo C - D - E -...- Z the whole island will be empty so logically nothing to do with really take back the island .

Ok well so you will probably told me "yeah so just do a main mission file with all the spawn for all unit and obj set on it .And then create several pbo mission file by deleting spawn of the previous objectives done and that's it "

yes that will work but ...

-That will make many mission pbo files .

-That will break the mission continuity when sometimes not needed.

-That will allow player to choose to overtake the increasing difficulty level by starting by the last mission.

By using some password i wanna create a kinda Flashpoint event by:

-Create a reward feeling.

-Make different clans compete to be the first to advance in campaign.

-Make sure that any new players who start that campaign really enter deeply in it from start.

-That will give a kind of immortality of the campaign as different generation of gamer will discover this mission step by step.

Because one thing i observed during 10yrs on flashpoint is that clans/servers are disapearing but new ones keep creating with different players who discover or rediscover continually the missions . Even some fathers now learn how to play this awesome game to their kids

So lets sum up the fact now.

+ FACTS

RED I need big help

ORANGE I need little help

GREEN I can do

SPECIFICATIONS of the mission pbo file.

We must have:

-a coop revive mission

-With 20-30 objectives ( very different, not only take village type)

-New objective appear on briefing one by one only when the previous is done.

-To each objective correspond a series of spawn squad and/or vehicles.

-Those spawn appear when any player is moving at visual distance of the obj. even if this obj. is not revealed in briefing.

-All spawn squad disappear when no player is in visual range and RESET to 0 (all unit killed will come back if player is again on visual range) .

-EXEPT the current obj appearing in briefing. This one never reset whatever happend.

-Once the current obj is done the player (maybe only the team leader) obtain a "password" and can simply continue the mission going to the next obj.

-If at one moment the game is over . all dead/server crash/ need rea for new player:

° The player can still continue the mission to his last objective by entering the corresponding password.

° For this he go to a triggerred object at the mission start -> a menu appear -> he enter the password -> the whole team spawn at the corresponding objective.

We should have:

-An increasing difficulty at each new objectives

-An increasing means of action delivered like support at each new objectives.

-A decreasing size "enemy occupied zone" marker at each end of obj.

-

Could be nice to have:

-Some achieved objectives in briefing lead to not only 1, but to a choice of 2 or 3 new objective in briefing.

-When those 2 or 3 objectives are done it can lead to 1 or 2 or 3 other objectives.

-

To help you understand what i certainly badly explained

link to the concept map view:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2W8Ac80WiVod2x1R2k1eXVXTkk/edit?pli=1

So here it is... I welcome gladly any help, scripts, ideas, improvements, comments , suggestions, objections, support, tips, jokes....

I will give my email and skype if needed

[zulu1 145]

Hi,

What you propose to do sounds great, but there are many problems.

First you have to work within the game engine limitations. I don't think saveGame, saveIdentity, saveStatus and saveVar are available in MP. That's why MP campaigns are broken into indivdual missions. Many things that work in single player mode fail in mutiplayer.

OFP does not have JIP feature either so once this mission is started no one can join in.

Nowadays the OFP community is only a small fraction of what it was and multiplayer activity is only a handful of players spread across five or six servers.

You could build some type of Dynamic Mission where different objectives are created based on how the mission is played. This will require a fair amount of intense scripting which I don't think too many would be willing to do.

You should look into Silola's Dynmaic AI Creator:

http://ofp.gamepark.cz/index.php?showthis=9275

Here is the fourm thread:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?45250-Mapfact-net-releases-DAC&highlight=DAC

[tratsh 10]

hi zulu1,

thanks for your quick answer,

-Concerning the game engine limitation, i thought that thanks to spawn squad triggers those engine limits would have be lowered as in fact only few spawn squad trigger get activated at the same time and limited to 12 player visual range .

So my question is. As we overtake the group units limitation, is there a triggers limitation ?

Maybe have 300 triggers on the map can cause lagg while loading at start, but can't we make an intro with just an image that will last the time triggers are loaded ? ( a bit like in nogville last version)

-Concerning the savegame, saveIdentity, ... and all the command that require Objects.sav file in campaign directory:

My idea wasn't to create real saving capability . like keeping the weapons you had, the number of squad member ect...

- the idea was just to spawn directly the players to the last objective they had done ( player name can had change) with just giving them approximately satuts, weapons and support level they might had when they reach the "password point".

-Same Concerning the JIP features.My idea wasn't to add a proper jip feature but just to give the opportunity to the player to reassign more often as he know that he will not restart mission from scratch but at the last password objectives

Exemple:

when : the trigger

on activation: "1" objstatus "done", obj1c = 1

Condition : hint format {"objective achieved here is the password to the next objective : PASSPASS"}

"2" objstatus activate.

-> this activate also the series of triggers related to the objective 2 and desactivate all the obj1 trigger and the player can continue to play

Now if after that time the player has to reassign .

he reassign -> start from scratch -> go to computer triggered object -> if he enter the PASSPASS -

This bring/spawn him and all his team to a place next to the objective 2 (where there is ammo crate, support so he can approxilately found kind of wepons he had before, it desactivate all the obj1 trigger, and activate all the obj2 trigger.

So player have the kind of impression they come to a saving point.

-concerning the dynamic mission as i explain in the upper thread i GIVE UP this is far to complicated and will be really tough to mix with level up.

SO you only go from one obj to one another. Because if you enter in an area which is a different obj from the one you are supposed to do, you will see the units, you can kill them but all vehicle are locked and you cannot succeed the hidden objectives and if you go back out obj. trigger area all unit you had kill or destroyed will reappear again if you enter back in .

here link to exemple:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2W8Ac80WiVoeE5iNFZtdXlPYU0/edit?usp=sharing

What i mostly need is that script.sqs that i will put on the init file of the computer. That will

Ask for a pass->When pass is entered -> bring the whole team of players to the corresponding current objective start, nearby a corresponding ammo crates and support unit

BASICALLY

enter pass1 = spawn to ob2 features + remove ob1 features

enter pass2 = spawn to ob3 features + remove ob1+ob2 features

enter pass3 = spawn to ob4 features + remove ob1+ob2 +ob3 features

and so on ...

-Concerning the Ofp community . I was thinking a bit the same as you .

But i noticed recently that in fact if out of 90% of old timers playing on the few server left there is also approx 10% of total new comers .

and new clans building up to 15-20 every day playing members out of more than 30 + the Ru server community + what is left of the XROFP community.

http://escuadrontupa.com/tupas.html

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ofp-Escuadr%C3%B3n-Tupa/399106480192836 : non public fb.

I think ofp is still not dead as player are bringing fresh air in it ( new mission, new concept).

I think also that Only 10 % of the editor and script capability has been exploited.

I will hold on till there is still hope. :)