[SP] Pilgrimage

[doc. caliban 34]

In my Windows 7 A3 RPT are located under such path: "C:\Users\Rydygier\AppData\Local\Arma 3"

Appdata is hidden folder though, so you can change in folder settings to show hidden, or try to search for .RPT files from Start menu. Personally I have shortcut to that folder on my desktop. During tests it is most basic and useful debugging tool. In fact without it I wouldn't achieve anything. Smoe in Arma mostly flying planes, other fightin on foot. I mainly read RPTs. :) Note, if you play with -noLogs startup parameter, RPT are mostly useless - empty. There are several RPTs, one per game launch, but if you launched game more times, oldest would be overwritten, sadly.

I do have -noLogs. Oh well. After restarting the whole game and loading the save game, it behaved normally. Probably that tip of saving the game, restarting, and loading it to improve FPS. I have never had to do that, but it apparently worked for me here.

-Doc

[ebarstad 18]

@Rydygier: I was just playing 1.77 and did an assassination mission for a civilian. The target was at a two-man camp. We killed one guy and the target surrendered. When I killed him, I received two emails, each of which resulted in a green circle on my map. The overlap is so small that there are only about five churches in the area. Should there have been two emails or was that a bug? I took a look at my RPT, but nothing stood out.

[Bouben 3]

Ryd, would it be possible to save a game automatically every 20 minutes or so? I need to save a game regularly but I need to feel a challenge that I might lose 20 minutes of progress if not careful. Save-game timing settings would be great too. Amazing mission btw.

[doc. caliban 34]

Ryd, would it be possible to save a game automatically every 20 minutes or so? I need to save a game regularly but I need to feel a challenge that I might lose 20 minutes of progress if not careful. Save-game timing settings would be great too. Amazing mission btw.

I know that struggle ... as an old school PC gamer, I hate "checkpoint" saves ala console games, but have to discipline myself to not manually save so often that it takes part of the anxiety / challenge away. I don't think I'd care for a timed auto-save though ... too much chance for a disastrous save point!

-Doc

[Bouben 3]

I know that struggle ... as an old school PC gamer, I hate "checkpoint" saves ala console games, but have to discipline myself to not manually save so often that it takes part of the anxiety / challenge away. I don't think I'd care for a timed auto-save though ... too much chance for a disastrous save point!

-Doc

Disastrous save point is a valid thought, Doc. It could be solved by separate saves for checkpoints (churches, chapels) and timed auto-save. I don't know if that is possible to achieve.

[doc. caliban 34]

Disastrous save point is a valid thought, Doc. It could be solved by separate saves for checkpoints (churches, chapels) and timed auto-save. I don't know if that is possible to achieve.

There's the answer... disable unlimited saves in settings, and only use the auto-saves at the churches. The stress is getting to each church in tact to get the save.

- Doc

[Rydygier 1317]

When I killed him, I received two emails, each of which resulted in a green circle on my map. The overlap is so small that there are only about five churches in the area. Should there have been two emails or was that a bug? I took a look at my RPT, but nothing stood out.

Should be only one. I'll check, what is wrong there. Thanks.

No, definitelly, there will be no periodical autosaves. Personally I do not like autosaves at all, but decided to provide them for churches and Intel about churches because of many requests. But that's it. As said, you can disable unlimited saves and rely only on provided autosaves or just don't use manual saving more often, than you would like to get autosaves.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Rydygier

[aseliot 2]

If i add custom weapons/attachment do they then spawn in lootboxes?

[Rydygier 1317]

Yes. I'm playing that way with massi's weaponry and I'm getting loot from this addon frequently. I'm playing also with African conflict and some hostile groups are from that addon. Chance for certain content depends directly on amount of stuff in the pool possible for loot. For example if in the vanilla we are finding often flares or smoke grenades it is because these have many kinds (colours) and each kind means another entry in the config.

[neofit 65]

I'm playing also with African conflict and some hostile groups are from that addon.

Wait, not just loot but units too? So I might have to shoot through a checkpoint manned by UN or African Rebel/Government forces some day? And with another pack I may see Taliban patrols?

[Rydygier 1317]

For some purposes pool of groups is hardcoded (checkpoints, hidden camps, strongholds...), but apart from that yes, mission code should recognize and possibly use (add to the pool) units from any addon, that have properly configured groups. Aware though, custom content and/or it's cooperation with vanilla is not very predictable. For example African Conflict works nicely (so I had many battles with some african merc operating on Altis...), but I encountered few addons, that for unknown reason caused massive lags after init and variety of error messages in the RPT (like it was for PLA, IIRC - when editor placed - all was fine. When spawned under loadingscreen by Pilgrimage code - disaster).

Applies also custom vehicles (may be found as empty or used by wheel/track mobile groups).

---------- Post added at 11:56 ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 ----------

I'm trying to sort out assassin missions, but there are serious technical problems when comes to the relation between handle damage EH and killed state of the hit unit. I probably will be forced to switch for Killed EH, and that means, code will no longer detect, if taget was eliminated by headshot or not. Seems, that otherwise it will never work reliably.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Rydygier

[neofit 65]

That's awesome news about the new units. So the patrol and AC content will be taken from the modded pool, so we can see some Mobutu vs Iranians vs UN vs Taliban vs Spetsnaz battle, all for the ownership of some hill on a Greek island? :)

Could you share the names of the unit add-ons that you know work well with Pilgrimage? Then maybe people will try more and post more do's and dont's.

Also, I suppose the minute long wait during the initialization of the mission and the short lag on the beach are due to the game creating all the loot boxes and cached unit spawns? So there is no point in adding a unit or weapon mod to a mission in progress because we won't see them unless we restart?

[Rydygier 1317]

So the patrol and AC content will be taken from the modded pool, so we can see some Mobutu vs Iranians vs UN vs Taliban vs Spetsnaz battle, all for the ownership of some hill on a Greek island?

Yep. Pool will be expanded with modded content.

Also, I suppose the minute long wait during the initialization of the mission and the short lag on the beach are due to the game creating all the loot boxes and cached unit spawns?

Boxes are created on-the-fly around the player, but mainly yes. At init game is very, very busy with populating whole Altis with groups and objects. The higher population init settings, the longer it takes. Short lag after init also is expected, for some reasons decided to delay for some seconds caching (to allow just spawned stuff to settle a bit into simulation before I'll suspend it), also caching code must run through every 1100 AIs and many objects. Difference between initial lag and no lag shortly after is basically difference, caching system makes. So you can experience, how valuable FPS protector caching code is. :)

So there is no point in adding a unit or weapon mod to a mission in progress because we won't see them unless we restart?

Yes. No point. Pool (including AC) and population (except AC) is collected at the init only.

Could you share the names of the unit add-ons that you know work well with Pilgrimage?

I can recall only two working fine, I'm using. It is African Conflict and CAF Aggressors (no problems, there is some loot and empty vehicles, but for some reason no AIs). There also was some PMC addons, but I can't recall exactly names. And for 90% PLA was a troublemaker. There was some another addon troublemaking too, but not sure, something about custom own Altis army units. As for the other - must be tested. It is easy, as if something is wrong, it will be visible from the beginning, just load one tested addon at once to be sure, which is causing what. Persistent lags & no sound means addon breaks something somewhere.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Rydygier

[Bouben 3]

There's the answer... disable unlimited saves in settings, and only use the auto-saves at the churches. The stress is getting to each church in tact to get the save.

- Doc

Well, I would rather have the auto-save too. I guess it is strongly dependable on a gameplay style.

You see, I spend a lot of time in the "wilderness" exploring areas and loosing an hour worth of gameplay is a bit too much for me.

Ryd, would the automatic saving be possible? I would love it.

[Rydygier 1317]

Answered that question already. Short version:

No, definitelly, there will be no periodical autosaves.

Who wants challenge, may rely on autosaves already provided and disable unlimited saves or save manually as often, as he considers as challenging enough. Who just affraid of loosing hours of gameplay - enable unlimited saves in game options and save manually.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Rydygier

[Bouben 3]

Answered that question already. Short version:

Who wants challenge, may rely on autosaves already provided and disable unlimited saves or save manually as often, as he considers as challenging enough. Who just affraid of loosing hours of gameplay - enable unlimited saves in game options and save manually.

Too bad, I guess :-(

Thanks for the answer anyway.

[Rydygier 1317]

Yep, sorry. If there would be not so many init settings, I could add this as another option to set, but we already exceeded reasonable amount of init settings six ago or so... I simply can't add new init option for every single wish, request and every single taste.

[Bouben 3]

Yep, sorry. If there would be not so many init settings, I could add this as another option to set, but we already exceeded reasonable amount of init settings six ago or so... I simply can't add new init option for every single wish, request and every single taste.

I must admit that I don't understand why is it a problem, because I am not a programmer and dunno how it works in Arma. But I definitely believe you in this one. If you say it would not be good for whatever reason, then fair enough. I understand that.

Thanks for the great mission anyway!

[alky_lee 279]

For a mission like this, you have to enable unlimited saves. This morning I checked a chapel just as a Strider showed up. When the autosave kicked in I was running for cover with bullets whizzing past my ears. I wouldn't like to load in that situation.

I now have quandary - do I finish the official campaign first or just continue with this great mission?

[Bouben 3]

I know what I will do.

I will set my countdown-stopwatch to 20 minutes and will save only when it rings... :-/ but...yeah, that will do... :-D

[ebarstad 18]

For a mission like this, you have to enable unlimited saves. This morning I checked a chapel just as a Strider showed up. When the autosave kicked in I was running for cover with bullets whizzing past my ears. I wouldn't like to load in that situation.

I now have quandary - do I finish the official campaign first or just continue with this great mission?

I really enjoyed the official campaign, but I've had way more fun with Pilgrimage. They're completely different beasts, though, so it will depend on your mood.

[Rydygier 1317]

I will set my countdown-stopwatch to 20 minutes and will save only when it rings... :-/ but...yeah, that will do... :-D

New level of immersion. :) You know what, If I'll have enough time I'll prepare especially for you version with autosaves always on, as you would like, but when will be "sure" enough, it is final version, as I do not want to update many versions simultanously. Limited amount of init settings isn't programmistic issue, but design decision. I do not want to scary new players "for a good start" with the huge board full of control switches. And I want to have init GUI actually smaller than display :) and simmetrical, so init settings comes in triplets...

[Bouben 3]

New level of immersion. :) You know what, If I'll have enough time I'll prepare especially for you version with autosaves always on, as you would like, but when will be "sure" enough, it is final version, as I do not want to update many versions simultanously. Limited amount of init settings isn't programmistic issue, but design decision. I do not want to scary new players "for a good start" with the huge board full of control switches. And I want to have init GUI actually smaller than display :) and simmetrical, so init settings comes in triplets...

Ryd! You are so kind, man! Thank you for this, really.

You don't have to make GUI for that. Just put it in some kind of config file so that I can set the timeout and the true/false stuff.

Thank you very much! You rock.

EDIT: Oh, and of course, take your time. I will respectfully wait as long as needed. No problem at all.

EDIT2: But I will, of course, be satisfied with auto-saves always on if it is a problem for you to put it in the config or something! No problem for me :-)

Edited April 29, 2014 by Bouben

[doc. caliban 34]

Answered that question already. Short version:

Who wants challenge, may rely on autosaves already provided and disable unlimited saves or save manually as often, as he considers as challenging enough. Who just affraid of loosing hours of gameplay - enable unlimited saves in game options and save manually.

I have to say that I agree with this entirely. Having auto saves just to counter a habit of manually saving too often or not often enough would be a bit much in my opinion.

Self discipline!

- Doc

[Bouben 3]

I have to say that I agree with this entirely. Having auto saves just to counter a habit of manually saving too often or not often enough would be a bit much in my opinion.

Self discipline!

- Doc

In my opinion, challenge based on self-discipline does not work well. It misses that feeling of "circumstances you cannot control". It feels forced and not believable. It feels like made-up rules. I don't enjoy that.

Anyway, I don't want to go offtopic here, so... :-)