[SP] Pilgrimage

[Kommiekat 11]

How do I come across a hideout? I've not seen one yet. Are they marked on the map?

Also, "You smell fire to your East"

I have no idea about that. A BBQ going on?

Also, "You find a trail with 2 or 3 men North East".

Ok, this one I understand.

Lastly, how important are the telephone calls? Do they just add to the story as background?

Lastly lastly, I'm playing 1.70 Dev branch workbench. Now you've got update. Does that mean I'll have to start all over again or can I continue from my save and get the 1.71 update?

Cheers.

[doc. caliban 34]

How do I come across a hideout? I've not seen one yet. Are they marked on the map?

Also, "You smell fire to your East"

I have no idea about that. A BBQ going on?

Also, "You find a trail with 2 or 3 men North East".

Ok, this one I understand.

Lastly, how important are the telephone calls? Do they just add to the story as background?

Lastly lastly, I'm playing 1.70 Dev branch workbench. Now you've got update. Does that mean I'll have to start all over again or can I continue from my save and get the 1.71 update?

Cheers.

The camps are hidden in the woods usually ... the smell of a campfire is a clue to one's nearby location. I find that looking for them at night by getting up on a high point in the mountains and using night vision is a good method.

I think the phone calls are mostly just story. Not certain, but pretty sure. There is one though that has a clue about something you may come across during the mission, but I don't think it's critical to know about it ahead of time.

I'm pretty sure that any change at all in a mission means starting over again. I've had to restart a few times and have never actually finished it yet. :-)

- Doc

[Kommiekat 11]

Thanks for the info, Doc!

[neofit 65]

What is the "sell from hideout" setting for exactly? I suppose it allows one to sell from the big white box in a hideout, but will it at the same time prevent from selling out of the loot boxes?

---------- Post added at 07:42 ---------- Previous post was at 07:28 ----------

Also, does the intel we can find inside buildings with the loot icon refer to local churches? As in, I have all the churches around me crossed from performing "advanced interrogations"; should I spend time looking for intel in the houses in the area? Or, I killed an officer that allowed me to get a green circle around the area where the body might be (nice touch btw), the thing is that it's on the opposite side of the island; should I try and look for intel inside houses on my way there or there is no point, this intel will only reveal the churches in the vicinity of the looted house?

[Rydygier 1302]

Thanks, Doc (is exactly, like he said). Also playing with Blastcore makes finding camps from heights easier due to smoke added by this mod.

Yes, selling from hideout allows you exactly that - to sell directly from one of hideout boxes (smaller one - there are two in 1.71, bigger for storage, smaller for selling or storage). Selling from loot boxes is always available, regardless this setting.

Intel usually allows to exclude some near churches. So if you have already all excluded in given area or marked another area with green circle - usually you gain nothing from intel gathered in this area. But sometimes also intel reveals some areas, where enemy is present. Very rare, but possible (for officer at stronghold however - certain) from any source is also "green circle" intel, that may greatly narrow area of search, as, logically, body will be in the place located in common part of all green circles. So it is your call, if you want to invest time and effort for that small chance, or rather go directly to the green circle area and continue searching there.

I would rather do the latter, if I would like to find body sooner.

---------- Post added at 10:44 ---------- Previous post was at 09:46 ----------

Some ideas for future:

- alternative mode, where independent and east side are hostile to each other, with spawned from time to time around player fights (this implies also body/wrecks removal code), something similar to ambient combat module known from A2;

- alternative setting, that will make, so all weaponry found as loot will have at least one proper magazine (requested);

- third setting to keep GUI simetrical :) , at the moment, no idea, what this may be...

Edited March 30, 2014 by Rydygier

[kremator 1064]

Now wouldn't this be AWESOME as MP ;)

Enjoyng it SP of course as well :)

[Alpha-Kilo 36]

This style of gameplay really shouts for MP with a few good friends. But isn't this mission simply too big for MP? Could one possible finish it in one session? An MP game on Stratis may be a solution or on a just a part of Altis. Perhaps one of the human players could determine a radius where the mission takes place?

My personal favourite would be an adversarial game: Say not only the brother but also an evil scientist who is interested in the "device" both search the body. Each of them may recruit a doc and perhaps a few buddies who can be either AI or human. This mode could be played in COOP as well, if only one of the teams is filled with human players. It would be great to play together with the people who keep this thread so lively and of course with or against Rudygier. But it must be awfully complicated to turn this mission into MP. Perhaps this idea is pushing the limit a bit too far.

[Rydygier 1302]

it must be awfully complicated to turn this mission into MP

I think so. Not sure, how much complicated though, as I'm ignoramus either as for multiplayer (never played, not interested in fact) and MP scripting (locality, MP solutions, specificity etc. blah blah). So really - do not know, if this will happen. If so - at the very end of mission development stage.

[neofit 65]

Re: Strongholds. Are you using some already existing landmark like a military base or outpost, or a factory? Or are are you building something new in a spot that has nothing on the map? The reason I am asking is that I got the green circle but most of the red enemy activity circles are on the other half of the map. I want to visit them to see what a stronghold is like and maybe get a companion, since I'm not sure there is one on the green part of the map. But I don't want to spend too much time checking out the red circles that don't have a landmark in them either. So is it safe to ignore the red circles that don't have a big landmark in them? Can a stronghold be in a city?

Also, if I kill a second officer and he also has "green circle" info, will my existing green circle become smaller?

Also, there are 3 airfields on Altis, isn't there? The big one in the middle, one in the NE and a dirt one in the SE?

[Rydygier 1302]

Re: Strongholds. Are you using some already existing landmark like a military base or outpost, or a factory?

Yes. There are two strongholds on randomly chosen from 10 predefined positions at not marked on map with location name military bases or industrial areas (not cities). Look for such places.

Also, if I kill a second officer and he also has "green circle" info, will my existing green circle become smaller?

No. Second circle will be added to the first, although size of each circle varies. This may help a lot, as we know, body must be inside both circles, so seraching area is then narrowed only to common part of both circles.

Also, there are 3 airfields on Altis, isn't there? The big one in the middle, one in the NE and a dirt one in the SE?

I found six runways including this on salt lake. From them two are randomly chosen and populated with heavy guards and chopper.

---------- Post added at 16:54 ---------- Previous post was at 16:49 ----------

- third setting to keep GUI simetrical , at the moment, no idea, what this may be...

This may be eg optional random presence of some single renegade units guarding some houses with loot. I'll see, if doable.

Rather not. This means risk of spawning too many units such way or too few to make a difference. Perhaps then initial daytime in third slot...

Edited March 30, 2014 by Rydygier

[doc. caliban 34]

I think so. Not sure, how much complicated though, as I'm ignoramus either as for multiplayer (never played, not interested in fact) and MP scripting (locality, MP solutions, specificity etc. blah blah). So really - do not know, if this will happen. If so - at the very end of mission development stage.

I find coop MP to be a very rewarding way to spend time with friends ... even just one. I play the original Ghost Recon a couple nights a week in coop MP with 2 friends, 3-4 on rare occasions when everyone is available, and it's a great deal of fun. As pointed out, this mission would be great with a human buddy. If you ever decide to try an MP version, I know that we'd be happy to test the heck out of it for you.

-Doc

[doc. caliban 34]

I'm confused, but probably because I have not read the thread well enough. :-)

1.71

How do I heal? I have a hideout, but not the option to rest 6 hours and heal. Only wait one hour. What is the new method for healing?

EDIT: Figured it out --- I had a couple surrendered enemy nearby, so it would not let me heal.

Question. Do spawned vehicles get deleted if you get far enough away from them? I went back to get ammo at one and found it missing. ?

Edited March 31, 2014 by Doc. Caliban

[Rydygier 1302]

You need to be wounded and you need first aid kit in yours inventory (one will be removed during healing) or medikit (will be not removed - unlimited uses). But action should be visible also without them and any wounds, as you can only rest as well. There are four possible reason of not visible rest&healing action at fireplace:

- Alex is awared about any enemy (any enemy showed on map);

- any enemy knows about Alex (hard to determine, if he isn't attacking you - in such case he probably has no LOS on you, and will "forget" you after about 2 minutes);

- you are currently during rest&heal;

- hideout wasn't established.

In your case this may be first or second.

Tested - works.

PS In rare cases for unknown reason fireplace is at spawn "sunk" into the ground too much and no action can be used on it. But then you also can't establish a hideout nor even put out the fire. Sadly such camp is useless.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Rydygier

[neofit 65]

Question. Do spawned vehicles get deleted if you get far enough away from them? I went back to get ammo at one and found it missing. ?

It depends on the car.

1) Cars spawned by the scenario itself, the ones with the blue names. These don't despawn.

2) The cars from TPW_MODS that you commandeer: they don't despawn

3) The cars from TPW_MODS that spawn near houses to mimick ambient life: these despawn when you are a few hundred meters away, together with the whole inventory

From my own experience only of course, I never read any docs on the issue nor did I reverse-engineer the code. I only had one car of type 3) and it disappeared, so I'm not testing it anymore. But you can see these despawn and be replaced by another model if you come back to the town a few minutes later. The first two will stay there even if you never used them.

[Rydygier 1302]

During tests of 1.72 I encountered first time "no more new stuff" issue. So, tried to trace any clue about reason or at least find workaround. There wasn't any sign of script error in RPT, in fact don't noticed any sign of anything unusual. So until proven otherwise, I'll assume, this is game bug. As for workaround - found one - load save made at time, when all was working fine for sure, eg made just before checking a chapel, that was marked properly.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Rydygier

[SavageCDN 231]

My Internet was down yesterday so I decided I'd give this mission a go - must say it is a lot of fun Rydygier!! Played using TPW mods, ASR_AI, Blastcore and JSRS and it was a very tense few hours!!!

I'll add my vote for a COOP version (even 2 players) but understand if that's something out of scope for this mission.

[meshcarver 12]

Indeed SavageCDN,

Rydygier should be commended for breathing fresh life into the SP side of ARMA3, he's done a great job so far.

[neofit 65]

As for workaround - found one - load save made at time, when all was working fine for sure, eg made just before checking a chapel, that was marked properly.

I wish there was another workaround, I am afraid this one won't work for me. It is past 15:00 in my current game (started at 5:00, I had a busy Sunday :) ), and I personally checked about 2 or 3 chapels only and all during the first hour. The rest were checked through intel. And I have so much money that I don't bother looking for loot inside buildings anymore either. Also, since BIS in their infinite wisdom decided to limit the number of saves to 6, I don't have more than one RL hour worth of saves. Maybe one can put something like a ping while the game loop is still on, like a "Hello world!" every 10 mins or so? Or maybe, if when the game is out of the loop, the number of chapels left or another indicator is at zero or some other distinctive value? So if we have it displayed on the screen we can reload before it is too late?

[Rydygier 1302]

That workaround was a false hope - I used it for same gameplay, but some time later - same problem. Seems, like something is wrong from the beginning and only awaits for certain circumstance to occur. Sadly, it is traceless. As for debugging this I tried many times. Currently there is special log to RPT file, if code exits main loop (what logically should never occur, as this is while {true} do {} with no exitwiths). In my today's case, there is no this log in RPT, so this will confirm second option - loop is stuck somewhere indefinitely. Again - logically no chance for that (checked carefully every while-do and waituntil), yet it happens... Ping was used too for "X" versions. But no one encountered this issue playing X. But anyway, if things occurs like should, that means same, as any "ping", just cyclical events are re-occuring, what indicates, all is fine. If they stop to occur, it is same as lack of expected "ping".

Now I'll try debug it again. perhaps newest changes made this issue more repetitive in my case.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Rydygier

[neofit 65]

Man, I feel for you, doing this instead of playing...

A suggestion: add a "Donate" button to the first post.

[doc. caliban 34]

You need to be wounded and you need first aid kit in yours inventory (one will be removed during healing) or medikit (will be not removed - unlimited uses). But action should be visible also without them and any wounds, as you can only rest as well. There are four possible reason of not visible rest&healing action at fireplace:

- Alex is awared about any enemy (any enemy showed on map);

- any enemy knows about Alex (hard to determine, if he isn't attacking you - in such case he probably has no LOS on you, and will "forget" you after about 2 minutes);

- you are currently during rest&heal;

- hideout wasn't established.

In your case this may be first or second.

Tested - works.

PS In rare cases for unknown reason fireplace is at spawn "sunk" into the ground too much and no action can be used on it. But then you also can't establish a hideout nor even put out the fire. Sadly such camp is useless.

Yeah, it was just the surrendered dudes. I'd forgotten about them, hadn't gunned them down in cold blood, but left the area enough for them to disappear and that fixed it. ( I was out having a good time ramming my Marshal back into the water with a big supply truck because it had gotten stuck just between the land and water where it was still spinning the propellers, but the wheels were on ground so it was going no where. Fun little side project, that was. ) :-)

-Doc

---------- Post added at 17:13 ---------- Previous post was at 17:10 ----------

Played using TPW mods, ASR_AI, Blastcore and JSRS

Question about the JSRS mod ... I've found that the vehicle sounds (Marshal in particular) do not suit me ... rather "Old Atari video game" synthetic sounding ... so I disabled the mod but then the saved game would not load ... is that expected? I have not tested it again, but it seems that I will have to finish the mission with that mod enabled.

-Doc

[Rydygier 1302]

Man, I feel for you, doing this instead of playing...

A suggestion: add a "Donate" button to the first post.

Yep, grim fate of scripters... When you are done with all development and debugging usually you feel sick when you are looking on own creation after all this hours and hours. And then user comes and after 10 minutes of using points you dozen issues to fix... But such creation is so rewarding by itself, so I'm enjoying this anyway. :) Recently I added donate link in Hetman thread. Not sure, if I should multiply my begging bowl... EDIT: OK, added, if anybody want to donate, who am I to hinder? :)

BTW once I added debug, bug hid well again... Next hunting tommorow, I think.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Rydygier

[neofit 65]

Recently I added donate link in Hetman thread. Not sure, if I should multiply my begging bowl... EDIT: OK, added, if anybody want to donate, who am I to hinder? :)

I didn't pay much attention to Hetman, from the description it sounded like an add-on for scripters rather than players. I didn't see the Donate link in there since I stopped reading after the first two paragraphs.

[Kommiekat 11]

BTW once I added debug, bug hid well again... Next hunting tommorow, I think.

Why you don't use your "Hetman" script to help you hunt down your bugs?

[Rydygier 1302]

I didn't pay much attention to Hetman, from the description it sounded like an add-on for scripters rather than players.

Not really. All, what Hetman needs, is properly named unit placed in editor and four empty triggers to mark important areas. Also some groups to command. No any scripting required, all the rest is optional. Anyway, not important here.

Why you don't use your "Hetman" script to help you hunt down your bugs?

:) I'm affraid, it isn't that kind of war, Hetman provides.

Instead, reactivated my dev branch, so if someone want to try 1.72 beta, find link in first post, but please, play without -nologs, and provide me RPT file (path to the folder like: C:\Users\Rydygier\AppData\Local\Arma 3), if issue encountered.

Edited April 1, 2014 by Rydygier