[MP] Invade & Annex [COOP]

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

Quick fix for the pilot check script (was working fine until ArmA 1.20):

in "scripts\pilotCheck.sqf", locate the code (it appears twice):

player action ["eject", _veh];

and replace both entries with:

player action ["getOut", _veh];

Edited June 12, 2014 by MDCCLXXVI

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

DEV BLOG:

Spent yesterdays Dev time attempting some further optimizations, which proved to be fruitless effort. Tests after implementation revealed slower code performance than beforehand. Had to spend some of todays time undoing the damage, and now back to normal development.

The process always takes longer than I project, for real life reasons and not enough time budgeted for unexpected challenges in development.

[ice_age0815 37]

thats the bad thing a bout some things never going like you thing but if you dont try you dont find out lol

so far you did some ne work and i like to play this mission

and it is really esay to edit the mission to that is a plus

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

DEV BLOG:

Nearing completion of next version.

Almost everything that was slated for development has been addressed. There are a couple more big tasks to work through, one being restoration/enhancement of the urban mission set. It has been pulled apart due to removal of EOS, and as it is a mission enjoyed by many, it is receiving some special attention.

A major hurdle was overcome yesterday, related to cleanup of the new mission sequences.

Pace has quickened and a lot more ground is being covered now. Not quite at MP-testing phase, but getting there ...

This version has quite a few adjustments, so MP stability testing will take a little longer than otherwise, as will longer-term gameplay tuning.

Realistically, I'd say it's still 3-4 days from being ready ... Though given track record for setting deadlines, don't hold your breath!

[ice_age0815 37]

are you gone put in the new VAS interface ? would be nice to have that and the vas 2.5 plus the new inter face so if some one adds some stuff to it so you can make custom ammo boxes

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

Heading out of town for a few days.

are you gone put in the new VAS interface ? would be nice to have that and the vas 2.5 plus the new inter face so if some one adds some stuff to it so you can make custom ammo boxes

I'll check it out.

Have done a little work on VAS but it still needs another pass before release.

At one point I had swapped out to the latest version of VAS, however that version sorted lists alphabetically and there was no (that I could see) sort-by-type option. Alphabetical list sorting IMO is horrible. A rangefinder should appear beside binoculars and laser designator, not beside suppressors and t-shirts. JMO.

Left on the to-do list:

- Urban mission re-dress

- Some systems work to support mission enhancements (custom scripts/functions)

- Vehicle respawn optimizations (will net a reasonable and noticeable FPS gain)

- communications optimizations and improvements (re server communicating with players). Already ripped out much of the current system, ready to add in new one.

---

The version in the original post works fine, however since ArmA 1.20 has had some instabilities and performance leaks that were not present in ArmA 1.18. Nothing serious in the gameplay sense, but a serious concern from mission designer sense. As such am doing my best to get next version out.

A couple tasks have been pushed off the back end of the schedule as a result. An example is building a squad management interface, simply no time for it yet. Maybe with another two weeks, but that is too long. Another is 'scaling' difficulty to match the skill/resources of the players. That is coming, but has been pushed back to a later version.

sneak peek of some tidbits in this coming version: these are not central pillars, but 'nice to have' things IMO.

- Artillery in the form of M4 Scorcher is returning to the mission. :) There is a system in place to mitigate and prevent abuse and over-use of it, however.

- Vehicle Towing will be in this coming release. Not wholesale and it will be role-based, for certain specialist roles only.

- Para-jumping will be in as well, but only for certain roles and only under certain conditions.

- UAV Terminal also returning to the VAS box, but will only be usable by the UAV Operator. This will allow UAV Operator to use the VAS functionality without losing the Terminal.

I'll endeavor to make the above parameterised so server admins can choose to run the integrated scripts or third-party ones.

Edited June 16, 2014 by MDCCLXXVI

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

edit: see my next post (#34)

Edited June 21, 2014 by MDCCLXXVI

[ice_age0815 37]

all ways nice to hang out some where else hope you had a good time

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

HOTFIX for ArmA 1.22 Update:

Original post has been updated with hotfixed 2.75 version.

Fixes:

- addActions on VAS, side missions, base functionality, etc.

- Cleanup code slightly improved (applied to manual cleanup cycle, on laptop in control tower). Some code from next comprehensive release was pasted into this version to address some cleanup leaks that crept in in ArmA 1.20 update.

------

Multiplayer stabilization and testing for next comprehensive release began yesterday

Edited June 21, 2014 by MDCCLXXVI

[speedygonzales 15]

We are playing this missions since yesterday and we have to say very nice peace of work you did there until now. Have to play some more, to know whats all possible ;). Is there a possibility for a HC version of this mission ?

[ice_age0815 37]

so far so good works really good

[massasster 1]

I was having issues getting your mission end to trigger, for the life of me the "count list" using the trigger just would not function correctly.

changes I made

removed AO Detection trigger _dt

		
//---------------------------------------------- WHEN ENEMIES KILLED

waitUntil {sleep 15;
_OPFORCount = {(side _x) == east} count allUnits;
_OPFORCount < 10;
_pos44 = format [ "Bad Guys: %1 Left", _OPFORCount ];
GlobalHint = _pos44; hint parseText GlobalHint; publicVariable "GlobalHint";
};

currentAOUp = false; publicVariable "currentAOUp";

_targetArray = _targetArray - [currentAO];

//---------------------------------------------- DE-BRIEF 1

Just seemed like a cleaner way to do it, but it's not tested yet -

if you have any suggestions as to why the current method of count list isn't working - please let me know!

Edited June 30, 2014 by MassAsster

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

I was having issues getting your mission end to trigger, for the life of me the "count list" using the trigger just would not function correctly.

changes I made

removed AO Detection trigger _dt

		
//---------------------------------------------- WHEN ENEMIES KILLED

waitUntil {sleep 15;
_OPFORCount = {(side _x) == east} count allUnits;
_OPFORCount < 10;
_pos44 = format [ "Bad Guys: %1 Left", _OPFORCount ];
GlobalHint = _pos44; hint parseText GlobalHint; publicVariable "GlobalHint";
};

currentAOUp = false; publicVariable "currentAOUp";

_targetArray = _targetArray - [currentAO];

//---------------------------------------------- DE-BRIEF 1

Just seemed like a cleaner way to do it, but it's not tested yet -

if you have any suggestions as to why the current method of count list isn't working - please let me know!

Hey, referring to the 2.75 version in the OP:

Be careful when removing the detection trigger in favor of pure enemy counter.

Reason is that I&A main objective is primarily area-clearance. Enemies can stray outside the area (this is preferred in some cases). What this means is players sweeping the area may not find the last few enemies (who could be 1km from the red zone), and play will stagnate, players will get bored, and mission progression will grinde to a halt.

Detection trigger allows enemies who stray outside the red zone to still be significant in combat, but insignificant with respect to clearing the red zone/completing the objective.

You're also counting allUnits in that code.

Keep in mind, side missions spawn units too.

...

What sort of 'mission end' are you hoping for? You mean, endMission and subsequent de-briefing? If that is the case, there is nothing of the sort coded in. It's meant to be run until the server gives out ;)...

That version (2.75) is quite linear structure ... ie once

waitUntil {sleep 5; count list _dt < PARAMS_EnemyLeftThreshhold};

is passed, the AO will continue with de-briefing, possible defend sequence and then cleanup/recycle to next area.

I suppose I should inform ... If the radio tower is not destroyed, the above line will not be read and there could be zero enemies left in the AO and it would still not complete the objective while the tower is up.

waitUntil {sleep 3; !alive radioTower};

For next version I have changed the entire structure for performance reasons and content additions. waitUntil is quite a high-speed loop, much faster than is required for mission state monitoring. I have changed the structure to a while loop with a couple 'if thens'.

--

DEV BLOG:

Speaking of next version, I apologize to everyone for setting a date for release ... I can't guarantee a day, but am working hard to get it out soon. The task was quite substantial and its almost over. Yesterday finished building a fully functional field hospital which is compatible with my modified BTC Revive. Today, got some work done on some more complex work with the FOBs.

example: when players capture and secure the FOB, drive the medical truck to the FOB it will activate the respawn point (forward-deployed fully-functional field hospital for FOBs coming in a couple weeks).

the task I was working on today is, when the enemy retakes the FOB (which is more than likely to happen many times), the respawn point is removed, and I had to put in a way for players to re-activate the spawn point when it is safe, without repeating the initial logistics mission.

Yesterday, spent time working on more FOB logistics missions, specifically re-supply. Loading/unloading ammo crates that players can take to the bases to keep them supplied. I have already added a 'supply' logistics mission, but the concept of re-supply came up and I decided to add another taste of logistics and support tasking.

What is still not quite up to snuff for release:

- Medical system: A couple inconsistencies with acquiring the First Aid action, and duplicating actions. This is a very stripped down, leaned out and 'high-speed' modification of BTC Revive. The work on this was done 8 weeks ago, so I have to go through and revise to find where the error is. There are some setVariables and getVariables need to be debugged. Incidentally, the field hospital is more consistent with BTC revive than medics are :).

- Testing the full mission cycle, testing how it transitions from region to region, how the FOBs pack up and then re-deploy when necessary. I am reasonably optimistic here, but nothing is 'done' until its tested 100 times.

- Notifications and Hints. There is quite a bit of new mission content and I haven't had time to build in notifications and hints. Initial implementation will be basic.

- Mission cleanup. A couple of the missions are stubborn and the units/vehicles refuse to be cleaned up. It will take an hour or two to sort this out and test it.

- Some of the cleanup code is quite stiff as well, cleaning stuff up almost right after the objective is completed or the thing is destroyed. That is something that will require a second pass for following version, to 'smooth' the edges.

- A lot of last week was spent restructuring the way players interact with mission features, and building/testing a vehicle respawn script. The result will be -- without exaggeration -- a 100% increase in performance and perhaps 500% (or more) increase in mission longevity ..

- To understand how such a performance increase is possible, remember that ArmA 3 does not make good use of lateral processing power. By shaping mission/script structure to be 'in-series' rather than 'in-parallel', adapts better to ArmA 3's use of CPU. A 'one thing at a time' approach. Result = better performance which can go to either pure FPS gain, more enemies/mission content, or a blend of both.

Last week, I converted the coming version from doing about 50-60 things in parallel to doing about 7-8 things in parallel. This frees up an immense amount of processing power (which allows AI to act smarter) and widens the performance bottleneck, giving players a little higher FPS too.

- I've stopped working on scripts, and just trying to stabilize mission content for release. Work on the player/server support scripts will continue, but some have been marked as WIP and put on back burner until after this version has been run on populated server for abit. An example of this is vehicle sling. It is unstable in its current form and no time to spend stabilizing/testing it, so it is shelved for the time being. Another is squad user interface. No time!

I can't put a day on it, but--assuming all is working well--it could be any day now for first public dev build of it. I tried to get it up on a server today, but testing of new format urban missions reveal the enemies are not being cleaned up when the objective is done. This is unacceptable to me. When I open the mission folder tomorrow, I have to finish off that, and then finish off the above-mentioned thing with forward respawn point adding/removing/adding.

To finish off and fully stabilize the new medical system, will require some MP testing, so when i launch open dev build, that is a priority task.

Edited July 1, 2014 by MDCCLXXVI

[massasster 1]

yeah I did notice that - the trigger was absolutely just failing to "trigger" no matter what using count list _dt - I'm not sure if it's a linux issue or what - I had to come up with a work around and counting all the units on the OPFOR was the logical quick fix. Look forward to your next release!

if you wanted to look at my quick fix ( http://es-gamers.com/invadeannex.Altis.pbo )

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

yeah I did notice that - the trigger was absolutely just failing to "trigger" no matter what using count list _dt - I'm not sure if it's a linux issue or what - I had to come up with a work around and counting all the units on the OPFOR was the logical quick fix. Look forward to your next release!

if you wanted to look at my quick fix ( http://es-gamers.com/invadeannex.Altis.pbo )

I have to ask again, are you sure the radio tower was destroyed at the time you believe the _dt wasn't working?

[massasster 1]

Yeah positive, it's the first thing I do - take down the tower - I remember the mission clearly - it was the castle at the hill peak - we took the tower, invaded the castle killing every single AI. I remember, because it was extremely painful to hunt down the last of them. At that point I ran a few tests and found the count list to be non-functional. I'm un-sure of the cause, be it linux or another freak thing - but it was just flat out not going to let us move on. I know what your saying about the mission file being linear , but the tower was not the hold up :(

[ice_age0815 37]

had the same problem mission did not end

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

Hmm strange.

Only time I have heard of that issue is when the trigger is deleted. Also some cleanup scripts can do that if they are set to delete "EmptyDetector" vehicles.

Can provide a .pbo I can have a look at, if it has been modified from the one in OP. Or just more info. ie which AO did not cycle, which part of the island was it in...?

I have changed that code structure dramatically for next release to improve performance and versatility, but would still like to have the 2.75 series working and stable at least until ArmA 1.26.

[ice_age0815 37]

i had it happen on the east side of the map

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

DEV BLOG:

Eased off the pressure recently.

Was really trying to get next version out last week, however it just wasn't meant to be.

Settled into a rhythm of getting a couple tasks finished per dev session. Today, finished off (100% done) the next iteration of player gear configuration, role-based restrictions and a safe-zone around spawn area. The current safe zone works for small-arms, but did not confront the issue of vehicle-based griefing. This update will stamp most of that out, with few exceptions. There will always be methods of giving other players a hard time, but this will mitigate it to some extent. It will also perform better and have a lighter footprint on a players CPU than prior.

Admins will have parameters to implement (or not) specific role-based gear restrictions, yet also have the ability to adjust these on-the-fly should circumstances arise where they are deemed more or less necessary.

...

Initial MP trials last week of new medical system were positive but revealed a serious bug. Got around to dealing with it today, its sorted and ready for another MP trial.

...

Spent quite a bit of time on Thurs/Fri working on the main AO, making sure everything works just right, and introducing a little more objectivity into the gameplay. Nothing drastic, as I believe the "if it ain't broke..." expression fits well here. Also worked on speeding up spawn times and improving code performance of main AO initialization process.

...

In the background, have been interlacing a comprehensive cleanup system into the mission. The cyclical ones are nice now, but they don't get in the cracks and and corners of the mission. Work in this area can squeeze a few drops of free (no gameplay cost) performance out of the code. It's almost done but is quite tedious. Also found a few monitoring loops which were significantly tighter than they need to be. Loosened them up, again for performance sake.

Tasks for this week:

- Get medical system to 100%

- Get cleanup code to 100%

- Remove the 'dev scaffolding' from some parts of the mission file.

[ice_age0815 37]

sound like a really good plan you got there

still a lot of work ahead of you

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

DEV BLOG:

Side missions:

- They have all received another pass. Several bugs have been hunted down and killed. They've been further optimized to stop sending unnecessary network traffic and have a gentler footprint on the server CPU and also server memory cache.

- The 'secure chopper' side mission has not been functioning since ArmA 1.18, due to anomalies with createVehicleArray and isFlatEmpty. Sorted.

- The 'secure Intel' side missions have received another pass, not just bug hunting, but also some gameplay upgrades. This side mission is probably the most fun part to test offline in I&A :). Currently in 2.75.30, if the target spots you he tries to run away. In coming version, there is also a lookout. Finding and taking him out is imperative in order to sneak up on the target. Only other option is to lay a crafty ambush and hope for the best!

Main AO:

- Addressed some more spawning issues. Frequently an armored vehicle or two was being destroyed right when it spawned, as it would spawn clipping into a building or structure. What a waste! Spent some time addressing this issue.

Performance:

- The comprehensive cleanup code is 100% integrated. Took ages to go through the entire mission file, as each step of the way had to be tested to ensure it works.

Player scripts:

- Gave players a bit more choice in which scripts they run, and also added a couple performance-boosting options to the player interface terminals. Slow computer or don't like the script? Don't use it! Players will be able to pick and choose which scripts they run.

- Did some performance tweaks on a couple of the player scripts.

Player vehicles:

- Going to apply the changes to main AO spawned vehicles, to the vehicles that spawn at base. The vehicle manager I devised is brutally simple and I accepted for first release there were going to be some anomalies (especially in the car park!!!).

General:

- Added a heap more parameters for server admins to fiddle with. Example:

class NumberOfEnemiesInBuildings {
title = "AO NUMBER OF ENEMIES IN BUILDINGS";
values[] = {0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50};
texts[] = {0,5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50};
default = 15;
};	

...

class SafeZone {		// Lvl 1 = small arms, Lvl 2 = small arms and vehicles weapons, Lvl 3 = small arms,vehicle weapons and drivers
title = "SPAWN SAFE-ZONE";
values[] = {0,1,2,3};
texts[] = {"OFF","LEVEL 1 PROTECTION","LEVEL 2 PROTECTION","LEVEL 3 PROTECTION"};
default = 2;
};

Medical System:

I *think* medical system is at 100%. Has not had another round of MP testing yet, that's a priority in the next few days.

Edited July 11, 2014 by MDCCLXXVI

[ice_age0815 37]

do you still have that clean up inventory script in there ? would be nice to get rid of that to

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

15/07/2014

Will be doing some assessment of 2.75 code with respect to ArmA 1.24 update, to ensure 1.24 compatibility.

Also will be doing some assessment to ensure the version I'm working on releasing is 1.24 compatible.

do you still have that clean up inventory script in there ? would be nice to get rid of that to

Yes that is removed for upcoming version. There is a different (imo better) implementation of inventory clearance and also inventory loading and logistics.

[ice_age0815 37]

have to ask one more thing lol

i like VAS its cool but can you take that out to and replace it with VR Arsenal ?