[SP Campaign] M.E.R.C.S. - mercenary expendable ruthless covert selfish

[IndeedPete 1038]

Thank you!

[K0rn 1]

I've finished this campaign a couple of days ago, so just passing by to say thank you mr IndeedPete sir :P, great work, had a lot of fun, looking forward to playing more of your stuff.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Thanks, glad to hear you enjoyed it. :)

[IndeedPete 1038]

As I've mentioned before, I'm currentlcy reworking the shop system for Project Ice, the M.E.R.C.S. successor. Apart from some sort of capital or stock market to gamble on (which doesn't really concern M.E.R.C.S.) I mostly have usability, lighter configs, and portability in mind. One long term goal is to make the shop portable as requested by some of you over the last year(s) so other creators can use it in their missions. I'm trying to remove as much hardcoded information as possible and will move all that stuff to configs and script parameters. Also, I'm investigating ways to allow players to extend the shop configs by themselves, maybe via the userconfig folder, I don't know yet. Don't nail me on the latter.

 

I have already reworked the basic categories Weapons, Magazines, and Items and gave them new config structures and altered GUIs. The first thing that changed are categories for weapons which can be used to filter what's in stock (1st image). That should speed up the process of finding the perfect weapon. Especially with third party content, a lot of scrolling was involved before. Then there's a cool new button called Find Magazines (2nd image) in the Weapons section which will open the Magazines section with a filter set for the last selected weapon's compatible magazines (3rd image). Again, less scrolling and manual efforts are required. By default, the filter function of the Magazines section is filled with all weapons in possession, allowing for quick rearming (4th image). Lastly, the Items section also received categories which can be used for filtering (5th image).

 

 

As you can see, the last few pictures still have an Additional Function button which does not fulfill any purpose yet. Any idea on how such button could be used to optimise the shopping processes in the Magazines and Items sections? Or any other proposals / wishes?

[Guest karton]

I see there are two topics about MERCS i suppose this is "main" one.

 

I've finished your campaign and what i can say it is really good job. Earlier i mentioned about "White Silk of Thanatos" hovewer your is just better. I would like to see more stuff such like this.

 

Bunch of remarks:

1. In mission where i sneak with commander to to observation position there are lines and points on the map even when i have difficuty level which disables them. Proposition: change them to some nice looking markers (eg. dots or something like this).

2. The same situation is in the mission where i'm recruit in enemy camp and i have to run around the camp.

Additionaly in this mission i had to use often load because i simply didn't knew where to run and how long (too long staying in the same place cause failure of the mission). I figured this out (except how long) after looking on a map. My proposition is to change slightly dialogue to remove any doubts and add sentence like "You will run circles until i say otherwise from here to second hangar and back".

3. After finishing campaign i don't see a reason of buying some Sanctuary enchancements (especially minefields, inner defence and landing pad). Fundamental question is why should i improove sombody's camp with defence when they treat me like necessary problem?

I know i have to spent a money, hovewer i can spent it on myselve (just improove prices of cars or stuff in shop or introduce instance of informer who want money for info about targets).

4. In the last mission i had a problem with finding body of Nikos. After killing last guy in hideout Drazen said that i should search body of Nikos, but honestly i been sure that Nikos was the last killed guy (in this case near the beach). After 15 minutes i found right body somewhere in bushes. Once again dialogue might be modified to something like: "That was the last one, now find Nikos body and search it".

[IndeedPete 1038]

I maintain both threads, one was just for the MANW contest.

 

Thank you!

 

2. That might be due to your diffculty settings. You'll get waypoints assigned around the camp.

 

3. That depends on if you decide to flee from the battle for the camp which you apparently did. When defending the camp, these enhancements might come in handy. Keep in mind that this campaign has eight different endings.

 

4. I think that is also linked to the difficulty setting. Without checking it, I think the task to search Nikos has the destination of his body set.

[Guest karton]

2. No way. I have turned off helpings on map (some 10 years ago:) )

4. It is (i need to get money from dead body to push plot further). Hovewer still goal says i have to wipe out Nikos hideout and take some boat. I just try to tell that there may be ambiguity of what should be done just because unfortunate understanding of dialogue. This is of course not so important.

[IndeedPete 1038]

I was just bored and curious so I quickly made up some project statistics in order to quantify my projects as far as I can. They're by far not accurate and probably belong to the category of useless knowledge. All stats have been determined now, on 30th of August 2015. Downloads are hard to measure as updates are not counted separately and I don't get numbers from all mirrors.

 

M.E.R.C.S.

In development since: March 2014

Releases: 16

Size: 97.5 MB

Inside the campaign PBO are:

• 562 Files in Total
• 62 Texture Files
• 115 Images
• 7 Sounds

Lines of Code: ~63520 (determined with Notepad++)

Project Sources: 4.84 GB in 1033 Files

Downloads:

• 7010 on Armaholic
• 8688 Unique Subscribers on Steam
• 1050 on Arma3.de
• Unknown Number on Dropbox and other Hosts

 

 

 

Project "Ice" (M.E.R.C.S. Successor in Development)

In development since: November 2014

Releases: 0

 

Size (campaign PBO): 110 MB

The campaign PBO alone has:

• 801 Files in Total
• 86 Texture Files
• 90 Images
• 221 Voice Files (currently just TTS placeholders)

Lines of Code: ~40501 (determined with Notepad++, campaign PBO only)

 

 

Size (campaign PBO with addons): ~1.1 GB

The campaign PBO with addons has:

• ~2035 Files in Total
• ~782 Texture Files
• ~100 Images
• 221 Voice Files (currently just TTS placeholders)
• 30 Sounds

Lines of Code: ~90435 (determined with Notepad++, campaign PBO with addons)

 

Project Sources: 22.6 GB in 2773 Files

 

 

 

Interpreting my own rough statistics I guess I need to keep a close eye on Ice regarding its size. Other than that I might need an extra hard drive soon, for the project sources. ;)

 

[inlesco 233]

Nice one, Pete! Why not include also the most stats like sleepless nights survived or simply man-hours spent? :D

[IndeedPete 1038]

Uh, they're even harder to determine! I've estimated that M.E.R.C.S. took between three and five man-months of work. But I don't track my work hours anywhere, it's not like I'm getting paid. Also, could be a testing session I actually have fun with (meaning everything works and no bugs occur) considered work? :)

[sig 10]

Could you do MERCS in Chenarus Pete?

[IndeedPete 1038]

You mean porting the whole campaign to a different island? Nope, it doesn't really fit the storyline and it would be way too much work. That basically means I'd have to redo every single misison.

[bolo861 166]

Hi,

Since I ve got some free time I ve decided to play MERCS in new 1.03 version to get different outcome.

 

I ve encountered bug in the shop system when I am trying to sell standard vanilla MK 200 LMG 6.5 mm machine gun (LMG_Mk200_F) I have selling price 0 (buying price is 9000) and message that I can t sell shis item in shop (or something like that) in the upper right screen corner). I haven t tested it to check if it applies to all machine guns or only MK 200.

 

Regards.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Hi,

 

don't know, sounds like a misconfiguration somewhere. Or the classname differs.

[bolo861 166]

This is vanilla stuff it shouldn t be problems with it, or did the base classnames of vanilla LMG s changed when BIS introduced separable bipods to it in Marksman update? I don t know.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Maybe they changed something. The new shop system iteration won't care for that anymore.^^

[Phlonk 6]

Is there a way to change the color? While playing it seems very brown, just wanted to tone it down abit.

 

Thanks for any response.

 

**The @mod version works, but I could not get the pbo version that goes into campaign folder to work**

[IndeedPete 1038]

Hi,

 

yes, once you're in the first mission, open the TacPad (Support Menu, Backspae - 0 - 8 - 1) and hit the PPEffects Button to disable the fancy colours.

 

I assume the Campaign PBO not working is related to the recent file patching changes. The Campaign PBO system is deprecated anyway.

[Phlonk 6]

Hi,

 

yes, once you're in the first mission, open the TacPad (Support Menu, Backspae - 0 - 8 - 1) and hit the PPEffects Button to disable the fancy colours.

 

I assume the Campaign PBO not working is related to the recent file patching changes. The Campaign PBO system is deprecated anyway.

 

Thank you very much. I will try this out tonight.

[Phlonk 6]

Can you tell me at what point I get the TacPad?

 

I am currently only at the point where I am driving to the Pirate Hideout, is it after that? If not how do I open the TacPad?

 

Thanks again, I know this is a noob question, but new to Arma3 player created campaigns.

[IndeedPete 1038]

You should have it already at that stage. It's the support menu icon left in the screen. You can access the supports by pressing Backspace > 0 > 8 > 1. (I'm actually not sure about the 0, can't check it right now.)

[IndeedPete 1038]

Finally, the successor of M.E.R.C.S. has been announced!

 

https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/186035-sp-campaign-ice/

[ottie snorro 10]

Hello!

I am playin this campaighn for a while now, when I suddenly hit an error in the game.

It happens during teh mission Force Recon, where I have to use the armed truck to get to teh small town to Link Up.
It goes fine in teh beginning, but when I reach the 1st checkpoint, the crash happens.

I have to say, I am using alot of Mods next to yours, but I have had no other problem before, it just now happens there, everytime at teh same spot.

Is this something that has happened before? I have not read the whole forum on your Campaighn, so my apoligies if it has been mentioned before.

Please, help me out if possible.

Tnx in advance,

Arjan

[IndeedPete 1038]

No, that seems to be new. Make sure you're on Stable and disable all unnecessary mods.

[ottie snorro 10]

What exactly do you mean with Stable?

And I'll try to deactivate some mods. Got LOADS running.... Haha