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

[corporal_lib[br] 396]

Just great update! Loved the drunken mission, it was so unexepected and fun (got geared up and hunted down every last FIA down, it was tough but a fun experience to firefight woobling and tumbling lol) and the cliffhanger (to be continued) was nice... hope the beta phase starts soon ;)

cheers!

[IndeedPete 1038]

Happy to hear you liked it! I'm working on more content! But it will take some time until Beta I guess. :)

In other news, the Armaholic link has been updated, thanks guys!

Download

Armaholic v0.53 ALPHA

[tryteyker 28]

The drunken mission has one little problem, leaving your entire gear behind in the car and then forgetting about it costs a fortune... I was forced to enter the next mission without anything because I forgot my stuff :(

Maybe rewriting the dialogue a bit and removing the gear on mission start will help with that.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Ha, sorry to say that but if you leave your gear during a mission, be it in a box, in a car trunk, or just on the ground and then forget about the 10000$ high-tech rifle it's kind of your fault. :P

I could however, make sure that what you've stored in the car (provided you take it to leave the AO) will be transfered to your box in the hub, I think that's fair and realistic. Hence the (optional) task to get back to your car.

Other than that I or the company can not be held responsible for the lost of valuables and/or equipment during a mission. I should add that to the contract... :D

[tryteyker 28]

Well, nobody said the car would be ending up in a ditch and we'd be jogging back to base drunk, so.. :P Wonder what'll happen if I revert progress, I might just screw up the whole thing or save it.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Yes, I might add a dialogue line or two to clear that up. You can revert any time, no problems there. Just the saved missions you've already played after the mission you revert to will be lost. So if you didn't continue after the drunk mission you can simply revert and replay it without losing your gear. Or even better, you revert to the hub before the drunk mission and just leave your stuff at home from the beginning. Since the drunk mission is rather small (it's just supposed to be a fun mission) and you can take more damage (drunk people don't get hurt) I guess you won't have to spend much extra time.^^

[tryteyker 28]

Reverted in the end, went perfect. Besides all my ammo getting lost on the way back to base, that is. Also, I found out I'm legitimately blind, the UAV Backpack in Protection Money is just gone, can't find it anywhere, I swear I found it on the first try when I didn't have my gear..

[IndeedPete 1038]

All your ammo? I've had the issue where sometimes a grenade or a magazine went missing. I'm using an external script package for saving / re-adding gear and I have the suspicion that there might be a mistake somewhere in the code. However, never heard that everything was gone.

Did you take the Backpack back to the hub? (Did you carry it when the mission ended?) It's attached to the armed car. There's no need to keep it but I suspected it should work. I'll take look some time.

[tryteyker 28]

Thinking about it, I probably wasted like 6 magazines taking pot shots at the FIA outpost the mission before, hence why I've only got 1 magazine. And the UAV backpack, not sure what you mean here to be honest. I went into the mission with my regular backpack, searched around the farm and inside the vehicle and the UAV backpack wasn't there.

[IndeedPete 1038]

The backpack is always attached to the armed car as said:

:)

[tryteyker 28]

When did they add that... The backpacks all look the same since there's like a billion of them slung on the truck. :O Quite surprised what you came up with script-wise with this campaign, didn't even know half of the stuff was possible nowadays.

[IndeedPete 1038]

I did add that. oO At least I think. So says the code I found in my init.sqf...

// UAV Backpack
_backpack = "B_UAV_01_backpack_F" createVehicle (getPos IP_Car2);
_wh = nearestObject [_backpack, "GroundWeaponHolder"];
_wh attachTo [iP_Car2, [1.6, -1.7, -1.1]];
_wh setVectorDirAndUp [[0, 0, -1], [3, 0, 0]];

:)

Well, it's 2037! And Arma is a game with endless opportunities! ;)

[tryteyker 28]

Ah, the classic attachTo :P I was thinking it was something fancy coming from ArmA's engine, like the Croatian flag on the vest or the patches on the side of the uniforms.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Nah, that's all custom (adapted) textures applied with setObjectTexture / setObjectMaterial. That's why the file size of the .PBO is 40MB and increasing - all textures of posters, pictures, uniforms, flags, signs and vehicles. I love these little details but I'm not good at image editing. But I'm getting better, slowly but surely.^^

[dfryerd 10]

Hell All,

I am a new user to the forums and using Arma 3.

Could some one help me please,I am trying to get M.E.R.C.S. - Mercenary Expendable Ruthless Covert Selfish to work but i can not.

I have followed the instructions,

First I have unzipped the file.

Then i have put the pbo file in the campaigns folder,

Arma 3 does not pick up or show any missions when i go into play?

Then i tried placing the pbo in the missions folder still nothing,

I have tried them both in folders and not in folders neither work

Could someone tell what i am doing wrong

Many thanks in advance

[frankfranconi 24]

The right place for the pbo to be is the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\Campaigns folder or something similar.

So if you put the pbo in there you should be able to find the M.E.R.C.S. campaign in Play->Campaigns->M.E.R.C.S.

Edited June 12, 2014 by frankfranconi

[das attorney 857]

Hey IndeedPete, just noticed your name for the project is a recursive acronym (well almost). That's quite cool - Did you do it on purpose?

http://d5lx5634mkgoi.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/IMG_16922.jpg

[IndeedPete 1038]

Yes, more or less. The hardest part was the "m". But fortunately, mercenary can also refer to an adjective.^^

[Wiki 1558]

Hey Pete, can you help me with this problem please?

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?179011-Probleme-with-overview-picture-in-campaign

[b0s 18]

Just a heads up, that AGM mod (agm_medical.pbo) strangely breaks the second mission and probably some more. Ransom money givers get shot.

[IndeedPete 1038]

@wiki: would love to help but i'm abroad right now so i can't do anything arma related now.

@bos: thanks for the heads-up. That's why i advise against mod usage. At least for alpha and beta States.

[IndeedPete 1038]

UPDATE - HOTFIX

Just adapted M.E.R.C.S. to work correctly with Arma 3 v1.22 as the new uniform handling as well as some deleted weapon classnames messed up some stuff. Other than that there's just minor stuff in this update. I apologise for the rising size of the unzipped .pbo but it already contains several new WIP uniform textures which are not used in the campaign yet but will be in the future. Hafe fun and please report immediately if you see someone in underwear or experience any script errors! :)

Changelog

0.54 Alpha - 18.06.2014

• FIXED: HOTFIX, some uniforms were gone after patch 1.22 because BIS changed the addUniform command.
  
• FIXED: Home Sweet Home, drove the devil out of the guy who was levitating under his car.
  
• CHANGED: Rest and Recuperation, stuff stored in the car should be transfered to the hub box on mission completion.
  
• ADDED: Custom promotion notifications.
  

Download

Dropbox v0.54 ALPHA

MANW Contest Page

Vote & Support

[IndeedPete 1038]

Armaholic mirror updated, thanks guys!

Download

Armaholic v0.54 ALPHA

[IndeedPete 1038]

Just implemented the possibility to sell stuff in the shop system. It's still a bit clunky due to engine limitations but it's working. Doubled / tripled prices of vests and items in the process. It should either come with the next alpha update (if there will be one) or with beta!

[faire 10]

I love the campaign soo much! The focus on character is great and more work should be poured in it. E.g. the hero should basically hate everyone in the camp (he is in a terrible situation), hate himself for being forced to kill people for money, and it should show in the dialogues (BTW what you did with the presentation is amazing). Instead he is already a satisfied merc in the first mission - that's not very believable or interesting.

Economy: The prices are generally too cheap - you really get what you want way too soon. The enemies should only have very basic equipement - basic rifles, no fancy SMGs and things (Vector is beast, a bit OP - no recoil). The rest you should be forced to buy for horrendous prices to be forced to use the money. The prices should be really brought up - especially for equipement like sniper scopes, NVGs, thermos and the rest. It doesn't have to be realistic, it should be challenging. Selling looted equipement should bring you very low money. You should have a plan fot the economy - knowing lets say that after 5 missions I want the player to be able to have this and that, but not that... The backpacks should be either not aviable, or (ironically) far more exensive. The weight the player can carry could be decreased - that all will make the economy system more managable. The prices should be based on usefulness to the player rather than on real prices - the scopes, especially thermo, should be really expensive.

The missions should require equipement, not just recommend it - than it will force the player to spend the money. A bit less freedom, a lot more challenging if done right.

There should be a safety against robbing killed teammate - like their weapons confiscated on arrival in the camp.

The ransom money mission - the car chase without a car chase is a great idea, the instructions from the chopter work quite well, but the beginning is stupid. Let the player be a backup, force him to stay in the car while the buddy is on overwatch, failing in the end. Then picking up the budy, than going in the pursuit. His final instrution should give him the location of the house and warning about the technical. I would make the mission a bit more difficult - forcing the player to show good driving skills. I don't know the system you are using now(that supposedly chased off the heli).