Request: Custom Group Race Script

[lebobo 10]

First off - I am through and through an ideas man and a philosopher. My scripting/coding/programming skills are almost non-existent, however I have great need for some scripting to be done for a mission i'm building.

I apologize for any negative connotations that come with asking for a script to be written. I hope one day to be able to learn how to do it myself from scratch.

What i'm looking for is as follows:

A script that accomplishes the following...

1. players will be able to create custom groups while in the mission

2. group leader will approach an NPC (AI) and scroll to an option "Organize Race"

3. menu appears for all group members to confirm joining race

4. then all confirmed group members will be placed in a vehicle unable to drive, in formation (configurable somehow) for the race start

5. then a countdown timer will go off, at which point group members will be able to drive the vehicle

6. some way to define end of race (certain amount of laps, or marker at end for a sprint type of race)

7. at end of race a menu appears showing race results: position, times per racer, and points distributed based on finishing position

8. group members can then close menu, then all be placed back on foot at the staging area around the NPC where they organized that race

Preferably it's simple to configure this script in multiple places across the map, each for a different race. The races should operate independently of each other. It should work in MP for all players and any JIP players. Bonus for having an on-screen timer and dynamic position overlay during the race

Endless thanks in advance for anyone willing to give this a shot! Also, if any other ideas or methods for achieving this come to mind please share those as well.

I've been looking into what's been done here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?161263-MP-RACE-Race-for-stratis-32

That's almost exactly what i'm looking for, but a bit more complex than what i'm needing and with some annoyances. Once again, thank you for taking a look!

[lebobo 10]

1. players will be able to create custom groups while in the mission

2. group leader will approach an NPC (AI) and scroll to an option "Organize Race"

3. menu appears for all group members to confirm joining race

4. then all confirmed group members will be placed in a vehicle unable to drive, in formation (configurable somehow) for the race start

5. then a countdown timer will go off, at which point group members will be able to drive the vehicle

6. some way to define end of race (certain amount of laps, or marker at end for a sprint type of race)

7. at end of race a menu appears showing race results: position, times per racer, and points distributed based on finishing position

8. group members can then close menu, then all be placed back on foot at the staging area around the NPC where they organized that race

Preferably it's simple to configure this script in multiple places across the map, each for a different race. The races should operate independently of each other. It should work in MP for all players and any JIP players. Bonus for having an on-screen timer and dynamic position overlay during the race

let me approach this a little differently.

1-2-3. what scripting commands should i be looking at for getting a player's group and having the script run for only his group?

4. spawning vehicle and having the players in driver seat is not terrible difficult in the editor - any specific scripting commands different from in editor to do this? and what would prevent them from being able to operate it while they are in the driver seat? vehicle lock doesn't seem feasible to me. as for position to spawn them in the vehicle, i suppose invisible markers would be the best way. anything specific to ensure they are facing the correct ways?

5. what commands are available to help achieve a countdown? i suppose the reverse of locking vehicle usage (ie. a boolean true/false) would be triggered at end of countdown.

6. i don't even know where to position my thoughts for asking about this one lol

7. would i sleep the script until the end of #6 finishing? i gather i'd need to define variables for positions and rankings, and assign a numeric text value to them which i could call as a display for resulting points. somehow...

8. would this be similar to a respawn script, get/setpos?

Once again thank you to anyone taking a look and willing to offer some guidance for a total beginner in the world of Arma scripting!

[lebobo 10]

I've learned how to make a dialog box now and have placed Marshalls at each of my tracks with a scrollable option to "start race" which opens the dialog.

The dialogs for each track are separate and thus called though separate folders in the mission file. For now all it says when the dialogs are opened is "RACES COMING SOON" with a close button that displays a hint when pressed and closes the dialog.

It makes sense how to add a button to call a script. However, I'm no closer to a script that will actually start the race based on my needs. I'm diving in though!