[SP] HETMAN: War Stories

[Rydygier 1317]

OK, thanks that's helpful RPT. What stopped debriefing is that below "END OF BATTLE". Hmm. The more "hmm" for undefined _inDanger. "Type switch, expected if" is weird, as such kind of errors should be discovered at once. Rest is the more weird, as line 15/29/35 seems like MARTA code error, means BIS code fail.

All this is weird - so much errors in one RPT, while no one was known nor observed by me so far... That's why testing and feedback from other people is so valuable. They always just like that will do, what never come across your mind. :) I wonder, what event caused all this mess, especially for MARTA module...

[Rydygier 1317]

"Dev branch" updated to 1.06 beta 1.

Basically fixed (I hope), what alky _lee reported. That RPT was very helpful, allowed me to apply fixes fast. Except MARTA error of course.

In that case I think the battle will continue until I say it's over. At least I should be able to wipe out the entire attacking army (in theory). I think we lost a long time ago, but as the mission ending did not work, I can continue against the odds and eradicate their entire army or die trying.

Apparently, what blocked mission end was code for displaying awarded soldiers. It isn't often event, thus never spotted that bug earlier. Now probably should be fixed. Awarded are soldiers, that killed personally at least 10 enemies (and no friendly kills). I would guess, that was about you - AI rarely achieve such results. So scenario was broken because of medal for you. :)

[distractor2004 14]

This mission is awesome. The only drawback for me is that it only takes place on Altis. Could you expand this mission to include other maps such as Stratis, Chenarus, Takistan, etc? Maybe the mission starts in the Virtual World and allows you to select the terrain, then moves to the War Stories setup part?

[Rydygier 1317]

Thanks. :) I think, simplier will be just to prepare version per each interesting map, VR is kinda counter-immersive place to start (I think, I admit, so far never even loaded that map to check it...Weird... ), although this way I could do it without having given maps and this may be interesting to try. Here about porting. In short - anyone can try for himself, I'll do it, when this version will be ready, bug-free etc.

[distractor2004 14]

Thanks. :) I think, simplier will be just to prepare version per each interesting map, VR is kinda counter-immersive place to start (I think, I admit, so far never even loaded that map to check it...Weird... ), although this way I could do it without having given maps and this may be interesting to try. Here about porting. In short - anyone can try for himself, I'll do it, when this version will be ready, bug-free etc.

I agree with VR being non-ideal for this type of mission, I meant it could be the "Empty World" default before the user chooses a terrain, but I would never choose VR myself for it either. I am going to give those porting notes a go in the meantime and thanks!

[alky_lee 279]

Apparently, what blocked mission end was code for displaying awarded soldiers. Awarded are soldiers, that killed personally at least 10 enemies (and no friendly kills).

The medal would have to be awarded posthumously. I resumed the mission today and the character was killed, And they might want to take it back, because he killed a friendly pilot before he died. lol.

One suggestion is to advise the player, as part of the briefing, the role that they are fulfilling in the battle. Whilst some roles are fairly obvious, I started in a Hunter as part of a fireteam. I couldn't check my inventory to realise that I had a backpack full of Titan AA Missiles but no launcher. Obviously our team was to provide AA cover against aerial threats. After I went lone wolf, a Kajman flew over and was shot down, although it took more than one missile to take it down. One of my team was complaining about no ammo, and I realised later that I was carrying three AA missiles with me which were intended to resupply the team. Had I known my role, I might have been more patient and stayed with them.

[Rydygier 1317]

I can somehow inject player's unit display name, or maybe also display name of player's group into the briefing in the map view. One small problem is, this will not fit as soon player decide to switch unit.

IMO inventory is good way to know own role in the group, sadly, for some reason you can't check it when in the vehicle.

BTW, after new fatigue, I got weird habit - just after beginning I'm going to my inventory and throw away everything, I consider useless (pistol and magazines, chemlights, smoke grenades...) just to reduce my loadout weight.

I agree with VR being non-ideal for this type of mission, I meant it could be the "Empty World" default before the user chooses a terrain

I'm not sure, if it is possible to have two maps in the one mission without multi-pbo campaign structure, which I don't want. There is command playScriptedMission, but seems non-functional, or I'm using it not properly.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Rydygier

[Rydygier 1317]

"Dev branch" updated to 1.06 beta2:

Added info (name (profile name basically), role (vehicle role), rank and group kind if applies) about player's unit to the "situation" entry in the map screen.

EDIT: as for player's briefing name, I changed for next version profileName to the avatar name before incarnation. IMO "William Johnson, corporal" sounds better than "JollyKiller12, corporal"... I hope, same name will be now used instead of profile name in the debriefing lists.

Edited September 8, 2014 by Rydygier

[SavageCDN 231]

Congrats on release!

[jcae2798 132]

Rydygier, what file holds the different factions for enemy? In case i wanted to add my own? I will also test porting the scripts over to other maps. Thanks

[Rydygier 1317]

Factions are added dynamically, by autonomous script, no need to add own manually, just play with an addon introducing new faction, and it will appear as an option to choose for it's side.

[KidB 10]

Great mission. Is it possible to save the battle, so you can replay it with exactly the same settings and locations? It would be great to have "save battle" feature, because some stuff your scripts generate is really good.

[Rydygier 1317]

Interesting request. Currently impossible, but maybe I could do something about. Like saving initial settings and kind/position/direction of every group/unit... Not easy, but I think, possible. More difficult, if we want (re)store more than one saved battle. Of course, having all set same way will not guarantee same course of events nor Hetman orders. I would not promise anything, nor expect this soon, but I think, I'll try sooner or later. Who knows, maybe even some way of sharing favourite battles will be possible?

Edited September 9, 2014 by Rydygier

[jcae2798 132]

Hey Rydgier, the addon factions isnt fully working. I remember originally on your release the CAF faction was not working. You made some changes and it worked out great. Now i have the PLA faction and its not working. I see it, i select it, but it doesnt spawn them correctly. Either very few or limited if any at all. I can tell as well because the enemy marker is like 1/18 of the size of the WEST marker.

One thing to note is i recently changed my version to DEV branch, not sure how that may change things, but i notice it still works OK loading default factions

[Rydygier 1317]

Thanks for reporting.

I said in the first post, so HWS will use custom units/factions/groups, if configured typically/properly (vanilla-like way). PLA fails here, because name of the faction class ("pla") differs apparently from faction indicator used in groups configuration ("pla_div"), thus HWS code sifts off this faction's groups as origining from not chosen faction, while it was chosen by user. So in the effect on the map appear only supporting units, no groups at all, as for the code there is no groups of this faction to choose from. If I find the way to improve code, so it will handle PLA-like case, it should work. If not - sorry.

But anyway, the rule stays - if custom addon has "exotic" config, may be not working well with HWS and I can't do nothing to guerantee 100% compatibility with any such addon, as it is impossible to predict, how author of the addon will configure it. I'm affraid, at least some of them simply are unawared or don't care, how not typical/messy configuration may break any scripting trying to deal with such addons.

---------- Post added at 09:49 ---------- Previous post was at 09:10 ----------

I think, I found suitable workaroud. "Dev branch" updated to 1.06 beta3:

- code improvement for better handling of some not typically configured custom content.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Rydygier

[jcae2798 132]

Awesome man, i'll test it out :)

[alky_lee 279]

Man, sounds like quite intense battle you got....

I have started putting up videos of this battle in three episodes, as the battle ran for 2 hours before we were overrun and our morale was broken. Because the mission didn't complete, I continued the battle to the bitter end. The intense battle is in Episode 2, but Episode 1 serves as a brief introduction to Hetman: War Stories. Episode 3 will follow later, just to complete the story.

Episode 1

Episode 2

[Rydygier 1317]

Cool. :) I saw first part and ASAP I'll see the second.

I'm thinking, if letting Leader to go defensive if he feel, it's right (this happened in the first video ("Delta Foxtrot" means defensive stance)), is good idea for gameplay. Not sure yet, but even if such decision is justified (judging by number of smoke columns and kind of radio chatter, BLUFOR got quite a beating just at the beginning, many losses taken rapidly, that means morale went low fast, same as combat effectiveness of the force), there is a risk, it may lead to the permanent stagnation sometimes, which is OK as for realism, but not so OK as for fun.

BTW indeed, lack of AA missiles for AA launcher operator could cost some lives in this battle, otherwise your team could be able to take down that chopper, before it could do more damage.

Edited September 12, 2014 by Rydygier

[alky_lee 279]

I'm thinking, if letting Leader to go defensive if he feel, it's right (this happened in the first video ("Delta Foxtrot" means defensive stance)), is good idea for gameplay. Not sure yet, but even if such decision is justified (judging by number of smoke columns and kind of radio chatter, BLUFOR got quite a beating just at the beginning, many losses taken rapidly, that means morale went low fast, same as combat effectiveness of the force), there is a risk, it may lead to the permanent stagnation sometimes, which is OK as for realism, but not so OK as for fun.

Don't worry, it didn't stagnate and I had a lot of fun in Episode 2, when we did go on the offensive again briefly. Episode 3 is a lot more cagey, but I needed lulls to seek out weapons and/or ammunition before they finally start to pierce the very thin line. I love the fluctuating battle dynamic in this battle, and I'm glad I decided to team switch into other roles to see the battle through to it's conclusion and beyond. I feel episode 3 will need editing to reduce the length. There's still another 45 mins to go before the AI calls time.

BTW indeed, lack of AA missiles for AA launcher operator could cost some lives in this battle, otherwise your team could be able to take down that chopper, before it could do more damage.

Indeed, watching that chopper flying around was like an arrow through my heart. I was tempted to go back, pick up the AA missiles and return to my unit, but the damage had been done by then.

[Rydygier 1317]

Oh, good then. I'll anyway implement two new config variables for Hetman, that allow me/advanced user to control directly morale constancy and offensive tendency. And, I'll make attacking party push farther towards opposite side's starting location after taking the primary objective named in the briefing.

BTW because of some vanilla glitch after each unit switch MARTA map symbols are gone. To restore them, use twice a manual switch available under 0-8.

[teoleo 2]

download the latest branch, finish my first mission, and arma III crash

[jcae2798 132]

Yea i'm getting the mission crash to when mission ends. Teoleo, what settings are you choosing when you begin? Also what mods are you running if any? Interested to see if we have anything similar that may be related unless its a known issue

---------- Post added at 18:41 ---------- Previous post was at 18:40 ----------

BTW i've tried testing porting this to other maps and have run into issues where the map is not properly centered. Or the AI is not correct sized (1:1 where maybe it ended up being 1:50 but could have been addon related so i'll keep testing) Also the battle ended up being very far apart. Ideas? I know porting is not your concentration at the moment so this can wait until final code is finished.

[Rydygier 1317]

Crashes happened to me from time to time, mostly at begin of any mission loading (let's say one time per each 6-8 loadings), but lately also at the end. Nothing specific to any scenario, AFAIK, I think, it's just Arma.

Ideas?

No ideas for now. I need to try myself to see, what actually is going on. And I think, I will, even if there aren't planned official ports yet, I want to clear the path for anybody willing to port indepedently.

Edited September 12, 2014 by Rydygier

[jcae2798 132]

Cool. Another question if i may....is there a way to exclude certain vehicles using the advance menu? Or what is that used for? :)

Reason i ask is i am also experiencing at times were a lot of transfer vehicles are placed instead of combat AI. Even when VERY LOW ARMOR is selected... Again this is on the ported version (Takistan at the moment).

---------- Post added at 19:31 ---------- Previous post was at 19:29 ----------

Actually....to clarify, the map loves vehicles. I barely get combat AI to spawn on the map. Not sure if its because of the hills/mountains or small towns.

[Rydygier 1317]

Advanced menu is for any kind of dirty scripting tricks, you like. :)

But, sadly, arrays of classnames are defined after code typed into this menu is executed, under loading screen, so changing their content that way probably isn't possible...

"transfer vehicles"

Not sure, you mean - trucks? Some are added separatelly as another kind of support units, should be not more, than several. If there is more - possibly reason is same, as for 1:50 ratio issue. Tomorrow I'll try to test porting to some map, I suspect all mentioned issues may have same reason.