[COOP] Escape Roy

[RoyWheels 10]

First thing I'd suspect is BIS_fnc_MP being spawned instead of being called (like it's usually done). But I don't know if that really matters that much. Otherwise I don't really see a problem with that.

I wish it was that. The difference between call and spawn is that call will halt the script that made the call (and return a value on finishing) whereas spawn will execute the function separately, allowing the script that spawned the function to continue. In this context it shouldn't make much of a difference so maybe I'll change it to a call. Just to be sure and all that.

Unfortunately after some testing (always on a dedicated server) the I've found that the trigger to prevent guards from firing on the prison area to be completely broken. The guards used to not fire at you until you picked up the bag or a weapon, now if a guard sees you at all in the base they will start firing at you. In one case they even called in a helicopter and it was making gun runs on me while I was still in the prison! I highly suggest removing it asap and only putting it back in after extensive testing.

Nah, the trigger works. You might be experiencing ambient troops spawning nearby who are getting involved before they should. This is especially true if the prison is spawned near an airport where there are plenty of patrols.

"extensive testing" - I do have some sort of real life as well you know. :p

4.36 also seems to have some other bugs that I don't recall happening in previous versions.

For some reason when you hijack the com center and meet the rendezvous choppers, the tasks are never actually checked off in the task list, you are only given a notification that you completed a task from what seems to be an external script. Why not just use Bohemia's built in tasks to pop up a message that you completed a task?

I've not touched the tasks since working on this mission. I'll have a look.

There's also several problems with the extraction sequence. Also, and I know this didn't happen before, when the extraction choppers landed. We got in one, but it turned off it's engines and they wouldn't turn back on. We had to bail out and get in the second one, and rather than the chopper taking off and flying for a bit before completing the mission, the helicopter stood on the ground for about 10 seconds with it's engines on, and the mission abruptly ended. The enemies also seemed to make no attempt to attack us while we were waiting for the helicopter, while in the previous 2 times we've actually made it to extraction, we've been attacked by waves of enemies supported by paratroopers, and in the other time by mraps and apcs. There were lot's of enemies in the general area, but they were just random enemies spawned for patrolling. I think the no enemies spawning might have something to do with the tasks not being completed? Maybe the enemies spawned to attack the extraction area are attached to a trigger that was accidentally removed?

Arma ai likes to mess with choppers. Some of the time they fly into trees, some of the time they don't take off quickly... Not a lot I can do about that.

Extraction events are now randomly picked from a weighted array of four possibilities. The 'megadrop' of four choppers dropping troops is one of the events, the others include more ground troops in trucks and civ vehicles (who don't always make it to the area in time) or jets and choppers.

Also, a big problem that I was getting was that that my friend kept dying on mission start. This has happened before, but so far only on maps from a3mp and aia. It hasn't happened in a while though, and only happened in bugged versions.

Being shot? Just dying? Nothing has changed dramatically in the mission start beyond the new trigger.

The early mission has started bug has also appeared in full force in this version, whereas in previous versions the other modules would typically load first, in 4.36 the mission always seems to load before the other modules. I think you should really take another look at the scripts from escape altis because the early mission start causes strange behaviors in the ai in the prison (as mentioned by Neo on the previous page), and those ai problems are one of most annoying issues in escape roy because it makes a well executed escape nearly impossible.

But the scripts are similar. I just don't understand your point.

The buffer does seem to work, however, which is nice.

Good good.

I also mentioned that lights in the prison didn't seem to be working, but I tested in this version and 4.34 and they're working now. Maybe it was a one time thing? Also, I did mention it before, but I since you didn't comment on it I want to say again that there should be flashlights in the bag in the prison, and enemies don't have flashlights. It's very strange to see enemies not using flashlights when it's pitch black.

The prison has always had lights. I'll add flashlights for the guards at some point, maybe after all this bug fixing and extensive testing you want me to do (joke :p).

Something that I'm not sure whether to call a bug or not that has been in escape roy for a while is the pawnee helo that the enemies call for support is labeled as the same faction as you on the map. Why is that? Is the pawnee only a blufor unit, and you can't make it appear as another faction?

Because the small choppa isn't in the EAST or INDEPENDENT unit classes. I decided to use it because it's a lot easier to shoot down and isn't so punishing as the Russian chopper. The enemy are happy to use it and I think it makes for better gameplay.

I have a question about the general mechanics of the mission though that I've been wondering for a while. I've noticed is that when you're actually detected by the enemies they will call for backup squads, but random patrols aren't alerted. Is this intended, a limitation of the Arma scripting, or a bug? It would be really cool to see those nearby patrolling units scrambling to help their allies.

I've not noticed this. If there are troops around they tend to get involved.

Lastly, I'd like to expand a little more on the suggestions that I made that you commented on and hopefully clarify what I mean.

You said that my idea of enemies at bases being on high alert seemed, "...overcomplicated to me. Bases are populated and depopulated as needed."

I wasn't really talking about adding more units, I was specifically saying that enemies should simply have a faster patrol pattern, maybe a more spread out patrol pattern, and more awareness (like their squad leader telling them to scan the horizon frequently) if your position becomes known to the entire enemy force. Is what I suggested not possible without spawning more units because units already spawned can't be affected by a script that modifies their AI? I only know a few things about arma scripting, and I haven't really got into it yet.

You also said that, regarding my idea of using static bases in addition to randomly generated ones,

"That would be possible for Altis and Neo has talked about a hybrid version where maps can be entirely dynamic in base placement whilst other maps use presexisting markers and locations. It's a clever idea but not something I've added as I'm more into creating convincing dynamic content."

I wasn't saying have some maps with dynamic base placment and others with pre-existing markers and locations, I was asking if it was possible to randomly fill these static locations with units and equipment randomly in addition to auto-generated stuff already in the mission. It most certainly fits in with your vision of an entirely dynamic mission.

I've taken your ideas on and tried to answer your points but I'm just a single human being doing this for fun. I apologise if I can't add ideas in as quickly as you'd like.

[kingbengan 10]

Me and some friends played it through on our server last night. What a great mission!

At first we had some issues were we got shoot to s**t inside the prison but we finally managed to escape. We didn't notice any bugs really.

But we don't like ARMA 3's new fatigue system.

I have a question about the enemies spotting us. Once the enemy have seen us do they know our location all the time or is it possible to get away and camp out for the night for instance?

Thanks you for a fun mission!

[RoyWheels 10]

Thanks Kingbengan, glad you're enjoying the mission. :)

It is possible to get away from the search but you have be fast to get some distance.

I've had an idea on how to prevent any enemy shooting at you, whether it's a guard or ambient/village squad, before you leave the prison. New version coming soon.

[kingbengan 10]

Thanks Kingbengan, glad you're enjoying the mission. :)

It is possible to get away from the search but you have be fast to get some distance.

I've had an idea on how to prevent any enemy shooting at you, whether it's a guard or ambient/village squad, before you leave the prison. New version coming soon.

Thank you for your swift response. Looking forward to give it another go.

Oh and the A-164 was shooting at something but it wasn't us. Are there other friendlies on the map? It was just us three playing.

[cyprus 16]

Nah, the trigger works. You might be experiencing ambient troops spawning nearby who are getting involved before they should. This is especially true if the prison is spawned near an airport where there are plenty of patrols.

"extensive testing" - I do have some sort of real life as well you know. :p

I figured the trigger would have worked for all enemies. I didn't realize the prison guards and the patrols were separate entities. It may have not been "broken" from your perspective but from a player perspective it definitely is. To me it seemed like it was completely broken because me and my friend were getting fired upon almost immediately, when this never happened before, so you have to understand why it immediately seemed broken to me. I've played too many missions that are just completely broken, and it seemed like the mission creator never tested it once. I'm not saying that you didn't test it, it's just that after a few months I've tended to notice these things fast, and it frustrates me because I can't see why the mission creator wouldn't have noticed it immediately. I apologize if what said sounded harsh, but I mean no intention of being so, I just want to help you fix problems. I understand somethings slip through and you're only one person doing this in your free time, so it's no big deal; I just want to make you aware of potential issues.

I've not touched the tasks since working on this mission. I'll have a look.

Thanks.

Arma ai likes to mess with choppers. Some of the time they fly into trees, some of the time they don't take off quickly... Not a lot I can do about that.

Extraction events are now randomly picked from a weighted array of four possibilities. The 'megadrop' of four choppers dropping troops is one of the events, the others include more ground troops in trucks and civ vehicles (who don't always make it to the area in time) or jets and choppers.

Yeah extraction choppers are pretty bugged, sucks you can't do much about it. Is not being attacked by enemies at all in the extraction sequence something that has happened to you before?

Being shot? Just dying? Nothing has changed dramatically in the mission start beyond the new trigger.

No, he just spawned and immediately died. It seems to be him falling through the map or something. I don't think it has too much to do with your mission. I think it has more to do with the current desync problems plaguing Arma coupled with the general buggyness of the imported maps from previous games, as this is something that doesn't happen on Altis or Stratis.

But the scripts are similar. I just don't understand your point.

What I mean is that in general I've encountered a lot of issues with the initial prison spawn and the way the guards behave in escape roy, whereas escape altis/stratis seems to be much more predictable and understandable. It's very frustrating as a player when you're getting shot by enemies when you're unarmed or they shouldn't be able to see you. I understand you can't control everything, but for example earlier in this thread in regards to problems with version 4.34 I said:

There's also some very strange behavior in the prison after you pick up a weapon. The enemy almost seems like it sees through walls, but not quite. I've noticed that if pick up a weapon, and are facing them through a crack in the wall, even with their back turned, they will detect you and turn around. This doesn't seem to happen through a solid wall. This behavior doesn't exist in the original escape altis your mod is based on. I tested in the original escape altis and i was able to open the gate and walk behind enemies that weren't facing me and follow them for some time. The behavior in your mod doesn't seem to be consistent though, and after a couple hours of testing it's still hard to determine what exactly is going on. I think you should definitely compare the scripts that affect the AI in the beginning of the mission to the ones in the original escape altis to see what's going on. At the very least adjust the prison design to something like the one from the original escape altis (it uses a solid sheet metal wall and a open-able gate at the front) because the current prison has several large gaps that the AI can see right through, and in a group of 4 or so, it becomes very difficult to prevent the AI from seeing us through those large gaps.

And NeoArmaggedon said in reply:

This is caused by the early "Escape has Started!".

He also said in regards to something else I posted that:

You actually do spawn somewhere else. The early "Escape has Started!" is a bug (I also had in the original Escape, but seems fixed now) and only affects the enemys awareness of the playergroup.

So knowing that the AI problems are caused by early "Escape has started," which Neo said has seemed to be fixed in escape altis/stratis (and from my personal testing I think that is true), I'm just wondering why you can't just essentially copy paste the script so that you can avoid the AI issues in your version. I did notice that you said that believed you fixed it before I posted this comment, but if the underlying cause is the early "Escape has started," I feel you should focus on that to fix the underlying cause if you aren't currently.

Because the small choppa isn't in the EAST or INDEPENDENT unit classes. I decided to use it because it's a lot easier to shoot down and isn't so punishing as the Russian chopper. The enemy are happy to use it and I think it makes for better gameplay.

That's kinda silly how they don't let you switch it's unit class. Oh well, I was just curious, thanks for clarifying.

I've not noticed this. If there are troops around they tend to get involved.

To be specific I'm asking if that it's possible for patrols that are already spawned and loaded into the map to become instantly aware of your position as soon as your spotted by another group that "radioed" for backup. I know that if the patrols detect you on their own they will instantly engage you. If what I'm asking for isn't possible I'll just bump up the difficulty to see if that gets the desired effect. Most of the time I play on Cadet difficulty because I usually only have one other person to play it with.

It is possible to get away from the search but you have be fast to get some distance.

I always thought that they just keep expanding the search area until they find you. At least that's what the briefing implies. Do they stop searching for you because the units searching for you despawned?

I've taken your ideas on and tried to answer your points but I'm just a single human being doing this for fun. I apologise if I can't add ideas in as quickly as you'd like.

Absolutely no need to apologize. I know that you're just one guy trying to make something fun in your spare time. I never expected you to rush to implement my ideas. I'm just throwing them out there because I want to improve the missions. Whether or not you actually implement them or not doesn't really matter to me. I didn't intend to give you the impression that I was being demanding, and I've never asked when you are going to put on these features so I'm not sure how you got the impression that I wanted them asap. I was only clarifying my ideas. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and address my concerns, though. It's nice to see a mission creator that cares about their mission enough to try to make it better not just for themselves, but for others too.

[RoyWheels 10]

Your input is very helpful Cyprus. I do appreciate it and I hope I wasn't too grumpy yesterday. Over a month of illness has ground me down somewhat and I'm feeling a bit frustrated to not be able to put 100% energy into the things I do. Hopefully I'm on the mend now.

The new version will disable all units within a 1km until someone dares to leave the prison. This should put an end to those cheating enemies who don't play fair. ;)

Playing around on the dedi yesterday, I noticed that a jip player has no actions for hijacking or healing at the medical building. This must be related to the other hijack bug. I'm going to look into that today at some point.

We experienced the extraction choppers not taking off yesterday. It's weird. The only thing I've changed is where they're supposed to fly to once you get in. Again, I need to see if there's something else going on.

[Belbo 462]

The new version will disable all units within a 1km until someone dares to leave the prison. This should put an end to those cheating enemies who don't play fair. ;)

Wouldn't it be enough to disableAI for the guards surrounding the prison and reenabling it as soon as the players leave the prison? It would feel kind of weird, to sit in an open prison made of concrete barriers with no guards surrounding it whatsoever. ;)

[kingbengan 10]

Wouldn't it be enough to disableAI for the guards surrounding the prison and reenabling it as soon as the players leave the prison? It would feel kind of weird, to sit in an open prison made of concrete barriers with no guards surrounding it whatsoever. ;)

Think that's what he means. DisableAI in a 1km radius until exiting the prison?

[RoyWheels 10]

Yes, all units are frozen until the first player exits the prison.

I'm not sure if this is controversial, but I've reduced the mission player limit back down to 8. The extraction choppers carry a maximum of 8 players so it makes sense to make the mission limit 8 as well. If one chopper is taken out of action, everyone can still escape.

New version up!

[Gunter Severloh 4054]

Hey Roy,

Could you make a list with links of what factions are supported that you can use with in the mission, so folks have a reference, this is a real fun

mission and i'd hate to see people miss out because they prefer a certain faction over CSAT or independent but dont know what their options are.

[AstroRetro 10]

My team has tried to play this mission unsuccessfully many times over the past month due to multiplayer bugs in Arma 3 as well as mod conflicts causing server crashes. Finally, after weeding out troublesome mods (inidbi and KHlowgrass in particular) and updating to main version 1.30 we have had a great session of Escape Chernarus with co10_Escape_Roy_v4_37.Chernarus.pbo run from a dedicated server.

Everything seemed to play quite well and AI behaved in a challenging way without the excessive spawning around the comms base seen in an earlier version. The only bug we experienced was that we were unable to activate the satellite phone on the desk in the comms base. A quick search of this thread found Dystopian1's post. So while looking at the satellite phone, we pasted and executed the script:

[cursorTarget, player, 9999] execVM "Scripts\Escape\Hijack.sqf"

This worked perfectly, allowing us to continue the mission. The subsequent hot extraction was well worth the trouble.

Very good work on this mission so far. Nice to see the automatic mod activation in the mission parameters. Parameter saving works on our listen server but not the dedicated, so I just edit params.hpp to suit our needs.

[RoyWheels 10]

I've not had any time to work on the mission recently. I'm guessing the last version was fairly stable due to the lack of complaints so that's all good.

I wish we could solve the hijack bug. It's right annoying. :mad:

[kingbengan 10]

Trying to play Escape Roy on Chernarus but guys spawn in next to the enemies and there is no prison. Is this an issue with Escape Roy or AiA SA?

Edited October 16, 2014 by Kingbengan

[chains 11]

Hey, now when Bornholm is released, how about a Escape Bornholm? ;)

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?184446-Bornholm-Denmark-Terrain

[ToejaM 1]

Hmm.. spawning in, in full gear with no prison. What did BIS change to break the mission? :<

[BryanBoru 10]

Roy, Thank you for your work with these missions. My unit has loved our time playing these in vanilla. However we would love to see a way to enjoy these missions with AGM. Are you familiar with the Mod set? Have you considered making the missions set compatible with this and\or other Mods? (TFAR, cTab, Weapon Packs, CAF Aggressors?)

Edited October 30, 2014 by BryanBoru

[taydeer 10]

Roy, Thank you for your work with these missions. My unit has loved our time playing these in vanilla. However we would love to see a way to enjoy these missions with AGM. Are you familiar with the Mod set? Have you considered making the missions set compatible with this and\or other Mods? (TFAR, cTab, Weapon Packs, CAF Aggressors?)

This mod is already compatible with TFAR, the HLC weapon packs, and CAF Agressors in the newest version. You can tweak options in the parameters screen while setting up the multiplayer session.

[BryanBoru 10]

Hmm.. spawning in, in full gear with no prison. What did BIS change to break the mission? :<

This mod is already compatible with TFAR, the HLC weapon packs, and CAF Agressors in the newest version. You can tweak options in the parameters screen while setting up the multiplayer session.

I had known about the parameters, however we were spawning in with full default gear, and we couldnt use the satellite to call for rescrue; I had assumed it was conflict with AGM.

From the post by ToejaM, and reading the rest of this threads comment, maybe it is nothing to do with AGM at all. I will play test some more.

[kingbengan 10]

Tried everything to make it work on Chernarus (AiA SA). Just spawning in with nothing. No enemies, no prison. What am I doing wrong?

[yourstruly 22]

It's a real git of a bug which only occurs on a dedi server and then, it only happens on the odd occasion... So it's hard to know how to fix. My only clue is that it doesn't seem to happen on the first play through. I've played the mission a fair amount recently and we've not seen it for ages. But, of course, that doesn't mean it's fixed. ARGH!

Here's the line from the script that adds it in when the comm centre is being built:

[[_generator, "Hijack", "Scripts\Escape\Hijack.sqf"], "a3e_fnc_addHijackAction", true, false] spawn BIS_fnc_MP;

_generator is obviously now a satellite phone.

[...]

Any ideas very welcome.

The reason it doesn't work IMHO is JIP. Last parameter in adding the action says if you want to call this script (a3e_fnc_addHijackAction in this case) for people that JIP. So when you change

[[_generator, "Hijack", "Scripts\Escape\Hijack.sqf"], "a3e_fnc_addHijackAction", true, false] spawn BIS_fnc_MP;

to

[[_generator, "Hijack", "Scripts\Escape\Hijack.sqf"], "a3e_fnc_addHijackAction", true, true] spawn BIS_fnc_MP;

it should work :)

[captainblaffer 11]

Hi, tried playing this mission on our linux dedicated server.

The server would crash after ~2 minutes playing the mission.

Also, can you give the players starting weapons using a different way than a backpack? We use TFR radios addon and it replaces the backpack, resulting in no weapons for the players.

[kingbengan 10]

Tried everything to make it work on Chernarus (AiA SA). Just spawning in with nothing. No enemies, no prison. What am I doing wrong?

Solved it. For some reason I forgot to load with the custom command line on our server for AiA SA. We are 4 happy campers now!

[kingbengan 10]

Any chance Escape Roy could be added to the Bornholm map? Spent many summers there and would be epic to escape it.

[dystopian1 23]

Any chance Escape Roy could be added to the Bornholm map? Spent many summers there and would be epic to escape it.

You can try port it on your own. Extract mission, edit MapConfigs\WorldConfig.sqf, change mission "extension", pack it, test it, publish it.

[taydeer 10]

Hi, tried playing this mission on our linux dedicated server.

The server would crash after ~2 minutes playing the mission.

Also, can you give the players starting weapons using a different way than a backpack? We use TFR radios addon and it replaces the backpack, resulting in no weapons for the players.

The backpack on the ground shouldn't be a TFAR backpack. I use TFAR also and all the guns are in a regular ruck on the ground. Maybe your playing an older version?