1.75 server multiplayer mission inconsistant

[Rexxenexx 0]

I've made some multiplayer missions, you can see them at Cali Resistance server, that when served randomly activate a trigger or in some cases the triggers just dont work. The missions all work perfect when I preview them in the editor, but when it comes to serving it problems happen. For instance I made a simple rectangular trigger that was set to East=>NotPresent, so when all the east was eliminated "2" objStatus "Done" was activated. Its angle was 35deg and the size was 50X250. This worked perfect over and over, but when I put it to the server the trigger was activated at the start of the game. Because I thought their might be a bug in rectangles at an angle I set the Azimut to 0 and made is larger to cover the same area. Again played perfect in preview, but triggered at start. I tried deleting and recreating, also rotate and moving still on the server for some reason it was triggered. I made it a ellipse and messed around and it didnt work on the server till I made it a large ellipse 250X250 0 Azimut looks silly being so large for that area but it works when served!

I was wondering if this is common or is there a way to fix a mixed up trigger on a server?? Also the missions seem very nice and consistant in the editor preview even in single player, yet when they are in multiplayer the cars go off on different paths to way points, or a tank will get excited even when initialized as "SAFE". Could it be most of the players have tweaked downloads or am I way off?

I would love any input on this topic thanks!

[Rexxenexx 0]

One note I forgot to mention, none of the mission I made use any addons other than whats included in the Resistance cd

Just dont want anyone to have to download anything to have fun. Yet one guy said he has no gun when he plays on one of my missions, he said it happens to him because of all the addons he installed.

[Cosmic Evolution 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Rexxenexx @ Sep. 16 2002,05:30)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I've made some multiplayer missions, you can see them at Cali Resistance server, that when served randomly activate a trigger or in some cases the triggers just dont work. The missions all work perfect when I preview them in the editor, but when it comes to serving it problems happen. For instance I made a simple rectangular trigger that was set to East=>NotPresent, so when all the east was eliminated "2" objStatus "Done" was activated. Its angle was 35deg and the size was 50X250. This worked perfect over and over, but when I put it to the server the trigger was activated at the start of the game. Because I thought their might be a bug in rectangles at an angle I set the Azimut to 0 and made is larger to cover the same area. Again played perfect in preview, but triggered at start. I tried deleting and recreating, also rotate and moving still on the server for some reason it was triggered. I made it a ellipse and messed around and it didnt work on the server till I made it a large ellipse 250X250 0 Azimut looks silly being so large for that area but it works when served!

I was wondering if this is common or is there a way to fix a mixed up trigger on a server?? Also the missions seem very nice and consistant in the editor preview even in single player, yet when they are in multiplayer the cars go off on different paths to way points, or a tank will get excited even when initialized as "SAFE". Could it be most of the players have tweaked downloads or am I way off?

I would love any input on this topic thanks!<span id='postcolor'>

I've also noticed similar problems with missions I've made...  I have created scripts for a MP map that allow you to radio call for support from your base and call support from a 2ndary group you are associated with.  Unfortunately, though both scripts work in single player mode, they only work for the server in MP games.  No matter what I've tried, they simply will not perform correctly.  The newest and most significant of these is shown in my last attempt.

The script starts, creates the helicopter, creates the units to fill the helicopter, and then NOTHING.   The newly created units stand there and do nothing.  I've placed checks into the script to see if the grouping is incorrect, if the units aren't properly defined within the script, and made sure that it operates properly while in a MP game.  Yet this doesn't seem to make a difference.  Is there a missed communication between the server and client computers?

I have purposely made the Radio Call operate only on the client computer making the call, could this be the reason.  I would think not considering I have multiple other scripts doing the same thing in the same mission, just activated through the action menu instead.  I tested it playing as the server in MP as well, and the radio worked fine for me, then for the client it wouldn't even create units...  Something seems very wrong here.  I'm hopeing this problem is addressed in the patch being prepared for release.

[Guest BratZ]

I noticed that when you "create" a soldier and don't assign him to a group...he stands there stupid.

[bn880 5]

Alot of what you guys are experiencing, especially with triggers, is solved via Server/Client specific coding. Search these forums well for MP and Multiplayer scripting questions. Also look in www.ofpec.com and their forums.

Once you get a good understanding of how to debug MP code, you will be able to find workarounds for 95% of your problems.

[Cosmic Evolution 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (bn880 @ Oct. 07 2002,18:57)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Alot of what you guys are experiencing, especially with triggers, is solved via Server/Client specific coding.  Search these forums well for MP and Multiplayer scripting questions.  Also look in www.ofpec.com  and their forums.

Once you get a good understanding of how to debug MP code, you will be able to find workarounds for 95% of your problems. <span id='postcolor'>

Yeah, alot of things can be overcome by server/client scripting, I do agree with you there.  BUT, I find myself at a loss as to where to even begin.  Perhaps you can help...

My current problem lies in trying to remove units from the group I lead into a 2ndary group that is associated with my group.  I use a check of my group to a variable I set in the Init.sqs and this works, until I am a client and the mission is on a server.  Then, The mission starts having a random discission as to what action it should take.  One time it will not properly see what group to associate me with, another time it will work perfectly.  It doesn't seem to have ANY reason for what it does, unless there is some kind of miscommunication between the server and client.  I figured if I just had the server run the script and use another method for determining who called it something like this would be transversed, but alass, now the script will not do anything, and since only the server runs it, I cannot get any info back from the script.  (Yet if I am the server everything works exactly how it's supposed to?)

Like I said, I'm at a total loss...  I just hope that things will have been worked out in this upcoming patch.  If not I will galdly release the mission in it's current form to anyone willing to take a look and see if I just can't script this thing properly.

I also created a few Radio calls which use variables set through the action menu to call support (like bringing the 2ndary group to my location), but even when these scripts are run on the server only, and the only thing set by the client is a publicized variable, the script fails to perform anything...?

Anyway, I'll just sit back and patiently wait for the patch and keep looking for a MP mission that uses anything like what I've tried to create to see if someones found a workaround...

Cosmic Evolution

[whisperFFW06 0]

I don't think it is a bug, but the client/server implementation of OFP.

Some observations I made on my last mission :

1) I tried to create the list of all units of player's group by setting up a trigger around the group, triggered by West (player's side), and setting westPlayers=thislist. I should be able to get the leader by setting westPlayersLeader=leader group (westPlayers select 0).

Works like a charm in preview & when I am server and the only one ingame.

Doesn't when I am client. It seems that the trigger is calculated for each computer, and on my client PC, I am the only one in the trigger area. This totally scew up things.

2) I then tried something more static : I named each unit (wp1, wp2, wp3, etc...), and in the init.sqs, I set :

westPlayers=[wp1, wp2, wp3, wp4.....].

westPlayersLeader=leader group (westPlayers select 0)

Works like a charm during preview, on server & on client machine (tested by launching dedicated server & then client OFP on the same machine, connected to localhost).

Errr.... On little error : When the officer of the west group is not enabled (so the leadership is passed to another unit in the group), the westPlayers list is correctly set, but westPlayersLeader is not. So it seems that the westPlayers list do not have any 0 index (and the "westPlayers select 0" part doesn't work).

3) to have a correct westPlayersLeader, I had to make a loop checking for alive units in westPlayers and getting their leader.

Before the static solution, I tried the following :

- the trigger around the west units was calculated only on server ("this && (local server)" on condition field). It set the westPlayersGroup=group (thislist select 0) to the group of the player (as I can't pass array through net via publicVariable), then publish it (publicVariable "westPlayersGroup").

- on client side, another trigger is set (condition : "(local player) && (westPlayersGroup != objNull)", activation : "westPlayers=units westPlayersGroup; westPlayersLeader=leader (westPlayers select 0)" ), so that when westPlayerGroup is set and passed through network, westPlayers list and westPlayerLeader variable are updated on client PC. (You can see that I passed a long time on this issue )

It DOESN'T work . Working with triggers on MP missions is tricky, to say the least.

I tried to separate client triggers from server triggers, but I must have some misconception on client/server coding of OFP. The way I tried it, the server was detecting general conditions, and set up variables accordingly, then pass them to the client. Is this wrong?

Whis'