[SP] Ngwa-ngwa-dinta

[Rydygier 1309]

Introduction

Robert Napier, freelancer working for unknown Intelligence Agency, has to investigate disturbing events that took place lately in the Eastern N'Ziwasogo, discover the cause and gather any Intel possible.

This small, not long mission gives a chance to experience Jurassic Arma - Raptor Pack along with N'Ziwasogo map, African Conflict units and weaponry and Artemis AI script. Plot is simple, but hopefully immersive, with some cutscenes and music.

To end the scenario simply (?) leave marked recon area. You'll be evaluated by amount of pictures, you managed to take during recon (via user action at interesting objects), where some evidences will be evaluated higher than other.

Download

Armaholic (1.01)

Dropbox (1.01)

ZippyShare (1.01)

Required addons

-

N'Ziwasogo map

(along with its requirements);

-

Jurassic Arma - Raptor Pack

;

-

African Conflict

(along with its requirements).

(Artemis AI scripts incorporated into mission file)

Changelog

v1.01

• improved Artemis AI (new routine: fleeing when hit);
  
  
• ability to skip the initial driving cut scene by pressing SPACE anytime after title is fade out;
  
  
• tweaked weather/daytime settings (no fog at init, pretty foggy in time, more clouds);
  
  
• few additional opportunities to die;
  
  
• new toy in the car trunk;
  
  
• instructions added to the diary;
  
  
• tweaked dialogs and sentences;
  
  
• various fixes and tweaks.
  
  

Random notes

-Feedback as always very appreciated. Amount of feedback determines amunt of my further attention put into this mission;

- it's definitelly NOT RECOMMENDED using any AI mods in this scenario. No real benefit from them here, while may and probably will break custom AI routines present in NND;

- mission may prove hard to finish, if player decide to be ambitious;

- each play check the trunk of the car. There you can find randomized some alternative weaponry, mags and optics;

- you have no direct control over the escort, but they'll follow you and, if close, copy your stance. In the fight will act on their own;

- a requirement for N'Ziwasogo map is said A3MP, but I discovered, it works very well with AiA Terrain Pack as well. Who knows, maybe that's better option?

- In the mission there is room for some random chatting between soldiers. So I'm open for any cool ideas for sentences, also to be spoken in fear. I could also use help of any willing voice actors, but apart of English (may be with slight French or other interesting accent like Africaneer) I need English with (optimally heavy) African accent and even native African (you know, Bantu etc) speakers.

Credits & Thanks

-

All authors of used mods

for fantastic work;

-

nettrucker

for some extra help with sound editing.

I'm always open to good ideas, feedback is appreciated. Mission is released under

APL-SA

license. Enjoy :)

Edited November 11, 2014 by Rydygier
1.01

[giorgygr 61]

I really wanted such a mission.Downloading now all (missing) necessary files but..

Dammit RyD..Too much requirements tho.. :/

[Rydygier 1309]

Dammit RyD..Too much requirements tho.. :/

Yes, sadly. What I don't like, AFAIK more of this in A3, are chains of dependencies. You want to play? Take this mod first. OK. But this mod needs two other mods to work, while each of it need another etc... Quite annoying. But after all, damn, these mods was made for some purpose, so avoiding using them all the time would be a waste. So, usual I prefer keep my projects vanilla, but sometimes I'm more after certain result than mod-free, and then I'm just using all, what's needed to achieve planned goal. That's such case. Of course, I'm fully awared, so popularity of such mission is seriously impaired due to dependecies. Oh well.

BTW. In the mission there is room for some random chatting between soldiers. So I'm open for any cool ideas for sentences, also to be spoken in fear. I could also use help of any willing voice actors, but apart of English (may be with slight French or other interesting accent like Africaneer) I need English with (optimally heavy) African accent and even native African (you know, Bantu etc) speakers. :)

Edited November 8, 2014 by Rydygier

[tortuosit 486]

Haha, that mission name. Is that some real words?

[Rydygier 1309]

Is that some real words?

According to Google translator it means something and even makes sense. But we know, how reliable translator is. :)

[corporal_lib[br] 396]

Rydygier, you´re a Mission Wizzard! AWESOME mission, and your Artemis fits right in... I have just two small suggestions and a request:

A) When the pickup is moving towards the drop point, it´s playing an arab song (I was married to a Belly dancer teacher/performer and that tune is DEFINATLY arabic if not a bellydance song), it is kinda odd cus the map is a Sub-Sahaarian country, not an arabic influenced sahaarian country... it would be better an obvious african music like the ending music =)

B-) I was kinda lost after photoshooting the last dead victim (and raptors) on the outpost, had to guess to get back to the truck initial position and head back down the road to reach the end trigger... could you add the final objective like "get back to pick upp and get the f#### outta here... after surviving unforgiven Raptors, some friendly guidance is welcome! lol

and a Request: could you make it at least 2 players COOP version(for listen server, no need for a dedicated server) but a 4 team of PMCs reconing the area is suitable too! I ´d love to play this mission with my buddy, which isn´t following latst A3 developments and is unaware of Rupert/Benson´s Raptors, it would be a "nice surprise" to him lol (WTF??? Raptors! Run to the choppaaaaa!)

Keep awarding us your amazing missions Ryd, after Pilgrimage I´m your diehard fan!

Cheers!

Edited November 9, 2014 by Corporal_Lib[BR]

[Rydygier 1309]

Thanks a lot. :)

A) Yes, I'm awared. Did you saw "Blackhawk Down" movie? There is a moment, where jeep is riding along the road and we hear the "Barra barra" song. It's same artist singing (and it's Somalia, maybe more influenced, but still...). So, because it a) fits very well for such scenes IMO b) could pass as "unobtrusive reference" to the movie and c) Africans after all may listen Arabic music too (it's supposedly a track from the car radio, just "taken outside"), decided to use this song. But, if anyone has better proposition, that will fit not worse - I'll consider it, no problem. :) Those other tracks I used IMO aren't that good for this particular scene. It's about dynamism of it.

B) OK, it's in the description here, but maybe I should put this also in game. To end the scenario just leave marked area in any place you want.

and a Request: could you make it at least 2 players COOP version

Probably I can. Some day. Playable slots for those AIs. Just each time I have to adapt any script for MP I start to grumble, so give me a time to finish my grumbling first. Maybe not so difficult this time, perhaps all except on screen messages could be left just server side.

Now, people, who dared to play this. I need opinions, if difficulty of this mission is right, or maybe too easy or too hard? Should be pretty hard, but after last testing try I started to wonder, if I should perhaps to add more dinos or something? For sure I found one thing to tweak in Artemis - hunter should react on hits...

Edited November 9, 2014 by Rydygier

[corporal_lib[br] 396]

Ohhh I love that Barra Barra song, that singer is indeed somalian? Anyway, you´re right, due to cultural influence of neighborings countries, it is plain plausible to have a local radio station playing that song... I hereby pull out that first suggestion lol

Null problem, don´t need to rush a MP version, but it will be quite welcome when you did it ;D

It wasn´t quite hard, but I was using MCC and TPW HUD, so I was teleporting to save my night gaming time and the HUD kinda alerted me of a Raptor presence, so I need to play again "cheatless" to opinate on difficulty, but it was an awesome mission nonetheless!

cheers!

[Rydygier 1309]

Somalian was listeners of Barra Barra or rather just movie context. Artist is Rachid Taha (Algerian, living in France).

Edited November 9, 2014 by Rydygier

[tvamvarg 0]

Thanks Rydygier,

I'm a big fan of Pilgrimage (have many, many hours SP and running COOP these days - great fun!), thus I decided to give this a try. If it hadn't been you, I would likely not have d/l Raptors... :)

It was fun, with some suspense, not knowing what to expect. My playthrough was very easy (vet mode) and I had no problem taking down all attackers and surviving with "excellent" intel. One of the guys got chewed up and a few more guys got lost between camp D and the ARF base and I couldn't care enough to go back and collect them (or they bailed out of fear...) And as they're not part of my group I couldn't get the remaining ones into the heli which I used to get out of there.

The jungle is a bit thinly grown to feel convincing, maybe a tighter jungle island would create further suspense?

Other than that, I trust you will use your skills and fantasy to add more intel along the way that can create subtasks and such. Going to follow progress and see what happens, but replayability is far from Pilgrimage level as I see it.

Now, back to Pilgrimage and Hunter Six for me. Thanks for the enjoyable diversion!

[Rydygier 1309]

Thanks a lot for the feedback.

I could do some port on the other, more dense jungle map, as soon, I'll be awared of any other. That means, if mission become popular enough to bother, what IMHO is highly doubtful. True, it's somehow lacking low foliage, I remeber for example from A2's Lingor. For now instead I can only offer denser fog... As for difficulty, I found out, it differs each play. First play I had similar feeling, while next one was much more challenging and I left alone quick. For now decided to add one more dino and tweak positions of the rest. I'll think about some randomness here, but IMO unecessary. Loitering routine makes it random enough.

but replayability is far from Pilgrimage level as I see it.

Yep. It's quite another kind of mission, focused on something else, far smaller, limited and simplier project, that took me only several days to put together (not counting Artemis though). I do not intend nor see the way or need to make it anything, that could compete with missions like Hunter Six or Pilgrimage, although I may improve it from time to time. It was born out of sudden idea, when I was thinking, how to try raptors with Artemis in some less "makeshift" circumstancies. At first I wanted just make some fast gameplay in the few hours. Yeah. :) So, great you tried it, nothing more than enjoyable diversion was intended.

BTW "excellent" isn't highest possible intel. :P we have "no intel", "some", "decent", "valuable", "very valuable", excellent" and "perfect".

EDIT: truth is, I'm a little affraid, so from now on whatever I do, people would expect something of Pilgrimage potential and magnitude, and would compare with it, while I like to create also small, humble projects, that aren't compareable due to quite another scale. All depends, what kind of idea come to my mind at the moment.

Edited November 9, 2014 by Rydygier

[tvamvarg 0]

while I like to create also small, humble projects, that aren't compareable due to quite another scale. All depends, what kind of idea come to my mind at the moment.

That's the way to do it - start small, expand on what catches on, as long as it's still fun. Do not care what others are expecting of you. I expect you only to explore and have fun, and I know that will benefit us all in the end.

[Rydygier 1309]

That's for sure wise approach. Well said. :)

[SavageCDN 231]

Yes well said tvamvarg.

Rydygier excellent mission as always.. I did not have the time to play it to the end.. my only (minor) complaint is the length of the intro sequence.. perhaps cut the drive time in half? Anyway minor thing if you have a reason for long intro then please ignore me :p

[Rydygier 1309]

Well, halving drive will require redoing whole sequence, so I'm not so eager to do so, but I'm anyway thinking about an option to skip this sequence any moment in some reasonable way.

[giorgygr 61]

'lo RyD

For me personally driving wasn't problem as it add to expected atmosphere

(i put the kid to sleep and prepared myself to got in like thriller-movie trouble)

I should also tell you there wasn't (neither in slightest) a moment i compared or expected this mission to be like Pilgrimage.

It is exactly what i expected it to be :)

Although..there was *some issues.

1) After exploring the designated villages (and got as many pictures i could) i got to ghost-outpost (where also got as many pictures

i could) and explored it..but there seems no progress made/objective complete feedback

I did something wrong?

2) The 2-3 first encounters was VERY easy to spot.It seemed like they where stuck..standing still in 50 meters and only reacted

AFTER getting shot.

(i dont running ARTEMIS along with the mission/neither other AI mods)

3)Although there was rain after some time..the weather was very clear making it very easy for me to spot them.

Probably a small amount of fog will only add to the atmosphere where simultaneously *cover some holes of ARMA emptyness *info:imPlaying with the AiA TP (Terrain Pack)

4)There seems to be a option "Juliet" on radio menu.Does it do something that i haven't noticed or..it's just forgotten debug trigger?? :D

Good job RyD as always ;)

Edited November 10, 2014 by GiorgyGR

[cosmic10r 2331]

Hi Rydygier

Great mission... had some issues... same as GiorgGr and

I never actually saw a raptor that was alive or fired my weapon and didn't get anything in terms of rating... all it said on completion was congrats u survived

Keep cool ideas like this coming... keeps the creative spirit warm :)

[Rydygier 1309]

Thanks gus. :) Answer:

1) Nothing wrong. It's totally up to you, when you decide, job is done and time to leave the area, thus you not see completion of the task.

2) Seems, stucking happens. :( Not much can be done, if basic pathfinding is wrong or if wrong is something with raptors (don't know this stuff. Problems with switching to movement animations?) or map objects.

3) I'm experimenting with denser fog, but in latest test noticed, it just not triggered (it's simple editor weather setting). I set final state at 60% and got 0%. IMO problem is, weather wasn't really touched since Alpha. I'll try also with new ground fog, but this one tends to be simply too thick, while I need the fog mostly to emulate seriously lowered view distance due to rain courtine. Well, one way or another I'll sort out this thing. BTW final weather state is worst possible to set.

4) Indeed, forgotten debug. Harmless, just copies into RPT player position. I'll remove it of course.

I never actually saw a raptor that was alive or fired my weapon and didn't get anything in terms of rating... all it said on completion was congrats u survived

Could you tell me, what exactly you did during playthrough? Driving cut scene was OK? Took any pictures? Visited villages? Anything happened at all? On screen messages, task notification... And... there wasn't any mention about the intel? According to used code it should be simply impossible. Even, if you leave are just after arriving, you should see, so you gathered "no intel". There was credits screen at the end? Any mods used?

As for me, today I plan to do something about making hunters responding with flee to safety in Artemis when hit by the shot. Then I'll try to figure out solutions for NND problems.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Rydygier

[Rydygier 1309]

So, was experimenting with the fog. Seems, also new fog is broken, or rather its dynamics of increasing. Change in plus may be in 0 sec. (immediate) or will not work at all (or in some period too long to notice). Properly works only smooth decreasing to 0. Yet another thing broken in Arma. Just great... :/

So, there may be not fog at all, which is very bad, there may be immediate fog appearance, which is awful, or there may be final fog state from the beginning, which is bad, still best option...

EDIT: but fog smooth change works on empty map... So now, what makes the difference. I love that stuff.

...

Seems, manual setting of forecasted wind can't be too high. Hmm. Could make sense for present wind.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Rydygier

[Rydygier 1309]

So, mission updated to 1.01. Changelog:

- Improved Artemis AI (new routine: fleeing when hit);

- ability to skip the initial driving cut scene by pressing SPACE anytime after title is fade out;

- tweaked weather/daytime settings (no fog at init, pretty foggy in time, more clouds);

- few additional opportunities to die;

- new toy in the car trunk;

- instructions added to the diary;

- tweaked dialogs and sentences;

- various fixes and tweaks.

[delnaxsis 0]

Loved everything about this mission mate. Top Stuff.

[giorgygr 61]

Loved everything about this mission mate. Top Stuff.

^ i second that-hats off :)

[corporal_lib[br] 396]

EUREKA!!!!

The mistery is solved, the raptors came from Jurassic park (transported by a Huron chopper shot down by N'Ziwasogoyan african rebels)

here´s the proof:

Hope there´ll be a sequel =D (or a prequel - Ngwa Ngwa Dinta Origins)

cheers!

Edited November 12, 2014 by Corporal_Lib[BR]

[Rydygier 1309]

Congratulations. :) Sequel is an option. Eg on another jungle map (personally waiting for Icebreakr's stuff)