Ravage

[haleks 8206]

Can someone with knowledge on how to setup missions on alternate islands write a tutorial? I also wouldn't hurt for it to go on the main post so it doesn't get lost...

What do you mean? Are we talking about recreating the showcase mission on other terrains or more complex/scripted environments?

In any case : all modules are set with the default settings, so you could just place all of them on, let'say, Chernarus (except the horde module wich isn't used on Altis), place a playable unit and save/export the mission.

The one thing to keep in mind is that if the new map has a lower building/town density than Altis, you will want to up the numbers on some modules (zombie spawn & loot chances).

 

By the way, and since Ravage will require CBA from now on, I intend to take full advantage of it : the mod adds a few EH to the units it spawns, like a function designed to mitigate friendly fire effects.

CBA will apply those custom EH to all units : placed in editor mode, dynamically spawned, from Arma3 or any other mod - whatever.

The following features would be added to all units (some of them will be part of an upcoming mod I'm working on):

• No forced walk animation under 50% health (slowed down running animations instead).
• Friendly Fire handling (reduces damages inflicted by team mates).
• Set a name suiting the unit's faction ("Miller, move to that house!" instead of "Two, move to that house!").

 

I'm open to suggestions. :)

[Lecter 66]

Does anyone got experience with the compatibility of Outlawled's Mag Repack? It seems it is not working with the mod. Is there any other way which allows you to repack mags? I hate it if my inventory is trashed with half-filled mags, but I can't throw things aways. 

 

Also I'm using some HLC-Mods and the M4/ pistol-pack by Robert Hammer. Any way that all of the vanilla-weapons will be replaced with moded ones? Most of the weapons I found are fine, but every now and then I find a Katiba or such. 

 

Haleks, as usal, thanks for you great work! :)

This issue is resolved some time earlier, I reported it to Haleks and he found a way to make them work after you load previously saved game (which causes repack mod to stop working) - use moduload mod

https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/163084-moduload-%E2%80%94-save-game-mod-initializer/

and just press Esc and then re-initialize mods button.

[Marduk1813 62]

This issue is resolved some time earlier, I reported it to Haleks and he found a way to make them work after you load previously saved game (which causes repack mod to stop working) - use moduload mod

https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/163084-moduload-%E2%80%94-save-game-mod-initializer/

and just press Esc and then re-initialize mods button.

 

Thank you very much! 

[rsoftokz 288]

I just gave it a go. I'm not sure how much the original was changed and I don't know too much about creating and managing scripts in missions but the first thing I noticed was that the performance was quite bad. I pretty much had to stop playing after about twenty minutes because my game turned into a literal slideshow. It would appear that perhaps either too much is going on in the background or some optimizations need to be made. For reference the vanilla Ravage mod will maintain around 70fps and only drop noticeable in and around large cities. I'm aware this will depend on the hardware people are running but the vanilla Ravage is a good benchmark as to how a mission should be able to run. This was borderline unplayable in my experience. I really like the features you've added into it but perhaps some are straining the mission? Just my two cents.

 

the original mission have only a few objects added  and some triggers. that  means a very light mission.sqm file ( 37 kb).

the actual mission.sqm for the modified mission I did is 533 kb.....

 

actually, a mod like Ravage works with lot of scripting, that means all is loaded into your game "AROUND" the player position and disappears once the player is gone.  that allows to seriously lighten the need of ressources for the CPU and the GPU depending of your game settings too.

with a mission like the one I did, there are thousands of objets to be loaded when you start the game, what ever your position is....

so of course all those objets need calculations for your CPU, your GPU.... even you are miles away on the map from the objects I added.

it is not "light" but for now, I don't have the knowledge to do  an antoher way.... sorry.

I tested the mission on two differents PC configurations.... the best one  ( i5-4690K @3.5 GHz, 16 GB, Nvidia GTX-660) gives to me  max 55 FPS and mini 25 fps on the mission (most of ARMA setting on Ultra or very High, 1920x1080 resolution.)

so I'm sorry if your experience  with this was bad.

anyway, to be clear about all of those files I shared.

 

those are standalone missions to be played on RAVAGE mod as it is made by Haleks (it seems there was a misunderstanding with some of my previous posts and some tweaks I did on ravage on my own. apologies to Haleks for this.

I just shared something I did to play Ravage with my son, who told me it could be cool to share it with others here.

what I did

 

and I didn't  want any credits of any nature. I just added some objects on the map to increase the game atmosphere with Ravage mod.

the missions are "as is", I'll tried to make some optimizations , maybe deleting  some objets that are not absolutly needed (for examples: wrecks here and there as Ravage as his own  wrecks spawning system that is lighter ), so the filers linked will certainly be updated some day...

once again, sorry for any troubles, misunderstanting or matter  done.

 

this is the last time we are talking here about those mission this way. If I have to go further, developping my own missions for Ravage, a dedicated thread will be open and  linked here in this Thread.

thank you 

[kodabar 607]

I just shared something I did to play Ravage with my son, who told me it could be cool to shere it with others here.

 

That's completely fine. I'm sure most of us reading this understand what you've done and why. You're not preparing a mission for use by hundreds of people in differing computing environments - you've modified this so it works for you and your son and you've posted details on here in case anyone's interested. And I can assure you that people are interested - I, myself am one such. So please, don't be disheartened. I think some chaps got the impression you were working on a public release and commented accordingly.

I, for one, am jolly interested to hear what everyone's doing with this. I love to see what happens when people find out they can modify a game. People do all sorts of things that I would never have imagined. And reactions to them are equally interesting. So please keep on with what you're doing. You'll notice that people are posting to say they like what you've done.

On a vaguely related note, I made a video of some dancing zombies from the original DayZ mod. I had a father write to me to say that his son had previously been afraid of zombies, but, having seem them dance to a jolly upbeat tune, he was no longer as afraid. I could never have predicted that outcome and the email was quite the most surprising thing I read in a while.

The video's here if you're interested:

 

[Lecter 66]

 

That's completely fine. I'm sure most of us reading this understand what you've done and why. You're not preparing a mission for use by hundreds of people in differing computing environments - you've modified this so it works for you and your son and you've posted details on here in case anyone's interested. And I can assure you that people are interested - I, myself am one such. So please, don't be disheartened. I think some chaps got the impression you were working on a public release and commented accordingly.

I, for one, am jolly interested to hear what everyone's doing with this. I love to see what happens when people find out they can modify a game. People do all sorts of things that I would never have imagined. And reactions to them are equally interesting. So please keep on with what you're doing. You'll notice that people are posting to say they like what you've done.

On a vaguely related note, I made a video of some dancing zombies from the original DayZ mod. I had a father write to me to say that his son had previously been afraid of zombies, but, having seem them dance to a jolly upbeat tune, he was no longer as afraid. I could never have predicted that outcome and the email was quite the most surprising thing I read in a while.

The video's here if you're interested:

 

For some reason I imagined image of baffled Rick Grimes when seeing this video. Hilarious :D Interesting story about that kid tho. Nice touch since many people often speak of games to be a source of bad things and violence. Nice stuff indeed mate

[Cyphas_Cayne 16]

Since so many player are having a problem with ACE 3, i have removed it from my mission.

Its the same mission, just took out all ACE 3 modules.

 

Link: http://www.megafileupload.com/melV/Ravaged_Esseker.7z

 

Sorry for any problems this is causing.

[haleks 8206]

anyway, to be clear about all of those files I shared.

 

those are standalone missions to be played on RAVAGE mod as it is made by Haleks (it seems there was a misunderstanding with some of my previous posts and some tweaks I did on ravage on my own. apologies to Haleks for this.

I just shared something I did to play Ravage with my son, who told me it could be cool to share it with others here.

No worries mate!

I'm perfectly fine with private use/modification of the mod!

Thanks anyway for clarifying any confusion regarding your latest mission, and don't be discouraged - I made this mod for people to have fun with it, not to impose my vision or whatever.

You are perfectly free to experiment with it and turn it into something you and your son will enjoy! ;)

The only thing I ask, is for people to contact me if they want to publicly release alternative versions of the addon files or include any of the work made for the mod into their addon.

That's it - be assured that I do want people to build up on Ravage and invent new stuff with it!

So please, no need to apologize - keep enjoying the game with your family and share your work. :)

[rsoftokz 288]

@Kodabar.

thank you for your kind words.
I liked what you did about DayZ.
I have a very low quality internet connection , the main reason I never play online with Arma.
I've build a second PC a few months ago that allow me to play LAN with my son I only see every 15 days ( get separated with his mother... bla..bla..bla.. a common life story)

he watched me playind DayZ SP for hours.... ;)

 

well.... my goal was just to set up a new envirronement to play Ravage...
this morning before I left to work I did a little 3 mn vidéo (the very first one for me ) I would shere here just to show what can be done with Ravage and a standalone mission with a few scripts to mod the Quadbike and give it a "survival atmosphere and landscape". (the vidéo took almost all the afternoon and evening to load.. you can imagine how "fast" is my internet ;)  )

 

firstly I wasn't confortable to put it here but finally here it is.



the color filter is removed....
 

gunfight to kill all bandits in a camp somewhere in the south east of the island.

 

EDIT: @Haleks

we posted almost in the same time.

thanks for your words to.

 

I DO love your work  as many do here.

 

[haleks 8206]

Your video is set to "private" (can't watch it). ;)

[rsoftokz 288]

oops sorry... fixed....
 

(480 p.. low quality...  can't do better...)

[haleks 8206]

Nice vid - eventhough it reminds me I really need to find something to improve the AI...
I often pity them when playing Arma! ^^

But what I dig the most about your mission is this :

some towns are seized by Bandits where they try to survive... the night is not dark everywhere
 

...I really need to work on a dynamic bases/captured towns generation system ASAP.
Regarding those performance issues with your mission : how do you populate those camps?
If you manually place loads of AI in Editor, it would explain the FPS drop. In that case, this might be of use to you :
https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/169772-zbe-cache-ai-vehicle-caching-scriptaddon/

I haven't tested it in a long time (not really needed in Ravage), but it should work nicely with the mod. The files include a script version you can add directly to your mission.

 

EDIT :

Jazz is such a nice music to listen to while scripting...

[rsoftokz 288]

yes a very large amount of objects are place load with editor.

 90% of bandits camps and patrols are activated by triggers using your mod spawning system. there are a few bandits placed/loaded with editor (main base with armory per example, one seized town too )

most triggers are with a activation circle of 800x800 meters  

I already deleted all wrecks of vehicles placed with editor.

I might also delete a few vehicles with some "% chance of presence" (or lower the %, mostly are 50%...  that makes a lot of vehicles at the end)

 

thank you for the link, it seems to be exactly what I need to set the mission file more "friendly" with all configs.
 

I just played the NoZ mission  into Oreokastro. two camps, 6 to 8 bandits... a few wrecks spawn by ravage, two vehicles with xx% chance of presence.... FRAPS indicated a FPS amount  max 48, min 28.

I guess with Zeds FPS should drop significatly.

I'll go deeper to see how to manage with ZBE Caching.
 

time to go to bed now, it's  late here (or ... very early in the morning... and I work tomorrow... (today !) again...)

[darkenraja 15]

the original mission have only a few objects added  and some triggers. that  means a very light mission.sqm file ( 37 kb).

the actual mission.sqm for the modified mission I did is 533 kb.....

 

actually, a mod like Ravage works with lot of scripting, that means all is loaded into your game "AROUND" the player position and disappears once the player is gone.  that allows to seriously lighten the need of ressources for the CPU and the GPU depending of your game settings too.

with a mission like the one I did, there are thousands of objets to be loaded when you start the game, what ever your position is....

so of course all those objets need calculations for your CPU, your GPU.... even you are miles away on the map from the objects I added.

it is not "light" but for now, I don't have the knowledge to do  an antoher way.... sorry.

I tested the mission on two differents PC configurations.... the best one  ( i5-4690K @3.5 GHz, 16 GB, Nvidia GTX-660) gives to me  max 55 FPS and mini 25 fps on the mission (most of ARMA setting on Ultra or very High, 1920x1080 resolution.)

so I'm sorry if your experience  with this was bad.

anyway, to be clear about all of those files I shared.

 

those are standalone missions to be played on RAVAGE mod as it is made by Haleks (it seems there was a misunderstanding with some of my previous posts and some tweaks I did on ravage on my own. apologies to Haleks for this.

I just shared something I did to play Ravage with my son, who told me it could be cool to share it with others here.

what I did

 

and I didn't  want any credits of any nature. I just added some objects on the map to increase the game atmosphere with Ravage mod.

the missions are "as is", I'll tried to make some optimizations , maybe deleting  some objets that are not absolutly needed (for examples: wrecks here and there as Ravage as his own  wrecks spawning system that is lighter ), so the filers linked will certainly be updated some day...

once again, sorry for any troubles, misunderstanting or matter  done.

 

this is the last time we are talking here about those mission this way. If I have to go further, developping my own missions for Ravage, a dedicated thread will be open and  linked here in this Thread.

thank you 

 

Ah that makes a little more sense. Thanks for clarifying. I might give it another go and tone down some of my system settings to check the features you added. But certainly any optimizations in terms of caching those objects would be a huge benefit to the additions you made. Thanks for the response!

[rsoftokz 288]

I just uploaded the upgraded missions with ZBE_Caching scripts with debug activated.

this should fix the FPS drop and cache the whole objects within a certain distance (for now setted to 1000 meters) from player

 

I didn't try it yet...might need some adjustements and tweaks.
 

I just have time to add the folders, script lines in the init and recompile the PBOs.

so you can download the updated files and replace the actual ones on your Arma 3 with the newest ones
 

thank you Haleks for the link to ZBE_Caching mod.

 

EDIT: I gave it a go for a few minutes. I'm not sure I've setted all as it should be.
I will need more time to be sure all is fine.

[haleks 8206]

It reminds me I began working on a small caching system at some point, but I never bothered actually finishing it as it wasn't needed : performances were quite good thanks to the dynamic spawn/removal mechanics.

But I hadn't thought about user-made missions and didn't really know how they would behave along with the background functions.

I guess I could re-work it and create a Caching-system module for heavy scenarios - it would be able to cache all vehicles (with a few safeguards for occupied ones) and maybe editor placed objects/compositions.

 

By the way, I'm adding the Walkers back.

It required a few changes on the modules so I also took the time to overhaul the Horde modules : each one will now use its own settings (Zombie types, Crawlers percentage etc).

 

 Changelog for the current DEVbuild :

 

013
Tweaked :
Target tracking abilities for zombies.
AntiRad pills efficiency.
Radiation Exposure rate.
Overhauled syphon & refuel system.
Improved visual feedback when hit by a zombie in 3rd person view.
Removed inventory option from zombies.
Increased damages inflicted by zombies.
Tweaked infected sounds.
Added back infected "Walkers".
Modified Arma3 Wound system : speed limit when under 50% health has been greatly reduced for all units (player & AI).

Fixed :
Spawned wrecks not always adapting to terrain slope.
Errors in the supported addons loot config.
User-defined values not working on the Loot module.
Fixed all placement related issues with tents & sleeping bags (for good).
Wound textures missing for one zombie model.

 

New :
Ravage now requires CBA_A3.
Zombie population modules now give the option to spawn Runners, Walkers or both.
Each horde module will now use its own settings and is completely independent from the Ambiant Zombie module.

[EO 11260]

Crawlers 

 

......is this a misprint or are we getting a new adversary......

[haleks 8206]

Nah, I just don't know how to rename the friggin' Fast Zombies - now that they aren't the only ones being able to run anymore! ^^

[rsoftokz 288]

Talking about zombies, for my own opinion and for what it is worth, I would prefer walkers and crawlers in "the walking dead" style

Rather than zombies like seen in World War Z

All is just about personal choices and preferences

Will it be possible to offer for further versions a menu where you can choose options - runners, walkers, crawlers only one type of them or two or all

As we are talking about options, possibility to choose a difficulty level and the day time ....

This should be settled in the mission files but I guess it can be included in the mod in the radio call options too?

PS: zbe_caching seems to be made for AI and vehicles to spawn as units in the game.

What about caching for objects/compositions added? ( mainly buildings, furniture and accessories in the landscape )as AI are called and spawn with Ravage functions and triggered by player's position and deleted once player is away

So if you managed to include a caching system into the mod, it would help missions makers

Just in case I learn enough to think to build a mission on my own for the very beginning for a public release one day in a future time

[haleks 8206]

Will it be possible to offer for further versions a menu where you can choose options - runners, walkers, crawlers only one type of them or two or all

 

You mean for the showcase scenario?

Might be a good idea, but I need to think on what to add to it and adapt the code for it.

 

As far as I know, there isn't any caching system for object compositions - the only mod using one was DayZ back on Arma2...

Will see what I can do!

[rsoftokz 288]

Actually I was thinking about anything else but the showcase.

Let me explain

You have for example a file to spawn bandits camps or bandits car ( at least v0.1.1 did , I didn't met any bandits car since v0.1.2, maybe I wasn't where it was or something changed in the init, I didn't pay attention as I played focused on others things about what I tested in my own missions)

So we can imagine scripts to spawn small unit lightly armed or bigger ones with better gear

Same for zombies, we can expect only slow walkers or fast runners

So, on player's choice, all of the parameters could have been called into a menu with settings for the mod, not for a mission

( at least , some kind of spawning can always been activated with triggers, for example at the end of my no zombies mission, I can imagine zombies to appears just before the end of the mission... A kind of scenario " Ravage beginning ")

As it seems lot of people here are not agree about what they want to meet in a mission, maybe it will be fine to have something like a menu set up for the mod where you can choose the difficulty level for all those parameters

For now there is the only choice in the showcase with the radio call 0-0-1.

As far as I know, such menu is called and settled in the description.ext file and unit.sqf

Is it possible to do/build something with the mod architecture ???

That can be called an easy way in a unit and/or description file by mission maker ?

This is a question as I don't have the knowledge for now nor time to go make a search on google for this question.

[Lecter 66]

Looks like I forgot to add some of Massi's weapons to the loot lists...

Told you, that many supported addons is a headache. :P

I have a suggestion regarding weapon packs and their compatibility with Ravage. I know you mentioned that you havent added things from Massi pack, and there are 3 weapon packs here stated as compatible while most of the stuff from them is actually missing.

Here is my suggestion: you should utilize one weapon pack but add stuff from it instead having a bit of something but not one entire pack. I'd suggest HLC - I've gone through Massi's and Escalation. Massi's has weird PSO1 scope for AK family of rifles as well as bad ACOG for NATO guns, while Escalation has problems with compatibility of MRCO sights with their M4 family of weapons i.e. the iron sights block the crosshair of optics.  HLC is by far the best thing from what I've seen. Cheers.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

It reminds me I began working on a small caching system at some point, but I never bothered actually finishing it as it wasn't needed : performances were quite good thanks to the dynamic spawn/removal mechanics.

But I hadn't thought about user-made missions and didn't really know how they would behave along with the background functions.

I guess I could re-work it and create a Caching-system module for heavy scenarios - it would be able to cache all vehicles (with a few safeguards for occupied ones) and maybe editor placed objects/compositions.

 

By the way, I'm adding the Walkers back.

It required a few changes on the modules so I also took the time to overhaul the Horde modules : each one will now use its own settings (Zombie types, Crawlers percentage etc).

 

 Changelog for the current DEVbuild :

If you had to put a % on it, what % of total zombies would walkers now be in the devbuild?

[haleks 8206]

Walkers/Runners chances to spawn will be 50/50 if zombie spawn modules are set to use both types - I'll probably do the same for the Altis mission.

But I'm in middle of testing the modules themselves so it might change before release.

 

@rsoftokz : Yeah I thought about it when I played Pilgrimage and a few other missions proposing this sort of options menu.

But that's going to be difficult to conciliate with the modules system I went for - it would have been another story if I'd chosen the menu solution from the go... :/

Given the headache it's going to be (and that I hate coding GUI stuff ^^'), it's not on my priority list at the moment, sorry to say that.

 

...Although, that being said, a menu to let the player choose the weapon mods he wants at mission start would be cool - I saw IndeedPete is working on something related for Contention.

Might get in touch with him and/or Rydygier if I go for this.

[rsoftokz 288]

IndeedPete, Rydygier and you into a cooperation.... The dream team!

At this point I'm agree it is difficult to please everyone with all the suggestions you have and how you manage to build your mode ( even, once again I have a poor knowledge about this, I spent hours to port pilgrimage on Bornholm before Ryd had time to do it And so opened my mind a little to the magic of scripting and all that it is possible to do)

I imagine once you have chosen a way to build such a mod, there are some options to possible upgrades that are possible or not

Pilgrimage is what I was thinking and yes a large part of the settings are made with GUI coding but there are also some options you can choose with radio call ( 0-8-x for Pilgrimage )

Anyway, I guess there is lot to do first with all Ravage functions and other priority.

One other question about mod compatibility about weaponry

Is it for now possible to do a script like you did in Ravage with the @"mod"loot list to include directly into the mission files and so offer to mission makers the choice of the weaponry

Reading some previous posts here, like for zombies types, people seem to have preferences for this or this weapons mode that will be at your own words " a headache " to please every one

So maybe it could be better to set up Ravage to be friendly with all mods and let people in the mission making to choose the level of weaponry they want .... WW2 guns and rifles or Empire Blaster if they want ..

Just an idea ......