[ALiVE, SP/COOP 1-8] Oasis of Marah

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Gonna go out on a limb here and say with the new Diyala update, with the shift from JBAD to CUP Core, not only is this mission probably broken, but the map will need to be indexed again to work with ALiVE.

 

I'll see what I can do about getting it indexed. Just an FYI everyone.

[Montgomery 205]

@HeroesandvillainsOS Did you figure out how to prevent the enemy AI from using paradrops and helicopters for reinforcements? I remember us talking about how ISIS doesn't have the ability to use aircraft in real life and you were going to look into it. I'm looking forward to the next update!

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

9 hours ago, montgomery said:

@HeroesandvillainsOS Did you figure out how to prevent the enemy AI from using paradrops and helicopters for reinforcements? I remember us talking about how ISIS doesn't have the ability to use aircraft in real life and you were going to look into it. I'm looking forward to the next update!

Hi Montgomery. I'm going to need to take a closer look at this. Can you clarify whether or not you're seeing ISIS helicopters physically touchdown? Or is it just reinforcements and resupply being helidropped or both?

 

Paradropping is unfortunately a part of ALiVE I don't have control over. It's how the mod is designed to have conventional forces replenish. I know it's not ideal, but it is what it is.

 

But factions that don't have helicopters in their faction should absolutely NOT be having choppers physically touching down. If that's the case, I can control this by making a custom staticData file. I just need to figure out exactly how they are replenishing their troops first.

 

What I could do, is after I index the map due to the new map update to CUP, is make a version of this mission where ISIS are insurgents instead. That way they'd only replenish from actual civilians (similar to my other insurgencies).

 

That may be not a bad idea anyway. At least as a seperate download. FPS would probably improve that way and you'd never have to see another paradrop or ISIS helo again.

 

But the map needs to be reindexed for that. Currently, civs don't spawn on Diyala. Just waiting for Cype to PM me a version of the map I can index and I'll take a closer look.

 

Any thoughts or opinions on what you'd like an ALiVE mission on Diyala against ISIS to be like?

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

I just reindex Diyala for ALiVE, so I've updated the mission to include that index. I've also made some additional performance adjustments.

 

@montgomery Looking at this briefly, I only see the paradrop type of reinforcements for ISIS. As I said above, this is how ALiVE is built and there's nothing I can do about that. Please understand, that in order for dead troops to be replaced by new units in conventional warfare battles, the ALiVE devs have made the decision to use paradropping. The alternative would be having the groups literally appear out of nowhere, so they went with the lesser and most realistic of the two evils. That said:

 

1. If you happen to see any helicopters for ISIS physically landing on the ground, and not just troops/supplies paradropping in, please let me know and I can make it so they paradrop only.

 

2. Now that the Diyala index finally spawns civs (yes!), I'm thinking I may make a Insurgency verison of this mission for people that want it. In insurgencies, the insurgent faction (so in this case ISIS) can only replenish their units by recruiting civilians. Meaning you'd never have to deal with any paradropping at all.

[Montgomery 205]

@HeroesandvillainsOS  I've never seen any actual helicopters bringing in reinforcements, just the paradrops. Maybe in the future there will be an option to only have them reinforce by ground vehicles. It's still fun either way. Thanks for the update!

[8LacK5naK3 192]

Loving the mission, but it is badly hitching/lagging consistently for a quarter to half second or so roughly every 10 seconds or thereabouts, right from the start and throughout. Hosting on my own machine via lan on an i7 6700K, 16G and an overclocked 1070 (none of which are even remotely close to running capacity), so thinking it`s probably the scripting somewhere (due to the regularity of the hitch).

 

The mission itself is very enjoyable and right what I`m looking for. That regular pause is very much spoiling it right now though. I use inshallah frequently, which doesn`t suffer the pauses, but it doesn`t have the tasks running automatically either (and doesn`t suffer the same hitching when you do auto-generate them through the tablet).

 

All mods needed are up to date from steam. Not sure at all what`s causing the pause, but would love to get rid of it.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@flyingpig Yeah I noticed the hitch recently too. I'd assumed it was related to the auto tasking as well, but also assumed it would work itself out (I have so many missions now, and am in the balancing phase on all of them, it's hard for me to find the time to sit down and play them all).

 

Thats a very good assumption on your end. This mission really isn't any different than any of my other ones, aside from the tasks really. 

 

I'll take a look and see what I can do.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@flyingpig Well to my surprise, the hitching is not caused by auto-tasking at all. It has to do with the overall objective count. Once I increased the filter size of the ISIS and US Army MIL Obj module (which brings the overall objective number down), the constant skips went away. I can now run through the initial startup base and a couple towns without a single hitch. My best guess is due to the nature of this map, it simply can't handle being overloaded.

 

Since the map was reindexed, this update requires this version of ALiVE: https://github.com/ALiVEOS/ALiVE.OS/releases/tag/v1.3.1.1704141

 

Bare in mind, the map is still a performance hog. So I can't guarantee that as tasks are created and large battles form (and reinforcements get dropped in,etc) that it won't hitch at all, but this is definitely an improvement.

 

Updated. Requires the test verion of ALiVE above.

[8LacK5naK3 192]

Sweet. I`ll give it a little blast later tonight and see how it goes :)

 

 

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

21 minutes ago, flyingpig said:

Sweet. I`ll give it a little blast later tonight and see how it goes :)

 

 

Yeah please do. I'm focusing on Battle of Sangin right now. If you still notice the hitching, I have a couple more ideas on things I can tone back but I'd really rather not unless it's absolutely necessary (I don't want the map to feel too empty). But I think we're good now.

 

Again, performance is never going to be amazing on Diyala but that hitching was really odd and I do think it's fixed now.

 

I think I may make a seperate DL for an insurgency on the map anyway, for people that want something a bit less resource intensive on this beautiful map.

 

Let me know and thanks for the report. It helps me out a lot.

[8LacK5naK3 192]

Perfect. No more hitching at all. Played through 4-5 random tasks so far, and not a single pause or stutter (other than the usual arma-isms) :)

 

Minor point, but are the base barriers not supposed to lift on approach, or is it just alive factions or whatever not triggering them properly? I don`t mind knocking them down on entry or exit, but I`m used to seeing them open automatically in missions when driving or walking towards them.

 

...and there was me mentioning bugs too, and forgetting even to say thanks for all the work. Shame on me. Thank you.

[Savage_Donkey 243]

34 minutes ago, flyingpig said:

Minor point, but are the base barriers not supposed to lift on approach, or is it just alive factions or whatever not triggering them properly? I don`t mind knocking them down on entry or exit, but I`m used to seeing them open automatically in missions when driving or walking towards them.

Yeah I've noticed that too.  A potential fix could be to trigger an animation through the barriers' init fields to just make them permanently stay up. I think this would work:

this animate ["Door_1_rot", 1];

EDIT: Are the barriers simple objects?

Edited April 17, 2017 by Savage_Donkey

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Haha. Ok, so here's what I did with the barriers...

 

The ones at the bases. Like, the legit map bases that Cype_Revenge built on the map, those are actual map objects placed by him and from doing some research, won't open with an animation trigger.

 

Now, regarding the few I placed at the roadblocks outside your bases, at the time when I built the mission, because you couldn't open the gates at the bases, to keep things "consistent," I decided to keep them closed (that way players weren't confused why some opened, and why some didn't. I like CONSISTENCY in my missions).

 

I know the code used to animate the gates, but I don't think it works on objects placed directly on the map. Only editor placed.

 

If one of you guys know of a way I can animate them, I will. But for now, the only ones I know how to have open, are the ones I physically placed myself  (which again, are only at the roadblocks OUTSIDE the bases, not the ones at the base entries themselves).

 

Let me know guys. If I'm not making sense, open the map empty without my mission. You'll see Cype placed them there, not me.

 

Its funny you guys ask because I personally asked Cype if he could remove these so I could place my own (and either place an open model, or animate a closed one). Everyone made fun of me and called my "lazy" lol. Which I don't deny. :(

 

Trust me, I feel your gate pain. :)

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Yes @Savage_Donkey that's the code I've used in the past. And I don't think it works on map objects like Cype placed. 

[8LacK5naK3 192]

I did say it was a minor point (I don`t have a clue about how the arma internals work - it`s the one game series I never modded) :P

 

Some other feedback on the mission, SP use only. When grabbing a squad of ai to accompany you, many of them are spawning near the camo net behind the recruit board, or behind the line of parked hummers, etc to the north. When they do so, they are lost to the game, either being stuck in the rear of the net or somehow immobilised between the hescos and the parked vehicles (even after moving every single vehicle out their way, they still won`t move ever again). Only option is to resort to the teleport menu. I know it`s just an arma thing, but so soon in the mission, it would be nice to have them spawn somewhere clean even if it means making them spawn and wait just over the road to the west of the board.

 

Making the ai grab something as simple as new ammo is a monumental pain in the ass in any arma mission.... Is there perhaps an easy way to put down a circular trigger over (at least) the main base, which would auto-resupply just your recruited ai units with their default loadout when they enter that area, or perhaps a command menu option in the same trigger area for "resupply squad" which would re-initialise their loadout? Many has been the time tonight I took out a squad of 10, and after a couple of tasks, some were announcing they were out of ammo. I`d either drive them back to base or call for a chopper, then spend another hour trying everything in the book to make them resupply from various base boxes (which had all they needed ammo-wise). Usual case of "2, resupply from US ammo crate", "roger", "ready"..... check status of unit 2 - "no ammo".......". You end up having to either take half your squad on the next task with no ammo, or deliberately spend a while sending them somewhere to be killed before heading back to base just to recruit a whole new squad that has ammo. The alive road support supplies obviously would work fine for a bunch of humans playing coop, but for recruited ai.... ughhh. Same problem as taking them to base to try and resupply...

 

Other than that it`s working great. You can`t expect a simple task or patrol at any time. Sometimes you`ll be in and out with minimal fuss, other times you`ll get jumped from several sides, then 3 tanks and some sort of shilka will pop over the hill and shred everyone in the open. Really makes you appreciate those support options :)

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@flyingpig Those are both pretty valid criticisms. The thing with Spyder's recruitment, is it spawns the AI in a very large radius. Spyder isn't really supporting the mod anymore either, otherwise I'd ask him if we could use a set waypoint instead.

 

Considering they need a lot of room to not get stuck, and also considering a lot of bases don't have a ton of room, I could probably move the recruitment area to a separate area where the chances of them spawning in an unwanted area were lessened. Hmmm. As I update these I'll see what I can do for sure. I usually just teleport them when it happens like you do but I can see how that isn't ideal.

 

The rearming AI thing is one of my absolute biggest criticisms with Arma itself. Even in vanilla it's an annoying process. With ALiVE, when they run out of ammo, instead of fussing around trying to rearm them, I go into the tablet, click "personnel," and click on the AI and have them "leave group." Then I recruit new ones.

 

I never looked too much into an auto rearm trigger for AI. I'd imagine if one exists, it might be kind of complicated since I like to use RHS and 3CB. I'll take a look though. That would be nice. I'll just have to ensure if one exists that it plays nice with mods and on dedicated servers and whatnot (and is not resource intensive, etc). 

 

If i find something, or if you guys stumble across something, I'll see what I can do. But no promises. TBH I've never heard of an auto rearm trigger for infantry in Arma before but I'd imagine it's been done. I'll take a look.

 

This is excellent feedback. I appreciate it.

[Normal Norm 19]

We tried this last night and its an excellent little mission however it would have been nice to have been able to revive downed team mates.  When we die we have to respawn straight away every single time.  I could understand if it was a head shot or something that would cause us to die immediately, but every single time :( 

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@Normal Norm Feel free to unpack my missions and add ACE or anything else you’d like if you’re not fond of vanilla healing (which is understandable). Though bare in mind, I am currently not supporting this mission because I’m having some issues with the map.

 

If you’d like to play something else I’ve made that I am currently supporting, click the link in my signature. This mission needs an update badly, but it’s not something I’m going to do until the problems I’m having with it are fixed (constant stutter, performance drops, etc).