haleks 8204 Posted July 21, 2018 Hello Earth! Do you remember when we found out Arma 3 could have been about aliens? I reckon it could have been a lot of fun, and a good occasion to transform the gameplay dynamics by opposing unconventional ennemies to our very conventional little soldiers. Some mods out there offer excellent solutions for alien lovers (FAP units, OPTRE FC and others), but I wanted to try my hand at something 100% vanilla for once... So here it is : Contact : A collection of scripts to simulate alien invasions This demo is very much WIP and will be updated with new features and optimizations. It is released as a Singleplayer mission, but all the scripts are designed to work in Multiplayer as well. The demo currently offers the following features : - A script to spawn alien ships with working AI. - Alien ships can move around, execute patrols or other tasks just like the vanilla AI. - Alien ships will attack spotted targets with semi-autonomous weapons - those can be shot down before they reach their target. - Although they may seem invincible at first glance, alien ships can be killed. Further additions are planned, such as improved audio and visual FX or new enemies for infantry combat. Have fun! Download : If you want to support me, enjoy my work, or simply would like to buy me a coffee, you can donate any amount you want, no matter how modest it may be. AAN Footage by our reporter @section 20 14 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
section 20 458 Posted July 21, 2018 Nice. So much new stuff today, it feels like christmas. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GEORGE FLOROS GR 4206 Posted July 21, 2018 Thanks Haleks for this ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haleks 8204 Posted July 21, 2018 @section 20: Nice job on your latest screenshot! ^^ Do you mind if I add to the OP? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
section 20 458 Posted July 21, 2018 7 minutes ago, haleks said: @section 20: Nice job on your latest screenshot! ^^ Do you mind if I add to the OP? Cool :) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EO 11225 Posted July 21, 2018 Boldly going where other scripters fear to tread... Great job man!....loved my playthrough of this, mixed it up with a little High Command and it became something much more tactical. Would be cool to see the Mothership try to defend itself by spitting out some smaller faster fighters.... 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Undeceived 392 Posted July 21, 2018 Nice, haleks! Gonna try this out too. Btw. when I look at the first picture in the first post I always see the (resistance) player symbol in the editor. :-D Can't help it - should close Arma more often..... :-D 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
R0adki11 3945 Posted July 22, 2018 @haleks great mission, i really like the concept. Look forward to seeing this combined with Ravage to create a future alien invasion scenario! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HazardousJay 83 Posted August 10, 2018 hey sir haleks! just a quick question if you dont mind, what parameter should i edit to increase the altitude of the Thargoid-esque alien ship? just curious nvm, found it. it was in the flower.sqf all along. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haleks 8204 Posted April 23, 2019 Hi everyone! I'm planning on updating "Contact", and wanted to know your thoughts : I am considering 2 possible approaches for the next update, both aimed at making the alien ships easier to use for mission makers. - An addon version : alien ships would be available in the eden editor, under a new faction name for all 3 sides. Downside : addon dependency. - A scripted version : no dependency, but it makes mission making more difficult and less user-friendly. I reckon most people would prefer sticking to a 100% vanilla solution, but on the other hand, a mod version means mission makers don't need tutorials... 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EO 11225 Posted April 23, 2019 Man, I totally forgot about this little gem, glad to see it's gonna get some more attention....I'm in the addon camp my friend, I don't mind the dependency if it means a more user friendly experience. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LSValmont 789 Posted April 30, 2019 On 4/23/2019 at 10:42 AM, haleks said: Hi everyone! I'm planning on updating "Contact", and wanted to know your thoughts : I am considering 2 possible approaches for the next update, both aimed at making the alien ships easier to use for mission makers. - An addon version : alien ships would be available in the eden editor, under a new faction name for all 3 sides. Downside : addon dependency. - A scripted version : no dependency, but it makes mission making more difficult and less user-friendly. I reckon most people would prefer sticking to a 100% vanilla solution, but on the other hand, a mod version means mission makers don't need tutorials... What about doing a mod version but including the new assets into ravage? So if you have ravage you also have access to contact stuff in the EDEN. (I don't think Contact assets weight that much anyway do they?). The thing is... most mission makers who try ravage no longer do missions without it. Even if you don't use the zombies or the other modules, the furnitures alone make ravage a MUST for all my missions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haleks 8204 Posted April 30, 2019 @LSValmont There is no new assets at all right now, everything is made with vanilla assets except for a few sounds. I could bundle it with Ravage, but I'm afraid it could go unnoticed by people who aren't into post-apo stuff. But a mod version would be super light, and compatible with Ravage anyways. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haleks 8204 Posted May 24, 2019 Hi everyone! So, I'm sure everybody heard about the new expansion called Arma 3 Contact. ^^ Just wanted to inform you that this doesn't change my plans about this little project : we don't know yet how we will be able to interact with aliens in the DLC so it's difficult to tell if any feature will be redundant with what BIS has to offer, or how "Contact" will evolve. But in any case, the incoming DLC will benefit this project with new assets - especially if props are available to everyone wether they own the DLC or not. I guess we'll know more in the coming weeks - stay tuned! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haleks 8204 Posted May 25, 2019 Bad news : alien assets, including static objects, will be locked behind a paywall I won't use them in Contact obviously : I want it to remain available to everyone. I have to say, I'm hugely disappointed by BIS's decision here : it could have been a great opportunity for mission and game mode designers, but this new approach is way too restrictive and is a sad shift compared to previous releases. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
damsous 329 Posted May 25, 2019 44 minutes ago, haleks said: Bad news : alien assets, including static objects, will indeed be locked behind a paywall I won't use them in Contact obviously : I want it to remain available to everyone. I have to say, I'm hugely disappointed by BIS's decision here : it could have been a great opportunity for mission and game mode designers, but this new approach is way too restrictive and is a sad shift compared to previous releases. I understand what you’re thinking, but you already done a very good mod for free (ravage), that can be combined with a lot of free script or asset... (for exemple all the GeorgeFloros, EO, Alias script... also all the map) just this thing give so much opportunity, this paid mod is a good way to reward you for all the work you already done. Im not a supporter of the paid mod, but when it come from somebody who put a lot of work in a free mode, who listens to the players... and give us so much fun, the best thing a player can do its to buy your mod to use the new asset and also to say thank you. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haleks 8204 Posted May 26, 2019 I'm slowly beginning work on the addon version. A few thoughts on the project so far : - As said earlier, the mod will add alien ships to all 3 sides in the 3d editor, but this feature might have a few limits : even if they are present in the configs, alien ships in their current implementation still are heavily scripted features, and as such don't "work" properly in the editor environment. Whenever you put a UFO on the map, its 3d model will be invisible as a result and it probably won't have a proper bounding box as some parts of the UFO can only be loaded after mission start. I'll take a look at how BIS handles compositions for the larger static objects, it might help solving the issue, but failing that, it shouldn't be a big deal. Everything else will work as usual : waypoints, group handling, flyinheight settings, side relations etc. - The original concept currently on the Workshop depicts a first (hostile) contact : that won't necessarily be the focus of the mod though. The idea behind Contact is not so different from the Ravage spirit : the primary goal is to provide easy-to-use tools for mission making and story telling. Contact could be used to create "first contact" scenarios as well as occupation scenarios à la Colony. Alien ships can be manipulated like any other AI unit in Arma, allowing a familiar level of flexibility for mission makers. - Alien ships will have some built-in features, but the mod will also incude modules to tweak various settings and add more features : create a biohazard zone around alien ships (CBRN gear would be necessary), give them EMP weapons or defensive measures, etc. I will also add "immersion" modules. One of them will focus on "alien vegetation" : very much like in XCOM2, it will contaminate the terrain with alien plants. Several features will be configurable : do they emit light? do they emit dangerous spores? And any other fun stuff I can come up with. - I don't plan on adding any infantry, but that's easily worked around with the recent release by @mondkalb... And that's it for now! It's already more than enough to keep me busy for the next weeks, but the feature list will grow eventually. The plan is to release it within a month; it should give mission makers time to try it and see how it can be used along with Arma 3 Contact. I might accomodate the code after that to allow injection of assets from the DLC, but the goal is to keep this one open to everybody, we'll see how data management evolves on BIS's end. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haleks 8204 Posted May 27, 2019 Hi folks! Quick update on development : I am polishing all scripted features one by one while making sure they don't mess with mission editing. - So far I've fixed the most annoying problem with the original concept : ships were not able to move around properly and would do a lot of slow and unnecessary maneuvers. A lot of objects were attached to an invisble UAV as a quick solution, but they prevented it from navigating properly, and caused several other issues. I'm using a new approach that doesn't interfere with their pathfinding; alien ships can also move much faster now and are compatible with all speed modes. - Although they are made of several objects created after mission start, you only need to refer to the original object used in the editor (or its variable name) : everything has been designed to make them work as closely as vanilla units are used. For instance, deleting the original object via trigger will automatically delete other parts and components too. - Optimised visual FX on death : the potato GC I'm using at the moment runs VR at around 10 fps, and the original VFX would crash the game every once in a while. This new version should run better on modest computers and look better too. I'll start working on weaponry and defense soon, once that's done, I might release it before tackling the modules. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Valken 621 Posted May 27, 2019 U know, if you pull this off, I rather give you and other modders the DLC money instead. Seriously... since it is not a too big of an ask from the community who enjoys the SciFi genre. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haleks 8204 Posted May 29, 2019 Hello Earth! Aliens are ready to enter our solar system... I'm almost done on editor implementation of alien ships : I went through several designs since last week-end, and finally found a satisfying approach that allows full compatibility with editor features and scripted environments. Everything related to movements, damage handling and kill/deletion events is in a more or less final state and provide a solid base for future additions. Right now I just need to finish work on engagement behaviours and "weaponry", after that it will be an intense testing process and then a first release... As said earlier, the initial release will only add the alien faction, no editor modules yet. The goal is to let mission makers time to test them in any possible scenario and make sure all the usual editing technics work on the ships. At the moment there is only the one ship design from the demo mission : I don't plan on adding more as I want to focus on features first. That being said, compos enthusiasts can submit their own design, it will be easy to create a new ship class. Only things required for that : - provide the necessary data to attach each element of the composition to a central object that will act as the center of mass for the whole ship. setVectorDirandUP is used to orient each element when attached to the central object. - mainly use "rock" objects in order to remain visually consistent with the original design. The general idea behind those ships is that they are animal-like, a bit like the Kaijus from Pacific Rim or the Thargoids from Elite Dangerous. - post a picture on this thread along with the data. If you need, I can post a script to gather said data. You can go crazy on the size of the ship, the scripts are easy to adapt on my side. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Valken 621 Posted May 29, 2019 What about using VR cubes for UFOs? It would look a bit TRON like... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haleks 8204 Posted May 29, 2019 @Valken It's something I considered, but that wouldn't work well the bigger ships : they would require a lot of objects, and I'm setting the ship render distance to terrainviewdistance rather than objectviewdistance - and you can only do that on a limited number of objects. I think fewer, bigger objects is also better performance-wise. But VR objects could be used for other stuff, such as artefacts or smaller "infantry hunter" drones, I'll certainly experiment with those. 😉 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aussie battler 93 Posted July 1, 2019 @heleks thanks for sharing this, great work. The ship is so big & freaky at night. I was wondering if you had a script version that you can drop into a mission file? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haleks 8204 Posted July 1, 2019 @aussie battler: Sorry, I don't have a mission-ready script at the moment; a scripted version is possible, but it's more complex to make it user-friendly, and it can create more problems or exploits than the mod version. 😕 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
