Escape from prison - revisited

[RogerDog 0]

After reading many of the posts on the board, I became nostalgic for OFP:CWC. I can't seem to stay away from it for long.

At any rate, I was replaying Escape from Prison. I have read the threads on this mission, and they all discuss how to take the BMP or the hind, etc., AFTER reaching the "prison camp" (i.e., where BMP is, outside the tent near the campfire, the area reached after the chopper lands and you get off). But when I replayed the mission, what keeps happening is that I am with the Russians, I get in the chopper (at the VERY beginning), and then I magically pop out of the chopper, along with the "leader." Then the chopper takes off, hovers in the air without going anywhere (it never comes back down to land), and I am left standing there in the base complex with the "leader" who stands around looking stupid. Thus, I never make it to the "prison camp" area to steal the BMP or the hind, get a PK, etc. I'm stuck in the initial part of the mission. What to do?

I found that I can move about freely - nobody shoots me UNLESS I pick up a weapon (even a hand grenade). There is a 5T truck available, and I have used it to drive around the far western part of Kolgujev, but I can't go far without triggering the cutscene which leaves me on the hill looking for the Big Dipper.

I can't find a weapons cache anywhere. the only thing I can do to get a weapon (other than grabbing hand grenades off of the 5T truck) is to run over some troops (squish!   ) and take their AK74s, but there are no anti-tank weapons. Once I kill a troop or get a weapon, the BMP comes looking for me, and the hind starts firing at me. Believe me, an AK74 and a few hand grenades don't provide for a high rate of survivability against an airborne, armed hind and a pi**ed-off BMP.

It eventually gets boring. Nothing to do without a weapon, and getting a weapon means getting attacked and killed fairly quickly. Even the Shilkas fire at me! I can get to the cutscene by driving the truck east or north. I found that if I do squish troops and get a weapon, and then trigger the cutscene, when I appear on the hill looking at the stars, viola! my AK74 came with me! At least this makes running South towards the friendly troops much faster.

Has anyone else experienced this glitch? Although I am able to finish the mission by stealing the truck and driving until the cutscene kicks in, I've found that I CAN'T stay in the chopper! When my leader leaves the chopper (which is right after I board), I am automatically kicked out, and I haven't been able to get back in before it takes off. Not a serious problem, given that there is an alternative way to finish the mission, but I am wondering whether anyone else has experienced this bug. I'm not in front of my OFP machine, otherwise I'd look at what version I have running. I sorta miss not being able to try stealing the BMP or the hind, causing havoc, etc. Just stealing a truck and driving off into the sunset isn't very "military macho", eh?  

[theavonlady 2]

Are you running from the OFP Resistance CD or the GOTY edition CD?

What version number of OFP are you playing this with?

[RogerDog 0]

OPF Mom's always lookin' out for us!   I am running it from the OFP:Resistance CD, and the version number of the executable says 1.75.

More testing = more information. By experimentation, I have learned more about this "bug." Allow me to elaborate:

The mission begins (after the cutscene and the mission notebook) with a brief overhead view of the chopper. Then the actual mission begins. At that point:

- If I stand still and do nothing, the "leader" and crew will board the chopper. Then, if I board the chopper, it takes off and the mission proceeds normally.

- If I run around at the beginning, the Russians think I am escaping and shoot me (even if I run in circles). This also happened once when I just walked slowly behind the leader. He took a bullet too, but didn't die.  

- If I sprint to the chopper as soon as possible, and then get in, then very shortly I am forcefully disembarked. Here's the fun part: the pilots get out of the cockpit, walk back, and get in the back of the chopper! (Yes, I watched them!) While they are doing this, the engine is shut off, the rotors spin down, and I am unable to board. Immediately, the engine kicks on again, the rotors spin up, and the chopper takes off with no one at the controls. I am left on the ground with the "leader" and others. As previously described, as long as I don't squish anyone with the truck or get a weapon, they leave me alone. Eventually, I travel far enough in any direction (since the base is on the far western point of Kolgujev, the sea prevents me from travelling west, so it's basically east), the cutscene kicks in and I am alone on the mountaintop looking at the big dipper.

However, at this point, I see my "leader" identified by a circle (did I mention I am playing this in Cadet mode?) and he is about 3,000 meters away - NORTH. If I run down to meet him, he is walking along the road, near a T72, and they both ignore me as usual. I ran down the road and found the "prison camp", and everyone ignored me. The Hind I couldn't stay aboard earlier is now located at the prison camp (which makes sense). The pilots are standing around outside it, looking bored, but I can't board it. I could not get in the BMP, either, but there was a UAZ, so I took off in exploration. So far, I am able to reach virtually all of the northern part of the island. The only weapons cache I have found is there at the prison camp. To the east, there is another base with a Hind just hovering above it (yeah, that makes me a little nervous) but no weapons cache, and I have seen another BMP and a T80 (neither of which I culd commandeer), but nobody shoots at me. My suspicion is that the Hind is part of the program that hangs around waiting for me to get in the BMP so it can come and wipe me out. How thoughtful.

I have yet to go South and see if, as per other threads, the Americans smoke me (perhaps the program has identified me as an enemy) or if it works out OK and I can end the mission normally. In the meantime, I'm looking around the island. I would like to find a way to take a lot of these guys out before I head South, but as before, I am left with few options.

Anyway, it's not really a "fun" glitch (certainly not as much fun as getting the tank in "Status Quo" and seeing how much damage can be done and how many civilian crunchies I can squish!), but I thought it might be of general interest, since I had seen no threads reporting this particular glitch.

[toadlife 3]

Perhaps the 1985 campaign update fixes this glitch?

[theavonlady 2]

Perhaps the 1985 campaign update fixes this glitch?

He'll need to upgrade to 1.91 first, before applying the 1985 compatibility patch.

Rogerdog, whay are you still running V1.75?

[Judge Rabbi 0]

I remember running towards the base that Armstrong + Co captures in the mission Counter-Strike. The bloody US Officer shoots me!

Bastard...

[toadlife 3]

The v1.91 patch alone probably modifies the CWC campaign too.

[RogerDog 0]

Rogerdog, whay are you still running V1.75?

Umm ... sheer laziness? What, is that not a valid excuse?!?  

In truth, here's the story. I had OFP:CWC loaded on a PC. Worked fine. Then I loaded GOTY to add Red Hammer. Worked great. Then I loaded Resistance. YIKES - slow moving mouse, stuttering, all sorts of problems. I spent about a month searching the FAQ, trying out solutions (video card, frame rate, etc. etc. etc.) - no luck. So I tried loading it on my newer computer. This time, it didn't run at all -- I think, based on troubleshooting info, it was due to there being a re-writable CD-ROM in the computer.

Later, I tried loading OFP:CWC and then Resistance. Now it runs, and I don't want to mess with it, because I have never finished the Resistance campaign (which I am doing right now). Once I finish Resistance, then I will mess with it and risk losing the set-up . I would like to add Red Hammer to it, but I don't know whether it will still work. Once I followed someone's step-by-step post about what patch and what program to load in what order to get it to the most current for all 3 modules, but it still didn't work.

Anyway, the glitch is one I can deal with. I found a way to get into the BMP that is at the prison camp. I have to get in the back, and then wait for a while. Eventually the crew gets out, I move to the driver's seat, and -- voilŕ -- I am in command of the BMP and I can squish crunchies at will. However, after doing so, when I go to the American camp, they do nothing. I don't get the cutscene, and I don't get shot. So I went back, replayed the mission by getting kicked out of the chopper, driving the truck to the cutscene, and then simply running down the hill to the American camp - success. I saved my .fps files, and later I'll go back and cause mayhem.

But for the moment, I am running around with 3 clips of ammo for my M-16 shooting innocent civilians in "Status Quo." Sounds mean, I know, but hey -- they set up the software this way! I haven't shot my "friends" yet, though - I will soon if the resistance leader I picked up at the Castle doesn't quit messing around with his binoculars. Every step - put the binoculars up and look through them, put them down, take a step, repeat ad nauseum. Really, I waited about 5 real-time minutes on 4x speed for him to move to the truck (I ordered him to drop his weapon, put the binoculars to the truck, throw weapon, etc. - no avail), and he just keeps looking through those darned binoculars. Tonight, he either puts them down or ... it's CURTAINS!