Wgl 4.0

[phaeden 0]

The WGL team is very close to releasing the latest incarnation of Wargames.  Originally designed to modify a limited number of anti-tank weapons, this addon has grown to the point where it is now a true MOD.  

The complete list will be released soon, but this MOD alters nearly every aspect of Operation Flashpoint in order to make the game more like a military simulation.  The focus of the MOD was to increase communication, teamwork, and fire and movement tactics for all players.

The last version was designed with competetive league play (SquadEngine - Wargames League) in mind, but the WGL 4.0 release is aimed more at the general OFP community.

It will be released within a week.

WGL 4.0 Field Manual

[SASR Sabre 0]

awesome but um whats the size gunna be this time? 56ker

[redliner47 0]

ah man i got all excited, thought it was going to have a dl link

[phaeden 0]

Unfortunately, it is a large file, but we are creating several smaller downloads and installers to help ease the burden on your connection (and phone bill).

I think the tendancy in OFP, especially with addons is that they are relatively small. The main difference here is that WGL 4.0 is not an Addon, but is rather a MOD. When one keeps that in mind, it should help reduce the "Ahhh!" factor.

By downloading WGL 4.0, you can be assured that you are getting a quality product that has been thoroughly tested. It will, in my opinion, be worth the time and effort to download the files.

[phaeden 0]

Here is a list of what we have changed:

WGL 4.0 Field Manual

[marine26thmeu 0]

I was wondering if the issue of that "TacHeartbeat" error message when getting hit has been solved. Looking through the list of changes I didn't see it addressed and was curious. I have the last version 3.5, and I still get that error, example being when I'm one of E&S USMC MARPATs and I'm hit by a non WGL unit. Besides looking at the improvements and fixes, just playing this mod everytime makes OFP much more enjoyable. Thank you WGL team for making a much more realistic military simulator out of OFP.

[phaeden 0]

As far as I know (unless it slipped through), the Tact events have all been removed - you should no longer see that error.

Thank you for providing feedback. We appreciate any feedback we get - good or bad (but good is always better).

[Tactician 0]

The TACTEvents heartbeat error is caused by a conflict with any other improperly configured addon.

When any addons uses cfgSounds and defines the following:

class cfgSounds

{

sounds[]={ . . . };

};

It will break any other addon that uses cfgSounds. In TACTEvents (and the replacement WGLEvents), the heartbeat sound is defined properly. Isolate the units from other addons and you won't get the error.

If you use the WGL mod by itself you will not receive the error, however we can not guarantee it won't happen if you have other addons memory-resident. If this is particularly troublesome, I suggest you dePBO some of your other addons to find the culprit and inform the author so they can fix it.

One known culprit is CoC_UA v1.0, and they've already fixed it for 1.1. See the CoC_UA thread on this board for better instructions on fixing it.

So that's why it's not on the list of changes, because it never was a problem with us to begin with ;)

[marine26thmeu 0]

Tactician thanks, yes even though I have sorted out the addon zips and rars in folders by class (i.e. armor, fixed wing, ground inf. etc) I still have much sorting and filtering to go through. I suppose it also might not help if I'm combining mods as well, say WGL with ECP. So if at best I could just run OFP through the WGL shortcut alone. Thanks for the help

[the_shadow 0]

i got a short question.... is there any possibility that you´ll make desert units (and vechicles) som time in the future?

i like what you´ve done so far but lack some proper desert units... your res units are great as terrorists och guerilla troops and im thinking about making a anti terrorist/ peacekeeping (peace enforcement) campaign

and would like some desert units... ofcource it´s possible for me to make a simple woodland only campaign but that´s not what i have in mind right now...

anyway, cant wait for these goddies

and please, dont release them until friday ;)

[marine26thmeu 0]

Shadow, why not use Hyk's US troop pack for the peackeepers, as they represent some of the current US Infantry Divisions. I say this just because they're are already a lot of units out, true they don't have the WGL effects to them, but if you're making a private mission that really shouldn't matter. Plus you have to consider the fact the WGL have their hands full with modifying everything from weapons, scripts, to classes, etc. I have no idea of how much the addon making processing consists of, especially for a full out mod as WGL, but having to rexture all those units would probably just double the amount of time. And if you're wondering about desert terrorists/insurgents you could always use the PLFP pack, there's also another one (desert insurgents/terrorists) too somewhere in the units addon section at @WAR. Hope this helps.

[Spy17 1]

Does the pack come with a complete sound mod like in FDF?

[the_shadow 0]

Shadow, why not use Hyk's US troop pack for the peackeepers, as they represent some of the current US Infantry Divisions.  I say this just because they're are already a lot of units out, true they don't have the WGL effects to them, but if you're making a private mission that really shouldn't matter.  Plus you have to consider the fact the WGL have their hands full with modifying everything from weapons, scripts, to classes, etc.  I have no idea of how much the addon making processing consists of, especially for a full out mod as WGL, but having to rexture all those units would probably just double the amount of time. And if you're wondering about desert terrorists/insurgents you could always use the PLFP pack, there's also another one (desert insurgents/terrorists) too somewhere in the units addon section at @WAR.  Hope this helps.

ah, yes... im aware of this... it would take one hell of a time to retexture everything...

well... i can always do a peacekeeping campaign with only woodland units...

hm, lets just come up with a nice background....

anyone got any ideas, it should be in a near futur (mayby 2006-2008)

hm, what crisis can com up quickley that today are not counted with... the situation should have come as a complete surprice... (and not russia attacking the US)

anyway, to get back to topic, WGL has the best explo effects ive seen so far (sorry ECP), i really like them

and the WP effects

hm, so wgl 4.0 should be played as a mod (like FDF or CSLA2)

thats good, no need for ecp i hope ;)

[@cero 0]

This sounds extremally exciting.

I wanted a modification like that for a long time now.

All the alterations, modifications and new features you done to it must be the dogs b#####s

I can't wayt to get my hands in it.

@CERO.

[Gordy 0]

That's gonna be a Looooooooooooooong week.

Even more exciting that BAS week.

That seems like revolution. I wonder though if it would be closed mod (CSLA) as I would like to remake the Compaigns with it.

[the_shadow 0]

oh, yes... great idea there.... remaking the original campaigns with wgl stuff

how neat would´nt that be?

both CWC, RH and Res campaigns...

to bad i cant manage to do it myself.... but it wouldn´t be that hard would it?

[topchris175 0]

In the manual you list a UAZ 459 in the land vehicles list. The vehicle you actually mean is a UAZ 469

There is no such thing as a UAZ 459

[cornhelium 0]

Looks splendid - can't wait.

Cheers,

Cornhelium

[Gordy 0]

Actually I did it with HYK, Delta, Suchey models.

I have a problem with cutscenes. I am not much of a computer geek. I do not know how to make those scene woth new models.

[gunterlund 0]

guys

As I stated before WGL is my main mod now for all missions. the reason is consistency. When using WGL units exclusively you get an exciting battle with realistic parameters. There may be better looking mods out there (though my opinion is the units in this mod are first class) but the config of those mods are not as good as these. Hopefully someday the WGL team will open their config and explain their logic so other mods like Hyk could be configed to match.

Does the WGL team have any plans to open their config process with a "how to" manual so other modders can utilize their system? I know alot of people seem to like Sigma's tanks but their parameters are way out of wack with the WGL system.

Keep up the great work guys and I cant wait to get the WGL pack..

Cheers

[rouge1 0]

Wow this sounds great! i can't wait for it!

[Gordy 0]

guys

As I stated before WGL is my main mod now for all missions. the reason is consistency. When using WGL units exclusively you get an exciting battle with realistic parameters. There may be better looking mods out there (though my opinion is the units in this mod are first class) but the config of those mods are not as good as these. Hopefully someday the WGL team will open their config and explain their logic so other mods like Hyk could be configed to match.

Does the WGL team have any plans to open their config process with a "how to" manual so other modders can utilize their system? I know alot of people seem to like Sigma's tanks but their parameters are way out of wack with the WGL system.

Keep up the great work guys and I cant wait to get the WGL pack..

Cheers

What I meant was, to recreate the existing compaigns with WGL. All units, all scripts and details.

I do not need the open config fot that.

Will there be any missions/campaigns included?

[gunterlund 0]

Also another question. Are there any WGL servers around exclusive to WGL mods? Would love to give it a go in multi player

[phaeden 0]

At the moment, there are no plans to make desert variants of all the men and vehicles.  We are still playing with the idea of making winter, but even that is still somewhat of a remote possibility.  The primary reason for not making the variants is time.  It takes a very long time to retexture everything.  Additionally, we would feel obligated to make another island - in addition to Gaia and Titan (which will also be released in the same time period as the weapons and vehicles pack).  An making islands is a very time consuming process.  However, if enough people show interest for wanting those addons, perhaps they will be shifted up on our "to-do" lists.

Regarding the sounds, WGL 4.0 incorporates a ton of new and altered sounds.  We have dug very deeply into the internet (and even have gone as far as trying to record real weapon effects - without too much success ironically) in order to get realistic sounds.  I was in the real U.S. Marine Corps, as were many of the beta testers, and we have tried to closely replicate all the sounds that we heard while on duty.  While not every sounds has been replaced, the VAST majority of them have been so.  In addition, we have included a wide range of new sounds, such as mortar firing, flight, and impacts, Mk82 explosions, helicopter engine startup sounds, and Mk19 Grenade launchers sounds.  While they are not "perfect", there are about as close as we could find - more realistic than the default OFP at any rate.

The explosion effects took a lot of our time.  One of the things that truly bothered us were the extremely unrealistic explosion effects featured in default OFP (and some other addons).  Again, having seen many of these explosions first hand, we strived for realistic explosion effects.  I should mention at this point, that the effects are not what you are used to - these are "real".  Many players are used to seeing Hollywood pyrotecnics with massive fireballs and huge clouds of smoke - while these look really cool they are not terrible accurate.  For example, a handgrenade has a small flash, an occasional small fireball (modelled occasionally), a cloud of grayish smoke, and occasionally some small debris (also occasionally modelled).  The cloudlet effects also linger longer than what you are used to.  The default OFP version has a small mushroom cloud - hmmm... not quite right

As for the "openness" of the MOD, we will be releasing a "Technical Manual" shortly after the initial release.  This manual will include all the technical aspects of the MOD.  Included will be a list of all the "vehicle" names, the effects of weapons (ranges, damages, etc), and a "how to" for the more technical aspects of the MOD - such as using the field mortars and setting an airbursting round.  While we are concerned that others may "heavily borrow" from our work, we have NOT sealed the files.  The main purpose of all our work was to bring realistic military simulation gaming to the OFP community.  We also have our eyes on OFP 2, and our one major regret with WGL is that it happened so late in the life of OFP.  The community is much smaller than it was 2 years ago (understandably so), and perhaps if we had released WGL back then, more people would still be playing today.  As such, we want to be ready (or as near to it as possible) for when OFP 2 comes out so we can begin changing it into a military simulator (and less of a game).  All that being said, we know we can't do everything by ourselves (there are only a handful of us working on WGL), and we will need the input and help from those that are willing.

As for the UAZ error in the manual, please accept my apology.  Invariably it was a lazy finger that resulted in that error.  As you may imagine, converting an entire game is ... tedious.  We have a system of cross-checks to try and catch any errors one of us may put in, but we don't always catch everything (especially a small non-critical error).  Thank you for notifiying us of the error, hopefully we can get it in before we make the installer, but if it is not corrected, please "over look" it.  Thanks.

Regarding missions - there are some missions already complete with new ones continuously being created. If you have the skill to make missions (SP, MP, Coop, CTI, etc), please let us know and we will give you all the support you need. As was stated above, there are only a handful of us working on the MOD and there are simply not enough hours in the day to get all the things done. One of our weaker sections has been mission development. So we could use all the help we can get. We can give you everything you need (and most of this will be in the techincal manual), we just don't have all the time we need to make great missions. However, once the MOD is released we can start making missions with greater intensity, so fear not - there WILL be more missions coming!

As for specific servers, I know of two for sure - the USMC Warriors Camp Pendleton server and the Citadel server - just type in USMC or CIT in the filter for online play and you will see them.

"Better looking addons" - I will be the first to admit that there are nicer looking models out there - hands down, I agree.  The best explaination for this is because we always kept one thing in mind while we made everything - that one thing was PLAYABILITY.  The more polys an object has, the more it taxes your system to work.  So instead of having 2 BAS Pavehawks (which look amazing), we can have 10 WGL Blackhawks on screen with the same hit to your computer.  We kept this theme will nearly every aspect of the MOD.  The island GAIA is a very intricate, heavily populated island.  It has half a million objects.  It looks great, BUT in order to have really good framerates, you have to have the viewing distance set to around 700 meters.  So, Gaia is really good for close in fighting.  Titan has substantially less objects (which have been further modified for low poly counts) and you are able to play it with a viewing distance of nearly 3000 meters - default OFP is 900 meters.  Having these different islands allows for very different types of play.  With Titan, for example, players are now exposed to an environment where you can see a player long before he is in range of small arms weapon systems.  This is, to my knowledge, a first in OFP history.  It makes commanders utilize recon assets like never before.  It also forces pilots to use different techniques as they can now be seen from a LONG way away (allowing for actual ambushes to be established).

One of the things we spent a great deal of time working on was the "balance" of gameplay.  Instead of trying to make a T55 have the same power as a M1A1, we opted for "realism."  A T55 will get crushed by a M1A1 - no doubt about it. So why try to make them equal?  This way, each vehicle presents its own strengths and weaknesses.  Now commanders must really think about real world tactics and strategy.  You can no longer take on a platoon of tanks with APCs - you will lose.  Now you will have to deploy your infantry, set up an ambush, use mortars and mines, and hit the tanks from all sides to kill them - much closer to real life combat.  The same is true of the small arms weapon effects - which also went through several changes.  A 7.62 is stronger and more lethal than a 5.56.  Now, without getting into symantics and quoting Janes, we made the heaver rounds do more damage.  If you are hit with a 7.62 in the chest, you are more likely to be killed than if you were hit with a 5.56.  All of the small arms rounds do LESS damage than default OFP - some have called these "rubber bullets" but we feel that with body armor and a balance of realistic gameplay - the less powerful rounds dramatically add to the enjoyment of gaming.  I can tell you now that it is different and when you are on the "giving" end of an engagement, it may frustrate you that you can no longer kill a man at 500 meters with one shot to the leg.  However, when on the "taking" end, it is much, MUCH nicer.  You now have time to lay down suppressive fire, call a medic, or try and stop your bleeding with a field dressing (if you brought one).  With all of the new "balancing" of damage effects it is now possible (and I have seen this on MANY occasions) to have 45 minute long fire-fights.  Again, this is unlike anything I have seen in OFP.  

In the past, you see someone, you raise your G36, you shoot, they die, you spend then next 15 minutes looking for someone else, and do the process all over again.  Now, you see someone, realize the are too far away to engage with a high probability of hitting them, set up an ambush, prepare your CAS (Close Air Support) mission, call up your mortarmen and give them the "At My Command" order, shift your machine gunners to better positions, set up some claymore mines, and THEN engage with the enemy.  The whole time you were doing that however, he has been shifting a second team to your flank and now lays into you with machine guns, grenades and smoke.  The ensuing battle is confusing, with voice comm programs running overtime.  During the engagement, your CAS is shot down, and you have to shift your team over to provide cover fire for the pilot (who somehow survived) as he returns to friendly lines.  Your medic is frantically running from position to position either healing people of giving them bandages in case he is too far away next time.  Your assistant machine gunners now have the need and time to give the gunners more ammunition.  Your mortars have to displace as a hunter-killer team has found them and is laying into them with small arms.  You try to outflank the enemy when you hear the rumble of enemy armor bearing down on you.  You frantically look for a place to hide as the tank starts making the earth around you being to fall upwards - dirt and dust, shockwaves, and clouds of debris block your view - you know then that you are about to meet your maker.  Suddenly, you hear the "thump-thump" of a friendly helo who has just unmasked and begins to take the armor apart piece by piece....  I think you get the idea.  

WGL has opened up entirely new realm for online and single player realistic military combat.

As we say in our tagline:

WHEN REALISM MATTERS

[AngusHeaf 0]

Phaeden has addressed a large portion of what makes WarGames unique and I thank him for doing so, especially since the few of us who work on the pack are always overworked and never letting people know what's even in the pack.

Let me just add this....

A lot of people assume, and it's hard to blame them, that any mod that proports to be "very realistic" is a mod that's incredibly un-fun to play. This is most definitely NOT the case in WG and I'll tell you why.

First of all, we haven't added anything to the pack that is meant only to annoy you. The list of things we've left out because we didn't think they would add anything to game play is HUGE.

Secondly, nothing is so complicated that with a little time on the shooting range or a few games you can't pick it up and figure out what's different.

Also, the kind of changes that were made to the pack can easily be rebalanced by thinking about how you make missions in a different way. Example: Russian RPGs have a short range of only about 300m, but to balance that they can still carry 4 per person while all of the American AT is usually limited to 1 or 2 max. Furthermore, American armor is a bit stronger but the Russians have more RPGs to fire at them. In the end, missions only need a little bit of tweaking to be brought back into balance.

Fourthly, everyone is a noob with WarGames. The changes are vast and no one really has a lot of experience with the changes, so chances are you aren't going to get owned on MP.

Ulimately WarGames just makes you think about things a lot more. People, some of them, will look at the changes and think that there's just a lot of small ones, and they would be right. However, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. What WarGames does (not hope to do, but actually DOES do) is make OFP have an incredible amount of things you have to consider by expanding the intricacy of the game in a way that brings in realism. And through that realism comes depth and renewed enjoyment, and a foundation for other mods that isn't nearly as limiting as standard OFP.