Remember the good old days of Resistance?

[SpecOp9 0]

I was real curious about something in particular.

You guys remember when Resistance the expansion was coming out, we all went crazy and mental for that game, and counted off every single day until its release date?

Well, BIS obviously does not plan to release any expansion packs for Op Flashpoint anymore. Sad but true. (even when BIA is done with VBS, I dont see why not they cant work on an expansion while BIS works on XBox version and OFP2)

BUT that's just me.

Anyway, because no more expansions are coming out, I was wondering what type of things mod makers could do to make a download feel almost exactly as if it were an expansion straight out of the Bohemia Studio.

I was thinking something like FDF, where they release everything in one huge download.

FDF is basically almost like a VBS expansion for Operation Flashpoint (like Australian forces)

I'm thinking quality and quantity.

I'm also talking about stuff I have no idea about so I'll shutup now and see if anybody can apprehend what the hell I just said

[Akira 0]

Yeah know...

The idea reminds me that the community at Neverwinter Nights did just that. They put together a Community Expansion Pack (CEP) which was supported and helped a bit by Bioware.

[raedor 8]

wgl, fdf, csla, ... check the mods page of ofp.info

oe what are you looking for?

[SpecOp9 0]

Yeah know...

The idea reminds me that the community at Neverwinter Nights did just that. They put together a Community Expansion Pack (CEP) which was supported and helped a bit by Bioware.

You know we could try something like this also. BIS is like uber friendly and would'nt mind throwing in some support I would imagine.

[theavonlady 2]

There are a million and one great addons out there, including so many great islands.

We need new campaigns and missions that make use of the above.

[SpecOp9 0]

wgl, fdf, csla, ... check the mods page of ofp.info

oe what are you looking for?

Campaigns! Missions! Multiplayer!

OHH MY!

[Gordy 0]

There are a million and one great addons out there, including so many great islands.

We need new campaigns and missions that make use of the above.

One problem remains:

How many people would share the same exact addons, to make it real deal?

[ralphwiggum 6]

moving to general section

[GoOB 0]

Many such "user-made expansions" coming out. Invasion '44 and Flashpoint in the Falklands are great examples of this

And yes, we need campaigns and missions to play with all the addons we already have first!

[Mister Frag 0]

Operation Enduring Freedom from SoftEgg looks very promising as well.

[Akira 0]

There are a million and one great addons out there, including so many great islands.

We need new campaigns and missions that make use of the above.

One problem remains:

How many people would share the same exact addons, to make it real deal?

Thats the only thing.

The CEP was possible because there was way too many addons and the like being introduced. With all the different addons, it became quite hard to connect to multiplayer or make modules without having to have the downloaders download a crap load of extras.

The CEP basically combined all of the best of what was available at the time, while still being loose enough to make possible further expansion a reality.

That way people now know that if htey have the CEP, they can download a ton of modules, and join any number of multiplayer games with no trouble. In some ways OFP is an even better candidate for a CEP type project, as there are no "persistent worlds" in multiplayer, or limitless add on possiblities. Basically just pick the BEST Mig-29, the BEST T-72s, the best BMPs, etc etc.

Also NWN requires a number of files to list portraits, items, placeables, etc etc. None of that for OFP. Just combine and make sure there are no addon conflicts.

Course then you run into what is "the best". Thats why there wa s a small group that put together the CEP. They took the flak for the desicions, but everyone was pretty much pleased with the result, as it opened up a lot of possibilities

[SpecOp9 0]

I originally had an idea that would bring a sort of "unofficial" expansion pack, it's a old thread but I'll dig it up somehow.

Well that was more easy than expected

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....pansion

[Heatseeker 0]

Ahh, the good old days waiting for resistance... wait! We are now living the good old days waiting for OPF2, hmm better make that the good'oll years waiting for OPF2 then .

Still there is much potential in the OPF engine and much goodness to come, i see my game being improved very frequently and hopefully the mission editing contest will give us more missions to play .

[sputnik monroe 102]

I brought up the same idea once. Basically the general response people gave was that it was too much trouble.

Lots of the real sims out there have such projects like Falcon and harpoon. I don't see why flashpoint addon makers can't get their act together.

[Akira 0]

The problem is there are too many groups taking care of their own interests. How many F15 choices do we really need? Or BMPs? Etc etc. How many variations of the same WW2 Germans do we need?

[Gordy 0]

The problem is there are too many groups taking care of their own interests. How many F15 choices do we really need? Or BMPs? Etc etc. How many variations of the same WW2 Germans do we need?

Well, it's good to have variation.

Problem is the choice of the best addon which is hard to decide. As many people there are the many opinions on it.

[Ironsight 1]

Sad but true.  (even when BIA is done with VBS, I dont see why not they cant work on an expansion while BIS works on XBox version and OFP2)

BUT that's just me.

BIA is still working on expansions for VBS, that's why I am going to buy it

But I like the idea of a user made expansion pack, if you can get some good addon makers and make a nice mod maybe BIS can help. Cause I think they want to release an expansion but they don't have time to make one.

So maybe some talented addon makers can work freelance for BIS, to make an expansion for us

[kikill 0]

when Resistance the expansion was coming out, we all went crazy and mental for that game, and counted off every single day until its release date?

what made us feel like this, was maybe because of the OFP engine improvments ?

we could feel this excitement again if the hypothetical new community made expansion would feature such things (kegety's water reflection or the new ECP version for example). As we all tested almost every addons, a new campaign wouldn't be enough...

[Ironsight 1]

Yeah know...

The idea reminds me that the community at Neverwinter Nights did just that. They put together a Community Expansion Pack (CEP) which was supported and helped a bit by Bioware.

You know we could try something like this also.  BIS is like uber friendly and would'nt mind throwing in some support I would imagine.

If we want this shouldn't we start a project and contact some people at BIS?

I can help with WRP editing  

[Akira 0]

The intent of a CEP type project would not to be to make another mod that will take a year to come out.

It's intent would be (to be successful) to make one large download for the best addons, and islands, and weapons NOW available.

IE BIS Rangers/Deltas, Vits Airplanes, Sigma's Tanks, etc etc, and combine them into one large download add-on, and to make sure there are no conflicts or dependencies. The same with islands.

Could make one just for available WW2 mods as well (but use the same island mod).

Then work can start on a CEP series of campaigns, but those can be by anyone, as long as they use the CEP that way if you have the CEP you know you can play ANY CEP friendly campaign, or multiplayer session.

The choices for what is "best" would have to be taken by the people that decide to undertake this. They will have to take the flak and the praise. Perhaps after a healthy voting time for Best Planes, Best Weapons, Best Tanks, etc etc. say for a week so it won't take forever.

[jakerod 254]

My idea before was to do one for the Cold War time period with community addons. But instead of putting like 20 variants of T-55s in it pick 2 of the more common ones. One for the Resistance and one for the Russians. That way it keeps the file size down. Put some BRDMs in and some new trucks and 1 abrams 1 m60 etc. instead of doing huge packs of them.

[kavoven 4]

Actually, we have got the mission editing competion. why don't take the best 10 people out of that, and ask them to do a campaign, or something in that way, with addons, chosen by the community

[Rune 0]

It would be great if someone would put an addon pack together like that. But it should really be tied to version numbers assigned by BIS to make it as simple as possible for fresh installs and online play.

I would pay for an upgrade like this if BIS would guarantee compatiblity and set limits for the frivolous gadgetmania of many addons/islands, at the moment many addons need way too much computing power and RAM and they need to be toned down a bit or left out of the patch. As many popular missions as possible should be included in the pack itself to pre-empt anyone from keeping old versions around that use individual addons.

But the main point is that introducing stardards requires a single authority to lead the way. The OFP community MIGHT follow the lead of an independant project, but they WOULD DEFINITELY follow the lead of BIS...Which is why they should make it a patch even if a community non-profit project does the actual work. Online play could become much much nicer since the patch number will tell you instantly where you can expect to be able to play.

As it is, new players buy GOTY cheaply along with 9 other games, install, start up the game, go online, spend 30min looking for a game and get dropped from it before it starts... they then pick up the next game in their stack... Which is so sad since they'll also not buy OFP2(nudge-nudge  BIS )

[spm1138 0]

Sad but true. (even when BIA is done with VBS, I dont see why not they cant work on an expansion while BIS works on XBox version and OFP2)

BUT that's just me.

BIA is still working on expansions for VBS, that's why I am going to buy it

But I like the idea of a user made expansion pack, if you can get some good addon makers and make a nice mod maybe BIS can help. Cause I think they want to release an expansion but they don't have time to make one.

So maybe some talented addon makers can work freelance for BIS, to make an expansion for us

ADF2, SF2, IDF1 all been announced. Can't wait.

I think some sort of standardised consolidated addon pack(s) would be a terrific idea.

I was trying to introduce a clanmate to OFP and I was wondering how exactly to introduce him to addons.

What's he going to do, download the new stuff and load it up in the Mission Editor?

What you need is good missions/campaigns that require the addon packs.

edit

Hey, not that I'm suggesting there aren't websites with missions on. It just feels like the focus is wrong. All the newssites seem to focus on addons. That seems to be where the hype is.

[Rune 0]

The problem breaks up into two major jobs as I see it.

1)

Someone should make a project to organize, standardize and edit missions to use no unofficial addons, this would make it possible to have more addon-free servers in the short run in order to get more new people to stay with OFP and me to have more fun . This could be a small increment job having the latest mission pack out continuously, whereas the addons pack(s) need to be finished(well at least one 'pack') before anyone can use them. Organizing should also at the same time make all missions available in a properly searchable download database. In a perfect world editing would also have the mission briefings translated into the 4-5 main languages, and most single missions made to work as coops and vice versa, but thats probably too much.  

Later on when the addons have been organized and the best ones selected those can be put 'back' in the missions to make them look and feel closer to what was intended. Most likely those missions will end up being better than they were originally, among other things since the problem of 'authors pet addon' could be cleaned up.

2)

Selecting, organizing and testing the addons in packs or patches.