Handsignals Command System Released!

[fl cool j 0]

How about the compability with ECP 1.085 ?

[sanctuary 19]

I just had a test with the tutorial mission and the less i can say is that it is a very nice system, i really like it, very immersive to command the squad like this.

Maybe adding a "Close" option to the dialog menu could be interesting instead of having to press Escape to close it.

The Sign/Shout stance is really well done too.

Congratulations on this piece of nice scripting.

[.pablo. 0]

yes!!!! i've been waiting for this for a long time...

[General Barron 0]

Ah, great feedback all. Thx x10.

Quote[/b] ]I'm volunteering for the UK English voice if you still require one

Quote[/b] ]Need UK voice actors? Im sure several members of RAAB would be willing to help you out.

Yes and yes. I'll be contacting you about this later.

Quote[/b] ]I have not read the readme yet but is this multiplayer compatible.

I'm afraid it is not MP compatible at this time. MP compatability is a major point on my 'todo' list, although I can forsee trouble getting the formations to work...

Quote[/b] ]Also what is the origin of the hand movement, US Marines?, Army, WWII German? etc. They used different techniques.

They are present-day USMC, although I've recieved emails from people in the US and Swedish armies saying that they use pretty much the same ones.

Quote[/b] ]looks amazing downloading this for sure may even use it in a mission but is it alright if i edit it sligtly so i can use some more advance instrusctions like set up a perimeter or covering fire ?

great work GB

Absolutely feel free to edit it if you can (although I didn't do the best job of commenting it). De-pbo the core addon, and inside you will find some help on what is what, and how to move the scripts into your mission folder.

Quote[/b] ]Any chance of custom formations getting into this (I hope I didnt miss that earlier ).

The formations are actually fully customizable by the mission editor. You can have up to 4, and I've included 2 by default. In the future I hope to add at least 1 more default. Check the editor's guide for details.

Quote[/b] ]How about the compability with ECP 1.085 ? /QUOTE]

I don't see any reasons why it wouldn't be compatable, although there are a few scripts which might 'double up' on the ECP ones. Next version I will put checks in to detect if the ECP is running, so that doesn't happen.

Maybe adding a "Close" option to the dialog menu could be interesting instead of having to press Escape to close it.

I had tried this as an afterthought, and it looked pretty bad. I'll try rearranging things again to see if I can make it work, though.

@Crassus

Lots of great suggestions!

1-whoops... didn't know about that

2-good point

3-I had considered this, but there are some orders where you would want him to react with the rest of the squad. So 'rush' would be the exception, which I don't think would work very well.

4-yes

5-I don't think so, although I'm planning on expanding the 'use radio' radius, and making the RTO come to you when the action is used.

6-might be a great idea... but then again, it might confuse people. I'll have to think about it.

7-good idea

8b-oh great.... I guess I threw some kind of last-minute bug into the tutorial mission. Did you get to call an ammo drop, or attack the town?

9-nope, that is a different init.sqs, which initializes the system .

Quote[/b] ]It is a tougher fight with your system. Maybe it's my attack (I'm moving west to east, trying to clear out the outposts, then moving to Houdan. I hammer the second, inner outpost with arty as I hit the western one) but I've died every time, usually losing all but one to two of my Marines. (See what seven years in the Wing did to me!!!!

Lol... you are correct, it is a tougher fight than normal.

Equal match in normal OFP: 1 player squad vs 5+ AI squads

Equal match here: 1 player squad vs ~2 AI squads or so

I have to admit I actually haven't finished the demo mission either , so it is likely too difficult. Poor editing practise, but I got really burnt-out on this.

My best strategy though is to pound the farmhouse with 2 arty barrages first, while my squad stays in the forest to its SW. Then I target a barrage on the villa, and start moving my squad west to east. Usually the arty takes care of everyone at the farmhouse, but the villa is fairly spread out and hard to get everyone with arty. And don't be afraid to plan ahead with some smoke screens in open areas that you will be rushing thru, since they can help quite a bit.

I think you have to move pretty quick after you start attacking though, because men from the town start coming up to help the outposts. Problem is, if you order the mech. infantry to attack the town too soon, they get slaughtered. So by the time I'm ready to assault the main base, my squad is at 1/2-3/4 strength, and my mech. support is all dead.

Here's a hint for everyone though: The demo mission is considerably easier on 'cadet mode'. (Less enemies, enemy doesn't have arty, you have more arty, etc)

[Pathy 0]

Ah, great feedback all. Thx x10.

Quote[/b] ]I'm volunteering for the UK English voice if you still require one  

Quote[/b] ]Need UK voice actors? Im sure several members of RAAB would be willing to help you out.

Yes and yes. I'll be contacting you about this later.

Whenever your ready, go ahead. We'd be able to help you out on UK specific dialouge and military vocab too.

[crassus 0]

Tutorial:

Quote[/b] ]Did you get to call an ammo drop, or attack the town?

Wow, no. There was no option, at least for me, to call in for ammo. As for attacking the town, I didn't know this was an objective. (Is the Briefing notebook supposed to be visible? It aint when I play it. )

Houdan Demo:

Quote[/b] ]Problem is, if you order the mech. infantry to attack...

Again, I didn't know I had mech inf on call. (I hope I don't have to reinstall OFP, cuz I can't see the Briefing notebook.)

The mission is a bit hard. I think perhaps because I've a squad I've not been able to establish Battle Drills with, the lengthened orders process, or it's just not my MOS...

[Shashman 0]

I asked first! Ooooo by the way my step father is an ex British army major, perhaps I could convince him to lend his voice

[dusand 0]

this sounds gorgeous! I am going to test it. I uploaded it to our FTP.

core addon @ demo mission (mirror #1)

core addon @ demo mission (mirror #2)

sounds (mirror #1)

sounds (mirror #2)

[Garcia 0]

Quote[/b] ]I have not read the readme yet but is this multiplayer compatible.

I'm afraid it is not MP compatible at this time. MP compatability is a major point on my 'todo' list, although I can forsee trouble getting the formations to work...

Awwww...didn't expect it to work in MP, but I had my hopes Would be soooo sweet...DL anyway, as this makes missions much more fun and challenging.

[.pablo. 0]

Quote[/b] ]Wow, no. There was no option, at least for me, to call in for ammo. As for attacking the town, I didn't know this was an objective. (Is the Briefing notebook supposed to be visible? It aint when I play it. )

same here...

Quote[/b] ](I hope I don't have to reinstall OFP, cuz I can't see the Briefing notebook.)

it worked for me in the demo mission, just not the introduction mission...

my comments/bug report:

-- awesome job with the new HS system!

-- i think you're focusing too much on the negatives when introducing the new system, especially in the training mission (don't focus on the player having to learn a new system, focus on it being immersive and realistic). it really isn't that hard to learn the new system!

-- i think the "alert sound" played when specific things happen (player changes from hands to shout, enemy spotted, etc.) is unnecessary (and, imo, detracts from the immersion)

-- the new voices are great! i had the same problem as crassus, though, when telling my men to get into the chinook wasn't playing the "Move Out" soundclip.

-- if it wouldn't add that a much bigger filesize, i'd add a new sound for disembarking, "Get Down" sounds strange; actually, i think it would be good enough if you just used the "Move Out" sound clip again.

-- the training mission is great! i love it how learning each part of the system logically advances the mission (learning to call your troops allows you to move to the heli, learning to put your guys on the heli allows you to go to the arty area, etc.)

-- the chinook flipped over when we disembarked, it was really funny seeing the ai flying sideways across the ground, though it makes me wish ofp simulated rotor damage...

-- the smoke barrage was very laggy for me, i'd use the UA or WGL smoke barrages...

-- i'd add a big black transparent marker to cover the malden map for the demo mission (as used in the ww2 "pathfinders" mission), as i got pretty bad night-blindness while checking it...

-- i got an "enemy spotted!" notice that pointed behind me ~60m, even though i had left my squad back ~200m behind the enemy lines, and the enemy that had been spotted must have been on the other side of a hill i was on...

-- i think i know why the demo mission is so hard...the ai arty/soldiers are too accurate!! after reading about how difficult it was, i decided to do my own "spec ops" recon/destruction mission before bringing in my troops. i destroyed the bmp at houdan, then snuck out to the SSW (after ~5 retries due to the extremely accurate mg fire), and destroyed the bmp that somehow knew where i was and was stalking me. the whole time i had to keep moving to stop from getting arty called on me, even though i was out of the LOS of any enemy soldier. i then hid in a forest more than 200-300m SSW of houdan, with no ai soldier within my LOS, and had an arty barrage called on me out of nowhere! i'd tweak the ai's arty usage, and use JAM soldiers/machineguns (are there JAM m2s?); this would be a sweet mission to convert to WG5.0/UA...:drooling:...

now i'm off to test the new RCP!

edit:

got done playing some RCP, here are a few notes:

-- you should use the voice-sounds you use for the arty comms in RCP for the HSCS.

-- i'm not completely sure about this, but i think that my guys didn't heal in RCP until i had given them the command with a hand signal (ie, it didn't work when i shouted it). this might just be my imagination, though, because they did go into the circular formation when i shouted the command. on both occasions, though, i didn't get the status report.

-- the ai are still running through the jungle ! i've argued this before, and i'm gonna argue it again: have the ai walk through the jungle!!! i have new reasons this time:

-i was the one to get sanct to make those patrol anims, specifically because of your point about walking in safe mode looking unrealistic. well, now they exist, so that's no longer an issue!

-using an addon that prevents a player from running through the woods in perfect formation, and then having the ai do it, is just

-even assuming that a person didn't have sanct's anims, i still think walking with rifles slung is more realistic:

-the VC/NVA were not exactly part of a modern fighting machine; i think it is perfectly reasonable to assume that they would be less strict about such things as "proper form" when walking through the jungle.

-i don't remember where i read this, but i specifically remember hearing about SF units that, while doing recon, saw NVA soldiers (the "pros" on that side) walking around/going on patrols with their rifles slung on their backs.

here are some quotes i found on google that support my claim that the VC/NVA went on patrols with their rifles slung (unfortunatetly i couldn't find my original source):

Quote[/b] ]Shortly after sunset, our "L.P." spotted four N.V.A. soldiers heading towards our perimeter wire. I looked, and there were the soldiers with their rifles, slung on their shoulders, checking out our concertina wire, and what they could see of our bunkers.

here's the link

Quote[/b] ]After an eternity, another soldier appeared carrying an AK47 slung over his shoulder, and than another, and another all greeting the new morning as if they were in the safety of their own homes, most likely up North somewhere.

here's the link

and yes, i know i'm way too obsessed about this minor point.

[funnyguy1 0]

First of all, great work m8!!..

Just a couple of suggestions:

Your squad should automatically switch on the `danger` mode when you ordered `halt` command...

Imho things like squad getting immediately prone when player did it should stay...(stealth mode after `get down` maybe).

I don`t know if It`s possible to implement it, but there would be nice to have the ability to abort the anim....

for ex: when the hand signal is being ordered, and you have to reload or quickly hit the dirt....

I also have this annoying bug in training mission, when got out the helo, after the hint displayed (`use the radio`) nothing happened, and still nothing`s happening...

more later

[LizardX 0]

Dl'ed, and dl'ed again but I get this nice window when I try to use this addon:

"Preprocessor failed on file missions\_cur_sp.abel\description.ext - error 1"

Anybody, any idea? No addons but JAM2. Thx

[456820 0]

its because you dont have the addons in your addons folder i had the same problem

also GB can i move all the scripts into my missions folder aswell as the sounds so i can make it addon free for my cmapiagn ?

good work though its great

[LizardX 0]

its because you dont have the addons in your addons folder i had the same problem

also GB can i move all the scripts into my missions folder aswell as the sounds so i can make it addon free for my cmapiagn ?

good work though its great

Arrrrrrghhhhhh!!! After 4 years of OFP I can be soooo amateure... I can't believe... ufff! That was it. Thanks mate!

And yeah, it's fun!

[ofpchaos 0]

I knows your handsignals addon from your mission - "Realisitc combat patrol". I think it is great idea and great thing but i find the command system to complicate for quick actions. I hope you can adapt it for original BIS command system (F1-F12 & 1-0 Keys).

[dusand 0]

I don`t know if It`s possible to implement it, but there would be nice to have the ability to abort the anim....

for ex: when the hand signal is being ordered, and you have to reload or quickly hit the dirt....

well, I think aborting the animation would be against the basic principal of this thing - realism.

[Thunderbird 0]

Awesome work !

I will definately incorporate this stuff into the incoming FFUR patchs (unfortunately too late to introduce them to packs)

keep up the nice stuff

Regards

Thunderbird84

[funnyguy1 0]

I don`t know if It`s possible to implement it, but there would be nice to have the ability to abort the anim....

for ex: when the hand signal is being ordered, and you have to reload or quickly hit the dirt....

well, I think aborting the animation would be against the basic principal of this thing - realism.  

Not exactly...

Is it real to get shoot by someone, just because you had to wait till the anim ends?

Aborting the anim not necessarily has to equal giving the order just like with the full anim played. You`re probably talking about it and yes... It would be lamish...

I`m talking about some accidents when you just have to do something which is simply blocked by the played anim...

so, aborted anim = aborted order

sounds better?  

[Delta-Force 0]

I don't understand, how do it work? When I start the editor's mission, this message appear:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">script HS_init.sqs not found Than I can't use your system.

[dusand 0]

I don`t know if It`s possible to implement it, but there would be nice to have the ability to abort the anim....

for ex: when the hand signal is being ordered, and you have to reload or quickly hit the dirt....

well, I think aborting the animation would be against the basic principal of this thing - realism.  

Not exactly...

Is it real to get shoot by someone, just because you had to wait till the anim ends?

Aborting the anim not necessarily has to equal giving the order just like with the full anim played. You`re probably talking about it and yes... It would be lamish...

I`m talking about some accidents when you just have to do something which is simply blocked by the played anim...

so, aborted anim = aborted order

sounds better?  

that sounds better . I see what you mean.

[General Barron 0]

Okay, I've figured out what is wrong with the tutorial mission. Last-minute changes always mess things up.

I'm trying to make a patch, but I can't seem to get it working ATM. For now though, if you are interested, you can fix it by de-pboing the mission, opening up the script "hs_init.sqs", and replacing this line:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">_rto_beg = {[player, localize "STRM_HS_spt_start"] call hs_sidechat; hint localize "STRM_HS_spt_hint"}

With this one:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">_rto_beg = {[player, localize "STRM_HS_spt_start"] call hs_sidechat; hint localize "STRM_HS_spt_hint"; RADIO_USED = true}

A fixed version of the mission can also be downloaded from here [136 KB]

[General Barron 0]

@.pablo.

Good suggestions!

Quote[/b] ]the ai are still running through the jungle ! i've argued this before, and i'm gonna argue it again

*Sigh*... okay, I give up! You win! However, I still hope to re-configure Sanct's anims so that I can include them in this addon, and switchmove into them.

Quote[/b] ] i got an "enemy spotted!" notice that pointed behind me ~60m, even though i had left my squad back ~200m behind the enemy lines, and the enemy that had been spotted must have been on the other side of a hill i was on...

Yeah, unfortunately those yellow boxes don't always point where I'd like them to go, but it is more a problem ('feature' with OFP than anything I can fix, AFAIK.

@funnyguy1

Quote[/b] ]Imho things like squad getting immediately prone when player did it should stay...(stealth mode after `get down` maybe).

I don`t know if It`s possible to implement it, but there would be nice to have the ability to abort the anim....

I'm afraid neither one of these is really possible, due to OFP limitations. But hey, you CAN still shoot when you are in those animations, btw.

@456820

Quote[/b] ]can i move all the scripts into my missions folder aswell as the sounds so i can make it addon free for my cmapiagn ?

It would be possible, although you would have to edit a couple scripts that try to reference stuff inside the sound addon (aside from the sounds). However, you wouldn't be able to use the handsignal animations, since anims require an addon!

And I really fail to see the reason for that anyway, since in the end, users will still have to D/L the same amount of MBs (only they will be FORCED to download the sounds, instead of them being optional).

@Delta-Force

Quote[/b] ]I don't understand, how do it work? When I start the editor's mission, this message appear:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">script HS_init.sqs not found

Than I can't use your system.

Have you read the editor's guide? If not, do so first . If so, then please give me more information about what you are trying to do. Are you getting this error from the template mission? For one thing, the script is called "hs_init.sqs", not "HS_init.sqs".

[Hawkins 8]

I think Delta-Force means this error: "Script hs\init.sqs not found." If so, I had the same problem as Delta-Force, so I investigated and found this:

In hs_init.sqs, there's this after the END OF SETTINGS headline:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">;--------------------------------------------------

; END OF SETTINGS

;--------------------------------------------------

;path to HS scripts folder (empty quotes if in mission directory; .pbo path if in addon)

hs_pth = "\GENB_HS_core\"

hs_pth = ""

Notice how hs_pth is again made to null? to fix it, comment the last line, so it would look like:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">;--------------------------------------------------

; END OF SETTINGS

;--------------------------------------------------

;path to HS scripts folder (empty quotes if in mission directory; .pbo path if in addon)

hs_pth = "\GENB_HS_core\"

;hs_pth = ""

Fixed, and working good. I copied all the files from the template, so it has the same error.

[AliMag 0]

@General Barron

I like what you've done. I already use your animations (the old ones with the nam mission) to move fire teams in urban configuration.

But if I may add a constructive criticism I would tell you to find a way to go 1 or 2 levels further in the menu so we can go directly to the command we want. Having to make combinations just to enable squad commands and redoing all the combinations again to select the command is really very tedious. This is where the difference with the BIS system hurts. It may demand for more work but I think the result will make a difference.

Keep on the good work

Cheers

[Garcia 0]

All I want is to see this baby in multiplayer