DMA CoIn Coop Engine

[pathetic_berserker 4]

I have made some good progress by tweaking some scripting

Basically Client intell requests are no longer an issue and I've had some success with multiple missions and no client crashes.

However I havent been able to pass 7 or 8 sucessive 'rests'

with out some kind of crash. And they can occur earlier.

Enjoy your vacation TacRod and we'll look forward to hearing from you in the new year.

[colligpip 0]

hello im new to this and enjoying it

I have made dynamic mission in new map iraq iran

but i cannot get my ai to respawn when they die

i have saved it to multiplayer but no joy adn am starting in multiplayer

am i missing something simple

or could somebody tell me how to get my ai sqaud to respawn, I am new to scripting!!

thanks

oh it seems to work with the nogova mission

its just when i try to copy it over i must be doing something wrong

its ok i seem to have sorted it

the other squad memebers wernt playable i made them so and it seems to be working

really enjoying this misson when i figure out how to do it i will convert some of the units over

anybody know if this can be combined with DAC it would really be very good if so

[causticwindow911 0]

The big thing that causes crashes is createvehicle and deletevehicle command. They both cause pauses and crashing is inevitable, I think.

Maybe you could have it where the enemies are already spawned, and they are teleported to their appropriate groups when they are needed? Then when they die, they just goto a respawn script. I am definitely no scripting genius so I have no idea how to accomplish this myself. I can definitely see where createvehicle and deletevehicle make things a million times easier though. It's just too bad they really push stuff to the limits when used often.

[colligpip 0]

hello

I want to play but cannot save or load

i am doing it in misison at the table but it

comes up with some long error about bools or somhing

can anybody help

[stegman 3]

I'm back in the OFP World!

After a long pause I’m playing Flashpoint once again and love it!  I'm really looking forward to ArmA.

Started playing CTI with some friends on our LAN with a dedicated server.  If we can help with the CCE project in anyway, we will.  The other two guys are not experienced in scripting at all and I am no expert, but let us know if you need any testing or such and we run it through its paces...

I have an idea myself for a 'mod' and CCE could fit in quite well.  I spoke of it some time before and called it Dynamic Army Mod as a working title.  It sees the player progress from rookie to the top ranks, let me explain;

The player starts out a basic private.  As he/she completes tasks he/she gains experience points.  They in turn earn the player promotions until Lieutenant....

...Then something like CCE kicks in.  The player takes and leads missions and again earns points and once more earns promotions until Colonel.....

...Now CTI style game comes in.  Now the player is in charge of the whole show and calls all the shots and defeats the enemy.

Like the sound of that?  I’m nowhere near to pulling it off though.  I haven’t got a clue how o do it!

Anyway, back to the point and the topic:  CCE looks cool, I've downloaded it and will test it on our LAN and see if we can break it.  I'll report any problems encountered...

[pathetic_berserker 4]

A little tip that I've found made the most difference reducing crashes has been increasing the pause from ~0.1 to ~0.3 after all public variables that the sever has to send. I have since played on the internet for a couple hours no trouble.

One thing that I'm still unsure about is the weather effects on clients. Has enyone else found that the weather on the clients builds up till visability is zero?

I may have fixed it but I don't have the LAN here to test anymore.

BTW I'm putting together a RESISTANCE based CCE template, that should be suitable for both Resistance and Mercenary type senarios.

New missions so far is a Grab the Secret, and Rescue the Hostage both of wich enable the placment of targets in buildings. And an extra Convoy mission.

Resistance Vehicles and Support will change given the level of "committment" or "funds" collected.

Next I will put together an Ambush/Kidnap mission and test that and the spawn_enemy_vehicles on multiplayer and it should be ready for release.

[Drongo69 117]

Quote[/b] ]A little tip that I've found made the most difference reducing crashes has been increasing the pause from ~0.1 to ~0.3 after all public variables that the sever has to send. I have since played on the internet for a couple hours no trouble.

Good find! I'm still on vacation and don't have access to OFP at the moment to test it for myself. Has it completely eliminated crashing, or just cut it down?

Quote[/b] ]I want to play but cannot save or load

i am doing it in misison at the table but it

comes up with some long error about bools or somhing

can anybody help

Could you please post a screencap of the error?

[.kju 3244]

hi tacrod

the suggestions you gave us helped a bit, but still crashes appear from time to time to a few clients.

is there a specific reason to delete these units ?

what about recycle them again and again or

just move em into the sea with some killed-EH do the cleanup.

(i hope i got the problem right though )

[pathetic_berserker 4]

Good find! I'm still on vacation and don't have access to OFP at the moment to test it for myself. Has it completely eliminated crashing, or just cut it down?

All I can realy tell you is that last time I tested was an internet connection and we went through maybe 20 or more "purges" with no fails. So I supose it has fixed the problem.

Though no guarantees I've always found any game could crash under any circumstance.

Q

have you made sure you have extended pauses after ALL public variables. ie, severcodes,skiptime,fog, rain....etc,etc.

More specifically I found that the whole purge seqence was very unstable to the point that clients may not fade out but watch as vehicles deleted and respawned, still to be playing along side the server but in a different time and in different weather conditions, so its important that you get every public variable conected to the purge, and in the connected scripts.

Or you could wait till Tacrod has look at what I've done and is happy for me to release it

[.kju 3244]

@ Pathetic_Berserker

we were trying a different approach suggested by tacrod

Quote[/b] ]I think it may be related to deleting enemy units. I read once that using deletevehicle in MP can cause server crashes. I think that because during rest, there is a LOT of network traffic created as all non-player units are deleted with deletevehicle. This will usually involve dozens of units being deleted within a few seconds of each other. Perhaps this is too much for OFP.

To test if this is indeed the problem, edit the ENEMY\ENEMY.SQS file. In the "#delete" and "#end" sections, try commenting out the "deletevehicle _t" lines to see if this avoids crashing (the units won't get deleted). Another possibility is to use a long random delay (eg. ~60) before the deletevehicle, to stagger out the network traffic. Perhaps this could be combined with a setpos to the middle of the sea, to make the units disappear.

i wasnt looking more into this as we have other priorities and dont have that much knowledge about MP scripting  

[stegman 3]

I havnt tried this yet, but am sure some one has...

What happens if you place two (or even more) different playable groups?  Will all groups be able to take seperate missions? I know only the Team Leader can take a mission, but what if there are more than one teams to lead...

Also:

BTW I'm putting together a RESISTANCE based CCE template, that should be suitable for both Resistance and Mercenary type senarios.

Splendid!  I was going to try this too.  I was going to set on Everon, kind of a throw back to 1985.  

HQ would be the castle.  A good mission would be a 'convoy ambush' by the player.  He/she has to kill enemy and capture one or more trucks.  This would add new weapons to the players pool.  Success in any mission will replenish the weapons crate while failure leaves the crate as it is.

The less 'comitment' you have could also dictate how many troops you have.

I have all these good ideas but no understanding of how to do anything!!  

[pathetic_berserker 4]

I havnt tried this yet, but am sure some one has...

What happens if you place two (or even more) different playable groups?  Will all groups be able to take seperate missions?  I know only the Team Leader can take a mission, but what if there are more than one teams to lead...

I kind of ran into this as a bug when I first started out modifying Tacrods template. Though in reality I can't see why, unless of course you wanted to cater for a VERY large group of players. Which I guess brings on a lot more problems.

Quote[/b] ]HQ would be the castle.  A good mission would be a 'convoy ambush' by the player.  He/she has to kill enemy and capture one or more trucks.  This would add new weapons to the players pool.  Success in any mission will replenish the weapons crate while failure leaves the crate as it is.

The less 'comitment' you have could also dictate how many troops you have.

I have all these good ideas but no understanding of how to do anything!!  

You may be pleased to know that the final touch to my template was to be a convoy/ambush to kidnap a vip. It could be easily changed to serve your purpose.

[malick 0]

Hi all !

After some problems with my comp (basically, I changed it and still struggle to salvage as much data as possible ) I'm back to OFP.

I went back to modifying CCE to my likings, adding some mission types, like Recon, S&D where you actually have to find and destroy something , maybe a Capture mission if I manage to make the script work, plus some random events (friendly patrols, civilian activity, other surprises) etc..

Right now I'm trying to implement a red lit map at night. However, how can I find what time it is in game ? I want a script to create a marker when night falls, let say around 6PM... But the variable 'TIME' is the time elapsed since the beginning of the game. As I want it to be effective even if I change starting time, does anyone have an idea ?

As soon as I would be satisfied with what I did, I'll send it if anyone feels remotely interested !

BTW, playing this with DMA Army pack and ECP simply rocks. It was a long time since I haven't had so tense moments... Thank you DMA

[stegman 3]

Quote[/b] ]

I kind of ran into this as a bug when I first started out modifying Tacrods template. Though in reality I can't see why, unless of course you wanted to cater for a VERY large group of players. Which I guess brings on a lot more problems.

I've tried it out now.  As it stands only the leader of the default group can accept mission.  This isnt all bad as it kind of simulates a chain of cammand.  I think if i remove or alter the line of code that limits this then any number of missions could run at any time.  Problems would arise with the Helo, but to hell with it for now....

Quote[/b] ]

You may be pleased to know that the final touch to my template was to be a convoy/ambush to kidnap a vip. It could be easily changed to serve your purpose.

Cool!  I guess I'd just make the truck the key object rather than the man  "not alive truck" etc etc

[malick 0]

Quote[/b] ]What happens if you place two (or even more) different playable groups? Will all groups be able to take seperate missions? I know only the Team Leader can take a mission, but what if there are more than one teams to lead...

If I remember well, the script that decides how to allow mission checks first if the player asking for a mission is the leader of his group. Then it checks if a mission has already been given. This means that if team A asks first, team B will be told 'You already have a mission' and must wait (or help) team A to complete it before asking for another.

If you want a multigroup CCE, you'll have to rewrite some scripts and add a whole lot of public_variables, client_codes etc.. to reflect the possibility to run on two mission simultaneously.

If you feel like doing this... Maybe worth it though.

[stegman 3]

If you want a multigroup CCE, you'll have to rewrite some scripts and add a whole lot of public_variables, client_codes etc.. to reflect the possibility to run on two mission simultaneously.

If you feel like doing this... Maybe worth it though.

...sounds simple...

I have no idea how to do such a thing.  But I'll give it a go.

[malick 0]

...sounds simple...

I have no idea how to do such a thing.  But I'll give it a go.

Hehe, in fact, it's not that complicated.

Just need to be tedious ! Cause, for each mission there's a variable called "mission_type", and another that says if the group has a mission. For two groups playing simultaneously, on different missions, you'll have to double the number of variable, or find a scripting trick to allow for separate missions.

Hmmm, I'll keep struggling with basic scripts

BTW, do DMA members plan on updating their templates (CCE, SPDynaWar) ?

EDIT: Help ! I'm trying to make a script to return time in hh:mm:ss format but fail to use the variable _time. Comref says it is in second, but I doubt it... Anyone has an idea ?

[Drongo69 117]

Quote[/b] ]BTW, do DMA members plan on updating their templates (CCE, SPDynaWar) ?

I can't speak for the other members, but I don't plan on releasing an updated CCE any time soon. I will continue to support other people's efforts with CCE though. The intention has always been to create a starting point for others to work from, and it seems like this is happening. Hopefully people will share their enhancements with each other.

Also, DMA is currently working on a number of other projects, so stay tuned

[malick 0]

Thanks Tacrod for the news. Very interesting indeed. Care to give us some crispy details ?

Regarding my "problem" (see some posts above), I have to say that I am a complete looser and forgot the main rule when editing: RTFM  

Quote[/b] ]daytime

Type of returned value:

   Number

Description:

   Time in the world, in hours.

So much for me, it was there right before my eyes. It's the last time I try to write a revolutionary script at 3AM...

Updates soon on my CCE version. And keep working on yours, for all those reading this !

EDIT: a little picture of my version of CCE... The map at night, with the changed radio options.

[stegman 3]

...gone a bit quiet in here...

I had a funny incodent the other day. There i was, fighting the "Nog Rebels", when one got in to my base and blew up the insertion chopper. Needless to say i shot him dead.

When i next 'rested', to my surprise there were now two insertion choppers! Then, when i rested again, three insertion choppers!! Very odd.

For some reason the killing of the first one dissabled the delete command...allthough having said that, how did the first chopper become alive agian? Very odd indeed. :0

I sugest making the insertion chopper captive true.

Also I noticed that if you 'cheat' by teleporting your team when they are in a vehicle, the vehicle stays behind while you and the troops relocate. This is fine, but the men seem to get confused and think they are still in the vehicle and refuse to follow you or take any kind of order...

[malick 0]

Oh well, I'm still working on my version.

Right now, while I'm play testing it, I try to figure out some solutions to bugs I encounter (like not moving AI, bad spawn points, very bad spawn points, stupid AI etc..) and I'm still improving on the missions possibilities.

By the way, does anyone have an idea for interesting missions to include ? I was thinking of a Recon/Infiltrate mission where the player(s) has to gather intelligence and avoid being discovered. Very atmospheric, specially with all the random elements and sounds. If possible, I'll try to make it feel like "After Montignac"...

And regarding your problem with multiple insertion helos, open the script "SERVER\purge.sqs" and check that you have a line like this:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">deletevehicle insertion_1

If it isn't here, you might want to add it !

[Drongo69 117]

Quote[/b] ]When i next 'rested', to my surprise there were now two insertion choppers! Then, when i rested again, three insertion choppers!!

Not sure about this at all. I have been experiencing similar issues with another mission I'm working on and think it may be an engine bug. Basically I think it is something to do with deleting destroyed vehicles that have been named. I'm not sure about how to fix it though. Perhaps using setdammage 0 would be better than spawning a new one each time.

Quote[/b] ]Also I noticed that if you 'cheat' by teleporting your team when they are in a vehicle, the vehicle stays behind while you and the troops relocate. This is fine, but the men seem to get confused and think they are still in the vehicle and refuse to follow you or take any kind of order...

I don't have the code in front of me now, but I thought I had unassignvehicle commands in the teleport. I'll have to check this.

Glad to see people are still working away. I'm looking forward to the first public release.

[stegman 3]

...regarding your problem with multiple insertion helos, open the script "SERVER\purge.sqs" and check that you have a line like this:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">deletevehicle insertion_1

If it isn't here, you might want to add it !

Yeah, it's there allright, and it normally works too.

Quote[/b] ]

Quote[/b] ]When i next 'rested', to my surprise there were now two insertion choppers!  Then, when i rested again, three insertion choppers!!

Not sure about this at all. ... Basically I think it is something to do with deleting destroyed vehicles that have been named. I'm not sure about how to fix it though. Perhaps using setdammage 0 would be better than spawning a new one each time.

...set dammage 0 might work for the chopper, but as far as i know it confuses the AI in that the men have been dead once.  It may be worth deleting the men, spawning new ones at sea then moving them into the chopper?

Or have a trigger that repeatedly checks when the men are dead then executes a 'pilot' script to move the men into the sea (then try and delete them), spawn new pilots but incrament there name by one (pilot1_1, pilot1_2 etc), then put these new pilots into the old chopper and.....hmmm...never mind, forget that idea is rubbish.

I'm not sure about the unasignvehicle command either,  in work at the moment, have to check after.

[pathetic_berserker 4]

Quote[/b] ]

Quote[/b] ]When i next 'rested', to my surprise there were now two insertion choppers!  Then, when i rested again, three insertion choppers!!

Not sure about this at all. ... Basically I think it is something to do with deleting destroyed vehicles that have been named. I'm not sure about how to fix it though. Perhaps using setdammage 0 would be better than spawning a new one each time.

...set dammage 0 might work for the chopper, but as far as i know it confuses the AI in that............

Got around this as follows;

OLD SCRIPT EXAMPLE; server/purge.sqs

purge = true

~0.1

publicvariable "purge"

~1

~0.1

deletevehicle armour_1

deletevehicle armour_2

~0.1

deletevehicle truck_1

deletevehicle truck_2

~0.1

deletevehicle insertion_1

deletevehicle airstrike_1

~0.1

deletevehicle cas_1

deletevehicle cas_2

~0.1

MY SCRIPT EXAMPLE;

purge = true

~0.1

publicvariable "purge"

~10

deletevehicle armour_1

publicvariable "armour_1"

~0.3

deletevehicle armour_2

publicvariable "armour_2"

~0.3

deletevehicle truck_1

publicvariable "truck_1"

~0.3

deletevehicle truck_2

publicvariable "truck_2"

~0.3

And so forth. Haven't had any probs since. Every thing takes a lot longer but it's worth it for the lack of head aches.

Should have my Resistance template released by the end of this week. So friday fingers crossed.

[malick 0]

I've had some problems recently while testing the mission with a friend. I kept on CTDing (I was client and he was server) after the message "Purge Complete"... Cannot figure out why, so I tried what Pathetic Berserker proposed.

But now, I've got another problem: the server finishes the purge much earlier than the client. Is it even possible ? In fact, he had to wait for me, as I was still on the "You and your squad grab some food and rest"...

Going to investigate a bit !

BTW, I'll be glad to see your improvements upon CCE Pathetic Berserker and Stegman. Keep us informed ! Maybe we can share some ideas and/or concepts ? I've been testing and bug hunting my mission on MP. Now all improvements to CCE's scripts and additions are MP compatible, which was pretty hard to figure out when playing on local server (no client)...

Cheers