Populating Sahrani

[maxqubit 1]

Say i want to do some trekking, take the humvee or a chopper for a spin and travel around Sahrani. Now, there are seagulls and insects but ... where are the people? Sahrani is a beautiful island but there are no ppl.

Is there a (simple) way to populate Sahrani? A script? Perhaps with some dynamic creatunit or something which createsunit in the region were you happen to be? Dunno, this was just a thought.

[stigern 0]

I tried to populate the little island, and it went well, but

my way of population was placing out civilians with waypoints and cycle, and some cars.

Not effective, it took me like 30 minutes just doing one small city, and it looked a little pre-made :P

[odjob 0]

I wonder if DAC is working with ArmA...

[mattxr 9]

I wonder if DAC is working with ArmA...

Yeah tht would be cool but i think it will take a while to convert it. with the new spawn commands but unit names will be east to add.

[Timblesink 0]

What we really need is a "GTAIII" style dynamic people creation thing, where the people are generated only in a very local area and then deleted after the player has left that area, and have different kinds of waypoints and density depending on, for example, whether it's the open countryside or in a crowded city.

[sniperandy 0]

I wonder if DAC is working with ArmA...

Nope, but the new version will and I hope this will allow again for enabling and disabling zones since that makes populating and high unit count very possible and it is easy to be done and managed...

[XCess 0]

What we really need is a "GTAIII" style dynamic people creation thing, where the people are generated only in a very local area and then deleted after the player has left that area, and have different kinds of waypoints and density depending on, for example, whether it's the open countryside or in a crowded city.

Sounds like an interesting idea. If i get a chance, I may begin working on it.

[kutya 0]

I have an idea, but it includes a fair amount of scripting:

~1. Place gamelogics in areas where you want people to be spawned.

~2. Make a script which checks, say every 5secs the distance of every marker from your position. And if your distance is less than 500m, start a spawn script. If the distance is greater than 600m, start a delete script.

~3. Make those spawn and delete scripts.

~4. Make a "behavior" script that randomly moves the waypoints of the civilian groups around the defined area.

That should be all. It isn't a small task to do it, but once it works correctly, it should provide an acceptable functionality. I made a similar thing in GDCE, but it uses a static spawn/delete script for each sub-mission. I'd gladly make this on my own, but I don't have AA yet.

[maxqubit 1]

Interesting thoughts. I did some scripting in OFP lately and have similar thoughts

Multiple units and setpos-sing them around you were you are isn't that hard (1 line of code i think), even make them move randomly isn't hard (another line of code). Problem is the 'behavior'.

E.g. If you put a (person in a) vehicle on 'save' it will follow the roads, but what does a single person do, he doesn't follow the roads i think. How do you make a person follow the road (preferably on the side of the road). Anyway you can go very deep into this. Time consuming it will certainly be.

But i read references to 'DAC' ... i imagine the community has allready experimented with this in OFP. It shouldn't be too hard to bring that to ArmA, at least you don't have to reinvent a lot of stuff.

Anyway, i will have a go at it myself (but i know it will be tie consuming ... hmmm, i have also some mysterious ufo/zombie stuff from ofp/elite somewhere ... time comes to reuse this idea as well)

[kronzky 5]

I am currently converting my Urban Patrol Script from VBS.

This allows you to just place a marker over the active area, and then any units are "associated" with that marker will randomly move around within in. It can be used for OPFORs, civilians, or your own troops.

Very quick way to create little random missions, or to populate areas with civilians or animals, etc.

The main functionality of the ArmA version is done, there are just a few details that need to be ironed out.

Details are available here: http://kronzky.info/ups/ups.htm

[hund 0]

Very much looking forward to it Kronzky, as I am having the same problems with civvies. Any rough ETA on when it'll be converted?

[gnosis 0]

I've tried to use Kronzkys ups.sqs but I can't seem to get ArmA to find it. I get a ups.sqs not found error. The included instructions says to put it in your "Central Scripts" directory or in your mission folder. I don't see any scripts directory in ArmA and I've tried to put it in the AddOns folder without success (even tried to pbo it and add it in AddOns). How do I get this to be recognized by ArmA systemwide?

[hund 0]

As far as I understand, the ArmA version of the thing isn't ready yet. So if you're using either the OFP version or a beta, you might run into trouble.

[stisoas 0]

I am currently converting my Urban Patrol Script from VBS.

This allows you to just place a marker over the active area, and then any units are "associated" with that marker will randomly move around within in. It can be used for OPFORs, civilians, or your own troops.

Very quick way to create little random missions, or to populate areas with civilians or animals, etc.

The main functionality of the ArmA version is done, there are just a few details that need to be ironed out.

Details are available here: http://kronzky.info/ups/ups.htm

AWESOME SCRIPT !!

it's a MUST HAVE TOOL we have here

[gnosis 0]

I'm using the ArmA beta. I guess my question is more general. Where do I put a sqs file so it is available systemwide?

[scubaman3D 0]

I tried creating a folder just called "scripts" in the ArmA directory and that didn't work.

I also tried the second method of placing the script file in the mission folder but still, it always says that ups.sqs cannot be found.

[milobr 0]

The "Missions" folder your need to put the .sqs files isn't in ArmA main folder. Go to My Documents, then there'll be ArmA or ArmA Other Profiles (this case only appears if you have modified or created a new profile), find yours and open it, then there'll be it.

[kronzky 5]

Yeah, something seems to be weird about the script locations in ArmA. I often had problems reading scripts that were actually in the missions folder.

What I ended up doing (and which worked quite reliably so far) is to go to create a shared script folder. For that you go to your profile folder (something like "My Documents\Arma\[profile name]" or "My Documents\ArmA Other Profiles\[profile name]" and create a folder named "scripts" in there. Any scripts you put in there will be accessible from any mission you're writing. That way you don't have to copy scripts you're using in all kinds of missions into every single mission folder. (If you actually plan to *publish* your mission, then that's a different story...)

I uploaded a pretty stable version of the Urban Patrol Script last night, and will probably post an official announcement in the User Missions forum later today. Except for the automatic detection of rotated markers I was able to transfer the full functionality from VBS, so all the included and on-site documentation is still valid.

http://kronzky.info/ups/ups.htm

[milobr 0]

Nice tip, Kronzky. This shall make things easier.

[hund 0]

Kronzky,

You state in the UPS documentation that the system probably won't work in a multiplayer environment. I haven't yet tried it out in MP, but I'd like to know to what degree you believe it won't work?

Are we talking at all, or some minor hickups from time to time?

My plan was to use UPS for NPC civvies and guards in coop games. Is this valid or would it fail?

Sincerely,

Hund

[stisoas 0]

i tested it in MP. it works well.

grat's !

[kronzky 5]

Hmmm... I'm surprised, to say the least...

What about the advanced options (like "intel", for example)? They work too?

But I think we're slightly highjacking this thread here.

Perhaps we should continue the discussion on the dedicated thread I started in the User Mission section: The 5-Minute Mission Maker

There's also a minor update (now at V1.0) available on the site. It included some optimizations to get around ArmA limitations.

There might still be issues with choppers using the script though (and forget about planes...), but I will look into that.

[KeyCat 131]

Kronzky, great work! Looks like an easy to use and usefull script, looking forward to try it out!

Regarding MP compability I would say that if the script maker didn't pay attention to a few easy things (like making sure it only runs on host/server by using a GL) the script will most likely not work as expected in MP. At least thats was the case in OFP and I assume it's the same in ArmA.

So my question to stisoas is... Are you sure all clients saw the exact same things/behavior as the host? And did you test and verify all features?

Anyway here is another vote for full MP compability  

/KC

[Sgt_Eversmann 1]

I am currently converting my Urban Patrol Script from VBS.

This allows you to just place a marker over the active area, and then any units are "associated" with that marker will randomly move around within in. It can be used for OPFORs, civilians, or your own troops.

Very quick way to create little random missions, or to populate areas with civilians or animals, etc.

The main functionality of the ArmA version is done, there are just a few details that need to be ironed out.

Details are available here: http://kronzky.info/ups/ups.htm

what that's what I need

now I can make some good missions myself for my PMC units

like, cover the area from that rooftop, clean that part of the city,

and alot of other things I can't even imagine

[stisoas 0]

Kronzky, great work! Looks like an easy to use and usefull script, looking forward to try it out!

Regarding MP compability I would say that if the script maker didn't pay attention to a few easy things (like making sure it only runs on host/server by using a GL) the script will most likely not work as expected in MP. At least thats was the case in OFP and I assume it's the same in ArmA.

So my question to stisoas is... Are you sure all clients saw the exact same things/behavior as the host? And did you test and verify all features?

Anyway here is another vote for full MP compability

/KC

i didnt compare on 2 client , the battleground seen.

but we played it well. my mate saw same thing , AFAIK

it was running on a pure dedicated server, and my paraiso template was full of patrol. men , men in tyruck , light armored , even 2 MI17.

the chopper problem seem to be a very long time between 2 waypoint. same thing for 2 men geting in a chopper then , activating script in a static waypoint.

however, vehicle works well.

AFAIK , this script works well in MP. i will test several function , not too much time for the moment .