Do you want the 'Psycho Slayer' in ArmA ?

[Timblesink 0]

I would play it with you, but I'd just lag out the server

Will it be single-player friendly?

[5133p39 14]

I would play it with you, but I'd just lag out the server

Will it be single-player friendly?

Most probably, it won't be SP friendly (it will work, but without other players there wouldn't be anyone to catch, or to catch you).

Maybe later i could try to script the cops to automatically hunt the killer, which seems easier than vice versa, but i don't think it would be worth it.

No promises.

[Moofed 0]

Perhaps the demo island could be used instead of the fullsize retail island? I only played OFP PsychoSlayer with about half the maximum players, but even then Nogova seemed huge and impatient killers got bored going insane trying to find civilians.

Awesome mission concept, can't wait to see the ArmA version.

[5133p39 14]

Perhaps the demo island could be used instead of the fullsize retail island? I only played OFP PsychoSlayer with about half the maximum players, but even then Nogova seemed huge and impatient killers got bored going insane trying to find civilians.

Awesome mission concept, can't wait to see the ArmA version.

You mean the Rahmadi island? i think it is too small, no villages, no roads, no cover,...

It would be nice to have the Everon, and Nogova, or island of similar size.

I know about the issues many people had with going insane because they weren't able to find another civilian soon enough, it was difficult, you had to know how to play.

I'll try my best to make it more balanced.

[jantenner 0]

i think he meant the stripped down version of sahrani, which is included in the mp demo, the soutern part afaik, not rahmani

[5133p39 14]

i think he meant the stripped down version of sahrani, which is included in the mp demo, the soutern part afaik, not rahmani

Yes, of course, i didn't think about the demo.

I downloaded the demo, and moved the "SaraLite.pbo" into the addon folder of the full game version, and it worked as i expected.

From now on, i am using this demo island for testing and creating the "Psycho Slayer" mission.

[5133p39 14]

Some news regarding my progress.

What is done so far:

1. Simple, marker driven template creation (it's easy to port the mission to any other island).

2. The NPCs are walking and traveling randomly.

What is missing:

1. Scoring system to count killer's achievments.

2. Weapon selection, and respawn scripts - for both the cops and the killers.

3. Police radio messages and scripts

4. AI guards for the "police stations".

5. Implementation of the "stop suspect" user action.

...any other ideas?

And here are few details for those of you who are into the scripting - maybe you could give me few tips how to make thinks better?

population centers

I placed many circular markers all over the map where there is any city/village/settlement. I call these markers a "population center" (i'll use the abreviation PC).

The location AND size of each PC determines a location to which any NPC can travel to, and radius in which they can randomly move around (i call it "strolling").

On game init, size and position of all PC markers are saved into an array, and each PC is populated by randomly spawned NPC units which are all initialy put into the "strolling mode".

vehicle parking locations

The need for these "parking locations" arised when i tested the traveling scripts - NPC were leaving their cars anywhere they 'wanted', and creating obstacles for any other NPC which needed to go through there.

The "parking locations" (PL) are defined by markers. These markers are named so the initialization scripts know into which PC they belong, so the PL can be even outside of the PC area when needed. There can be 1 - n number of PL for each PC, the only limitation is the maximum length of the array data (whether there is a limit or not, in this case it is sufficient).

On game init, vehicles are spawned randomly over the PLs.

Now, when NPC travels to any PC, he chooses a random PL where he stops his car and disembark. Later, i will make this more efficient by checking whether there is already a car nearby, and if it is, other PL will be used.

NPC strolling & traveling

Initially, all NPC's are put into the "strolling mode", which means that they are simply walking around their actual PC.

Right now, all strolling NPCs are controlled by only one server-side script which is looping through all "strolling" NPCs and tells them where to go next - nothing more than simple DoMove commands, i'll see what can i do about it later (i'd like the NPCs to be moving also inside buildings, but it can wait).

The units, which are send to travel, are choosed randomly from the list of "strolling" units.

For each traveling unit, a "traveling" script is run - i owuld like to have only one script controlling all traveling units, but it would make some things VERY difficult and maybe even impossible.

When a unit is send to travel to another PC, it will first try to find some empty car in the radius of 200m (this step is repated each 5 seconds while traveling on foot). When a car is found, the unit will get in, and set out for their destination (of course there are various checks for the car not being damaged, or whether it has enough fuel, etc.). If no car is found, the unit will go on foot (later this will be changed, so that on foot they will travel only short distances).

[5133p39 14]

I made some progress lately:

Changes made

1. 99% of SQS scripts were rewriten into SQF scripts (i am not sure whether it is better this way, but at least it is more readable).

2. added little marker script to show positions of all civilian units.

3. reduced the civilian population to 55 units only.

Before that it was 144 units, and it was too much for such a small island like the SahraniLite. They were everywhere, the killer wouldn't need to go after them, they were jumping out from behind every corner.

4. changed the way the "marker-driven template" works.

Now we have "cc#" markers ("Civilan Centers") to define the places the civilian units can travel to,

"cs#" markers ("Civilian Spawns") to define the number of civilians to be spawned in that location,

and "cc#_p#" markers ("Civilian Center Parkings") which define the free space where NPCs can leave their cars.

All these template markers are deleted after they are processed in the mission init.

Problems to solve

1. AI is walking in the middle of the road.

Stupid AI is walking right in the middle of the road, and they don't even bother to step aside when there is going some car!

They are walking like a one big mean obstacle.

Either i forbid them to walk, or i must find a way to solve this, because it is causing MAJOR problems in the traffic.

2. AI is disembarking vehicle for various reasons.

For example, when the AI rolls over some stupid walker (previous paragraph) and it killed him, the driver will stop, get out of the car and going PRONE for a while, right next to his car! WTF?! They do this allways.

I agree that they should react somehow on the death of other unit, but fleeing the scene would be MUCH MORE appropriate, and of course they should try to flee WITH their car and not to disembark to be shot or whatever.

Could custom FSM files help with this?

3. Infinite loop (SQF syntax)

I need infinite loops going on all the time the game is played, but after 10000 cycles, the loop will just stop - it's hardcoded in the scripting engine.

I don't want to use the old SQS syntax only because of that.

...i don't think there is a solution different than using the old SQS syntax full of confusing GOTOs

[Deadfast 43]

Man, this sounds great !

But I've got little question to ask: what are you going to do with lack of policemen and police cars ?

[5133p39 14]

Man, this sounds great !

But I've got little question to ask: what are you going to do with lack of policemen and police cars ?

You mean what units and cars will be used for the police cars/units instead of those from the DMX police pack which was used in the old OFP version?

...i don't know

We'll have to stick with the little that is available - blufor officer (or maybe a pilot?) models will have to substitute the police units, and white offroads will be used as the police cars, etc.

...at least until something better shows up.

I welcome any ideas.

[5133p39 14]

Which units and vehicles should be used by police side?

(each image size is approximately 30 - 50 KB)

Which unit?

unit 1

unit 2

unit 3

unit 4

unit 5

unit 6

unit 7

unit 8

Which car?

car 1

car 2

car 3

Which helicopter?

heli 1

heli 2

[Moofed 0]

The decals on car1 and heli2 seem police like. To be consistent with the vehicles, cop1 or cop4 should be used with them. However, cop5 would be a great on a motorcycle. I really don't like car2 as a cop vehicle.

[jantenner 0]

i second that, unit1, car1, heli2 will do it

[Deadfast 43]

Man, this sounds great !

But I've got little question to ask: what are you going to do with lack of policemen and police cars ?

You mean what units and cars will be used for the police cars/units instead of those from the DMX police pack which was used in the old OFP version?

Yep, that's exactly what I mean .

Cop: I always love Independant officer's barret - Cop 4 is clear winner for me

Car: Hey, you haven't suggested 4x4 opened !

So 4x4 opened or if you don't want to car 1 is ok too

Heli: Heli 2 wins as it fits to cop and car.

[qnd-wookie 0]

COP 2

CAR 2

HELI 2

[Deadfast 43]

COP 2

This reminds me a problem:

this character doesn't have any other face, than this one.

I think, that it might look silly with 10 cops (or how many) running arround with same face .

[5133p39 14]

COP 2

This reminds me a problem:

this character doesn't have any other face, than this one.

I think, that it might look silly with 10 cops (or how many) running arround with same face .

i don't think this is a problem - we can make a simple config addon with changed settings, right?

Or is the 3d model of the head somewhaat special?

...i'll try to put other faces on this head, and we'll see.

btw. what if we let the player to choose his appearance? ...if i am not mistaken, in ArmA, we can add "playable" units on the fly, am i right?

[qnd-wookie 0]

If these Char. dont work,I choose 5,these Guy looks straight.

It seems that the most of the Server.cfg´s dont alow own Skins,because of Performance/Lag or Server-Crash.At the Server-Forum,some Guys prefer max.2MB of own Skins,before you´ll get Performance Problems.

[5133p39 14]

If these Char. dont work,I choose 5,these Guy looks straight.

It seems that the most of the Server.cfg´s dont alow own Skins,because of Performance/Lag or Server-Crash.At the Server-Forum,some Guys prefer max.2MB of own Skins,before you´ll get Performance Problems.

"own skins" ? ...you mean custom face textures? I remember that in OFP it was few KB, so why the hell 2 MB - isn't that unnecessary too much?

[Deadfast 43]

I think, that the face is just fixed to this guy.

But maybe I'm wrong, test it out .

[SFG 1]

i second that, unit1, car1, heli2 will do it

That works for me or

Man 6, Car 3, Heli either or.

The man kinda looks like the Nogovan cops, car 3 looks like a desert/island/exotic police vehicle and matches Cop.

[Deadfast 43]

WTH

Men 6 looks like with double-colored face !

[qnd-wookie 0]

MaxMsgSend=16384;

//MaxSizeGuaranteed=;

//MaxSizeNonguaranteed =;

MinBandwidth=150000;

MaxBandwidth=1000000;

MinErrorToSend=0,007

MaxCustomFileSize=20000;

Custom file Size 2MB.

A Standart Server Config for a 1 GBIT Server.

[5133p39 14]

WTH

Men 6 looks like with double-colored face !

hehe, someone noticed :-)

It's a glitch which appeared right in the moment of capturing the screenshot, i noticed that later and i was lazy to make new screens.

[5133p39 14]

MaxMsgSend=16384;

//MaxSizeGuaranteed=;

//MaxSizeNonguaranteed =;

MinBandwidth=150000;

MaxBandwidth=1000000;

MinErrorToSend=0,007

MaxCustomFileSize=20000;

Custom file Size 2MB.

A Standart Server Config for a 1 GBIT Server.

Are you 100% sure?

Because in your example the value of 'maxCustomFileSize' equals to 20000, and i would presume that the value is given in Bytes, so 20000 Bytes equals to 20 KB, not to 2MB.

Of course i can be wrong, i am just guessing, and the 2MB seems too much to me (imagine each of 64 players to have a 2MB custom face - that's 126 MB each of them must download, and not everybody is sitting on a backbone).