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Do you want the 'Psycho Slayer' in ArmA ?

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Before i start porting my old OFP mission to Armed Assault, i wan't to know whether anyone would even play it.

So, please, vote.

For those who aren't familiar with this mission, read the description here:

old forum thread

official webpage

November 5th Psycho Slayer Writeup by Dslyecxi - a psycho slayer session log

Also, if you have any suggestions for the ArmA version of the PsychoSlayer, post them in this thread.

pistols.gifUPDATE [2007-03-14, 10:00]: version 0.2 available for testing

Download from Filefront: Mission PBO (25 Kb) and required addons mors_ps v0.2 (978 Kb) and mors_radio v0.2 (3 MB)

And here is the SaraLite island

Here is a short description:

Psycho Slayer v0.2

Requires Armed Assault v1.05 (need some of those new 1.05 scripting commands)

Required addons: Mors_ps v0.2, and Mors_radio v0.2 (both can be found here)

THIS MISSION IS STILL IN EARLY ALPHA STATE OF DEVELOPMENT!

If your computer starts WW3, it's not my fault, you have been warned.

This version was released for public testing only - it's not meant to be really played, because that is probably impossible due to possible bugs and lack of features.

I released it in this state only because i need some help with MP testing (running dedicated server and another two instances of ArmA to simulate two players, is very 'painful' ).

Prepare yourself to be disappointed.

Here is a short list of what "should" work in this version:

1. Working police radio, reporting accidents and murders.

Police radio is available only when near of any police vehicle with it's radio ON.

When you get too far away from any radio source, you won't be informed about any new events (even if the random radio noise/messages can still be heard).

2. Locking/Unlocking vehicles.

Only cops can lock or unlock police vehicles (police vehicles only! ).

When a vehicle is locked, nobody can get in or out.

3. Working siren

Every police vehicles (except the Mh-6 chopper) can turn on/off a siren which can be heard in MP. It can be used to let the killer know that you are moving in from certain direction, possibly forcing him to choose opposite direction, where other cops are already silently waiting to close the trap smile_o.gif

4. Stop suspect action

In every police vehicle you have the "stop suspect" action available.

Your vehicle's sirene will make a short yelp, and all traveling NPC units within the range of 100m will stop and wait until some cop came to them to check them.

Note that they won't obey the stop command all the time, there is slight chance that the unit will not stop.

5. Simple scoring system

I forgot to mention this. Before the mission starts you can choose how many score point must be acheved by killers to win the game. Default value is 15, and here is how the scoring is computed:

0.25 pts - for a cop shot by any killer

1 pt - for npc shot by killer

0.1 pts - for accidental death of cop or npc (any death where no weapons were involved - car accident, drowning, etc.)

The values needs some tunning, but we'll see how only when we try to play the mission with more people.

And i almost forgot - there is nothing to show the current score, i'll put something to show a simple Hint with the score later.

6. Game Over

The game should end automatically when killers score enough points to win the game, or when cops capture all the killers.

There is no outro or statistic shown at the end of the game, but i am planning to add something like that).

I am looking forward for your improvement suggestions, and bug reports whistle.gif

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Yes!! This is one of my favorite mp missions for ofp and it would be great in AA.

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Never played it for OFP, but the AAR you linked too sounded awesome. Definately would be fun in ArmA.

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i am glad to hear that some ppl are interested, keep the votes comming smile_o.gif

And if you have any suggestions, don't hold back.

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A thousand yesses from me.

I play with a tight bunch of people and we would really love a mission like that. Seriously, on behalf of about 20 people I play with, I say YES.

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It's nice to read all that positive responses, thanks.

I have started by first creating the NPC populating scripts. It should make it easier in the future to port the mission on any new created island.

You just place markers named "npc_center_#" at each location which you want to be populated by NPCs, and the scripts will take care of everything else from spawning them to controling their actions (maybe i should use FSM files instead of scripting the behaviour? FSM anyone?).

The number of spawned NPCs depends on the number and type of the houses which are inside the marked area, and on the color of the marker (deafult = 0.25 * default number of npcs for the particular house type, black = 0.5 *, red = 1 *, etc.).

So far it's working nicely, so now i want to focus on the FSM files, even if only to determine whether they are appropriate for this type of task or not.

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Yes, please convert to ArmA.

Heres the description for the page:

Foreword

This is a total, and from scratch, remake of the mission known by the name "Find the Serialkiller v2.00" by [City Cobra].

I borrowed the basic idea, but thats all, everything else is fresh and new.

So, i want to thank to [City Cobra] (or whoever has the original idea), and also to whole eVAC! team, for it was them who brought the idea of remake before me in the first place, and who were extensively and relentlessly testing the mission with me, providing me with their mental and even technical support by allowing me to test the new mission and addons on their dedicated server. Without their help, and encouraging, this mission would be never finished.

Description

In the basics it is same as it's predecessor - you have to either kill as many people as you can, or hunt down the killers and bring them to justice, depending on the side you choose.

* Here are some new features: There can be up to 3 killers (each looking like an ordinary man/woman)

* Cops must be near some vehicle with it's radio turned on, to be able to hear any messages concerning killer's evil doings.

* Anyone inside a police vehicle, can see all the cops on map.

They are shown as blue dots.

* The AI are randomly trafficking between the villages.

So watch your car (killer or cop), for if they like it they will use it (a cop can lock their cars, so even AI couldn't use them).

* The positions of last five killer victims are allways marked on the map

* When the killer's sanity drops to zero, he will experience occasional loses of consciousness, and will be marked on map by a big yellow dot.

* The killer's "sanity" can be replenished by killings.

* After the first civilian victim is killed, the cops are authorized to use helis, the BRDMs are available after two or more cops are killed.

* According to killer vs. cops ratio, there are 1 or 4 police respawns.

The ratio must be TWO or less cops per ONE killer, otherwise there is only one police respawn.

While airborne when respawning, the current respawn can be changed to the nearest respawn point by clicking into the map.

There is a "mission log" written by dslyecxi, which could give you an idea what is it like to be playing this "mission".

You can find the article here (search for the 'November 5th Psycho Slayer Writeup' title).

Basic rules

* STARTING PARAMETERS

At the start you can choose how many psycho points the Killers need to win the game. Cops can win the game if they kill and imprison all the Killers.

* PSYCHO POINTS

- can be earned by Killers for killing a civilian or cop (not counting the AI security guards). The number of points earned depends on the way the unit was killed:

o 1 point when Killer or Cop shoot a Civilian.

So the Cops wants to be carefull and not to shoot Civilians, because that would only help the Killers.

o 0.25 point for any non-direct way of killing a Civilian.

That means when you run him over by a vehicle, or even when he crashes his own car, etc. The point is earned when ANYONE kills a Civilian this way, even if the 'killer' was some other Civilian, or Cop.

o 0.1 point when the Killer shoot a Cop

* COP'S START

The Cops starts with an AK-47, but can rearm themselves by the crates at the airport or any other police base.

* KILLER'S START

The Killers starts on remote island, with no weapons.

They must arm themselves at the crates, and then click into the map where they want to be parachuted.

When out of ammo, the Killer have only two options to rearm:

o get the weapon and ammo from killed Cop

o sneak into a Police base and rearm at the crates (a difficult one)

* RESPAWN

Cops will respawn on a parachute over the west airport, and depending on how many killers/cops are playing, they will be able to switch their position to other respawn by clicking into map (the nearest respawn to the click position will be choosen).

Killers will respawn right into jail (next paragraph).

* PRISON

When a Killer dies, he is taken to the prison.

When all the Killers are captured, the Cops won, and the game ends. Any free Killer can help other Killers to escape from the prison, he just needs something to destroy the fence, and lot of luck.

* GAME OVER

Game is over when Killer reach the specified number of psycho points, or when they are all captured.

* KILLER'S SANITY

Every killer has his own "sanity", watch it carefully!

When your sanity drops to zero, you will start to lose consciousness, and you will be marked on the police maps!

You can replenish your sanity by killing people or cops.

You can check your sanity from the action menu.

* LOCKING VEHICLES

The Cops are able to lock police vehicles, and there is a good reason for that! Anyone, who is inside any police vehicle, can see the cops marked on the map as a blue dots! So ALLWAYS LOCK YOUR VEHICLE!

You better lock the vehicle immediately after getting in or out of it.

When Killer steals a police vehicle, he will get a big advantage, because he will be able to see where the Cops are, and how to avoid them!

* POLICE RADIO

The Cops have the option to turn on/off a police radio while near or inside of any police vehicle.

ALLWAYS TURN ON YOUR RADIO - it will inform you about all the accidents or murders, and where it took place.

You must be near (or inside) the vehicle, with it's radio turned on, to be able to hear the radio messages.

* POLICE ANTENNA

The police vehicle's radios will be working on the east side of island (to the right of Davle) only if the Police Antenna near Lipany remains intact.

When Killers destroy the antenna, the Cops won't be able to receive any radio messages when present on this side of island.

The Antenna can be repaired with the help of a repair truck, which can be found on the Police base at the west airport.

The antenna can be destroyed and repaired multiple times without limit.

* POLICE DISPATCHER

The police radio dispatcher is essential for all the police vehicle radios to work.

When someone kills the dispatcher, then the cops won't get any info about the location of the next murder sites, until they replace the dead dispatcher.

The dispatcher can be replaced by any cop player himself, or by civilian AI by using the "Force cooperation" action and ordering him to go inside the tent.

* USE THE MAP

The map will provide help for both the Cops and Killers.

The Cop's map will keep track or the last five murder sites - use this information and try to guess the next Killer's move.

The Killer's map shows all civilians - potential victims - marked by green dots. Only a Killer can see where the civilians are.

* "STOP THE SUSPECT" ACTION

The Cop can order a civilian to stop, by using this action, to check his papers (actually, there are no papers, you just need to get to at least 4m close to the civilian, then it will be revealed whether it is a Killer or just a honorable citizen.

When you manage to reveal the Killer this way, he will be shown on the Cop's maps, no matter what he do, for duration of 1 minute.

This is a very useful option - you can order any moving vehicle to stop, and you can decide who it is by judging the unit's action - whether he will pull over and stop, or HOW he pull over and stop, etc.

Smart Killer will try to behave like the AI, but even the AI won't stop everytime - there is a slight chance the AI won't listen to you.

o When you are on foot, the AI are reacting to your shout order only to the distance of 100 meters.

o When you are in any police car, the max. distance is 150 meters.

o When you are in the police chopper, the max. distance is 300 meters.

* NUMBER OF KILLERS

There can be up to three Killers.

But be reasonable - if there are playing only about 5 players on the police side, then one Killer should be sufficient challenge.

It sounds awsome!!

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We love realism, we love adrenaline, we love your mission smile_o.gif

Please port it and give us the contact of nearby local store so we can buy you a beer wink_o.gif

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We love realism, we love adrenaline, we love your mission smile_o.gif

Please port it and give us the contact of nearby local store so we can buy you a beer wink_o.gif

Hmmm, that's easy to say, but hard to do - i'll have to find a pub which allows ordering beer on-line, because i don't think you are here in Czech Republic smile_o.gif

Ok, this is a new problem to solve, so all works on porting the mission have been postponed until i find that pub ;-)

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I WANT THIS MAP,DUDE.

PLZ LET US KNOW,WHEN IT IS READY TO RUMBLE

Unfortunately it isn't going as fast as i originaly hoped.

Right now i am struggling with AI group leaders who are overriding my scripting commands like "get in car; and move somewhere" - the AI leader allways orders the other unit to disembark sad_o.gif

...but maybe it isn't neccesary, i am not sure yet - what do you think:

Is the number of 144 civilians enough for populating the big Sahrani island?

The problem is, ArmA can have only 144 groups per side, so if i want to have more than 144 civilians on the map, i need to redistribute them into some groups - and then there is the problem when i am trying to control the actions of individual units, the leader of the group will not allow any subordinate unit to get into a vehicle and drive somewhere, or simmilar actions.

And there is also that annoying thing consisting of constant voice chatter of units within their groups - it's strange to hear the civilians talking like "One, go to that bush", "Two, return to formation", etc.

So far, i haven't found a solution other than to have 144 groups of 1 civilian unit - but according to my testing it seems its better to have 144 units redistributed in 10 groups, than 144 stand alone units (one per group).

Any ideas are welcome here.

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Can you show what it looks like with 144 civis on the map with those green dots? 144 sounds like enough but without scale its hard to tell.

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What if you group 64 units per group? That way you'd have 640 civilians with 10 groups.

well, i can group 400 units per group, but that doesn't solve my problem - the leader will still override my scripted commands.

And besides that, there is also the little problem with the "radio chatter" within group - you wouldn't want to group too much units into one group, because then the leader will LAG the game bigtime because of his stupid orders (he is issuing orders for ALL the units, one after another, putting them into formation, telling them what to do, etc.)

Maybe 64 units in a group is still ok, i haven't tested that, but i did tested 400 units per group and i have to tell you that you shouldn't try that home wink_o.gif

Anyway, the problem with the leader is still unsolved.

Any other ideas?

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Can you show what it looks like with 144 civis on the map with those green dots? 144 sounds like enough but without scale its hard to tell.

In the OFP version of the "Psycho Slayer", there was about 40 civilian NPCs, and it was ...hmmm, maybe enough, but the island was a LOT smaller.

I'll see whether i get to that to make those map screens, but i think you can do that yourself - just load the editor, and place 144 markers over the map smile_o.gif

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Sahrani is too big for only 144 Victims.Maybe you should choose one big City like Ortego,or a Area like South Sahrani.

But I have no Idea for your Problem with Group/Unit Limit.

THX for your work so far !

banghead.gif

WoOKie

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Ok, i made a decision:

I am using only 100 independent civilians right now, and at the mission start you can choose which area of the island will be populated.

I think people wouldn't like to travel over the whole island anyway.

Of course i do not confine the "action area" in any way (why bother with that) - you can go anywhere you like, BUT the civilians and their movement is limited only to the selected area (which is still big enough, don't worry).

For now i consider the "units in Group" problem solved, but i made a note to think about this again after the release of the basic version.

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Sounds good now we just need cops.

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I'll play it! Bring on that mission to ArmA smile_o.gif

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I really like this mission and i think it will be much better in ArmA because you need much more teamwork to organize the squads all over Sahra.

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Let me know,If you need Dedicated Server for Beta-Work.

I wanna good,clean fight.Lets get it on.

ICQ 298057034

WoOKie

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