Dynamic War

[mrn 0]

Hi.

I'm currently finishing off a dynamic campaign ported over from Tacrod and Sanctuary's work in OFP. It's mostly based on the Dynamic War template with elements of CCE

<s> There isn't any radical new ideas from those missions but I got bored playing the official stuff and wanted to explore the island a bit more. The dynamic campaigns are a good way of doing this, there are currently 5 6 mission types with approximately 29 33 different locations and some random patrols courtesy of Kronzky's UPS script. </s>

<s>It would be good if I could get a couple of Beta tests on it before I upload it for public consumption. </s>

<s>Any takers? Please PM me if you're interested.</s>

Normal

Now requires this

Armaholic link:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=1044

Cheers Big and El nino

Thanks to:

Froggyluv

b1sh0p

mbv

Kutya

colligpip

orlok

Bootleg soldier

LCD

Lee

NBSVieiraPT

xxbbcc

_spitfire

Mathias_eichinger

Kronzky

<s>Still considered beta but more robust than before and certainly less laggy, I hope!</s>

0.91G

Added outro win <--- aiming for "crappest outro ever" award!

Fixed cadet chopper cam

Added skiptime and random weather at mission end

Tweaked S&D text

AI group kills also improve "hero rating".

Fixed a niggle in the airstrike script

Maybe fixed radio disappearing after reload. THX firecontrol.

Possibly fixed the Raid mission not ending, some lame scripting there...

Tinkered with the how the stats change on the Raid mission

Tinkered with the eventhandlers to fix simultaneous multiple enemy deaths causing issues

Added a new action, a Heads Up Display that will only be relevant at night. ;-D

Tried adding * = nil for variables that aren't needed on save.

Added a medipack action

Increased squads starting skill level, they still respawn as dunces.

Fixed POW monitor script

Fixed POW extraction

Added, then fixed the soft lighting of the base at night. Should work after a retry.

Tweaked intro

Still haven't fixed the markers

0.91h

Added 1 airstrike option earlier

Deleted about 24 logics (therefore variables) and now use a trigger to capture different objects and their locations to set the missions by

Because of this I can add more locations, so there's now about 8 more Raid locations,Patrol mission now has 17 different locations, Defend has about 30.

Spawn Enemies should exit properly and I'm now "deletegroup"-ing all the created groups, this could be the cause of spawning failing after 8-10 missions because ArmA's group limit is being reached. I also suspect this is why the savegame is getting so big.

If no option is selected at the beginning and the dialog remains up it defaults to Easy.

Scatter scripts check if they're in water

New Outpost mission with 7 locations (as suggested by troop, I couldn't call it FARP though, juvenile as I am the word is too close to fart. Maybe I read too much Viz when I was younger...)

Most missions now require the player to be near the objective for the mission to end. No just using support to complete a mission.

Added better armour spawning on some missions

Livened up defend mission

Added West groups patrolling the south

Fixed APC and Chopper script not exiting

Skiptime now more subtle

Increased a couple of stats to increase main mission duration.

Added a couple more music tracks

0.92a

Fixed Defend town mission broken in 0.91h

Added mission end if Officer is killed in Defend mission.

0.92b

Removed spawning shilkas

0.92c

Fixed ambush not ending, in theory...

Added hint for seeing the medic before getting another mission

Eject player units from vehicles before extraction

disabled radio on chopper cutscene

Less uaz's on Patrol mission on Cadet mode

Reduced spawning enemy armour, it was a bit excessive!

Scattered Officer more on Raid

Removed hint if no airstrike available

Artillery will arrive quicker

Added 1 mag to AT soldier

Added MG to group at start

Action Loons @ base should no longer look at walls...

Named all units that use radio and changed some of the text

Tweaked the fleeing script

Moved the western satellite base to speed the tanks' arrival

Added 2 more Search and destroy locations

Change UAZ to MG.

Evac radio msg will appear when mission complete

Changed mission complete msgs

Added confirmation dialog for transport

Markers should be neater

0.92d

Added DAC and Grouplink 2

Rewrite and streamline of some of the spawn scripts for better looping and use of eventhandlers.

Removed old effects scripts

Removed Hud action, it was bad...

Airstrike now drops 6 bombs not 8

The VIP will be scattered a bit so it won't be as easy to hit him with artillery if you're not near enough to spot him, hopefully this won't mean an endless search for him though.

Tinkered with the insert and evac scripts

Support scripts will now exit when the mission is ended by the player not when the mission objective is complete.

Added civilians, player will lose rating if he shoots them

Reduced the artillery shell count

Focus will timeout, higher the rating the longer it lasts

Kind of fixed pilot dialog

0.92e

Added infantry dialogue, these units use a basic version of GL3. Available in POW mission only at the moment

Moved 2 of the POW locations

Removed the extra groups in the POW mission

Rewrite of part of the POW mission

Added General Baron's click effect for the markers

Gone crazy with variables...just because I can.

Rewrite of some of the radio messages

Added the use of the mapfact radio, your group must carry one of these to use ANY radio options.

Tinkered with the chopper scripts again, they're MUCH better...I'll get it right one of these days.

Fixed Raid end action not appearing after reload...hopefully

Fixed Ambush end action not appearing after reload...hopefully

Tinkered with the persistant spawn scripts. Island should be a bit more lively.

Now, someone in your group HAS to have a radio, if it's lost or the guy carrying it goes down you will lose ALL the standard radio options. This is on any of the missions. Quick test for you, shoot number 2 who will have the radio by default and open up the map, voila, no radio. Pick up the radio or get one of the AI to and the radio options come back, this means it's important to keep this guy alive or make sure you carry the radio to be able to call any of the support or even an evac.

The AI will no longer join your group in the POW mission, it's a pain in the butt to try and organise all those dudes using the F11/F12 keys so now they're controlled with the dialogue. It's easier than it looks, honest! If you bring it up along the top are the group names: Alpha to Foxtrot, then going vertically down are the options to control them. If you click the move button for example, you need to bring the map up, click on the map and a marker will appear. The group will then move to that location. If you want them to move there quickly click fast, if you want them to hold fire click hold etc.

0.92f (unreleased)

Fixed widescreen focus overlay

Added dialogue to choose how to rearm

Removed mission selection dialogue

Extra wave added to the Defend town missions in case the civvies are a bit lively.

0.92G

M4/Acog in the ammocrate is available earlier.

Added mainbase troops to DAC

1.09 is now compulsory. No apologies made.

Fixed defend missions, broken in the last few versions. Back to lively

Fixed setradiomsg commands in missions

More tweaking of the evac/insert scripts

Tweak of the endspawn/delete scripts

0.92H

Added a couple of weapons to ammocrates and changed the order you get them

After the enemy base mission that location becomes a west base. Some support will then spawn from those positions.

Added a new mission where the enemy will try and take these bases back.

Support option changed slightly. Support now improves the better the rating. M113 and Hummers to start, >100 vulcan and 2 Hummers>200 m1 >350 another m1, hummers and strikers

Infantry spawns from bases like the tracked and wheeled units

NOw keeping track of a few more stats, total deaths, E and W kills, player kills and player shots fired.

Added timeout message to difficulty dialogue @ start

Added Intel action at one of the huts, has to be earned though

Monitoring key units and vehicles at the base and will now respawn them at mission end

Removed mission over if Officer dies.

Rewrite of some of the persistant units

Added markers indicating friendly bases

Added accuracy bonus. If you're good enough you can earn 100 extra points per mission. This is received by rearming once a mission is over.

Added abort mission option back at base for the Raid mission.

Added Transport Helo. Using the dialogue this can be used as an alternative to the traditional helos.<---Removed for Anger Management issues

Fixed the spawning unit problem on the patrol mission

Fixed the move spawned unit script, should be more variation for the spawned units

Hopefully fixed the unit and vehicle not deleting problem

Changed most of the in game music

More tweaking of the evac/insert scripts

0.92I

Sorted the jumpout script

Added mission specific music and tidied other music

Tweaked the rating settings

Fixed the Player EH broken in last version

FIxed the missions played counter broken in last version

0.92J

Added differential in mission choice script for whether it's at main base

Added dialog at created bases for transport back to the main base, getting new recruits and transport for missions

Fixed enemies spawning at captured bases

Added ability to evac back to other bases

0.92K

Close dialog on extraction after 30 secs

Fixed the Player EH broken in last version when bulletcam is used

More tweaks of looping scripts and deleting scripts

Stop some units spawning at main base, it was getting a bit busy

Fixed ammo crates not refreshing.

0.92L

Removed GL3 references to stop conflicts with the SLX mod

0.92M

Fixed temp base medtent deleting on purge if player near

Fixed RTB from remote bases

Added hint for distant reinforcing/rearming

Tweaked bonus/accuracy monitor

Tweaked rearming action, can now only be done after a mission like reinforcing

I'm a bit rusty so god knows what I've broken now!

Fixed no evac in POW mission if they're killed before player arrives

Spawning a few more enemies from the Bases

Tweaked DAC config Events, have a suspicion DAC units' eventhandlers weren't configured correctly

Sprinkled some fairy dust over a few misc files, description.ext, briefing, mission files etc.

Fixed too many units spawned in Armour groups

Tweaked Artillery script

Tweaked Base scripts

New mission. Defend artillery.

New mission. Attack artillery.

New mission. Headhunter, go into enemy territory and kill at least 20 units. Rating has to be over 250 to access.

Hasn't been tested as much as I'd like but as Arma 2 is on the horizon I thought I'd have a last stab at it.

Cheers

Edited May 8, 2009 by MrN
Added new version

[mbv 0]

Happy to test - PM'd you

[OrLoK 20]

hello,

Marry me.

Been gagging for dynamic campaign.

One question tho...

Do dead bodies dissapear soon after being shot?

I can understand the reasons behind clearing up dead, but I love to be able to scavenge/use dead equipment/vehicles etc.

So my sage advice is, if they do get removed, give dead at least a "3 min layabout time" so one can root through their gear.

Also, I'd love to test any version.

Rgds

LoK

[mrn 0]

Quote[/b] ]hello,

Marry me.

Best offer I've had all day

Quote[/b] ]give dead at least a "3 min layabout time" so one can root through their gear.

You have to be 600 metres away before anyone disappears.

You have PM.

Thanks for all the offers to test, I should have enough people to get an idea what works and what doesn't. With luck it all works-ish and a release should be soon.

I'm also gathering up strength to do a conversion for Ebuds units but I need to make sure the groundwork's ok before I start.

Cheers

[kaner 0]

id love to test ur campaign

[igor7111 0]

Hi.

I'm currently finishing off a dynamic campaign ported over from Tacrod and Sanctuary's work in OFP. It's mostly based on the Dynamic War template with elements of CCE

There isn't any radical new ideas from those missions but I got bored playing the official stuff and wanted to explore the island a bit more. The dynamic campaigns are a good way of doing this, there are currently 5 mission types with approximately 29 different locations and some random patrols courtesy of Kronzky's UPS script.

It would be good if I could get a couple of Beta tests on it before I upload it for public consumption.

Any takers? Please PM me if you're interested.

Cheers

I'd like to test this out too.

[mrn 0]

Quote[/b] ]id love to test ur campaign

Quote[/b] ]I'd like to test this out too.

Thanks but I've had way more offers than I was expecting and have quite a few testers already and the bit of feedback so far I've had indicates there's a couple of issues, nothing drastic thankfully but it means a new version will be on it's way soon.

The main release shouldn't be too far away and rather than waiting for perfection I'll put it up once it's more robust and deal with the issues in the thread.

Cheers

[b1sh0p 0]

So far a very fun mission. Like MrN said, a few issues, which I won't disclose here in case he doesn't want me to (no non disclosure agreement, but I'll leave it to him to decide. ) Can't wait for the next build.

[mrn 0]

Quote[/b] ](no non disclosure agreement, but I'll leave it to him to decide. )

I admire your discretion, there was no NDA, that's a little beyond me , I just trust people I guess

Download link in first post

Main issues reported were:

The Search and Destroy mission either going pear-shaped at the insertion or it being more of a Search mission with not so much Destroy. Should be more lively now.

Lag/running slow. I think I'd just been too generous with the UPS script, it's all too easy to put max:15, copy and paste a few groups and before you know it there's loads of troops being spawned. So now it's just being used at bases with a few groups scattered around with guard waypoints.

Cheers

[kroky 1]

download link doesn't work

[mrn 0]

Quote[/b] ]download link doesn't work

Errr.. it does here. Any suggestions for hosting?

Cheers

Edit-found an additional host. In theory...

[bootleg soldier 2]

Alreet there these are my ideas of what could happen with this (having played the original in ofp i have a fair idea that it can all be done)

Gonna try and make this myself but feel free to nab the ideas cause i'm so busy at work yadda yadda yadda, really is one of the best things to come out for OFP/ArmA as it is so flexible and easy to configure, and very well converted i have to say.

-Make more of a distinction between mission types and locations.-

To create an atmosphere of "Please give me a nice patrol in the South, i don't wanna go to the North Momma" which as suggested means bringing back the patrol mission type all over the South, but only either spawning a few enemy specops or very rarely a large attack to keep you on your toes.

-Spawning a few enemy toops as well as civilians in medium to large enemy cities.-

So if your cut off ie your extraction chopper is shot down or whatever then players will have to avoid built up areas, unless they are desperate for a car!

-"Attempt" to progress the war with front lines moving forward-

Thinking about turning it into more of a campaign style format, meaning depending on how well or badly you are doing after the first say..5-10 dynamic missions, it will load up the next set of missions (in a seperate pbo), allowing three things

- first - you can be more specific with your dynamic mission placement to the period of the war ie if South Sahrani is secure then there wouldn't be a search and destroy mission in Samato or downed blackhawks way into friendly territory. You can then place your missions where you think frontlines, supply bases, defensive points, officers, patrols would be.

- second - you can move the frontlines of where people and vehicles patrol so it seems like they are moving into captured territory and patroling, also moving the players base forward and changing where you are supplied from etc as would happen (c'mon who wants to be stuck in a stuffy airport all year lol)

- third - it would then be possible to insert single missions before or after any dynamic period, meaning more cutscenes, information on situation etc.

-More and varied support options depending on rating-

Cobra, harrier lgb or close air support, spec ops, armour, varied arty (smoke, flares, different calibres and types), for real high ranks or certain mission types incorporate the Mando Missiles for real flexibility on hitting targets with Mavericks, retarded missiles, even anti air missiles (and probably any you can think of, he's done a great job).

-Assign specific friendly teams to smaller areas of patrol-

This is so you have a chance to get used to where friendly units patrol should you ever need to hide behind them if you are in trouble. Also in each patrol area they have a small base or camp of some kind (also add different unit icons to a flag in the bases so you even get used to where different units move to when the campaign evovles).

Got loads more ideas but really need the toilet so definately not now, what do you think people any good, throw myself of a cliff, take a lie down.

Bootleg

[Dylan 0]

I found a bug :-D. I am surprised to, since it is so easy to get. If you save the game and try to load it up again to pick up where you left off the game CTDs just before the loading finishes.

[Placebo 29]

I was always a huge fan of the dynamic missions and campaigns, I'll be sure to check this out, much thanks

[Teliko 0]

I found a bug :-D. I am surprised to, since it is so easy to get. If you save the game and try to load it up again to pick up where you left off the game CTDs just before the loading finishes.

Use the savegame in the Radio menu, that was a bug with all dynamic missions IIRC.

[mrn 0]

Quote[/b] ]-Make more of a distinction between mission types and locations.-

I've now got the patrol mission working and taken on board the suggeston about keeping areas distinctive, patrols will only happen in the south, most other missions will happen in the north.

Quote[/b] ]-Spawning a few enemy toops as well as civilians in medium to large enemy cities.-

Not sure if I'm up to that

Quote[/b] ]-"Attempt" to progress the war with front lines moving forward-

I like the ideas but they're a bit beyond what I planned for this mission, to be fair though I haven't planned that much, my main aim was to get it working!

Quote[/b] ]-More and varied support options depending on rating-

I spent yesterday getting the Mando Missiles to work amonst other things, I have yet to incorparate any "rating" type options and currently air units don't seem to engage ground targets so I'm not putting too much energy into getting chopper support working. I may look at doing some sort of bombing raid support but I'm not sure if you need it with the Mando Missile support!

Quote[/b] ]-Assign specific friendly teams to smaller areas of patrol-

Yep, not a bad plan, again I'll keep them to the south and the numbers down.

@Dylan, as Teliko mentions, you have to use the savegame option in the radio between missions, although thanks for mentioning it, I don't think I put anywhere in the readme that the game would crash if you do use AA's savegame.

Cheers for the feedback, there should be 2 new versions up at the weekend, a standard one and a "lite" version with very few troops patrolling to reduce lag.

Cheers

[kroky 1]

very cool and intense missions.

Major shop stopper is, CTD after a time. Mostly when I return to base, and guess what: game crashes before I can save.

Strange since that's the first time I had a CTD in ArmA since the beginning of version 1.00.

The only mod I'm using is FDF sound mod. But I don't think it causes the crashes since in no other mission/campaign it did.

Any idea what it could be?

[Dylan 0]

Can you then please allow us to then save the game using the radio whenever we please? I can save and load while playing, but the power went out earlier after I saved, so it overwrites the 'auto' save produced by the radio. Also it is quite inconvenient as missions can take a while, and sometimes I need to get up and go do things. So saving like I would in any other situation would help me when I die, but a show stopper when I have other things going on.

[mrn 0]

Quote[/b] ]Any idea what it could be?

Nope, sorry. I've had only one CTD I think whilst testing but it wasn't repeatable. Maybe I have too many variables, this always caused OFP to crash. Any pattern you can see? A certain mission type?

Quote[/b] ]Can you then please allow us to then save the game using the radio whenever we please?

I think that would defeat the point, the savegame between missions is to try and stop the crashes associated with saving while a mission is running. It seems scripts can still be broken when the game's saved. Sorry, I think that's beyond me. Go and hide in a bush if you have to get up and do things.

Cheers

[colligpip 0]

I have played this a bit in multiplayer it dosnt really work properly heli wont work as its meant etc - but its really good fun!!!!!! Its so much better playing with people when you dont have to end after every mission but can RTB and get a new one- if anybody can get this to work properly in multiplayer it will be a blast.

[mrn 0]

Quote[/b] ]I have played this a bit in multiplayer

Was it hosted or dedicated?

Quote[/b] ]heli wont work as its meant

What goes wrong?

[kutya 0]

Quote[/b] ]I found a bug :-D. I am surprised to, since it is so easy to get. If you save the game and try to load it up again to pick up where you left off the game CTDs just before the loading finishes.

Can someone confirm this?

It's importart for me, because it really happens (not just an isolated case), I'll have great troubles with my own work.

[sanctuary 19]

Quote[/b] ]I found a bug :-D. I am surprised to, since it is so easy to get. If you save the game and try to load it up again to pick up where you left off the game CTDs just before the loading finishes.

Can someone confirm this?

It's importart for me, because it really happens (not just an isolated case), I'll have great troubles with my own work.

In the OFP version, there was a a limitation on the amount of variables being saved.

Too many variables being saved and it was impossible to load them without a CTD, i guess ArmA do the same if your mission crash when loading your save.

The 1st time it was noticed in OFP was with an older version of ECP, as this mod used a lot of variables , and as the OFP game save will actually save variables generated by a mod in addition to variables generated by a mission, the limit was easily reached.

The only way to solve this problem is to lower drastically the amount of different variables used by your mission (in the case of ECP mod, the latest version lowered a lot their variable usage to prevent the save/load bug).

In the DynaWar template, as i was not as understanding this variable problem as i do now (if i would have made the template now i would have wrote several script differently), to workaround the original save/load feature, i made a save game script built in the mission.

In which the player could save only when one of the mission given to you was totally finished (no more of the mission scripts running) and a "purge" script finished to reset all the variable to their default and removed useless corpses and objects (created during the misson that was given to you by your HQ).

But while you are always in development of your mission, i suggest you to lower the amount of variable used.

And check if your running scripts are ending correctly before the save feature can be used by the player (saving can actually break scripts that are running during the save process)

[kutya 0]

This will be OT, but I don't want to start a new thread if don't need.

Thanks for the info Sanctuary, but I know about that happening in OFP. Actually I made GDCE (the project I'm talking about) similar to what you're speaking. I wanted to know if it happens in AA too.

Since the successor of GDCE has a more subtle architecture, it needs large amounts of data, which would be a bit hard to develop using the SoW saving method. I already coded too much for GDCE1 in this area (and was surprised that it actually worked! ).

[Maddmatt 1]

A good way to reduce the number of variables (ECP did this to stop the crashing from loading saves) is to use arrays. Try to keep all your variables in one (or a few) large arrays.

I can be a real pain to organise, and changing this dynamic mission to do this will take plenty of work.

Maybe a better option would be to ask BIS to sort it out. If someone can confirm that it is definitely the number of variables causing the crash then it should be reported to the bugtracker so BIS can fix it. This bug was a major problem in OFP, maybe BIS will fix it now if it is reported.