Evolution V1.0 Large scale respawn coop

[Dr. Mojo- PhD 0]

Grabbing her for the 3ID server right now. Love what I see in the changelist, Kiljoy -- sorry for busting your balls so much, but the truth is -- this is one of the best missions I've ever seen, and when I see something tiny in the mission that upsets me, it hurts all that much more cause of the pure awesome that this mission is dripping in.

edit: Major bugs on the side missions? WPAT completes immediately after accepting the mission. Like immediately. You take WPAT and you walk to HUMVEE, *bam*, mission complete, good job. Made corporal in half a second, sergeant in one point five seconds.

CSAR deployed no enemy troops around the reporter. Not sure what was up with that. Tested it on the home comp first, testing on the dedi now. I'll let you know if these bugs persist.

[Red Devil 0]

Definatly the most addictive online mission. Did a 12 hour solid stint over the easter break, and the disco at the end was well worth it

I wont add any more ideas into the pot as most are covered in previous posts, BUT we did have a glitch at the airbase, that turned into a mini mission in itself.

One of the BH pilots took off from base but clipped the tail on the central hanger bringing the BH down and taking out 2 hangers, the trucks and armor inside and everyone around.

The glitch happened when the hangers auto respawned instantly trapping the BH blades in their walls, the BH then being at the airfield began servicing and after the 30 seconds it took to get to full health it would blow up again, because it was "in" the hanger walls. This became a loop over and over again. Throw in the fact that the trucks and armor have different strenghts and they would blow up at random intervals as well, and you got yourself a base under seige!

Everyone was blaming TKers until we figured out the loop, then it must have taken us hours to test out different ways to free the BH. In the end it took an M1A1 to come back from pita to ram it out.

Anyway, love the mission, respawning MH6 is a good move, but move them further away from raspawn hut so rambo pilots think twice.

[b1sh0p 0]

Personally I'm not entirely sure I like the idea of the MH6's respawning. I like having to go out to the crash sites to repair/refuel the choppers. Makes people fly more carefully, or they have a long repair mission ahead of them.

Personally I would have liked to just see a respawn on helos lost at sea.

[b1sh0p 0]

Can you elaborate on what the "spec ops reinforcement" is?

[d3dsh33p 0]

thats the suprise when you get shot in the head from ai reinforcments

[SlipperyJim 0]

150% disagree. This is a game. Games are about fun. And quite frankly, some of the side missions are much more fun than clearing towns.

Why is it that you think that clearing towns is the objective of the mission? The side missions are in there as well, why shouldn't we play them?

The side missions divide the people on the server into seperate groups. Instead of everyone working towards the same goal you have people divided into splinter groups.

Since the side missions give more points than clearing towns you have point whores (usually clans) who run off doing side missions instead of clearing the towns.

Yes I agree the side missions are fun. No one is arguing that. However I think Evolution needs to decide what it is. Is it a collection of side missions OR is it a single mission in which you clear a lot of towns of the enemy. It could very easily be 2 separate maps.

The problem with side missions really shows itself when there are a small number of people on the server. If there wasn't side mission everyone would be working together for the same goal. When you have 3 people trying to clear a town and you have 7 people running off doing side missions then the fun factor has dropped. It is a lot more enjoyable if all 10 people are working together.

Remember the mission briefing involves clearing the towns. If Kiljoy the map designer considered the side missions as the main element than he would have wrote the briefing differently, lol.

[KilJoy -SFG- 0]

lets just see how the mh6 works out for now maybe ill revert. The problem as i said before is that repair markers dont show for join in progress players. so without an aircrafts rader they are extreemly hard to find and repair in veteren mode.

if west enters a town the town is flagged for spec opps renforcements and if avalabil an mi17 will be dispatched to parachute them into that town.

@CaptainMurphy ill check out the parrams. thanks

@Dr. Mojo, PhD if there are mission bugs its only when running the server localy it should not affect a dedicated server, ill look into it thanks

@Red Devil yeah the hanger thing, i have experienced it once too.

[Placebo 29]

Congrats on this, I played it last night with another guy and we really enjoyed it, I look forward to seeing it progress

[DragoFire 0]

KilJoy [sFG] have you thought of tieing aircraft access and Armour access to the crew (pilot/copilot/tank crew) type from the classes from within config file? This way you could allow these classes access to the lighter vehicle at start of game.

You could also possibly apply this to weapon use too.

eg. Sniper class has access to the M24 at start, and has not access to MG's and other classes have limits too. Like crews can't use MG's or sniper rifles, but have access to pistols and M4's and HK's at game start.

Just an idea.

[KilJoy -SFG- 0]

@Placebo Thanks.

@DragoFire I did consider it, but I thought it was a bit restrictive.

as you would not have meny new options at each level. weapon and vehicle wise.

In general i have noticed a few new bugs but nothing to major.

No points for transporting.

Leader wont get a recrutment request if he is in a vehicle.(ask him to get out before you press join for now)

[dr_eyeball 16]

With the new Squad Info dialog (0-0-4), you don't get access to it after you join a squad, which is a real shame. Can you add it for others too (or link it to a vehicle action, as a minimum)?

[SlipperyJim 0]

Minor bug reports but I notice that the ammo in the crate needs a little tweaking.

For instance ammo for the Javelin shows up even though you don't have the rank for it.

The ammo used on the Mp5 has no description or name.

[KilJoy -SFG- 0]

SlipperyJim the reason every ammo is aviailble at the start is cause maybe you want a subordanate to carry jav ammo for you for exsample. the missing mp5 ammo name is an arma bug.

Dr_Eyeball Im not opposed to the idea of subordinats having access to the group menu. Its just by the nature of arma you lose radio commands if your not a squad leader. ill think about another way of triggering it. you can always review yur squad in transfer for now.

I ment to add your name to the readme credit but it was over looked , ill add it next version , your credit note is in the briefing tho, while im on the subject let me say that is one fine peice of code you made there. I think I have a good feel for what you done after modifying aspects. So speaking from the inside out, Nice job you saved me meny hours work.

[Control 0]

Copy on the non -posibility to save he server status ( can anything be done by scripting in the mission? )

One bug: last night I spent a lot of time, transporting people in an MH6, seems you get no point for transporting people in that aircraft.

To bad I have to attend a party tonight, I would rather be at home, playing Evolution

[sickboy 13]

@ April 12 2007,09:39)]Dr_Eyeball Im not opposed to the idea of subordinats having access to the group menu. Its just by the nature of arma you lose radio commands if your not a squad leader. ill think about another way of triggering it. you can always review yur squad in transfer for now.

I ment to add your name to the readme credit but it was over looked , ill add it next version , your credit note is in the briefing tho, while im on the subject let me say that is one fine peice of code you made there. I think I have a good feel for what you done after modifying aspects. So speaking from the inside out, Nice job  you saved me meny hours work.

Subordinats have access to the Radio in ArmA, just not in the MAP screen. Only in the radio list when you press 0, 0

[rekster 0]

Played Ver 1.2 last night. Had a lot of fun, and the Ai in towns are a good challenge. Thanks for the new version.

Any future version planned?

Possible Bug:

Version 1.2 played on a dedicated server.

- Never saw enemy air except for MI17 dropping troops. (played for about 1.5 hrs) Not sure if this was a planned change or not. I liked having the Ka-50 flying around in the previous versions.

[KilJoy -SFG- 0]

Yeah there is somthing going on with the enemy aircraft. They all hangout at pita now for some reason. Thanks for the report.

I think its the supply trucks up there, there probably stuck in a resupply loop as there the only constent enemy ones.

Sickboy it seems 0 is grayed out to me when im not a leader and since 1.04 or 05 there is no radio on the map screen either for none leaders unless you know somthing i dont. I will probably use action menus but there a nightmare to code in mp due to the vehicle bug.

[bravo 6 0]

This version 1.2 is more laggyer then the last one.

I vote: try to make it Less laggyer.

Possible bugs:

- the new method to recruit groups. It didnt't work for me yesterday. Couldn't join any group or recruting. Tryed to join a group and only had a sidechat message and no conclusion. After my team mate reconnects i would be able to join him on my team.

- Ka-50 was standing still over Kayo for ages, i was able to get close and shot it down with AT.

[Dwarden 1125]

i noticed that shooting down AI plane or helicopter give no points IF you fail to directly kill pilot/crew or plane/helicotper exploding midair ...

usually plane and helicopter crash (w/o crew ejecting to save themself) and You score nothing ...

wonder if it's possible to cover this too (but it may be ArmA limitation)

[[aps]gnat 28]

- Ka-50 was standing still over Kayo for ages, i was able to get close and shot it down with AT.

In previous revisions also .... make for good points targets

Probably an ArmA bug, AI choppers stop moving after X minutes in game for some reason ... seen it before in other missions and my own tests.

[Taxidriver 0]

Well seems this mission somehow cuts off my internet connection.

Each time I connect to a server running the Evolution mission (1.1 or 1.2 doesn't matter) I loose my internet connection. So also loosing TS connection as well as being unable to browse the internet. Previously this only happened (always or occasionally not sure) if I had alt-tabbed out of the game to connect to TS, but when connecting to an evolution mission I get disconnected all the time (was able to join a server running the evolution mission once out of about twenty tries).

It also does this with windows firewall turned off. I have a firewall on my router, but that hasn't givin me anytrouble before.

[Nixer6 0]

I also had a "still life" helo, mine over Somato.

Lots of helos showed back up around Corazol.

It also seemed laggier to me as time went on. Got stranded by disappearing LittleBird, RTFM.

Liked the new weather and start time.

[CaptainMurphy 0]

Vehicles:

I have already started modifying the original idea. I am going to attempt to make a parameter that allows the players class to restrict their vehicle usage. I already have the helos figured out by utilizing the current "veccheck.sqf" and adding a couple lines to the helos to check the class of the player. I am adding it to armor as well.

If I can find the references for it I may make it part of the Cadet/Veteran switch for simplicities sake. What do you think KilJoy?

As for the "spoils of war" theory allowing anyone to take over an enemy vehicle, I am somewhat in disagreement with that. I think it would take a higher rank/skill level in order to take it over at optimal efficiency. being that they are not trained in its usage.

Weapons and Ammo Restriction:

My take on this is somewhat simple, dependant on the class you restrict the ammo boxes for just that class. Sounds simple in theory but turns into a nightmare upon ranking. So here is the idea: start the class off with the 'standard' weapon of the trade and allow them to be able to get an upgraded weapon set later on in a 'special' ammo box next to the regular one. Leave the standard ammo box alone but remove the high end specialized weapons like the sniper/marksman weapons and rocket launchers (honestly I am part of the camp that hates seeing a sniper with an M136 on them). You do allow them to pick up any weapon they find though. This won't stop people from loading up their HMMWV with weapons and everyone taking part in them, but it is the same with the rank classes anyway.

Again, if we use the 'veteran/cadet' switch to change the gameplay it can probably be made fairly simple.

Side Missions:

I loved this idea. Otherwise this is one big CTF with no option for something different. After several hours of trying to take out a city sometimes you just want to unwind and take on a quick "toast the convoy" run to get peoples spirits (and rank) up.

(FYI, I am a programmer, so this stuff just makes my day)

On a fun note, playing as a Col last night flying a UH60 I got hit while treetop level and crashed with a few souls on board and got stuck hearing the "RING RING RING..." song for about 5 minutes straight due to the points I had attained at the time.

My Next Path:

I want to add in an Arty script that will allow a basic arty strike for LT's, a larger hit for Capt/Maj, and a barrage for Col that becomes available after a certain time. Any thoughts?

[SmallBlackSheep 0]

Kiljoy,

a "Data Storage software" has now been released. If I got it right it lets you save stuff in files:

Quote[/b] ]2. This allows a mod maker, mission creator, server admin to store data outside of Armed Assault in a live manner. All file access is limited to the main Arma folder where the server or arma was executed. At first I limited it to a special folder but I removed that by request to the main folder as to modify the MPMissions folder.

If it's true couldn't that be useful for you?

Check out the news at http://www.armaholic.com/ (2nd from top).

[CaptainMurphy 0]

If nothing else I can write a program that takes whatever data they have and writes it out to a database. I was going to start doing a debug on the arma folders while a game was going to see what was being tracked, but it would be nice if someone did that already.

Edit:

If I am reading the help file on that right it can perform GET and POST functions for HTTP which means we can create an onlilne database to read and write data. That could mean longer term ranks on the server so it could allow you to come back into the next game and maintain your rank. Hmmmm, sounds interesting.