The Sahrani Run

[Guest Ti0n3r]

Found a BIG bug. When I reached North Sahrani I got an (error?) message that said something like "No something vehicle something. The screen goes black but the mission doesn't end. I can still walk around and shot etc.

So I basically played part 1 all in vain. This turned this mission from the best and most interesting ArmA mission released so far into something else... And using Endmission cheat won't help either. I tried it but when I started part two I appeared right in the middle of South Sahrani (mountain area).

Sorry...

btw, I swam over to North Sahrani. But the briefing didn't at all force me to go for the ambulance.

[Arkon2 0]

Hi Ti0n3r

What a pain!

Sorry, after you went all that way!!

Its not an error but it is a major bug....

There is a workaround if you want it - means you will have to edit

one of the .sqs files:

Its either that or wait while I upload a fixed (1.04)

If you want to do the edit - it'l only take 1 minute:

Goto Campaigns> The Sahrani Run> Missions> Part1.Sara> EndPart1.sqs

Open it in a text viewer - find the 2 following lines:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">?count _vehArray == 0 : hintc "No viable vehicles present"; exit

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">hintc format ["Saved %1 vehicles : %2", count _checkarray, _checkarray]

Put a ";" (rem) in front of them and then save and it should work then.

Hope this is of use to you and sorry again about the balls-up

If you do the edit let me know how you get on.

Regards

Arkon2

[Guest Ti0n3r]

Oh, thanks for the info!

[Guest Ti0n3r]

Sorry to double post, but I need a quick reply. Did you fix the mission ending bug for current version 1.04?

[Arkon2 0]

Hi,Ti0n3r

I fixed the new 1.04 version that has just been uploaded - but you would have to start all over again if you use that one - the quicker option is to edit the file I suggested, that should work...

Regards

Arkon2

[Guest Ti0n3r]

That won't be a problem. Thanks for the quick reply. I'll be back with some feedback on the whole mission tomorrow or so.

Cheers

[-Variable- 0]

Restarted the mission with cadet mode on, got to the base, in the first time i tried, the ambulance got to the base, i got inside it and waited. After a while the officer driver walked to it, got in, and immediately got out and walked away 5 meters, stopped and that's it. in the two other tries the ambulance never got to the base even after waiting for 20 minutes.

I'm done with it, I hope you will publish a bug-free version, I'll track this topic and If you will I'll try it again since I liked the mission very much.

If you do- these are the bugs I came to notice thus far.

1. in the intro, when you get inside the chopper the pilot (or the navigator) jumps out and walk away, then gets back and the chopper takes off.

2. In the second time I tried the mission on cadet mode, I got none of the additional info in the action menue (Drako's picture and so on).

3. In the second time I tried,  the booby trapped car in Arcadia never got blown up but I got the "that must be drako's work" message anyway. there was a guy sitting inside a tender next to drako's radio with the lights on who was dressed just like drako but he was a white guy with a mustach.

4. If you do update the mission, I suggest you reccomend playing it on cadet mode. In any case, include a GPS receiver for the player.

I hope you fix all the bugs, this mission has great potential.

Thanks for your assistance and good luck with it!

[Arkon2 0]

Hi, -Variable-

Sorry you have had to give up the Campaign

Just a thought - you do have 1.08 don't you?

You know, its an odd thing, just about all the things that have gone wrong for you have been unique (except the pilot getting out the heli- that was just an oversight), nobody else has reported any of the bugs you have found - It reminds me of a time when I was testing the ambulance base a while back and no matter what I did illogical things kept happening - normally it takes a while but you eventually find the cause of the problem, but in this case and a few others times it seemed like my computer had got confused or something then we realised that the game caches some files and images and you have to go out of the editor and reload just to get a fresh start and to test a script that had been changed. Then all of a sudden it worked perfectly again and I still don't know why.???

Anyways, I think something odd may be going on with your game - a clue is that bit of text about the car bomb cannot be got at within the script that prints without the bomb also going off!! So maybe a computer restart or something may help cos all that caching of files and reloading may have summint to do with it. Saved games may even cache scripts so reloading a saved game may not help. Well, did'nt mean to ramble on so much and ain't really made my self clear but thought it best to say summint cos Arma is a fantastic game but when it gets confused all manner of strange things can happen and it can have you pulling your hair out with fustration at times...

Thanks for trying...

Just had a major setback!! see me first post...

I'll battle on cos I put 6 months into it already.

I'll shut up now...

Regards

Arkon2

[Guest Ti0n3r]

Completed part 1. Didn't find any bugs in the new version. But part 2 is not playable. I get ~1fps (part 1 ran perfectly smooth. This seems to be caused by a script?)

I also got this at the start of part 2.

Edit: And I didn't get to keep the gear I had in part 1. I dropped the rifle, binocs and nv while I swam over to the north, so I was left with just a pistol. But in part 2 I started out with default sniper gear again.

[Arkon2 0]

Hi Ti0n3r,

Strange - You are playing the mission as a Campaign?

Were you in a vehicle, if so which?

Any details will be of help...

Please let me know

Thanks

Regards

Arkon2

[Guest Ti0n3r]

Quote[/b] ]Strange - You are playing the mission as a Campaign?

Yes.

Quote[/b] ]Were you in a vehicle, if so which?

No. On foot.

[jasono 0]

I started Part1 and got into the car, 1 second later a loud drum or something blew my ears out. Then I got told I had completed Part 1. It now wants me to start Part 2.

Playing in cadet in campaign mode.

Edit : Restarted ArmA and tried again - same thing. It says I crossed the border.

Edit 2 : Part 2 involves me starting in the exact same place inside the car. I don't know if that is correct? It is also 3-5fps for me aswell.

[Arkon2 0]

Hi JasonO,

Thanks for your feedback,

What car and where was it u when u got into it?

Anymore details?

Working on that part at the moment...

Regards

Arkon2

[jasono 0]

Theres a blue car when I started the map on some hill near the coast. I get in it, drive forward and a second later I get what I described above.

[Arkon2 0]

Hi JasonO,

Which coast?

Quote[/b] ]when I started the map

What does this mean?

Regards

Arkon2

[Arkon2 0]

Hi Ti0n3r,

Ok, think we have sorted the problems passing from Part one to Part two - so give V1.05 a go if u like.

Btw.

Why don's u go through Corazo?

Regards

Arkon2

[CharveL 0]

I just had to respond to this one.

Wow. Best campaign/mission I've played so far bar none with the exception of the bugs (haven't tried 1.05 yet).

Great use of terrain and scripting without going overboard in an effort to impress the player by how many soldiers you can hide in every crevass. The Hind blowing up the meeting place caught me by surprise and nearly scared the piss out of me.

Got a good laugh out of the civvie practicing his kata near the docks too.

Now to the problems I encountered.

1) Couldn't erase the one briefing info for some reason, can't remember which one. Insignificant bug this one.

2) Got to the Russian medic base and staked it out for well over an hour (game time) but no ambulance. Decided to continue on without.

3) Approached (having a brainfart can't remember the name) the border town and approched from the far west side and popped snipers and soldiers until I had a clear path to the CRRC and used it to cross over. I got to the other side and got the message of completing part I but it hung there with a black screen although I could hear what I was doing in the game if I moved around or fired a shot. Got an error message saying that there were no vehicles or something.

I restarted from an earlier point and this time I could see what was going on so I continued to the meeting but didn't come across one living soul and a deserted base so by that point I knew the level was messed.

Besides getting it all working which I'm sure you'll get done I'd like to see a few things like:

1) One or two more vehicle UAZ/BRDM patrols to keep you on your toes. You already have a couple which is great but a couple more won't hurt in some of the more out of the way routes too.

2) A few more civilians. Again, not a lot - I think you have struck a pretty good balance and a great framerate - but even though it's a warzone I love the immersive quality you put into the mission so a bit more won't hurt like a civvie looking under the hood of his car that broke down or interesting diversions like that.

Would be very cool if there were some armed civs that are Russian sympathizers too. Maybe I'm asking for too much now.

3) Some way of just starting the second half of the campaign because as fun as it was I don't think I'll have the time to play through that much just to get to the second half! It was a bit disappointing to put so much work into the first part and have to start over as fun as it was.

Great job! I guess I'll be trying 1.05 now.

[Guest Ti0n3r]

Ok, think we have sorted the problems passing from Part one to Part two - so give V1.05 a go if u like.

I'm still able to pick gear from the part 1 loadout, I still get an error message at the beginning of part 2 and I still get~1 fps in part 2 (related to a script I believe).

[Arkon2 0]

Hi, Ti0n3r

All that still happened to you in V1.05 !?

You did not use a saved game did you?

Can you please give me as much information re the circumstances, like where u crossed the border, what u was carrying, was u in a vehicle or anything else that maybe useful in finding out what is happening as I cannot seem to reproduce these things myself.

Thanks a lot for trying again!

Regards

Arkon2

[Arkon2 0]

Hi CharveL,

Thanks for your feedback.

Quote[/b] ]Couldn't erase the one briefing info for some reason, can't remember which one. Insignificant bug this one.

Ok - this is because the message has relevant information for Part two (re where to meet Colonel Chantico) - so, you can drop it in Part two if you want to.

Quote[/b] ]Got to the Russian medic base and staked it out for well over an hour (game time) but no ambulance. Decided to continue on without.

How close to the base did you go? The trigger that calls the ambulance is quite close to the base. Iv'e extended it in V1.05.

Quote[/b] ]I got to the other side and got the message of completing part I but it hung there with a black screen although I could hear what I was doing in the game if I moved around or fired a shot.

Fixed this in V 1.05 - as far as I know you should be able to cross now - although Ti0n3r has just reported a problem.

Quote[/b] ]One or two more vehicle UAZ/BRDM patrols to keep you on your toes

Yes, I agree - unfortunately, I ran out of objects (144 limit) so, other than dynamically moving vehicles already in use (already doing that) a bit stuck there.

Quote[/b] ]A few more civilians.

Yup agree here to - but as it sez in the overview, most of the civs have fled the southern part of Sahrani - there are quite a few more in the north though.

We have tried to do something a bit different here. might not not be to everybodies taste but glad to hear that you enjoyed playing the mission, it really starts to hot up if you go through Corazo and when you get to the north.

Thanks again, look forward to hearing more of your comments.

Regards

Arkon2

[CharveL 0]

Like I said, very good mission with tasteful use of resources to create immersion. Most writers overdo it with melodrama and numerous but poorly placed enemy, so great job again.

Now, as for the ambulance no-show I pretty much cleared everyone out of the base and waited inside so not sure if that warns it away but I definitely would have triggered it to come if that's the case. I took out the BRDM (not ambulance one but the defensive one at base) with a grenade launching UAZ then cleaned up all the personel. Probably not the most subtle approach but I couldn't see any way of sneaking past the front gate guards. However, after that I noticed a section of fence on the north side missing that I hadn't seen before so I'll go the stealth route this time. It may be possible that I triggered the ambulance somehow when scouting past the base and it came and left on me but I doubt I would have missed that.

Oh, one more thing. If you could give us a "skip" option on the opening movie stuff that would be great. It's could use a bit of tightening up but you're a mission maker not a movie producer so it's pretty decent for what it is. I'd just like to be able to restart without having to sit through it again, especially since I was having trouble yesterday loading a savegame. I kept crashing ArmA whenever I tried loading savegames from your mission (and only your mission). I think that's related to OpenAL and my SB-xFi sound card though so it may not be a mission issue.

Thanks for all you good work and hope you decide to make a sequel or more missions with your talent for utilizing the game editor.

[Arkon2 0]

HI CharveL,

Thanks for your reply,

Not sure what version you are using when you went to the ambulance base - if you are using V1.05 then the ambulance should come when you get within a few hundred yards of the base, it takes about 7 - 8 minutes to arrive and the stays for about 3 minutes while the driver has a cup of tea (you will know when you fire the trigger as a save game will kick in) - but if you kill any of the guards they will radio out and it will not arrive.

Yup, the hole in the fence is the way in (note at the pier) - sorry to hear about the save game issue - we now have auto-save game in V1.05.

Anyways your feedback has been a great help and I do hope that you will send us some more - this is a very long mission and

it really starts to hot-up in Part two, also the story developes further to add to the excitement - but I do need people to beta test as the mission is very involved and quite complicated.

And yes I may consider another mission - depending on the reaction to this one - this is my first mission and it has taken 6 months to do but it is worth the effort if people enjoy playing it. But I'll have to see as there is still a long way to go until this mission is fully tested, and that can turn it from a good game into a great one

Thanks again

Arkon2

[CharveL 0]

Ok, just installed 1.05 and working my way to the piers, this time through town and not circuitous route - just for fun. Still using that UAZ with grenade launcher. Too bad footsoldiers have no clue I'm a bad guy even after the first volley but that's a shortcoming of ArmA AI I guess.

This is the first time Draco's car didn't work properly after 3 other times through the same scenario. The first time (last version) I got in the car and decided to hop back out when it blew up and I survived. The second time it blew up as I approached it some 20m away coming from the direction of the parked bike.

The last time (1.05) I approached from the rear of the vehicle until I was touching the trunk then proceeded past the Skoda until I got to the bike. At that point I got the message about "Draco's tricks" but the car didn't blow up.

A bit farther on I saved the game and came back to it. On reloading I got this error message:

'value/' is not a class ('oid' accessed)

But the game continued on seemingly fine.

Lastly, on saving the game tonight during a later session the game locked up tight and hung. Hopefully I won't have to start over again but I expect the odd problem being as I'm using an 8800/vista/SB x-fi so it could be just about anything with that combo and this game.

[Arkon2 0]

Hi CharveL,

Thanks for the feedback

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">I got the message about "Draco's tricks" but the car didn't blow up

Hmmm Yup, other people have reported this and there is no logical reason for it - the script should always blow up the car and then print the text message - but Arma is enigmatic and has a mind of its own sometimes

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">'value/' is not a class ('oid' accessed)

Dunno what this one is all about either, I'll try to reproduce it

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">during a later session the game locked up tight and hung

Sorry to hear that, hope its not too much of a hassle when playing.

Well, i hope you have better luck at the Ambulance Base this time.

Thanks again

Regards

Arkon2

[CharveL 0]

If I'm giving too much feedback let me know and I'll stfu.

Did the ambulance base thing and it did show up this time however it decided not to leave either. I'm thinking it might be because the BRDM saw me sneaking up and got a couple shots off at me as I was going around the back of the base. I didn't shoot back but maybe the detection triggered the ambulance to call off everything.