ARMA GDCE 1.00 by shinden

[junior_g 0]

Can anybody explain how to change the weapon loadouts? The readme doesn't give me enough information for I am not an editing expert.

[kutya 0]

During the early phases of GDCE2 I developed an automatic spawn of civilians in populated areas. It's similar to the way like in GDCE1: you put markers where you want civilians to spawn. The angle of the marker describes how far the civs can wander from the marker (an angle of 75 degress tells the script that the civs can go max 75m from the marker). This is mostly to keep the civs from water.

There is a script which is executed periodically (say, every 10secs) which checks your distance from those markers. If you're close to one, civs are spawned and moved in the area. When you get far enough from the marker, they are deleted. The result is that you have the feeling that the whole island is populated with civilians (well, at least where you put markers). It is similar to spawning cars in GTA3. The script is mostly lag free, because there are mostly only one marker that is close. Of course, like in the old times, just pedestrians, no vehicles.

This is the basic idea. If someone really doesn't know to make this, PM me and I'll try to give mostly functional chunks of code.

[junior_g 0]

Not sure if you noticed. There is no Stinger missile in the ammo crate although there is the GDC_addMagItems line in the globals. Doesn't work if I try to put in a javelin either. The launchers are in, not the missiles though.

[shinden1 0]

sorry I haven't been around lately, I picked up the virtumonde trojan, and have been clearing it out of my system...

Civilians can be generated just as Kutya said. Dynamic group creator can facilitate this and the creation of random enemy groups...by isolating the area creation the lag should be very small...unless I go nuts with the vehicles...I'd like to have a few trucks and cars...

Due to the infection, I haven't been able to do much, but I'll be back to work this weekend. The first change should be pretty modest, I'll add a few group areas in some hot spots and see how everything works out. If the feedback is really good I'll add more and attempt to create a dynamic "atmosphere". I want to be careful with this because the most important thing is that GDCE be playable, and the fact is, ARMA can be somewhat unstable sometimes even though things are much better.

[Commando84 0]

this doesnt work in mp or does it? I remember some of the dynamic mission worked in mp and some didn't.

[kutya 0]

This ain't. Tacrod's, Sanctuary's and Honcho's, are. I don't know about newer stuff.

[shinden1 0]

An update on my progress:

I've successfully converted DGC to work with ARMA GDCE. The script required a few modifications to work with GDCE but it's working quite well....I do have to solicit some opinions however:

I'm torn between two methods of implementing DGC:

1) DGC as is: this way DGC will generate groups and they will hang around until destroyed or you end the mission. DGC will automatically remove any dead bodies (and can even be ordered to replace if desired)

-the PRO's of this method is that everything can be as you left it. If you saw a vehicle here or there, you'll see it again when you come back. You can even set DGC to not replace or delete anything, so you can stare at your handiwork.

-CON's: this can be pretty laggy, and will limit the number of group area I can create without dragging ARMA to a standstill. An insertion trip over many group generating areas will create groups you will never encounter, but affect performance. Of course, a natural way to clear everything is to save at the tent and exit the mission...than reenter.

2) I've added a distance sensing deletion script...with a mod to DGC's script this allows the effect Kutya described...as you near a trigger point, a random group will be generated, as you get away from the point (actually the script references the groups creation points) to a certain distance, the deletion will trigger, deleting the groups and the vehicles (for some reason some vehicles seem to stay, but I kind of like this 'bug' ).

-PRO's With this I can pretty much run wild with the groups and hopefully create a 'dynamic environment' where there is always something going on where the player is. Even create an environment where, if the player desires, he could even win the mission without ever seeing the officer for missions, or even hanging out in enemy territory fighting like a guerilla. (I would have to add a few things to facilitate this)

-CON's Everything is random, and things will be deleted as you get far enough away, only to be generated in some different way with different units. The T-72 you saw earlier is gone, now there's a BMP-2, and so on. Even this can be laggy

anyway, let me know if you folks have a preference.

for the next version I'll be adding civilians throughout the island, (actually the civilian generating script always worked...I just forgot to add a civilian 'dummy', scripts cannot generate units unless a unit for the side you wish to create had been generated in the mission via mission editor...woops) via DGC, this includes vehicles. then I will be testing extensively to see how the lag and possible ARMA bugs may pop up.

DGC has it's own creation array just like GDCE's globals. for the sake of simplicity, I'm keeping these seperate. changing DGC's arrays is just like GDCE and very easy.

I'll be looking into fixing the stinger/strela loadout...haven't really looked much into the air side yet, it's somewhat broken in ARMA or seems that way, but hey, shooting down aircraft is fun...can't deny people that.

[shinden1 0]

this doesnt work in mp or does it? I remember some of the dynamic mission worked in mp and some didn't.  

Nope. Implementing multiplayer is down the road for GDCE quite a ways...actually, I don't really know how GDCE would react to multiplayer play...I'm actually hoping someone with multiplayer editing experience may decide to convert GDCE...GDCE still has to be finished however, and I don't really consider it good enough to compete with the likes of evolution...it may never do that.

[colligpip 0]

I would love a version of this that isnt co op where theres two sides fighting over the mission objective - I sort of tried to make this just by adding an east side MP and it kinda works.

I would like it so that the opposing sides act as a kind of reaction force to the ongoing g.d.c.e missions, each side fighting to stop the other from completing the mission set for one side - if that makes sense.

[junior_g 0]

Hi,

first of, cool to hear that there is some cool stuff coming.

I think that being able to find randomly spawning insurgency would be an awesome thing. I guess to really decide which option is better I would have to try it. Maybe it would be possible to just have an independent insurgency that spawns randomly without tanks. Infantry would not be so weird if there was suddenly a different unit. Say there would be a t-72 that would suddenly be replaced by a bmp. That would be weird. But just having a soldier suddenly carry an RPG launcher wouldn't be as crazy. It could be some civilian looking insurgents. That would make it even more challenging since you'd have to take care not to shot an unarmed civilian.

Not sure if this is possible, just an idea.

[junior_g 0]

Hey,

anyone know what to do to get the 11th and 12th team member back? In the readme it talks about a player marker, but I can't find it.

How's 1.03 going?

[kutya 0]

The team is spawned in GDC_Spawns\GDC_S_Team.sqs

You'll see what you need to add there. The script is really simple.

But remains the problem of the weapon loadouts. You have to include the 'new' members in those loadouts too. Since it's changed in shinden's version, you'll have to ask him about this part.

[shinden1 0]

Hey,

anyone know what to do to get the 11th and 12th team member back? In the readme it talks about a player marker, but I can't find it.

How's 1.03 going?

actually its GDC_spawns\GDC_S_teamalt.sqs but it will take more than this to bring them back...

you'll need to modify the GDC_misc\GDC_rearm script and all the newarm, subarm and silarm scripts for the rearm box...this should be simple cut and paste though.

Involved part will be these: GDC_Save\GDC_checkcurrgame, gdc_checkgame, gdc_gamesave. look through them, make copies and see what you need to fix to get 11 and 12 running. that should be it. Only the hintc portion (that generates the check current game and saved game dialog) should give you trouble.

Of course I reluctantly dropped 11 and 12 because of the UI...there may be UI's that bring us back to 12 man OFP standard, but this was meant to be a mostly addon-less campaign (although my personal copy has loads of add-ons). If there's any demand maybe I'll bring it back.

1.03 will be another week yet, I should have been working on it last week, but I had a trojan to get rid of. I may be done by next monday...I'm currently testing the effects of civilians on my current build, and I like it so far.

I'm still on the fence about the way I want to implement DGC...the civilians I want to delete as you leave (700m) and reappear when you get close (not CLOSE, but about 500m)...this is how I have it working right now...but I think it will suck to truck your way to a mission and destroy a base on the way...only to have the enemy 'respawn' on your way back...maybe I'll use both systems...

[shinden1 0]

little update...although I don't get a lot of feedback, this thread does get a lot of views...I've revised what I was working on here's where I'm at:

-decided that just adding civilians everywhere won't make enough of a change, so the next update will feature DGC groups of east,west and civilians.

-to answer the next question: what about RACS/resistance? I plan to make this it's own template and demo...this will be a major update in the future.

-I use a modified DGC script to fit in with my plans for ARMA GDCE...I'll have to get on one of myke's thread to thank him, DGC is just what I needed.

-The modified script causes civilians to be deleted when you reach a certain distance, the setting of the trigger and removing the trigger delete will cause the civilians to reappear when you get within 500 yards.

-all dgc groups are activated at 500 yards, I made this universal to make it easier to set the civilian delete distance with consistent results.

-all west and east groups are not deleted, I may, in the future use Myke's caching, but I currently want support to be affected by battles between west and east that the player may be near, but may or may not participate in. These trigger only once, and anything killed will be affected by DGC's remove script (plus event handlers for GDCE I added). This can cause some lag, so I'm hoping I get feedback after release, since any areas you cross by can activate DGC zones and their groups. overlapping DGC zones has been very successful with many great battles randomly starting when you get within 500 of the zones.

-In my testing , DGC affects how you play tremendously, Long insertion trips over enemy territory can be suicide. I plan on adding respawnable vehicles in spread out areas to help the player get to where he's going...

that's all I have time for now, I'll post more after work...

[.kju 3244]

In general if people don't post, then it means that they are playing

and enjoying.

Another thing to note is that missions get hardly feedback here.

The best place is OFPEC and a few other mission/campaign

dedicated sites as well as clans for MP missions.

PS: Unfortunately I personally haven't tried it, as in ArmA I am

solely playing MP league play for different reasons.

However for AI play dynamic missions along with campaigns are

always my personal favorite!

Thanks for your hard and excellent work shinden1.

[froggyluv 2136]

Dr Eyeball has a script in his WIP "ICE" that allows you to control direction of insertion which might help with such unfriendly airspace. I think it's still in Alpha and is kind of like COC lite but has some really unique features.

[kutya 0]

I'm one of those who read, but ain't posting. Simply because I quit playing ArmA for a couple of reasons. But I'm still interested what happens with your work. In which direction will it evolve. This is one of the few things that could possibliy pull me back to ArmA. For now I'm satisfied with OFP and other gaming genres.