Quarantine

[FritzDaKat 0]

Well, unlikely, but mabey a bad bit or byte in the download? Try downloading again.

Vehicle store, North of where you spawn by the Hangar building, Flag has some oil drums next to it.

Weapons are in the shop at the Harbor on the South side of Corazol, again, Oil drums and a sandbag fortification next to the correct flagpole.

Try walking "into" the flagpole, then while keeping the crosshairs right on it, hit enter (Or scroll mouse wheel) to bring up the action menu, you should see browse shop there.

[D.murphy man 0]

Ah i forgot to mention that in the briefing... again. But yes you have to stand right next to the flag poles and look directly at them.

As for the error message i have no idea what that is, i haven't experienced any error like that my self even after play testing over 2+ hours.

In the next version i will be looking into replacing the flag poles with civilians to make it just a bit more obvious, and attach some event handlers to them to stop people killing them.

Also the cease fire broadcast is usually because of the military base is under attack, some times a zombie gets to close to a soldier and one his team mates burst fires into the zombie accidentally hitting the soldier too. Not much i can really do about that as is hard coded into the game.

[FritzDaKat 0]

Also the cease fire broadcast is usually because of the military base is under attack, some times a zombie gets to close to a soldier and one his team mates burst fires into the zombie accidentally hitting the soldier too. Not much i can really do about that as is hard coded into the game.

It's not the broadcast so much as the error message I've seen in 3 out of 5 friendly fire incidents since 2.3 in which it seems like the penalty script tried to run for one of the AI.

 I'll try to get the full error copied for ya' next time I see it.

The other error seems to kick when moving from spawn zone, spawn clearing "outer-zone" and beyond, then back in to spawn zone "too quickly" (Less than 20-30 seconds).

I'll throw down some road cones and double check what lines need to be crossed for the error to pop up once I get DX9 updated.   (4-5 hours)

***Edit*** MEH! Now I cant get it to reproduce either. I'm sure it will sooner or later thou, Ready on the fraps key

[D.murphy man 0]

Hmm never seen that error either! will have to look over the soldiers inits again, i might of left in an old eventhandler which is refering to an old penelty script if a friendly kills them.

[FritzDaKat 0]

Well finally got the spawn related error to reproduce.

Happened after leaving a Secure area mission on the furthermost SW town, headed north toward the Base to drop the truck off.

Error as follows:

'...;

_spawn = (Spawns select _spawnIndex) |#|select 0;

_spawnMode = call compile form...'

Error select: Type Object, expected Array, Config entry

Looking at it now, might be more related to a spawn area initializing as I sped into it? Dunno, but it looks like it didnt find something it was looking for.

Nothing "Broke" so to speak, just an erronious msg in the top-left of the screen.

Another oddity was when I dropped off the truck.

The MG gunner replacement for the East side, south position never quite took his post, just stood there as Yomie-bait. Thou I think he spawned as the roaming base patrol passed by, mabey they blocked his path and he forgot what he was doing? Only time I've seen that happen thou.

I've got screenshots, just a p.i.t.a. to upload them anywhere for me.

of course this was seen right after I finished updating DX9/10, Vid and sound drivers so Lord only knows.

[D.murphy man 0]

not sure what that could be, perhaps it couldnt find the player (you) because you was in a vehicle. how ever being in vehicles has never effected any thing before. And the spawn seems to be a rare one off, perhaps somthing to do with player dieing and then respawning?

What ever it is, its related to the yomie spawn scripts, which i haven't edited much. Only things that have been edited is to run the 'arm.sqs' (arms civs with guns) if spawning yomie side = civ, adding a eventhandler to the yomies to reward player and simply changed the east spawn classes to civilians instead of east yomies.Nothing that should cause any problems with the overall mechanics of the spawning system, so perhaps Sleeper might have an idea?

*edit* on second thoughts it looks like it could be a problem with the name of the marker that represents the area of the spawn. all spawns should be named Yomie_spawn_1, 2, 3, etc.. without any gaps in between. So for example if you had yomie_spawn_1,2,3,5,6 spawns 5,6, wouldnt work and throw up errors because spawn 4 is missing.

Maybe iv accidently deleted a spawn some where without knowing? will look into it.

*edit2* Nope every thing seems fine naming wise. the mystery continues... but as long as it doesn't brake any thing it shouldn't be any thing to worry about for now.

[FritzDaKat 0]

Maybe iv accidently deleted a spawn some where without knowing?

Nah, I've gotten this error in multiple spawn areas, Corazol, near Outpost, Gas station en-route to airport etc. edit: On foot as well as in vehicle

The more I think about it, IIR part of the Init spawn triggers sqf

Quote[/b] ]"  Generates yomie spawns triggers and deletes the markers."

So I had driven thru this section previously on the way to the secure area mission, this occoured on the way back meaning yomies had already spawned and cleared there once,,,  

I'd have to guess that whatever is supposed to recreate the marker later didn't finish what it was doing? But again, it caused no actual problem, Yomies still spawned, no deal breaker this.

[sas troop 0]

Hmm, where I can find some servers running with Quarantine?

[D.murphy man 0]

Hmm, where I can find some servers running with Quarantine?

Sadly no where yet, however if any servers are running my mission please let us know!. Maybe one of the RPG servers that currently only run Sahrani life would be interested?

Occasionally ill be hosting the mission, but not dedicated server, so wont be any long playing sessions.

[OGad64321 0]

He he ok you were right,..... i was walking around the flagpoles 300 Times as i mentioned before, desperatly waiting for some sort of action menu to unfold in front of me.... but the Solution as you stated was just to walk there and hit the Enter Button ..... still cant believe it !!

And about this Error Message you mentioned some posts before,.... that was the one i meant.

So here comes one portion of constructive critisism. Could you add a note or something about the use of the Shops into the Briefing.

This way even people like me should have no probs

Greets

[NeMeSiS 11]

I ran a dedicated server for me and some friends a few times and we had some random people who were very eager to join, sadly i was afraid that my connection couldn't handle it so i had to kick them. But there seem to be people really want to play this online.

[malick 0]

This mission looks quite interesting ! I haven't been able to play it so far, as my computer melted down one month ago...

If some servers are open, i'll be really eager to join ^^ How many players can join ? Would it support JIP ?

Malick

[D.murphy man 0]

It supports JIP, and is currently 12 player (although no. of players is subject to change based on feedback with lag and such in future versions)

And yes i was going to add a note into the breifing about the flag poles and how to use them to access shops, as a lot of people seem to be having problems, but i forgot to update the breifing in last update so just remember people:

TO USE THE SHOPS, YOU MUST LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE ASSOCIATED FLAG POLE FOR THAT SHOP. THEN CHECK YOUR ACTION MENU.

*Edit*

Also i was wondering what you guys think of this idea i was considering adding to quarantine and how best to implement it. I was thinking of having 'clouds' of radiation cross over parts of the quarantine zone randomly with the wind (if thats possible, else just randomly float around) and randomly dissipate or form. The radiation 'clouds' are invisible and only way players can tell where they are is by opening the map which will have a constant update on the the clouds of radiation about.The story line element to explain this would be one of the near by countries on mainland have used nuclear weapons?

These clouds would deal out damage to players health if they enter the clouds without protection, players could buy NBC suits from one of the shops (not sure if thats possible with spon_money yet) and be able to enter these clouds without damage. however there view would be extremely limited by placing a filter over players screen similar to when you use binoculars, with out the zoom of course. Every zombie you kill inside a radioactive zone would give you an extra 100 bonus and completing a secure mission thats inside a radioactive cloud would also give an extra bonus of about 3000 or something.

The NBC suits would be pretty expensive which means early on in the game players will have to plan there routes carefully and getting from point A to B will no longer be as simple as a straight forward drive.

I was also thinking about using nearest object command and heartbeat sound, when more and zombie units come within a certain (very close) range of the player, a heart beat sound would play louder and faster to ramp up the tension. The same could also be used for music, i was thinking something quite orchestral fast and high tension. Maybe a softer ambient music could loop when not in combat too. Adding sound files thou will ramp up the file size considerably so im not sure.

*Edit 2*

On the same line of thought as the heart beat sounds, maybe instead of map updates, players could only know if there in a radioactive area by use of one of thous machines that click to radiation (cant remember name) higher radiation=faster clicks. All players from spawn (and respawn) will have these for free just to make things bit easier.

[FritzDaKat 0]

*Edit 2*

On the same line of thought as the heart beat sounds, maybe instead of map updates, players could only know if there in a radioactive area by use of one of thous machines that click to radiation (cant remember name) higher radiation=faster clicks. All players from spawn (and respawn) will have these for free just to make things bit easier.

I was thinking something similar on the music line, basicly looping thru an assortment of tracks in-game but switching over to something more foreboding when the Yomies spawn.

But unless you're Musicly inclined I think adding anything commercial to the DL would be considered copyright infringment.

Mabey just add as an option for the player the ability to place a # of .ogg tracks in a "Music Box" folder of sorts with 2 sub folders for general play and Yomie-spawning, have it run like a seperate addon perhaps with a link to dl some .ogg converter and instructions on how to convert, properly name (The config.cpp can be pre-written to simplify the process, just have the player rename the track to match whatever sequence is chosen) and place the file, and of course how to pbo it. It would at least allow the player to choose theme music for themselves Just a thought. But f.y.i. the Quarantine-related addons when mixed with the extended event handler and the Hulk_OGG player take a fair toll on performance. (Thou this was pre-Vista-SP1 for me)

--->Like this one I use<---

And RE: The radioactive zones. Another method used to detect radiation aside from geiger counters is a Radiation Dosimeter, a small badge pinned to ones shirt more info here.

The Dosimeter might be more practical /feasible to get into the game, added like the watch or compass, etc.. The color of the badge would indicate to the player "how hot" the area they're in is and give some indication of an acceptable exposure time. I'm thinking this would make for some intense MP moments in the "Secure Area" campaigns, having all the players converge and run thru it like a relay race to keep the zone active, or have everyone rush it and try to beat the clock? (From all I've read over the years, it's my understanding that unless you're within x miles of ground zero you can withstand fallout areas and such for short periods of time with a "relative degree of saftey")

[Saromus 0]

sounds like a good story plan Murphy,

@FritzdaKat I like that idea with the badge that should definetly get checked

[Snake Raper 0]

The problem with most dosimeters you are apt to find in a combat environment require a reader, meaning they don't give instant indication of radiation. Those that do, generally are one use and dispose.

I like the idea of a geiger counter (meaning I like the radiation too), as it can be used again and again.

I don't think the radiation should move or be traceable in the sense of it being plotted on the map. If you could make 5-10 radiation zones that spawn somewhere random (or have a random probability of being present like the ammo and 4x4) and leave it up to the player to find them.

Make the geiger counter cost some money and a rad suit cost more money, and you could make the rad zone missions worth it, and you have a real nice side plot/goal.

[FritzDaKat 0]

Wow, just read the updates on the 1st post. Some very interesting things in the works  

As far as "adding to the atmosphere" goes, I found adding heavy fog not only adds much to the "Creep-out" factor, but actually seems to improve performance as it seems to act like a long distance view blocker, thereby reducing the amount of textures and so-forth needing to be rendered by the GPU.

I was toying with fog settings from .5 to .86 and it looks pretty nice in the dusk thru dawn hours, but pretty lame in broad daylight, mabey replace the _overcast = 0 in the environment with some fog?

Also the Hi-Fi sound FX update really adds to the immersion level as the sounds are just so much more than Vanilla (but does nothing to the RH_Pistols sounds unfortunatly     ) Has alot of other aural tweaks beyond guns too.

One idea I had regarding storyline and possible sub-missions was if say, the cause of the Yomie uprising was related to a meteor shower, or some bio-weapon which would leave an object somwhere in the spawn area which would be the "cause". Then mabey after a number of the Newspapers or other sort of info (Mabey just time passing / CDC finding out why) have been found it will be revealed that by retreiving these meteor rocks or Bio-weapon containing breifcases (Mabey it's the SLA's "Final Solution"?) the related spawn area will be disabled?

As always just thinkin "outloud". I needed a break from my nvlddkm has stopped responding issue (But I think I may have fixed my problem.)

***Edit***

Another afterthought after hunting for survivors in Ortego for 20 minutes with no luck (Heard them, but couldnt find any with all the darn walls) Mabey make them call out for help or shout out to see if anyones around when the player is within say 150 meters of them? I'll find some nice lil' soundbites and samples for ya' to mess with & throw the pack on rapidshare or somethin'.

[D.murphy man 0]

In the older versions there was heavy fog, however a lot of people complained and wanted higher view distances. However i am going to add random fog levels to already present random weather script soon.

As for the story line and what caused the zombie out brake i was planning to leave the player in the dark on the actual cause of the zombies and use there own imagination. I am planning to add possibility for players to find old front pages of newspapers in the quarantine zone that will hint at what went on leading up to quarantine, there would also be several news articles on the front pages of the papers ranging from different dates, all of which could of been the cause of the outbrake, with fun references to popular zombie films, like 'Rabid Monkeys escape from lap - public warn to stay alert.', 'Meteor shower stuns locals', 'local teens find military dumping waste in abandoned grave yard' etc...

I was thinking perhaps the secure area missions could have a setting in the server options for either 'temporary' or 'permanent' , temporary would just be how it is now, where as permanent would clear the zone of zombies for good if the mission is successful, as players complete more missions more areas become 'secure' intill entire is zombie free, meaning the mission ends.

So dedicated servers could set it to temporary for 24/7 sessions for people to drop in and out of, where people hosting with few buddy's can enjoy a long coop to cleanse the island of zombies.

[FritzDaKat 0]

Heres a funny little nugget that in hindsight actually adds to the whole "Immersion level" of the Mission.

I've changed the Player character to the QG Mercenary Team Leader who consequentially has medic skills.

Seems the Yomies can take advantage of my abilities and trap me in the "Heal" action which in-game makes it seem sort of as if I've been grabbed by one.

If theres only the one Yomie it's kinda lame, but when theres lot's of them nearby & I get mobbed it's right out of the movies.

At first I thought, "Oh theres a bug." Renegade "Friendlies" able to get medical attention like that, but in light of the circumstance it becomes a feature.

[D.murphy man 0]

Heh i remember back in OFP days i made a script so that when zombies where within a close range to the players the players would have a random chance of being 'grabbed' by the zombies (message would appear in group chat) and the player would be forced to play the 'punch' animation to 'fight off' the zombie. Once the player finished the animation the zombie would die. Up against a single zombie the player would usually survive the attack but be slightly injured, it would add to the 'immersion' like when a zombie you didnt notice gets you from behind and you 'fight it off' in hand to hand combat. However it was more of a problem when being mobbed by zombies, the player would get stuck in the punching animation fighting off the zombies and eventually get killed.

It gave a VERY good reason to keep you distance from the zombies and prevented players simply running past or right through the middle of a group of zombies without fear. I completely forgot about this script, ill see if i still have it on my hard drive (doubt it) and remake it for a feature for quarantine.

[StevenKilleen 0]

following this thread has reminded me of an OFP mission called 'Zombie Outbreak Simulation'

- http://www.ofpmdb.net/include....emeid=0

It had an amazing 'Zombie Apocalypse'-type atmosphere. If you haven't tried it I recommend it wholeheartedly

[FritzDaKat 0]

If you haven't tried it I recommend it wholeheartedly

Sounds cool, lots to download on this dialup line thou I'll add it to my to-do list.

So, on the Ambience / Atmosphere topic I was thinking mabey replacing about 10 - 20 % of the Abandoned vechicles with Military ones would add a bit more to the "immersion" level.

For the mission circumstance wouldn't it seem right for there to be more remnants of a heavier Military presence in the Quarantine Zone? For the scale of infection we start with without the Army having shown up in greater force seems a bit odd, I sure know I'd send some Tanks and Strykers to have a look if there were "Riots and Mass murders" taking place over 1/2 my country.

It would also seem to add a bit more purpose to having the Gunrunner "camp" if in addition to the random patrols you were thinking of there were remnants of less sucessfull patrols around to pillage.

Not 100% sure but I think with a few changes the setdamage and setfuel could be added to the *.sqs files from the ArmA Edit crate builder wizard (Or just write one freehand I guess. lol) so you could have an allowed preset of weapons &/or ammo in the Mil. vehicles and the desired damage / lack of mobility all from one little exec. in the init line.

[malick 0]

This mission rocks !

I played it and find it very immersive and quite terrifying some times... Stopping my car next to a gas pump in the middle of nowhere, carefully looking for loot and zombies : whoa  

I'd like to be able to clean an area from all zombies. As I understand it, the zombies will spawn for ever. Can there be a zombie counter ? Let say there were 20,000 infected people on the island. Each time a zombie is killed, this counter decreases. Of course, this means that the mission finishes when there are no more/too few zombies.

Is there a possibility to sell a vehicle ? Also, can vehicles be repaired (at a cost, maybe) ?

Lastly, a server playing this mission as persistant would be a killer : 24/7, player would be able to spawn in and participate in missions, freeing zones, liberating survivors etc...

Thanks !

Malick

[D.murphy man 0]

You are correct at the moment zombies spawn an unlimited amount of times, however it is possible to completely clear a town out, but if you leave the town area and enter again the zombies will respawn. If you look back at one of my previous posts on last page you'll see what i have planned in relation to cleaning out the entire island.

At the moment it is not possible to sell vehicles, and the only way you can repair them is by buying a repair vehicle from one of the car shops.

Id love a dedicated server to host this 24/7, but at the moment there doesn't appear to be any, and i don't have access to dedicated server of my own.

[heklos 0]

following this thread has reminded me of an OFP mission called 'Zombie Outbreak Simulation'

- http://www.ofpmdb.net/include....emeid=0

It had an amazing 'Zombie Apocalypse'-type atmosphere. If you haven't tried it I recommend it wholeheartedly

ooops thought that was D.murphs mission.

I have been following this map also, and have every variation that has been released. I think your going in a good direction D.murphy. Although... is there any thought to additional abilities like in the FalloutRPG/twilight island mission. Making barricades and so on?