Dogs of War bug

[neofit 65]

I have a solution!!!

Extract the mission files from the campaign PBO and open the mission in the

editor. Then when the mission is loaded, click op 'preview' or something, so

you'll play the mission via the editor.

There it will get past the stuck dialogue. Now save and exit.

Then go to the savegame folder and copy the savegame from the single mission, to

your campaign save folder et voila it works!!

(don't forget to backup savegame)

Hey thanks a lot, I got it unstuck.

When I played the mission the first time, I thoought nothing of it. Well, my

guys wouldn't move, but looking at these forums I got them unstuck by shooting then healing them (do it with O'Hara the medic first). Then I spoke with the officer to the right, and since I got the option to take command, I didn't even think that I had missed a big piece of dialog. Marny would only talk about the weather, no location for Stavovich, but hey, I thought they'd radio me some instructions as we go along. After conquering the whole country (within like 3 game hours I must say, Team Razor rules! ;) ), I started wondering about the lack of radio messages, and figured I was stuck, and my game was missing the dialog too.

I thought I had to actually go around the cities to find that Stavovich

character, so I used awedar's solution on page 1 to load the mission into the editor to try to find him. And boy oh boy, Stavovich is the officer right next to the base commander, and he never said a word, so I did experience the stuck dialog bug. I had finished all the previous missions properly, with no endmission cheat, I helped the priest at the weapons cache, sided with NAPA, killed Prizrak, yet got stuck. I've tried restarting half a dozen times, some things change, like the nearby UAZ being replaced by a static AGL, but Stavovich is still silent.

Here is a step by step guide to how I got unstuck:

(I'm giving the paths as I have them in Vista, no idea where profiles are stored in XP)

1. I downloaded the unpbo file from this link, as provided by awedar on page 2 of this thread.

2. In the first field I entered the name of the PBO file I wanted to extract from, after a bit of searching it was:

<Arma2 install dir>\AddOns\missions.pbo

3. In the second field I entered the directory where to extract the file:

- if you are playing with a new profile:

c:\Users\<login_name>\Documents\ArmA 2 Other Profiles\<profile>\missions\

If you are playing with the default profile, replace "ArmA 2 Other Profiles" with "Arma 2"

4. In the window that gives a list of all the files in the .pbo file, select all the files in the directory "C6_DogsOfWar.Chernarus" or "C6B_DogsOfWar.Chernarus". I sided with NAPA and the mission started at the extreme west of the map, so my mission was "C6_DogsOfWar.Chernarus". The "B" version makes you start at the East, I suppose it is used when you have sided the other faction.

5. After I clicked on "Extract", after a few moments, I had the directory

C:\Users\<login_name>\Documents\ArmA 2 Other Profiles\<profile>\missions\C6_DogsOfWar.Chernarus\

6. I started the game, Editor, then "Load". Chose the mission called "C6_DogsOfWar.Chernarus" (or the "B" version), then hit "Preview".

The mission started, had a short conversation with my guys like before, then the Warfare base commander gave me a long speech, then Stavovich right next to him came into action and gave another speech, and started walking towards Marny. I walked around a little and my little guys were following me, without even being shot at.

I hit "Save", copied the resulting file

"c:\Users\<login_name>\Documents\ArmA 2 Other Profiles\<profile>\UserSaved\missions\C6_DogsOfWar.Chernarus\save.ArmA2Save"

into

"c:\Users\<login_name>\Documents\ArmA 2 Other Profiles\<profile>\Saved\ca\missions\campaign\save.ArmA2Save"

(sorry the editor on this board adds a space before some dots in path names, there aren't any but I can't get rid of them).

You can delete all the other *.ArmA2Save files from the

c:\Users\<login_name>\Documents\ArmA 2 Other Profiles\<profile>\Saved\ca\missions\campaign\

but keep "campaign.sqc" otherwise the game will make you restart the whole campaign. Not sure about "objects.sav" and "weapons.cfg", but I kept them to be sure.

7. I exited the editor, went back into the campaign, hit "Continue", and here I was, in a "Dogs of War" with running team mates. I ran towards Marny, and Stavovich, who was nearby and walking awway, interrupted and gave another speech and a new objective. Looks like it's fixed.

-------------

QUESTION:

Now I'm far from being an expert in ArmaA, I've read on these forums about playing the whole campaign from the Editor. It definitely looks less buggy so I'd rather do this too, even if I got unstuck at the beginning of this mission does not mean that I won't be later when using the "main game engine". But can the Editor move me to the next mission at the end of this one? Or do I have to use the very last save before the end of the mission, play through in the main engine, then do the same trick at the beginning of the next one?

Thanks.

[Jedo 10]

OK, it seems that the third version of the mission - the one where the two factions are allied and which is the one we're having problems with - is either missing from missions.PBO file or is hidden within C6_DogsOfWar.Chernarus files. Within C6 files I see the ones that end with "after prizrak killed","beginning cdf" and "beginning napa", althought I believe these files just refer to the choices you make within Dogs of War and not before that mission. Have you noticed that C6 has a lot more files than C6B? Weird... Can someone with editor understanding figure out how to make sure that when I extract these files I extract only the files which are part of the mission where CDF and NAPA are allied with the NAPA CO in the CDF camp? I will try to do the same.

By the way, maybe this is the whole problem? Maybe mission versions got mixed and that's why it never goes past the first dialogue?

Edited July 10, 2009 by Jedo

[neofit 65]

Is there really a third DoW mission? I have killed Prizrak, both factions are allied, I am starting on the far west side of the map. I am playing with "C6_DogsOfWar.Chernarus", from within the game and not the editor, using the save made from the editor right after the speeches from the officers at the base. I'm 3+ game hours in, and everything seems to go as planned, no script bugs that I can see. The Warfare part seems as it was in my broken playthrough, so it seems that this is the correct version. The NAPA CO is in the camp, right to the left of the AI commander. The two "good as per FoxNews" (sorry couldn't resist, this political crap is really getting on my nerves) factions are allied, as in we don't fight each other, capture Chedaki objectives together, as it was in the broken mission.

Maybe C6 has more files that C6B because more things are supposed to happen when both are allied?

There are quite a few things that got triggered this time, the mission really came alive as compared to version with the stuck dialogs, the latter being just a regular version of Warfare with nothing but town caps to do.

Actually a lot of things even within the Warfare part are different. I used to be able to buy humvees at bases and outposts, go figure, with the fixed version only UAZs as intended. In my first try the AI commander would only buy MG UAZes, in the fixed one he's quite fond of BRDMs and T-72.

[Jedo 10]

Is there really a third DoW mission? I have killed Prizrak, both factions are allied, I am starting on the far west side of the map. I am playing with "C6_DogsOfWar.Chernarus", from within the game and not the editor, using the save made from the editor right after the speeches from the officers at the base. I'm 3+ game hours in, and everything seems to go as planned, no script bugs that I can see. The Warfare part seems as it was in my broken playthrough, so it seems that this is the correct version. The NAPA CO is in the camp, right to the left of the AI commander. The two "good as per FoxNews" (sorry couldn't resist, this political crap is really getting on my nerves) factions are allied, as in we don't fight each other, capture Chedaki objectives together, as it was in the broken mission.

Maybe C6 has more files that C6B because more things are supposed to happen when both are allied?

There are quite a few things that got triggered this time, the mission really came alive as compared to version with the stuck dialogs, the latter being just a regular version of Warfare with nothing but town caps to do.

Actually a lot of things even within the Warfare part are different. I used to be able to buy humvees at bases and outposts, go figure, with the fixed version only UAZs as intended. In my first try the AI commander would only buy MG UAZes, in the fixed one he's quite fond of BRDMs and T-72.

Yet in the original mission (non-editor) you would start in the middle of the map in a napa base before getting transferred to the west and with me there is no napa commander in the cdf camp anymore, only two CDF commanders, and also the two sides are still hostile with me (I get a message at the very beginning of the level saying something like "the alliance between cdf and napa has ended"). Briefing is different, available for sale units are different, and other stuff... I will go back and see maybe I copied something wrong.

It would make sense that there are more than 2 versions. I remember having a choice to join either CDF or Napa in one of the previous missions and then a choice to ally Napa to CDF by killing the naughty church official. Now from the conversation with the CDF commander it seems that the game picked the version where I went with CDF.

Also does Marny tell you anything now? With me he's only talking about the weather.

Edited July 11, 2009 by Jedo

[neofit 65]

Yet in the original mission (non-editor) you would start in the middle of the map in a napa base before getting transferred to the west and with me there is no napa commander in the cdf camp anymore, only two CDF commanders, and also the two sides are still hostile with me (I get a message at the very beginning of the level saying something like "the alliance between cdf and napa has ended"). Briefing is different, available for sale units are different, and other stuff... I will go back and see maybe I copied something wrong.

It would make sense that there are more than 2 versions. I remember having a choice to join either CDF or Napa in one of the previous missions and then a choice to ally Napa to CDF by killing the naughty church official. Now from the conversation with the CDF commander it seems that the game picked the version where I went with CDF.

Also does Marny tell you anything now? With me he's only talking about the weather.

Weird stuff. To reiterate, what I had done before DoW:

- I have found 2/3 evidence in the first mission

- Lopotev escaped during that stupid "you have twenty minutes to find a red car in that big region" mission, not sure he was meant to be caught, but seeing he has an important part in DoW I think he wasn't.

- I helped the priest at the weapons cache, e.g. didn't give him away.

- When escaping Manhattan I used the help of the NAPA partisans

- At the roadblock I went to the NAPA base.

- I killed Prizrak to unite the CDF and NAPA.

In the non-editor mission DoW starts with a "are we done yet" conversation with my Razor team members in some location that looks like a forest (can't see where as keyboard control doesn't work during cutscenes), then fade to black, and we are in the Western CDF base next to 3 unresponsive officers, non-moving team-mates and an unfinishable Warfare-only scenario. (is this the transfer you are talking about?)

In the editor mission the first chit-chat among Razors happens at the western CDF base already, then we spawn right next to the same officers. I've got a message telling me that there is an alliance with NAPA.

I am not sure there has to be a different map for every possible choice we had made previously. If we only take the 2 last choices we would have had 4 maps: NAPA-alliance, CDF-alliance, NAPA-no alliance, CDF-no alliance. I think that some of these choices are resolved using "if" conditions within the same map, and there is a second map only because one of the variants gives a different starting point or different geography. Maybe some variants are impossible, like for instance it may be impossible to kill Prizrak and get an alliance if you are playing with the NAPA, like it may be considered as a declaration of war, much worse if done by internal means, or whatever went through the mind of the mission designer.

If the first chit-chat cutscene is supposed to happen at the NAPA base and it happens at the western CDF base within the editor, I think it doesn't really matter. Maybe it's the non-editor mission that is wrong and it's supposed to actually happen at the base? Anyway, the mission works from then on, and I'll keep playing it from the save I've made in the editor.

As for Lt. Marny, he's not very talkative even in the editor mission. I'm not sure what he's supposed to say, but apparently having a responsive Stavovich is what really makes the mission scripts come alive. He says the same things in both the editor and non-editor variants:

Targets: "I've seen some Western <unit_X> passing nearby"

Location: "Sorry I'm not from around here" (sure you don't know, you've only been living for 30 years in a country 10 km wide :) )

Weather: "It's gonna stay like that for a while"

But maybe, if he is even supposed to say anything besides that, it's only for flavour, fingers crossed. I went to bed having done all tasks with only the ChDKZ base left to take, maybe without the Marny speech it won't be acknowledged, I'll post here how it goes.

Apparently a few variables are being lost between missions. Marny acts as I imagine he would had I given him a piece of my mind the first time I met him, by telling him that the CDF screwed up and stuff. Looks like this part of me showing restraint beyond the call of duty got lost somewhere and now he won't talk anymore, even in the editor.

A hint: when going after a certain radio signal, have a BMP, you'll have to cross a body of water. A T-72 can't really swim well. Also, don't waste time stashing AT weapons in it (as my pack rat persona always tells me to do), there is a big chance you'll lose it after the inevitable cutscene.

Anyway, enough talk, I've got some democratizing to do.

[drsYell 0]

Well, when I buy a game I expect its at least playable. This mission is so bugged its unplayable, so that is a very bad job for the devs and testers. Whoever has put so much pressure on this way too early release of this game must be a true idiot, because a lot of damage is done to the company and its imago. I am done playing for a while.

As for the mission itself, I will wait for a patch, I don't feel like messing with the game just to make it playable.

[neofit 65]

Well, when I buy a game I expect its at least playable. This mission is so bugged its unplayable, so that is a very bad job for the devs and testers. Whoever has put so much pressure on this way too early release of this game must be a true idiot, because a lot of damage is done to the company and its imago. I am done playing for a while.

As for the mission itself, I will wait for a patch, I don't feel like messing with the game just to make it playable.

We all dream of having games work out of the box. But I also want to finish the campaign, be done with it and go back to Domination, so I am willing to spend a half hour to try and make it work.

As for the damage to the reputation, well, they already have my and your money. Although not totally applicable to Arma2, I like the business model MMORPG companies have: monthly payments. They must have a working product, fix stuff fast, and add content very often. Those who deliver buggy crap like BIS does are in big trouble. But since it worked for BIS with OFP then Arma1, why not do the same with Arma2, it's not like they have any competition in this market segment anyway. I personally knew what I was getting into when buying Arma2 so early.

[Jedo 10]

What a bugged *(#%*#)@! Now I'm hitting a bug every 30 seconds. Helis crash into trees; the island prisoner does a weird dance and refuses to come with me (solved by healing him); the heli that transfers him crushes my team to death; once unloaded, my sniper refuses to follow orders and has decided to crouch to the enemy camp 5km away untill shot;the mission with the russians won't start; if it does start, the dialogue of the CO is broken; once with the Russians, the whole thing falls apart - some of my teammates refuse to follow, the Russian truck can't drive away as scripted...same cars keep exploding...I am so tired...

Edit: I finally got to the end and the game just took me to the main menu - done. no cutscene no nothing.

Edit: Make sure you still have your original (non editor) saves if you want to see the extremely cheesy followup to dogs of war by using endmission cheat - ie I had to put the old profile with the saves back and then load my broken mission and use endmission cheat so I could continue, because if you use the editor save you might just get kicked back to main menu after the end of the mission.

Edited July 11, 2009 by Jedo

[neofit 65]

What a bugged *(#%*#)@! Now I'm hitting a bug every 30 seconds. Helis crash into trees; the island prisoner does a weird dance and refuses to come with me (solved by healing him); the heli that transfers him crushes my team to death; once unloaded, my sniper refuses to follow orders and has decided to crouch to the enemy camp 5km away untill shot;the mission with the russians won't start; if it does start, the dialogue of the CO is broken; once with the Russians, the whole thing falls apart - some of my teammates refuse to follow, the Russian truck can't drive away as scripted...same cars keep exploding...I am so tired...

Oh God. I'm still not through the mission, still conquering, but I haven't seen any of this. It all goes more or less OK. Maybe one or two things, but nothing of the sort.

1. CDF (green) and NAPA (blue) are supposedly allied. Problem is both seem to be in a war. I haven't seen them shoot at each other, but when I am away they keep capturing each other's outposts and cities, and I keep receiving tasks to retake these green towns. The whole frontline from Elektrozavodsk to the North is a game of capture the town between green and blue. And amazingly, these green towns keep sending lone red units that capture cities to green color, and that I can kill without the getting into my friendly kills list in Statistics.

2. At the beginning I received a message to check some radio signals at the SE island. I went there, captured Lopotev, met the Russians, it all went smoothly. Then, a few town captures later, I got a message to deliver a prisoner to Marny. After questioning him, Marny told me that he has some intersting info, and go check an island to the SE. The island where I captured Lopotev. I'm still not there yet, but I am wondering what I'll find there.

[EricM 0]

Same here, I thought I was lucky because I hadn't had a single bug since the beginning of the campaign... and suddenly : the irresponsive AI !!!

It's weird that everything is working in the editor, yet not in the campaign... If BIS only tested it in the editor, no wonder they passed beside so many problems...

I'll try the depbo stuff...

[qwertz 10]

Same her. Razor team does not move, tried capturing the towns on my own.

Weird thing is, I HAVE to be at the given capture points before BLUE gets there, otherwise I get a "task failed". Jumped in a car and did some car racing from town to town to be there before the BLUEs, but this got really boring after a while. Some towns get captured by RED in the meantime, so I have to re-capture them (again, car-racing). Have not fired a single shot yet after capturing 10+ towns.

This in when I started to think "must be something really wrong here" and checked this forum. DAMN!

I'm done now with this game, this is too much. See you again in year or so (hopefully that gives BIS enough time to get their code from alpha to beta).:mad:

Edited December 31, 2009 by qwertz

[Jimmah 10]

Heh. I just encountered the bug where the Hip helo comes and picks Razor team up from the Island, and then crushes everyone to death upon delivery to HQ.

I'm pretty sure I know why, Lopotev is flying the damn thing!! Seeing as I have no memory of getting to the LZ (one second we're on our way to the LZ, next thing I wake up in the helo's jumpseat, with Lopotev in the skipper's seat!!!), I can only conclude that Lopotev hit me (and the rest of the team, I guess) over the back of the head with a rock whilst heading to the LZ, and then put us all on the chopper with the intention of crushing us to death in front of our superiors at HQ. What a bastard!!

Now it seems the only way to get past this is to do the damned chopper ride over and over again (I can't save mid-ride, get "cannot commit"), and hope that one day my team is only badly maimed, not killed by the helo.

Any other suggestions?

At least I can rely on USMC pilots to keep things more straightforward on 75% of sorties. If, no wait, when they decide to go killin' people, they have the decency to fly into a tree and take themselves out as well.

Edited July 12, 2009 by Jimmah
change to good england

[BlackAlpha 10]

Doing the whole thing with the editor allows you to at least get past the conversations in the beginning but what about the rest of the mission? I was looking through some of the mission files and I noticed that there are multiple variables being checked. Things like what side you joined, whether the alliance happened, whether that priest got killed and some other stuff.

So, I figured that to be able to use this editor trick you would have to create a logic using the editor, add all the variables that are being checked during initialization to that logic, so that everything is loaded correctly. Where can I find all the variables that store your progress through out the campaign?

EDIT: After playing around in the editor, it seems like the conversation in the beginning gets only bugged if LittleJohn gets spawned. If you don't let him get spawned, the conversation will continue just fine. Anybody got an idea how to fix that?

Edited July 13, 2009 by BlackAlpha

[Tw33kR 10]

For F*&ks sake - CAN WE PLEASE HAVE SOME COMMENT FROM SOMEONE AT BIS????

I've just played Badlands through 3 times in order to get it to 'end' (I have a gaming keyboard with no numpad so no endmission console command possible) and now I have all the same problems as posted on this thread. Dogs of War won't 'start' as the commander doesn't finish his dialogue + team razor are all stuck (I played NAPA in Badlands and Joined NAPA and CDF by killing the priest)

It's frustrating as the game has great potential but really!!? All these comments from customers and not a word back from BIS, suggested workaround from BIS or patch ETA? C'Mon!

[Slothy 10]

Another way to do this mission is to load it up multiplayer and host your own LAN with just you playing. The decisions you made in the SP game won;t stand, but at least you can play the damned thing. I think it is abhorrent that so little testing was done to a game that the main storyline is uncompletable for a large portion of the player base without jumping through flaming hoops. The lack of any type of support for this issue is also rather despicable.

[jakerod 254]

Another way to do this mission is to load it up multiplayer and host your own LAN with just you playing. The decisions you made in the SP game won;t stand, but at least you can play the damned thing. I think it is abhorrent that so little testing was done to a game that the main storyline is uncompletable for a large portion of the player base without jumping through flaming hoops. The lack of any type of support for this issue is also rather despicable.

I'm sure they are working on it and by sure I mean really hoping. You're right though they should've tested it. But it is a much much more complex campaign than any other game I have ever played so I can give them a bit of a break.

[br@cob 10]

I have successfully completed the ArmA 2 Campaign - Harvest Red, without having to resort to running it as multiplayer. Try updating to ver 1.02 that eliminates some, but not all of the bugs. I have written a walkthrough for the game, it's at arma2.telcen.com. Be advised that it is still a work in progress, I have some spelling and syntax errors that I need to clean up and I haven't completed all of the single missions yet, but at least it will give you guys some help if you are stuck on a mission.

[filthymanc 10]

I have successfully completed the ArmA 2 Campaign - Harvest Red, without having to resort to running it as multiplayer. Try updating to ver 1.02 that eliminates some, but not all of the bugs. I have written a walkthrough for the game, it's at arma2.telcen.com. Be advised that it is still a work in progress, I have some spelling and syntax errors that I need to clean up and I haven't completed all of the single missions yet, but at least it will give you guys some help if you are stuck on a mission.

Bravo, good post. It has taken a while but a walk through is much needed, especially with such a buggy campaign it's nice to know what is supposed to happen as opposed to what actually happens.

[eirulan 10]

I have successfully completed the ArmA 2 Campaign - Harvest Red, without having to resort to running it as multiplayer. Try updating to ver 1.02 that eliminates some, but not all of the bugs. I have written a walkthrough for the game, it's at arma2.telcen.com. Be advised that it is still a work in progress, I have some spelling and syntax errors that I need to clean up and I haven't completed all of the single missions yet, but at least it will give you guys some help if you are stuck on a mission.

I agree. SP Campaign, patched 1.02 is playable. Major issues are eliminated. Some significant bugs remain, but they do not prevent to finish the game.

[mils 10]

For F*&ks sake - CAN WE PLEASE HAVE SOME COMMENT FROM SOMEONE AT BIS????

I've just played Badlands through 3 times in order to get it to 'end' (I have a gaming keyboard with no numpad so no endmission console command possible) and now I have all the same problems as posted on this thread. Dogs of War won't 'start' as the commander doesn't finish his dialogue + team razor are all stuck (I played NAPA in Badlands and Joined NAPA and CDF by killing the priest)

It's frustrating as the game has great potential but really!!? All these comments from customers and not a word back from BIS, suggested workaround from BIS or patch ETA? C'Mon!

I did exactly what this dude did in badlands, and I have the same problem in dogs.

[Slothy 10]

I agree. SP Campaign, patched 1.02 is playable. Major issues are eliminated. Some significant bugs remain, but they do not prevent to finish the game.

Actually, if you make the wrong choices previous to the dogs of war mission (you know, the topic this thread is about) then you ARE prevented from finishing the game. The mission scripts simply to don't trigger even with patch 1.02.

The fact that you have to make specific choices in order to make everything work kind of defeats the purpose of having multiple choices, and hardly helps people that have progressed to DOW without thinking that they need to go read a player-made walkthrough in order simply play the game they payed for. (That being said, the posted walkthrough is pretty good, so kudos on the work there)

[br@cob 10]

My next project is a flowchart of how one arrives at alternative endings. This is what I have determined so far:

There are five possible ending scenarios, depending on if you kill the priest/Prizark, align with CDF or NAPA, and kill or successfully deliver Lobotov to the Russians.

I'm certain that there are some combinations of events that are possible from a game play standpoint that BIS did not correctly code into the game.

[Slothy 10]

I'm rather disappointed to see that nobody from BI has deigned to grace us with any sort of response to this rather large thread. I see them weigh in on 'fluffy' things or community related topics, but for some reason some sort of comment on an actual problem seems to be beneath them.

I'm sure a lot of people would love to know if a fix for this issue is being worked on, or, hell, that BI is even aware of the problem since we have no evidence that they actually read any technical questions.

[Soldier of Anarchy 10]

I had the bug where you, or your men interrupt the CDF commander, then get stuck.....

I then disbanded RAZOR , after awhile they disappeared. I was happy not to have the retards getting killed and went about kicking ass with people I didn't mind dieing.

Got a load of armor under my control and was storming along taking towns only to see someone saying ...uhhhhg....uhhhhg.....and boom my game ends with a razor team member dieing somewhere on the map.

......arrrrrg!!! Even when I get rid of em, they come back to bite me in the bum!

This is why I hate escort missions.....razor needs a babysitter!

Still a kick ass game though! I don't buy games like ARMA 2 just for the canned missions...so no matter how much the campaign urrks me ,I'll still have fun with it.

Edited July 31, 2009 by Soldier of Anarchy

[eJay 1]

Are there any NV googles in this mission? I'm stuck on Msta village, it's dark and I can't fight! I tried buy a weapon but there is no NV googles on list. I've tried to get them from one of my Razor units but they haven't too. Any suggestions?

Edited July 31, 2009 by eJay