S.T.A.L.K.E.R./Oblivion style gameplay?

[karstux 10]

I'd like to ask the experienced ArmA/OpF modders if it would be possible to create a mod that simulates a S.T.A.L.K.E.R./Oblivion/Morrowind type of gameplay. By that I mean freestyle, persistent "privateering" and character/gear evolution in a singleplayer or co-op setting.

For example, say I'd play a mercenary type of character. In the beginning, I'd be on my own with a single lousy weapon, maybe a pistol. Through randomly generated missions, very easy ones at first, I'd earn money, buy better weapons, and hire (AI) companions. Then it would be possible to take on more difficult missions, netting more income, buy more advanced weaponry, maybe vehicles, artillery, aircraft... Maybe at some point it could be possible to erect a base of operations somewhere, although that would be a costly and advanced feature. There could be an economic side to the game by having to pay for maintenance, fuel, ammo, wages.

The point is, I really love the beautifully modelled landscape and towns of Chernarus, and I could imagine spending many hours in such a free-form game experience. I just wonder if the game engine could support this style of gameplay. I'm no stranger to programming and game modding, just new to BIS games in general. If it's technically feasible, I'd like to make this a pet project.

(I suppose my request is not completely dissimilar from the "Adult content" thread, but as I don't care much for this kind of content, and the debate was quite focused on it, I made a separate thread. I hope that's ok.)

[santafee 10]

I really like the idea!Like a RPG where u can level up and earn money:p

[karstux 10]

Yes, exactly. Leveling up wouldn't affect the character though, as in hit points or such, mainly equipment and money.

[Helmut_AUT 0]

Hmm, not a bad idea. Make it a civil war between CDF and ChDkz, throw the player in as mercenary looking for adventure (a lot of such people went to Bosnia and former Yugoslavia during the Balkan wars) and allow him to gain reputation, eventually recruit other Mercs, buy better gear.

It would be an unbelievable lot of work however. The random mission creation might not even be the hard part - just requires some new templates for the SOM. But you'd need to fill at least some villages with traders, a bunch of civilians to talk with and get info, and most important you'd need a background war going on with believable chain of events (CDF/ChDkz need to win and lose land).

It's definitely technically possible, maybe a good foundation would be a CDF/ChDkz Warfare style setup as background "atmosphere" with some SOM randomness missions thrown in to earn money so you can eventually take sides in the larger battles.

[Snowwhite 10]

Edited

[kremator 1065]

I wonder if the SecOps modulecould be modified to satisfy this need? Change the scenarios presented with other desired ones and have triggers that 'count' how successful you have been (were you discovered? how many dead/deaths? how much ammo used ? etc)

Just a few ideas.

[sgtskywalker 10]

There is a game for you then. It's called Mercenary 2.... But still, the idea is not bad.

[Inkompetent 0]

It'd probably take a lot of work, but with the SecOps and Ambient Combat modules I'm sure quite a lot can be done. Just that the documentation about both of them is a bit lacking at the moment.

[KaiserPanda 0]

http://www.nightstalkers.cz/index_en.php?menu=enews This looks cool. The arma1 version was outstanding. :)

[rocket 9]

From my experience with coding and development for ArmA, I would say that this kind of play is quite achievable, although a fairly reasonable work. Start simple, and work up from there would be my recommendation.

[-)rStrangelove 0]

I agree it could be done. A lot of scripting & testing involved though, esp when you'd want a MP version.

Oblivion had perfect gameplay and took ages to play through will all the side missions & factions.

In ArmA2 we basically only have 3 factions and civilians, but that should be enough.

Players would either play on west or east side and then could become enemy or neutral to the guerilla side, depending on what missions they do and how they behave.

What i loved about Oblivion was that freedom, you could just walk out of a city and explore the landscape without any missions at all. Raiding all those bandit campsites alone was great fun.

For an "ArmA2 Oblivion" you would basically need:

- cities with civilians and guards (to chase you down if you steal or kill in a city area), shops to sell / buy stuff

- randomly spawned bandit camps with a crate to loot

- VIP chars that you can ask for missions. A mission is randomly created for you and you need to come back to the VIP once finished / failed. You can get special stuff and some sort of "respect" score for the faction the VIP represents. Once you have enough respect you can go to a faction HQ and do more dangerous missions together with AI soldiers of that faction. They first need to trust you before you can use special weapons and vehicles.

My 2 cents.

[rocket 9]

Actually you have three sides, and many factions. From what I can see, you can define factions underneath sides... then teams below that. There's plenty more ways to cut up the action now :)

[-)rStrangelove 0]

Yeah i accidently mixed factions and sides up a bit, but they're basically the same. Since you can't make 2 factions of the same side fight each other, it doesn't matter what you use.

Factions are just a good way to make your mission more believable as not every missonmaker wants to use USMC scenarios for example.

[Helmut_AUT 0]

)rStrangelove;1338266']For an "ArmA2 Oblivion" you would basically need:

- cities with civilians and guards (to chase you down if you steal or kill in a city area)' date=' shops to sell / buy stuff

- randomly spawned bandit camps with a crate to loot

- VIP chars that you can ask for missions. A mission is randomly created for you and you need to come back to the VIP once finished / failed. You can get special stuff and some sort of "respect" score for the faction the VIP represents. Once you have enough respect you can go to a faction HQ and do more dangerous missions together with AI soldiers of that faction. They first need to trust you before you can use special weapons and vehicles.

My 2 cents.[/quote']

I think it can be made simpler:

1) No need to have guards (Police or Military Police) in every city. Have them sit centralized somewhere, and start chasing you down by vehicle if you do something bad. That is simpler and needs less AI.

2) "Bandit Camps" would be mercenary camps (there ought to be other mercs around) with some weapons and ammo, maybe an RPG or an UAZ to steal. Good idea, should be easy. Killing other mercs might make them hostile to you as word gets around.

3) Should be possible by SecOps Templates.

Doesn't seem like there's anything major the game doesn't offer already. It would be mostly SecOps with some kind of money or rank leveling, and some Warfare in the background to create an interesting environment.

Might be hell on AI/CPU demands though.

[karstux 10]

First off, thank you all for your insightful replies. Really makes me want to start working on this thing. I'll need to think of a name for the mod... :)

Having a real, dynamic "background war" would certainly be nice, but probably very hard to implement in a believable fashion. Maybe one could simulate a war by defining a frontline in the middle of the map, and ramp up the ambient combat module intensity when the player gets close to it. Then, through special missions, it could be possible to move parts of the front in a pre-defined way.

Most important would probably be the loot and merchandizing aspect of the mod. Do mods with merchants exist? Maybe I could (with permission) borrow code and inspiration there... Also, would it be possible to equip enemies based on loot tables?

Populated cities should be easy to do with the ambient civilian life module, right? Then it would just be a matter of placing some select "VIPs" in each settlement...

[senchi 0]

In Valhalla Mod, we are developing Our own RPG-Mod.All what you said, will be in Mod

Comrad LEteHA Developing RPG-system, I and some other people - Island , Object, Main Story.

LEteHA releases his test RPG-mission for ArmA-1 , and OFP. (X-Cort)

You can contact with him (I can give ICQ, in PM)

Edited June 30, 2009 by SenChi

[karstux 10]

SenChi, I googled for your mod, and must say, it's very impressive. Certainly inspiring. I think my aims are much less ambitious than yours, as I want to use the stock Cernarus landscape and objects. But if you or I develop some good RPG feature, maybe we can share code?

[senchi 0]

maybe we can share code?

Well...i really don't know...:oh:

I think LEteHA would not share cod BEFORE release.

Because all mod is based on RPG-system and showing it to public would derstroy the basic idea and Intrigue :(

Edited June 30, 2009 by SenChi

[madrussian 347]

Kind of a crazy idea but here goes...

Start off with Warfare so you've got the requisite ongoing struggle. Then strip away all the interface and such relating to the player, so he can start out as a truley neutral entity. It would probably also be necessary to slow down the pace of the Warfare model running in the background, to get the desired ambience. Then build up quests and such from there... and keep adding new and interesting things until there are plenty of varied activities and things to do, etc.

btw- I have absolutely no idea how hard this would be to implement!

[-)rStrangelove 0]

I don't think AI fights all over the worldmap is a good idea for lags etc. If you just want to have the atmosphere why not playing soundfiles of battles in the background or from the direction of each city? Once you get there you can spawn everything you want to get involved into AI fights, when you left the city everything is deleted again and the soundfiles restart.

This has been done for OpF / ArmA in the past and it worked pretty good imo (except the sounds i think).

[rocket 9]

My two cents... come up with a concept that is MODULAR. I think ACE was extremely successful because it appears (to me anyway) to have been constructed in a modular fashion. That way you can begin with the simple components, and then iterate it through. Sahrani Life, from what I can tell, appears to have grown along the same lines. Have a grand goal - but break it down into workable components underneath that. Keeps motivation up, and makes the work more achievable.

[-)rStrangelove 0]

Yup.

1. Find Spooner's buy & sell / money scripts (they're simple and work pretty well) on Opfec and rework them for the stuff you want to have in the mission. Test the shop script if it works.

2. Make your own random mission generator and a conversation script for VIPs, together with scripts for faction 'scores' and other bonus / bounties when completing a mission.

3. Make your own random spawning of civilians script and try to use the garbage collector module to clean up abandoned areas. (i think the BIS civilian life module doesn't work with the garbage module, so civilians will fill up your mission)

4. Make your own guard watcher scripts so you get punished when commiting a crime.

Imo you'd need 4 basic modules to pull the whole thing off. Can be done, but is a huge workload (scripts & tests).

And this is only for SP. MP is a more complicated area.

[loki 1]

LN is all about making a mod along this style... been waiting a long time for the arma engine to even allow the possibility of a good rpg system to be devolped. if anyone in this thread wants to get serious about it.. shoot me a PM..

[Spetz 0]

The Mod Should be like Mount and Blade, Where you can be a mercenary aswell, but you can also become a general and have an army, You would need to have your own city inorder to provide revenue for your military,

[Spooner 0]

Sorry guys, but I don't plan to support SPON Money much longer and definitely see no personal or community benefit from porting it to A2, since the Warfare commerce system is perfectly good (although it still needs properly documenting and fixing, but that isn't my job ;)).

Got plenty of other things to keep me busy.