Devastation: mission pack. Team vs Team.

[dr_eyeball 16]

Sneaky bugger. ;) Beta v0.4 is now available for download. First post has been updated with download links.

(Hopefully this update will finally get those who are still playing v0.2 updated!)

Don't worry, the project has not stopped at all. It is just a very time consuming project with limited time to do it all, plus all of the forum replies, analysis and even DevHeaven planning is taking up a lot of time, so I'm trying to minimise it.

Some interesting changes made to the game play finally made it in, which should see more teamwork happening. There will definitely be another 2-3 updates still focusing on a long list of remaining changes, plus rearranging/balancing the existing missions and adding the remaining missions. Each release takes a very long time to test and release, which is why the updates are no longer 1 week apart, but are more likely to be 2 weeks apart from now on.

Change log for v0.4:

• Added: New mission: 16v16 "Rog" - LvL
  
• Added: Added icons to represent when you are inside an inner/outer zone, are securing it or outside of zone. (But currently when it is not capturing, it will not explain why.)
  
• Added: High Command.
  
• Rule Changed: You now need 3 players to secure an outer zone and 2 players to secure an inner zone. It was 1. The players can be from any squad.
  
• Rule Changed: Rally point deployment - nearby members requirement halved. (See details below.)
  
• Rule Changed: Packup rally point - nearby members requirement halved. Maximum members halved too. (See details below.)
  
• Rule Changed: Rally Point deployment distance to nearby buildings reduced from 20m to 10m. A proper solution will be required in future for less restrictions.
  
• Rule Changed: Containers are now limited to deploying one FOB per container, until FOB repacked.
  
• Changed: Grass is now always on. Terrain Detail config menu option removed.
  
• Changed: Kit availability values adjusted. Rifleman increased from 1 in 2 to 1 in 1. Heavy AT decreased from 1 in 8 to 1 in 12.
  
• Changed: Medics are now restricted from selecting a heavy weapon loadout. They can pick one up from the ground though.
  
• Changed: Popup menu can now be closed with right click.
  
• Changed: Added APC vehicles to both bases for missions: Black Forest and Three Valleys.
  
• Changed: Removed MRV (mobile respawn) ability on trucks for small missions and replaced with standard truck (for cargo).
  
• Fixed: Patch v1.03 compatibility.
  
• Fixed: Added missing offroad vehicle to east base for missions: Black Forest and Three Valleys.
  
• Fixed: Black Forest mission: Used wrong weapon restrictions. Restored to all weapons, not just basic.
  
• Fixed: Several start-up & JIP scripting fixes: Errors appear in client RPT log.
  
• Fixed: Init FOB actions for JIP.
  
• Fixed: Some actions were missing for JIP players - JIP bugs for some setVehicleInit.
  
• Fixed: End game final team summary scores display (blue box) didn't appear. Fixed but untested.
  
• Fixed: ArMo_RXMS undefined for slow JIP. (Probably affected zone status updates.)
  
• Fixed: Prevent cargo being loaded onto destroyed vehicle, which respawns and leaves cargo hovering.
  

More detailed explanations of some of the above changes: (just technical info)

• When playing last, I was shocked to see some squad leaders dividing their team into 2 or even 3 to capture 2 sectors at once plus sometimes push forward to next sector. This was a teamwork killer and made rally points useless, so now you need 3 players to secure an outer zone and 2 players to secure an inner zone, which should keep the squad together more.
  
• Rally points were often too difficult to move around resulting in the RP not being moved around enough. These rule changes should help.
  
• Teamwork Rule Changed: Rally point deployment requirement halved.
  So before you needed 1,2,3 or 4 squad members for team sizes >= 0,5,9,13.
  This is adjusted up to >= 0,9,17,25 (side) team size.
  So with 14 players on side, you require 2 squad members (wherease before it would have been 4).
  
• Teamwork Rule Changed: Packup rally point requirements halved.
  Before you needed 1,2,3 or 4 squad members for team sizes >= 0,5,9,13.
  This is adjusted down to just 1 or 2 squad members for team sizes >= 0,25.
  So with 25 players on side, you require 2 squad members.
  
• When High Command waypoints are used, the current waypoint should be visible for all squads. This should assist with planning, but depends on the system to be used in the first place.
  
• Popup menu map click is disabled while HC Bar is active.
  

Enjoy.

[.kju 3239]

Added the changelog as wiki page to the project space, as well as a news item.

Testing 0.4 now.

That said, why not recruit people to manage the project space and issue tracker

for Devastation?

[alan.rio 18]

Sweet, cheers Dr eyeball, we had a blast on the docks match last Sunday. We're beginning to find that if we seed the server with 6-7 RIP guys we can fill the map. Keep up the good work.

[-DAN- 10]

Mission looks sweet!! playing on the CAF server now!

Edited August 12, 2009 by -DAN-

[diraven 10]

(possible) bugs got:

1. Looks like packup rally feature does not work at all. Shift does not help. =)

2. Unexpected delays between action and result - mostly with the menues. Sometimes it takes more then a minute to see dialog requested. And with time mission is going it gets worse and worse.

3. We were not be able to capture any points in any combination of people and inner/outer zones with 4 people online.

[gunterlund21 10]

How come I never see this mission being played in the multiplayer list. It sounds very good.

[spamurai 3]

Loaded the map pack unto the -=31st Wrecking Crew=- Server.

Encounter a startup bug:

Mainly, the error popup "ICE/CreatePopupMenu.sqf not found" dialogue on maps Docks, Black Forest, Three Valley's.

The popup menu appears to function on the remaining 2 maps.

Also, I couldn't delete the "spotted" markers placed by the popup menu... is there something I'm missing?

Edited August 13, 2009 by Spamurai

[dr_eyeball 16]

@DiRaven:

Slow action responses & dialog display: I've got task 3559 "Time slicing bug" logged to investigate that further. I'm currently convinced it's an Arma 2 bug. It even affects Warfare dialogs the same way. I'm surprised it's still that bad for dialogs though. That means the root cause is far more complex.

Packup RP: That sounds like the same time slicing bug. I'll have to find some work around to this issue. These same scripts worked fine in Arma 1.

Capture zone with 2? I presume you mean 2v2. You now currently need 3 players in the same zone to capture it. But I'll modify it so that it also works with 1 or 2 players per side too, for players starting the mission while waiting for other players to join.

@Spamurai:

CreatePopupMenu.sqf error: That's a critical oversight that slipped in with the minor restructuring done. Task 3587 logged. I'll probably just get a hot fix update done by Friday night, primarily for that and minor tweaks.

Spotted markers: Those markers currently disappear after 3 minutes. (After 90 seconds the text clears first and leaves the marker, then after another 90 seconds the marker disappears.)

I'll add an option to clear individual markers and all markers. Also later, it'll change so that you'll only see your own squad markers and SL markers. Task 3595 logged if you have further suggestions for it.

Edited August 13, 2009 by Dr_Eyeball

[wormeaten 0]

I can't find any server playing it for real or no one play at all or there some 6 or 7 guys just wondering individually on map doing nothing.

I want to play it could you announce some event or time when you playing it on this post?

Thanks.

[alan.rio 18]

We can host an event, perhaps this Saturday? i'll also be online tonight, from about 8 CET and will start a game on the new maps. Filter RIP to find our two servers, we will used the in game voip as it seems to be much improved since the new patch.

[diraven 10]

Dr_Eyeball, thanks. Will keep that in mind and hope BIS will fix those in the nearest future.

[Carbonfibre 10]

Alan.rio;1402296']Sweet' date=' cheers Dr eyeball, we had a blast on the docks match last Sunday. We're beginning to find that if we seed the server with 6-7 RIP guys we can fill the map. Keep up the good work.[/quote']

Got to say (not one for posting much) loving the dev maps on RIP server :D

[alan.rio 18]

Got to say (not one for posting much) loving the dev map on RIP server :D

Yep we had some good games last night. Great to see you on the server.

[dr_eyeball 16]

Beta v0.5 is now available for download. First post has been updated with download links.

This is primarily a hot fix for the missing pop-up menu ability in 3 of the missions, plus some tweaks as well.

Change log for v0.5:

• Hot fix: error "ICE/CreatePopupMenu.sqf not found" dialogue on maps Docks, Black Forest, Three Valley's.
  
• Fixed: Briefing notes now appear properly at start and prevent briefing notes repeating upon respawn (due to patch 1.03 changes).
  
• Fixed: Waypoint lines were not refreshing as player moved
  
• Fixed: waitUntil bugs introduced in v0.4 for vehicleInit's
  
• Changed: Reduced default view distance, especially for intro, to help slower PC's. You can still manually change it via popup menus.
  

Regarding the slow action response time bug, this will be a priority task to investigate possible workarounds to Arma's script handling. It's bizarre, since these scripts use very low resources.

Edited August 15, 2009 by Dr_Eyeball

[.kju 3239]

Thanks. Will give it a whirl later on. Update the project space.

[RAIZEN 0]

Thx for this game module, for me AAS in Project Reality is the best module i never play on server ffa, need community for this game module.

[fuzzhead 0]

Played v0.4 on the TG server, the capture zones were not responding at all, just a fyi..

[dr_eyeball 16]

@fuzzhead:

• You need 3 players to secure the outer zone now. But I'll modify it so that it also works when your team only has 1 or 2 players too, (for players starting the mission while waiting for other players to join or just testing it).
  
• I'll try to add another icon state which indicates you cannot capture the zone yet (because of lack of players or because you are outnumbered).
  
• Probably need another icon state for forward sectors which cannot be captured out of sequence.
  

[SG_Smokintodd 0]

We fired up .5 on our server to test again. Have a couple of questions/comments.

.Not able to destry enemy FOB crate. Got the dialogue saying it was being destroyed, yet it never happened.

.Not able to destroy enemy rally points. No dialogue available.

.Why can the enemy see my airdrop requests?

[Jeepo 10]

Yeah, played tonight on TG Bravo server, filled the 12 vs 12 docks mission. FOB and RPs were not destroyable. Also found that we could not use the options menu to create waypoint and move markers. Also got a bug where one OpFor guy kept being spawned way north of the map no matter what he selected to spawn on.

[dr_eyeball 16]

Beta v0.6 is now available for download. First post has been updated with download links.

Primary changes:

The entire focus for the past week or more has been to fix this game breaking "slow/degrading response" bug relating to dialogs and actions. There have been significant internal changes made to try and work around these issues, as best that Arma 2 now allows. It was a major head-ache, since even these changes are no where near as good as Arma 1 was. So hopefully it's fixed to a suitable degree to allow it to be playable again and allow the remaining game mode changes to be resumed and completed.

Feedback on performance:

During the coming week, I'd appreciate any feedback on these performance changes.

Performance difference either being:

• seems to be no improvement or the same issues exist (hope not)
  
• better, but response times still degrade over time
  
• pretty good and consistent over the long duration (playble for now)
  

The performance affects:

• the speed at which dialogs appear (eg: Base Deployment dialog) - hopefully the 2-10 minute durations are reduced back to 2-5 seconds.
  
• the response time for actions to begin (eg: deploy FOB) - there appears to be no solution for this. You will always have a delay of around 1-5 seconds.
  

Shortcut Keys versus selection from Action Menu:

• If you use a shortcut key (eg: "T" for Options popup menus) the dialog should be almost instant.
  
• If you use the actions menu (eg: "Base deployment..." action) the dialog/action may still take around 2-5 seconds, which is acceptable for the time being.
  

0.6 beta change log:

• Updated: Ver 0.5 was incorrectly shown as ver 0.4 (only file name was shown as 0.5).
  
• Fixed: Performance: Possibly fixed/worked around some/many performance degradation issues.
  
• Fixed: Performance: Navigation waypoint (WpHUD) script spawning loop bug, which would have affected performance over time.
  
• Fixed: Performance: Multiple dialog spawns, when activated via key press and not via action.
  
• Fixed: Performance: Bug of respawning and getting stranded out nowhere (due to respawn dialog taking forever to appear).
  
• Changed: Performance: Immediate spawn without dialog. (You now need to manually select "Base Deployment" action to simulate previous behaviour.)
  
• Changed: Updating appearance of dialogs.
  
• Changed: Clean out unused code to reduce overall size. No performance difference.
  
• Added/Changed: There's a new "Configuration" menu option called "Menus" with options "Advanced" or "Basic" to control whether to show all menus or just the commonly used ones. The mission will now default to Basic mode.
  

@SG_Smokintodd:

1. There is no way to physically destroy an enemy FOB (white) container, since the model seems to have no destruction properties. Either BIS needs to change the models destruction properties or we will need to find a work around to simulate it. Task noted.

For now, you should however have a "Destroy FOB" action, which will burn it. You can also simply steal it and use it for your own side to deploy another FOB.

(Note: To destroy the actual FOB camp (in case you meant that), you need to destroy one of it's ammo crates until it burns down. This needs to be improved too.)

2. I'll have to make destroying an enemy rally point more intuitive. For now, you can use the "Pack up rally point" action. Task noted.

3. I'll have to fix the airdrop messages. They were originally made for coop only. Task noted.

@Jeepo:

1. Destroy FOB's & RP's - see above.

2. Create waypoints and move markers: not sure what that is about, so not sure what to look for. Will try to reproduce issue. If you have further details, let me know. Eg: How often does it happen? Can you reproduce the problem?

3. The "respawning at far north" sounds like the issue of Respawn dialog not appearing. The respawn aspect has been reworked now so you will always respawn somewhere suitable like the base, so hopefully that's fixed.

If this release improves the performance, then we finally start work on the user requested fixes and changes.

[.kju 3239]

I've done some DS testing on my own.

Found couple of issues, and posted thoughts and suggestions in both the forum and issue tracker:

http://dev-heaven.net/projects/ice-devastation/boards

http://dev-heaven.net/projects/ice-devastation/issues

Personally I am a bit sad to see Devastation not more played up until now.

PvP numbers are general not that high to support many modes in addition to bezerk,

yet Devastation wasn't playable enough for a while. It has gone a long road, and it

looks better now.

Being a very complex system makes the job not easier for Dr Eyeball.

At least for squad vs squad or league play I do see good potential for Devastation.

Hope the other teams around pick up the latest version and give it a go. :)

[-OGN-DarkPhantom 0]

Congratulations on the success of the Devastation Maps.....

I'm glad that all your work that you have put into them came with a great compliment from the players playing with them on the OGN server.

Some players gave out applause's in text messages of how much they enjoyed the maps.

Well done m8 hope to see more maps in the Future.;)

[TAW_T-Bone 10]

First thanks for those missions great job - they look at lot like PR for BF2.

But we do have a problem - we can't seem to be able to take a flag.

So how does that work?

i walk in flag radius and then?

[dr_eyeball 16]

It needs 3 players to take a zone. (Next version will be adjusted to allow you to test a mission with 1 player and allow taking a zone with only 1 player to see how it all works.)

Next update is still a couple weeks away, since I'm working on multiple projects.