F2 Mission Development Framework (BAS f for ArmA 2)

[fer 21]

New Release: F2 v2-7-3 (for Combined Operations)

From the ReadMe.txt file:

2-7-3 | 07 JUL 2013

Hot fix: Fixed Kegetys Spectator Script component (broken by ACRE Support component).

Note: to fix missions built with F2 v2-7-2 simply update f/common/f_spect/specta.sqf with the version from F2 v2-7-3.

About F2

The F2 Mission Development Framework (F2) is the successor to the popular BAS f mission development framework for ArmA (discussed in this thread). The new framework contains many of the features you know from BAS f, updated to work with ArmA2 and ArmA2:OA, plus some new components which take advantage of the new game's special features.

For downloads and to find out more please see our online manual:

• http://www.ferstaberinde.com/f2/en/ (English version)

Huge thanks to current contributors and testers, comrades Wolfenswan, Cam, IceRaiser and Kalelovil, and to all at Folk ARPS.

Edited July 7, 2013 by Fer

[frogg 0]

You just made my day :)

Thanks for the awesome work.

[kylania 568]

How did I miss this thread?! YAY!

[CaptainBravo 0]

This looks pretty amazing! I can not wait to try it later on at home. I love designing MP missions and this should save tons of times and make it easier!

Quick question:

Will the fireteam makers work with fire teams in your own group?

Will this work with High Command Module groups? (since they have their own markers)

Thanks for great work.

[.kju 3244]

Congratz Fer!

Not sure if realistic, yet at least in the long run the dream. :)

Written for another project. Does apply here just the same I think.

A team project?

All tasks of the project are a huge effort. That includes coding, both fixing and creating

new features and missions, documentation, website, communication, promoting and more.

So realistically the only way I can see this project keeping its edge is to transform it

into a team project at the first step.

Of course there must be a basic agreement how it will work. Coding standards and proper

documentation are very important parts of that.

Even more a cooperation with the PVP script pack of sbsmac and Devastation

by Dr Eyeball is the way to go.

Finally the Server side only script addon approach, if working, would allow the system

of an unified team approach made library back end for any type of mission.

So the back end is coded in a team effort, and the mission is only used for configuration

(mission type, zone, units basically).

Server side only script addon approach

[fer 21]

Will the fireteam makers work with fire teams in your own group?

A (ShackTac) fireteam in F2 corresponds to a specific group (to use the ArmA2 term), so the markers cannot be used to show fireteams which are all part of the same group. For example, the standard ShackTac squad contains three fireteams, but each is a separate group in the editor. If you want to use your own formations (but stick to making fireteams separate groups), it's easy to adapt the component to support your custom group names.

Will this work with High Command Module groups? (since they have their own markers)

At present if you run HC at the same time you will see both sets of markers on the HC interface. We're working on integrating better support for HC, so please watch for future releases.

Server side only script addon approach

We're already a multi-party development team (and have been for years), so not sure what you mean, Kju. As regards making this server-side, that isn't in scope at all. Like BAS f, F2 has been written with scripts that are (hopefully) easy for editors to access and understand themselves. The intent is not only to provide functionality, but also to help editors understand and gain confidence working with scripts. A black box approach would not deliver that important benefit.

[exall 0]

Does it have a support for Russian language as it was in BAS f?? I mean is there a manual in Russian??

[fer 21]

Does it have a support for Russian language as it was in BAS f?? I mean is there a manual in Russian??

Yes, there is a manual in Russian being written here:

http://www.ferstaberinde.com/f2/ru/ (Russian version)

This may not be 100% up to date, but we will be working to get that completed in the following weeks.

[VanhA-ICON 11]

Excellent news, Fer!!

Hopefully I can solve couple of dedicated server issues with a mission I'm working with.

I loved this in arma1.

:)

Keep up the good work.

[Electricleash 133]

Really Ggreat to see this, spent all last night brushing up on Armascript.

Time to start digging around!! woo!

[Oakley 10]

Awesome to see this released! Hopefully we'll start seeing even more missions of top notch quality thanks to this.

[CaptainBravo 0]

This is certainly a very helpful tool for all beginner/intermediate mission makers. It will certainly help with breifings!

I can wait to see the new support for High Command as that is what I use often in missions.

[bangtail 0]

Great job on the framework :)

Quick question :

I have the German version but I play in English. How do I force the stringable to use English instead of German?

Cheers,

Eth

PS : Any reason you have removed the rain and storm conditions? I noticed they are commented out.

Edited July 28, 2009 by BangTail

[fer 21]

I have the German version but I play in English. How do I force the stringable to use English instead of German?

The simplest option is to open the stringtable.csv file in OpenOffice Calc (not MS Excel, which can't handle the character set used), and wipe out the whole German language column, after which the game should default to using the values in the English column (for all German-copy players). You can do this by hand in a good text editor as well, but it's nowhere near as fast (or safe) as using Calc. OpenOffice is free, btw.

Any reason you have removed the rain and storm conditions? I noticed they are commented out.

Storm conditions have been removed because rain etc. still doesn't synch between clients. That means some players will have their visibility impaired when others don't, which is annoying in coops and 100% unacceptable in adversarials.

[bangtail 0]

The simplest option is to open the stringtable.csv file in OpenOffice Calc (not MS Excel, which can't handle the character set used), and wipe out the whole German language column, after which the game should default to using the values in the English column (for all German-copy players). You can do this by hand in a good text editor as well, but it's nowhere near as fast (or safe) as using Calc. OpenOffice is free, btw.

Storm conditions have been removed because rain etc. still doesn't synch between clients. That means some players will have their visibility impaired when others don't, which is annoying in coops and 100% unacceptable in adversarials.

Cheers mate.

Eth

[galzohar 31]

Would be nice if there was some way to have a different weapon list for different factions in the briefing screen. Still hadn't found a solution for that.

Edited July 28, 2009 by galzohar

[kylania 568]

Storm conditions have been removed because rain etc. still doesn't synch between clients. That means some players will have their visibility impaired when others don't, which is annoying in coops and 100% unacceptable in adversarials.

Is this the built in stuff or scripted? Because while playing Domination everyone in the rain area will end up complaining about it at the same time from what I remember?

[bangtail 0]

I'm guessing your briefing has to be modified to work with JIP/respawn? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong :)

I only tinkered with it briefly, but I noticed when I respawned my briefing was gone.

Cheers,

Eth

[Apocal 10]

EDIT: I tried to put this in a respawn mission. That was my mistake. I'm leaving it here so others can learn.

Having problems with the casualty cap and casualty cap advanced. Tried running both, the advanced version would abort your primary objective, fail your secondary and give a new task to extract, the other would kick in with more casualties and end the mission right then and there.

But for some reason it keeps firing right as it's initialized or shortly thereafter. ArmA.rpt gives me this:

Error in expression <.sqf";

f_var_debugMode = 0;

if ((Param1 == 99) || (Param2 == 99)) then

{

>

Error position: <Param1 == 99) || (Param2 == 99)) then

{

>

Error Undefined variable in expression: param1

File C:\Users\Sony AR750EB\Documents\ArmA 2 Other Profiles\=7Cav=BSM%2eMayes\missions\OPERATION2.Chernarus\init.sqf, line 11

Error in expression <t.sqf";

};

if (((_started - _remaining) / _started) >= (_pc / 100)) then

{

myE>

Error position: </ _started) >= (_pc / 100)) then

{

myE>

Error Zero divisor

File C:\Users\Sony AR750EB\Documents\ArmA 2 Other Profiles\=7Cav=BSM%2eMayes\missions\OPERATION2.Chernarus\f\server\f_endOnCasualtiesCap.sqf, line 105

Protocol bin\config.bin/RadioProtocolRU/: Missing word AwayGrid

Creating debriefing

Along with a debug mode error that seems to popup regardless of what I'm running or not running in the framework. I made sure to put down the Function module, although I have my own custom groups, which I've put in the applicable init.sqf section.

Anyone else run into this problem?

Edited July 28, 2009 by Apocal
new rpt

[AF-Killer 0]

Great to see an update for ArmA2 Fer.

I did a basic edit of the default mission and grouped the Bluefor fireteams into platoon/squad strength for Alpha Bravo and Charlie, and changed the respawn to option 4 (group).

3 Human players each leading a platoon/squad with about 12 men each.... on respawn only one of us was still in charge of their group, the other two were just team members, not team leaders.

I had a poke around the scripts, to see if there was something new I was not aware of, as I note things are a little different to the old BASf.

Any ideas.

[galzohar 31]

respawn=SIDE (or 5) will allow you to teach switch at will to whatever unit you want, so you are not forced to switch to the one the game chooses for you. That also means you can switch without dying or killing yourself, which can be a good or bad thing depending on what you want your mission to play like. Generally it's a nice thing to be able to switch to AI to prevent them from doing things you don't want them to (like blowing up satchels prematurely) or make them do things they wouldn't have done otherwise (like using AT quickly and effectively). The bad thing is that it feels a bit less immersive, but tbh it's not a lot less immersive than the respawn=TEAM (or 4) option.

[AF-Killer 0]

Thanks for the heads up Zohar

[fer 21]

Would be nice if there was some way to have a different weapon list for different factions in the briefing screen. Still hadn't found a solution for that.

At this moment I am not sure if you can run an IF statement in the description.ext, since that's where you'd want to detect the player's side/faction and #include a different set of gear snippets. The ShackTactical Assign Gear component is set up to provide different weapons loadouts for each faction (which you can easily tweak), and you could supplement this with custom-filled crates at the respective starting locations.

Is this the built in stuff or scripted? Because while playing Domination everyone in the rain area will end up complaining about it at the same time from what I remember?

Built in stuff - unless this has changed in a recent update, we believe that the storm conditions are not accurately synchronised across clients.

I'm guessing your briefing has to be modified to work with JIP/respawn? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong :) I only tinkered with it briefly, but I noticed when I respawned my briefing was gone.

Although briefing should work with JIP, it's not specifically designed to work with respawn at present. If you're running a respawn mission and already executing code to re-arm/equip the player, simply re-use the execVM line from the init.sqf that calls briefing.sqf. If you are using tasks you may need to insert additional code that checks custom variables / conditions in order to set their status accurately for JIP/respawned clients.

EDIT: I tried to put this in a respawn mission. That was my mistake. I'm leaving it here so others can learn. Having problems with the casualty cap and casualty cap advanced. Tried running both, the advanced version would abort your primary objective, fail your secondary and give a new task to extract, the other would kick in with more casualties and end the mission right then and there. But for some reason it keeps firing right as it's initialized or shortly thereafter. ArmA.rpt gives me this: .. STUFF .. Along with a debug mode error that seems to popup regardless of what I'm running or not running in the framework. I made sure to put down the Function module, although I have my own custom groups, which I've put in the applicable init.sqf section. Anyone else run into this problem?

Apocal, I'm afraid it's very unclear what issue you are running into. Neither of the Casualty Cap components should do anything WRT your objectives unless you have inserted custom code (one creates/calls an end trigger, the other actually does nothing until you insert your own code in the relevant file, as indicated in the manual).

I did a basic edit of the default mission and grouped the Bluefor fireteams into platoon/squad strength for Alpha Bravo and Charlie, and changed the respawn to option 4 (group). 3 Human players each leading a platoon/squad with about 12 men each.... on respawn only one of us was still in charge of their group, the other two were just team members, not team leaders. Any ideas.

This sounds odd (and more likely ArmA 2 related); have you checked that all the units are set to Playable in the editor following your re-organisation of the groups?

[bangtail 0]

Cheers for the quick response mate :)

It's not to rearm etc, just that the guys that are respawning aren't seeing the briefing anymore. I'll mess about with it some more.

Eth

Edited July 29, 2009 by BangTail

[Apocal 10]

Apocal, I'm afraid it's very unclear what issue you are running into.

My bad.

Both versions of the casualty cap fire shortly after mission start. For the regular version, this ends the mission immediately. When I commented out the regular version and left advanced, it fired the custom code immediately. Custom groupIDs were used. They were set to different percentages.

I suspect very strongly it's because they conflicted with respawns.