'Cipher' - full dynamic [SP & MP/Coop] with unlimited replayability

[erazor 10]

My apologies if this has been suggested before, but i can't get myself to read 20ish pages :).

You are obviously teh man, wiper. ;) So I was wondering if you have any plans of expanding the mission to give the player even more option. I don't know if you recall, but there was a mission in ARMA1 based on a desert map where basically you spawned at a base, you could get custom loadouts, customize your squad, talk to an NPC mission giver, and choose your method of insertion (like take a helicopter ride, drive a APC, get AI to deliver you etc..). It also had different missions .. like 'patrol area', 'take out target', 'defend location', 'take prisoner', etc..

What i'd personaly love to see for your mission is something like that. Maybe set up the base at the same hill where it is in the manhatten mission. Enable the buy menu where you can customize your equipment and squad. Drop down a Helo & some vehicles so the player can choose his method of insertion. UAV terminal? Maybe have a "fast travel" option towards a point near the Area of Operation for those who want to get there faster without helicopters but don't want to spend time driving. Set up an NPC mission giver .. etc. I'm sure you understand by now :D.

Comon.. whaddya say? :)

[wiper 0]

OK folks,

version 1.31 uploaded, see Change Log below, download on first page, as always.

I've let the v1.30 link alive as well as I'm currently not sure if all works well with 1.31, particularly the helo insertion gave me lots of headaches in MP environment.

Speaking of "headaches" I needed to make a decision for the mission this time and probably will not add or drop any more basic features.

Believe me or not, this mission concept effectively holds a biest under the hood that isnt even funny to wake it up each time you want to feed it (read: "ourself" with another tiny little fency feature, lol).

I'm not speaking of the AI "engine" here and even not of the dozens of workarounds needed to fool some of the game engine quirks. The problem is the multiple game modes combined with the randomness for the gameplay, particularely for the start, combined with all possible MP conditions: Gameserver, dedi server, JIP, teamswitch.

So at the end I did not even had time to consider alternative vehicle transport options but had full workload in just fixing what already worked prior to the chopper insertion.

I'm sorry to say, but in a similar way like many others who eventually got forced by distrubuting mechanisms I needed to decide here for myself to break off any further "tweaking" and concentrate finally on polishing what we have now.

Yey you guessed it, we have to live with that old clunker I'm afraid ;)

Anyway, I think if the overall gameplay suited yourself well it still will and maybe even a touch more with some small new features.

Have fun with it, and if some glitches show up I'm always glad to fix them, so please dont hesitate to point them out here !

v1.31

• added: insertion by helo and rendezvous for all mission modes.
  
• added: ammo crate at rendezvous point in Task Force mode.
  
• added: reintroduced & improved default weapon and gear load out.
  
• added: automated revealing function for the suitcase location depending on difficulty and player superiority.
  
• improved: code fetching and radio activation takes some seconds now emphasizing the intended challenge of that task under certain conditions.
  
• tweaked: briefing texts and briefing updates edited also to reflect latest additions.
  
• fixed: black screen on clients after reload of MP missions
  

---------- Post added at 08:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:17 PM ----------

erazor:

thanks for the flowers, but I'm afraid I'm not "the man" :)

I think I know what you mean with that conception of a really great mission, but all those features brought together with a highly dynamic, unpredictable and randomized concept that I'm going for is stuff that surely needs to be done by a team of enthusiasts, not to mention the workload of testing that cant be managed by just one or few persons.

If I understood your personal priorities for such a misison right, the 'Warefare' system seems to be the best starting point to add more dynamic AI stuff in step by step.

Personally I'm trying to go a slightly differnet way (favouring AI / SP modes f.e.) but we will see what future brings.

Currently I'd like to finish off Cipher as best as possible, and hope to get some free time and energy for a completely new mission/plot plus I hope for some fixes by BIS that I'm eagerly waiting for, most importantly the broken convoy road behavior, that in turn would be a backbone for great concept that already proved very well in the past :-)

Edited September 20, 2009 by Wiper

[Greg 0]

I think you've matured this mission to the point it should be, so limiting changes to bug fixes and minor polish is the right thing to do.

Looking forward now to your whole new mission. Perhaps something involving an ambush ;)

[wiper 0]

I think you've matured this mission to the point it should be, so limiting changes to bug fixes and minor polish is the right thing to do.

Absolutely, and thats why the next version just got uploaded :)

v1.32

• fixed: insertion chopper sometimes didn’t land
  
• fixed: on dedicated servers enemy Hind didn’t continue movement sometimes.
  
• fixed: BMP3 additional gunners disembarked under contact.
  
• fixed: added further buildings to the buildings blacklist
  
• fixed: added further areas to the positions blacklist
  
• fixed: removed “open suitcase†to avoid odd sat phone placements
  
• improved: task assignments step by step.
  
• changed: briefing texts adopted to new tasks / flow.
  

linky in first post

Have fun !

[Desiderius 0]

Hello Wiper,

nixe work again. Ist really a great mission. I would aks if its possible to add an Respawn Function as an Option ? I read your description and understand you but it would be really nice to have it as an option.

Greetings

Jack

[zeep 3]

Man this mission is a great arma2 training tool. I almost solely play this!

Seeing how diverse and challenging Cipher is, i'm looking forward to your next creation!

[WallyJas 10]

Wiper top stuff mate, this has to be one of the best SP missions I have played.

I noticed that you can play with a full 10 man SF squad or by yourself, is there any option to play with a smaller SF team, of say 3 or 4?

Cheers,

Wal

[Greg 0]

Latest version (1.32) is great!

I noticed during heli extraction the pilot repeated over and over in both voice and text "Target APC at 33", to target a vodnik. Not sure if this issue is mission or general ARMA2 related. I mounted the extraction chopper as door gunner.

By the way, the new chopper, squad join for story and briefcase operations were excellent and all worked smoothly. The objective location system looked great also, though I did accidentally find the objective as the first building I searched and only noticed the new map UI later, a nice change for me.

Edited September 22, 2009 by Greg

[Scrub 0]

Thank you Wiper. Really great mission system you have created here. I've not had all that much time to play Arma II, but this is the mission I play when I need a fix. Been quite a while since I've updated, can't wait to see what you've improved.

Cheers

[WallyJas 10]

I have had a few more chances to play this mission and it really is excellent, heaps of variety and the AI seems to be top notch. Can I offer a couple of my thoughts please Wiper?

1 - As has been mentioned before it would be great to have a little more mission variety. Instead of just capturing the suitcase each time, it would be great to have to extract a prisoner or other scenarios that have been mentioned.

2 - I love the intensity of the enemies within and when close to the mission area but the rest of the map seems very sparse of enemies. I can ride my bike from the insertion point to almost right on top of the mission area without any challenge (of course that changes once in the mission area). To make it seem like I am behind enemy lines it would be great to have more enemy road patrols and maybe some kind of enemy presence in each town (truck and squad or checkpoint). This would make me go around the towns more rather than just going direct to the mission area.

I think if the above two were implemented then this mission would last longer in players minds and be even more playable.

Thanks again Wiper, it's been brilliant playing to date and I know I'll keep playing it for weeks to come, can't wait to bring my Father in on a mission. :)

Cheers,

Wal

[wiper 0]

Thanks for your kind words, folks !

Further polishing, mostly for the AI, at last :)

v1.33, get it on the first page please:

• fixed: bug in AI flanking evaluation.
  
• fixed: added further blacklist areas (mostly lakes and ponds)
  
• improved: armoured AI movements.
  
• improved: slightly decreased AI “communication†distances.
  
• improved: insertion chopper withdrawal.
  

Take care, the AI seems a bit more versatile now ;)

Have fun !

---------- Post added at 06:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:48 AM ----------

I noticed that you can play with a full 10 man SF squad or by yourself, is there any option to play with a smaller SF team, of say 3 or 4?

No not in single player mode. In MP you can disable some of the AI slots.

If you play in SpecOp mode no AI is available at all per default.

I noticed during heli extraction the pilot repeated over and over in both voice and text "Target APC at 33", to target a vodnik. Not sure if this issue is mission or general ARMA2 related. I mounted the extraction chopper as door gunner.

It's the usual vehicle chat of the game if something exciting for the AI happens :-), although they sometimes seem to loop a contact message endlessly due to a glitch.

By the way, the new chopper, squad join for story and briefcase operations were excellent and all worked smoothly. The objective location system looked great also, though I did accidentally find the objective as the first building I searched and only noticed the new map UI later, a nice change for me.

Thanks, good to know that these new features seem to work as intended !

I have had a few more chances to play this mission and it really is excellent, heaps of variety and the AI seems to be top notch. Can I offer a couple of my thoughts please Wiper?

1 - As has been mentioned before it would be great to have a little more mission variety. Instead of just capturing the suitcase each time, it would be great to have to extract a prisoner or other scenarios that have been mentioned.

2 - I love the intensity of the enemies within and when close to the mission area but the rest of the map seems very sparse of enemies. I can ride my bike from the insertion point to almost right on top of the mission area without any challenge (of course that changes once in the mission area). To make it seem like I am behind enemy lines it would be great to have more enemy road patrols and maybe some kind of enemy presence in each town (truck and squad or checkpoint). This would make me go around the towns more rather than just going direct to the mission area.

I think if the above two were implemented then this mission would last longer in players minds and be even more playable.

Thanks again Wiper, it's been brilliant playing to date and I know I'll keep playing it for weeks to come, can't wait to bring my Father in on a mission. :)

Cheers,

Wal

lol great, I wish you both much fun with it !

As for your suggestions, yes that indeed would add up much to the whole mission. But at the moment its just beyond the scope of the current set and its plot. Remember, that brass just managed to settle a hasty defence with the remainders of his force...;)

On the other hand I'd say that you've been quite lucky to manage an approach to the hot area without any contact. You probably will notice this when you have played Cipher a couple of times. Actually the presence of hostile forces is possible within an area of a 6 km diameter around the primary target, with a decreasing probability from inside to out of course (plus they're always on the move :D ).

But again yes, for a general mission concept I agree with you completely that it would be more fun to know the are everywhere. Thats why I have already plans for a new one that will indeed cover the whole "island".

Cipher will receive some final touches here and there for sure, but the general layout/content will stay as it is I think.

Edited September 23, 2009 by Wiper

[WallyJas 10]

Oh don't get more wrong mate, this is a top class mission and sure it does not 'need' more variety in the mission added to it ..... it was just a few nice to do things I was thinking about. :)

I have got through your mission about 6 times and only completed it once and I am thinking that I feel you don't need to make the mission bigger, there is plenty of scope in what you have done. I reckon (if anything) you make it more detailed within the areas you have created.

Are you able to / is it plausible to:

- Add more 'requestable support' such as a UAV overfly for enemy unit intel, a Harrier to provide CAS on an armoured target that the player lasers or a smoke artillery barrage to cover the players extraction?

- Can you add more civilian activity and can some of those civilians be loyal to OpFor and alert them to the players presence?

- Can you add a small OpFor unit inside each major town so that the player has to go around in order to avoid a confrontation? The missions I have played the towns are usually empty and I can drive through them without a problem.

- Can you add a few more 'light' vehicle patrols to the roads to force players to use other routes? Again, I have only ever encountered one vehicle patrol in the 6 or 7 games I have played. Most of the time I can use the major roads without a problem.

These are just my little thoughts mate, as said before I think this is an awesome mission anyways and you have done an excellent job. :)

Wal

Edited September 23, 2009 by WallyJas

[wiper 0]

Np Wal,

these are all valid suggestions, why not ?

To answer your questions, yes, yes, yes and yes, I could :-)

But, as already mentioned, rather than to open up a new can of worms (see some posts above) I'd like to finish off Cipher as best as possbile and focus on a new misson.

BTW concerning road movement, I strangely learned a habit in Cipher to always stick to the roads even often in SpecOp mode. It seems I have a much higher chance to survive when detected this way than inside of forests f.e. Maybe sneaking all the way around is generally a good choice but risky hopping from cover to cover sometimes seems a winner too :)

[WallyJas 10]

Oh bugger .... sorry mate I stopped reading at about page 15. Didn't realise that you are working on a new one.

I'll shut up now, enjoy playing Cipher as is and look forward to your new masterpiece. :)

Wal

[wiper 0]

I stopped reading at about page 15.

nah, just some posts prior to this :)

In short, I pumped so much features into Cipher after its intial release that there is not much room to put in more without interfering with the previous ones.

In other words, changing or adding significant stuff would require a rewrite of the whole mission specific content (read: non AI "engine" related content), mostly the initializations and control handlers.

And that in turn essentially IS making a new mission ;)

No I dont work on a new mission yet.

But I'd like to :)

[Alex72 1]

I agree to finish this up mate as you got very nice skills for this. I really like to see more missions from you. And opening up too much gear in a mission destroys it often. Getting UAV in this mission it would make it too easy.

But hey! We have the most awesome editor in the world, and anyone can open up Wiper's mission to add stuff. Just make sure to keep that version to yourself - or ask Wiper if you want to get it out public.

Alex

[Greg 0]

More feedback, playing v1.33...

1) No pistols are in the briefing armaments, not already on the players, nor in the inventory. The pistols filter only shows rifle grenades.

2) Shift + Left Mouse Button - Causes the player (any human player) to teleport anywhere on the map! I would love the Shift+LMB to place the single waypoint as per standard controls.

[Mudkip 0]

OMG! The teleport feature is awesome! If anyone doesn't know how to use it, just open up the map (M) and place a waypoint (Shift+Click) AND YOU TELEPORT!!!

[zeep 3]

OMG! The teleport feature is awesome! If anyone doesn't know how to use it, just open up the map (M) and place a waypoint (Shift+Click) AND YOU TELEPORT!!!

It's a feature now?? ;)

Cool as it is, it's probably a bug or dev debug option that didn't get turned off before release.

[wiper 0]

lol dammed.

...and you even dont know the version with the whole team teleport :D

sigh, hot fixed. please re/download.

Thanks for the heads up !

Edited September 23, 2009 by Wiper

[silent_op.pxs 10]

Wiper,

Your v1.30 works fine for us on our dedicated server, but ever since you released versions 1.31, 1.32, and 1.33, none of the new versions work properly.

For versions 1.31, 1.32, and 1.33, this is what happens on our dedicated server:

- The insertion helicopter never leaves after inserting

- All players are invulnerable to everything

I don't play SP, so I assume these are dedicated server COOP problems.

By the way, I would like to disable the medpack script. where is the exec for it in the init file?

silent_op

www.phoenixsoldiers.com

[wiper 0]

Wiper,

Your v1.30 works fine for us on our dedicated server, but ever since you released versions 1.31, 1.32, and 1.33, none of the new versions work properly.

For versions 1.31, 1.32, and 1.33, this is what happens on our dedicated server:

- The insertion helicopter never leaves after inserting

- All players are invulnerable to everything

I don't play SP, so I assume these are dedicated server COOP problems.

By the way, I would like to disable the medpack script. where is the exec for it in the init file?

silent_op

www.phoenixsoldiers.com

Thanks for your report silent_op.

Really odd though.

Unfortunately I'm limited to emulate such an environment to run the server as background task and two Arma2 instances as clients, all on just one rig.

Under this condition I can't reproduce both issues. Helo takes off and disappears plus all players/AI are vulnerable just like normal, in all modes :-(

If we can find some time and you like the idea, can you just drop me a PM so we can meet online for further testing ?

As for the MedPacks, there are several calls for the script.

I may add a lobby only option for disabling it though, as that's most likely not desired in SP mode.

[silent_op.pxs 10]

Thanks for the reply Wiper. I'll try your new v1.33a on our dedicated server later after work. If it doesn't work properly, I'll PM you and try to set a time for us to meet online, on our team speak.

From the fun we had with v1.30 on our server, it would be a shame to just let this mission fade away into the background.

silent_op

www.phoenixsoldiers.com

[wiper 0]

Thanks for the reply Wiper. I'll try your new v1.33a on our dedicated server later after work. If it doesn't work properly, I'll PM you and try to set a time for us to meet online, on our team speak.

From the fun we had with v1.30 on our server, it would be a shame to just let this mission fade away into the background.

silent_op

www.phoenixsoldiers.com

Have added the MedPack option for the lobby on this one here

Cipher_v133b

Please use it instead of 1.33a

No other changements though, as I can't reproduce said issues.

[viibez 10]

yeah top work. wish i had the skillz to produce such missions :D