Tips on how to create MP missions faster

[icebreakr 3159]

MAKING A MP COOP MISSION FOR YOUR SQUAD

We all know mission making can be a very long process and we usually spend hours testing, debugging and improving our missions (making them complex).

The fastest way for me proved to be the procedure you can find below. You have to keep discipline and not loose hours(!) in details & testing that at the end only few players actually notice ;) Learn to finish up the mission (that you can play and finish!) and then upgrade it (see STEP5) if you actually have time and will.

You can do fun coop missions without almost any scripting and only using triggers and synchronization. I usually only use scripts for moving leader markers on map every 5sec (locator.sqf) and to move spawn marker where HQ vehicle (humvee ambulance or LAV HQ) currently is - with same script ;)

Here it goes...

STEP1: Create Camp/FOB/Base (~15min)

- place down your squad and make them playable. I usually have HQ (Papa 1-4), Alligator (Assault 2x4) and Raptor (Recon 2x4).

- put down a box with ammo/basic weapons, ordnance and launchers (if required).

- create vehicle park for each of the teams, think ahead what actually you need so mission doesn't get too easy, don't exaggerate in numbers or players will get very sloppy and leave vehicles all around the battlefield.

- create a field hospital tent and maybe a helipad with chopper or two if objectives are far away.

- create marker with name "oo1" that will define target.

- create marker with name "Respawn_West" and name it for ex. "Camp Otter".

STEP2: Goals (~10min)

- make a trigger that defines an objective, for example "!alive unitname" for killing of important enemy or "not present - REDFOR" for clearing out sectors. In Activation line type:

one=true;publicvariable "one"

Create another trigger that checks for this goal, replace "this" with "one" in Init line and in Activation make status of objective complete, set timeout to 5-5-5 (min,med,max).

In Text - Effects field type down "Objective reached. Mission Complete." or something similiar so players know that mission is about to end and area is safe.

<repeat procedure if you have more objectives> and use trigger with: one && two && three to check if all three objectives are met.

- save template "nameTPL.island" to use it for more missions and if you want to create mini mp-coop campaign

STEP3: Enemy forces (~10min)

- clear the map and save a new mission as "nameENEMY.island"

- pick an empty field and create tight enemy formations: sniper teams, AT duos, platoons, support vehicles, armor unit... depends on the difficulty of a mission. Select presence for couple of enemies to 50% so strength of formations change a bit every game you play.

- hint 1: use patrol script UPS for random movement of couple of enemy units

- hint 2: use random radius for patrols so they patrol different places every mission.

STEP4: Finish (~30min)

- save your TPL mission as a "name1.island" and put in scripts and briefing, init.sqs, description.ext and stuff like that.

- merge in ENEMY mission to your mission and put down defense around the objective area. Move "oo1" marker over the target area and start to think like an enemy leader. Set defense for the objective or just perform a wide patrol of the various areas. Protect airspace with AA guns and manpads, especially use hills to set up small camps where AA guys are located. Use terrain in your advance.

STEP5: Fancy-up (~)

Hours can go into this phase but you can skip it if you don't have time. Expert mission makers will put in IEDs on the roads, make triggers with suicide car bombs, make civilian cars driving around the map, make triggers if you get detected by AI pilots board hinds and provide CAS for their ground troops; etc. etc...

You can also create a bigger/better FOB or make nice fancy defensive positions for enemy. Not to mention using modules, scripts etc.

STEP6: Test

Test it out by placing down a civilian with -> this exec "camera.sqs" in Init field and check if any of the placed vehicles gets damaged or placed in an awkward place (tree, fence, slope). Use mouse to quickly warp around the place. Click abort, move civilians around the map and preview the map again to quickly check all the sectors.

Usually we all get lost in the details so this process might speed up mission making and keep your focus ;) hope some of you find this useful. Additional tips are welcome.

Edited October 1, 2009 by IceBreakr

[Snake Man 407]

- merge in ENEMY mission to your mission and put down defense around the objective area.

Nice to see this method as guide here in the forums, seems like most people take it as rule of law that each mission must be started from scratch.

I have tons of templates for different kind of mission situations in my mission dir, the biggest problem for me right now is to remember what templates I've already done so I don't redo them again.

Good job with the guide.

Test it out by placing down a civilian with -> this exec "camera.sqs" in Init field

If you don't want to interfere with the mission "world" at all, you can use Gamelogic instead of civilian. In fact, you can put the camera.sqs execution to any object/unit in mission editor, but gamelogic is transparent as its not used in any other way in the mission except to launch the camera, can be moved etc... just remember to remove it before shipping out final version of the mission :)

[CaptainBravo 0]

Excellent guide! I use templates in most missions as it saves time!

The only other thing I would add to list is using Bis Fnc for patrols and defending and there is a couple of simple scripts out there already for that.

Good job.

[icebreakr 3159]

Does anyone have any tips on that BIS' automatic generation of checkpoints, camps, fobs module?

[vmaclan 10]

Does anyone have any tips on that BIS' automatic generation of checkpoints, camps, fobs module?

While in mission editor make a trigger for Radio_Alpha name it help or something and make it repeating.

In activation put:

[] call BIS_fnc_help

Then in mission go 0 0 1 and a nice dialogue should come up showing all the functions and syntax on how to use most of them. This includes how to call compositions and put AI on patrol etc.

[icebreakr 3159]

Thanks vmaclan!