Monsters, zombies and so on

[bezzzy 10]

No funky scripting from your side required. The addon itself is o.c. highly scripted.

Like you said: You put the "UNDEAD" module on the map, 1 zombie, as many humans as you want and lastly the player(s). That`s the minimum requirement.

If mission makers desire to move the zombies themselves with scripted commands or waypoints there will be a global variable to disable their pathfinding for the time they are moved (If that should be anywhere else than they would naturally look for prey)

Ok sounds great man, thanks for this.

[Psilocybe 3]

If it was possible to get rid of that idle stand still they somtimes do, it would be great, but Im thinking it might just be a engine thing.

[charon productions 10]

@RAINF: Exactly i have spent countless hours trying to get rid of that.

It is Arma2`s micro FSMs that calculate the path or check for whatever and in that time they stand still. Anything AI related in Arma is always messy, that`s the big weak spot of BIS AI engine (It has to be mentioned though that excellent AI programming is rocket science and has to fit in a desktop CPU)

The optimization of the scripts that i am working on right now is that there is minimal execution time on the move scripts, so the 3ms Arma2 script restriction does not kill the whole flow.

[Psilocybe 3]

Well your doing a fantastic job, my friend.

Cant wait to run for my dear life! Going to set up a mission of survival, no guns, see how I go. Pop a few Zeds in a few towns and try to escape to a 'safe place'.

[charon productions 10]

After many more hours of experimentation i have found a promising method to override the Micro FSMs. It is really scary, they overrun you like in the modern "Dawn of the Dead" or "28 days later" with no more stoppings and standing around while approaching you. Need to tweak that a little bit more, then i can make a preview.

@Rainf: That is a funny idea, no guns hehe. Couldnt have imagined such a mission before you posted it ;)

Edited November 2, 2009 by Charon Productions

[Psilocybe 3]

Your...joking me right? This is a dream come true(or nightmare!) Cant wait for them to eat me!

EDIT: Need to see a video :P Throw in them Zombie Anims and epic things will happen :P

Edited November 2, 2009 by RAINF

[Commando84 0]

I would make a coop mission where all the survivors start spread out around the map and have to gather gear like engine parts or spare tires, dunno how i could get it shown that they carry on visually, maybe just have to have a action menu thingy saying take tire and then the mission knows you have a tire on you :)

Then all survivors meet up and build a escape vehicle or something and then escape the place :)

This could work somewhat similar to the mod Zombie master that was released for Half-life 2 that then died off i believe but it had a cool setting and the map objectives very much more original than L4D's imo.

[icewindo 29]

This could work somewhat similar to the mod Zombie master that was released for Half-life 2 that then died off i believe but it had a cool setting and the map objectives very much more original than L4D's imo.

Yep Zombie Master was pretty cool, I really liked it that you could use nearly everything as barricades. In the one mission where the survivors have to find gasoline for their car, we left like 2 guys behind at the house to barricade, so we moved the couch, tv, chairs and everything that wasn't nailed down to the doors and windows.

When they came back with the gas it was zombies all over the place, they kept charging into the barricades while we wasted our ammo, leaving only melee weapons in the end.

Or the one set in the US countryside, at the gas station. You had to find 3 batteries to power the elevator to get supplies and the ZM could trigger a tornado, had some fun finding them after he released it lol.

I also liked the "social darwinism" in the game, because of the few ammo and weapons most people didn't get much ammo or a ranged weapon at all, people were careful about wasting ammo and sometimes you would leave someone behind because you just couldn't keep the elevator zombie-clean in time for the last one to arrive :o .

__

As for a possible ArmA2 mission, you could use objects from the misc section and make the objects pickupable e.g. by this addAction and delete the object in the script triggered.

[Tobie 10]

As for a possible ArmA2 mission, you could use objects from the misc section and make the objects pickupable e.g. by this addAction and delete the object in the script triggered.

or with the attach to command.

Charon thats so awesome!!

what about the animals? do the zombies attack them too? and do they also become infected?

[nicolasroger 11]

what about the animals? do the zombies attack them too? and do they also become infected?

lmao! zombie rabbits running after you :eek:

[charon productions 10]

I had the idea to infect animals too. Is a bit complicated because they are agents and belong to no side, but could be done somehow i guess.

Will put it on the todo list. It also necessitates movement animations for those animals.

The idea behind this mod is to offer all kind of "Undead" foes.

So the fast moving infected is one, but there is also the plan to implement

a "zombie faction" that move just like good old "Night of the living dead"-style, but with custom animations, that look more catchy, because i am not so convinced by TCPs animations (just for the purpose to use them on zombies that is, otherwise his animations are awesome).

One really annoying thing is that the barricades will be useless. :( :( :(

There is a carefully spoken MAJOR bug in the collision detection of civilan models/AI. I have seen them run through entire houses without being blocked by the walls.

First i thought that could be an error in my config, but then i tested it on in-game editor placed civilian priests and they do run through walls, fences etc. as well.

I really hope that BI will fix that in a future patch.

If they don`t, i might have an idea to write an invisible movement blocker or something that does the job.

EDIT: Hmm, just tested that again on human vanilla-civilians and they do get blocked by some house walls.

So i wonder what screws that up during the inheritance process, need to look into that.

So my previous assumption about vanilla-BI-civilians is probably wrong, so no blame on them for those.

Edited November 2, 2009 by Charon Productions

[sic-disaster 311]

Last time i heard talk about AI going through fences etc had to do with low framerates, but i dont suppose you had that problem?

[charon productions 10]

No dont think its about the framerate, it`s probably a config thing. I need to track down what makes the difference. The same model is used, just hiddentextures assigned.

EDIT: It seems that it is exactly the stand still workaround that affects the collision detection,

so one day of work for nothing hehe.

So hard choice : Idiotic movements or no collisions ;)

EDIT2 : Just working on an insane workaround for the workaround, tests look promising so far.

Edited November 2, 2009 by Charon Productions

[KorpeN 0]

Great news Charon..Plz keep up the hard work..Chernarus is perfect for zombies..the forests the industrial zones..just perfect :)

[Psilocybe 3]

I'd take move through obs over retarded movement. Could just play in open until workaround achieved. How's the workarounds workaround going??

[charon productions 10]

Great news Charon..Plz keep up the hard work..Chernarus is perfect for zombies..the forests the industrial zones..just perfect :)

It indeed is

I have now basically scripted the collision check with objects rather than leaving it to the engine, so they dont pass through entire houses like ghosts anymore. Just needs to be smoothly integrated into the rest of the script which is a bit hard.

[Psilocybe 3]

All hail Charon.

I can just see it, all these Zeds surging forward, Charon standing alone and they all pass right by him... KNOWING they owe their existence to him.

[tyler4171 10]

I have now basically scripted the collision check with objects

So we can block paths :D?

[charon productions 10]

Well this collision thing is extremely critical, i have seen all kinds of stuff wander through walls in this game.

To efficiently block stuff you would have to check so much data that the game would slow down, thats why walls thinner than 30 cm pretty much dont pose any resistance to AI, i guess BI chose test intervals of 30 cm.

To make really sure for critical barriers, i will make an invisible barrier addon support that just setvelocity [0,0,0] anything inside it´s bounding box.

[das attorney 858]

Really enjoyed the video :) I spent the majority of Hallowe'en watching (4) zombie movies and am really looking forward to your mod!

I hope you overcome the technical issues and complete your workaround for a workaround!

All the best - Ryan

[charon productions 10]

@Das Attorney: Thanks man. Unfortunately the workaround is too much of a risk of wall passing and slows stuff too much down. It`s hard to fix with a script what the engine should do, but on the other hand it`s not made for chasing units exactly.

So i see no way around little stand stills at the moment, because for sure folks wouldnt wanna take into account very slow scripts due to collision scripting.

And the scripts are already doing a lot.

[Defunkt 431]

Could it be set by a switch either globally, per-class or per-unit? I think in many scenarios the lack of obstruction would be preferable to the pauses.

Great work by the way, ArmA really lends itself to this sort of alternate-reality and it looked very much as though this couldn't be done.

[Psilocybe 3]

Depending on how little the pauses are, one might lend themself in that direction, however, the freemoving zedheads would be fine if you could just engage away from cities.... its a tough choice.

[giorgygr 61]

@RAINF

Yea..but if someone (i hope ) makes a script of "barricades" (maybe with Armorvalue=xx) for players to "block" an "Exit" door or stairway ..it will be frustrating seeing Z's entering from solid walls :D

Also..what about "Quarantine" modes?

Quarantine mode must have at least 1 "secure" area-base for survivors,and the ONLY

"dangerous" point/s (Z's invasion) must be ONLY the gate/s... :S

[cyclone83 6]

Damn I cannot await the release. ArmAII is simply made for a Zombie Mod :)

I allready can see me spending houres in creating a creepy horror like mission, WooHooooo :D