Group Link 4 Special FX Edition

[Clayman 20]

I stilll can remember really good how hard it was to me to get my first AddOns working in O.F.P. times. :D

It was so easy untill people started using mod folders. :D

I have another small request. Would it be possible to add a setting to disable the dubbing feature for one side only, or (even better) for specific units only?

I really like the feature for enemy patrols, but in a stealth mission it's quite a show stopper if your team keeps telling you thier whole life story.^^

[CaptainBravo 0]

Yes you can disable/brake the "Default" initialize of Group Link 4 by simply creating the "Group Link 4: System" module in the mission.

Thanks for responding. I have created a mission (have CBA so GL4 loads automatically) I have created a system module and not synched it to any groups. After starting the mission I get error saying I need to synch groups. What am I doing wrong??

To make things worse, if I am playing east (pvp) I got killed by my own group, again and again?

I really appreciate any clarification. Based on read me file, the system module by itsef should be enough but it is ot working.

H E L P!

Edited January 21, 2010 by CaptainBravo

[snkman 351]

@Clayman

Would it be possible to add a setting to disable the dubbing feature for one side only.

Yes it is possible and this already was requested.

Well the reason why i didn't made it so far is that the "Dubbing" settings are one of the first settings of the "GL4_Local.sqf" which means if i would add more options to the "Dubbing" feature of Group Link 4 then i need to rewrite all other settings which are listed after the "Dubbing" feature settings too.

The "GL4_Local.sqf" settings are used in many many parts and very often severa times so this really is a hell of editing. :D

Currently i'm not willed to do this, becouse during the beta coding phase of Group Link 4 i already had to rewrite them several times, which took 2 - 3 hours every single time...

So currently i'm a bit sick of touching the "GL4_Local" settings.

But of course i will keep it in mind and make this in my next hollidays which are in 1 month. ;)

@CaptainBravo

Yes if you create the "Group Link 4: System" module in a mission then you will brake the default initialize of Group Link 4.

To me this works perfect without any problems or error messages.

May you can send/upload your mission so i can have a look?

[Gottberg 10]

Did you load Group Link 4 with ArmA 2?

Putting them into the root folder of ArmA 2 is not enough. :)

Here is the easy way how to load Group Link 4:

Download Keygetis ArmA 2 launcher: Here

Unzip and drag the "ArmA2 Launcher.exe" into your ArmA 2 root folder too.

Double Click on the "ArmA2 Launcher.exe" to open/start the Launcher.

Downloaded and installed Arma2 launcher, and when I click on it it says, "ArmaA Executable not found! Select the correct ArmaA execuable." Where do I point the .exe to?

[snkman 351]

Yes you need to select the path to your ArmA 2 .exe

Look at the right bottom corner of the Launcher.

There is a button called "Change"

Press the button "Change" and browse to your arma2.exe

Edit:

After you did everything correct it should look like this:

Ignor the @Islands @Test and @HiFi thats just some other AddOns i use.

Edited January 22, 2010 by SNKMAN

[kroky 1]

I did post this already in the addon request thread but maybe you could implement this either:?

-You never were angry seeing your AI buddies in your squad changing to pistols instead of rifles?

- You would like to say an AI to use a rocket launcher to engange an enemy that is hidden in a house?

Well here is my addon request:

Can anybody make an action menu addon that forces the AI to use a certain weapon. I.e. 5, change to rifle. Or, 2 change to AT4?

My candidates:

- ACE2 (could implement this)

- GL4 (as SNKMAN can do almost everything :))

- Anybody else who would surprise the community with this!

[snkman 351]

Yes i often noticed that behaviour too...

Also A.I. sometimes took out the binoculars during a fire fight. :D

But this behaviour is hardcoded in "FSM" and so far i have no knowledge how to overcome it.

Just take a look at this ( beginner ) "FSM" Diagram:

This really is some brainstorming stuff. :D

Of course you could give the unit a action to select a specific weapon but that's not the way to go.

If i could edit "FSM" then i'm sure we could find a good solution for this but overcoming this behaviour really is very hard and should be fixed by B.I.S.

[kroky 1]

he he, really brainstorming....:D

...but logical.

I remember BIS released something for editing the fsm files. Or maybe it was somebody else, who has done a fsm editor. I have to dig around, maybe I'll find it. But I'm sure there was something about this on armaholic.com. Maybe it was for ArmA 1, but who knows maybe it works for ArmA 2 too?

PS.

Still waiting for the next version, with the default call in reinforcements action for the player!

Also I've read you will change the factor of house searching to 5 positions, which is good. Right now AI almost never search houses for enemies, which makes it too easy to hide from them. :D I would even suggest to lower the value to 3 positions in a house.

[snkman 351]

Well 5 is the magic number which allowes enemy A.I. to seach inside of the very most buildings.

Most times positions of a building are not inside only they are also used around buildings.

So if i would lower it to 3 then may enemy A.I. will check buildings which are not walkable too and only walk around the house.

5 covers most buildings with positions inside. ;)

[kroky 1]

Well 5 is the magic number which allowes enemy A.I. to seach inside of the very most buildings.

Most times positions of a building are not inside only they are also used around buildings.

So if i would lower it to 3 then may enemy A.I. will check buildings which are not walkable too and only walk around the house.

5 covers most buildings with positions inside. ;)

Aha, didnt know that. So 5 would be enough for sure.

[jasonnoguchi 11]

@SNKMAN, I lowered reinforcement to 100m but I still see enemies on the debug markers being called in as reinforcements from as far as 500m away...how come? (no shots fired yet) The mission I noticed this on is the Trial of Fire which I just played (yes, it ended the classic GL4 way of ALL the enemies on the map rushing us in that first town...hahahah... so, after clearing the town, there were no more enemies left anywhere in utes. Which I must say is quite realistic. The mission inserted us by helo just a couple of hundred meters away from an enemy FOB for goodness sake! Who won't have seen us? GL4 really force mission makers to think realistically.)

Edited January 22, 2010 by jasonnoguchi

[Tonci87 163]

Noticed that to. Even if you lower the reinforcement range they still keep coming from kilometers away

[node_runner 0]

@SNKMAN, I lowered reinforcement to 100m but I still see enemies on the debug markers being called in as reinforcements from as far as 500m away...how come? (no shots fired yet) The mission I noticed this on is the Trial of Fire which I just played (yes, it ended the classic GL4 way of ALL the enemies on the map rushing us in that first town...hahahah... so, after clearing the town, there were no more enemies left anywhere in utes. Which I must say is quite realistic. The mission inserted us by helo just a couple of hundred meters away from an enemy FOB for goodness sake! Who won't have seen us? GL4 really force mission makers to think realistically.)

Are they actually coming in as reinforcements or because they were alerted for some reason? When you go to the map and watch the units, does it actually say "Reinforcement" on the unit symbol?

[snkman 351]

Yeah in some case Group Link 4 really shows how sensible the A.I. detection in ArmA 2 is.

Group Link 4 works with a knowsAbout value, which means as soon as enemy A.I. knows something about you they will start advancing.

As ArmA 2 came out ArmA 2 v.1.0 enemy A.I. could spot you through walls mountains simply everything.

After fiering 1 shot with a Tunguska in the air every enemy even if 5000 meters away had knowledge about you and start to advance.

Most of the problems was sloved by B.I.S. but A.I. still sometimes is way too sensible.

Also i noticed in combination with A.C.E. 2 the enemy A.I. react way too sensible too.

After killing some enemy A.I. they came from all over the map.

May you can try fixing it by raising the knoswsAbout setting of the Reinforcement Request feature.

[jasonnoguchi 11]

@SNKMAN, ok, will try.

[jasonnoguchi 11]

@SNKMAN, one suggestion (ok guys, some of you will hate me for it but its for realism sake)...

Currently, enemies only advance when they hear our gun shots. However, enemies should also advance when they hear enemy gunshots. This is because sometimes, I use suppressed weapons against enemies that are using AKs but nearby enemies doesn't react when they hear their own guys firing. (reinforcement feature turned off)

As soldiers, they should react and investigate all gunshots they can hear (as determined by the range in the userconfig), not only the ones they somehow recognise as not being on their side.

Suggestion: Make enemies advance towards the source of ALL gunshots within their hearing range (as determined by the userconfig) and not only advance on gunshots from our side.

Edited January 23, 2010 by jasonnoguchi

[mrcash2009 0]

^^^^ Totally agree with that 100 percent. When im in a patrol and one of my team starts firing I hit the dirt right away to find out why and where, AI should do the same.

I also found in vanilla I fired a smoke grenade via M203 right into the path of a patrol and they simply carried on walking while the smoke wafted right across their faces :)

I need to test this with GL4 and mods, can anyone say that firing m203 smoke also disturbed the AI now? As in does GL4 account for smoke grenades also? If not that should be added to the above idea as well. Because whenever you see smoke grenade you pretty much know enemy has released it, and again AI should react the same. I may be wrong this maybe accounted for but I haven't really tested as I just thought about it while reading the above post.

Edited January 23, 2010 by mrcash2009

[jasonnoguchi 11]

@MrCash, you can throw a WP into enemy patrol and they will still walk on like nothing happened. :)

[Banderas 0]

Did anybody noticed infantry "sparking" when hit by vehicle weaponry?

[thales100 10]

Great mod, thanks SNKMAN, cant play now without GL4.

[Njayjay 10]

I've noticed friendly AI rearming with enemy weapons, is this governed by the "Enemy A.I. Rearm" feature as well? I don't half my marines walking around with AK's, it's just unrealistic.

[snkman 351]

@jasonnoguchi

Currently, enemies only advance when they hear our gun shots.

Yes that's right.

EnemyA.I. do only react to gunshots from a player team and A.I. leaded by a player.

This is becouse this feature use the E.H. Fired which trigger every time a unit fire it's weapon.

If you have 30 units fiering their weapons then this E.H. willl be triggered more then 300 times within a few seconds.

Also i think enemy A.I. should react to the player only becouse if they would react to friendly A.I. ( not leaded by a player ) too then enemy A.I. may will advance in the opposide direction of the player becouse they are advancing to any friendly A.I. which had fiered their weapon.

@mrcash2009

I also found in vanilla I fired a smoke grenade via M203 right into the path of a patrol and they simply carried on walking while the smoke wafted right across their faces.

Yes that's right.

Well i simply have to think about how important a feature is or not.

I try to make Group Link 4 as challenging as possible but still save resources in many parts.

So to me it's not that important if enemy A.I. react to a thrown/shot smoke grenade.

@Banderas

Did anybody noticed infantry "sparking" when hit by vehicle weaponry?

Coulde you please explain this more in detail?

@thales100

Thanks. :)

Glad to hear you like it and thx for the pic.

Tripple Head?

@Njayjay

I've noticed friendly AI rearming with enemy weapons.

Yes thats how it should be.

Well let's see...

You are in combat and close to run out of ammo. What would you do?

1. Take a enemy weapon and continue fighting.

2. Wait and hope that you will somehow somewhere find any magazines fitting to your weapon type?

Well... I would choose 1. :)

[thales100 10]

@thales100

Thanks. :)

Glad to hear you like it and thx for the pic.

Tripple Head?

Thanks to you m8 for this mod, yes triplehead. Any super wide pic you may possibly want just drop me a PM.

[mrcash2009 0]

@SNKMAN well, explained as you have done makes sense on a limitation resource/coding choice aspect so that's good answer as any for why not :)

Although ive always thought that hitting a realism angle not even your mod but vanilla I would have though BIS would have made it so AI change mode if smoke is fired near them. Maybe not in a view distance far away but def right in their path or within say 15 meters or so. Then again that may effect other things as a knock effect AI wise I guess.

For me a smoke grenade launched near you is only a swap of ammo and a frag grenade away in theory. Then again how would enemy know it was a friendly smoke grenade, can that be scripted?

Edited January 23, 2010 by mrcash2009

[jasonnoguchi 11]

@SNKMAN, giving enemy AI the possibility of advancing on other friendly AI units allows the tactical possibility of DIVERSION. :) With that feature on, we could set up a diversion in on direction while leading an attack from the other direction. However, as you said, that would fire the E.H like hell and lag our systems.... so, forget it. :)