Group Link 4 Special FX Edition

[dingyisun 10]

Tight; thanks SNKMAN.

[stun 5]

SNKMAN is the "GL4 Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request" linked to "GL4 Enemy A.I. Smoke Man functionality"?

I was doing some testing to try and figure out why the enemy was no longer popping smoke for cover and it appears that whenever I set Reinforcement Requests to "false" it caused enemy units to stop using smoke.

[froggyluv 2136]

Someties it may need a few second bevore A.I. react, becouse this feature use loops ( while do ) syntaxes in some parts with a 5 second delay.

Is it possible to lessen this delay? I use a test mission with my full rifle squad at one end of Utes runway and a full enemy squad at the other -too far for inital contact. Then I send 4 of my guys Force Move directly to the enemies position, but it seems to take a good 30 seconds or so before Opfor opens fire, and often they take aim at me and my men who haven't moved yet rather then the enemy who is directly in front of them.

[aeggwards1 10]

Hey SNKMAN,

It looks like HC Reinforcement window is not available if you start the mission in cargo with a Helicopter.

I have a SF mission where I fast rope into one area and send to SF squads into another via HC Reinforcement. However, if I start the mission in cargo with my helicopter I can't order reinforcement either in the chopper or once I get our.

I can order them if I don't start in the chopper,

Cheers,

Aeggwards1

[snkman 351]

@stun

it appears that whenever I set Reinforcement Requests to "false" it caused enemy units to stop using smoke.

Yes that's correct becouse the "Throe Smoke" feature is part of the "Reinforcement Request" feature.

@froggyluv

Is it possible to lessen this delay?

Yes of course this can be set to a lower value but i don't see the reason for this.

5 seconds really isn't very long.

Also i don't get what exactly you trying to say.

Edit:

but it seems to take a good 30 seconds or so before Opfor opens fire, and often they take aim at me and my men who haven't moved yet rather then the enemy who is directly in front of them.

Hmm... yes this really could be true.

After forcing units to move they will leave their original group and create their own group.

Thouse new groups are not listed in the Group Link 4 list of available targets to enemy A.I.

This means Group Link 4 will not react to the units which was forced to move.

Damn good find man. ;)

I will fix that.

@aeggwards1

It looks like HC Reinforcement window is not available if you start the mission in cargo with a Helicopter.

Yep that's correct.

It already was reported by Kroky and well i already have fixed it.

Will be in the next release.

Edited February 20, 2010 by SNKMAN

[stun 5]

@stun

Yes that's correct becouse the "Throe Smoke" feature is part of the "Reinforcement Request" feature.

I'm a bit surprised by this. I had assumed it was triggered when units came under fire and not necessarily because they needed reinforcing. Is there a way of disabling the reinforce function but keeping the throw smoke?

I like the reinforce function, but often turn it off as it breaks missions.

[snkman 351]

Nope sorry this is deep coded in the enemy A.I. reinfocement unmount feature.

I would need to write a lot of new scripts only for making A.I. throw smoke and this really would not be worth the effect.

[stun 5]

Thanks for the info SNKMAN.

How exactly does the Reinforcement request work? I have noticed that even when there is only one enemy squad on the map it will still say reinforcing? What does this mean as it can't be reinforcing itself?

When i set "Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request Groups" to "0" All the enemy units say they are reinforcing. The comment says this parameter does this "Choose how many enemy A.I. groups can be requested as reinforcement at the same time" so wouldn't setting this to 0 mean that no groups can be selected as reinforcements?

Edited February 20, 2010 by stun

[snkman 351]

I have noticed that even when there is only one enemy squad on the map it will still say reinforcing? What does this mean as it can't be reinforcing itself?

Yes of course that's true. :)

Well explaining how exactly Group Link 4 works would need way too long.

The reason why the marker is called "Reinforcement" too even if this group is no reinforcement group is, becouse all enemy A.I. groups use 1 array.

So they are all listed in the same array to make them all move randomly to a position of where they had spotted the enemy.

Of course it's not true that the group which had spotted you is under the class reinforcement it's only the caller group but becouse they are all using the same array the marker will display reinforcement too.

When i set "Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request Groups" to "0" All the enemy units say they are reinforcing. The comment says this parameter does this "Choose how many enemy A.I. groups can be requested as reinforcement at the same time" so wouldn't setting this to 0 mean that no groups can be selected as reinforcements?

Well this is the same like descripted above.

Every group which had spotted a enemy will listed in the move array which is used by all groups.

This means as soon as a group had spotted you they will automatically be listed in the move array which is used by reinforcements in the first place but i need one global array to make all enemy A.I. groups move to a specific position.

Of course i could use a additional array to list groups which had spotted a enemy and another for groups which was requested as reinforcemnt but this would complicate everything.

So may it looks a bit confusing but belive me when i say it's okay what you see at the map. ;)

Edited February 20, 2010 by SNKMAN

[stun 5]

Thanks for your detailed response! I hope I have understood what you have said.

If I set "Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request Groups" to "0" all enemy groups will appear as "reinforcing" on the map view as they are being stored in the "reinforce" array, but because I have set this parameter to 0 no enemy squads will actually be called to reinforce. Have I understood this correctly?

I suspect I haven't understood the function of the "Reinforcement Request Groups" parameter as even though I have set the groups request to "0" enemy squads are still travelling a fair distance to converge on my position. When I test the same scenario without GL4 the enemy units are staying put...

I also set the Enemy "A.I. Reinforcement Request Distance" for men to "100" (instead of the default 3000) but enemy units are still converging on my position from much further away.

I usually disable the Reinforce function simply because no matter how I tweak it with the various parameters I always ended up with every enemy unit on the island converging on my position.

Edited February 20, 2010 by stun

[tourist 617]

First, I want to thank you, SNKMAN, for staying relaxed and giving helpful advice even if a question appears twice or thrice in a row like the enemy marker issue.

It turned out I had made a typical user error possible with mods that update quite fast like GL4.

Wondering why SOME of the "True" or "False" settings were working and others not, I had once again fired up ArmA 2 for another test when it struck me like a surprise b****slap: although I had installed the files for 1.1.77 update including the userconfig right away after they were available here, my startup screen showed me 1.1.75 today.

Hmmm, that was when I remembered I had updated my sixupdater managed mods yesterday. My preset includes the ACE 2 stuff, some islands, JTD and: GL4!

By the time I did that update, six repositories still had the 1.1.75 version. Which then neatly installed itself over my 1.1.77 folder. But I did not realize that until today.

In the end that meant I had a young, ambitious 1.1."Boyscout"77 userconfig trying to help 1.1."Grandma"75 userconfig crossing the street. Only, the old lady had no intention to cross the street at all and started beating "Boyscout"77 with her crutch while yelling at the top of her voice: "Help! Help! That lewd rascal wants to kidnap me and do unspeakable dirty things to me in that basement of his deaf uncle! Probably inviting the old Good-for-nothing to join him in those heinous acts!"

Of course that meant "Boyscout"77 got only ever so far before "Grandma"75 knocked him out of his shoes.

Aah, and now that I fixed the system by banging a tool against the most common cause for software malfunction -no other than the notoriously inapt processing unit called "user"- I can joyfully report that every setting is "True" or "False" JUST as desired, and I can get back to some serious Chesty Puller action.

Have fun,

touristo

[snkman 351]

@stun

If I set "Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request Groups" to "0" all enemy groups will appear as "reinforcing" on the map view as they are being stored in the "reinforce" array, but because I have set this parameter to 0 no enemy squads will actually be called to reinforce. Have I understood this correctly?

Yes thats correct.

I suspect I haven't understood the function of the "Reinforcement Request Groups" parameter as even though I have set the groups request to "0" enemy squads are still travelling a fair distance to converge on my position. When I test the same scenario without GL4 the enemy units are staying put...

I also set the Enemy "A.I. Reinforcement Request Distance" for men to "100" (instead of the default 3000) but enemy units are still converging on my position from much further away.

I usually disable the Reinforce function simply because no matter how I tweak it with the various parameters I always ended up with every enemy unit on the island converging on my position.

Could you please post the part with the "Reinforcement Request" of your settings?

Normally if it's set to 0 then there should be no reinforcements be requested.

A little thing is that Group Link 4 works with the "knowsAbout" which checks how much a unit knows about a other unit. 0 means nothing 4 is the highest value.

In some cases ArmA 2 can do some magic tricks and let enemy A.I. know something about a player even if behind a house or in any other position where it would be not possible to detect him.

in this case the enemy A.I. get a knowledge higher then 0.10 ( set by default ) and will act like you was spotted even if you was defenetly not spotted.

@touristo

First, I want to thank you, SNKMAN, for staying relaxed and giving helpful advice even if a question appears twice or thrice in a row like the enemy marker issue.

What else should i do? :D

I still remember back in the days as i started creating missions and started scripting i did understand absolutly nothing whats going on. So i totally understan that something may will be asked by several ppl several times.

In the end that meant I had a young, ambitious 1.1."Boyscout"77 userconfig trying to help 1.1."Grandma"75 userconfig crossing the street. Only, the old lady had no intention to cross the street at all and started beating "Boyscout"77 with her crutch while yelling at the top of her voice: "Help! Help! That lewd rascal wants to kidnap me and do unspeakable dirty things to me in that basement of his deaf uncle! Probably inviting the old Good-for-nothing to join him in those heinous acts!"

Of course that meant "Boyscout"77 got only ever so far before "Grandma"75 knocked him out of his shoes.

Nice story man. :D

Well i'm really glad you could fix your problems by yourself. ;)

Yes "Six" was updated today with v.1.1.77.

Anyway it's sloved.

Edited February 20, 2010 by SNKMAN

[stun 5]

Thanks for all your help SNKMAN.

Here the my reinforcement settings. I have done some more testing and reinforcements seem to be getting called from more than 1km away. Ideally I would like settings that either prevent reinforcements altogether or allow for minimal reinforcements from units close by. not sure what I have set wrong.:(

// GL4 Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request:

// ==============================================================

// Set this variable False to disable the enemy A.I. reinforcement request.

// True / False, default is True

// GL4_Global set [0, False];

// Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request Groups:

// Choose how many enemy A.I. groups can be requested as reinforcement at the same time.

// 0 - 30, default is 3

// GL4_Global set [1, 0];

// Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request Knows About:

// Choose how much enemy A.I. must know about the target to set alert and request reinforcement.

// Note: The lower this value the faster enemy A.I. will request reinforcement.

// 0 - 3, default is 0.10

// GL4_Global set [2, 3];

// Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request Courage:

// Choose the courage of the enemy A.I. groups.

// The lower this value the faster enemy A.I. will request reinforcement.

// Note: If this value is set to 0.1 then enemy A.I. will request reinforcement even if they are not overmatched.

// Note: If this value is set to 0.5 or 0.8 then enemy A.I. will only request reinforcement if they are really overmatched.

// 0.01 - 1.00, default is 0.10

// GL4_Global set [3, 0.8];

// Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request Distance:

// Choose the distance in which enemy A.I. should be able to request reinforcement.

// Note: Enemy A.I. which had spotted a enemy will be able to request reinforcement which is within the given range.

// Example: If enemy A.I. which do not use any vehicles had spotted targets then they will be able to request reinforcement which is within a range of 3000 meters to their position.

// Example: If enemy A.I. which use a tank had spotted targets then they will be able to request reinforcement which is within a range of 10000 meters to their position.

// 0 - 50000, default is [ ["Man", 3000], ["Car", 7000], ["Tank", 10000], ["Air", 30000], ["Ship", 30000] ]

// GL4_Global set [4, [ ["Man", 100], ["Car", 2000], ["Tank", 2000], ["Air", 30000], ["Ship", 30000] ] ];

// Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request Delay:

// Choose how fast enemy A.I. can request reinforcement.

// Note: If this value is set too high and enemy A.I. was killed within this time then it can be that the enemy A.I. had no chance to request reinforcement.

// 0 - 30, default is 5 seconds

// GL4_Global set [5, 30];

[snkman 351]

Okay this is how you changed the settings?

This can't work becouse you did not activate the settings.

Check out how it's done:

You need to remove the two "//" in front of the variable to activate the setting then you can change/modify it. ;)

Example:

// GL4 Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request:
// ================================================== ============
// Set this variable False to disable the enemy A.I. reinforcement request.
// True / False, default is True
GL4_Global set [0, False];

// Enemy A.I. Reinforcement Request Groups:
// Choose how many enemy A.I. groups can be requested as reinforcement at the same time.
// 0 - 30, default is 3
GL4_Global set [1, 0];

[stun 5]

Cheers mate. I can't believe I missed that. I went so carefully through the settings tweaking only to forget to uncomment them.:p

[snkman 351]

Not a problem stun.

Glad we could fix it and you finally can enjoy all you changes. :D

[stun 5]

All working perfectly now. I think I was suffering from Update-userconfig-fatigue as I updated to 1.1.75 yesterday and updated my userconfig settings then downloaded 1.1.77 and had make all the same changes again today.

A big thank you for all your work on this mod it does take A2 to a whole new level.

I just saw an amazing visual - I believe it was courtesy of GL4. A Humvee near me blew up (I saw the RPG fly right past me) and there were burning bits of debris scattered around it. It was very cool!

Edited February 20, 2010 by stun

[kroky 1]

@SNKMAN

Just dont let us wait too long with the new update please! You could release it as a new Update instead of 1.1.77 for example.

Otherwise you end up packing more and more things into it and then release it as version 1.1.99....:D

[kremator 1065]

^^ and there is nothing wrong with that ! Let him be. Remember he's doing this on his own time for FREE !

If it takes a month then so what ? You have got enough toys to play with for the moment. Be happy.

[manzilla 1]

^^ and there is nothing wrong with that ! Let him be. Remember he's doing this on his own time for FREE !

If it takes a month then so what ? You have got enough toys to play with for the moment. Be happy.

Yup, well said.

[Sneaker-78- 0]

Just a Question , i lso have this on my server installed , but i cant hear radio chatter..

When i in the editor i can hear it , did i something wrong or i forgot someting ?

[Ben Endless 10]

Hey SNKMAN....another question:

About this CBA auto-initialize...

I still want my GL4 to be set up as an FX mod only, with no AI enhancement. When I updated to the most recent version 1.1.77, I set up the userconfig like you had instructed me to previously.

I didn't touch the CBA auto-initialize line, though...

Since then, I've seen AI throw smoke, and maybe possibly call reinforcements (not sure)? Also, I still have the HQ Radio feature...not an issue really...what would it do (assuming I have disabled friendly and enemy AI features)?

or...

Is CBA now re-initializing automatically what I had assumed to shut off?

Also, I can confirm the broken radio-chatter volumes.

I haven't forgotten about the "snapping-twig" sound files for you, either!!! It is a work in progress!! I should have a few to send along shortly.

I'm still loving the mod...though since .77, I'm not so sure it's under my control anymore???

[esco7800 10]

what do I need to link Request Reinforcement with to get it to work just my hq?

[snkman 351]

@Kroky

Otherwise you end up packing more and more things into it and then release it as version 1.1.99

Nope don't worry i will not add any more features till everything works well and everything is in a good shape.

This of course may will take some time.

Also it's not the best to release new versions every week if there are just a few things which was changed.

You have helped me a lot with all your feedback but now i really need some time to check everything. ;)

@Kremator

You have got enough toys to play with for the moment.

Yes guess thats damn right. :)

@Sneaker-78-

Well "Radio Chatter" work local to each player.

Make sure the engine of the vehicle is turned on and the vehicle supports the "Radio Chatter" feature.

@Ben Endless

Well you can still disable features like the "A.I. Enhancement" in the "GL4_Core.sqf" settings.

Make sure you keep the Default initialize and "Special FX" enabled and disable all other things in the "GL4_Core.sqf".

@esco7800

what do I need to link Request Reinforcement with to get it to work just my hq?

What exactly do you mean by this?

Are you talking about the "H.C. Reinforcement Request" feature?

Well if so then you have to synchronize the logic with the player and all friendly A.I. which you like to request as reinforcement.

[kroky 1]

@SNKMAN

Glad, having helped a little bit. Now waiting patiently for next version. :)