SP - Operation Cold Harvest

[therev709 10]

Please be gentle . . . this is my first time . . .

As in my first public release of a mission (with many more in the works as we speak).

Anyways, I'm very proud to present:

OPERATION COLD HARVEST

You are in charge of a team comprised of the world's most elite military counter-terrorist organizations.

The Chenarussian conflict has sparked a variety of communist movements throughout the region, in this case the island nation of Panthera. Pro-communist insurgents stormed a ski resort, kidnapped two parliment party members and their wives, and fled into the Panteran Mountain Range.

Your team is to investigate the crime scene and search the mountains for the hostages.

I apologize in advance for the long list of addons . . .

To play this mission the following addons are required:

ACE

ACEX

CBA

Desert Mercs and BlackOps by SchnapsdroSel

Extra Units by Mushr00m

NIM Dynamic Weather by Sentinel

Panthera2 by IceBreakr

HK416/M4/16 Rearmed Pack by Robert Hammer

Pistol Remake Pack by Robert Hammer

*Note:* Some of these addons may require additional addons for them to work.

I tried to include those addons in this list as well but I may have missed some.

(While I'm positive I've included all of the required addons in the list above, please let me know if I missed any)

Known Issues:

-Color filter disappears if the character the player is controlling dies and the "Revert or Team Switch" menu pops up and the player chooses to swap to another character.

-Enemy forces posted in some of the buildings put their weapon on their back after finishing the animation of being hit with a flash bang. This renders them defensless and no threat to the player. As this is an ACE issue I'm trying to find a work around.

-Some of the terrain that enemy snipers/soldiers are occupying is distorted when viewed through a scope at long ranges because of how the game engine renders terrain at far distances. This sorta bugs the long distance sniping experience as the enemy unit might be behind a small terrain slope but the player won't be able to see that until they get closer.

Link: OPERATION COLD HARVEST v1.0

Armaholic Mirror:

OPERATION COLD HARVEST v1.0"

Please Note: this is a beta version, and I still plan on tweaking a few aspects of the mission, but I do want feedback please!

Version History

==================

Version | Date

1.0 | 26 Jan 2010

-Edited Charlie Rock voice over

-Added MemphisBelle as the Police Sergeant

-Added Interview Police Sergeant Objective

-Fixed some Intro sequence stuff

-Removed ACE AS50 as it was causing problems

0.9.3b | 13 Jan 2010

-Removed the requirements for some addons

-Tweaked enemy patrol propbabilities

-Re enabled stamina to prevent ruck bugs

-Fixed spelling errors in briefing

_Fixed some Intro sequence stuff

0.9.2b | 13 Jan 2010

-Fixed third objective (again)

-Fixed armed civilian police auto targeting

-Fixed ACE2 No Stamina

-Fixed ACE2 Laser Designator

-Added Intro Sequence

0.9.1b | 12 Jan 2010

-Fixed third objective collect evidence bug

-removed p'85 addon requirements

0.9b | 11 Jan 2010

-First release candidate

Right now I am doing all of the voice acting . . . which sounds like a 12 year old kid playing with action figures and doing all of the voices for them with terrible excuses for tough guy accents. So I am in need of new voice talent, particularly someone who can speak English with a Russian or German accent for a character I plan to add to this mission.

Thanks you all for playing and enjoy!!!

Edited January 26, 2010 by TheRev709
uploaded zip file instead of .pbo; fixed some mirrors; updated known issues

[Binkowski 26]

Looks good, massive addon requirements have always been my downside. But I'll give this a shot. ;).

[therev709 10]

Awesome! Let me know what you think! (btw, I'm a huge fan of your addons for ArmaII, I'll be using them in my next op)

Btw, I designed this mission with snipers in mind. You'll be able to pick of enemy soldiers at distances up to 1km, but you'll need some skill to do it.

Since this mod requires ACE2, be sure to read their guide on marksmanship. Its necessary to understand these concepts if you're to survive the mountains of Panthera!!!

[jasonnoguchi 11]

CONGRATS!!!!

Jesus, I;ve wanted to make my own campaign/misson but have failed miserably so far. :) I will try yours out and hope that you go into making campaigns as well cos we are really short of campaign makers in ArmA2. :) (jesus, you mean you actually used soooo many new units in this mission? incredible! i can't seem to download the MGS by RH... would I still be able to run this?)

Edited January 12, 2010 by jasonnoguchi

[therev709 10]

I will try yours out and hope that you go into making campaigns as well cos we are really short of campaign makers in ArmA2.

Thats the plan so far. After playing sick1's SEAL campaigns and colonel stagler's Task Force Black campaign (still have more to go, so finishing his missions will be my little break before I get to work on my next mission) I was motivated to at least muscle through completing one mission. Now, after all that I've learned so far and all that there is to learn I'm eager to see just what kind of experiences through narrative and game play I can create for the player. All I'll say for now is prep your gear for some desert heat ;)

i can't seem to download the MGS by RH... would I still be able to run this?

Regrettably in your case you won't be able to run the mission without the MGS weapon pack. Let me search and see if I can find another mirror for it. Otherwise I'll upload it to filefrront myself.

---------- Post added at 05:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:23 AM ----------

I found an alternative mirror for RH's MGS weaposn pack here on armedassault.info.

Edited January 12, 2010 by TheRev709

[jasonnoguchi 11]

Thanks alot!!! :) Getting on your mission right away and feedback in a while. You are requiring some extremely interesting mods and I hope you used them all in the mission! hehehehe

Will you mentor me in mission making? I have a very unique campaign idea which nobody has ever made before but I am having problems with the scripting...sigh... even the intro cut scene is taking my life away just sorting out a single scripted trigger :(

[oldbear 390]

Why not use updated RH Hk416 1.0+RH M4M16 1.02 Rearmed addon ?

Hosted here on Armed Assault.info.

[therev709 10]

Why not use updated RH Hk416 1.0+RH M4M16 1.02 Rearmed addon ?

Hosted here on Armed Assault.info.

Good call, didn't know they combined em.

[froggyluv 2133]

Phew, lotta downloads :D

In the readme it says to stick this folder into the MPmissions folder? Is that right? Also, not seeing it in MP under Panthera.

NM- It requires the PBO file rather than the folder in MPmissions.

Edited January 12, 2010 by froggyluv

[jasonnoguchi 11]

This is a very unique way to start a mission indeed. Very story telling and nice atmosphere... a little like the sniper movie hehehe... anyways, ran into one problem early in the mission...

The humvees do not have the option to get in on them. Perhaps they are set to locked in the setup.

Edited January 12, 2010 by jasonnoguchi

[therev709 10]

Will you mentor me in mission making? I have a very unique campaign idea which nobody has ever made before but I am having problems with the scripting...sigh... even the intro cut scene is taking my life away just sorting out a single scripted trigger :(

I'm pretty new to this too but I'll help you as much as I can. 90% of the journey for me has been searching for answers to my questions/problems. Most of the time I'll not only learn how to solve my problem, but I'll also learn a lot from the various threads/posts on the forum concerning other mission maker's endeavors. Not only that, but dePBOing another mission/campaign can teach you some things too. While there are millions of ways to make the same mission and trying to figure out how someone else crafted their mission is almost impossible, its still a viable option to learning something new. (Btw, I'll go ahead and post it here that I give anybody permission to dePBO this mission if they want to learn how I did something).

I, too, am currently reading up on camera scripting . . . its some rough stuff. Of the few things I plan on adding to this mission before I'll call it quits and move on is adding an Intro and Outro scene, but I'm thinking I'm gonna have to really play around with it before I can generate the end result I want.

Otherwise I'm tinkering with ppEffects to generate color filters/corrections similar to the script I found here on the forums that I used for this mission (I'm trying to find the thread I discovered this in so I can give credit). I think my favorite aspect of this mission is the atmosphere created by the snow and color filtering (ppEffects). This is something I have planned to use again for my next mission, only in a much "hotter" setting ;)

---------- Post added at 06:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:15 AM ----------

Phew, lotta downloads :D

In the readme it says to stick this folder into the MPmissions folder? Is that right? Also, not seeing it in MP under Panthera.

NM- It requires the PBO file rather than the folder in MPmissions.

Yeah, I just caught that, sorry. The readme I used was a template for MPMissions, when this is just supposed to go into your Missions folder because its a single player mission. Im replacing the download here in a min with the updated readme to avoid future confusion.

This is a very unique way to start a mission indeed. Very story telling... a little like the sniper movie hehehe... anyways, ran into one problem early in the mission...

The humvees do not have the option to get in on them. Perhaps they are set to locked in the setup.

My response:

Yes, the Humvees are locked considering I want the player to stick to the mountain tops and ridges, terrain not even a high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle can go ;) Otherwise I put them there to give the impression thats how the team arrived at the ski resort, but for gameplay purposes the player can rearm/reequip his team one last time before he heads out into the mountains. Because the teammates are not initially joined to the players group at the very start of the mission you can't edit their gear from the briefing, so I pretty much put the humvees there to make up for that.

Edited January 12, 2010 by TheRev709
hid spoiler text

[jasonnoguchi 11]

Those locked vehicles resulted in a very nice and scenic 1.3 klicks mountain hike! actually quite nice. :)

---------- Post added at 07:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 AM ----------

Another problem...

Second evidence file in the barn isn't on the table and none of my team mates can collect it even if I give them the collect evidence command. Even I can't see it on the table.

[hawkinge 10]

there's a lot of addons for this mission, but thankfully they're quality addons, featured in sick1's campaigns and others...

so, if you're like me, you already have an Arma shortcut linking to all those mods already..

just need need the mission

;)

[therev709 10]

Those locked vehicles resulted in a very nice and scenic 1.3 klicks mountain hike! actually quite nice. :)

---------- Post added at 07:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:31 AM ----------

Another problem...

Second evidence file in the barn isn't on the table and none of my team mates can collect it even if I give them the collect evidence command. Even I can't see it on the table.

Oh, thats only the first part of the hike ;) But I'm on top of that problem you're having with the second evidence obj - expect a fix soon.

---------- Post added at 12:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:13 PM ----------

I forgot to add the Pistol Remake Pack by Robert Hammer on the list of required addons. Main page updated, sorry if this gave anybody any issues.

[therev709 10]

I fixed the third objective collect evidence bug, as well as removed the need for p'85 addons, considering they weren't being used other than a vehicle for nice scenery. I replaced the p'85 landrover with a UAZ, so thats one less addon for you all to have to use.

I have also noticed I've been having a lot of trouble getting the darn laser designator to work properly in the mission. I don't have any problems with it in the editor, but when I use it in game it sometimes wont work no matter how many batteries I have or if I load them. This is an ACE2 issue so we'll have to wait for a fix from them, otherwise just fiddle around with it or use the map to guestimate ranges.

[jasonnoguchi 11]

Yup, noticed the problem with the vector bino too... sigh... so much for precision long range sniping.

[therev709 10]

Armaholic Mirror:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=9127

[jasonnoguchi 11]

Does this mean I have to replay the whole thing???? :(

[therev709 10]

Does this mean I have to replay the whole thing???? :(

Lol only if you want too (which I would hope this mission has some replay value . . .)

Otherwise if you beat the mission what did you think? 3 pros, 3 cons, 3 things that worked, 3 things you recommend to add is my preferred format for an after action review (its a military thing).

If you haven't downloaded v0.9.1b with the fix for the third objective (the issue you were having) then yeah, you'd have to restart the mission.

Edited January 13, 2010 by TheRev709

[jasonnoguchi 11]

I downloaded the new version and then surprisingly, my saved game worked but the evidence file is still not on the table and my men still cannot reach it either.

[therev709 10]

I downloaded the new version and then surprisingly, my saved game worked but the evidence file is still not on the table and my men still cannot reach it either.

Hmm, try deleting the mission, reinstalling the new version, then restarting the mission. It shouldn't take too long to get back to the safehouse. Let me know if the problem still persists. I'm workin on some school stuff atm, but I'll replay the mission tonight on my end and see if I have any more issues, but last time it worked for me.

[jasonnoguchi 11]

sigh... replaying the whole thing again... 1.3 klicks of walking... its pretty demoralising...

[therev709 10]

the "+" and "-" keys control the speed of time if you're walking a long distance ;)

btw, I put I disabled ACE2 stamina considering how far the player does have to walk in this mission, so running everywhere wont kill you lol.

---------- Post added at 05:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:07 AM ----------

this should shed some light on the laser aiming module operation: http://ace.wikkii.com/wiki/Rangefinding_Devices_Manual

---------- Post added at 05:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:16 AM ----------

I gotta add some changes in order for the mission to properly use ACE2 laser designators. Expect fixes asap.

[jasonnoguchi 11]

Yes, disabling the stamina system DEFINITELY helps in your mission due to the extremely long distance that has to be covered on foot. :) By the way, real SF travel such distances on foot too so its actually quite realistic. I actually enjoyed the long walk especially with trackir on, its just frustrating to have to do it all over again...hahahah...I shall wait for further fixes before restarting..hehehe

Edited January 13, 2010 by jasonnoguchi

[Forrest Gimp 10]

Do I have to load the mods in any particular order for it to work?