[SP] Flashpoint: Chernarus

[old_painless 182]

Some things I would like to see (if your open to suggestions)

Considering this is my all time favorite mission mod for AmrA, here are my suggestions.

(Main suggestions are in bold)

1. Markings on the map as you play to show where possible large and small scale firefights are, to minimize the time running around the map doing nothing, which tend to happen a lot if you are unlucky in the spawning.

This mission is one of my favourite ways to spend time in Arma, but I second this suggestion. For a mission that wants to place the player smack into a warzone, there can be an awful lot of wandering about trying to find the action.

Furthermore, another suggestion from me would be to make up objectives other than the implied "survive" objective. I tried using the "give me an objective" option but I only got "Get to this place" type of tasks. And some of them were actually away from the warzone, which basically just meant wandering.

Btw, really looking forward to trying out 1.16 - artillery sounds great !

Edited January 30, 2012 by Old_Painless

[thomsonb 3]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the suggestions.

I like the idea of civilian player, but not on random. This will have to be a preset mode i think? Also the civilian players can show up on the players list in manual setup...

@Jetliner

RE: random IEDs.... They are already there in Takistan, Zargabad and Shapur! Since version 1.14 iirc... steal a car and drive along some roads (as a BLUFOR player) and you will soon find out ;) Every IED has an IED object placed near the road too, so you can spot them if you're really careful.

I decided they don't fit in so well on the Chernarus battlefield...

RE: Starting as car/tank/heli etc, Planes and Helis are a no-go at the moment, because they travel so fast, the mission will be spawning and deleting literally thousands of units every minute. A major redesign of the code would be needed.... As for ground vehicles, great idea, i will make a test with a preset mode and go from there.

@ Jetliner & Oldpainless

RE: Wandering around too much / where is the "war zone" / not enough action...

It sounds like you guys are action junkies ;) One important thing to remember is that there is no set "Warzone" or battlefield. If you jump in a car and drive really far, all the units will be deleted, and new units spawned as you move. there are always the same number of groups on each side.

I have set up the missions for my personal PC performance, to get a reasonable framerate even in a busy battle. I have no way of testing the latest hardware, and I don't want to release a mission that runs crap on some peoples PC... Your rigs may be able to handle more.. in this case I recommend try manual setup, and just change the group counts up, and maybe the spawn area smaller, and you will have the action packed battlefield you are looking for!!

In the next update I will maybe change one of the presets so "Hardcore Mode" or something with you guys suggestion in mind...

sorry for the ramblings

RE: Multiplayer, I know it would be a cool mission in COOP!

I don't have the time to make a COOP version, there is just too much code that need to be changed, and living in Asia I have such a bad internet connection i can't even test MP missions if i do make them! I would be very willing to give tips and help to someone making a COOP mission like this, anyone is welcome to use my code too, if you ask :)

RE: Objectives, I know the "Give Objective" sucks right now. Its kind of a place holder. I will try and tidy it up in a future release when time permits..

Anyway please keep the suggestions and feedback coming in

P.S. Check out these flashpoint videos

Cheers

B

[tawah 13]

First of all, Thank you for those missions !

I play 80% of my SP time on those Operation Flashpoint times. And this from the very beginning of the developement.

I have also a comment to make on the artillery idea :

this is part of a battlefield for sure and it adds to the global impression. But please reduce the amount of this effect/event.

IRL artillery fire is not an easy and fast response to a threat and it has to be conducted by a formed soldier (officier or not) but every grunt is not able to call for an artillery strike. So I would suggest that only full squad (more or equal to approximately 6 soldiers) should be able to call for this.

Besides, artillery is not as cheap as grenades or rockets. So I would also suggest that you impose a minimum size for a squad to be aimed at. I have played 1.16 during several hours yesterday and I saw three times a small squad (2 or 3 soldiers) blasted by a huge strike of heavy guns (HE)... in my opinion, it is too much action game oriented (who said BF3 ?) and breaks those immersive efforts you made.

By the way, keep on developing those missions.:icon_eek:

[old_painless 182]

@ Jetliner & Oldpainless

RE: Wandering around too much / where is the "war zone" / not enough action...

It sounds like you guys are action junkies ;) One important thing to remember is that there is no set "Warzone" or battlefield. If you jump in a car and drive really far, all the units will be deleted, and new units spawned as you move. there are always the same number of groups on each side.

I have set up the missions for my personal PC performance, to get a reasonable framerate even in a busy battle. I have no way of testing the latest hardware, and I don't want to release a mission that runs crap on some peoples PC... Your rigs may be able to handle more.. in this case I recommend try manual setup, and just change the group counts up, and maybe the spawn area smaller, and you will have the action packed battlefield you are looking for!!

In the next update I will maybe change one of the presets so "Hardcore Mode" or something with you guys suggestion in mind...

thomsonb, a message from an action junkie :D Rest assured that I enjoy this mission immensely, and when the shit hits the fan, the action intensity/level is just fine for my taste. You get to see a selection of hardware that is rarely used by mission designers.

My wandering whine was mostly because I tried the Takistan version and I got dumped a few times as a heavy (ie. slow) machinegunner on very steep slopes with no immediate pointer (sound, visual cues) as to where to look for friendlies or enemies. A lot of uphill climbing ensued, LOL.

My post was therefore simply in support of a map cue for currently known enemies, as that would convey the sense that we by radio or something are told what goes on. Could be made to depend on difficulty level, perhaps?

What you put in with the "spawn as" in the Action menu is just perfect for teleporting around and finding the action. So my only gripe with this would be that if I actually like who I have spawned into from the start, say I chose the sniper preset, I wouldn't like to switch into a unit who is not sniper. So that means that I could be in a position where I need to wander around a bit as sniper, before finding enemies to engage.

Thanks for a much enjoyable mission type, I learn something new almost everytime I try this as the variety of situations you are put in outnumbers any set of bootcamp missions that could be built.

[Angus S 10]

Love this mission, great work

[NoRailgunner 0]

Somehow only with Flashpoint Chernarus I get a CTD. Doesn't matter if presets or custom scenario are used. Version 1.14 did work well without crash.

Some ideas:

- limited CAS/arty support for player

- AI could use few mortar rounds against groups not on 1-3 soldiers

- AI could use few M119/D30 rounds to against armored targets/bridges/crossroads

- AI could use few MLRS/BM21"Grad" rounds on areas with many enemies

- few camps where player can find support/intel

- simple mission tasks/objectives eg find camp, destroy radio/antenna, eliminate HVT, escort VIP

- IEDs explode only on BLUFOR vehicle, not on civilian vehicle with BLUFOR soldier as driver/passenger

- abilitity to heal other light wounded units (players faction)

- preset "hostage rescue" for all factions

[Angus S 10]

How do you call in artillery strikes? and also I think the amount of artillery strikes the AI calls in is a bit too much, I played the latest version on utes and there would be artillery going off a few times every minute. Apart from that I loved the mission though, great job! also I was wondering what the percentage things are when you choose your own settings, what happens when you set snipers to 100%? does that mean that every single enemy is a sniper?

[brzozowsky 1]

Hey thomsonb, thanks for this great gamemode!

...and this mod works great with the AI First Aid Support by DAP!

See Video :

[Pillowtap 10]

Would it be possible to add a track selection list in the command menu, preferably with some sort of fancy loop option? I really love listening to a few of them during flashpoints, especially Skynet, Defcon and Wasteland.

[anelaidlives 10]

I really enjoy flashpoint, the sandbox-gameplay along with the ability to get in and out of the missions is pretty great, but I have a couple of questions. When looking for similar missions, I found an older flashpoint-mission:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=10631&highlight=FLASHPOINT

Flashpoint:Sahrani is an old mission for Arma2, would there be any issues trying to run it with OA now?

And as an unrelated question, would it be possible for there to be a flashpoint:fallujah? I really enjoy big urban levels, and zargabad is a bit small after awhile.

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=12315&highlight=FALLUJAH

Here is the link.

I'd imagine something like this would be a massive undertaken, but I am thankful that advancing power received some help and was able to support this great map.

[orcinus 121]

Markings on the map as you play to show where possible large and small scale firefights are, to minimize the time running around the map doing nothing, which tend to happen a lot if you are unlucky in the spawning.

COSLX adds red markers where there are injured allies. Lets you know where the fighting is, you can head there, heal & recruit survivors, etc.

It's not (yet) entirely compatible with the Flashpoint series - there are a few oddities like some of the dead & injured remain standing unless dragged, & sometimes after healing units stop moving or obeying commands (both under investigation) but the other benefits (see the COSLX & A2SLX threads) outweigh these IMHO - especially the spontaneous healing by both allies and enemies. If healed by an enemy you get captured, which adds in impromptu escape & evade 'side-missions'; those can be really hairy :eek:

BR

Orcinus

---------- Post added at 09:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:03 AM ----------

Somehow only with Flashpoint Chernarus I get a CTD. Doesn't matter if presets or custom scenario are used. Version 1.14 did work well without crash.

Some ideas:

- limited CAS/arty support for player

- AI could use few mortar rounds against groups not on 1-3 soldiers

- AI could use few M119/D30 rounds to against armored targets/bridges/crossroads

- AI could use few MLRS/BM21"Grad" rounds on areas with many enemies

- few camps where player can find support/intel

- simple mission tasks/objectives eg find camp, destroy radio/antenna, eliminate HVT, escort VIP

- IEDs explode only on BLUFOR vehicle, not on civilian vehicle with BLUFOR soldier as driver/passenger

- abilitity to heal other light wounded units (players faction)

- preset "hostage rescue" for all factions

+1 all - except 'ability to heal other light wounded units (players faction)' is already in the game, isn't it? (well,it used to be - I use COSLX all the time now so wouldn't have noticed if it had been removed).

Agree with you and other posters that the arti could be improved - it's too much, too often.

BR

Orcinus

---------- Post added at 09:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:09 AM ----------

And as an unrelated question, would it be possible for there to be a flashpoint:fallujah? I really enjoy big urban levels, and zargabad is a bit small after awhile.

I'd imagine something like this would be a massive undertaken, but I am thankful that advancing power received some help and was able to support this great map.

Actually it's quite easy to port. I have versions running on Fallujah, Podagorsk (a favourite), Lingor, etc. There used to be instructions incorporated in the pbo, not sure if they are still there. If thomsonb doesn't have time to port it himself, if he's agreeable I can tell you how to port it yourself. Worth learning how to port anyway, once you start designing missions simply porting them to different terrains can change the action considerably.

BR

Orcinus

[anelaidlives 10]

It would be great to know how to port these maps, I'm really new to arma 2's mission setup, so some instructions will probably help not only me, but others as well.

[orcinus 121]

It would be great to know how to port these maps, I'm really new to arma 2's mission setup, so some instructions will probably help not only me, but others as well.

Well, I don't want to hijack thomsonb's thread, still less any of his great missions, so I won't describe how to port a Flashpoint game here unless he agrees. However, as far as introducing you to editing an existing mission, read this thread

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?126057-Is-there-a-way-to-import-single-player-missions-to-my-editor

especially the post by Günter Severloh. Always make a backup copy of the mission first.

On editing in general, there are invaluable resources on Armaholic, especially the "Armed-Assault Editing-Guide De luxe Edition" by Mr-Murray.

Important note: never redistribute or publish an edited mission without the explicit, prior consent of the original creator (and the authors of any included scripts, etc.), and make sure that proper credit is given to all such authors. Otherwise you can reliably expect to be permanently banned from the forums (see the FAQ).

BR

Orcinus

[thomsonb 3]

Hello

I have just released an update...

Please download latest version 1.17 from here:

Flashpoint: Chernarus and Utes v1.17 download page

This version removes the Artillery strikes, after feedback from players.

I will work on a new and improved artillery system as soon as I can!

Sorry for the long delay in updates... my pc blew up, almost literally, anyway now back with a brand new pc, looking forward to updating this again soon :)

Cheers

thomsonb

[OrLoK 20]

Hello all

I've always liked this mission(s) but the inability to play with all/any factions on any of the standard maps frustrates me. For eg. Woodland BAF on Chernarus.

What would be astounding (but i dont believe the actual engine would permit it) would be able to pit any one side vs any other side. ie UK vs US.

Regardless of my pet peeves, i love the mission and am glad not just the taki map gets all the attention!

Good work.

Rgds

LoK

EDIT...hmmm i seem to have a baf version in my mission folder but the BAf selection seems to be missing in the latest one..my brain hurts.....

Edited May 13, 2012 by orlok

[thomsonb 3]

Hi LoK, thanks glad u like the mission

...the inability to play with all/any factions on any of the standard maps frustrates me. For eg. Woodland BAF on Chernarus.

Im not sure what you mean by this mate, it is possible to play as any faction, any combination of factions... if you want Woodland BAF you just have to play the BAF version, the other version is just for the vanilla ArmA2 (I still support it as some ppl may not have arrowhead etc)

Or maybe I didn't understand what you were getting at here.. let me know

(i dont believe the actual engine would permit it) would be able to pit any one side vs any other side. ie UK vs US....

There is no engine limitation there at all, it would be possible to program the mission in any way... I have just decided to keep it simple, with the classic East vs West factions.... (i think many players would be confused if USA and Russia were allies in one game then enemies in the next ;) ) If you are keen you could dive in to the code and edit the mission yourself to play as US vs UK... would take quite a lot of changes to the scripts :)

B

[W0lle 1050]

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