Cipher: Valleys of the Takiban

[AlecDelorean 10]

by Alec Delorean (original and permission by Wiper)

Description:

Conversion of Cipher user mission to the Takistan-Map of Arma2: Operation Arrowhead

Features:

- main-mission still the same -> find the suitcase

- general is now a taki-warlord

- civillians are takis and characters based on Operation Arrowhead

- enemies will be taki-militia and taki-army, partially disguised in civilian cars

- Arma2: OA equipment, troops...

- full blown COOP/MP combat operation: SecOps and Ambient Combat selectable in server options (now you can earn artillery and air-support)

Installation:

Extract the .pbo file(s) to your ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead\MPMissions folder for multiplayer/coop.

Extract the .pbo file(s) to your ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead\Missions folder for singleplayer.

Known issues:

(only conversion based, look for original version at http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=83438 )

- SecOps manager module factions

- SecOps manager module creates his own internal scripterrors (autoreinforcement 07_create_secop_assets.sqf, line 134, etc.) and may stop working

- all text, story and briefing still from original version (please ignore until complete conversion)

- sometimes insertion BH will not land instantly, use disembark command to force landing

- sometimes the suitcase may spawn in unreachable locations (like a roof etc.), try to order an A.I.-unit to get it or destroy the house

Changelog:

v0.2a:

- mission-based OPFOR are 100% taki now

- offroad vehicles changed to new Arma2: OA content (HMMWV and Landrover)

v0.3b:

- minor bugfixes

- SecOps settings changed per script (first mission will come a little later, more space between missions)

- Ambient Combat settings changed per script, (spawned BLUFOR and OPFOR are now 100% based on Arma2: OA)

v0.31b:

- removed some typos

v0.4b:

- fixed 125 insertion positions

- extraction chopper should have gunners now

- small adjustments to ACM and SecOps

- changed playercar and ammobox loadouts

- minor changes and fixes

v0.41b:

- changed SecOps spawn distances to prevent a scripterror in SecOps-module

v0.45b:

- SecOps and Ambient Combat disabled in SP (simply host a ingame-server with AI for SP)

- SecOps and Ambient Combat enable/disable added to serveroptions for MP/COOP

- minor changes and fixes

v0.47b:

- SecOps and Ambient Combat resync after kill/respawn of leader

- new blacklist for houses to prevent unreachable suitcase

- every town populated with automatically spawned civillians

- minor changes and fixes

v0.48b:

- hotfix: typo enabled intro

- changes overview.html

v0.6b:

- first version for Arma2: OA standalone (needs testing and PROPER bugreports: SP or MP (Dedicated or ingame)?, RPT scripterrors please)

- changed hundreds of Arma2 dependencies (AI scripts, vehicles, weapon loadouts, etc.)

v0.61b:

- fixed timeshift problems for JIP (needs testing)

Credits & thanks:

Wiper for the original Cipher mission and permission for using it.

koyaanisqatsi for scripting help and hints.

sajuuk for bughunting and scripting help.

Download:

http://www.filefront.com/17144585/Cipher_VOTT_v061b.Takistan.rar

Mirror:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=10944

Edited July 25, 2010 by AlecDelorean
Update

[Tonci87 163]

Great keep converting

[kMaN175 34]

Great mission! We loved it.

What was the difference between Task Force & SecOps? We chose Task Force and we had SecOps?

The infil helo does not land, it hovers and deosn't move. We all ejected and luckily had parachutes.

[Alwarren 2767]

What was the difference between Task Force & SecOps?

SpecOps mode in Cipher means you don't have AI buddies. You play alone/humans only.

SecOps are secondary operations, that is HQ will ask you to do things like assault an enemy position or rescue a downed pilot.

The infil helo does not land, it hovers and deosn't move. We all ejected and luckily had parachutes.

You should be able to order "ALL, DISEMBARK". The helo should land then and let people get out without chutes. Edited July 1, 2010 by Alwarren
Tags misplaced

[AlecDelorean 10]

thanks for stepping in, Alwarren.

sometimes the helo gets picky.

:)

Edited July 2, 2010 by AlecDelorean

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

I can't wait to see where this ends up! Keep up the good work and let me know if I can help in any way.

[kdjac 19]

Excellent mission well done on the conversion.

few little bugs tho, some of our team invincible others not so much :) Direct hits from a shilka blew us in the air but we landed without injury.

Enemys spawning in mid air and dying as they hit the ground in front of you.

Secops is brilliant tho really adds to it.

extraction was a little bugged chopper wouldnt move then when it , it took off instantly without anyone. We shot at it and it flew back and took out half the team :D

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

How can I play this with mods? It seems I need to run the temporary BIS fix to combine A2 and OA though Steam in order to execute this mission, as it needs files from Chernarus. Though when I run that file I can't seem to activate mods at the same time. I don't want to play without JTD Fire and Smoke! :P

So is there a way to play with mods using the Combined Ops workaround BIS provided or do I have to wait until Steam makes a proper fix for this? Thanks guys.

[Simon C 0]

Simple. Edit the BIS workaround file, so that the modline includes your mods.

[AlecDelorean 10]

Excellent mission well done on the conversion.

few little bugs tho, some of our team invincible others not so much :) Direct hits from a shilka blew us in the air but we landed without injury.

Enemys spawning in mid air and dying as they hit the ground in front of you.

Secops is brilliant tho really adds to it.

extraction was a little bugged chopper wouldnt move then when it , it took off instantly without anyone. We shot at it and it flew back and took out half the team :D

i'm glad you like it.

hmmm, interesting, tested the mission lots of times in sp, but never experienced that much trouble. its hard to say wether its a bug in the mission or of arma2 OA (netcode? server sync problem?). you could help, with telling me what faction of enemies spawned in mid air, how often this happens and in what situation, to determine the source of the problem (smells like SecOps module or Ambient Combat module spawning). anyway, i will look into finetuning the modules for the next update, need some time learning more arma2-script ;) .

[EBass 0]

Cool mission some problems/bugs on my end though.

Insertion chopper won't land. You can order all your men to disembark and it will (eventually) but no one knows where. It dropped me off about 500 metres from where I should have been.

SecOps missions were cancelled before I had even the remotest chance to start them. Every SecOps mission I was asked to do was cancelled within about 1 minute of it occuring which is hardly enough to cross 100 metres, let alone 3-500 over rough terrain. Even a convoy destruction mission whose route went right past me got cancelled before I had seen one vehicle.

Apart from that, great stuff.

[Bomber_c 0]

Even a convoy destruction mission whose route went right past me got cancelled before I had seen one vehicle.

Apart from that, great stuff.

Are you certain that you're accepting the secops?

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

I'm assuming this is just a bug everybody knows about, but I want to be sure. Why is the insertion helicopter a UH60 but the extraction helicopter is a UH1?

What does the IR strobe do in this mission. Anything?

Oh and does the CAS support request work for anybody else? HQ says it's en route but it never actually gets to the target. EDIT: After waiting for a while an MQ-9 finally showed up but ultimately did nothing but circle the target a few times.

Edited July 7, 2010 by JuggernautOfWar

[kdjac 19]

i'm glad you like it.

hmmm, interesting, tested the mission lots of times in sp, but never experienced that much trouble. its hard to say wether its a bug in the mission or of arma2 OA (netcode? server sync problem?). you could help, with telling me what faction of enemies spawned in mid air, how often this happens and in what situation, to determine the source of the problem (smells like SecOps module or Ambient Combat module spawning). anyway, i will look into finetuning the modules for the next update, need some time learning more arma2-script ;) .

Default mission on our dedicated server here.

http://www.hlsw.org/gameserver/217.78.4.73:2302/ARMA2

If you want to test new versions send them on and we will break the shit out of them for you :D

[EBass 0]

Are you certain that you're accepting the secops?

And how does one do this? Theres no option on the action menu, nor by radio.

[nominesine 0]

Press [sPACEBAR] select Communication and then SecOps. Now you should be able to accept or decline.

[AlecDelorean 10]

I'm assuming this is just a bug everybody knows about, but I want to be sure. Why is the insertion helicopter a UH60 but the extraction helicopter is a UH1?

What does the IR strobe do in this mission. Anything?

Oh and does the CAS support request work for anybody else? HQ says it's en route but it never actually gets to the target. EDIT: After waiting for a while an MQ-9 finally showed up but ultimately did nothing but circle the target a few times.

1. i'm still playing with the choppers (survivability), its not a bug (beta)

2. all soldiers start with the default equipment (beta, IR strobes, get rid of them if you need the slot)

3. CAS worked for me with an A10 and an AH64, remember that the Ambient Combat Module creates fights in the valleys around you, sometimes the CAS gets shot down before it reaches your destination, war isn't balanced - welcome to takistan...

however if something shows up and doesn't attack, it's a typical Arma2 AI called by the SecOps module, sometimes it works, sometimes not...

one more thing, before you call the extraction chopper, send some scouts in his direction to make shure the flightpath is secured. (Ambient Combat)

and nominesine, thanks for helping out!

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

Thanks Alec, explained a lot. I do have one more question about the CAS though. Do I need to use a laser designator or will it just hit where my crosshairs are at all the time?

[kdjac 19]

Thanks Alec, explained a lot. I do have one more question about the CAS though. Do I need to use a laser designator or will it just hit where my crosshairs are at all the time?

You can take out your map then call in in your CAS and wherever your mouse is pointed at it will hit. All drops work that way also.

[Punisher5555 0]

I love your Cipher missions. 1.41b is awesome.

On your new one for OA I ran into a issue when the "zone" was by the airfield. When I got to the zone everyone was dead because of the overflying friendly choppers. They killed everyone except the tanks. Needless to say I was much obliged, but the mission was super easy then.

Also I stole a bmp from one of the side missions and proceeded to run over some enemy but they would not die. It was cartoon like running back and forth over them.

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

Only real bug I've had so far is the mission area being on a mountain with nothing there, couldn't complete mission and had to restart to get a new random mission area.

[AlecDelorean 10]

I love your Cipher missions. 1.41b is awesome.

On your new one for OA I ran into a issue when the "zone" was by the airfield. When I got to the zone everyone was dead because of the overflying friendly choppers. They killed everyone except the tanks. Needless to say I was much obliged, but the mission was super easy then.

Also I stole a bmp from one of the side missions and proceeded to run over some enemy but they would not die. It was cartoon like running back and forth over them.

very important: i'm not wiper! he is the creator of the original cipher!

and yes, the mission varies from being super easy (one time i only needed 10 min.) to very hard (1h-2h only one survivor). AND I LIKE IT that way, i was playing the original cipher so often, that i always knew whats gonna happen. now, you'll never know how hard they will hit you and what help you get.

bmp-run-over-problems are not bugs of this mission, make shure you hit them with the wheels. :cool:

@JuggernautOfWar

CAS is operating on it's own, no laserdesignator required (SecOps AI).

one time i had this mission area problem too, red zone was on a mountain top. in that case the suitcase was 50 meters out of the red zone. HINT: always look for buildings, warlord and suitcase will always be in or around a building.

Edited July 8, 2010 by AlecDelorean

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

I've found another bug. The SecOps mission "reinforce" is broken. The helicopter flies on by never dropping supplies nor personnel.

So why does the enemy have seemingly random levels of strength whereas the original did not? All this has added over the original is Dynamic Combat and SecOps right?

Edited July 8, 2010 by JuggernautOfWar

[AlecDelorean 10]

I've found another bug. The SecOps mission "reinforce" is broken. The helicopter flies on by never dropping supplies nor personnel.

So why does the enemy have seemingly random levels of strength whereas the original did not? All this has added over the original is Dynamic Combat and SecOps right?

did he just fly over or landed and started with dropping nothing? describe the situation more precise please. i guess he was attacked on his way to you and decided the LZ was too hot. i've seen this before, flying over, but 5 mins later he landed 500 - 1000 away from the insertion point. thats no bug, its standard SecOps-AI.

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

I didn't see him land, but he may have landed a kilometer away or so, it was in mountainous terrain so I couldn't see. I saw him fly by (there was some AK fire) twice and then just fly off into the sunrise. Is there a way I can know if and where he actually landed since the objective waypoint doesn't update?