NeoArmegddon's Satchel Replacement

[NeoArmageddon 957]

NeoArmageddon's Satchel Replacement

Version: 0.1 Beta

Short description: Replaces the vanilla satchels with advanced ones.

ArmA-Version: It should work with ArmA2, OA and CO

Description:

This addon replaces the vanilla BIS satchels with advanced ones. You will be able to set a channel for the satchel and the detonator, a delay for the satchels fuse and a preset timer.

And you friends are able to touch off your satchels, if they know the correct channel.

This addon also allows attaching satchels to vehicles.

THIS ADDON IS STILL BETA AND NEEDS SOME MORE TESTING! Please send a feedback!

Usage:

If you have placed a satchel or have at least one in your inventory you are able to access a satchel-menu ("Satchels") via actionmenu. There you can increase and decrease channel, delay and timer.

If you want a satchel to become a timebomb, you have to press "Activate timer". The next satchel will explode after the timespan configured via "Increase/Decrease Timer". Be warned, the timer starts just after you placed the satchel.

To attach a satchel to a vehicle, stand near the vehicle and press "Attach satchel to vehiclename".

Warning:

This addon is intended for coop and sp only! Serveradmin should not allow this addon on their PvP/Warfare server! Some players could have a advantage with this addon!

Known Bugs:

Sometimes the player is not able to deactivate a satchel on the ground.

The attachdistance is too far.

Order of actionmenu items.

No touchoff-distance-check (will be added soon).

Disclaimer:

Author: NeoArmageddon

Dont modify, copy or rerelease this addon or parts of it without my permission.

But you are invited to depbo this addon and learn from it!!!

Credits:

NeoArmageddon (Scripts and Config).

*TEK*Toni,*TEK*Oscar,*TEK*BM, PhoenixDance, SenChi and Scruffy for extensive testing.

Mondkalb for some testing and good advices.

Xeno for answering a stupid question from me (its _target, not _this ... d'oh).

Download (Keys included):

soulblighter.de

This addon requires Community Base Addons

Sorry for my bad english... :rolleyes:

Edited July 14, 2010 by NeoArmageddon

[DiFool 0]

This comes in handy. Thx, Neo! Wirklich eine gute Idee.

[MadMike-Brig2010- 10]

Sounds very interesting. Keey an eye on that...

[andersson 285]

Good job! I wanted features like this for a veery long time. Hope you get enough feedback so you can make this v1.0 :)

[Pak 0]

Great idea this makes the satchels more realistic.

Ich hoffe du machst auch eine Deutschsprachige Version...

[Guest]

Release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

NeoArmageddon's Satchel Replacement beta



(see installation notes)

Community Base addons A2

Community Base addons A2OA

Also a headsup. You have included the bikey and so you seem to have signed the addon, but there are no bisign files in the archive. You need those as well ;)

[tophe 68]

Great addon! Will absolutely have a look at this one. Lots of functions I have always missed.

[NeoArmageddon 957]

Also a headsup. You have included the bikey and so you seem to have signed the addon, but there are no bisign files in the archive. You need those as well ;)

Ooops... Sry, i forget to copy the file in my Releasefolder... I will do this asap.

Ich hoffe du machst auch eine Deutschsprachige Version...

A stringtable is planned for final release.

EDIT: I updated the archiv with the missing bisign

Edited July 14, 2010 by NeoArmageddon

[bartkusa 10]

Feature requests:

- If a satchel is attached to a vehicle, can you rig the satchel to be triggered by the engine turning on?

- If you ever make this multiplayer-compatible, can you make it so one player can disarm another's satchel? Maybe even have a random chance of accidental explosion during disarm (1% for demolitions/saboteur, 10% for engineer, 50% for anyone else)?

[NeoArmageddon 957]

- If you ever make this multiplayer-compatible, can you make it so one player can disarm another's satchel?

Already multiplayer compatible AND other player with this addon can disarm your satchel. But sometimes the "deactivate" action is missing (known bug).

I already tough about engine touchoff, but this is less effective against AI and will make this addon more attractive for people trying to cheat in PvP games.

[h3killa 10]

Well, if you make it a server side addon than all your problems can be avoided.

[synch_c 10]

Vanilla charges give your position away on touchoff iirc. Do these?

[NeoArmageddon 957]

Well, if you make it a server side addon than all your problems can be avoided.

How? Making this "replacement" serverside will cause more problems than it solves i think. The issue with the deactivation is caused by the actionmenu-spottingbehaviour, not by a client-server side issue.

And with a serverside addon you are not able to play on the servers without this addon anymore...

Vanilla charges give your position away on touchoff iirc. Do these?

Probably not. But how a exploding satchel reveals your position in reality?

I thought about adding a "click"-sound to the detonator, this could alert nearby AI with a simple script (I added this to planed features).

[JohnnyDust 10]

Great initiative and great work Neo, we've been hoping someone would expand on the satchels system, and I'm already looking forward to sequencing cityblocks with my buddies. And thanks for the timer function, that'll definately come in handy :D

Hope to see more in the future, we'll make sure to get some feedback to you once we've tried it out abit. Cheers!

[Nielsen 10]

This is awesome!

Been hoping for something like this for so long. Thanks man. Been testing it out a little bit, and I really like it. Works really nice. Cant wait to set up some serious demo missions. Gonna be so sweet :cool:

For some feedback and (hopefully constructive) critisism.

Like you said I did not seem to be able to deactive/remove the satchels once placed. I know - known issue. Just saying I had the problem also, and it would obviously be nice if you were able to fix it. If not, then I can def. live with it.

One thing that would be SO nice, was if you could make it dialog based instead of doing it all through the action menu. I dont know anything about dialogs, so I have no idea how hard this would be to implement. I'm just saying that it would be way easier to set things, and it seems you would have alot more room for implementing additional features without making the whole thing too confusing, and cluttering up the action too much. Just a thought, but certainly something that would make sure I would never run arma without it ;)

Something on the wishlist:

- Possibility of having seperate channel selection for detonator and placed satchels.

- More extensive possibilities when selecting time/fuse intervals.

- Possibility of "pre-setting" a sequence of satchels, instead of just the next one.

I guess they would propably all be to confusing to use in the action menu, so I guess I'm still rooting for the dialog thing.

Anyways. Great addon Neo, I will be using this all the time!

I hope you stay with it.

Regards.

EDIT: Btw, I forgot to mention, that the fuse option is a really cool feature

Edited July 15, 2010 by Nielsen
Ass kissing

[DiFool 0]

Vanilla charges give your position away on touchoff iirc. Do these?

Wtf? Is that true?

[NeoArmageddon 957]

This is awesome!

Been hoping for something like this for so long. Thanks man. Been testing it out a little bit, and I really like it. Works really nice. Cant wait to set up some serious demo missions. Gonna be so sweet :cool:

I am looking forward to see some of this missions. Maybe some kind of demolition expert missions. "We need to build a new highway through takistan/chernarus and you have to remove all buildings in its way!"

Like you said I did not seem to be able to deactive/remove the satchels once placed. I know - known issue. Just saying I had the problem also, and it would obviously be nice if you were able to fix it. If not, then I can def. live with it.

It seems that this issue happens in multiplayer less often. Can you, or anyone else investigate this?

One thing that would be SO nice, was if you could make it dialog based instead of doing it all through the action menu.

I am not good at creating dialogs. Since the very beginning of time this was mondkalbs part. But I will give it a try!

- Possibility of having seperate channel selection for detonator and placed satchels.

Dont know what you mean. If you put down a satchel, it has the current channel. If you change the channel after putting the satchel, the channel of detonator and differs.

- More extensive possibilities when selecting time/fuse intervals.

Example? Sliders?

- Possibility of "pre-setting" a sequence of satchels, instead of just the next one.

I think its quite easy with manual set of each satchel's delay ...think of creating a sequenz and than a t72 appears...

Anyways. Great addon Neo, I will be using this all the time!

I hope you stay with it.

BIG THX with all the positive feedback I can not do otherwise than stay with this addon

EDIT: Btw, I forgot to mention, that the fuse option is a really cool feature

*placing some satchel with delay*

*accidently press detonator*

"Oooops... i pressed the detonator ... thanks god nothing happens...."

*2 secs later*

BBBRRWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!

[synch_c 10]

Probably not. But how a exploding satchel reveals your position in reality?

That's the point. I dont't want them to. It was a loop hole introduced in arma that never got sorted out. It's a real turnoff sneaking undetected around a tank base laying charges in the dead of night for 30 minutes only to run 500m away, touch off and have every patrol instantly and magically home in on you.

I don't know why BIS changed the ofp charges. The touch off didn't blow your position and you could order squad mates to touch off.

This mod already sounds like a winner but to remain undetected after touch off would be the icing on the cake. I'll test and let you know.

[NeoArmageddon 957]

I'll test and let you know.

No need to test. It cant reveal your position at touchoff... its just a actionitem and a script^^ So all your problems with BIS satchels are solved^^

[Nielsen 10]

I am looking forward to see some of this missions. Maybe some kind of demolition expert missions. "We need to build a new highway through takistan/chernarus and you have to remove all buildings in its way!"

Hehe, indeed. I usually play small hosted coops, and we use alot of satchels :). No need for a full fletched demo-mission for this addon to be the bomb (pun intended ). I feel that everytime I have placed a vanilla satchel I have been slightly annoyed with the limited possibilities. This will make me preplan my detonation sequences in detail - even when there is absolutely no need for it :D.

It seems that this issue happens in multiplayer less often. Can you, or anyone else investigate this?

Hmm. I only had time to test it in SP. I will take a look at this, when my buddy is online and we've got the time.

I am not good at creating dialogs. Since the very beginning of time this was mondkalbs part. But I will give it a try!

Well, like I said. All I know about dialogs is that I LOVE them. I've never been a big fan of the action menu. I mean its neat, and I use it a lot in my missions, but only because I dont know any other way. Problems is, that I feel its clumsy to control, and not fit for lots of actions. In addition I got an itchy triggerfinger, and on more than a few occasions I have been known to unintentionally squeeze off a round while trying to select stuff in the menu :o.

Dialogs would not have the problem of cluttering up your action menu. Besides dialogs just feels and looks so nice imho.

Dont know what you mean. If you put down a satchel, it has the current channel. If you change the channel after putting the satchel, the channel of detonator and differs.

Yeah I know. All the things i suggested was just extensions of things that can allready be accomplished with your addon. What I meant was, it would be neat if I could place satchels on channel 4, while keeping my finger on the detonator for channel 8.

Example? Sliders?

Yeah, thats exactly what I was thinking. Again, dialogs would make this possible.

I think its quite easy with manual set of each satchel's delay ...think of creating a sequenz and than a t72 appears...

Hehe, good point. It was just a wild thought. I was still in the dialogs mindset, and thought that it would be so 1337 to have a sequence-pre-planner feature or something, so you could plan out and configure the satchels before going into hostile territory. Not that needed, it could just be fun.

BIG THX. with all the positive feedback I can not do otherwise than stay with this addon

I'm the one saying thanks. It's awesome that you have made this. I see a lot of mods being made, but very few of them leave me with a "FINALLY! I've been waiting for this." feeling. Glad to hear you'll stay with it. I guess we are all happy then ;)

*placing some satchel with delay*

*accidently press detonator*

"Oooops... i pressed the detonator ... thanks god nothing happens...."

*2 secs later*

BBBRRWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!

Haha. On that note. It could be awesome with a safety on the detonator! With dialogs this could look awesome, but it could also work with the action menu. If you changed the 'detonate' option to 'Safety off detonator' or something, and that would open the possibility of pushing 'the button'..

Cause yeah. As it is, there is a real possibility of going for your rifle, or talking to a civilian, and instead inadvertently setting off the whole of Bravo teams channel-1's :eek:...

One last thing. I've allways hated that you had to be very close to the satchels to detonate them. I would like that this was not the case with this addon. I do not know how realistic this is, but I find it hard to believe that the restriction of 200(?) meters is very realistic. Surely the military is using satelite technology. And even if satchels are irl somehow restricted to standard 2way radiowave detonators, then 200m seems very restrictive. I know my Yaesu Radio can send and recieve at 10 times that range (at least). Is it something you would look into?.

Looking forward to any improvements!

EDIT: Btw, I did not know that vanilla satchels gives up your position. If that is the case, and this addon does not, then it just got a severe utility-boost. Nice!

Edited July 15, 2010 by Nielsen

[runforrest 10]

this is really an addon that should go into a patch.

everything else i could say to this has already been said.

only 1 more idea. theres an addon from gdt>http://www.gdt-server.net/ under downloads > ARMA II OA GDTMod-Addons > GDT Satchel.

with that u can also throw ur satchel after u placed it on the ground.

in some situations this already saved my running ass... :D

other players cant see that u have thrown the satchel, i dont know if it can be seen if other players use the addon too.

maybe this would be a nice addition to ur addon.

anyway, nice addon and thx :)

[NeoArmageddon 957]

I already tought about adding satchel throwing, but this could be used as a extreme cheat of doom... I was considering to define a "grenade" dummy for throwing a satchel, but this will break multiplayer compatiblity with users without this addon.

Maybe i am giong to release a second version, where every player needs this addon to play.

My satchel currently disable the distancecheck for setting off the satchel, but i want to reimplant it again... but first i will investigate a "real" max. distance (with two of my little radios here^^)

[Nielsen 10]

Allright. Done some more testing.

The missing possibility of disarming the satchel do seem to be a little less frequent in MP. Not much though. When we tested it, only once had I the possibility of picking up my satchel again. When I put it again, I could not. My buddy could not remove any satchels.

Some other thoughts:

How does the timer work? I set the timer to 30sec and place a satchel. I wait 30sec and nothing happens. Then I hit the detonator to see if that will start the countdown, but once I hit detonate it detonates right away. What gives? :)

Instead of showing the total number of satchels placed in the 'current channel' action, it would be awesome if it only displayed the number of satchels placed in that channel. Would be much more usefull info imo.

Still loving the addon :ok:

EDIT:

My satchel currently disable the distancecheck for setting off the satchel, but i want to reimplant it again... but first i will investigate a "real" max. distance (with two of my little radios here^^)

Cool. But keep in mind which kind of radio you are using. I dont know what kind of radio you have, I'm just saying that a standard Motorola walkie have significantly less range than military grade UHF/VHF radios. My 'Yaesu VX-6E' has (in my experience) an effective range of at least 1km in a dense urban environment. When in an open environment with no buildings blocking reception the range extends beyond my testing capabilities. But I'd say 5-10km, easy.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Nielsen

[NeoArmageddon 957]

Have you diabled the timer again, after setting up time? That will deactivate the timer on the bomb too and it will not touchoff after x seconds.

The "detonate" button detonates normal and timed bombs instant.

[Nielsen 10]

No i had not deactivated the timer after placing the satchel. I set the timer to 30sec. I place the satchel and wait 30secs. Nothing happens. Everything else seems to work perfectly.

Regarding the detonation. I have looked into it since I posted before. I cant find numbers on the actual detonation-range of US satchel charges. However, I have found several ways of remote detonation the seem reasonable.

My best bet on a realistic approach is this 'Remote Detonation System - 6708' (RDS6708). I highly doubt that the military would use something with lesser range than a walkie talkie, when those puppies are available :).

To sum up a few features:

RDS6708 is a closed loop radio controlled unit, for remote initiation of munitions and explosives.

* Confirmation of status and demolition through closed loop communication

* Provision for microwave and land line operation

* Operating range of up to 4-5 Km in urban areas and 20-25 Km in line of sight distances

* Hardware is complaint with appropriate military specifications

RDS6708 is best used for:

* Special operations,

* Explosive Ordnance Disposal [EOD] tasks,

I'm not claiming that american troops are currently using this exact device. I just think that it is a pretty good indication of what is realistic.