W.I.C.T -- World In Conflict Tool for ArmAII and OA

[Alex72 1]

The module in itself with garbage collector and functions plus unit with 0% probability is not enough to kick this off right? I have to use the example mission to get it working if i understand it properly?

And thanks big time for this. Seems great. :)

[ArmAIIholic 10]

The module in itself with garbage collector and functions plus unit with 0% probability is not enough to kick this off right? I have to use the example mission to get it working if i understand it properly?

Well, you have to put the markers where the bases are... You don't have to use example mission if you mean sqm file. You have to configure the bases and all units that will spawn have to be defined in UserSettings folder. It might seams a lot, but actually it's pretty simple.

For a quick start you can just move the markers and trigger zones to different places and use the Excel file to get new numbers for spawning. You can put more tanks for example, to see how it's like.

Cheers

P.S. now I am really gone. See you guys in 10 days. Write here if something crosses your mind - what would you like to see in this module?

[TRexian 0]

...what would you like to see in this module?

Salma Hayek?

:)

Enjoy your vacation!

[Haystack15 10]

In WiC, in every single moment, you have a clear battlefront that you push and push until you conquer some point, and then hell starts - you have to defend it Thus my favorite mission was pushing enemy forces off the bridges and climbing my way up the hill through the small town, till I get to the church to find out that Bannon screwed up again and that you have to defend that place. Or when I was almost crushed, radio called and USS Missouri came to help. Or destroying submarines before they sail out. Or heavy gunships in France pounding down poor tanks. Oh boy. Atmosphere...

Thats one Crazy atmosphere you like to be in my friend, But i do see you point on why you did this. And after hearing it, Its nice to see this in ARMA II. Keep it up and good luck to u,

Sorry i wont be able to test it. I never get the chance to play games as much as i used to. Hope to test it soon being a WIC fan............

And good luck in that WIC atmosphere my friend. Its murder for Infantry in that Atmosphere

[RodeoX 10]

This sounds like an awesome idea! Thanks for this contribution.:bounce3:

[purpheart23 10]

Where exactly does the .xls file belong. Thanks for the help.

NM.

Edited July 20, 2010 by purpheart23

[ray243 11]

@ray243 if you could be more specific I could be more specific. I think I made it clear in the post above -- they are totally different genres, that is a fact, I didn't "fall on my head". I am emotionally attached to the atmosphere and thrill moments I had playing WiC. I want to present that atmosphere here from first person perspective, to make player feel like a part of something bigger. After I put some High command this will get tactical perspective too.

Ahhh. So I was thinking, how does WIC work in a first person? Do you get a player in high command mode and the other players are being commanded by him? And then does he get a support addon?(airstrikes etc)

So is this in RTS mode or first person?

[zapat 56]

ray243: We'll see I guess, but I've just snooped around, and the author has some promising ideas, and the demo looks promising too.

As far as I see it, he kinda wants to create a world where action will be around you (like in GTA), but governed by some deeper directions (as if someone invisible played a strategy game in the background). So I am expecting an FPS, that would feel like you had been placed in a single unit in the WIC world.

The demo played like a sort of combination of my favourite SP games:Flashpoint Chernarus and Seize Zones, with the potential of mixing it all with some static content.

[sarge4267 16]

still need a in detail manual about this.

Demo mission was awesome tough.

Keep it up!

[JB1528 10]

I can't wait for a detailed manual for this, but until then I'm going to be trying to port a larger scale version of his Utes demo mission to everon for fun. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Edit: Damn I feel dumb, I just cant figure out how to get a larger scaled mission of this to work. The AI only seems to spawn men when I'm near their base. Can someone PM me one of their working larger ports so I can see what it is I'm doing wrong?

Edited July 21, 2010 by JB1528

[D.scardino 0]

I edited the configuration for Zargabad with Militia, Taki Army and Us Army if anyone wants me to upload.

[guiltyspark 10]

I loved world in conflict easily top 3 favorites of all time

Will give this a try

[sarge4267 16]

I edited the configuration for Zargabad with Militia, Taki Army and Us Army if anyone wants me to upload.

maybe a tutorial on how to change it?

[JB1528 10]

maybe a tutorial on how to change it?

Agreed, can anyone who was able to make a large scale port tell us exactly how they did it?

Edit: Seriously I can't figure this out, no matter what I do it doesn't work right.

*I merge the Utes mission with the Everon island

*spread out the bases over the island

*Copy/paste the script files into the mission folder

*Go inside the starsettings script and change the max number of AI groups to 144 /WICT_numAIg = 144;

* And increase the spawning frequency by changing the spawn time from 5 to 1 */WICT_time = 1;WICT_timeRand = 1;/*

I don't change anything else so there's no reason why the mission that works so flawlessy on Utes cant work for everon? Can someone please tell me what I did wrong?

Edited July 22, 2010 by JB1528

[JB1528 10]

No one can seriously tell me what I missed? I'm really stumped here.

[sarge4267 16]

No one can seriously tell me what I missed? I'm really stumped here.

I think you'll have to wait for the creator to come back from vacation.

Can't find it either.

[Richey79 10]

Two things I'm finding problematic:

1) If I put a flag/base down (trigger for West, trigger for East, flag object), then later delete or move it, it remains on the in-mission map for the player seemingly forever.

2) If I use 'setupW' and 'setupE' to instruct more flags/bases to spawn units, it crashes Arma 2 when they try to spawn.

Maybe someone can report their experiences; otherwise this can hang here 'til the author returns from vacation.

NVM, I've worked them out.

Edited July 24, 2010 by Richey79

[Richey79 10]

I'm putting together a WICT-based mission based on the Baghdad map. I haven't added all the features I want or polished it up yet, but it's at a stage where it is able to show off some of the atmosphere WICT creates. It definitely aims to be a fun mission rather than a realistic one. Hopefully it will help keep some interest in this thread active until ArmAIIholic gets back from vacation!

Current features:

- 7 dynamic flags and one safe zone. Four of these have bases (adapted from Edgardeath's templates) with troops stationed, so they're not too easy to instantly cap by flying over ;).

- OA assets. US army forces will spawn to defend the shifting battle front. You will face the Takistani army and the tribal forces who are loyal to them.

- A few scripted fixed-wing bombers and chinooks to make it feel like the start of an invasion. Other than the troops guarding the flags/bases, anything else that happens is down to WICT.

- I've tried to make some compromises to maintain a reasonable frame-rate. This does not represent the upper-end of the number of groups WICT can spawn for you. It's still going to be somewhat demanding with all those units doing their thing.

- Secops artillery support is available: use your radio on the map screen.

- There's no congratulatory message when you've captured all the flags yet.

ADHD Baghdad beta 0.31: http://www.mediafire.com/?fym0vs33bsdy6v3

Addons required:

ebanks' and Emery's Baghdad map: http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=10702&highlight=BAGHDAD

WICT: http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=11335&highlight=WICT

Requires Combined Operations.

Addons recommended:

Operation Arrowbent: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=102480

Edit: - Updated to have higher number of AI groups and move the flags closer together to create a more intensely contested zone.

- Added IEDs in various positions along the main South/North road.

- Added light-trucks using Big Dawg KS' script.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Richey79

[Lucan946 10]

If I'm reading this right, you've made a tool that even I can use. Considering that almost 100% of my missions consist a couple of squads with a "Kill some other people" waypoint, this is a huge accomplishment.

[ArmAIIholic 10]

Although I was on vacation I had time to brainstorm and sketch some ideas, so as soon as I recover from road trip I will start working on them.

Thank you all for participating. Now let me answer to some questions and comments.

Sorry I won’t be able to test it. I never get the chance to play games as much as I used to.

It's murder for Infantry in that Atmosphere

Thank you for your time anyway. I am glad that such a fan appreciates this. I know it’s a hard time for infantry, therefore there will be plenty of vehicles to choose from, and you can easily make tank battles, or level like one after nuclear explosion in WiC where you have to collect, repair and gather armor vehicles.

Where exactly does the .xls file belong.

The mysterious .xls file is Microsoft Excel File that will help you determine cumulative frequencies for spawning probability. I will write about it in the manual so that this file is not required, but helpful.

As far as I see it, he kinda wants to create a world where action will be around you (like in GTA), but governed by some deeper directions (as if someone invisible played a strategy game in the background). So I am expecting an FPS, that would feel like you had been placed in a single unit in the WIC world.

Didn’t write it better myself, congratulation and thanx zapat. Yes, this is FPS and not RTS. However, as I wrote before, as ArmA is not pure FPS because it has High Command, so WICT is not pure FPS either.

The AI only seems to spawn men when I'm near their base. Can someone PM me one of their working larger ports so I can see what it is I'm doing wrong?

The only thing I can think of is wrong base setup – more exactly wrong spawn probabilities. And what is exactly “near their base†– let me get this straight – no base (without exception) will spawn units if you are closer than defined spawning distance – default 250 m – which you can see in debug mode: picked base point will be none. It will try to find some other nearest base if such base exists. It is logical consequence that if enemy has only one base nothing will be spawned for enemy side. So this won’t work for 2 bases (one W one E) close to each other. This mode is meant for large scale operations.

*Go inside the starsettings script and change the max number of AI groups to 144 /WICT_numAIg = 144;

* And increase the spawning frequency by changing the spawn time from 5 to 1 */WICT_time = 1;WICT_timeRand = 1;/*

Increasing WICT_numAIg won’t give you more units on the field, which is little paradox. It will just prolong time after which Garbage Collector kicks in and starts working. What does it mean?

1) The list of spawned units, vehicles, groups and waypoints will grow bigger and bigger and bigger with each spawn. The complete list will be transferred to Garbage Collector once the groups limit is reached. You are aware that elongation of the list can drop FPS (creating new array, allocating space, copying old members and adding new one).

2) This can lead to drop in frames per second.

3) You will have more constant spawning turns before Garbage Collector starts working --- and his cycle is 10 sec, according to community info.

I will change some spawning handles and scripts, so dropping down WICT_time won’t be a problem. Right now, it can be a disaster in combination with WICT_numAIg. You will push this script to its limits by setting it up this way, lots of coding is FSM that cannot overlap like SQF… I will fix all these things, but current version is sensitive to you “maniacs†;) - this is not zombie mode.

Full explanation how to balance between performance and spawning rate will be in the manual.

-------------------------------------

Richey79 I don’t know how to thank you enough. I see you had some problems and you said you worked them out and you posted a mission. Fantastic man! And you combined it with other modes, it’s brilliant. I will test it when I finish changes on this mod.

Flag system will be different – I will implement neutral flags and more realistic flag capture. AI will be changed a lot, and also their priorities and capture-flag methods.

I hope that after I release new improved module you will find more stuff to play with.

About your remark “aims to be a fun mission rather than a realistic one†– ohh this can be very realistic, and you gave me idea. I will write in manual about counting particular units. Every base can have limited number of units, or every battle can have particular number of units. Although this is infinite spawning system, it is flexible enough to be realistic.

Did you have anything else on mind when you wrote “not realistic�

Thank you all people and write what you would like to see in this mode.

Best regards,

A2H

[kremator 1065]

Welcome back off holiday mate! Now get to work and make this into an AMAZING mod!

Just kidding.

[Richey79 10]

Indeed, welcome back!

I've been playing with this tool some more. I agree that it's going to prove useful to achieve complex stuff more easily in more sophisticated missions (and not just Battlefield-style fun random spawning ones).

The tool seems really flexible, and I think I like it just as much as DAC. For example, you don't necessarily need to have both sides' bases spawning troops, you can have WICT start have way through a mission, adding a dynamic element to otherwise scripted gameplay. You can have the bases as being invisible to the player and just use them as a way of guiding the AI to attack in a general area of the map you want. Performance is very efficient. Again, reminds me of the way DAC treats AI groups as a single unit once they are a certain distance from the player.

Stuff I would like to understand better (or maybe fiddle with):

- The distance from a base at which the module regards it as the functional base and 'activates' it. The current distance seems pretty good, but it would be really flexible to be able to change this (I don't know, perhaps it's already possible and I just don't know how).

- Would be nice to be able to disable the hints that always tell which base is active. Great for mission testing, but can kill immersion once you know it's working properly. Again, perhaps it's already possible.

I'm currently working on a two mission mini-campaign. Both use WICT for different purposes. Got the first one finished at the moment. Looking forward to the next version of the tool.

[ArmAIIholic 10]

1) adding a dynamic element to otherwise scripted gameplay. You can have the bases as being invisible to the player and just use them as a way of guiding the AI to attack in a general area of the map you want.

2) The distance from a base at which the module regards it as the functional base and 'activates' it. The current distance seems pretty good, but it would be really flexible to be able to change this (I don't know, perhaps it's already possible and I just don't know how).

3) Would be nice to be able to disable the hints that always tell which base is active. Great for mission testing, but can kill immersion once you know it's working properly. Again, perhaps it's already possible.

4) Looking forward to the next version of the tool.

Thanx, I will get straight to answers.

1) Yes, bases can be invisible, but the again, you have to keep the element of capturing the bases and turning them to your side (or loosing them). The invisible bases are part of the directional zones = zones that spawn different troops depending on direction from which you are approaching. However, it is also possible to make ghost bases = base that is activated during gameplay and it is connected to the story of campaign, for example a new camp or base that wasn't originally on the map, but one side created it (or you want as a part of the story / twist in the story to be created).

I tested DAC, it is fabulous and I see it has long successful history. But re-creating DAC was never my goal. As you correctly noticed WICT is different story. So, I won't go further than that, because I have huge respect to DAC and I don't want to compare with.

2) The distance you are speaking about is currently set on 1km. I thought it is reasonable distance. Nevertheless, I'll make it editable for next version.

3) For the new version I've put all developer-related content under one control. In the current version you have (and that would be 1.0) go to startSettings.sqf and put debug = "yes"; on debug = "no".

4) Coming hopefully for the weekend (spoiler! ;)).

AI

-- speeded up infantry a little bit

-- increased initial altitude and speed for helicopters to get realistic path for flying over battlefield

-- implemented Binesi's BIN_taskDefend.sqf v1.3a and BIN_taskPatrol.sqf v1.2 for more realistic behavior when the base is captured; implemented Wolffy.au version of Binesi's BIN_taskDefend.sqf v1.3; adapted for FSMs and added JTD direction normalization function by Trexian

-- added flag call for neutral sectors for other factions

-- every class has completely different behavior and orders with different complexity

CORE

-- added various safety checks for finding spawn positions and waypoints

-- added global assault when clearing memory

USER SETTINGS

-- all classes have templates you can edit

>>> Tested and working for WICT_time = 2; WICT_timeRand = 0;

Best regards,

A2H

Edited August 5, 2010 by ArmAIIholic
new stuff in spoiler

[tyler4171 10]

Guys the next update will have a fully supported OA module aswell

[ArmAIIholic 10]

Well tyler4171, you couldn't wait with announcement ;) I am just kidding. As I told you, there are major changes to structure of the files you have worked on, so they will have to be adjusted.

Since Richey79 already made mission for OA, I thought that after the release me, Richey79 or you can combine these files. Any user created content is more than welcome and you can freely share it here or anywhere else.

But for that you will have to wait to see new files....

And I am very pleased you are so eager to help - thanx buddy.