.pablo.

i had fun tonight; i really enjoyed the mission, i think zeus should focus on playing one new mission every tues/sat gathering, on less well known islands (freya as opposed to everon). anyway, here're some pics i took: it may be hard to make out, but there are two other squads in the distance; the landing was intense, we came in right on top of an SA-13, but all the choppers were able to drop off the infantry (not sure who destroyed the SA-13). i wish i could get gamecam to work on my laptop, as it would've made a really nice video...this pic just shows our squads regrouping, right after our helicopters had left the LZ. [im]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-4/985557/02headingnorth.jpg[/img]>100kb after getting our bearings, jinef organized the 3 squads into a column with a couple hundred meters between each. then we started on our 3km trek to the town...this picture shows loos in front (bravo squad leader), with warrior-x on his left and nezz on his right. with about 1km to go, we encountered some resistance and lost a couple players (to disconnects), which meant bravo was recruited to take point. this pic just shows loos stopping to say 'hi' to jinef, with warrior-x in back. [im]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-4/985557/04theAO.jpg[/img]>100kb a pic of the town we were supposed to attack (had to kill the quality to get it below 100kb, probably because of the red marker overlay). the black boxes are 100m across, so to imagine how far away the LZ is, just multiply the distance from the town to the bottom of the screen by ~3.5. [im]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-4/985557/05attheembassy.jpg[/img] upon approaching the town we lost 2 helis to an SA-13 in town, but after some heavy street fighting we were able to make it to the embassy. i ditched my ak/gl for an svd an ai in my squad had dropped, and took up a position on the embassy roof, where i was able to take out a few enemy soldiers. one thing i noticed was that the enemy soldiers didn't seem to have waypoints; for future versions of the mission, i would suggest using an infoshare script or something to make sure they don't just stand in one location. [im]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-4/985557/06WaXsecuringembassy.jpg[/img]>100kb another pic from the embassy roof; this is warrior-x on the north side of the embassy, firing on ai in the NE end of town. a few minutes after this my computer crashed mysteriously (i was easily pulling 20-25 fps with the whole town in view, so idk what would have caused the crash).

only 1st person view; only time i ever turn on 3rd person is if i've d/l'ed a new addon and want to take a look at it while i use it.

had a good time on regina assault last night; here's the AAR (2.75mb): http://s63.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2ACI7EKQIE5212I7LD3Q3TI49Y (25 max downloads, post if it doesn't work anymore)

ofp.info's mirror is giving me a 421 error; any mirrors available?

one more question: would it be possible to make the effects show up automatically based on the weather, instead of requiring a gamelogic to be placed? it would make it a lot easier to incorporate into ofp... nice screenshot parvus!

how did you manage that? is your dad maruk? first played the demo when i saw the demo on the demo disc of pc gamer, april 2001 (at least i think it was around there, maybe march). had never heard about the game before, but i was just dumbfounded when i saw how different and absolutely spectacular the concept of this game was. started editing mission.sqms over the summer of 2001, even though i had absolutely 0 coding experience; big ups to lustypooh! then that first GUI editor came out (before the game was even released! ), which made everything a LOT easier. bought the game online as soon as it came out, i don't remember exactly but i think i may have imported the UK version; that was around november 2001 i think. i had on and off periods since then, i stopped playing for like 3-4 months when i couldn't beat "after montignac", but i always came back. and now i find myself spending more time thinking about ofp than when it first came out!

idk, is that how things generally happen in r/l? from my general memory, weather tends to be relatively consistent within a given day, not changing drastically very often, and especially not within short time intervals...

i can't wait!

this addon is amazing. i thought those 2d clouds that came out a couple months ago were amazing, but these fully 3d clouds just blow them out of the water; flying through clouds is incredible, the snow effects are incredible, the fog effects are incredible, the falling leaf effects are incredible, everything about this addon is incredible, just top top quality. things that i would like to see for a next version: - lower lag thunderstorms? i was brought down to ~10-15 fps from ~30-40 (and it went as low as 6fps when i was flying right through the thunderstorm), whereas the other weather effects had no noticeable effect. did you guys make custom sounds for the thunder? it seemed impressively loud (like r/l), and i don't remember ofp thunder being that loud...maybe it was just my imagination... - i also saw black leaves, as well as orange ones (as opposed to the majority of green ones). i would make different effects for different seasons (or different tree types, or something); it just looks kind of strange being in an all-green forest and seeing orange leaves coming down. idk, i'll have to try the effect with different tree types (i was using the crappy everon needle ones :P) - are real rain clouds that blue? they look kind of strange against the all-gray sky... anyway, i'm just gonna finish by re-stating how amazing this addon is, it's the little things like this that make ofp look better than every other game out there (in my opinion, anyway).

hmm, i'm pretty sure the games start around 2100GMT, maybe a little later or sooner depending on the day; you could probably check the zeus forums for the official time. note to zeus leaders: please, no more co-ops! i want pvp!

yeah, i understood that; but my point was that the vietnam conflict as a whole was not about that kind of combat, and it makes more sense for any game about the vietnam war to feature the kind of combat that existed in that war. it's the same complaint people had of the movie full metal jacket; the only combat shown is urban, whereas the overwhelming majority of the vietnam war was not fought in an urban setting. these are exactly the types of problems that would come with such a drastic change of setting for the game (from the jungle to the city). i claim this observation as proof of my point. :P

here you go: http://ofp.gamezone.cz/index.php?showthis=9143

i'm not exactly sure, though i recall that other certain mods have required separate shortcuts (I44, FDF); it's really no big deal, as long as the player knows he has to do it. just add something about it to the readme for the next version and it'll be fine.

ok, figured out the source of my problem; i was trying to run VTE through OFP Launcher, instead of a separate shortcut. works perfectly now...

deleted the contents of my @VTE folder, dragged in the contents of the x_vte folder from the .rar, ran the .dat thing to install the sky, and that was it! the contents of my x_vte\bin folder are now: do i have to convert the config.cpp to a config.bin? something else weird is that in the VTE readme that comes with the latest version, it doens't mention the bin folder:

hey, gotta start off by saying what an awesome idea this is! here are the contents of the .pbo for anyone who was interested in what is replaced: an explanation of what the different sounds are, based on some quick testing: - ForestDay/Night is the sound for anywhere on an island that is not near the beach and is below a certain altitude. - HillDay/Night is the sound for anywhere on an island above a certain altitude. - i can't quite figure out what triggers MeadowDay/Night, but it seems to be determined by the number of trees/bushes around or something; you can hear it if you go into the northernmost part of Malden (the desert area). - Rain.ogg is obviously the sound played when it's raining. - SeaDay/Night is the sound that plays when you are within ~100 yards of the sea. unfortunately i couldn't test whether it was any water source (ie a lake) that would set this off or not, as none of the 3 original islands have a lake... my observations: the wind would be a nice touch if any of the trees and/or bushes in ofp swayed at all...unfortunately now it just sounds weird hearing a windy day and seeing all the trees standing absolutely still...i'd get sound clips from a windless day. in meadownight.ogg it sounds like someone is taking very slow steps. rain.ogg has the sound of water landing on pavement, 99% of ofp takes place off of pavement (either in grass or dirt). the SeaDay/Night sounds should be recorded from further away, to get that faint, constant sound of waves crashing on shore that you hear when you're a couple hundred feet from shore; the default ofp sounds did this pretty well, they're just low quality. having sounds taken from right up next to the waves makes it sound weird when you're still ~100 yards away from shore (which is when the sound starts to play). oh god, comparing the sounds in this addon just made me notice the horrible bird call that loops every 4 seconds in the default ForestDay sounds, this is going to drive me crazy...make sure your clip doesn't have loud, easily noticeable repetitions like that. anyway, despite all my criticisms, i think this is a really good idea, and you should definitely continue to work on it!

when i start up ofp with the VTE mod running i get the following error: ofp continues to start up, but when i get to the main screen i get the following error: and then none of the sp missions, campaigns, or addons will load when i start a mission, instead sending me back to the main screen. i originally tried running VTE under the mod folder name @VTE, but when i changed it to x_vte it gave me the same problem. any ideas on what i did wrong?

actually, now that i think about it, i'm pretty sure i remember reading that snipers are a battalion-level asset (or something ridiculously high like that, as bals suggested), while i would imagine sharpshooters (what jinef was basically talking about, a guy with a sniper rifle) would be much more common, i suppose as low as the platoon level. edit: kick ass, just noticed this was my 200th post!

yeah, any type of firewall/protection thing on the server side (not sure about the client side) can screw it up.

that seems like a good point; idk whether a typical squad/platoon would have access to that kind of weapon, though; jinef? well thats more a problem with ofp's ai than with co-op, and one that has been addressed, with HD weapons, editing of the ai for less accuracy without affecting the weapons, editing of ai sight and vision, etc. not to mention that you might be just as likely to get shot by someone from a great distance if you were running around by yourself while they were in a formation with 9-12 eyes scanning their surroundings for movement.

just finished the campaign, here are the the notes i took while playing: - translation could be greatly improved - remove the fps counter from being "on" by default in dxdll - add diary or notes or something to notes page in briefing - somehow explain where the player is and where he has to go, or explain that the mission should be played in cadet mode (put it in the briefing/notes) mission notes: - translate all waypoints into english - don't require cadet mode (if possible, after beating the campaign i see that this could be required) - remove other possible exit point in first mission (behind the train, in the corner) - add something to the debriefing of each mission, notes by the protagonist of where he needs to go next would be good - why are the 2 dudes following me in sektor7 suddenly gone in sektor8? - giant russian heli is crashed next to hospital in sektor8 - giant russian heli crashes at the end of the cutscene in sektor8 (after seeing the 1st crashed one) - cinematic at hospital is cut short by "mission completed" hintc - i killed the res guys in sektor11 before the cinematic in which they talk to each other; might wanna fix that - player always starts with pistol, instead of main weapon - saw a guy in a tree in sektor11 - had the same problem other people mentioned where i got injured somehow without being shot (sektor 12? it was in the swamp i think...) and had to deal with my crappy aim for the rest of the game - outro never ends overall: - great cinematics - great soundtrack - great atmosphere - almost non-existant story/plot - iffy gameplay, nonexistant freedom this campaign started with fantastic atmosphere, but it eventually gets dulled by the repetitive gameplay; ofp and stalker were both meant to be open-ended games, so i think any ofp mod based on stalker should also be open-ended. i don't want that criticism to make you think that i didn't like this campaign, however, so i'll just end by saying again how much i loved the atmosphere and prop layout (abandoned cars, grass, etc.), it really made me feel like i was a stalker outside of chernobyl.

awesome, thanks; fyi, you link to the earlier version on your website, i couldn't find the new version anywhere on it.

is it just me or does the english patch for the campaign not translate the intro? i just d/led conspiracies though so idk what the hell i'm doing...

pvp - 'player vs. player' [sometimes 'platoon vs. platoon'] co-op; take any co-op, and make the other side playable, and you have a pvp (provided you have people playing both sides). i think referring to it as deathmatch isn't very fair. whereas in any deathmatch a key point is the balancing of power, so that the winning team is determined by the skill of its players, in pvp there is no attempt to balance the forces, and very frequently there is a large imbalance (one side has armor, the other does not, one side has air support, the other does not, etc.). the thing is, they don't have to be; of course, most military engagements (and missions in ofp) can be referred to as "attack and defend," but pvp by no means necessitates that type of mission. that is as true for regular co-ops as pvp, so i disagree with the implication that pvp is any less a co-op than regular (1-sided) co-ops. in fact, co-op by its very definition is a type of mission where the goal is to cooperate.

thursday i'd like to get into some pvp; nothing against bech or coop or whoever was leading, but saturday was a little too sloppy to be fun. jinef told me that someone new was leading, and i'm fine with that, but i was annoyed when chaos failed to result (or rather, when the little chaos we experienced failed to magnify itself due to the lack of an intelligent enemy). in other words, if my side is making bad tactical decisions or is unorganized, i want to be destroyed decisively, and that didn't happen saturday. i think with human opponents it might have gotten a little more interesting...(could bech be made pvp?) anyway, i look forward to thursday!