Kilo Zulu

My apologies for never stating the version. Things are good now. I installed Resistance finally (it's been sitting on a shelf for years waiting for my friends to get it.) Everything is running smoothly now. The AI no longer shoots at vehicles, as CSL pointed out. I also had some error messages that showed up when I used CSL's vehicle load/unload commands. Everything still worked, but I'd get an error while troops were unloading helicopters, or while a vehicle was waiting for troops to load. The script worked fine otherwise, however. The error messages no longer show up, which is an added plus, since players no longer know exactly when reinforcements are arriving.

Already done, in a way. I've got a trigger to detect west, and it goes off once the AI spots the empty jeeps. That's when it gets funny. The patrols that spot the jeeps start trying to shoot the jeep, while the jeep crew races out of their barracks in response to the alarm. At that point it's a race to see if the jeep will get destroyed before the crew can mount it, the crew gets killed while they're trying to get in, or they manage to get away without being killed.

Update: The mission.sqm has been solved. A.) You can't modify an empty vehicle's side. The modified SQM cannot be interpretted by other players. B.) Changing the side of the crew who share the same variable as the jeep, instead of the jeep, will not fix the problem. I used "find" to locate the jeeps' names (jp1, jp2, jp3, etc.) and return their side to "empty" rather than "east." In my haste to return the file to it's original form, as players were waiting to play the game, I didn't look closely enough at the entries I was replacing. I changed the side of the vehicle driver rather than the vehicle itself, compounding the problem. I'm back to the original problem alone, which is that the AI is shooting at the empty vehicle. Thanks for the confirmation, CSL. I'm going ahead with installing Resistance. Two of my players have done so, and perhaps it'll put some fire under the remaining two. If that doesn't fix the problem outright, I've already downloaded the vehicle models that should rectify the problem.

Yep, 99% positive it's being caused by the mission.sqm. We did try playing a different mission, and it ran fine. Also, when I replaced the .sqm with it's back-up file, my friend could join normally. Unfortunately, the "back-up file" appeared to be blank. I'm guessing that it was simply created at the same time as the mission and never updated as I made changes. What's odd, however, is that I made my own back-up file prior to making changes, and it causes the same problems as the modified .sqm. My mission has no add-ons. I did, at one point, include an add-on model by mistake, but I removed it and it's file reference ages ago. We've played the mission any number of times since then. The error is completely different.

Seriously, it's easy. Â Hell, I'll even do it for you if you like. Â It would take all of 10 mins. Â You just need to tell me more specifically what you're needing. Â Which specific vehicles, and which specific side you want? I appreciate the offer, CSL, and I know how much you enjoy coding, but it's not what I meant. Â I haven't messed with any PBO editors, so it would be new territory for me. Â If I have to learn it, I will. Â It doesn't feel right to have you do it. Â "Teach a man to fish," and all that. I've decided that the easiest way to do it, without learning PBO's, is to get my friends to do the upgrade. Â They are doing it, it's been the plan for sometime, but they seem to be experiencing "coordination issues." Â I just need to get the mission back to a point where they can actually join it now.

New problem: since altering the mission.sqm, other players are unable to connect. I see "players config file has changed." They just crash to desktop and OFP remains running in their processes. I edited the file to remove my edits, but that didn't work, either. I can play the mission fine, but no one can join. How do I fix this? Thanks for your help.

I believe you are correct that the jeep was listed as "empty" to start. Â I'll peek again when I get the chance to verify that, as it's been a good week since last I looked. Â I'm using empty jeeps with MG's, which are eventually crewed by Guerilla units once the trigger is sprung. Â The Guerilla are sided with the Soviets. It's too bad that the Soviet side doesn't have anything similar to the Jeep w/MG. Â I've seen some BRDM models that would be great, but not all of my friends have Resistance yet (I've got them shopping for it,) and every useful model I've found requires it. I'm really hoping for this route, as CSL's plan of creating a custom PBO...scares me.

That's odd, I thought I had posted a response to this, but I don't see it here now? Well, the idea of changing the jeep's side in the mission.sqm file didn't work. I tried changing it from west to civ, from civ to guer, and from guer to east. Nothing worked. The same AI units continued to fire at it, regardless.

I haven't tried that specifically, but I have tried putting an AI unit of the same side into the jeep as the driver and just leaving him there from the start. The AI will still shoot at the jeep (and crew) even when it's being used by their own side, allied resistance, or even civillians. It's obvious that the AI couldn't care less who is using the jeep, it only looks at who's side it is listed as belonging to in the .cfg file. I've noticed this behavior in the past with other missions I've played, but never recognized a pattern until I made my own mission and could watch it repeat itself.

Welcome back, CSL. Â I'm glad for the opportunity to thank you for your vehicle loading scripts - particularly for loading/unloading personnel via helo. Â They work like a charm. I was hoping to avoid forcing players to take any additional steps to play my mission, but perhaps this was inevitable. Â If they have to stick a file in their add-ons folder, perhaps I should do it right and see if I can't find a Soviet car that offers a mounted machine gun, instead. Â Failing that, I'll be sure to use your pbo idea. None of this solves the underlying problem, however, which is that the AI shouldn't be shooting at empty vehicles by default. I've placed empty vehicles in the mission, as have others, with the notion that players would be able to commandeer them. It's frustrating when an AI squad mate starts shooting out the tires of your transportation.

Well, I've determined that the only empty vehicles that the AI shoots at are those which are technically designed for the other side. Â So, the AI members of the players' squad (west side) shoot at empty UAZ's, while the AI east side & (aligned) resistance shoot at jeeps. What's odd is that not all units will detect these vehicles as enemy and shoot at them. Â Those that do, however, will shoot at such vehicles even when they later are crewed by units from their own side. Â Furthermore, those that detect these vehicles as enemy actually detect them as belonging to the other side - such that a trigger to detect west will go off when the AI spots the empty vehicle. Given all that, I was forced to move the vehicles to bases where no one seemed to mind their presence, or they wouldn't be seen until they were called on to be used. Â Some of them are in full view of AI patrols, but are ignored, yet when they're crewed and driving down the road, their own forces will shoot at them in passing. It makes no sense. It would be so much easier if there's was a comparable UAZ with a machinegun.

Nope, didn't work. Â According to the comref, when setcaptive is used on a vehicle it applies to the commander. Â Since the empty vehicle doesn't have a commander, perhaps the command is ignored? Does it make a difference that this is a multiplayer mission?

I'll switch them to safe mode, but I've got three other units doing the same exact thing, without trouble. That's whats got me puzzled. They're the only unit that seems to have an issue, even though there's no difference in their setup from any other. They'll keep their weapons shouldered while safe mode?

 I had to. I'm asking questions that have surely been answered in the years that OFP has been out, but I'm not finding the answers through searches. Inevitably, however, someone points right to the post I missed with the tag, "RTFM!" Murphy's Law, and all that. Thanks for your help. Just out of curiousity, any idea why the AI reacts that way?

Well, seeing as how I was able to "fix" the infantry by moving the waypoints, rather than changing any of the scripting, I don't think it's anything to do with the helicopter setup. Here's the rundown, though: Start position: ->move waypoint (careless, limited speed) | move waypoint | move waypoint -- cycle<-----trigger (switch, enemy detected once) get in waypoint<--->synched w/ helo load waypoint move (aware, normal speed, engage at will/open fire) move guard I don't need a "unload transport" command because this is a multiplayer mission and I'm using Colonel Sanderslite helidrop.sqs. As for the jet, it is on a seperate trigger that only activates if enemy air units are detected. I figured out what the problem was, however: I'm an idiot. It turns out that the jet which was destroying my players' vehicle wasn't the enemy jets on standby, but rather a civillian piloted jet that was there completely for show. You see, the players parachute into the combat zone, and I had a jet start off above them for effect. Unfortunately, a shilka detected the jet when it was West controlled, so I put a civillian at the helm so the shilka would ignore it. The jet flies to the edge of the map and is then deleted. Well, as the jet flies away it spots the boat meant to extract the players later on, and shoots them. Why a civillian, friendly to both sides, would fire on the PBR's is beyond me. I gave it a "never fire" command, and the problem was fixed.