DomZ

I have released lots of extensions to High Command for single player missions that are available on Armaholic. ---------- Post added at 01:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:37 AM ---------- The link to these High Command Extensions is: http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=14961 ---------- Post added at 01:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:38 AM ---------- High Command Extensions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Description: This adds a lot of commands to Arma 2 which expand High Command functionality for single player missions. The High Command structures can be created and deleted dynamically after a game has started. Team switching has also been expanded to that all units can be controlled and the battle controlled more fully. The functionality is accessible from the Communication menu (0-8). Features: - Create dynamic hieratic High Command structures in game. - Team switching within the High Command structure. - Does High Command without the HC module. - Much Quicker refresh of the icons on the high command bar. - More icon types on the high command bar. - Support for Major Woodys extra group Nato icons. - Select multiple waypoints for moving, deleting and setting properties. - Split waypoint paths. - Advanced waypoints for landing and unloading troops. - Configurable with configuration variables. - Support for making single player missions (cannot use/see other sides set by config). - Can be used for debugging (all sides groups and waypoints can be viewed at once). - Possible and identified enemy units are displayed as markers. - Setup refuelling missions for fuel trucks. - Setting up waypoints without troops moving then order them to start moving. - Very reliable mouse selection of group icons on the 2D map (without HC module). - Squad Management including splitting and merging. - Switching sides. - Command the transport of troops about the map in vehicles and helicopters. - Load and Unload squads of crews and foot soldiers to and from vehicles in game. - Support for Faction command structures. - Select subsets of the selected groups on the High Command bar by type of group. - Functions for extracting casualties. - Statistics on the current battle state including selected group vehicle and unit states. - Easy to add to missions (baring conflicts on the Communication menu). - Nine example missions and source mission editor files. - Instructions included. Installation: Extract the .pbo file(s) to your ArmA2 Operation Arrowhead\Missions folder. It comes with missions as a demo versions. Extract the folders to your ArmA2\other Profiles\Yournick\Missions and load them in the editor. One of the example missions uses HETMAN - Artificial Commander by Rydygier: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=129003 It uses High Command Extension for the US and HETMAN - Artificial Commander to control the Russians. This mission requires CBA to run correctly. Notes: Many of these functions may work for multi player missions, but many would not be suitable in a multi player environment. Team switch able units and High Command are less dynamic in the multi player game environment. High Command Extensions Instructions requires Arrowhead version 1.60. Extended Markers and Icons Extra icons are optionally supported. High Command Extensions automatically recognises there presence as an addon, otherwise it just uses the standard icons. Download them from: http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=15221&highlight=MAJOR http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=15222&highlight=MAJOR Changelog: v1.14 - Does High Command without the HC module. - Much Quicker refresh of the icons on the high command bar. - Quicker to use, because fewer commands need to issued to transport forces. - Support for Major Woodys extra group Nato icons. - Select multiple waypoints for moving, deleting and setting properties. - Split waypoint paths. - Advanced waypoints for landing and unloading troops. - Configurable with configuration variables. - Better support for making single player missions (cannot use/see other sides set by config). - Can be used for debugging (all sides groups and waypoints can be viewed at once). - Possible and identified enemy units are displayed as markers. - Setup refuelling missions for fuel trucks. - Setting up waypoints without troops moving then order them to start moving. - Extra Statistics functions. - Very reliable mouse selection of group icons on the 2D map (without HC module). v1.02 - Fixed many bugs in including an infinite loop in FlattenSelectedHCGroups.sqf. - Made the code much more robust and functional in style. - Added Selected Groups Engines On/Off commands. v1.0 - Made the confirmation messages better on Reset Team Switchable Moveable - Fixed exitWith in CommandAllOfSide.sqf - Removed the line HighCommand2_menu from menu.sqf - Fixed non-working Make Group HC and Switch to - Reallocate units in Groups now only affects the players current side. - Added command Reallocate HC groups on bar - Removed the text update to the High Command bar in Remove Selected Groups from HC - Added the total number on foot the statistics summaries for selected groups. - Fixed and enhanced many other existing features. - More than double the number of commands that there were in version 0.7. http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=14961

It will solve many switching problems, but not all because some are part of the engine. For example, getting out of vehicles and them not getting back in is more reliable. This is only really designed for single player. It will also normally cope with commanders dieing and re-link the command structure automatically.

No the mod has not died. Ave made it a .Pob file (extra features) an a lot faster with no slow downs over hours (hopefully). Just not got round to releasing it, rather than using the addon. The Arma 2 and three versions worked almost exactly the same, but the Arma 3 version needed new features to support equipment, artillery, parachutes and ammo. I decided to add more stuff because the Arma 3 artillery just fired at points with a dispersion of 10m (via HC). The working (Arma 3) version has better artillery. These are rate and fire and dispersion + adding currently new mobile mortar platoon support. Its back pack support at high command level, because static equipment can be moved around with them not just mortars. Maybe I should release a version without the fully finished instructions, as the existing functionality is the same but with extras.

I have to code ready for Arma 2 and 3. Just need to finish some instructions.

The Arma 2 version does not work in Aram 3 as released in 1.14. The menus work a bit differently and so do initialisations. I have a working version that operates in Arma 3. Got a week of next week so hopefully release new versions for 2 and 3. Its got masses of fixes and extra features. ---------- Post added at 12:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:07 AM ---------- High command extension 1,14 and later does not need the high command module. It works better without it! I should probably have changed then name of it.

The scripting commands cannot determine where you want to put your magazines. That would be too inefficient so it is better to tell them where. A get vehicle turrets function would be useful without having to write low level ones for scripters. One variable can be passed to a subroutine by reference and altered. However, the current method is not know by most people. Parameter passing currently, is too clumsy, error prone, not documented and not used widely efficenly. Therefore, it needs super seeding, with backward compatibility supported, by an easier to use more understandable mechanism.

Hopefully will get a release for Arma2 and 3 out soon. Just a few things to tidy up. I haven't looked into group naming groups currently.

Now than it is possible to get the number of rounds in the magazines of a unit, vehicle cargo or turret, it would be useful to be able to set the number of rounds in magazines added. If an extra optional argument was added to the commands below (and other similar commands) it would be easy to transfer round numbers accurately between objects in scripts. vehicle addMagazineTurret [magazineName, turretPath] vehicleName addMagazineCargo [magazineName, count] vehicleName addMagazineCargoGlobal [magazineName, count] could be expanded to (ammoCount optional): vehicle addMagazineTurret [magazineName, turretPath, ammoCount] vehicleName addMagazineCargo [magazineName, count, ammoCount] vehicleName addMagazineCargoGlobal [magazineName, count, ammoCount] ---------- Post added 06-24-2014 at 12:06 AM ---------- Previous post was 06-23-2014 at 11:44 PM ---------- Script parameter passing It might be possible to speed up scripts by passing their arguments by reference. Currently multiple parameters must be passed in an array which seems to be passed by a deep copy. This must be expensive in CPU time especially when arguments contain large arrays. An extra parameter passing mechanism might need to be added for backward compatibility. For example a function could be called by: {_a, _b, _c} call FunctionName; where its parameters are declared in the script as: parameters {byval "_Param1", byref " _Param2", byref " _Param3"};

The problem is that the AI can shot more accurately than it is possible to do with player controls because the weapon aim wobbles about so much. Is it still 3 hits to kill at 180m? At least 6 hits to kill was fixed in march!

Speed of the simulation is the part of Arma 3 which needs most attention in single or multiplayer. - Arma 3 runs at just under half the frame rate of Arma 2 with 500 troops on the map (30fps v 14fps). - Arma 3 graphics are at least as fast as Arma 2 graphics when there is only the player on the map. Arma 3 graphics are slow because of the simulation speed when there a lot of AI on the map. - Put 700 empty vehicles on a map, parked nearby in rows, in Arma 3. Press preview and take minutes to initialise at 0 fps then runs at 4 fps. In Arma 2 with 2700 empty vehicles initialise in 3 seconds then runs at 10 fps. - The slow speed of multiplayer is probably mainly due to the simulation speed of Arma 3 being half or less than Arma 2 on the same machine. - The AI also shot far to accurately in Arma 3 with small arms, compared to how accurately the player can shoot. This was not a problem in Arma 2 where shooting skills were more balanced between player and AI.

Currently awareness is just passed up the chain of command through high command groups in this package (it is not by default in Arma2). Ideally it would be passed back down as well, but the data structures in the scripting language don't do sorting so doing it efficiently is almost impossible.

It works quite well. One or two issues to sort out. High command was in the Alpha. This does not need the high command module in Arma 3 or Arma 2.

I wonder what the terrain geometric resolution of Altis will be? Chernarus is 2048x2048 points with a 7.5m point spacing which makes 15.36km by 15.36km. Altis will be 30.72km by 30.72km, but at 2048x2048 that will give a very low terrain detail of 15m per point, so I hope it is a 4096x4096 grid.

I have managed to get the communication menu to work as in Arma 2. It is now called Supports on the user interface, but the name does not matter. The variables and related config names that it must be assigned to have changed. I have got a version of high command extensions working in Arma 3 beta. Some changes are needed. Some current issues I have found may be due to high command not being present in the beta and therefore has not been tested yet. So I should be able to release a version for Arma 3, but do not have much time to currently.

Multiplayer is not fully implemented with the fundamental high command structure in Arma 2 so I cannot do much with it for multiplayer. If it was it would need a network to test it on as well. Transport is a problem because not all get in and out commands are automatically network synced.

That Artillery stuff was experimental at the time. I do have stuff that will fire it in a working version, but no time to release it currently. Bit pissed off with the changes to the communication menu in Arma 3! ---------- Post added at 12:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 AM ---------- IA in high command will require JAVA. However it is a security nightmare so I doubt it will ever happen. SQF doesn't have the speed or data type definition capability for anything like high command AI usefully.

There is initially no command structure. The command below will make the player command all of the side: Command all Uncommanded of Side (0-8-1-4) Once you have created a command it is possible to get the total vehicles in the groups that you are commanding.

High Command extensions works in Arma 3 as well as Arma 2. Well my current working version does, but the current release will probably also work, because I have currently not made any Arma3 specific modifications yet. The extended icons don't cause a problem, but the classes will not match in the main.

The current version does not do a lot with sub commands other that allow you to create them, merge and move then up and down the hierarchy. Commands can be commanded by switching up and down the command hierarchy. There is no AI added at high command level other than refuelling tasks for fuel tankers. I've got a new finished version that I need to release (needs some more documenting) that passes commands optionally down hierarchies and makes commanding companies of platoons much easier.

I agree its a game improvement idea not a config thing. It's been moved to a different section in the dev-heaven issues already!

The weather conditions should affect the terrain. When it is wet the terrain should be slower to move over. Infantry, wheeled vehicles and tracked vehicles should all be affected different amounts. Dry conditions should make it faster to move cross country. In a simple way overcast or sunny weather could be used for this for immediate effects, but over more longer periods of time average whether conditions in the future. This would make roads and towns more strategically valuable in the game, as bases and parts of the map to take and hold. https://dev-heaven.net/issues/70211

Vehicles maximum speed on different surfaces Currently tracked vehicles maximum speed on flat ground is the same as on a good tarmac road. Wheeled vehicles have about half their maximum road speed on flat ground. I would expect a tracked vehicle to loose some proportion of its maximum speed travelling off road, but considerably less than a wheeled vehicle. A rough example for relative maximum speed could be: Vehicle Type Tracked Cross Country Wheeled Tarmac Road 100% 100% Mud Track 80% 60% Grassland 65% 40% Ideally different sorts of surface would slow vehicles down different amounts like woodland, grassland or sand. https://dev-heaven.net/issues/70185

Make the ranges of vehicles more realistic. Currently many land vehicles run out of fuel in one hour instead of 10 hours more like most slower land vehicles. Currently most cars and trucks only have a range of about 60km on a full fuel tank on roads. Tanks and APCs such as the BMP-2 normally have a range of 200km. A range of 500km would be more realistic on a full fuel tank for land vehicles. I assume the fuelCapacity config setting value could changed for many of the vehicles or their base classes. https://dev-heaven.net/issues/70135

Infantry should get out of view of targets that they cannot fight effectively. For example, infantry without AT weapons should get out of visual sight of armoured vehicles. This could be more generally applied to any type of unit that cannot effectively engage another. This is more critical at close range in close environments. It would also be affected by the engagement range of weapons at long range. Making AI infantry being able to fight and hide in buildings, or vehicles hide in sheds would make this work much more effectively.

It probably is already possible to make structures that look like they are underground using buildings in bedded into a hole in the landscape. However, grass on top of them would be a problem. VBS 2 has underground structures I read. Agree that AI would need to be able to use buildings for underground structures to be much use. AI currently can't even walk about a pond or water on their own.