You are able to test many features in single player. See "first steps" below.
Author: ThE cRaCkEr
Version: 0.9.0.4 2011.06.04
Required Addons: all included, see below
Download: rar-file or zip-file (see readme.txt for detailed installation instructions)
Information for beta testers
Every feature of this mission is tested quite well. Some years ago (I started programing around 2004) I even tested it in multiplayer every weekend and had a lot of fun. So I don't really need a beta test but want to share it with you guys. I appreciate every comment and bug you tell me but don't forget to have fun. Every bug will be fixed but new features are only added if there are enough people who play it regulary and demand new content.
See the readme.txt for more information. Parts of it are copyed here.
Short Overview
"Matrix" is a multiplayer-only mission and best played 4 vs. 4 but 2 vs. 1 also works fine. Each side has its own money to buy weapons, vehicles and upgrades like artillery support. But it isn't an RTS mission because there is no AI involved, you will always have little money to spend and you can't build any buildings. There are five factories located at the island Skye which have to be captured by the teams. A factory is an HQ, in which you can buy weapons cheaper or simply respawn. It's important for me to create a mission in which you are only able to be victorious as a team player or by playing with your enemy. Because of this, there are many features like an EMP weapon or a satellite viewing, which gives you the opportunity to find members of the other team, spectate at them and then plan your assault strategy from noiseless infiltration to total destruction. Sometimes you will need some imagination, e.g. a seagull represents a flying drone. So don't expect a realistic or authentic game but a good balancing. The name "Matrix" is a working title and has just little to do with the film, i.e. you can teleport from one telephone booth to another. This was actually the inspiration for all.
One game lasts more than one hour because you often play cat and mouse with your enemy. If you don't communicate (best with your voice) with your team mates, you will lose, because this isn't simple deathmatch.
Image Gallery (click to enlarge)
You can buy weapons in this dialog. Map with many useful symbols. Satellite view: You can zoom in until you see as much as you like. Watching two wormholes while controling the seagull. Like in the movie "Matrix": Teleport from one telephone booth to another. More screenshots are inside the .rar/.zip file.
Possible Gameplay Situations (you can skip that part)
The enemy has planted a bomb in one of our factories. If it explodes, the factory will become neutral and thus vulnerable to be captured. So I decide to use my last (and quite expensive) upgrade "emergency teleportation" to arrive there quickly. But I don't teleport inside the factory because it could be a trap and I would be killed even before the teleportation is over. Instead, I choose a hill nearby. The enemy now receives a message where I arrive but they don't know my exact position. To be sure, I take cover as much as I can and first check the cameras in our factory. There seems to be no one inside. So I decide to start the seagull, a flying drone, to search the area and luckily find one enemy soldier hiding behind a building. I order the seagull to return to my position - which is the only way to return control of my soldier - but the enemy behind the building seems to discovered it. He now easily knows my position but in this moment he is killed by my team mates because I told them his position. I should use the seagull more wisely in the future because it makes me vulnerable... Later we notice that only one enemy soldier protected the bomb, so defusing it was easy. But this is actually bad news: The others managed to sneak in our second factory while we were busy defusing the bomb and hacked our PC located there. This means that they can watch all our activities for the next 10 minutes, which is a big disadvantage for us.
Our team saved some money, so we decided that John and I buy a M1 Abrams to support the other two at capturing a neutral factory. Because the tank is much more cheaper when buyed at one of our factories, we do so. A white cloud appears and there it is: A shiny new tank. But it's locked for two minute or so and in that moment I see a silhouette at the edge of the forest. It could be my imagination or an enemy, which could destroy our new proud (and much money) with an LAW. We don't want to risk it, so John mounts the stationary MG which we bought 20 minutes ago at one window of the factory and shoots wild in his direction. Meanwhile I use the "satellite", an as expensive as useful upgrade, to confirm on the map that an enemy is really nearby. John decides to enter the forest at another spot and tries sneaking behind him. I support him with the "satellite view", which allows me to see everything on the map from the view of an satellite. But the sun sets, so I have problems to see the threat. I quickly buy the upgrade "lightning", which illuminates the area with flares for some minutes. Long enough to give John directions directly behind the enemy soldier. He even hit him with his rifle instead shooting a bullet. I see some more enemies on a jeep arriving with the satellite view. The tank is unlocked but still vulnerable on the open field. So John runs to it while I'm creating a wormhole with one end in front of the tank and the other behind a protecting structure nearby and join John in the tank. We successfully fall back and the worm hole closes just in time behind us. We are quite difficult to spot this way and able to destroy the jeep from distance, which is safer. We now join the other team members in capturing the neutral factory.
The other team accepted the mission "The Transporter". If they manage to drive a truck from A to B, they will get Credits as reward, otherwise we do. We desperately need some money, so we have to stop them in a cheap way. We decide that I'm alone with this one and the others try to capture a neutral factory. First I buy some stachel charges and take the bike. It would be a bad idea to wait for them at location B because another part of the team could be already there to protect it or they "clean" the location with artillery just before they arrive with the truck. I look at the map and reason that there are only two roads to their destination and they are quite close together. So I drive there and just before arriving I activate the upgrade "camouflage suite", which is left over from my last secret mission. Now I'm invisible on the enemy map even if they have a activated a satellite (which we don't because we are out of money) and my bike is also invisible when I'm driving it. But I leave it in some distance and walk the rest. Because I'm not really invisible, I could be easily spotted with the satellite view, so I try quickly to place the stachel charges near the roads and hide behind a bush on a nearby hill to watch the scene. The camouflage suit only lasts for some minutes, so I hope they arrive soon - which they do only 1 minute after I was ready. I detonate the stachel charges, hit the truck but one soldier survived. I'm only armed with a Beretta, which ends in the situation that I killed him but he has wounded me so that I'm unable to move. Luckily John just has been respawning at one of our factories, buys a first aid kit and teleports from a telephone booth near our factory to the one near my position, which is for free. Luckily no one of the other team respawns in that telephone booth to give me the rest. Maybe they know that this is a bad idea if an enemy (me and John) is near the respawn location. So John rescues me and we leave the place with the bike. Of course I haven't killed myself because this way the enemy team would receive valuable credits.
Some Features
money to buy equipment
almost all weapons and vehicles of OFP:CW and Resistances
13 upgrades like "emergency teleportation" or "satellite"
fast day/night and weather simulation
civil activity
missions to accomplish apart from the main objective
limited fuel and refuel stations
the hole island is part of the mission (hide & seek)
punishment system for teamkillers which is even able to crash your game
custom quick keys provided by FWatch (savable for the next game)
new ways to control the game via the map
in-game music controller
a lot of useful symbols on the map
flashlight
security cameras in the factories
wormholes
playable in English and German language
many more
Installation
See readme.txt for detailed instructions.
First Steps
Because this mission is very complex, you need to learn how to use all features provided with it. To do so, don't play multiplayer, but create a server for your own, disable the AI and choose "Intro off" and "Debug off/Cheats on" as parameters, which gives you 100,000 Credits to test some features. Keep in mind that some features are modified when the cheat mode is enabled, e.g. you are now allowed to buy upgrades outside a factory.
Firstly, read the manual provided in-game (the briefing on the map screen). It is very long, so read it step by step while testing some features. You can also explore the mission by moving around playing with the game.
Requirements
Original version of Operation Flashpoint Resistance 1.96
All addons listed under "Credits". They are all shipped with this release.
Some time to read the in-game manual
Current Status
The upgrade "protective shield" is disabled, so don't buy it.
The balancing is not perfect and there could be some errors but most of them should be fixed. If there is any demand for it, I will continue work.
This mission is both playable in English and German mode, but the in-game manual, which is very important to understand it, is only up to date in the English version.
Known Bugs
For a version history see VersionHistory.txt provided with this mission.
a) Known Bugs:
There is a great performance impact on older machines when you are playing as server.
Upgrade "protective shield" has no function.
Some damaged vehicles loose fuel (this is unfortunately OFP hardcoded).
When one side owns all factories, there is no way to buy a bomb and recapture it.
Error messages may be seen on screen, but they do not influence the game at all.
Some minor bugs
b) Maybe Coming Features:
more in-game missions
custom sounds
description for each vehicle
outro
a more realistic artillery with different types of ammunition, etc.
I have many new ideas
Credits
Thanks goes to all addon creators:
Skye v3 by Waterman
FWatch 1.0d by Kegetys
AT4 by DKM-Mod
Reallights 2.0 by Lester
Editor AddOn 1.11 by Kegetys
USMC Symbols by Semper Fidelis
Telephone booth ("zwa_telbu.pbo") by an unknown addon creator
Changelog since last update:
Improved: Better balancing: jeeps, trucks and M113 are cheaper, Ohio, UH60 and MIs are more expensive
Fixed: side of Player changed to "enemy" after teamkills, which affected the following scripts: EMP weapon, HALO jump, respawn, satellite
Fixed: EMP weapon did not work if the gunner in the Ohio didn't look at the flight direction.
Improved: EMP weapon script rewritten -> better performance, laser target detection and user-friendlier output
Improved: Dedicated server won't need FWatch anymore.
Improved: Updated MatrixDS.cfg
Fixed: Installation instructions in readme didn't take the cutscene of Skye into account.
Fixed: Dedicated server executed infinity loop even after finishing the mission which lead to 20% CPU usage.
I'm happy for every comment. Even if this thread should be a year or so old. :)
Regards,
ThE cRaCkEr
