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Is this in any way related to the East China Sea conflict? Would be pretty immersive to explore this real-world issue, as it seems shaping up to be a real flashpoint.

Awesome, I was highly impressed by the VME PLA mod - looking forward to giving this a run-thru later in the week. I guess JSDF slipped under my radar, I'll be interested to check that out as well. So cool how many militaries are represented in this game by our robust modding community!

Things are moving along with M8: Seven 2000 Pounders - I managed to get a good portion of the skeleton in-place, still have a bit more to do before I start adding the details. But get ready to lay the smack-down. Following a [simulated] B-1 air strike, you set up a mortar and fire at the enemy's structures to ensure maximum devastation... then you get the option to use a Hellfire-armed Predator UAV to mop up the rest of your sector as a bonus objective. Finally, you must call in MEDEVAC for your wounded. The AC-130 will also be available further into the campaign...gotta love LDL for giving us the ability to rain down the fire from above!

Remember also that sometimes if grouped and set to "in formation" the unit will not always appear where they were placed in the editor. Try "none" for the special...

I ended up getting this to work by placing a trigger grouped to the pre-placed tripod NOT PRESENT, so when the player assembles the mortar, the tripod bag essentially disappears, and the script can be executed.

So I ended up doing things differently - added an action to take the backpack from your truck (versus having them take it from the cargo and trying to trigger once it was in their inventory), which allowed me to execute the script I wanted (which included player addBackpack ...). My trouble with unitBackpack and the example on the wiki was getting it to trigger when the unit had the backpack in his inventory. What if I now wanted to trigger a script when the player assembled the mortar, and/or if he entered the mortar as the gunner? The mortar tripod is pre-placed in the editor, so the player moves to it with the backpack and sets up the mortar. Is there a way to name the resulting vehicle when the mortar is assembled, or does it inherit the name of the backpack?

OK I'll give that a try, thanks Kylania!

I haven't looked too closely at your code here, but I did recently make some modifications to LDL's AC130/UAV script - it says in the LDL files not to modify the default adjustable values, but you can create a separate .sqf file and run it in your init (or anywhere else) with your own values for these attributes, which I believe this includes the number of available AC130s (I was modifying the weapons on-board and the delay before the UAV arrives). I apologize for not having the content to post here, as I'm not on my home computer, but I know it's possible to modify all these attributes, you're just not supposed to do it in the script's original files.

I have a related question I'll go ahead and post here instead of starting a new thread -- is there a way to check if player has a specific backpack or equipment item that is not considered a weapon? In my case, I would like a trigger to activate when the player has a US M252 mortar bag. My own research into this revealed that static weapons are treated as vehicles (which I am also looking to trigger when the player is "in" the M252 mortar), so I'm not sure if hasWeapon works, certainly it did not with any of the classnames I tried.

Whoa, even more original terrain features not seen elsewhere, does the AI ever fall off into the ditch? This is really shaping up, I'm looking forward to creating some content for this puppy when she's ready!

Thanks a lot aust -- I remember playing through Island Thunder and getting whooped by the opfor, but the sense of tension leading up to engagements was always really exciting. I am very much into collaborative efforts, especially when there is a source that everyone can refer to - in this case, the book, and to a larger degree, the history of what occurred during OP Medusa. Glad you appreciate the attention to detail too. In this Campaign my process has been to try and get the skeleton of the mission in-place, and create set pieces around the mission once the essentials are working. I've wasted a lot of time in the past making pretty set pieces first, and then having to spend twice as long testing and re-testing as I would try to build the mission. Was also fortunate to have a few unused set pieces from prior efforts that I could drop in (like Kandahar Airfield) and focus on the structure. Anyway, I set up the iPod actions for Mission 7 last night, with 6 of Dave's techno tracks, it's a fun bonus to be lobbing off nades from the Mk19 to the sounds. Mission 8 - Seven 2,000 Pounders is now underway!

Hey Wiki -- For Mission 2, what I have so far is this: ~ You begin as an Afghan rifleman at Firebase Maholic (already have this set up as it appears in the previous mission), standing in formation while your CO says a few words before passing it off to the American CO, who explains that the ANA will rotate around multiple stations, each being instructed by different members of ODA 331. ~ I have set up a firing range with the blue simple targets and a bunch of wrecks, but I had trouble getting the targets to detect being shot, and therefore didn't really have anything I could tie to the mission (for now) What I envision, based on the book: ~ Rusty talks about how they had set up an obstacle course using wrecked and non-wrecked vehicles and targets, and Bill (Rusty's team Sgt) would time them and rate performance based on time and accuracy. So I would like to have the player do this, they would get like one mag and need to complete the course in a certain amount of time (if they don't make it, they would go back to the start and the clock/score would reset). ~ I would also like to have some simple demolition-related stuff - like identifying and dismantling an IED, or I would look up what an actual ANA training program involves and bring some of that in. It's not mentioned specifically in the book, but this is where I take a little bit of liberty with things. ~ Finally, towards the end of the training, Rusty and crew gets a call from the unit's commander that a Canadian unit has been ambushed. While in the book they are ordered to stand down just as Rusty gives the order to go ahead, I would like to add a little bit of action to end the mission, so the player mounts up perhaps and then has to clear all OPFOR from an area. Once the area is clear, a script is initiated that winds down the mission. I can pass the mission file I have already to someone else if they wanted to join the project, and would likely need to do this so that the firebase and character identities are consistent. Otherwise, my only real issue is with hit detection and timing, so I would really just need to figure that out.

And here's a preview of the loading screens I'm working on, along with the Lions of Kandahar titling A few of these missions are going to be more linear, but it's in the interest of staying as true to the story as possible. There are more open-ended missions as well, I think and hope the variety will be well-received. I will be especially interested to hear from people who have read the book and then played thru the Campaign, or if this Campaign gets people interested in reading the book. I'm wondering if there are any editors out there who would be interested in collaborating and helping to create the training portion of Mission 2? Or can anyone recommend a good set of training-related activities/scripts? I'm having trouble making something useful out of what I think is a cool topic we haven't explored much of in Arma 2 - training the Afghan National Army.

As promised, here's a screenshot update. The full gallery is here if you want to see more! More imgs will be added as the Campaign continues to come together. M6 - The Voice of Death M7 - Black on Ammo

Yeah, I think this is it, thanks Wolf. I never got into implementing custom menus or GUIs or anything, I could absolutely generate the graphical elements, but scripting it together seemed a bit intimidating. In the book, they have a busted old 1st or 2nd generation iPod they use to set the mood while on the move. I plan on simply adding a bunch of Action items to allow the player to select music and play or stop (since they are in the turret of a locked vehicle, the iPod controls will be the only actions available), and then explore the fancier stuff from there.

New updates: ~ Clarified mission list (check first post) - 10 missions are confirmed in the lineup, 2 or 3 more to be announced. ~ Mission 6 - The Voice of Death - mission is 90% complete! ~ Operation Northstar confirmed as a required addon, Canadian Army and Special Forces are now featured in the Campaign ~ Mission 7 - Black on Ammo - mission is 80% complete ~ Screenshot update will be on the way tonight or early tomorrow! Things are coming along quite nicely as I had a bit of time to sit down and concentrate on the camp this past Labor Day weekend. There is a pretty diverse mixture of gameplay in the Campaign so far - Attacking on foot or by vehicle, stealth at night, full-on assaults by day, down time and pitched combat, playing as numerous members of ODA 331, as well as the Afghan Army and Canadian SOF. Hoping to have a beta ready for testing soon. Also, is there anyone in the community who knows of, or knows how to do, an iPod-style interface? In one mission, I am allowing the player to choose music from their iPod in the HMMWV and would like a simple GUI to frame it. Not a huge deal, but I figured I'd throw it out there and ask. EDIT: I just remembered there's an iPhone-looking thing in the PMC campaign, I wonder if there's a tutorial on accessing it here on the forums somewhere...

Update: Mission 4 is mostly in-place, I'm beginning to move to the main battle of the Campaign.

Sounds like you need an FSM (Finite State Machine), which can be an intimidating process to learn. http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/FSM

Thanks a lot crimsontide, looks like Armaholic is down at the moment I'm writing this ( :butbut: ) I need to make a consideration before adding these to the requirements- for the convenience factor as well as the "essential part of the story" factor. Northstar, unfortunately, won't make it because it's a full-on mod and a hefty download I don't even currently have, but the book never actually brings the reader in close contact with the Canadian forces. If only the author (or someone with permission) could extract and release the units as a standalone pack. As for the Dutch Apache's, as I'm reading in the book, they only appeared for support once so it may not be necessary to add this as a requirement. I'm starting to think about the Forgotten Few camp, and doing a lite addon release (only need the island of Reshmaan, Tier One and ANA/ANP) and a separate mod-lover's release which will include a number of RH weapon mods, BB OA Mercs, Dutch Apache Reskin, and perhaps Operation Northstar (maybe a bonus mission or two to play as Canadian or Dutch Pilot during Sperwan Ghar) and CBA for TPWCAS/TPWLOS. Which one would you guys opt for and do you think this is a worthwhile way of doing it? EDIT: Looking at the Northstar mod (which is misspelled Nortstar on the Armaholic page, someone should fix that), it is only 200mb and really includes everything you need, which would be incomplete otherwise, but the point still stands about it's place in an expanded addon w/ bonus content. I personally like the idea of encouraging mod use with bonus stuff.

Sorry, what?

I'll give that a try, seems like a better way to do it versus relying on the AI's senses.

I find that doWatch is kind of unreliable, especially if, for example, the person who is supposed to be watching has their back turned (I'm assuming because they do not 'know' about the person they are supposed to watch).

Nice, thanks for sharing these Ghost! I'd really like to start getting my head around more advanced scripting techniques like this. If there's any way you could add more comments it would be a lot easier for intermediate scripters like me to digest, but this is entirely optional as you were kind enough to share these in the first place. Cheers!

Once again, something I was unaware of completely, now revealed thanks to kylania - we are lucky to have your att'n on this board! So this functionality is really only useful for spawning objects while the mission is in-progress right, they are all accessible within the editor as well right? My process for SP missions involves placing just about everything there from the get-go, but I can see how this would be a useful technique in Cornish Rebel's case.

Thanks Wiki that means a lot coming from you! Loved your most recent Campaign for Lingor! I recommend the book this Camp is based on btw Spotter, there are quite a few detailed maps and pictures, as well as a good bit of discussion in the blogosphere about the book and Rusty Bradley (now a Major with 5 rotations in Afghanistan under his belt). UPDATE: Added 3 more missions to the plan in the first post, 2 to 3 more to be announced. Most of the Camp will be taking place in Reshmaan Province (just hoping it will remain stable through future releases and updates), as well as the Desert map (is this from OA or a different addon? Will it work with straight CO no BAF/PMC/ACR?).