[SP/COOP/ADDON-FREE] 1-13 Red Mercury v0.92 (Beta)

[laggy]

Mission "1-13 Red Mercury v0.92" by Laggy.

Watch teaser trailer

Public 0.92 Beta version.

Mission description: You are a Taskforce team with the stressful mission to find and disarm a nuclear bomb in Chernarus. Attack two insurgent locations to find the info, then locate the nuke before a major city is wiped out.

ArmAII version 1.05

Needed Addons: None

Known bugs: Briefing for respawned /teamswitched players not 100%. Appreciative for input on this.

Thanks to: All of you at the OFPEC forum.

Credits: Nominesine and Hoz for serious playtesting. Eagle Wing campaign designers for their nuke effect.


Planned changes: A more player rewarding win outro and grass option.


Important changes in version:

0.92

- Added a join option for REAPER helo team, you can now have them in the same group as GHOST DOG.
- Added an AH-1Z Cobra as muscle in REAPER to assist you in enemy territory.
- Increased skill of friendly units.
- Added some stuff ("surprise units").
- Added more pics in briefing.
- Music tracks for more atmosphere.
- More info in briefing and some additional touch-ups.
- Geiger meters now react at a longer distance (500m) from the bomb and additional hints are given.

0.91

- One important mission design bug fixed, too embarrassing to tell you what.
- Groups no longer join in SP, unnecessary since teamswitch works better.
- Added some more radio voices.
- Briefing updates should hopefully work better now.


Mission type: Multiplayer COOP (voice com recommended), but SP is possible.
Players: 1-13
Mission Time: 45-90 min.
Island: Chernarus
Mission Version: 0.92 beta
Intro: Yes
Outro: Yes
Parameters: Yes (Intro and timeout option)
Time: Late morning
Weather: Good to overcast/rain


Missionwork: This is another mission I always wanted to do, but I needed a nuke effect script to make it happen. The mission varies from CQB and airstrikes, to a stressful "search and disarm" objective. In MP it can be played as an interesting joint-op mission (CQB infantry and helo support).The last task is very randomized and should hopefully make replay value high. You are moving over huge areas and the enemy presence is very random. The design really takes advantage of the new modules in ArmAII. Custom sounds, dialogue and scripts.

Contact: tolaggy@hotmail.com

Hope you enjoy it. My wish is that I've created a fun mission.

Laggy

[laggy]

Mission updated to version 0.91

[hoz]

We played this through last night.

The briefing and intro were top notch. Excellent job on the intro it was simple and short and well done. I thought you could add some pics of the documents your to find and the gieger counters. We never really found the counters or the bomb and some pics to show what you maybe looking for  would be welcomed.

We found that during the battle we had these 2 wheeled vehicles come in with launchers on the top, and then we started battling them and then all of the sudden they disappeared. While we were fighting them!

Felt that the briefing objectives were backwards (in the wrong order)  we went to objective 2 rather then the first objective to start with.

Found this to be a really fun mission so good job so far. oh ya my buddy he'd like it if you added a grass hieght option.

[laggy]

Thanks a lot Hoz,

The briefing and intro were top notch. Excellent job on the intro it was simple and short and well done.

Well, I hope to make this a top notch mission, and your feedback is much appreciated.

Adding more pics is a great idea, will do. Bomb, geiger, map and possibly laptop.

The geiger meters are NOT an object, just an effect that is attached to every player, and it will start when you are less than 200 meters from the bomb.

We found that during the battle we had these 2 wheeled vehicles come in with launchers on the top, and then we started battling them and then all of the sudden they disappeared. While we were fighting them!

All ACM module there, guess not much to do about it until more documentation is released. It has never happened to me during any missions, so I hope/guess it's a rare event and not a big issue. The way I see it, it's a small price to pay for having the whole map of Chernarus as your "playground".

The briefing objectives are quite easy to change, will do most likely. I just figured one was closer to the start position.

Cheers and thanks again,

Laggy

[hoz]

The geiger meters are NOT an object, just an effect that is attached to every player, and it will start when you are less than 200 meters from the bomb.

We never received this sound and we checked almost every building where the bomb was supposed to be. We were inside the red marker. should we hear it then?


Forgot to mention a couple of other things...

The helo ride in... I think you should be playing some decent music here...
ALso when we started the helo wasn't going anywhere... so I took over pilot and drove us there and left the helo to die once we landed. So there is something amuck with the helo.  We're playing on a dedicated server if it matters.

[laggy]

Hmmm,

I know the geigers work perfectly in version 0.91. I have tested everything on a dedicated server. The marker is just to mark the whole search area. The geiger meters react to vehicle player <= 200 m away from the bomb, which is NOT automatic just because you are inside the marker.

You will also hear a groupradio message from the first player that gets a reading - "Listen up everyone, I've got a reading on my geiger meter." This is to get everyone's attention, and avoid a geiger reading start being unnoticed.

I should maybe extend the radius where the geigers start "tapping", maybe 500 m is better, and then you'll have to listen to the intensity of the taps, which is already the case, just with a smaller radius.

The distance to the bomb, starting the geiger meter effect is a hard balance, since I don't want it to be too easy to find the bomb. At the same time I don't want already patient players to become bored. Grateful for input on this.

The helo is kept as a separate group, since some beta testers complained about constantly having to uncheck/control the helo crew, which otherwise will try to stay in formation and causing trouble for the leader player. This could easily be changed with a radio trigger join option. What do you think? teamswitch is in my opinion the best option.

Also, I think a teamswitching human pilot is a better choice, as the AI keeps crashing and dying. What's your view on this?

Thank you again,

Laggy

[hoz]

Also, I think a teamswitching human pilot is a better choice, as the AI keeps crashing and dying. What's your view on this?

Ok I don't this aspect but what happens when you disembark and the helo is just left there?  Was there something in the notes about this that I missed?

[laggy]

The briefing could be more informative on this, you're right.

In version 0.92 I will also include a join option through a radio trigger, seems some players want that. If it is just an option and not automatic, every kind of player will be satisfied. The constant teamswitching can be an immersion killer I guess.

Thanks a lot for all your feedback so far, and if you have any input on the last bombsearch phase I would be very grateful.

- Is it too hard to find the bomb?
- Is the search phase boring or stressful/eventful enough?
- Need more enemies?
- Any bugs? There shouldn't be since it is tested on a dedi, but I might have missed something still.

Planned important changes for version 0.92

- Join option (helo) through radio trigger
- More pics (at least on bomb suitcase and geiger meter)
- Larger radius from the bomb to start the geiger meters
- More music for atmosphere
- More rewarding win outro

Any other ideas?

Regards,

Laggy

[hoz]

I wanted to mention Wipers missions. In it he had this brief case that could be in a random spot and it was really hard to find. I mean really hard even after you had gotten it a few times. In this mission he marked the map after a certain amount of time. He marked it with a big marker so you kinda got the idear of its whereabouts. Then once you made it within the marker he provided some intel via the radio and then marked its exact location with a smaller marker. You may want to look at something like this. He even went as far as to add difficulty settings so on the hard level the case was never shown.

I'm not a big fan of some of the modules for instance i prefer norrins revive over the medic module.

Any chance for a grass height option?

[laggy]

EDIT:

Hi all players,

Geko at BI forums reported (I think, because my german is terrible) that some AI didn't disembark from the helicopter in version 0.91. He also got an out of memory error after 30 min of play.

Has anyone had the same issues, because this is all unknown mission "behaviour" to me.

Laggy

End of edit.

Any chance for a grass height option?

Of course, I just have to learn how to implement it  

All other ideas/opinions taken into consideration.

Cheers,

Laggy

[hoz]

Check out any of fleepees missions he includes view distance and grass height. We did have a problem with people disembarking the helo.  fortunately most guys survived.

[laggy]

thx  

EDIT: Mission updated to version 0.92

The "units not disembarking" problem reported by some testers is an ArmA2 engine bug (present since OFP), where AI units not local to the driver of a vehicle refuse to disembark.

Example: You play as leader of GHOST DOG and the server or other player controls the pilot of the MH-60S... your units in GHOST DOG will refuse to disembark.

SOLUTION: Action EJECT works as a great substitute when this is an issue, having ALL units in the same group is another, but that can be annoying in other ways...  

Laggy

[nominesine]

Adding the cobra to the helicopter wing was a superb addition. I liked it to begin with. Now it's even better. Will return with a full report when I actually manage to finish the mission 

[hoz]

Hey Laggy we gave this ago tonight.

Vehicles and units disappearing were vanishing before our eyes. I think there is a problem with this module your running.

I don't think you should join the ah helo to the group. It becomes a mess if you give an order to disembark, the AH helo also lands. and if the ah isn't grouped to you and you give the disembark order he will take off as you're other units are trying to eject causing casualties. But I still need to play with that aspect some more.

Also had an issue with teamswitching. on my pc I had to option to tswitch but the unit wasn't alive. Which was weird and probably a engine problem and not your problem.

Also don't like the BIS revive module. Thats just a personal preference have you tried norrins revive? its totally configurable to suit almost every need and works fully in mp.

During one try the JIP wasn't working, the jip player would just end the mission after he joined.

We liked everything else about the mission, we like the time pressure of having to solve all the tasks. I think you could juice it yup a bit by using my hoz timer script and try to build the pressure I know we were headed to the nuke with 8 mins to go when we crashed the helo trying to land.

[laggy]

Thanks a lot once more Hoz  

Vehicles and units disappearing were vanishing before our eyes. I think there is a problem with this module your running.

Yes, this is really weird and again it is the ACM working here, haven't tampered much with it, just put it on hold during intro and then limiting the possible spawn units to enemies. This vanishing issue has never happened to me while playing any missions and I wonder if this "bug" only happens on a dedicated server. I always play ArmA2 as hosted and only test the missions on a dedi to make sure that MY OWN scripting is flawless. I kind of expect the BIS modules to work on any kind of server, don't know if this is stupid or not.

I don't think you should join the ah helo to the group. It becomes a mess if you give an order to disembark, the AH helo also lands. and if the ah isn't grouped to you and you give the disembark order he will take off as you're other units are trying to eject causing casualties. But I still need to play with that aspect some more.

What do you mean, joining the REAPER (heloteam) or GHOST DOG (infantry)? If you mean GHOST DOG it is an option (radio trigger) and is up to the players. If you mean REAPER I wonder what you would prefer instead? I could easily make a script where the cobra comes to a singleclick position or create a guard WP. Any suggestions?

During one try the JIP wasn't working, the jip player would just end the mission after he joined.

This is a weird bug that I have encountered also on a hosted server AND in other missions. I have no idea what makes this happen. Do you? Has this happened to you in any other missions?

We liked everything else about the mission, we like the time pressure of having to solve all the tasks. I think you could juice it yup a bit by using my hoz timer script and try to build the pressure I know we were headed to the nuke with 8 mins to go when we crashed the helo trying to land.

Thanks! yes I will think of a way to put more tension and "juice" at the end. Some "Juiciness" is already implemented, which you would have experienced if you hadn't crashed  

Finally, thanks again and if you have any more suggestions (your timer script sounds interesting), just keep it coming please. I want to make this one a gem.

Cheers,

Laggy

[hoz]

What do you mean, joining the REAPER (heloteam) or GHOST DOG (infantry)? If you mean GHOST DOG it is an option (radio trigger) and is up to the players. If you mean REAPER I wonder what you would prefer instead? I could easily make a script where the cobra comes to a singleclick position or create a guard WP. Any suggestions?

I only had 2 options, joining the reaper, and Call Close air support.  
I would perfer having only the support helo joining my team. I'm still struggling with the whole helo part, and I  need to play it a couple more times.

This vanishing issue has never happened to me while playing any missions and I wonder if this "bug" only happens on a dedicated server.

I'll pm you my server details so you can try for yourself.

This is a weird bug that I have encountered also on a hosted server AND in other missions. I have no idea what makes this happen. Do you? Has this happened to you in any other missions?

It's never happened to me in other missions. I'm guessing that there is an endmission variable  that maybe enabled or something to someone who's joining in JIP.

[laggy]

This vanishing issue has never happened to me while playing any missions and I wonder if this "bug" only happens on a dedicated server.

I'll pm you my server details so you can try for yourself.

Not necessary, I of course trust you on this one, really annoying that BIS haven't thought of this  

AHHH...  

A thought. I have two ACMs in this mission, one synced with group GHOST DOG and one with the REAPER helo. Maybe on a dedi the two ACMs are spawning/deleting units without caring about if any actual PLAYERS are there to see it. According to some info I read the spawning and deleting process should care about player presence, but maybe it isn't flawless and if the REAPER helo ACM spawns/deletes units it might not care if GHOST DOG players are present and vice versa...

It's never happened to me in other missions. I'm guessing that there is an endmission variable  that maybe enabled or something to someone who's joining in JIP.

Hmmm...

I always have boolean variables to end a mission (like: goodend = true; publicVariable "goodend") and in this mission the ending is activated in the win/loose outro scripts. As in: endMission "END1".

So, the mission should never end until you have seen one of those two outros... WEIRD  

This issue I have never encountered until patch 1.05.

Any additional ideas?

Thanks,

Laggy

[hoz]

I think you should really try out norrins revive and I think you should add the grass height option and viewdistance options in the mp menu.

Are the objectives , like the laptop in random spots?

I noticed one time while searching for the laptop, during one attempt there were guys on the second story and then in other attempts they weren't there.

We'll giver a go again this evening.

[laggy]

I think you should really try out norrins revive and I think you should add the grass height option and viewdistance options in the mp menu.

I will definitely consider all that, the reason it's not in yet is time and work really. I need to learn the new param config first, since the old way only allows two parameters, which are already taken.

Are the objectives , like the laptop in random spots?

Yes, both the laptop and Razbolnikov are randomly placed/patrolling, so it is always different.

Look forward to some more ideas from you and your friends. I won't be able to edit for a couple of days, but sometime next week I'll be up and running again.

Cheers and many thanks,

Laggy

[MikDawg]

Hi Laggy, great mission, played it with my clan pals and we had a blast, defused the nuke with only 4minutes to spare  , we called it a successful mission even though it did end only for the guy who defused the bomb    The rest stayed it in game and when it came to the detonation time we all got the red chain of death from server, shame - I was looking forward to the explosion as I have never seen it in Arma2.

Also we had reckless UH-60 pilot who got his tale rotor shot and went to the USS KHAN to see it is fixable and returned with F35 

[laggy]

Thanks for the positive words MikDawg 

The mission only ending for the disarmer is really weird since the end trigger (outro) is started by a publicVariable 
Did the other players not even see the outro movie?
I have also tested this mission on a dedicated server and this never happened to me, so something fishy is going on.
Wonder if this could be an ArmA2 bug, I have read somewhere that custom scripts have limited bandwith or something.
Anyway, thanks again and I will check out this issue and fix it.

Laggy