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Missions Depot => Mission Discussion => ArmA - Reviewed Missions => Topic started by: Undeceived on 11 Aug 2008, 22:41:32

Title: (Review completed) [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5)
Post by: Undeceived on 11 Aug 2008, 22:41:32
Download Evil's Last Will for
Arma 3

here. (https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/193268-sp-evils-last-will/)





Read the review here:
http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=197 (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=197)



Title: Evil's Last Will
Mission Version: 1.5
Author: Undeceived
Gametype: SP
Required Game / Patch: Armed Assault 1.14 or higher
Role of the player: Markus Berger, a soldier of the SKK (a special group of the German army).

Description: Eliminate a target person and witness how murder and hatred only stoke more fear and death in this land - when evil fulfills its last will...

Trailer:
A little video / slideshow about the mission.

(http://www.unterderbruecke.net/zeug/bilder/evltrailerbild.jpg)

Click here (http://www.unterderbruecke.net/zeug/arma/Evil'sLastWill_Trailer.7z) to download (high resolution - 26,7 MB).

Click here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYCRtqp5rfM) for the Youtube-Version.


Features:
- Full voice acting (German)
- English and German subtitles
- Weapon switching (you can carry two main weapons) and a lot of other great scripts
- Cutscenes
- Custom music
- Long length
- Enthralling story
- Addons to accentuate the story



(http://www.unterderbruecke.net/zeug/bilder/evilslastwill1.jpg)


Story:
To Markus Berger, Sergeant First Class, Marksman, Spezielle-Kräfte-Kompanie (SKK):

You know that Sahrani, an island located in the pacific ocean, has been at war for one month and a half by now. The renegade Russian Major General Anatolj Mislajew already controles wide pieces of North-Sahrani.

Your task is to eliminate Colonel Valesh Wissarijan.
Colonel Wissarijan is accused to be responsible for numerous practices against the civil population, which reach from exploitation to murder.
He is also an important strategist of Major General A. Mislajew.

The overall situation is critical, Gentlemen. The civil population is getting exploited and is treated badly by the enemy forces.


(http://www.unterderbruecke.net/zeug/bilder/evilslastwill2.jpg)


(http://www.unterderbruecke.net/zeug/bilder/evilslastwill3.jpg)


Required Addons:
-> "BW Flecktarn & Tropentarn" by Bionic (Version: 1.04)
http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=463

-> "Chechenya War Mod" by Chechnya War Mod Team (Version: 1.0)
http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=3182
Important note: The addon CWM_UI.pbo caused an ArmA crash for me, so if it happens to you, just remove it from the addons folder. It is not needed by the mission anyway.

-> "Russian Federation Units" by Skaven, Shadow NX and Cameron McDonald (Version: 2.00)
http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=1712

-> "Freedom Fighters" by agamoth (Version: 1.0 beta)
http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=2888

-> Editor Upgrade (contained in the mission package)



Notes:
- This is a complex mission. I experienced scripting problems (among others) while playing it with ACE mod... :( Regarding mods I think the less the better for the performance and the playability of the mission.
- The SKK is a fictitious special force of the German army. I did not want the player to be a soldier of the KSK, becaues the KSK has a very different combat mode than given in this mission.
- Please give this mission a chance, despite the amount of required addons.
- At the moment, the Freedom Fighters unfortunately still are in beta status. This means that the following details are not working on them:
      -> Facial expression
      -> Lip movements
      -> Blood textures
Unfortunately it seems that the authors of the freedom fighters abandoned the work on them so I don't think there will be a new version... But still I don't want to replace them completely by another addon because they fit perfectly in the story I developed and symply because they are still the best in their style.
- Make sure you read the Readme!



Version history:
Version 1.0
The download was removed due to some strange bugs and sudden showstoppers... Of course they never appeared when the mission was still unreleased, so I'm pretty f***** up...
I'll work on it and put it in here A.S.A.P.! Sorry, if you tested it and experienced these bugs.
I eliminated some serious bugs now and it should run from the beginning until the end. Here's the file again. Thank you for trying it out...

Version 1.01
Objects that required Queens Gambit were removed. Some bugs were fixed.

Version 1.11
Some major and many minor bugs were fixed. Click here for details (contains spoilers!) (http://www.ofpec.com/forum/index.php?topic=31964.msg220287#msg220287)

Version 1.2
Many many bugs were removed and some parts were optimized. Please read the details, thanks. (contains spoilers) (http://www.ofpec.com/forum/index.php?topic=31964.msg222611#msg222611)

Version 1.25
Bedges' cool "shaky cam" script was added and bugs were eliminated. Other parts were optimized.

Version 1.3
More bug fixes, new cutscenes, new custom music, new recorded voices, new objectives and a cheat console by Wolfrug for better beta testing. ;)

Version 1.4
More bug fixes, little optimizations. Coming to an end of the beta testing phase...

Version 1.5
Some bug fixes and optimizations and it seems that the end of the beta phase has been reached. :blink:


Download:
DOWNLOAD - "Evil's Last Will (v.1.5)" (http://www.unterderbruecke.net/zeug/arma/EvilsLastWill_15.zip)
(34,7 MB)


Thanks for beta testing and great help:
Cheetah, Wolfrug, Zipper5, bert, mathias_eichinger, johnnyboy, Tyger, Sponbo, NightJay0044, savedbygrace, schuler.
Thank you very much, guys!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Cheetah on 13 Aug 2008, 16:20:23
Looking good, will take a while to download the addons but expect a beta report  :good:
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 13 Aug 2008, 16:22:12
Cool, Cheetah! :)
Thank you!!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Wolfrug on 13 Aug 2008, 17:11:29
Sorry for being so slow - the addon list IS rather extensive, but I think I have most of those already, and it'll be great to see Agamoth's freedom fighters in action!  :good: I'll get back to you when I've given her a spin.

Edit: Nevermind. Missing addons: dbe_hilux1 (I think) and porto. :) Looks like you set this on Porto/using Queen's Gambit without telling anyone. Aw well...sounded like a fun mission anyway!

Wolfrug out.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 13 Aug 2008, 19:29:10
Hmmm... :(

The mission was done completely without QG, Wolfrug. At least I never started editing with it running.
Yes, I saw the addons you mentioned in the mission.sqm. But (please do not stone me to death :) ) I thought that since 1.14 these addons would be contained in Vanilla ArmA... :) Sorry, mate!!
Well, I guess that the unwanted addons are in the ArmA/addons folder then, I will eliminate them once for all when I arrive home (I'm at my girlfriend's right now), please hang on.

Sorry again!!
Undeceived


edit: But I'm asking myself how these addons got into the ArmA/addons folder... Maybe it really was a patch installation procedure that threw them in there (I always use mod folders at least)?
Does anyone know more about this?
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Planck on 14 Aug 2008, 00:18:57
The Queens Gambit installation does indeed put a dbe1.pbo in the normal addons folder.

There is also a DBE1 mod folder in the arma root that holds the rest of QG.


Planck
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 14 Aug 2008, 02:28:10
Alllllright... :)

The mission should be free of QG now!
I am uploading it to the first post now and I gave it a new version number (V. 1.01).

Ok, thank you, Planck, for this confirmation! But I think that it is definetely not well done by BIS, putting this dbe1.pbo (and another file I had to find) in the standard addons folder! I can't understand why. And I simply thought that they were part of the vanilla ArmA since 1.14 :D Oh man... Such a greenness! :) Sorry for this, guys! I'll learn out of this!

Well, anyway, it should work for you now, Wolfrug. I had used some objects that unfortunately are exclusively QG but I found them and took them out.
These objects were from the mentioned Dbe1.pbo (the hilux_armed) and from a file called Desert2.pbo (Field toilet and sleeping bags). In the Desert2.pbo there is the island Porto and these two objects. Is is why the line "porto" appeared in the mission.sqm, the mission itself plays on Sahrani, don't worry. :)

Here is the actual list of required addons (taken from the mission.sqm):


Code: [Select]
addOnsAuto[]=
{
"CATracked",
"RHS_Marines",
"cwm_units",
"cacharacters",
"free",
"G85_Editor",
"VX_FleckcaWod",
"caair",
"CAWheeled",
"cabuildings",
"CAMisc",
"EditorUpdate_v102",
"CAWheeled3_TT650",
"caweapons",
"rhs_weap",
"CAWater",
"cadata",
"sara"
There are only addons with the "CA" in front of them, which I believe that they are part of Vanilla ArmA. Is that right?
And "sara", which very likely is Sahrani. :)
And then there are the other addons that you guys would have to download (the Editor-Updates are in the mission package).
"free" seems to be the Freedom Fighters.


I hope that it's ok now. If anyone of you sees something odd, please contact me. Thanks, guys!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Wolfrug on 14 Aug 2008, 13:17:40
Ahh! Thanks for the clarification Undeceived! I got it working now.  :D

Just completed the first "part" of the mission (one shot, one kill. Very nice tension) - going on to the next sections. Looking good so far! Proper review upcoming.

Wolfrug out.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 14 Aug 2008, 14:41:55
Great! Good to see that it worked! :)
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Cheetah on 15 Aug 2008, 10:10:57
Beta report by Cheetah (1.14, regular difficulty, required addons).

Overview
Looks pretty good. Not sure what has to change to make it look better, maybe make the image slightly more challenging.

Intro
I have to say that your camera work is good, or at least that I like it. No errors.

Briefing
Comprehensive yet clear about what has to be done. Weapon selection is present although not really useful for me, I like the MP5/M24 combo.

Mission

Will try to keep this one short, not only to make it easier for you, but also to prevent too much spoiling the story. And to be honest, I didn't make many comments, enjoying the mission :). Going to mention them from back to forth.

Error: got this error on the flight back (extraction), see attached picture.
Requested: the chopper pilot asked me to get on board and it worked, so I guess that was option a).
Recommendation: hunalapu was not eventful.
Bug: following actions from the bug below, the squad didn't board the truck.
Bug: at the point where I have to leave the resistance guys behind (couple hundred meters away from Hunalapu) there is no text from them (maybe the one who is supposed to speak died). Also, while this was going on, they were still 2 clicks behind me in the forest before the mountains because I was trying to complete the mission quickly (didn't want more enemy guys on my back).
Bug: I lost command of all resistance/falke just before they got into contact with the enemy, that is when falke died.
Bug: why have me move back to the exfil point, where I only get a message to go to the resistance leader. That was kind of a long tour that could've been shorter if only I didn't have to reach the exfil point first.

Bug: (not sure of when this occured) Twice a radio message got repeated multiple times. One message as much as three times (can't remember), the other two times and along the lines of: Roger that HQ I'll do anything you ask me. Somewhere towards the end, possibly after leaving the resistance behind.

Finally some gentle words :). The addons add a great lot to the atmosphere. The german voices are great! Good mission, worth finishing to the end.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 15 Aug 2008, 15:32:43
Contains spoilers!!


1) Cheetah's beta-test
2) New version - V. 1.11 - (details)



1) Cheetah's beta-test

Cheetah, many thanks! Really!! Your test helps me a lot!


Quote
Overview
maybe make the image slightly more challenging.
What do you mean? Can you give a tiny inspiration?


Quote
Error: got this error on the flight back (extraction), see attached picture.
Oh! Thx for reporting. I was trying something there and forgot to remove it...

Quote
Requested: the chopper pilot asked me to get on board and it worked, so I guess that was option a).
That's ok, yes. Good to see... ::) Finally.

Quote
Bug: at the point where I have to leave the resistance guys behind (couple hundred meters away from Hunalapu) there is no text from them (maybe the one who is supposed to speak died). Also, while this was going on, they were still 2 clicks behind me in the forest before the mountains because I was trying to complete the mission quickly (didn't want more enemy guys on my back).
Hehe, one should stay at his squad!! ;) Just kidding, it really is annoying when the AI stays behind in the forests... Really poor.
But I will think about what you wrote because it could be that other players also run down there quickly. Maybe a fading out and setpos and fading in... Don't know.

Quote
Bug: I lost command of all resistance/falke just before they got into contact with the enemy, that is when falke died.
Ok, this one I didn't know so far! Can you tell me where exactly it happened?

Quote
Bug: why have me move back to the exfil point, where I only get a message to go to the resistance leader. That was kind of a long tour that could've been shorter if only I didn't have to reach the exfil point first.
Puhhh... It is actually one of my biggest worries that the player thinks that this way is too long (and maybe enables setacctime 4.000)... I tried to make it as diversified as possible but it really is a long way off (I'll add some more stuff).
The problem is that the special unit that arrived at the base first needs to get to Mataredo, before Falke can radio the situation And I made that this way: Falke reports the situation when the player reaches a trigger near the extraction point. But maybe I should make it come earlier. Then I would have two choices: 1) Enlarge the trigger for the radio chat or 2) Let the chat begin after a number of seconds...

All in all however, the drive of the special unit from the base to the village needs to be "simulated"... And this takes a while. :(

Quote
Bug: (not sure of when this occured) Twice a radio message got repeated multiple times.
If you maybe can remember it later where it happened, please contact me. I don't know where the bug is but I'll keep my eyes open.


Thanks again, Cheetah, for this test!
I'll work further on it.



2) New version - V. 1.11 - (details)

I uploaded a new version of the mission on which I worked in the last days. I could fix some other major bugs and a lot of small ones...
I also implemented some of the points that Cheetah gave me above, but not all yet. At first I wanted to ensure that you can test a version without the major bugs (I hope that the situations work now!). I found some mistakes that made my hairs stand on end... Sorry for this!


- Finally the farewell of the resistance group seems to work! They embarc the truck and it moves on.

- I tried to adjust the final cutscene (the one with the credits) in terms of timing, mainly (adapting video to music). Can you confirm that the cuts and blackouts etc. fit with the music a little more now? The problem is... I know it's likely that the cutscenes runs differently on every machine but anyway the video should fit a little to the beat, especially when the scenes change (for example from Luchs and Colonel to the Speznaz and the resistance guys at the road OR from the trees to the sunset where Jegor is sitting and watching. You know what I mean?).


Thank you all very much for your time!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Cheetah on 15 Aug 2008, 18:09:32
Spoilers

DePBOed the mission and came across the radio message that was played twice: STR_NachConvoy_03F
The other one was near the Venom Lager if I'm not mistaken, I'll recheck.

Also, there are some other things I forgot to mention. First, the hint to request extraction was only available in German, should be easy to fix ;).
Second thing is that in the outro I could see the units getting setPossed, not sure if you addressed that with the release of the new version, haven't yet seen that one but thought you might want to know.

Quote
What do you mean? Can you give a tiny inspiration?

The whole mission's atmosphere is supposed to be evil, chaotic and inspired by the devil, therefore you could edit it to have a red mask or something. Maybe a black transparant layer and burned or roughened edges of the picture. Currently it is too smooth and crystal clear :). However, it is not something that should have your priority, it's only an overview.

Quote
Maybe a fading out and setpos and fading in... Don't know.

That is indeed an option, there aren't many I guess, maybe someone else comes up with something good. Have been thinking about adding motorcycles, a vehicle that gives you a ride (fade out) and stops 1 click south of the evac village before a checkpoint, giving the player another bit of action but that all doesn't suit the mission too well I guess. Problem is indeed that huge forest, combined with hills don't work too well for the AI.

Quote
I simply don't know where to order Luchs after the task if not back to the extraction point...

Aye, I see what goes on. Well, as the player (at least I did) loses a bit of his sense of time by moving back through the thick forest you could help the AI by setting their car a bit closer to Mataredo, could save a few minutes. Other than that, I can't come up with any solutions as of yet. Later maybe.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Wolfrug on 15 Aug 2008, 18:15:21
Ahh! Finally finished this little pearl, and I'll try to give you as much information as I can in this beta review. Note to all: contains massive spoilers! DO NOT READ. This is a good mission : give it a spin! No showstoppers in here, so carry on!

Overview

Works well, I think - although you finally get the point of the mission's name as well as the point of the picture at the end, it's a little fuzzy from the beginning. I suggest the same "idea" (greyed out picture of the general-whatever), but with a more interesting pose than the standard "ArmA chin-down" look :D Maybe a profile, or a full-face frontal? Not that important though.

Intro

I have to admit I mostly missed this. I watched it while the mission still kicked up the missing addons bug, but then I didn't see very much - I think the "flashing pictures" didn't work out that well for me because of LOD loading...strangely the same worked fine in the outro, so I don't know. :) Also ArmA nights for me are VERY dark, so I didn't see that much. Might want to focus more on this "evil's last will" somehow...not sure. I mostly just heard a chopper all the time, and some random (non-subtitled?) voices.

Briefing

Extensive, properly linked, pictures included...pretty perfect. Might need some tiny English grammar corrections (can't think of any right now) but other than that there was nothing wrong with it! The notes section nicely explained the "out of character" things as well such as weapon switching. As a note, the objectives (of which there were many) all updated properly during the course of the mission, so everything was fine there as well!

Mission

All right! Note, it took me about two days or so of several hours of playing to get through this baby, so I might have forgotten some stuff inbetween. I'll just explain how I did things, what my problems were, and suggestions for improvements. Note that I had no problems or error messages with anything at any point, so these are indeed all just suggestions.

I started in the boat - good work on the custom resource, and very good work on getting the boat to actually get all the way to the shore so that I could "get out" - small things like these are much appreciated, especially in the beginning. And I was once again reminded of how nice ArmA can look like during certain times of day/weather conditions. Voiced radio messages throughout were excellent.

I tried for the target zone twice. Once I went the way you're probably "supposed" to go - the shortest route. I dodged a camp in a fjord, and another machine gun nest (I think) with a fire - nice work on the "what's that stench?" comment, made me check my surroundings more properly. Finally, close to the final destination, I saw a strange object on a hill. Lying down and peering at it through my scope, I saw an ammo box and a small tent. I barely had time to think "oh, looks like a sniper's ne--" and I was shot. Arrgh. Hadn't saved during the trip there either. So...try number two, I do what any self-respecting playtester would. I went far south, speed x4, to the mountain chain that goes west-east. Hidden from all possible patrols, I simply ran east until I was in line with the base, and then headed back north. I killed a small camp of three men + a sniper sitting by campfire, within sight of the base. No-one seemed to have reacted, and I gave the third survivor and the sniper plenty of time to call in. Maybe they didn't actually see me at any time...but that's fine. I'd hate to have to restart just because I didn't kill everyone within 10 seconds... :)

So I finally got to the lookout post - nice timing on the trigger, I had time to lie down and aim at the base and all, so I really was in position. :) A note on the cutscene here : while the gun aims at the different characters, you might want to add a little randomized camera movement, to simulate breathing/unsteady aim. The "camsettarget" commands are a little...precise ;) There's hopefully a script for it someplace in the ED...

Otherwise the whole lookout-cutscene-etc was absolutely excellent class! Tense and with well done radio dialogue and interaction, and finally the whole "should I shoot him or hold fire?" thing - I don't know what would've happened if I'd've shot him, but I guess nothing much (except Fuchsbau, that bastard, would've been angry) :D Superb work! Also gave us a preliminary look at the "real bad guys", and the Chechen addon gave them that special creepy "unknown" look.

Once done, I'm ordered to move back - which I did, the same way I came. So it took a while. Although I was honestly expecting not to be picked up by boat (bad weather) and to get new objectives. Well, once I get them, I head out towards Hunapu - once again, I first try the shortest route, and promptly run into a BMP-2. I try to sneak past him, but I think he had already spotted me and I was gunned down. D'oh. Second try -> went further around, once again using x4. Hunapu was nice - there was a bus that seemed to be doing things it should be doing (stopping at bus stops and such) and other cars driving around - it was also getting very dark, so I had to use NV goggles. Classic OFP feeling. I decide to head towards Pacamac using the right side of the road (closer to the sea) and head that way...no traffic, no patrols, no nothing, so a little uneventful I must say. Eventually I spot the destroyed Ural and BMP and bodies, and know that I'm probably in safe territory. I follow orders and check out the town - once again, nice work with the triggers, but I wonder what would've happened if someone hadn't followed the road to get there? ArmA is a pretty freeform game, after all!

But the whole "check the town for russians" etc thing worked perfectly, and I moved down towards the people who looked most like leaders (the guy with the hat!), and I was right. It was very nice to see the freedom fighters in action, looked like a real resistance base. :) Also the whole "put down your weapons!" thing seemed to work - not sure if I did it right, but I put down my gun via the gear screen anyway, and the dialogue seemed to continue nicely. Didn't "stress test" it since I hadn't saved once again and didn't want to have to make the whole trip again, just for the pleasure of seeing if you've made the resistance fighters shoot me if I didn't do what they asked :D

Anyway, I get the next objective (excellent voice acting etc - doesn't make too much sense that the natives speak German, but hey - as little sense as they speaking English, eh?), and head off towards the meeting point - nice extra with the leader's brother! There I pick up the peeps - once again, excellent acting, radio comms and placement of the resistance fighters - well done!

Here's where I accidentally "broke" the mission a little: as you know, the Black Venom camp is in that forest up in EI(J?)-20-something region, -straight west- of Matadero. I was planning on going north, and then straight east into the big M to avoid the question marks on the road and such, and kind of wandered into their camp - actually I saw the firelight and got curious. There were no radio messages (like "We found a secret camp!") or anything of the like, and when my soldiers were randomly walked over by the two patrollers all hell broke lose and we eventually got ourselves killed. Note that this also broke the triggers that allowed the 2 extra people to join my group halfway to M!
Suggestion: make it possible to discover the camp, but either make it a) empty/no ammo boxes/no car (=they're still out on a mission) or b) make it mostly empty (no car, just a few guards), and if attacked, will fail the "hunt down black venom" objectives since the rest of the soldiers will have escaped once they realise their camp has been attacked - Fuchsbau will give the order to Luchs to not investigate the camp further but to continue to Matadero. A c) option would be to dynamically spawn the camp when the objective becomes active, or to make the camp location random to make it less likely to be accidentally found.

I figured these people weren't meant to be found yet though, so try number 2 I went straight to M as you were supposed to. This time I also got the cutscene where the 17-year old joined the group, although I think I was in the wrong place since they spoke of canyons and things (I was in the middle of the forest someplace), but the joining worked fine. Weird bug: once the cutscene was over, one of my men had the "Mount" order and was running into the forest. Don't know what he wanted to mount, but I ordered him back. Anyway, in Matadero I then cleaned out the town (note: you need to spiff up their AI, currently when attacked they'll just hit the dirt and not move - give them Sentry waypoints followed by Search & Destroy ones, for instance - this way they'll stay put until they spot an enemy, and then go into S&D mode). Very nice cutscene once again in Matadero, followed by the next objective becoming active. Yay.

Big bug (not a showstopper): I was ordered to find Falke, but I failed. Where the heck is he? I went to the location, and the objective ticked off, but there was no cutscene or anyone joining my group or anything. :-/ No message about him being dead either...there was just nothing. Fargh. In the end just before the chopper arrived I suddenly reported in that he was dead, but...eeh... :dunno: Please note: if you've used i.e. the disableAI commands to keep Falke put while stuff happens elsewhere, remember that a save/load resets them - so either teleport him from some island, or use another command (like stop)

Phoie - long mission! Anyway, so I move on towards the camp, which I know where it is due to earlier mistakes, and set up above it, and spot most of the soldiers in it. When the time is right, I order an open fire - bang bang, feuer frei, lots of dead Black Venoms. Once again: improve their AI! This is the perfect place to create a scary ArmA AI: nighttime, deep forest, lots of places to hide and bushes to shoot through. And they just lie still by their camp fires and do nothing. Activating a S&D WP once again would make this whole fight a heckuva lot more exciting! Take it down - no losses. Kill the last loon hiding behind some barrels too, and get another objective.

Annoyance: By this time I've used up all of the three saves I get at the start. How about giving us some more? You could also use a countdown system and add saves to it as needed (like I did in Op:DH) -> Saves left (5). Whenever an objective is completed, add another save that can be used whenever. That way people can decide themselves when they want to save. In this case, I loaded up a whole UAZ of stuff, drove off to the ambush point, successfully ambushed the convoy, had a tense firefight in the rain, and then drove off - only to drive off a cliff and die stupidly inside the car trying to get to Hunapu through the mountains. Arrgh. In the retry I ambushed the convoy and then just drove the UAZ along the roads, since ArmA AI can't attack own-side vehicles during the night  ::) Useful for me this time around, and it felt pretty realistic too. The lack of save was annoying, however.

Oh, about the convoy ambush: put down a bunch of mines, armed everyone with RPGs, and added a string of satchel charges along the road. Satchels + first mine took out the T-72 and the BMP, and another mine took out the last Shilka. Objective complete. :D Very tense and nice firefight in the rain though, especially using MadMatt's effects (with the rain enabled).  :good: Would've been better with more saves though!

Drove back to Hunapu, got the last chatter (the resistance soldiers left my group, exited the UAZ, entered it again, had a conversation with me, and then exited it again. Oh well). Didn't get any special mention for saving the 17-year old brother :( Also note Falke wasn't with me at any time. But I had no problems with the convo in general, but then again no-one was dead. Then I moved over to the extraction zone and waited for the chopper - note, I had to take option b) -> I think the problem here is that you (the player) are still "assignedAsDriver" to the UAZ (or CRRC or whatever) - you can probably reassign him as cargo to the chopper, which might fix the problem (player assignascargo chopper).

Anyway, I fly off in my own chopper, into the thunder and rain, and the mission ends - extraordinary success!

Outro

This one worked very well! Nice job using custom resources for the names, nice timing, nice choice of music, nice scenes, nice voices...the quick scenes really worked this time around, no problem with LOD shifting or anything! You could have added a little more to the story about "if only I had killed him before"...but I really have no big criticisms. A more "in-game" outro might've been nice too, where we get to know what happened with the resistance and so on, but this was perfectly fine!

Very nice ending for a very nice mission!

Random notes:

Enemy patrols and enemy AI reactions need some improvements. I attacked the convoy like a hundred meters from the ? in the north (there was a UAZ and some soldiers there, I think), and no-one had reacted. One'd think they'd send someone to investigate a lot of explosions and shooting, no? There were plenty of places where nothing happened - like the whole road section from Hunapu to Pacamac was pretty empty. Likewise the mountains seemed completely devoid of movement. Hm hm. You might want to consider adding a (random?) chopper - few things are more atmospheric than being hunted by an unknown aerial assailant. It would also keep the player from just randomly commandeering a vehicle and making all the on-foot episodes pointless. For instance: after attacking the convoy, a Mi-17 is called up from nearby Pita airbase, and sent on a Hunt and Kill mission after the guerillas - if it spots them (trekking over the mountains) it'd drop parachutists on you. And strafe you with its machine gun :D Maybe closer to Pacamac or Hunapu, a friendly AA of some sort (Stinger launcher?) would drop it out of the sky, or it'd simply retreat. If the player is in a vehicle, it'd be attacked automatically, thus keeping the player from abusing the poor night-time AI.

Overall:

Excellent mission! Fix some tiny bugs, in -particular- the save game one (just add a single radio channel, with a global var like savesLeft, and make the condition this && savesLeft > 0, and the on Activation savegame; savesLeft = savesLeft - 1. Whenever you want more saves, you just add to them using savesLeft = savesLeft + 3. Easy-peasy!), and you'll have a definite winner! The script and acting and everything works out quite excellently, and the objectives are manifold. Might have wanted to use some of the addons more - for instance you could've mostly omitted RHS's russian troops addon (changing the story only slightly, say russian spec ops + local militant troops), and you could've used some of the other things in the CWM pack, such as the excellent BTR-80 and BMD-1 vehicles.

Good stuff. Sorry for the extensive write-up, but it's a long mission! Nice work!

(Edit: attached two pictures I took! One is from just above the Black Venom camp, before attacking, the other is from ambushing the convoy in the rain. Great stuff!)

Wolfrug out.


Edit: image attachments (evilslastwill_pic1 & 2) lost in crash of 2009 - WEK
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Cheetah on 15 Aug 2008, 18:51:19
Spoilers

Quote
I went far south, speed x4, to the mountain chain that goes west-east

Wolfrug, bastard I experienced multiple hells trying to go back through the forest and had to use my medkit as I got injured in arms and legs. It was tense though  :D

Quote
I don't know what would've happened if I'd've shot him, but I guess nothing much

Hehe, in most missions Fuchsbau will get angry, in this mission he was furious at me and wanted me back to slap my butt.

Quote
didn't want to have to make the whole trip again, just for the pleasure of seeing if you've made the resistance fighters shoot me if I didn't do what they asked

Seems like I was the 'bad boy' in this mission for getting both punishment from Fuchsbau and from these resistance guys for not obeying :).

Quote
When the time is right, I order an open fire - bang bang, feuer frei, lots of dead Black Venoms.

This was more or less what happened in my try, except for two soldiers escaping and causing chaos in trying to kill them. Lost #4 in the process. Didn't have problems finding Falke before that, might have something to do with your camp discovery before you were ought to discover it.

Quote
I think the problem here is that you (the player) are still "assignedAsDriver" to the UAZ (or CRRC or whatever) - you can probably reassign him as cargo to the chopper, which might fix the problem (player assignascargo chopper).

Unlike wolfrug, I didn't have this problem but I never got into a vehicle after disembarking the CRRC. Wolfrugs idea of assigning will probably fix it.

Finally, the ambush point. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence but there was really bad weather when I had to take out the convoy. I had no UAZ to take as my hand grenade bombardment of the enemy camp destroyed it, therefore I took one mine, one satchel and two RPGs as well as two M24 mags and two mags for some silenced weapon I forgot the name of (cool weapon though). Couldn't get my teammates to take stuff from the box, no RPGs satchels or mines that is, might did something wrong or forgot about something. Anyway, put one mine down, one satchel and awaited the convoy hoping that it wouldn't be too strong (was stressing as I was heavily armed myself, but my teammates lacked AT weapons/mines/sats). Luckily, the shilka was the only tank to be left after the satchel and mine took care of BMP (crew disembarked after 1 RPG) and T72. Used one RPG to take the shilka out. Then the hunt in really really bad weather began, rain and fog hid the three crewman well. Luckily, we got them before they got to us. The final RPG hammered into the BMP (thereby destroying it) made the objective end as desired.

Thought those comments could be handy for you in analyzing bugs and coming up with fixes.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Wolfrug on 15 Aug 2008, 19:34:27
Oh yes, the first time I ambushed the convoy I got the same thing - heavy rain and fog (as you can see in my picture), NVs dimmed by the flames licking the destroyed tank, the crew popping up between the trees as fire is exchanged...tense! Would've been nice to escape in the same tense feeling. And I think the rain and fog were scripted, since I got the same weather every time I was there, and during the whole time. Did wonders for atmosphere!

Second time I placed more satchels and exploded them better  :cool2: No dead crew to bother me.

@The Black Venom camp: yes, there were two soldiers patrolling. I timed my open fire command to the moment I had both in my sights. Two quick "fthumps" from my M24 and they were down :D The rest were sitting ducks. If, as I mentioned, Undeceived had made the rest of the soldiers in the camp get up and spread out in the forest, it could've gotten a lot harder and a lot tenser!

@Beginning: Yes, I know I "cheated" :D At least I didn't do it on the first attempt, but I really suck at spotting the enemy in a forest, and if you don't see them before they see you...well...if you see the flash, it's already too late!

Great mission anyway. :)

Wolfrug out.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 15 Aug 2008, 19:45:29
Wolfrug, this was a BLAST of a beta review!! Thank you very much, I really appreciate it, guys! And good to know that the mission worked for you finally, hehe... :)

Ok, I think I will need some time to answer to the last posts... :)
And I noticed... There is plenty of work to do! :goodnight: But I'm going to make it, hopefully.


__________________


Quote
DePBOed the mission and came across the radio message that was played twice: STR_NachConvoy_03F
Is this bug reproducible? Wolfrug, did you experiment this too? 'Cause I never had it.

Quote
in the outro I could see the units getting setPossed, not sure if you addressed that with the release of the new version
But you are not meaning Luchs, when he's walking towards the colonel or Jegor (the guy that is sitting and watching the sunset), do you? Because these setposses were intended, hihi :D Like a "cinematic eyecandy" :) Maybe I should review it though. Or did you mean other units?

[The next quote is about the resistance fighters still being running through the forest while the player sometimes already has reached the house (farewell)]
Quote
Maybe a fading out and setpos and fading in... Don't know.
That is indeed an option, there aren't many I guess, maybe someone else comes up with something good
How about activating the trigger only when the whole group is in its area? This could take some time (until all fighters arrived) but after all it's them, who the player has to escort to safety. What do you think about it?

Quote
Have been thinking about adding motorcycles, a vehicle that gives you a ride (fade out) and stops 1 click south of the evac village before a checkpoint, giving the player another bit of action but that all doesn't suit the mission too well I guess
Sorry, I didn't understand what you are trying to say. :)


About having to return to the extraction point after the colonel: I will make the trigger come earlier so the player does not need to go almost the whole way back.

_________________

Quote
although you finally get the point of the mission's name as well as the point of the picture at the end, it's a little fuzzy from the beginning.
Yes, it was the intention that the player doesn't get the sense of the name by just looking the picture or reading the name... I put many thoughts in the name, didn't want to name it like "Too late" or somthing like this.

At your intro review (Wolfrug):
Quote
I mostly just heard a chopper all the time, and some random (non-subtitled?) voices.
Are you speaking about the intro here? Because this would then be a bug. All voices (there are only 2) are to be subtitled... This is different in the outro, there I put the voices like it was a memory from the past, where you hear the voices in your head... I didn't subtitle this part, it was simply impossible. It would be way too fast.

Quote
I think the "flashing pictures" didn't work out that well for me

Are you refering to the pictures in the outro, too?

Quote
Might need some tiny English grammar corrections

If you find some part, please let me know. It's hard not having English as native language. But thankfully my girlfriend helped me a lot already!! :)

Quote
"what's that stench?"
Should I better use this sentence instead of "What is it that stinks here..."?

Quote
I don't know what would've happened if I'd've shot him, but I guess nothing much (except Fuchsbau, that bastard, would've been angry)

Hehe, yes, he would be angry! And the mission would be jeopardized and finished! :D But try it out the next time! ;)

Quote
I decide to head towards Pacamac using the right side of the road (closer to the sea) and head that way...no traffic, no patrols, no nothing, so a little uneventful I must say
Well, this is strange... Didn't you see some vehicles with resistance fighters within driving in direction of Hunapu? If not, probably the motorcycle didn't make it again (it sometimes fell on its back while trying to drive up a tiny mountain). I removed it and replaced it by a blue car in the last patch, now it works fine. I also set the fire near Hunapu, which is mentioned by the resistance leader.
But anyway, I will probably have to add some more stuff to that long way.

Quote
I was planning on going north, and then straight east into the big M to avoid the question marks on the road and such, and kind of wandered into their camp
Hm... Maybe I should remove the question marker at Passo Paradiso. And I think I will either remove the whole camp and setpos it there later or just let it empty, like as B.V. still was on its way... Good ideas, mate. Thx!

Quote
the cutscene where the 17-year old joined the group, although I think I was in the wrong place since they spoke of canyons and things (I was in the middle of the forest someplace),
If all went right, the boy did join the player with the other res. fighters at the meeting point. At this cutscene the crude sniper joins the team.
Normally the player should go to Mataredo near of the road... Maybe removing the "?" will help.

Quote
Weird bug: once the cutscene was over, one of my men had the "Mount" order and was running into the forest.
Did you or anyone of your group mount a vehicle before that?
Oh man... This "mount the vehicle" stuff really is annoying. But I hope that it's ok now, I have unassigned them all from vehicles in all cutscenes and significant points

Quote
note: you need to spiff up their AI, currently when attacked they'll just hit the dirt and not move

Ok, I'll do that! Didn't know this method yet.

Quote
I was ordered to find Falke, but I failed. Where the heck is he? I went to the location, and the objective ticked off, but there was no cutscene or anyone joining my group or anything.
??? Hm, I don't know what might have happened there... After Mataredo, Falke is setpossed from an island right to the edge of the forest at EJ21. He is set right beside of a small tree.
Really strange that one with the ticked objective and noting more... There has to come a conversation right after the meeting with Falke (but it's not a cutscene), it's just a "last instruction before Black-Venom." that Luchs gives to the resistance fighters. Then Falke and the rest join Luchs. Really weird...

Quote
Phoie - long mission!
Do you think that the mission maybe is too long?
I personally see it as a mini-campaign without loading screens and briefings. What do you think?

Quote
feuer frei
Hehe, nice one! ;)

About the camp:
There are two guys patrouling and two other guys "waiting for an attack", just to spread out in the forest and flank the players group. I think that your grenade attacks erased them before they could hit the bushes. :) But I will review this point again, the idea with the S&D waypoints and more units running in the bushed is good. Thx!

Quote
Annoyance: By this time I've used up all of the three saves I get at the start. How about giving us some more?
Rgr, I will definitely do this! Thanks for the instruction, I'll try it out! What does Op:DH mean? I would like to check it out for the savegame issue, if it's allowed.

Quote
and then drove off - only to drive off a cliff and die stupidly inside the car trying to get to Hunapu through the mountains. Arrgh.

LOL :D Good one! :D

Quote
Oh, about the convoy ambush
Question: Do you think that the convoy is too easy or is it ok?

Quote
Drove back to Hunapu, got the last chatter (the resistance soldiers left my group, exited the UAZ, entered it again, had a conversation with me, and then exited it again. Oh well).
I think this is one of the major problems... UAZ and the farewell (do you call this farewell or somehow else in english?) do not combine... The player must not drive there and many many thanks for this great idea with the MI-17 after the convoy!! This will prevent the player to go there by car! Thanks! :good:

Quote
Didn't get any special mention for saving the 17-year old brother
Yes... You're right... Do you guys have an idea how to recompense the player for it without having to record new voices? :confused:

Quote
Then I moved over to the extraction zone and waited for the chopper - note, I had to take option b)
Hopefully this bug is fixed in the last version.

Quote
the mission ends - extraordinary success!
Great job! ;) The best score possible! :)

Quote
the quick scenes really worked this time around, no problem with LOD shifting or anything!
Well, this is a thing I really hate in ArmA! You say you didn't have any problems with LOD? Despite trying to use preloadcam more than often I don't get rid of this! There are always ugly textures that take a while to get loaded... :(

Quote
for instance you could've mostly omitted RHS's russian troops addon (changing the story only slightly
I fear that this is not possible, because of the recorded voices speaking about russians, and so on...

_______________

Quote
Finally, the ambush point. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence but there was really bad weather when I had to take out the convoy
The weather at this point is scripted, yes... As all storms in the missions are (you heard the thunder, didn't you?). I used Mandobles storm script (aaah, *feared* I didn't give him credits................ Sorry, Mando! Will be contained right in the next version!!!)

Quote
Thought those comments could be handy for you in analyzing bugs and coming up with fixes.
Yes, they really are! Thx, mate! This is what I need.


Thank you for your time!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Wolfrug on 16 Aug 2008, 12:22:30
Quote
Is this bug reproducible? Wolfrug, did you experiment this too? 'Cause I never had it.

Nope, no radio messages were played twice. Only radio-related bug was in the end when Falke was suddenly dead (even though I hadn't had him with me during the whole time). *shrug*

Quote
intro

I just rewatched it, and you're right - there were subtitles, no problem. :) The problem I had was with my gamma correction - everything on my screen is always a lot darker than...umm...it is on other peoples screens, I guess. Basically night = PITCH BLACK. So half the time I heard the chopper and saw the green-glowing instruments, but nothing else. So that's why it was a little "unimpressive" to me - but you can't help the fact some people have weird gamma and brightness settings!  :) The intro also made a lot more sense now, so yay! No problems with flashing pictures or anything, it was fine.

Quote
Should I better use this sentence instead of "What is it that stinks here..."?

If you want to. :) "What is it that stinks here" is a main clause followed by a subordinate one, which is a bit too elaborate for the simple message you want to convey: "it stinks". But you should use whatever corresponds to the German, I suppose (and I know German tends to like run-on sentences :D)

Quote
vehicles with resistance fighters within driving in direction of Hunapu

This is the risk of a game like ArmA, where making scripted things like this happen in a natural way isn't as easy as in corridor-shooters. :) They probably drove past fine, I just didn't see them since I was too busy looking at the map/trees/sky/whatever. A little note: just to test things I went up to the two guys by a car next to a house to see if there'd be any reaction : none whatsoever. But at least you had made the car have no fuel in it, so you couldn't just drive off with it :D Hint: if you want, you could have the civilians panic and hit the dirt or something like that if they spot the player (heavily armed soldier coming in!) - I think some of the last missions in the original ArmA campaign have some civilian voices (like "help us!" and such). Just an idea.

Quote
If all went right, the boy did join the player with the other res. fighters at the meeting point. At this cutscene the crude sniper joins the team.

You're right, it was just the sniper. I though they said there'd be two more though. What happened to the other guy? There was always something there, something about the way the sniper talked that made me think "traitooor!", but nothing ever happened. Would've been an interesting developement...

Quote
Did you or anyone of your group mount a vehicle before that?

I tried getting into the car with no fuel next to the civilians at one point, but that was before I had a group with me, so I can't imagine that'd been kept. I have no idea. O.o

Quote
Do you think that the mission maybe is too long?

Not at all! Just the save-game issue (not enough of them ;)) was sometimes annoying, but it's a credit to your mission that it never had me want to give it up entirely! Very nice with a long mission with many objectives and such, had a blast. :)

Quote
What does Op:DH mean?

Hehe. Operation Dawning Hope, one of my missions, available Here (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=135&page=1&game=ArmA&cat=sp&sort=edid). You don't need to check it out to be able to create the same thing, just do what I suggested:

Trigger (repeatedly)
Activated By: Radio (whatever)
Condition: savesLeft > 0
On Activation: savesLeft = savesLeft - 1; (radioNumber) setRadioMsg (format ["Saves left: %1", savesLeft]); saveGame

Then whenever you come to a point where you want more saves to be available, just do something like:

savesLeft = savesLeft + 1; hint "You now have one more save to use!"; (radioNumber) setRadioMsg (format ["Saves left: %1", savesLeft]);

Just a little bit more work, but worth it I think :) Just set the savesLeft variable to something in the init.sqf, and set the original text of the trigger to reflect that (say, you have 3 saves from the start, you just make the Text of the radio trigger "Saves left: 3")

Quote
Question: Do you think that the convoy is too easy or is it ok?

Considering I was doing it with no more saves, I think it was okay :D It was so late in the mission I don't think anyone'd've wanted a super-hard "boss battle" any more - just get it done with, and get home! The atmosphere with the rain and fog was superb, just waiting for the explosion as the first tank hits the mine...if you could add the chase afterwards, with the chopper in the dark and everything...aahhh...  :good:

Quote
Yes... You're right... Do you guys have an idea how to recompense the player for it without having to record new voices?

Not really :-/ That is a problem, always, when you have fully voiced missions and can't get in contact with your voice-over makers. Oh, by the way: a solution for both the UAZ and the farewell-talk is to make it happen in Pacamac instead. Basically return all the resistance soldiers to their "home base", where you can have the little talk, and then you can be driven/drive/take a bike/whatever up to Hunapu. Just an idea.

Anyway.... -> great mission, looking forward to the next iteration of it :D Great job!

Wolfrug out.

Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 17 Aug 2008, 22:39:34
Quote
I though they said there'd be two more though. What happened to the other guy?
In the cutscene the sniper tells to Jegor that the other two men went to Hunpu to their families. Btw. didn't the cutscene work for you? It's the one, where the boy tells Luchs that he wants to be a "special soldier" one day and kill many enemies...


About the "recompense" for the player, because of the 17 years old boy:
Well, unfortunately I can't record new voices now for a possible conversation between the leader at Pacamac (the brother of the boy) and Luchs, it really would be a very good thing! Damn... I didn't think about that one... :( Sorry!
But I had the idea that I could (when the boy is "delivered back" safely) make a ticked objective coming up that says: "(Side objective): Bring the young brother back safely!"
And if the boy dies in action immediately there comes the objective, but failed. I think that making the ticked or failed objective appear only when the boy's back home or has died would be a special recompense for the player (if he made it). Better than giving him this objective right after the big brother asks Luchs to do it...



Quote
something about the way the sniper talked that made me think "traitooor!"
No, he's just frustrated and full of anger. That's the motive why he is speaking this way. :) But he's ok. Just a little... strange! :)


Quote
great mission, looking forward to the next iteration of it
Thx, mate. I'll work on it!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: bert on 20 Aug 2008, 00:46:41
Although I'm not yet finished, I have to say that I'm really enjoying this mission so far. So far I've shot the Officer, met the resistance leader and I'm currently snooping around Mataredo with my band of rebels safely hidden away.

I'll post a proper beta report when I'm done.

bert  :good:
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Zipper5 on 20 Aug 2008, 12:39:32
I've started to beta test this mission, and I must admit, it's very good so far. I've always had a fear of thunder, and the custom thunder crack sounds you use make me jump every time I hear them. Plus, the whistling of the wind, and the part where the fog set in... Jeeze... This is going to take me longer as I'm constantly walking slowly rather than jogging/sprinting, hehe. Expect a report sooner or later, though! :D

Well, I finished it, and here's the report:

Evil's Last Will by Undeceived
v1.11

Played with:
ArmA v1.14
Required AddOns
Regular mode modified to Veteran settings. (Allows more than one save game)

(http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/statistics_th.jpg) (http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/statistics.jpg)

Package
Contains everything it needs: 3 promotion pictures showing aspects of the mission, a readme in English and German, and the mission file itself. Nothing to add here.

Overview
Has a good picture showing Colonel Valesh Wissarijan with the name of the mission included. Underneath is a brief plot synopsis that entices you (at least, it did to me) to play it. Nothing to add, again.

Intro
Very good camera angles, good music, excellent voice acting. Not at all rushed either. Makes you wonder what the mission is about and entices you to play it. Perfect.

Briefing
Fairly detailed with multiple sections with working links between them outlining different subjects. Includes reconnaissance pictures/photographs of the camp and target. It also outlines the objectives, though it's obvious that there will be more. Eventually, when these other objectives are activated, they spill on to a second page. Not such a big deal, however, as at least the information that makes it do this is useful and needed to complete the mission. It also has a section detailing how to use both of your weapons (great feature to use).

Mission

I just want to say that I found this mission to be incredibly good. Probably one of the best, if not the best, missions I've played so far for ArmA. The voice acting, cinematics and mission design are all really well done and make the mission a joy to test. Obviously, there were some English grammar and spelling mistakes, but the author's first language is not English so it's understandable. Plus, even though they are there you still understand what's being said.

After killing the Colonel I picked up an enemy weapon in my Secondary Weapon slot instead of the MP5SD. Thankfully, this didn't break the mission in any way. In fact, when you finally contact the Resistance I advise you do take a weapon from the crate as you'll need the ammo to wipe out the Black-Venom camp. There were actually only a couple hitches in the mission:

1) an error popped up at the beginning of the mission (pictured below).

(http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/error_th.jpg) (http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/error.jpg)

2) while the cutscene before you execute the Colonel happened, you could see a muzzle flash on the Rsc you used (picture below).

(http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/rscMuzzleFlash_th.jpg) (http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/rscMuzzleFlash.jpg)

3) when I met up with Falke at the edge of the forest, at first I couldn't find where he was. I sped up time, expecting that he would come running from somewhere, but he didn't. I recommend cutting immediately to a cutscene or something similar with him already there. I found him, eventually. He was just well hidden in a bush. Once I did find him, however, the mission continued fine.

4) when I attacked the convoy, only a T72 and Shilka showed up. We took them down (where I had my only casualty) but nothing happened (pictured below). I sped up time, waiting for more, but nothing came. I walked down the road they came from, still nothing. So I just retreated south into the forest again and Fauchsbau said I only damaged the convoy, not destroyed it. I presume more was supposed to be there but for some reason it didn't show? Anyways, the mission still continued fine.

(http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/destroyedConvoy_th.jpg) (http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/destroyedConvoy.jpg)

At one point, close to the beginning, I ran into an enemy camp with a BMP patrolling it. Basically I said "f*** that!" and sprinted around it. Now, shamefully, I resorted to the age-old art of beach walking to avoid the enemy. I don't know how, but I ended up taking a really long walk along that beach. Mainly because I had no idea what I would find on the road or in a town. I'd recommend placing some patrols on the south side of the road heading east from Hunapu as then it won't be a way to exploit the mission, I suppose. "Bypass" what's supposed to happen.

(http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/enemyCamp_th.jpg) (http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/enemyCamp.jpg) (http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/beachWalking_th.jpg) (http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/beachWalking.jpg)

I didn't see the Resistance get in the truck, because I completely forgot to watch it. But the mission moved on ok. Now, I was expecting something to happen at the extraction, but much to my relief nothing happened. Eventually, the MH6 came and took us away. It didn't order us into another vehicle either. And that was that. Mission completed.

(http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/workingHeli_th.jpg) (http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd320/zipper593/ofpec/evilslastwill/workingHeli.jpg)

Outro
This was actually still part of the mission. It showed stuff that happened during the beginning of the mission and related back to the intro. After watching this, you realize that the intro was actually a flashback of what happened. The credits were so well done and in a really cool style that they were just fun to watch. Good cinematic angles, transitions and effects. Nothing to change here either.

Overall
A truly excellent mission, very highly recommended by myself to those who want a challenging, well-made mission. The voice acting was superb, the cinematics were great to watch and the mission design was relatively flawless. Even though the addon requirements are fairly large, they're very well-made and well-chosen. Plus, they add a lot of quality to the mission. If you refuse to download this mission because of the addon requirements, you are nuts.

Very well done, Undeceived. :D
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 21 Aug 2008, 02:56:33
Hey guys!

Thank you for your answers!


@ bert
Quote
I'll post a proper beta report when I'm done.
Great! Thanks for trying it out!


@ Zipper5

Quote
Well, I finished it, and here's the report:
Evil's Last Will by Undeceived
v1.11
Good that you still catched the last version to play! ;)


Quote
Obviously, there were some English grammar and spelling mistakes,
@ all: If you can find time or remember where the worst mistakes are, please contact me! :)
One thing I and the guys that recorded the voices with me weren't sure is how "Venom" is speaked out! ::) Especially the "e" of it. Is it pronounced like an "e" as in "test" or "gErman" or is it like an "e" of "bean" or "speed"??

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1) an error popped up at the beginning of the mission (pictured below).
Yes... This is an error from the EditorUpdate_V102 but I don't know what's wrong in there... I also could not establish contact with the author. Does anyone know by coincidence who the author is and how I can contact him?

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2) while the cutscene before you execute the Colonel happened, you could see a muzzle flash on the Rsc you used (picture below).
I think this is an ArmA "bug". I noticed it in other missions too. It always appears, when it's getting darker and you're looking at a certain angle of the sun...
Can anyone confirm this?

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I recommend cutting immediately to a cutscene or something similar with him [Falke] already there.

Hm, ok, maybe it really is too hard to find him. I think, I'll better make him come to the player. I'm not planning to make another cutscene because there already are plenty of them in the mission. :)

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4) when I attacked the convoy, only a T72 and Shilka showed up.

The convoy consist of one T72, one BMP2 and one Shilka. I think that the BMP did have problems in finding the path... Damn!
Before the player gets to the road to set up the ambush, Fuchsbau tells to Luchs that if he's not able to destroy the convoy completely, he and the squad should pull back to the south. I will make this clearer in the briefing, thanks for the clarification!
And I'll check what happened to the BMP and how I can improve the way of the convoy... The road is pretty curvaceous...

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I'd recommend placing some patrols on the south side of the road heading east from Hunapu as then it won't be a way to exploit the mission, I suppose. "Bypass" what's supposed to happen.
Phew... :) "Bypass"? I didn't get it. Can you explain it again for me? Thx!!
What I can tell so far is that I've put some more life into the walk from Hunapu to Pacamac. It still was pretty empty and boring... But it should be better now.

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The credits
Thanks mate!
I have a question here: How was the timing of the cuts with the music? Especially when the scenes changed (for example from Luchs and Colonel to the Speznaz and the resistance guys at the road OR from the trees to the sunset where Jegor is sitting and watching. Was it ok? 'Cause in the previous version the cut and the music didn't always fit together. If you notice something serious here, please let me know.


Thanks for this great beta review, mate!
I'll continue working on it!
See you.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Zipper5 on 21 Aug 2008, 06:39:56
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Can you explain it again for me?

Sure. What I mean is I took a different route to get to Pacamac than you designed the mission for. Instead of going up north to the mountains and forests, I went south along the beach. Nothing was actually in place over there, so it was kind of a long, uneventful walk. Granted, I felt I shouldn't have gone that way in the first place, but perhaps you should add something there as a surprise to those who wish to test every possibility of the mission.

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@ all: If you can find time or remember where the worst mistakes are, please contact me!

I can try to find a few. Here you go:

Briefing
1) Situation on Sahrani -
- russian instead of Russian
- Especially in the mountains where the enemy could establish itself
- by surprise attacks

2) Task -
- russian instead of Russian

4) Execution of task -
- it is his order -> it is his job

Information about the shooting position -
- russian instead of Russian

7) Sahrani - A report -
1st Page:
- ... despite of being... -> ... despite being...
- No one of us knows... -> Not one of us knows...
- ... russian residents... -> ... Russian residents...

2nd Page:
- ... that russian troops... -> ... that Russian troops...
- ... number of russian troops... -> ... number of Russian troops...
- ... and we in the middle of it... -> ... and we were in the middle of it...

3rd Page:
- ... the Russians had lacks of security... -> the Russians had a lack of security...
- No one of them survived. -> Not one of them survived.
- But the russian occupying forces... -> But the Russian occupying forces...
- ... also german soldiers have... -> ... also German soldiers have...

Mission
When Falke informs Fuchsbau that Black Venom are killing everyone via radio:
- Requesting permittion to intervent! -> Requestion permission to intervene!
- I managed to persuit the special unit along the street. -> I managed to pursue the special unit along the street.
- ... russian road block... -> ... Russian road block...
- I request permission to intervent, -> I request permission to intervene,

When Luchs gets told to go to Pacamac via radio:
- Welcome at the slaughterhouse, buddy... -> Welcome to the slaughterhouse, buddy...

When you find the Resistance group in the mountains:
- Listen, that weren't simple Russians! -> Listen, those weren't simple Russians!

When Fuchsbau orders you to go from Mataredo to destroy the Black Venom camp:
- Luchs and Falke, your order is... -> Luchs and Falke, your orders are...
- ... , so let it bang and hit hard and surprisingly! -> ... , so hit them hard and use the element of surprise!

That's as many as I caught. Hope that helps.
By the way, it's pronounced Venom as in test. But, when I first heard it, I thought it was just the German accent. :P And yes, the intro was fine. I didn't notice any parts that were out of rhythm and it ended when the music ended. Don't think you need to change anything there.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 21 Aug 2008, 16:25:53
Cool!!  :D

Thank you very much, Zipper!!!! Of course it helps a lot!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: bert on 23 Aug 2008, 02:47:16
Well, I finally finished. What a mission :clap:

I played using ECS, True gameplay mods and Durgs Vegetation fix.

Package: No issues, read me and pictures all in order.

Overview: No problems once again.

Intro: To tell the truth I can't really remember the intro and I'm writing this on a computer without ArmA installed so theres no chance of me firing it up and watching. I scribbled a few notes and apparently the camera work is decent but a few spots were a bit dark. Sorry for being vague.

Briefing: The briefing was above average and pretty long. I've been put off by long briefings in the past, but this didn't strike me as overly long. Everything was relevant, good use of pictures. The bit written by a Sahrani native was a nice touch. Gear selection was nicely balanced and not over the top.

Mission: I took an indirect route to the position over the base. I looped up around the forest and crawled by the guys around the fire (reported as a sniper pos) and most of the way up to the position. I was fairly worried that the two soldiers patrolling  near the north of the wood would stumble across me. Well done on giving the player some time to set up before the cutscene initializes. The cutscene ws very nicely done by the way, although there was a dodgy looking muzzle flash in the optics view at this point. I saved at this point. Eventually I got the go ahead to shoot the officer so I took him down with one shot. After this point, my tactic was to run like hell as I was expecting a major reaction.
I ran several hundred meters in front of a BRDM (I think) and headed up a hill only to have a sniper miss me from very close range. I killed him with the mp5 and swapped the M-24 for his SVD (was expecting lots of action) and 45 or so seconds later got killed by a crewman. As I new of the sniper at this point, I decided to follow the same route to get his SVD again. That crewman was up there again and nearly had me a second time. Beggar came out of nowhere both times.

After recieving the orders just before getting to the extraction point (could it be made so this happens a bit earlier?) I made my way slowly through the woods. I ran in to some kind of patrol or blocking force and decided to due to being vastly out gunned. The treck over the mountains was pretty uneventful except for the bad weather that made for an excellent atmosphere.
In the woods in EA22 something odd happened. Some kind of very fast unknown vehicle showed up on the map, came right up to me and then shot off somewhere at high speed. I also noticed that I happened to turn in to a civilian. I don't know weather this was intentional or not, but it didn't seem to   affect the gameplay in any way. It was odd though and I did for a moment think that I had run in to a patrol.
I saw the fire by the road which to me seemed sinister, so I slunk off from that very carefully, its funny how these things affect how you approach the mission.

Once in the vicinity of Pacamac, I used the woods to conceal my approach and felt pretty smug when the boss practically repeated my plan. I saved before entering the village (good move as I hesitated and got shot by the resistance). The dialog here was all top notch and very believable.
I didn't take up the resistance leaders offer for equipment as as I was still well stocked at this point. I took a fairly quick route up the mountain and met the resistance fairly quickly.
To get to Mataredo I took a path between the wood west of  Passo Paradiso and the big wood. Rather than attacking the town straight on, I left my troops in two groups in different gulleys (better for their survival if they ran in to a patrol) and took a look at the town. Since the patrol on the road was predictable, I ambushed them out of sight of the main part of the village using my MP5. I then crept out of the village and moved in to some rocks overlooking the village. From this point the SVD was used to kill two men in Mataredo and a guy on the hill on the opposite side of the pass. I then moved in to town and mopped up the rest on the enemy. My resistance guys were positioned overlooking the town and did most of the hard work. I then spent 5 minutes hunting one last man who was eventually found in one of the houses.

After the very good cutscene I ran from the town and avoided a group coming out of the woods before meeting Falke. I found him pretty easily as I guessed he would be at one of the bushes from an editor update that showed up on the map.
Rather than storming the camp, I set up my resistance guys in an arc NW of the camp. I then took Falke up to the high ground near the middle of the the forest and found a very good vantage point that let me see 4 or 5 bad guys just stood around. I manged kill 3 men before they could react and soon added a fourth. I then my squad the weapons free order and they added another couple or so kills. A few of the black venom guys proved very difficult to track down. One nearly got Falke and myself but ended up gifting me a very handy VSS sniper rifle that replaced my SVD. Since He kept getting left behind, I ordered Falke back to the high ground. The wandering enemy SF was a major headache so I ended up pulling back and looping around to hit the camp from the rear which paid off fast as there were several bad guys clearly in view but looking to where the attack had come from. I took them out and then got lucky as my wandering mate chose just the wrong moment to come back home. This particular part of the mission was very tense, I loved it.

After getting the orders to hit the convoy, I oredred Falke and the nearest resistance guy in to the camp and picked up half a dozen or so mines between us. I also swapped the MP5 for the val and stocked up on 20rd mags so I had common mags for both weapons. We got to the road and put all of the mines down plus Falke's satchels. Since I was only required to damage the convoy, I ordered most of my men way back in to the wood and got to a good vantage point. All 3 vehicles hit mines and the bmp my well have ended up in the sea. I gunned down some crewmen before pulling back to the camp to restock. Just after leaving the camp we ran in to trouble, some unknowns killed one of my guys and injured me to boot. We manged to clear the woods without further incident and managed to kill our pursuers as they left the woods behind us.

Not a huge amount happened from this point on. The Resistance all boarded their truck, bar one man who stayed by the road, and Falke and I reached the extraction point sharpish. The pick up went without fauld although I was disappointed to see Falke get left behind.

I don't think that theres a massive amount you need to improve the mission side of things. The helicopter suggestion is a good one and perhaps a random patrol or two could be included out in the mountains. Thats about it though. You've made a real gem of a mission here.

I finished with a score of 21600 and 26 kills.

Outro: I can honestly say that the outro was one of the best I've seen in ArmA. Thanks for sharing it! I did get a bit of LOD switching which killed it slightly, but thats not your fault though. Seems to be a problem with ArmA 1.14.


This is definately one of the best ArmA and Flahpoit SP missions I've played yet.  The story was good, I got to know the characters and the voice acting was some of the best I've heard.  I'll definitely give any following versions a run through.

bert
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 23 Aug 2008, 17:48:03
Hey bert, thank you very much, mate!!

I almost can't belive it that the mission is getting such good reviews... Wow!! I really didn't expect that. :)

I have one important question for you:
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To get to Mataredo I took a path between the wood west of  Passo Paradiso and the big wood.
Did the cutscene work for you in which the 17 years old boy comes to Luchs and asks him about his training and where later the ice cold sniper joins the team?




Quote
After recieving the orders just before getting to the extraction point (could it be made so this happens a bit earlier?)
Yes, this is one thing I'll do for sure!


Quote
I also noticed that I happened to turn in to a civilian. I don't know weather this was intentional or not,
Yes, I put some civilians to be running in the forests around Hunapu. The "unknown vehicle" must have been a BMP2 that patrols over there...

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so I slunk off from that very carefully, its funny how these things affect how you approach the mission.
THIS is what I hoped!! :) Yieeha! Cool!

Quote
I did get a bit of LOD switching which killed it slightly, but thats not your fault though. Seems to be a problem with ArmA 1.14.
Yes, it seems so... :( That's really sad. I tried to work with camera preload but it does't work right... For one player it is ok, for another there are LOD problems... Hm...


Thank you for this great review, bert! I'm working on it and hope that I can upload the next version soon (I have to work a bit for the university until the end of August... But I'll find time in between for the mission).

Quote
I'll definitely give any following versions a run through.
This is great!!!!!!!!!!!! :D Thanks!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: bert on 23 Aug 2008, 19:52:39
Hi,

I forgot about that sniper joining me, the cutscene worked fine.

As for that unknown vehicle, I don't think it was a bmp as I was on a steep, wooded mountainside. I couldn't see anything either. The 'unknown' (yellowish with a '?') map icon came right up to me and then shot off somewhere. It may have been some standard ArmA map silliness. What made it standout to me was the fact my icon on the map turned blue to indicate that I was a civillian. Not that it mattered though, the Russians quite happily shot at me after this.

Keep up the good work

bert

Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Cheetah on 23 Aug 2008, 20:25:46
Quote
I almost can't belive it that the mission is getting such good reviews

Beta reports still, the review might follow later ;).
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 24 Aug 2008, 23:29:19
Quote from: Cheetah on 23 Aug 2008, 20:25:46
Beta reports still, the review might follow later ;).

Hehe, yes of course, I meant beta reviews! ;)
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: yesterdayon on 28 Aug 2008, 09:17:50
Looking good, will take a while to download the addons but expect a beta report .
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: mathias_eichinger on 15 Sep 2008, 23:24:36
Hey, just tried the mission.

I must admit that I am totally awed by it, and I really hope that ArmA2 is like your mission! Definitely one of the best missions I played to date. I won't repeat a whole walkthrough and complete compliments that have done by others because it is already late. I will just list the points I did different and the bugs I encountered.

Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 18 Sep 2008, 02:16:29
Hey Mathias. Thank you very much for trying out the mission! Really thanks! :good:


I have two quick questions in advance:

1) Did you use any mods (beside the required addons) for playing the mission? (because I'm experiencing serious bugs with some when testing. But I'm still not sure if they are causing them or if it's the mission itself...)

2) Did you play the mission in german (any problems with subtitles, etc.?)? :)


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My ArmA froze twice and I had to shut down and restart the computer
Hm... This is sad... Can you remember in which situations this occurred? Because I never had a crash in this mission...

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my character was set to "stop" and my squad did not follow me in line. Had to command them by clicking on the map
It wasn't the "2, follow 6" bug of ArmA which happened there, was it?
That's odd! :confused:
Anyway, I'll try to change the stop status of the player, btw. you just gave me an idea I never had thought about!! :D

Quote
Despite this, I had a lengthy conversation with the not-present resistance fighters in Hunapu, just before I went for the helo
OK, THIS is not good... :(
Dammit, I made scripts for all possibilities, but just asking again to be sure:
You lost all resistance guys and after destroying the convoy (when crossing the mountains again in order to get to Hunapu) Fuchsbau DID command you to escort the group to their pickup point?
Because normally there comes no order... But I'll check it again, maybe I changed some things for testing purposes and forgot it.

Again, thank you very much for this beta test!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: johnnyboy on 21 Sep 2008, 22:12:23
Undeceived,

This is a very good mission.  I haven't finished it yet, but thought I would report my progress thus far.

Intro: Good and atmospheric, but way too dark for me.   Could hardly see it.

Briefing: Great.

Mission:
- Excellent voice acting.  Especially the quiet urgency of the dialog during the enemy camp cutscene before player snipes the officer.  I don't speak German, but the voices still communicate intensity and emotion.
- The map is superbly populated.  Just the right amount of patrols and camps between starting point and first objective.  Adds to tension that you must avoid patrols, or take them on at your own risk.  Moving slowly through forest, and staying constantly alert is very important to survival.
- Good choice of addons.
- Music during cutscenes well chosen and add to the feel of the mission.
- Camera work on sniper target camp cutscene done so well, especially quick pan to camp entrance when radio contact reports a jeep arriving.
- When player returns to first exfiltration point, dialogue occurs telling player of new objective to go to Pacamac.  During this dialogue, the word "intervene" was wrongly spelled as "intervent" twice.
- Weather change after sniping is also very atmospheric.  Like the periodic high wind sound effect.  Did you add that in?  And the occasional wolf howling.
- Had to dodge a BMP and large patrols on return to beach, as well as shoot a few pursuers.  Very tense moments.
- On the way to Pacamac (about 1/2 way there, near the coast) ARMA froze up.  Are you doing a lot of scripting at this point to clean up previous objects, and to populate Pacamac?  If so, maybe add more sleeps to spread out the load of this scripting.
- Enemy camp well laid out.  Seemed alive.
- Intriguing story.  I have no idea where the story is going, but I am compelled to find out.

Suggestion:
- Soldiers in small camps before first objective are too static.  Give them an occasional animation or waypoint or a little voice dialogue to make them more life-like.  Animations, GlaceAt command, stand up and walk to fire, or walk to ammo box and rearm, etc...  Maybe borrow some Russian voices from the Stalker game (maybe that's where you got that one bit of Russian talking that's triggered near one of the camps).

This mission has it all:  Story, acting, intensity, action, atmosphere.  Well done!!!! 

I look forward to finishing it.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 22 Sep 2008, 20:50:39
Thanks for this beta review, johnnyboy!!!

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Like the periodic high wind sound effect.  Did you add that in? 
No, the wind sound is from Mando's storm script, I just added other thunder claps than the ones in the script. I loved this whole stuff from Mandoble!!!

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On the way to Pacamac (about 1/2 way there, near the coast) ARMA froze up.  Are you doing a lot of scripting at this point to clean up previous objects, and to populate Pacamac?  If so, maybe add more sleeps to spread out the load of this scripting.
Thanks for adding the location of the crash, it helps me to locate the bug... But at the moment I have no idea, where this is coming from and no, there is not a lot of scripting... ???

@ mathias_eichinger
Can you remember where the mission crashed for you? Was it at the same part? Thx.

Thank you for your review so far, johnnyboy, I really appreciate it!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: mathias_eichinger on 22 Sep 2008, 22:45:39
Hi undeceived!

Your mission crashed twice, once on my way along the coastal road while I was still in the forest, and the second time just before my conversation with the rebel leader.

Oh, and the "team not following me" bug sounded like "all, follow 2". But 2 would not follow me, and my character was set to "stop".
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Manzilla on 22 Sep 2008, 23:41:09
That "all follow 2" thing is easy to fix. Just use zero on the radio to choose "Done". This has been mentioned else where, maybe previous pages, but I can't seem to find it.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: johnnyboy on 23 Sep 2008, 09:22:40
Here's my further progress:

0. Long walk to Pacamac, a bit too long for me. 

1. In Pacamac, I didn't see the leaders on first attempt, and missed front gate.  So I went past and walked by group of rebels (who ignored me), then healed at medic tent, and went to next group of rebels (who also ignored me) rearmed at a crate, and walked around until I finally found leader, and was challenged.  So for dumb players like me that miss the front gate, the AI acts very dumb and ignores you.  You might fix this so player is challenged by any of the 3 groups he encounters first.  Leader could then move to player to initiate cutscene dialogue.

2. When going to meet Falke at edge of woods, I get "Objective Completed", but I never see Falke.  This happened many times.  Seems like a bug.

3. Enjoyed raid on Venom dudes--thanks for the goodies in the crates.

4. Before convoy ambush, I attacked the roadblock to the south of ambush point.  I killed 4 men, and then noticed there were 2 hooded men in a UAZ parked in middle of road at checkpoint.  These 2 in the UAZ did not react to all their friends being killed in front of them.  They just sat in the UAZ and waited for me to shoot them.

5.  Loved the weather change to fog for the convoy ambush.

That's all for now...  Still loving this mission.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 24 Sep 2008, 16:11:18
Thanks for finishing it, johnnyboy! :)

It helps me and I'll work on the parts that don't run smoothly yet... A LOT of work to do... :( Phew.........


@ mathias_eichinger

Yes, the solution that Manzilla postet also is contained in the readme, but I'll try to get it this way that the player is not set to stop after the cutscene...


Thanks to all for the comments!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: johnnyboy on 29 Sep 2008, 06:03:08
Now I actually did finish the mission.  Here is my final report:

1.  I lost all my resistance fighters at the checkpoint near the convoy ambush, so I finished the mission alone.

2. After destroying all vehicles in the convoy, I was told that convoy was destroyed.  But after leaving convoy area I got a hint saying I lose the game if the convoy reaches Mataredo.  I should not get this hint if the convoy was destroyed.

3. I took a long mountainous way to Hunupu, and encounterd no enemies.  Drove a UAZ.

4. Upon reaching Hunapu a conversations started between player and some resistance group guy, but the problem is ALL resistance guys were dead, so player was alone, and only the player side of the conversation occurred.

5.  I also got a radio message about Falke being killed.  I never saw Falke the entire mission.

6.  In Hunapu, I radioed for the chopper, and a sidechat told me at what grid the pickup was to occur.  I did not write it down or remember the grid reference.  I wondered around and got lucky and went the right direction.  Please add an objective with the grid reference in it so a player with a short memory will know where to go to get picked up by the helicopter.

Outro was very good.  Loved the flashbacks and professional credits.

Very good mission my friend.  Just a few bugs to work out.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 29 Sep 2008, 13:46:23
Thanks, johnnyboy! A great beta test! It confirmed some bugs to me and gave me great suggestions for missing objectives, etc. So thanks.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: johnnyboy on 30 Sep 2008, 02:58:49
Undeceived,

A few more character related suggestions...

Since you made the effort to develop a few characters (which is a good thing), it would add more depth to the mission to add further plot for these characters.  A few possibilities are:

1.  Since Resistance Leader worried about his little brother, have some consequence of the brother living of dying (Leader thanks you if he lives, Leader curses you if he dies).

2.  The extra resistance guy with the SVD sniper rifle that joins the group has a bad attitude.  He could later act on his bad attitude (disobey an order, do something rash on his own, or just complain about the orders of the player).  Maybe he mutinies if your squad takes too many losses.

3. The little brother talks of his wishes to be a "special soldier".  If he does well in battle (gets some kills), player could praise him:  "Well done!  You will be a great operator some day!".  Or if he does not perform well:  "You should go back to farming..."

It's possible that you have actually built these plot lines in, and I missed them, since I got all my squad killed.  But if not, maybe you will find these suggestions interesting.

Although, I understand that many hours have gone into this project, and you probably just want to fix bugs and finish it.  That's how I felt toward the end of making  Last Tango in Bagango (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=117&page=0&game=ArmA&cat=sp&sort=scod (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=117&page=0&game=ArmA&cat=sp&sort=scod)).   :)

Edit: Hey!  Thanks for the nice comments on Last Tango in Bagango!  I just noticed them...  I'm surprised you had time to play a mission while still working on Evil's Last Will!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 01 Oct 2008, 00:18:58
Wow, these are great ideas, johnny! And no, I don't have none of them in the mission already. :)
But... Damn... I'm really thinking about making a new recording session with my friends that helped me with the voices... Although this is not easy because they live far from my town. But... I'll think about it!
And you're not the first to give me a suggestion about Mateas, the sniper that joins the team a bit later, so... I'll really think about it, it inspires me a lot!

But you're also right when you say that I want to finish this thing as fast as possible. But I also want to make it as good as possible... Hm...

Ok, enough of my thoughts and dreams... :) At first I need to fix the amount of bugs in the project anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions!

PS: About the comment @ L.T.I.B.:
Hey! You just don't know how I sat in my chair and just held my belly laughing, when I saw that outro!! :D This is just a legend!!
Well, in the last weeks I didn't work on my mission so much, I just had a small "burn out" - no motivation, so I had plenty of time to do other things. But now I am continuing to finally finish this thing! I'm working since October last year on it. And learned a lot of things!! (Actually all, I now so far). :)
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 08 Oct 2008, 03:24:22
(Spoilers)


Finally a new version >:D -> V. 1.2


Hi! :)

I'm very happy to be able to release this next version of the mission today!

A lot of bugs were removed (many...) and some parts (like the long way to Pacamac) were optimized.




If anyone is so kind and tests this new version I would like to ask him for a favor.
I need to know some important things. Could you please have the following questions in mind while testing it or writing feedback?


1) Is the intro scene clear enough by now? (especially for those who told me that they were only seeing darkness in the previous versions...)

2) Some beta testers experienced ArmA freezes while on the way to Pacamac. In case this happens again (I could not find the cause for the crashes): If it's possible to tell - When, where and how exactly does the mission crash?

3) What do you (who played previous versions) think about the optimizations on the long way to Pacamac (in terms of tedium / suspense)?

4) For some testers Falke did not show up when he was supposed to. I tried to fix this but in case he does not appear again: Did you hear Falke talking? Does the "instruction" for the resistance fighters take place (at Falke's meeting point)? Does Falke join the team (even not being visible)?

5) In the case the resistance group (which comes with you) dies completely: Is there still a farewell conversation at the ending part of the mission? (this shouldn't happen...)


At the moment these questions are very important for me, so if you can give as much as possible feedback to me about them, it would be very very great! But feel free to write other stuff as well, of course! ;)

Thank you very much for your time!!
Title: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 29 Oct 2008, 02:36:42
Sorry for the third post in a row... Is it possible to edit a post and let the thread appear at the top of the forum?


A new update! V. 1.25

I continued working on the mission and among other things I implemented a cool script from Bedges (Shaky Cam) for a cutscene. There were bugs removed too and some other parts were optimized. :)
If someone could test this new version this would be wonderful! :good: I think it is almost finished but I still need some help with testing...

If you test it, please consider some of the questions in my previous post. Thank you very much for your help, guys!!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Wolfrug on 29 Oct 2008, 10:26:22
Sorry I didn't get around to testing the last version, been keeping a bit too busy >_> But I'll totally try this one here out and tell you if there's anything strange about it - although it might be a little moment. Sorry!

Great work on it though!  :good: I'm sure it'll be ready for reviewing very soon!

Wolfrug out.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 29 Oct 2008, 13:58:35
Thanks, Wolfrug. Good to hear.

Yes, I think that it will be ready for reviewing soon. Only a few problems are making me trouble yet...
Because of this I need some information (generally about all problems and questions in Reply #41 (http://www.ofpec.com/forum/index.php?topic=31964.msg222611#msg222611) :) ).


I'm also looking forward to read your thoughts about the new chopper (etc...) after the convoy... :whistle: I hope it all works! :dry:


Trailer:
A little video / slideshow about the mission.

(http://www.unterderbruecke.net/zeug/bilder/evltrailerbild.jpg)

Click here (http://www.unterderbruecke.net/zeug/arma/Evil'sLastWill_Trailer.wmv) to download (high resolution - 26,7 MB).

Click here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYCRtqp5rfM) for the Youtube-Version.

Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: mathias_eichinger on 29 Nov 2008, 14:36:39
Hi Undeceived!

I retried your mission and I must regret that it is WAY too difficult for me. I got as far as almost to the "crown" atop the mountain, yet contrary to last time there are at least 2 different soldiers converging on me, no chance to finish them off. And this despite me taking care to kill all soldiers in my way during infiltration.

If you ever decide to lower the difficulty I'll give your mission another spin.

Cheers

Mathias
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 30 Nov 2008, 21:33:50
Hi Mathias!

Can you tell me if the two soldiers were exactly at the "crown" position (or a few meters around it)? Or were you talking about the two soldiers + sniper at the fire aprox. 100 meters south of the crown?

Can I also ask: Did you follow the green markers which indicate the best route to the position? This should make things a bit easier...


Thank you for your feedback!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: mathias_eichinger on 30 Nov 2008, 22:43:54
Hi Undeceived!

I did follow the green arrows during a first attempt a week ago, but this time, I tried to walk on the flanks of the ridge, a few meters to the side of it. I was a few meters south of the crown position, and I had killed the guard post with camo net southwest of it, where a fire was also present. The 2 soldiers + sniper that you describe converged on me from slightly behind and left.

Cheers

Mathias
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Tyger on 28 Dec 2008, 08:07:45
Undeceived,

Excellent mission so far, but I hit a bug or something...

Intro:
Good camera scripting, I liked the interesting shots. Sort of didn't make sense. But I was hoping the mission was clear up all of it.

Briefing:
Good briefing with plenty of detail. Not much I could find wrong, didn't check spelling as I assume it was already checked quite a bit.

Selected the G36C and full mags for MP5, G36C, and M9S.

Mission:
After insertion, I move through the forest to the crown point. I evaded a patrol shortly after insertion, and then bypassed the first tent area. The touch with the slaughtered civilians was a good touch. At the OP just before the crown, I took them out with my MP5. I then saved which unknowingly wasted one, and moved into my OP at the crown. By the way, if you could let me know how the Russians managed to get that ZSU up on top of that mountain, I would really like to know ;). Anyway, I liked the cut scene - some good camera shots. I would really rather have a save here after the cut scene. It was rather exasperating having to watch the same cut scene about five times. I would usually become target practice for the armed soldier next to the OBJ.

After the Spetz Naz exfil'd, I waited until green light, and took the shot. I killed the main OBJ as well as the other two soldiers, and then exfil'd to the north. I slipped past the BRDM-AT and eliminated the three OPFOR at the shelter, than ran all the way back to the exfil. The storm sounds, etc. made it pretty tense on the run. I was afraid to turn around and find those Black Venom Spetz Naz on my tail or something. Excellent ambiance. Then I found out I had to make it back to Pacamac. Grrrrr. LONG flipping hump over the hill.

Anyway, I made it over the mountains to Hunapu, avoiding the town after I was yelled at. (I was really just trying to talk to the civilians running toward the town.) I found the little bay with some OPFOR, and took all of them out. Also noticed two vehicles moving down the road, one with RPGs sticking out the roof. I thought they were Russian but avoided them. Later I suppose they were the Resistance moving to the LUP or something. Also found the burnt out hulls of the BMPs - don't know if they have any significance. Again, it was some pretty creepy sounds and feeling as I was making my way to Pacamac. I thought it was a little anti-climatic when nothing happened though. Maybe it was because I was afraid to check out the fire - lol.  :whistle:

Made it to Pacamac. Entered the courtyard and dropped my weapons when challenged, then saved. Answered (A) the first time and watched as my body was lit up. Reloaded, answered (B). Picked my weapons back up, and headed to the LUP. At the LUP, joined up with the resistance and didn't have any problems with that one, and headed to an overwatch west of Matar...whachamacallit. Masbete. Part way there, somebody called on the radio and my guys tell me to wait for a few to catch up. The screen goes NVGs, and pans out. Then it just sits. I waited for about 7-8 minutes real time, probably longer than it took me to walk from the LUP to my current position, then gave up, and aborted. Dunno what I was waiting for/to happen, but it never left the NVG camera thing.

Outro:
Not there yet.

Pretty good mission so far. I would say the scripting and action is excellent. The long distances and walking are some detractors, but I think that it's good overall.

Tyger
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 31 Dec 2008, 14:51:45
Hi Tyger!

Thank you very much for testing the mission!

First of all, sorry for this showstopper!! I thought that it would be eliminated once for all but sadly I see that I will have to overwork it once again... :confused: Dammit...
I will do this asap and report here with an update. Sorry again!
I really hope that you are willing to try it out again. I really need to have it tested some more times because it is very complex (or is it just my noobish scripting skill that is confusing?...  ;) ).

Anyway... Thanks again!

Quote
By the way, if you could let me know how the Russians managed to get that ZSU up on top of that mountain, I would really like to know
Hehe, these Shilkas are the newest Russian technology! They even can fly for 20 seconds!!! ;)

I will add one more save possibility after the "crown"-cutscene. Thanks for the idea!

Quote
...way to Pacamac. I thought it was a little anti-climatic when nothing happened though.
Damn, another thing that didn't work... I put a Russian sniper on a hill, when you have passed the little bay with the Russian smugglers... But he didn't shoot at you, did he? :( Hm, I still need to shape this up a little bit.


See you, Tyger!


Edit: @ all who helped me already by testing the mission: I will add a version of the mission that begins in the middle of it - at Pacamac. So if you would kindly test it again (which is very important for me because you already know the mission a bit and can give me precise information), if you want you can play from Pacamac onwards and save the long journey from the north to Pacamac.
I will update the first post when I have prepared the thing.

Thanks to all who help(ed) me! I wish you all a happy new year!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Tyger on 31 Dec 2008, 16:52:02
Not a problem! I've been looking for a good SP mission to play that doesn't require QG and this fits the bill nicely. :)

Quote
I put a Russian sniper on a hill, when you have passed the little bay with the Russian smugglers
Negative, he did not fire. Which side was he on? The right or left side of the road as you enter Pacamac? I might go back and see if I can find him.

Looking forward to the next installment!

Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 31 Dec 2008, 17:19:22
This lazy bastard is on the left side of the road...
When you are moving on it passing the little bay with the russians and go up the hill (right after the bay), he should begin shooting at you right after you are totally exposed. He's on a hill some 200 meters away at aprox. 11 o'clock next to some rocks and under some trees.

I didn't want him to kill the player with the first shot, so I lowered his skill until some seconds pass, then I put it up again. But I don't know why he's not shooting now... :(


Quote
Looking forward to the next installment!
Thx, Tyger!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Tyger on 03 Jan 2009, 01:15:38
Alright take two :)

ArmA v1.15 Beta, with Durgs Vegetation Fix

Intro:
Same as before.

Briefing:
Good briefing with plenty of detail. Not much I could find wrong, didn't check spelling as I assume it was already checked quite a bit.

Selected the M24 with 5 mags, and 6 mags for MP5.

Mission:
First, I suggest that you add a health check for that med kit. I accidentally used it on the beach when I was trying to switch to my secondary weapon, and wasted it.

Nothing more to add from above until after the OBJ was eliminated.

This time, trying to get off the crown and back to my exfil point was much harder. There was a squad(+) in the valley and the crew of that BRDM ATGM were effing snipers. I suggest you tweak their skill a little, as I was getting sniped from over a kilometer away, through fog. I couldn't even see them with my M24, but I sure did see their tracers. I moved across the valley and shot the sniper on the top of the hill. I swapped out my M24 which was empty for the SVD and then picked off another ten or fifteen OPFOR from my perch. Then, I climbed in the BRDM which had been abandoned, drove it to the top of the hill, and took out the T72 and BMP that were driving around to the NW. Then, I hightailed it to Pacamac from Fuchsbau's FRAGO. I really though this part was fun, but at times quite frustrating due to the skill of the enemy.

Nothing much happened from this point up until I reached the Russian smugglers. I easily killed them, and ran up that hill waiting for the sniper. Again, he did not fire. I found him, and fired at him probably seven or eight times, but he did not return fire. So I took him out.

At the approach to Pacamac, Fuchsbau suddenly radios for me to climb a hill and survey the town. You might want to Luchs radio in something like, "Fuchsbau, I'm approaching Pacamac." Otherwise it seems like something out of a Sci-fi movie where they just "know" where you are :P

A quick grammar thing, when talking to the resistance leader, he says "Near Hunapu, some of us inflammed a fire" --> Should be "Near Hunapu, some of us lit a fire".

I met up with the resistance, and we moved down the valley. This time, the cut scene worked, and I talked with the kid. Then the other guy moved up and we had some sort of argument about weather or not he was in the resistance convoy? Could you explain, I think I missed part of it...

I eliminated Mataredo quickly, and hid all of the bodies, then moved to the forest and met up with Falke. We moved in on the camp, and this part drove me nuts. It took me a solid four hours to beat just this part because the Black-Venom kept shooting me through the trees and such. My tactic that beat it was to move SW of the OBJ, position Falke with the MP5 where he could watch the front and right. The resistance fighters were above Falke to cover him. I held the left flank and front with my SVD. I engaged the four Black-Venom near the jeep and tents, then told everyone to fire at will. Falke took out most of the Black-Venom who tried to approach from the right, and the few that went left I was able to take out with my SVD.

Then I moved in on the camp and clear the last Black-Venom hiding near an ammo box. This is where i stopped. 


Outro:
Not there yet.

Again, the scripting is good, but this time around, the difficulty was much harder. I think last try I got lucky. I don't want to suggest that you tweak skill levels too much, because I don't think I am very good, but I do think that when vehicle crew snipe you with an AKS74U, their skill is a little too high  :P

Other than that, it's been fun! I think that the Black-Venom camp is good because you can't just brute force the camp, you have to use tactics.  :good:

Keep up the good work, and maybe find some way to check on the cut scene near Mataredo, in order to ensure it works every time.

Tyger
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 03 Jan 2009, 02:21:50
Haha :D
Thank you very very much for you time, Tyger!! I really don't think that I would have spent around five hours to test a mission, so... Thank you !

Hm, I don't know why the skill of the AI is so high, the only unit I've set higher was Black Venom, the others mostly are skilled normally.
Could it be that this has something to do with you ArmA difficulty settings?
I never experienced such situations (in other missions too) that the AI sniped me with an AK from 1km through the fog. Don't know... :dunno:

Thanks for the grammar thing!
And... about the sniper that joins the team and argues with the player: When Fuchsbau tells you (by Sci-Fictionally knowing your position ;) ) to take a look over Pacamac, there (if all works right) comes a white car that passes through the village in which the sniper sits. This is what Luchs tells him, that he saw him sitting in there.

I'm really sorry for you that it took you so long to take the spetznaz camp. I hope that you're going to continue the mission sometime. But maybe you really take a look over the difficulty settings of ArmA (I don't know, maybe it helps) because there is still a little trouble to come... :)
Thanks again.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Tyger on 03 Jan 2009, 02:29:26
Hahahah, yeah the trouble to come has me stuck. I don't know, maybe it's the 1.15 beta that's screwing with it. Or you might be a better player than I am :D I'm not very good.

I'll keep playing. That armor ambush has me in a bind though. I managed to damage the convoy three out of eleven times, but I keep engaging some SF units to my rear who wipe me out quite neatly. I'll give it a shot later after I take a break though. :)

[EDIT]
Alright, to continue from above.... this time with ArmA v1.14 and Durgs Vegetation Fix

Overview: As above

Intro: As above

Briefing: As above

Mission:
... cont...

The enemy was a little more forgiving with v1.14, so it must have been some update or setting in v1.15 that made it much harder.

I tried the ambush several times with Falke setting his charges and running, but as soon as he would run more than apx. 20 meters from the charges, he would detonate them. So I ended up making him drop them, and then running down and setting the charges myself. I then had my squad run to the mountain Punto Precito while I blew the charges on the convoy. Then, I caught up with them. As we moved up to the mountain, an Mi17 dumped an airborne squad right over us. We cleaned them up quickly, and moved over the mountain toward Hunapu. I dropped off the resistance fighters at the house, who did climb into the truck. Then, we moved to Hunapu, and I called in the slick. We ran the LZ, and I was told to board the chopper.

Outro:
I'll consider your closing scenes an outro, even though they technically weren't after the AAR.
The closing scenes were very cool with some good camera scripting. Good job there!

I finished the mission with a score of 32560, and it was fun, albeit hard at times! I really liked it! Good job! I would give it a 7 or 8, with emphasis on the quality cameras and scripting. It was quite an enjoyable mission.

Tyger
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 03 Jan 2009, 13:14:36
Wonderful test, Tyger! This really was "time-eating" for you, I know! So really thanks, mate!!!

Can I still ask you some little questions? :)

Can you name some more (two or three) things that you didn't like so much? I want to know these things to make the mission as good as possible...
I suppose, the (boring) long way to Pacamac is one of such things, do you remember others?

I'm really happy that the drop of the paratroopers at the end of the mission did work!! Was there anything suspicious there, in terms of mission or scripting bugs?


Again, thank you for your help!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Tyger on 03 Jan 2009, 18:02:42
Well, the biggest issue was the difficulty, which between v1.15 and v1.14 was different. I think that the two times I played it in v1.14 were fun, mostly because the difficulty was easier. I'm going to go back and play the Black-Venom camp in v1.14 to test this theory.

Quote
This really was "time-eating" for you, I know! So really thanks, mate!!!
Not a problem! All in all, even though it seemed like I was agravated, it was a good mission. I was mostly aggravated at myself for saving at all the wrong times, my lack of skill, and Falke, who is an effing idiot sometimes :D. So don't take all the above wrong - its a good mission!

2-3 Things Didn't Like So Much:
- The long hump over the mountain to Hunapu. The trip to Pacamac was okay because of the cars, Russian smugglers, and the sniper. The biggest problem is that my character can't jog up and down slopes, so it takes forever. Second time I played, I stole that BRDM and drove it over the mountain - wasn't so bad then! (Although, I did end up flipping the darned thing trying to drive it up the hill next to Hunapu... :()
- The convoy. It seemed like at this point you were trying to add in more action, but it doesn't quite fit with the storyline. It is a good challenge though, mostly made harder by my inability to rearm properly before we attempted the ambush. So basically the only problem with it is that it doesn't flow with the storyline.
- After we make it over the mountain after the convoy ambush, the mission kind of winds down too fast. There's no more action, just a walk to the chopper exfil. Maybe when we reach Hunapu, have a UAZ drop off some soldiers or something. Just a little action to fill the void.

Paras:
I didn't think there was anything wrong with the paras mission- or scripting-wise, but every time that it happened, part of the paras either dropped directly on top of us or right in front of us. Other than that, it was good. Oh, and one time, they deployed way too low, killing probably three of them outright. But it was probably a fluke in the AI, so don't worry about it.

Another thought, while we're fleeing the convoy, the illum that you have floating around sets a tone of almost fear and a sense of urgency. You seemed to make it clear that we were being hunted, coupled with that slick flying around - wow, it was tense. Excellent job!

[EDIT]
Yeah, the Black-Venom camp isn't as bad on v1.14. :)

And one more thought: the dynamic weather is awesome! It was quite interesting at times because the fog was so thick and the rain so hard, I had no idea how I was going to see any lurking patrols!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 06 Jan 2009, 23:37:44
Thanks for your replies, mate!

And it's good to read about things that are not so good!
I think that I can do something with all of them...

Especially the convoy... I think you are right!
What do you think about the idea of implementing this objective as an alternative task (considering that it's not fitting in the story anyway)?
Beside some other side objectives like the young brother of the leader of the resistance in Pacamac.
And I'm also making another side objective to make the long way to Pacamac a little more "spirited".
Or other alternative tasks... Does someone have other ideas?

The mission would then look a little bit like...
"A main story line with the target person and then the massacre at Mataredo, investigation, elimination of Black-Venom and evacuation - along with (hopefully) a lot of optional objectives."

What do you (and others) think about this? 'Cause I'm still unsure about taking the convoy-objective out of "duty" and putting it as "optional"...
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Wolfrug on 07 Jan 2009, 10:58:58
How about making the convoy objective relevant to the mission, but not obligatory? I.e., you're told there's a convoy coming in: their orders are to clean up Mataredo (?) entirely, removing all evidence of the slaughter. If they're allowed to do this, the world will never know! However, if you do destroy the convoy, there will be time enough for you to redirect a satellite or whatever to get proof, thus putting the Russians in the public eye.

Alternatively, the convoy could be reinforcing some local garrison who has orders to hunt and kill the rebels - if you don't want to take it out, the surviving rebels in your group will leave the group and head northwards anyway (probably getting killed) - and in the end you'll get an outro/something that tells you that the rebels were all wiped out shortly after your left.

That kind of thing, y'know? Not obligatory, but optional - as your conscience tells you. :)

Wolfrug out.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 07 Jan 2009, 14:20:38
These are great ideas, Wolfrug!
Yes, I think that the relevance to the story is important in this case because the objective is pretty large and triggers a lot of additional actiona and length...
Thanks for the inspiration!

Damn, I need to finish this mission... ArmA II is coming! :D Still some work to do.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Tyger on 08 Jan 2009, 02:14:14
I think Wolfy's idea about blocking the convoy to prevent the cleanup of Mataredo is good! I was also thinking, maybe the convoy is moving on Pacamac? And you are out of radio range to warn them, so your best bet is to stop them before they can attack?

Also, maybe you can have the brother as an optional objective by having him sent as a delegate to the German Command in order to tell the plight of his island. In this manner, you have to extract him in order to complete the objective, so he must survive, like his brother asked.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: johnnyboy on 08 Jan 2009, 05:42:54
I personally liked the convoy objective.  I liked the narrow confined setting, and the fog thickening.  So Wolf's suggestions are good to make this objective more likely to be played.  Plus you've put the work in already to make it, so its a shame for players to bypass it.

I didn't find it too difficult (but I always went up to the near roadblock to kill those guys first).   But, unlike Tyger, I did resupply at the Black Venom base.  Maybe a verbal cue from one of the resistance AI could suggest loading up there. 

I also agree with Tyger that after the convoy, it was a long uneventful hump back to the exfil.

LOL, you are right about ARMA II pressure--its holding me up on making my next mission too.  Get on it dude!  Blow off work, school, girlfriends, or whatever else is taking away your ARMA time.  Finish this mission!  I know it will score very well.

I look forward to playing the final version and seeing all the improvements.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 15 Jan 2009, 16:27:09
Hello! :)

Thanks for your answers!

I have another question for you. It's about Agamoth's freedom fighters (the addon, I'm using)...
The problem is that I'm not sure anymore if the author will ever make a new version of this addon :( and this current version still is in beta status (with all the bugs which are listed in my first post).
But on the other hand the freedom fighters are absolutely irreplaceable (Schnapsdrosel's civilians are a bit too "perfect", they don't give me this extra poor and "rotten" charisma I love at this fighters!).

So my question is: Would this "not perfect addon" affect the review of the mission in a negative way?
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: johnnyboy on 15 Jan 2009, 18:18:23
IMO, the agamoth fighters are fine.  I do really like Schnapdrossel's though.  Some of his East mercs look a little rough.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Manzilla on 15 Jan 2009, 20:25:27
First my apologies for not giving input thus far for this mission. I did play part way through one of the previous versions and I enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately after playing this mission for a bit it inspired to start working on the missions I had in progress since last spring, and since then I've been scrapping and starting new missions. ;) (My mission making skills have dramatically advanced with each new concept I start.)

I'm going to take a short break from those real soon to play some community missions/campaigns. I'm definitely gonna fire up v1.25, hopefully this weekend. It looks like you've spent a good amount tweaking the mission since I last played so I'm intrigued to see the progress.

Regarding Agamoth's FFs, I'm in pretty much the same camp as johnnyboy. I've got no problems using the FF's. Though personally, I'm a little partial towards Schnapdrossel's. I used Agamoth's FF's prior to Schnapdrossel's and liked them quite a bit. They are a good fit for the atmosphere you want to portray.

As long as they don't add a show-stopping bug to your mission the FF's would not impact my rating, if it was up to me. I'd care more about your vision for the mission and how well the mission environment you created portrays it.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 21 Jan 2009, 12:56:10
Great, Manzilla! Thanks!

Hey, it's great that you were inspired to continue with your missions! :D
If you have something to test for me as "payback", just notify me. Because sometimes I have a little burn-out and simply can't continue with the mission... :)
V.1.3 is almost finished (and I think that it's a huge improvement with lots of new things), I just have some tiny things more to do like a cutscene and voice recordings etc., but arrr... ::) it's hard to do it at the moment. So just let me know.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Manzilla on 21 Jan 2009, 15:10:34
Well I got a good portion of the way through the most recent version and I was really enjoying myself. Unfortunately I was playing it with ACE and when I applied the patch v1.01 I found out they disabled/removed a .pbo from v1.00 so I can't load my progress. I have to start over from the beginning.  :weeping:

Oh well. Not that big of a deal.

As far as my missions, I've always intended to post them here but I have a tendency to use a lot of user made content so I've shied away from it. One of these days I'll have to take some time to trim down the required content so they will be more friendly for others to play. Unfortunately I tend to make massive missions so that has always deterred me from doing so. One of these days I'll finish them up to a releasable standard and post em though.  :whistle:
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 21 Jan 2009, 16:12:58
Oh, ok... I hope that all scripts works properly with ACE mod! :scratch:

Yes, finish the missions and load 'em up. I for myself am requiring a lot of addons for the player to download too but thanks god some helpful people were there to support me testing it, so... It would work! But of course time is needed to test long missions (so thanks to all who played E.L.W. :D )

See you!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Manzilla on 26 Jan 2009, 01:20:23
Man I really love this mission but I can't seem to get past the resistance leader. I'm order to drop my weapons and equipment, which I do, everything. But then nothing happens. I waited for a few minutes but nothing happens. Then I loaded my save just before the lookout hill and this time I waited and used 4x speed but still nothing. If I try to slow walk towards them I get smoked. Not quite sure what to do.(Unless I gotta wait longer.)

Hopefully nothing happened internally while I was playing cause I've already had to start the mission over.

Thus far though, this is one of the best missions I've played.  :good:
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 26 Jan 2009, 12:55:14
Hi, pal!
Hm, unfortunately I don't know what could cause this bug...
Are you playing the mission with ACE mod? It could be that this is why something messes up...
Hehe, but I have to confess that I'm also planning to play it with it, this mod simply is ingenious! :)

But anyway, I'm still planning to make a test version that begins at Pacamac, so you could start there and try it without Ace mod in case it doesn't work.
I'll report in later today.

Thank you for trying it out!


_________

Edit:

Hi all:

I finished the "Pacamac-Version" of V.1.25 now (please see the first post (http://www.ofpec.com/forum/index.php?topic=31964.msg220070#msg220070) to download).

It begins in the middle of the mission (at Pacamac), so you don't need to walk the whole way from the assassination of the colonel to Pacamac. It assumes that the colonel is already dead and you have been given the order to contact the resistance movement in Pacamac after hearing that a Russian Spetznaz group killed innocent people in the village of Mataredo.
All addons are needed of course.


At the moment I'm working on the next version, which has some quite good improvements in it like more optional objectives, new recorded voices, new cutscenes, etc.
I hope I can finish it in the next days.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Manzilla on 26 Jan 2009, 16:01:17
Oh you're the man. Thanks for the "Pacamac-Version". I was just thinking about a way to do this so I can finish up the mission. This is a huge help. Thanks again.

Yeah I'm playing with ACE. I was thinking that may have something to do with it but I wasn't sure.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Wolfrug on 26 Jan 2009, 16:11:48
Hey Undeceived:

One idea to help beta-testing, especially in one of these complicated missions, is to implement a kind of "cheat console" (accessible at the start or whenever, I suppose!) -> basically it'd let you select various "cheats" that could for instance bypass some objectives or force certain events to happen which would streamline the bug-hunting and fixing processes. I've used one of those in Operation Dawning Hope (the difficulty dialog at the beginning), where you can write in a string in the "cheat box" to, for instance, bypass or automatically complete certain objectives, give you endless saves, make yourself invulnerable etc. Since it works out of the box, you don't have to go and distribute several versions of the same mission, starting at different points: you can just make the missions do it for you (so to speak).

I attached it to this post ; it has the difficultydialog.h file (just #include it in your description.ext) and the script file that starts the dialog. Just run it like: nul = Player execvm "RUG_CheatCenter.sqf" and the dialog will pop up. The cheat center has a bunch of cases in it (still displaying the defaults from Op:DH), each case corresponding to an exact string ->
Code: [Select]
case "Artillery":
{
player globalChat "Artillery unlocked!";
w_base sideradio "Farty0";
4 setRadioMsg (format ["Main Guns Barrage (%1)", RUG_MainAmmoLeft]);
5 setRadioMsg (format ["Main Guns Smoke Screen (%1)", RUG_SmokeAmmoLeft]);
Player addweapon "LaserDesignator";
Player addmagazine "Laserbatteries";
};
Writing "Artillery" in the box and clicking activate will then make the script between the {}'s run (which in the context of Op:DH gives the player access to the scripted artillery in the mission). You can have endless amounts of these "cheats". Protip: if you want it to be case insensitive, just add a toLower command to the ctrlText 104 and then use that string instead to check for cases ;)

Anyway, this is just a suggestion! There are other ways of debugging your mission that can be a lot easier to use, but I've found this one to be pretty okay :) Feel free to pull the script/dialog apart and do with it whatever you want, if you want  :good:

Wolfrug out.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Manzilla on 27 Jan 2009, 02:22:54
I just tried the Pacamac version to see if I could get by the resistance leader this time. It worked fine. Not sure what happened before but it's all good now. Thanks again.

I'll be back when I finish up the mission.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 27 Jan 2009, 12:16:30
Wonderful idea, Wolfrug! Thank you for this tool!
And... Especially thanks for the explanation! :D I'll try to implement it.


edit:

Which directly leads me to my first question:

How do I include the .h file into the description? :-[
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Wolfrug on 27 Jan 2009, 13:25:02
Oh dear, you're quite right, I was a little too hasty. :D Attached are the RUG_Controls.h and the DifficultyDialog.h, which are both required to make the thing work ;)

Now, at the top of your description.ext, just insert these two lines (make sure the two .h files are in the main mission directory, same as the description.ext - otherwise just path to them like "/MyhFiles/RUG_Controls.h" or whatever ;)).

Code: [Select]
#include "RUG_Controls.h"
#include "DifficultyDialog.h"

You'll also want to change the name of the mission and such, which you can do in the actual difficultydialog.h file:

Code: [Select]
class DifficultyText : RUG_RscText
 {
  x = 0.405
  y = 0.23392
  idc = -1
  w = 0.2
  h = 0.037
  style = ST_LEFT
  colorText[] = {1, 1, 1, 1};
  colorBackground[] = {0, 0, 0, 0};
 font = "TahomaB"
  SizeEX = 0.03
 text = "YOUR MISSION NAME HERE"
  };
Furthermore, inside the CheatCenter.sqf, you can change the descriptions of the difficulty levels. If you actually want to use it, that is (all they do is set a global variable called RUG_Difficulty to a string, "EASY", "HARD" or "IMPOSSIBLE", which you can then use to add/remove elements from your mission). :)

There are, of course, other ways of doing this, but. Um. I thought I'd try to be helpful  :-[

Wolfrug out.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 27 Jan 2009, 14:41:48
:D Thanks for your time and knowledge, lad!! Seems to be a very useful tool!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: schaefsky on 29 Jan 2009, 03:34:16
Hi,
are you still looking for tests of this version or are you releasing an update soon anyway?
It looks very interesting, but also long, not sure when I could find the time to play it through or even make some notes.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 29 Jan 2009, 13:38:07
Hi schaefsky,
yes, I think that it's better to wait for the next version. I'm finishing it in some days I think, so... Thanks for the hint!!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: savedbygrace on 31 Jan 2009, 10:14:38
Yes! Bring it on. Testers are starting to fall asleep.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: schuler on 31 Jan 2009, 10:35:06
HI Undeceived, just to let you know i played your mission and will be awaiting a new ver! very good so far!
oh and savedbygrace is not falling asleep he is just unbalanced - as apposed to balance, the new word of the new year  :D
cheers, schuler
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 02 Feb 2009, 19:33:22
Hehe, calm down, buddy, drink a Red Bull in the meanwhile! ;) :D


Thank you very much, schuler!! Yes, I'll try to complete a new version this week...


@ Wolfrug, I managed to build your cheating console in, it's a great tool!! It's worked out a little bit nonprofessional by me (it's pretty complicated), but it does the job.

What I had planned is to make the console available to the player (or better said the tester) the whole time when he's playing the mission. So if the player can't accomplish a certain objective (like for example killing Black-Venom) he can call the console to help him.
Right now it is activated by radio 0-0-5 but I think that it's too clearly there and maybe a little distracting!
Is there maybe a way to call it for example via... :cool2: ... a movement sequenze like 2 steps forward, 3 backward, lie down, stand up, salute? :D You know... Just a bit more low-key.
Do you have an idea for this? Or maybe a key combination?
Thanks!


Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Wolfrug on 03 Feb 2009, 18:32:19
Quote from: Undeceived on 02 Feb 2009, 19:33:22
@ Wolfrug, I managed to build your cheating console in, it's a great tool!! It's worked out a little bit nonprofessional by me (it's pretty complicated), but it does the job.

Hehe, yeah, I just made it for my own use, it wasn't actually meant to be shared anywhere else (haven't submitted it to the ED depot, for instance); that's why it's far from as pretty (or easily managed) as it could be  :whistle: If I had the oomph I'd go all the way and add a bunch of bells and whistles to it, but for now, as you say "it does the job".

As to how to add it in a non-intrusive way; if you wanted to you could simply make it appear by keypress (check out e.g. Mando Draw to figure out how keypresses work), or, perhaps the easiest way, simply make it an option in the beginning of the missions (say, the first 20 seconds or so there's an extra radio option - after that it's removed) -> if the radio option is used, then the console can always be called via the radio, otherwise it won't be there. And such.

If you really want to have fun, though, you can always use animationState (http://www.ofpec.com/COMREF/index.php?action=details&id=397) to figure out what animation the unit is currently in, and if a certain sequence is played, the console comes up :P Say, you salute three times in a row within X seconds. :D

Anyway, as a final solution you can simply remove the console entirely when you decide the mission is FINAL -> just let beta testers use it in the mean time.

Glad you could find some use for it tho! Feel free to edit it in any way you want to (remove the extra difficulty selector switches for instance) if you want to keep it :)

Wolfrug out.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will
Post by: Undeceived on 07 Feb 2009, 13:50:35
Finally a new version is uploaded! :) It's version 1.3 and it's available at the first post. :D

Wolfrug, I think I'll let this console just there in the radio menu and will remove it in a final version... Thanks for the ideas!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: NightJay0044 on 26 Feb 2009, 23:55:22
Hi, tried playing your mission. Wouldn't let me load becuase of error missing file addon

"VX_FleckaWod".

I created a MOD folder in ArmA Director named "LastWill", placed proper shortcut code in the properites target box inside ICON.

That works fine. The addon that says that is missing it is already in my mod folder at the very bottom.
What's the problem?

thanks..
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: schuler on 27 Feb 2009, 00:09:26
i wounder!!!??? sounds like part of the BW Flecktarn & Tropentarn addons , not sure though  :dunno:
double check that!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: NightJay0044 on 27 Feb 2009, 02:35:47
hey schuler thanks but stll an error images are below.

Error:

Error FleckaWod (http://img10.imageshack.us/my.php?image=flecka.jpg)

Folder:

MOD Folder (http://img410.imageshack.us/my.php?image=folderq.jpg)

Target Box:

Target box code (http://img408.imageshack.us/my.php?image=target.jpg)

------------

There's the three images..See what I mean..
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: Worldeater on 27 Feb 2009, 03:35:13
The name of the addon directory (...Atari\ArmA\LastWill) does not match the directory name you pass to the ArmA.exe (... -mod=@LastWill).

So change either the directory name or change the Target line of the shortcut.


Note:
Preceeding the addon directories with an "@" is a nice way to keep them sorted at the top in the Explorer.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: savedbygrace on 27 Feb 2009, 03:42:35
ALso, comparing your mod folder to mine, your folder does not contain the cwm_air.pbo or its bisign.pbo, the cwm_air_cfg.pbo or its bisign.pbo and I don't see where you are calling the editor update v1.02 anywhere.
Other than that and the missing @ symbol, I see nothing that would prevent you from playing.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: NightJay0044 on 27 Feb 2009, 03:56:24
thanks for the help, but the files you requested to insert were in there already. I changed the dir name and shortcut name.

Corrected @LastWill MOD (http://img410.imageshack.us/my.php?image=correct.jpg)

See files are all in there still error, man not working.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: savedbygrace on 27 Feb 2009, 04:03:17
I found it. Its the 1.15 beta version. Play it with 1.14. I played it through with 1.14 yesterday and tried 1.15 today and it gave me the same error. Attempting a second run for feedback purposes now with 1.14 and it works fine.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: NightJay0044 on 27 Feb 2009, 04:12:38
Wait, 1.14 ArmA? or lastwill mission?

Iam playing with ArmA 1.14...

I still get error

If it's the lastWill 1.14 mission. Where is the link, it's not on the 1st post.

Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: Worldeater on 27 Feb 2009, 04:27:01
Bah, the same old pitfall: the addon directory must contain another directory called "addons". All the PBOs must be placed in this additional directory (see screenshot).

So create a directory called "addons" inside "@LastWill" and put all the stuff in there.


Edit: image attachment (addons.jpg) lost in crash of 2009 - WEK
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: schuler on 27 Feb 2009, 12:13:43
i think worldeater is right,, make the folder @bla then in the folder make one that says addons. put the needed addons in there. thats just the way it works! ;) you just have a simple prob,,,,, you will find it  :cool2:
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: Undeceived on 27 Feb 2009, 20:17:31
Hi guys :)

Was pretty surprised when I saw the thread today with all those answers! :)

Yes, schuler and Worldeater are right!
You need to put the addons in the following folder:

ArmA\@EvilsLastWill(for example)\addons

Then the addons should load properly. In the startup parameters you go with -mod=@EvilsLastWill .


@ NightJay0044:
No, there is no version 1.14 of the mission. Pal savedbygrace talked about the ArmA version.
I played the mission with ArmA 1.15 too, no problems. But Tyger thinks he experienced another difficulty with ArmA 1.15 (seemed to be harder). I think you should be ok with 1.14 at the moment...
And... You better don't play with ACE mod... There was a part that I could not continue the mission because of the mod. Unfortunately. But regarding mods -> the less the better in this case.


Thank you for trying it out!!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: NightJay0044 on 27 Feb 2009, 23:32:31
Yeah I finally figured out my folder issue.  But I played the mission. Very nice atmosphere and lots of sounds.
It's great to have a mission where thing become more animated and you can interact with them in a sense. 

Here is my go through:

Eliminate officer:
NO problem with this, first time I shot him when you tempted me with the text, lol disobeying a direct order.
Then tried another time and shot him with one shot one kill no problem. I then proceeded to the exfiltration point, found some enemies in th tents, took them out. 

After fully meeting the resistance figures and then we proceed to the town in the North, forgot the name.
Took care of the soldiers there no worries.

Eliminate camp of spec ops:
Then I took my squad to the camp and had 3 flank right and 4 flank left and I went up the middle. Took all the soldiers out with one swoop no casualties.

Choice (convoy, evacuate)
Umm, yeah I didn't think it was worth the risk to indange my team, so I decided to evacuate to Hunapu.
Saw that cruel officer and his soldiers there and took him out put a couple more bullets in him too afterwards, make sure he was down, lol.


All around the mission was really well, I think you have talent as a mission maker and wouldn't mind seeing more missions from you and I would definitely play them.  So thanks for the mission..

Cheers,
NightJay
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: savedbygrace on 28 Feb 2009, 04:20:58
Finally I have completed two runs through this mission with 2 different approaches.

Suggestions:
Hmm, I feel that my recollection of events pretty much tells you where the mission is lacking. But for those who do not care to read a lengthy recount of my journey through hell, I have attached it. But I will make my suggestions here for the record.
I got the feeling that the southern side of the range was not patrolled by enemy during the evening, except for that lone boat and some armor stirring in the far east that was no threat at all.
Also, it only takes a couple of well placed units to keep the player cautious. Perhaps a BRDM with its engine off to make the player think it is empty or is it? The mountain range was empty as well.
Basically, the mission was very immersive up to the point of reaching the resistance camp. The lull in activity was relief of pressure as I made my way back to Pacamac but once I passed back over the range, I should have gotten the feeling that I was entering the gates of hell once again. But that only happened briefly as I was standing on the forrest edge, about to enter the realm of the black venom and not knowing what to expect. That should have been the toughest firefight in my opinion and all Hell should have been loosed. But to my dissapointment, a couple of grenades ended my adrenaline rush and gained the feeling that I owned the area because I was not pressed with enemy presence. Perhaps launch a flare with that tripwire and put it activated by smaller triggers so that if the group goes in together, there is a chance of setting off multiple alerts and flares causing the nightvision to be rendered unaffective. And please make someone responds to the tripwire, at the least spread the spetz group out across the camp in different locations.

But for details, please read the attachment.


Edit: attachment (Evils last will v1.3 runthrough) lost in crash of 2009 - WEK
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: Undeceived on 03 Mar 2009, 20:39:38
Guys! THANKS!!

I'll respond to your tests soon, I hope you don't mind. But thanks for you time!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: Undeceived on 29 May 2009, 15:28:11
Aaahhh, :D here I am again... Feels like waking up from a sleep for months... But I just could not continue working on the mission for a badly long time (burnout, it seems). :)

Anyway, thank you very much for your beta tests, guys! Let's see if I can finish this thing and I hope that there is anyone who could review it, since Arma 2 is almost there...  :dunno: I'm trying to finish the next version right now.


@ savedbygrace

Hehe, that noise in the forest is not a tripwire, sorry (although this is great idea but I don't think that I'll put this in). :) It's just a broken knob and an animal that is scared away in the bushes. :)

I have to say that you seem to be a good player since Black-Venom wasn't a problem for you! Because they really spread out and try to flank you, if you let some of them escape. I at least always have problems killing them, often loose one or two guys.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: savedbygrace on 30 May 2009, 17:49:24
Ha, I liked the idea of a tripwire sound so much that I have already implemented a similar thing into my OFP mission attached to flare and nade traps due to be released pretty soon. I don't think they had time to flank really. I tossed a nade in their midst and the patrol that had started up the southern slope, returned to the camp site to dig in. They did well hiding behind and in the tents but with some well placed arcs, they were not too bad.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: Undeceived on 30 May 2009, 20:04:33
:)

Btw., here's the stringtable for you, savedbygrace. And thanks again for the offer.

Edit: And here is also the briefing, if you want to take a look over it. :)

Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: schuler on 01 Jun 2009, 17:01:44
The intro was a nice movie like cut with the 'white ins' and music. Nice touch!

A very good briefing, not over written, very informative, and everyone likes pictures!!!
[I would remove the gear selection so the player will have SF gear no matter what.]

Mission
I found the camp at Dg 17. I was unsure whether or not to engage them but they engaged me. Very close combat around trees, nice work.
 
[mission very much in need of a heal script] if I got shot once I just ran straight in to the small camp to see what I could on a suicide mission to gather intel. Hehe. Had there been a  heal script it would keep the player trying to survive rather that pressing the load button or doing the recognizance death / load. This gave me the idea to kill the guys running around and spare the lives of the 3 or 4 stationary guys by the tent. Or I can lob a grenades from the south side of the tent.
 All at the camp dead, nice work there. I got the guy in the tent with a head shot from about 5 meters away, fun.

On with the mission. Found some dead civi's. then another smaller camp or lookout post.
[Got a hint to save mission via the radio, the radio disappeared.]

Man the voices scared the crap out of me! Good job! Avoided some enemy. I will remember where their at. Marked them on the map.

It was nice the way the surroundings at the target marker looked like the picture. Finally there.
Absolutely beautiful cut scene! Waited for the green light, another nice head shot objective ticked off.
Snuck out of there and then started running like a little girl. Enjoying the thunder and lighten on the way back, hoping it is cover for me. Also thinking about whether or not I can be picked up in this weather and get back to the ship. Also noted that you saved the storms for after the objective, I call that good planning!
Got two more kills by the small camp, snuck up on them, they where the hunted this time around!
Nice wind effects sounds.
My buddy is disturbed by the killing of that special unit.

Oh the mission is not over, heading to Pacamac. Thought of taking the motor bike from the small camp but my better judgment said no.
When to speed time x4 for a bit.
Choose to take the man to Pacamac with me. I didn't want to but did it because Iam kind hearted and also for beta testing.
Aww sniper........just ran faster, I couldn't see where he was. Lots of interesting things along the way........ an odd animal noise keeps ya on your toes.
Got map update. Very good.
This guy that I brought to Pacamac left without saying thank you!
From here its unclear what to do. I kept getting attacked by these guys so I killed them all. Then I made the mistake of saving the game.
There is two friendly's running around the town but he wont talk to me.
The two guys left appear friendly but shoot at me in a little while.
I am lost as to what to do now.
note the parts i have in [brakets]
Nice mission.
Cheers, schuler
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: Undeceived on 02 Jun 2009, 10:34:39
Hi schuler, thank you very much for testing the mission! :good:

Hm, those bugs that you encountered are pretty strange... A quick question: Did you play the mission with any additional mods?

About some of your points:

- There is a medkit available (it should show up in the action menu when the player is injured).
- It is really odd that the radio with the save game disappeared. I never had this. Strange.
- And what makes me wonder the most is that you got shot in Pacamac! Did you talk to the resistance leader and follow his order ("Lay down your weapons and don't move!")? After that comes a conversation with him and after that the scared civilian is taken away by motorcycle by the other resistance member. And yes, the civilian leaves without thanking you. :D Forgot to record that, sorry... Well, let's say, he's so nervous and agitated that he completely forgets to thank you. ;)
But after this there should come a radio message from Fuchsbau giving you new orders to 1) catch up with the resistance group that hit the road before and 2) to investigate the situation in Mataredo. Didn't you receive that orders?
Very very odd... As I said, if you maybe played with other mods, maybe it would explain some of the bugs. I experienced script problems with ACE mod, for example. But if not... Hm, don't know...

Would be great to read your answer! Thanks again!


Edit:

Ah, forgot one thing. You could use Wolfrug's cheating console. You can call it up by radio 0-0-5.
But... If the radio disappeared anyway... Hm. Or did it appear again in the meanwhile?
But what you could do is to restart the mission, enter the console after you reached the beach and disembarked the boat and activate the following:

- type in killcolonel (I hope that this is spelled correctly. But there are three sections in the console. If you click on them, hints with the correct cheats we'll appear).
This will kill the colonel. The radio chat with Falke reporting the special unit shooting civilians at Mataredo should come right now (because you are in the trigger region that launches the chat after the colonel is killed).

- then type gopacamac
You'll be beamed near pacamac and can enter the village and continue with the mission normally. The only thing different is that it isn't dark yet and that the side task with the scared civilian will be failed. But if you wish to complete it by all costs, you can type gohunapu instead of gopacamac. Then you'd be beamed to Hunapu and had to move to Pacamac from there on (and could take the civ with you).

Looking forward to hear from you!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: schuler on 02 Jun 2009, 11:45:18
No addones or mods I shot the good guys oh crap   :(

I didn't look under the menu for a heal script!!!

Quote
It is really odd that the radio with the save game disappeared.

Its not odd at all. Use this to keep the radio up. A bug causes this radio to disappear when a player does "Esc- save" . It kills your savegame method that you have.

Code: [Select]
#loop
@ time < 1
showRadio true
~1
goto "loop"
the order to ‘Lay down your weapons', this accured to me but when tried he shot me too quickly so I thought there must be a leader somewhere else. Then I saved game. I will try to go back to an auto save.

Now you know what happens when a player doesn't follow the rules. hehe I was getting tiered too, I didn't stop playing the game at all and I drank a whole bottle of coke. So I think I was on the verge of a sugar comma.

Quote
Well, let's say, he's so nervous and agitated that he completely forgets to thank you.
That's probably realistic :yes:

You should let the player know he will have a heal script, its something players might over look, and this is good for beta testing because not all player play the same and might not do what you think they might or the might do like I did and shoot the friendly rebels.
oh i thought i would add... i liked the German accent and the sub tittles. it added to the realism in my books! 
Top notch mission
cheers schuler
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: Undeceived on 03 Jun 2009, 02:21:48
Quote
#loop
@ time < 1
showRadio true
~1
goto "loop"
But do I have to run this script from the beginning of the mission until the end?


Quote
the order to ‘Lay down your weapons’, this accured to me but when tried he shot me too quickly so I thought there must be a leader somewhere else.
Hm, maybe you moved a little bit from the spot? He's pretty sensitive and doesn't like it when you move. :)

Quote
You should let the player know he will have a heal script, its something players might over look
Ok, thanks!

Did you try to continue the mission?
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: schuler on 03 Jun 2009, 05:51:29
Quote
But do I have to run this script from the beginning of the mission until the end?

Yes, just trigger it once and it will run though the whole game. Shouldn't effect play or anything.

Cool I am able to continue.
[Give the player more time to drop the weapons] just add one more sentence and ~5 at least. I have to wait till they noticed me then hurry up to drop primary, secondary and pistol. Very important. Also you could move the last autosave closer to that area.
Nice scene, you have upped the mission here with a new plot. Fun!
Nice touch with the radio music!!! Adds a bit of fun too. Just so you know, little things like that don't go unnoticed.

Went to meet with Fauke . its all or nothing now! Got a trip wire!
didnt lose any men!

Took the mission to destroy convoy, took out 1 tank. Got killed, tried a few more times, then left on mine there and ran. #2 had 3 charges and set them off by himself, I have had that bug in other mission too.  Waited then went south as planed. i should have grabed all mines but i only had one.
Got order to be evaced, on the way there I got killed.

I will leave you with that and play again later! Long mission. I had dreams of playing it last night.  :blink:
cheers :)
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.3)
Post by: Undeceived on 03 Jun 2009, 13:53:20
schuler, thank you very much for your test and your suggestions and reports so far!


If someone else by any chance may be planning to test this mission, please wait a little longer because I'm finishing the next (hopefully last beta-) version (v. 1.4) in the next time and it would be great if this one was tested. Thanks!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.4)
Post by: Undeceived on 09 Jun 2009, 17:45:57
savedbygrace, thank you very very much!! Great help!
I changed only two sentences that had a different meaning but the rest ist just splendid work!



I finished version 1.4 and it's up now. The beta testing phase is coming to its end.
It would be wonderful if anyone could test this version! I want to be sure it works before I put it ready to review... So if you could help with this, it would be very appreciated!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.4 - Final beta phase)
Post by: savedbygrace on 16 Jun 2009, 01:05:18
I attempted to download the 1.4 version and discovered the link broken.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.4 - Final beta phase)
Post by: schuler on 16 Jun 2009, 05:36:36
Quote
I finished version 1.4 and it's up now. The beta testing phase is coming to its end.
no its not  :P
i downloaded the new version (before it was broken) and when i hit the beach i had no ammo please look into that and i would leave the player with to secondary weapon as the hk and the primary as the sniper rifle, load the ammo and leave it at that, IMO.
cheers schuler
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.4 - Final beta phase)
Post by: Undeceived on 16 Jun 2009, 10:06:16
Oh oh, what's wrong there? ???

I'll check it today evening, have to go to the university right now, sorry...
Thanks for the hint, schuler!
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.4 - Final beta phase)
Post by: schuler on 16 Jun 2009, 13:00:22
good on you for putting 'Final beta phase' very often we get 'review please' and its not ready, i know i did this with my mission too. lots of little things pop up, its a part of over looking this and that, and being lazy because you have played your own mission a million times. :blink:
give the player the weapons you want him to have, dont give him any choices, the HK and sniper rifle are good enough to complete the mission. remove the boat ammo too. it just becomes confusing.
cheers mate
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.4 - Final beta phase)
Post by: Undeceived on 16 Jun 2009, 16:18:07
1) Well, the mission is there (downloadable) but yes, I know that yesterday my webspace provider had problems, I couldn't reach my stuff too.

2) About that issue of not having ammo when reaching the beach I will answer later, didn't test it yet.

3) About the weapon choice: Yes, good idea to take out the ammo from the boat, I'll do that.
But remove the weapon choice from the briefing? Hm, I don't know, schuler. I never saw a mission comment or review where the reviewer did like the fact that there was no gear choice in the briefing. I always read things like "Hm... No weapon choice, sadly!"
I imagined it this way that on the frigate there indeed are weapons at disposal and since the player plays a special unit, he can choose what to take with him.
And the gear available is choosen, not randomly packed in there.

What do you think?
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.4 - Final beta phase)
Post by: savedbygrace on 16 Jun 2009, 17:29:49
No a weapon selection is great. But there is a bug in the dual rifle script anyways. If you are weaponless, you can still retain the one weapon that is attached to the weaponholder each time it is called, albeit without ammo. So essentially, you stick them with the sniper rifle but they get their choice of assualt rifle, pistol and whatever else they intend to take.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.4 - Final beta phase)
Post by: schuler on 18 Jun 2009, 10:59:24
Quote
But remove the weapon choice from the briefing? Hm, I don't know, schuler. I never saw a mission comment or review where the reviewer did like the fact that there was no gear choice in the briefing. I always read things like "Hm... No weapon choice, sadly!"
Funny about that, in my last mission I gave him what ever he wanted (load of weapons so they couldnt bitch. because it dint matter and he had a stryker full of more weapons, but the game didn't depend on what weapon he had ,,, its solved the no weapons choice rate of the bat. I didn't do it for me but for them ‘ unlike your mission whatch is solo player!
Sometimes you don't have to give them what they want, read more and you'll see what I mean.
[like SBG said weapon bug] yes seen that too. That's another reason for doing what I suggest.
 having 2 weapons HK and a M24 is more then enough to complete the mission, as the play gets weapons later from the rebels,  i would have it this way. that way some players that like to use some odd weapons wouldnt have to restart the game after picking all assault rifles instead of a silenced secondary weapon. and beside the player has the choice to take weapons from downed player, If he needs too and then go back and pick up his HK again, lets face it, if it was a 20 or 30 min game let him chose what every he wants. but its more then that and i think you know whast best for the play and he does not. nor does he know the length of the mission. plus you suppley the player with weapon choices half way through the mission. and thats good fine.
[[in other words give the player what he needs not what he wants]] two primary weapons is outstanding. one a loud sniper rifle and 2nd a silence HK. think of the role of the player  :) you are the one that knows what he is up against! He doesn't!  he my bitch because you didnt have a selection of RPG and satchel charges grenades or a P38 (can opener),,,,, so what the mission is good enough that you say what happens I call it intel! 'Not freedom of choice to get yourself killed'. and its your mission! :good:
Silenced pistol
Silenced assault rifle
M24 sniper rifle
To begin with
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.4 - Final beta phase)
Post by: savedbygrace on 23 Jun 2009, 19:36:58
Gave 1.4 a go this morning.
The only problems that I encountered were...
The briefing should have no weapons at all nor should the boat have any ammo. The reason is because if the player gears up in the briefing, once he hits the shore and you add the MP5 to him, there is the potential of having no ammo for it. Since the MP5 is added via the dual script, the player should not have a choice in assault rifles but, you could offer a variety of sniper rifles and warn the player that he will need the ammo for the assault weapon once he hits land.

The other problem was at the end of the mission after the cutscene when the soviets are looking for the foreign soldiers...Once it is done and you set the uaz it displays this error...
Quote
uazhanupu2 |#|setmarkerpos markeruazhanupu error setmarkerpos: Type Object, expected String

Other than those, it's ready for review I think.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.4 - Final beta phase)
Post by: Undeceived on 23 Jun 2009, 21:35:31
Ok, that convinced me now. I'm gonna take out the weapons choice in the briefing now (and also empty the boat). :)

Aaah, thanks for the hint about the UAZ, bro! It's a new thing I put in there and I have to confess, without having tested it. :D





Edit:

Ok, I took a look at the problems mentioned and fixed them...
Version 1.5 is uploaded and ready to review (I hope)...

If there are any problems, please contact me. Thanks.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5) [please review]
Post by: savedbygrace on 24 Jun 2009, 20:27:04
Roger that el capitain. If all is well, I'll begin conducting my review on this if that is okay with you?
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5) [please review]
Post by: Undeceived on 24 Jun 2009, 22:33:03
Quote
If all is well

:D Hihi, hm, ok... Since you're asking it this way... :-[ Let me just play it through again tonight, just in case, you know... I'm a bit "excited". :)
Sorry for the short delay.
I'll report in here later tonight.



Edit:
Ok, all seems to be working.
I improved one tiny part and uploaded it again, so... Feel free to download and review it. Thanks.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5) [Under Review]
Post by: savedbygrace on 26 Jun 2009, 14:27:37
I'm beginning the review on this one today.
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5) [Under Review]
Post by: Undeceived on 29 Jun 2009, 22:10:33
Rgr... :sorry:
Title: Re: [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5) [Under Review]
Post by: Undeceived on 06 Jul 2009, 05:14:04
Hey savedbygrace, thank you very much for your review!  :D :good: Great job!

You pointed out good things and also not so good things, it's a goodreview and thanks for your time!
Only one thing I didn't get: What did you mean with "one confusing camera angle" in the intro and "a few questionable camera angles" in the outro? Didn't understand this.

Thanks again!

AT LAST this work is over... :)
Title: Re: (Review completed) [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5)
Post by: savedbygrace on 06 Jul 2009, 09:16:45
In the intro there was one camera angle which drifted above the chopper blades, targeting something off in the distant sky behind the bird. This may have been intentional but it was unclear what the purpose of the angle was for. Even after I attempted to justify it by thinking you were just trying to drift beyond the player to simulate drifting back into thought, it still seemed out of place.

The outro was actually the end cutscene, it had the camera zipping about around the chopper in a couple of views without having a specific target.
Title: Re: (Review completed) [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5)
Post by: Undeceived on 06 Jul 2009, 15:03:01
Hhm, I cannot confirm what you say. :)

In that angle in the intro the player is clearly (and closely) visible on the left side of the screen and the camera passes him closely, then the cam goes up, passing the chopper blades. But I think I can say that it's clear that the player is the target of this angle, not something behind the chopper.

The same in the outro. I checked it again too and in no one of the three parts showing the chopper the player is not the target (or not clearly visible). An exception is the first one showing the chopper from behind, flying away into the darkness.

So I was wondering about your impressions.

But what could maybe have happened is that sometimes the choppers are not setpossed in the exactly right position I put them because ArmA or the PC is too busy loading stuff, etc... Happens sometimes for me too (once out of maybe 15 times). In this case it could happen that the player is not seen perfectly.

If you coincidentally wanted to check it out again, you could activate the cheat console in the init.sqs to have easy access to the outro. Just change

5 setRadioMsg "NULL";

to

5 setRadioMsg "Cheat";

and then you can access the console by the radio menu. When in it type in "toendtrigger" without "" to activate the outro (then press ESC to exit the console).

But please notice two things:

1) In the first perspective with the chopper in the "cheated" outro the chopper won't be flying away into the darkness as in the "normal" outro. You will only see the hull of the chopper, because it didn't take off - the "cheated" outro is not "simulated" entirely. But when you finish the mission playing it through you can normally see the chopper flying away.
The same goes for the second perspective showing the chopper: Here the chopper will still be on the ground instead of being in the air (in the "real" outro it is stationary too) but (!) you can see Luchs as the clearly target of the angle.

2) If you stay in the boat at the beginning while activating the outro, you will experience some radio chat "confilicts" in it, because the boat drives into a certain trigger. It's not that important though but to prevent this, you could setpos yourself to another place first, before activating the outro, Pacamac is ok for this (type in: gopacamac).


To sum it up: Only the camera angles subject was something I didn't understand completely. Don't know how much it played a role in the scoring of the camera part of the review...

On the other hand I can't say anything against the other criticism you pointed out in the review! Valid points! :good:
Title: Re: (Review completed) [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5)
Post by: Trapper on 12 Jul 2009, 22:29:40
At first I thought what the heck is this SKK unit meant to be? I didn't the read the whole readme before playing. Afterwards I do agree this type of mission doesn't sound like all the news about them.
Although I do believe the news about US special forces don't cover such straight extermination missions either. It's just the critics, stories and movies that make it more conceivable for us that they're doing such "bad" missions and the KSK would never do that.

Your mission is one of the few good and absolutely sophisticated for ArmA. It will probably be the last one I've played before going over to ArmA 2. I really like it. And I never thought this part of the island was useful for ai and missions.

Small things that came to my mind:

Sometimes you were thinking to much as a mission maker and lost focus on plausibility. E.g. separating from the resistance before evacuation. I guess you had to get lost of them at that point of the story so you let the HQ order it to solve this. But would the HQ really care about these strayers, only knowing them from the soldier's reports? I think a believable way would be for the soldier's to care for them after all what they've been through. Either by requesting their evacuation, which would probably be denied. Or by saying goodbye in safety.
One player punishment was mean. First HQ says Black Venom is top secret, don't tell anybody and then the player is killed at once when he tries to keep it secret in front of the resistance. At least a longer dialog should give a second opportunity to reveal the secret, in danger of live and mission success.

Spreading the objectives over two pages could be avoided by hiding objectives of earlier tasks. By storing the outcomes in variables all objectives could be restored for debriefing.

Oh and one thing is really bad. My computer freezes completely at some point in the end cutscene. It always happens when the camera pans from the los muertos sign to a road with some civilians, Russian soldiers and a Black Venom member. As this is not the only report about freezes I think one of the addons has a bug.
Title: Re: (Review completed) [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5)
Post by: Undeceived on 13 Jul 2009, 01:08:43
Hey Trapper :)

Thanks for your input!

Quote
One player punishment was mean. First HQ says Black Venom is top secret, don't tell anybody and then the player is killed at once when he tries to keep it secret in front of the resistance.
Yes, that's true... When I edited this part I also thought "Hm, first you tell the player to shut up and then he's shot up because he shuts up!" >:( But somehow I never changed it, I think I forgot it pretty fast... Sorry!
On the other hand: This is life, isn't it? ;) :P No, just kidding.

Quote
My computer freezes completely at some point in the end cutscene.
Dammit, this really is annoying! :( It doesn't crash for me there but definitely there is a lag and I can tell you why: The faces of these unfinished resistance fighters need seconds to load, if there is an addon which causes the crash for you, it's really them. Sorry man...
Arrr, it's such a predicament! One one side they fit perfectly into the story and look just great (I mean this poor and sleazy look), on the other side the bugs they have and they cause... It's really sad that the authors didn't finish them! But I didn't have notice from them for more than a year and a half I think...
One thing I'm sure I learned from it! I'll take care with the addons choice for the next missions...

The only thing I can think now is that you could try to launch the outro immediately at the beginning of the start.
Activate it with the cheat console - I discribed it here (http://www.ofpec.com/forum/index.php?topic=31964.msg231966#msg231966) how it works. I hope that the ending scene works for you somehow this way...
Title: Re: (Review completed) [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5)
Post by: Trapper on 13 Jul 2009, 19:56:44
Unfortunately I'm not able to bypass the freeze. But it's ok.
Title: Re: (Review completed) [SP/AD] Evil's Last Will (v.1.5)
Post by: gambla on 13 Apr 2010, 14:47:07
Hi all,
i'm trapped at the Black Venom camp. I've killed all all BVs but nothing happens now. I guess there would be new orders ? Help please ! :)
thanks guys