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Missions Depot => Mission Discussion => OFP - Reviewed Missions => Topic started by: Krieg on 22 Oct 2009, 13:40:32

Title: (Review Completed) [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Krieg on 22 Oct 2009, 13:40:32
The Red Grinder

Author: Krieg

Description: Americans have been pushed off the Everon for a month now. They have put up more then a proper fight, but numbers eventually prevailed. NATO command has ordered them to retreat to southern peninsula and establish defense and hold off Russians until reinforcements arrive.
Soviet command has planed out a quick tank attack on southern peninsula. 5 T72's and 3 T80's are ordered to remove NATO presence from the island once and for all. You will lead the attack. Good luck.

Player's side: East

Mission version: Final

Version of OFP required: Resistance 1.96

Island: Everon

Addons Needed: DKMM M46 Artillery piece (In case link is broken, look it up on ofpr.info, version 1.2)
ftp://ftp.ofpr.info/ofpd/unofaddons2/dkmm_m46_v1_2.exe
KBB Gate (included)
BBS Dangerschild (included)

Bugs: None known yet.

Size of .ZIP file: 564 KB

Edit: This mission has been reviewed and is available from the Missions Depot (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=241).

Change-log:
Beta 0.1 - First version released to public for beta testing
Beta 0.2 - Added some support for player, remade the briefing, fixed some problems, added Soviet base at Levie.
Beta 0.3 - Re-remade the briefing (spelling problems hopefully fixed, and achieved a bit more realism in intel report), added some casualties of war, remade support (partially, bug encountered).
Beta 0.4 - Re-remade support (a lot of thanks on that to Walter_E_Kurtz), added more variation in the mission, personalized the mission a bit, fixed a briefing spelling error I found (1 M60 Patton MBT's instead of 1 M60 Patton MBT).
Beta 0.5 - Added intro and outro, added some more radio chatter and added new overview pic.
Beta 0.6 - Fixed some bugs, fixed some briefing grammar errors, added checkpoint between outpost and Durras, increased size of markers a little bit, added insertion marker, and added "propaganda pic" to mission package.
Beta 0.7 - Fixed end trigger, added black out at end of mission, fixed some stuff in briefing, moved checkpoint trigger, fixed some errors in outro, added some (very little) ambient sound.
Beta 0.8 - Fixed bas_o addon error, fixed failure ending instead of death ending bug, added outro loose.
Final - Minor polishings were made to the mission, fixed no-ending because of black out, and did minor fix to outro, costumized the overview, and polished ending a bit.

To-do list:
Fix the "search last loon" problem.
Build Soviet base at Levie.
Remake the briefing.
Add some radio-chatter
Add some support for player.
Casualties of war.
Re-remake the briefing.
Re-remake support.
Add some personalization.
Add more variety.

Make intro.
Make outro.
Fix some bugs.
Fix some briefing grammar.
Add insertion marker.
Fix marker sizes.

Minor changes to "propaganda pic".
Fix some briefing stuff.
Move checkpoint trigger.
Add a black-out at the end of mission.
Fix outro.
Fix end triggers.
Some minor mission editing.
Fix addon problem.
Fix failure at Vernon.
Prevent outro from appearing when player fails instead of wins.
Add outro loose.

Minor polishings.
Fix the end trigger.
Prevent tanks from exploding in outro, yet keep them destroyed.

Polish the ending a bit.
Costumize the overview.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All beta test are appreciated!  :good:

Thank you,
Krieg
Title: Re: The Red Grinder
Post by: savedbygrace on 22 Oct 2009, 22:21:17
Missing addon kkb gate? Also, your addon link takes you to the site but not the actual addon. There are two versions of that m46 I think, You will want to specify which version to use. Or provide an accurate link
Title: Re: The Red Grinder
Post by: Krieg on 23 Oct 2009, 13:46:10
Ohh yes! I forgot about kkb gate. Sorry.

About M46 artillery piece addon, I see only one on the page. And, to be honest, I copied the link from your "The Kolgujev Contract" mission. But anyways, I will update link to it.

Edit: Updated link to M46 addon and added KBB Gate.zip as attachment.
Title: Re: The Red Grinder
Post by: savedbygrace on 23 Oct 2009, 22:47:00
Dog gone it, your right. That darn gamepark. It seems everytime they add something it shifts content further down. Sorry about that pal. Yeah the latest version is 1.2 of that piece. Thanks for correcting things partner.


EDIT:
Tried again, this time Its telling me I am missing "Danger". I opened the pbo to make sure that was the last of them and sure enough that is the last of the addons required. Could you give us a link for that one too, please?
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Krieg on 25 Oct 2009, 09:53:33
And I thought it was OFP resistance addon made by BIS.
Stupid me!
I will update it ASAP.

Edit: Can you tell me exact name of addon you are missing? Since I can't find danger.pbo in neither of my addon folders.
Edit 2: No need. I managed to find it myself. It is bbs_Dangerschild.pbo. Look in first post for download. And sorry for all this addon problems. Next time I will look more on what I am putting in the mission.
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Walter_E_Kurtz on 28 Oct 2009, 00:47:17
OK. I installed the three required addons and started the mission. I managed to get halfway through this, before being killed by a landmine (or rather a trigger, probably). Here's what I think needs dealing with:

Red Wolf
   - there's no explanation of who/what they are or what they will do once I give them the order to Go.
   - I think you should synchronise their latter waypoints to the objective triggers, then they'd keep up with the player and not move too far ahead of him.

Support
   - there is none! Why no Repair trucks in the base south of Levie? Why doesn't this base and Levie look occupied?
   - My understanding is that if you place support vehicles (ie. Repair / Rearm / Refuel trucks and maybe even BMP Ambulances) and give them a Support waypoint, the player will be able to call them to his position. Of course, Red Wolf might monopolise them.

Triggers
   - last loon hunts are no fun in tanks. It would help the mission flow if it was possible to move on while one or two Americans were still alive at each objective. It would be in keeping with the doctrine that infantry should assist tanks by mopping up the remaining enemy soldiers.
   - amend the condition for the triggers as follows
Code: [Select]
("alive _x" count thislist) <= 2
Title: Red Grinder UPDATED 0.2
Post by: Krieg on 28 Oct 2009, 07:31:41
Thank you for beta test, Walter!

Quote
Red Wolf
   - there's no explanation of who/what they are or what they will do once I give them the order to Go.
   - I think you should synchronise their latter waypoints to the objective triggers, then they'd keep up with the player and not move too far ahead of him.

Yes, I should mention them in briefing. And also do synchronization thing.

Quote
Support
   - there is none! Why no Repair trucks in the base south of Levie? Why doesn't this base and Levie look occupied?
   - My understanding is that if you place support vehicles (ie. Repair / Rearm / Refuel trucks and maybe even BMP Ambulances) and give them a Support waypoint, the player will be able to call them to his position. Of course, Red Wolf might monopolise them.

There actually is a repair and ammo truck in enemy base at Durras, but since they are likely to be destroyed, I will do support thing.

Quote
Triggers
   - last loon hunts are no fun in tanks. It would help the mission flow if it was possible to move on while one or two Americans were still alive at each objective. It would be in keeping with the doctrine that infantry should assist tanks by mopping up the remaining enemy soldiers.
   - amend the condition for the triggers as follows
Code:

Code: [Select]
("alive _x" count thislist) <= 2

That is another thing in "to-do" list now.

Quote
I managed to get halfway through this, before being killed by a landmine (or rather a trigger, probably).

Heh, there were actually few indications that that town is actually a mine-field. It was deserted, and if you looked closely, you could see few landmines on road.

Anyways, thanks for beta test :good:!

Edit: New version is up!
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Walter_E_Kurtz on 01 Nov 2009, 23:53:48
Testing version 0.2 beta. I'd like to draw your attention to the following:

Briefing
   - spelling is inconsistent: sometimes correct, sometimes wrong. eg. southern, Vernon
   - the precision is not natural or reasonable. Scholastically it may be admirable, but it's not how things pan out, for instance:

It is easier to count soldiers than their weapons.
at least six Anti-Tank infantry   ---> at least half a dozen infantry armed with anti-tank weapons

You never meet statisticians in real life (Well done for adding up to 100%, but where is the excluded third?)
I give us 75% of defeat and 25% of victory   ---> Our odds/chances of victory are, perhaps, one in four


Out of Area trigger
   - these are the wrong way round, so the mission ends before the warning is received


Durras Trigger
   - I got a nasty surprise in that, after this objective was marked as done, the infantry squad mounted a relatively succesful counter-attack. Consider making the trigger area slightly larger and adding some more LAW soldiers to the squad.
   - on second thoughts, maybe leave it as it is.


Support Waypoints
   - The support group remained stuck behind the woods and did nothing to assist me. I'm not quite sure what the problem was: that their first waypoint was to 'Hold' or that this waypoint was placed over one of the units.
   - I'd suggest moving them behind the players starting point and using only 'Move' and 'Support' waypoints (Behaviour: Careless, Speed: Full).
   - If you want to speed up how quickly they reach the player, they could be teleported beyond the road-block. Ask if you need this explained (Basically, place markers where they should appear and use a setPos getMarkerPos a_place)


Chat on Requesting Assistance
   - it still could do with some acknowledgement that Red Wolf or support units are on their way.
   - try the following. Write this in the init line of the leader of the four T72s

redwolf = group this

    then call the next script from Radio Alpha ( [] exec "RedWolf.sqs" )
Code: (RedWolf.sqs) [Select]
player sideChat "Red Wolf. Red Wolf. You may begin your advance. Over."
~3
(leader redwolf) sideChat "This is Red Wolf. We are getting under way. Over."
~3
player sideChat "Acknowledged, Red Wolf. Out."
exit


Edit: (Forgot to add)
Casualties of War
   - if you don't fancy having the Russians occupy the base south of Levie, why not have a few wrecks (jeep and m113) strewn about.
   - as in The Final Stand, they could also be incorporated into the Americans' defensive lines.
Title: Red Grinder Problem
Post by: Krieg on 02 Nov 2009, 09:18:09
Thanks for the test.

Quote
Briefing
   - spelling is inconsistent: sometimes correct, sometimes wrong. eg. southern, Vernon
   - the precision is not natural or reasonable. Scholastically it may be admirable, but it's not how things pan out, for instance:

It is easier to count soldiers than their weapons.
at least six Anti-Tank infantry   ---> at least half a dozen infantry armed with anti-tank weapons

I'll try to fix spelling and KGB Intel Report.

Quote
Out of Area trigger
   - these are the wrong way round, so the mission ends before the warning is received

Fixed that, I still can't believe I made them opposite of needed sizes (aka warning trigger outside of ending trigger is useless pretty much).

Quote
Durras Trigger
   - I got a nasty surprise in that, after this objective was marked as done, the infantry squad mounted a relatively succesful counter-attack. Consider making the trigger area slightly larger and adding some more LAW soldiers to the squad.
   - on second thoughts, maybe leave it as it is.

I agree more with "leave as it is" option, because this adds a bit of realism at least.

Quote
Support Waypoints
   - The support group remained stuck behind the woods and did nothing to assist me. I'm not quite sure what the problem was: that their first waypoint was to 'Hold' or that this waypoint was placed over one of the units.
   - I'd suggest moving them behind the players starting point and using only 'Move' and 'Support' waypoints (Behaviour: Careless, Speed: Full).
   - If you want to speed up how quickly they reach the player, they could be teleported beyond the road-block. Ask if you need this explained (Basically, place markers where they should appear and use a setPos getMarkerPos a_place)

Did you use your radio? Anyways I did it like that in order to prevent them from being monopolized from both player and Red Wolf. I'll do teleport thingy.

Quote

Chat on Requesting Assistance

   - it still could do with some acknowledgement that Red Wolf or support units are on their way.
   - try the following. Write this in the init line of the leader of the four T72s

Done.

Quote
Casualties of War
   - if you don't fancy having the Russians occupy the base south of Levie, why not have a few wrecks (jeep and m113) strewn about.
   - as in The Final Stand, they could also be incorporated into the Americans' defensive lines.

On to-do list.

Edit: I'm having a little scripting problem.

Code: ("supportmovetoplayer.sqs") [Select]
_cam = cam1 camcreate [0,0,0]
_cam camsettarget player
_cam cameraeffect [Internal, Back]
titlecut [" ", "BLACK IN",2]
~3
a setPos getMarkerPos a
b setPos getMarkerPos b
c setPos getMarkerPos c
~1
titlecut [" ", "BLACK OUT",2]
camdestroy _cam

For editing purposes, I edited Durras objective trigger to be activated by EAST once not present. Activated it and got disappointed. Unit C (aka refuel truck) did not teleport. Instead I got error "type object..." and forgot the rest. Can someone please fix this script?


Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: zwobot on 08 Nov 2009, 16:32:54
Nice to see an armour mission again! But where is the download link for the actual mission?
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Krieg on 08 Nov 2009, 18:11:03
It seems that attachments have been deleted. I will upload it shortly!
Edit: Uploaded all addons and mission! Look in attachments.
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Walter_E_Kurtz on 08 Nov 2009, 20:15:53
Sorry, Krieg, for not noticing that you had updated your message before things went wrong during the week.

First off, please try to reduce how much you quote from prior emails. It is fine to keep section headings, or a simple point that you are responding to, but quoting almost everything reduces readability.

Regarding your scripting problem, the syntax of getMarkerPos (http://www.ofpec.com/COMREF/index.php?action=details&id=149) requires the marker name to be in quotation marks, so
Code: [Select]
a setPos getMarkerPos "a"
b setPos getMarkerPos "b"
c setPos getMarkerPos "c"
Title: Red Grinder 0.3
Post by: Krieg on 09 Nov 2009, 16:48:45
No problem for not noticing. Posts update a lot without me ever noticing it.

I will cut down on that, I am sorry, I got used to quoting on some other forums.

Uhh! What I actually said to game to do that time is to teleport objects to marker that was listed as object? So that's why nothing would teleport! Thanks for assistance!

Edit: I have updated the mission, check the first post.
Also, I know that I did not did black-out-black-in thing in support teleporting script, that's because I encountered a bug. Black-out would work fine, but it would never black-in.
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Walter_E_Kurtz on 14 Nov 2009, 17:55:08
Looking forward to it, but I'm afraid it'll take me a week to sober up get back home.
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Walter_E_Kurtz on 08 Dec 2009, 01:13:29
OK. I've finally applied myself and completed it.

Readme
   - doesn't list ALL the required addons, yet
   - you might consider including the URL for this thread

Red Wolf
   - consider having their waypoints go around Vernon. When I played it, one T72 got knocked out on the road through Vernon, the others went around
   - on second thoughts, I'd probably leave it - one T72 isn't too high a cost

Support
   - needs waypoints, the last one of which should be "Support"
Code: (supportmovetoplayer.sqs) [Select]
titleText ["", "BLACK OUT", 0.5]
~1
titleText ["Support group is moving into position.", "BLACK IN", 9999]
a setPos getMarkerPos "a"
b setPos getMarkerPos "b"
c setPos getMarkerPos "c"
~4
titleText ["", "BLACK IN"]
End Trigger
   - the mission ends very suddenly, use a TimeOut delay. Consider making this quite long (60 seconds or more) if you want the player to have a chance of raising the flag
   - the third objective is not ticked off

Personalisation
   - add the following, or similar, to Description.ext:
Code: [Select]
onLoadMission="T80 Armoured Spearhead, Levie, Everon"   - and you can also include the player's name instead of Alpha Black 1:
Code: (redwolf.sqs) [Select]
~0.5
player sideChat format ["This is %1. Red Wolf you may begin your advance. Over.", name player]
~3.4
t2 globalChat "Red Wolf here, received and understood. We are proceeding to objective. Over."
~3.5
player sideChat format ["Roger that. Good luck Red Wolf. %1 Out.", name player]
Variety
   - I only spotted one unit with a Probability of Presence less than 100%. Have more AT infantry with very low probabilities (10%)
   - add some other vehicles to the mix. Definitely Vulcans, but Bradleys seem the wrong era. Attach them to existing groups and adjust the probabilities.
Title: Red Grinder 0.4
Post by: Krieg on 08 Dec 2009, 15:15:17
Thanks for the test, Walter, I will get right on editing&fixing :)!

Readme

Added&Fixed ("For other addons go to http://www.ofpec.com/forum/index.php?topic=34312.0" line added).

Red Wolf

I'd leave it like this, it would be a bit irrealistic if T72's would know what intel could not tell.

Support

I did not use any support waypoints in order to prevent Red Wolf from using support group every time they get hit, and eventually lead it to destruction. I will instead give them hold waypoint, teleport them a bit further away from player and give them move waypoint to player. Hold waypoint will be synchronized with "Support group - go!" radio command. And I will fix the script (thanks for fix-version of it).

End Trigger

I will give it a fix. The flag thing is extremely optional thing to do. It falls into "if you wanna do, you can do it" category. I will warn player that he can do it.

Personalisation

Agreed on every point except that Red Wolf should be broadcasting on open channel (i.e. globalChat) ;).

Variety

Will do!

Edit: New version is up! Check the first post.
Also, I would like to know if mission was too difficult, too easy, or at just about right difficulty.

Edit 2: I have worked on new overview picture (last one was bad quality real-life T80 pic).
See the first post for picture. Actual overview pic is sized down 256X256, but this is still at 1024X768 for "propaganda" purposes. I hope it is better than previous one!
Title: Red Grinder 0.5
Post by: Krieg on 13 Dec 2009, 10:30:10
New version is up. Check first post.
Hope you enjoy it,
Krieg
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: RKurtzDmitriyev on 13 Dec 2009, 15:43:39
I thought I would give your mission a spin since you've been kind enough to test mine.  :)

Overview:

No complaints.  :D

Intro:

The soldiers with subtitles but no sound or expressions look a little silly, but hey, I understand. It's a lot of work. I didn't do custom sounds for my mission, either. Otherwise, pretty cool stuff.

Briefing

Looks good. Comments:

--I noticed that you left off a lot of articles before nouns ("the," "a," "an"). Was this intentional?
--There's no "start here" marker. Of course, the T80 has its own map crosshairs thingy. However, a briefing link to a "start here" marker will make the starting position easier to scroll back to.
--Change "we assumed this mission will go easy" to "we assume this mission will go easy," unless the mission spoken of is already over.  ;)
--In the KGB report, you need paragraph breaks when the report begins to discuss a different objective. So, for example, there should be a break before "Recently, Americans have established a camp...."
--In the notes section, change "I give us chances of winning at one in four" to "I give our chances of winning at one in four."

Mission

Pretty difficult! I haven't been able to seize Durras. (Playing on vets mode, of course). Those M46 guns will really mess you up. The infantry alone can wipe out all the T-72s at the outpost. >:(

I was surprised that there were no waypoints for the player group. Maybe add some to help the player know where he is going?

Also, perhaps a retry position update is in order after outpost is cleared?

Edit: Bah, it could go either way. My mission has no retry pos updates.

Two major bugs I noticed:

--Every time I died, I got a hint saying something like "Are you going AWOL, Comrade? Don't leave the field of battle!" I surmise that your trigger which fails the mission when you leave the AO is ticking off because player is not present. Perhaps you should modify the conditions to say something like "this && alive player".

--After seizing the outpost, I got a bug report bar at the top:

"Error sideChat: type array, expected string".

It looks like you accidentally put the message intended for sideChat inside of brackets.  ;)

All in all, it looks pretty cool. I'll try it again sometime. ;)
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Krieg on 13 Dec 2009, 19:56:47
Thanks for the test, RKurtzDmitriyev :good:!

Quote
Overview

Glad it does it's job :D!

Quote
Briefing

It was not intentional to left out the nouns, I am just not best at paperwork (and my primary language has no connection to English).

I will add start marker, thanks for suggestion!

Yep, I should change that, since this is not debriefing!

I actually tried to do that, but for some reason pressing enter does not work in Chris' OFP Script Editor, so I had to press space until I got it to be in position.  I got annoyed because I missed every single time, so I just left it like that. I might change that in future.

Will be fixed, thanks for noticing!

Quote
Mission

I will add a checkpoint in between outpost and Durras. Player can save if he wants to later on ;)!

I intentionally did not add waypoints because player already has been given all of the objectives in briefing, and since he is limited to small part of Everon, there is very little space where he can go. He might still choose basic maneuvering option, though.

Will be added, thanks for noticing :good:!
And also, I will fix sideChat thingy.

Thanks again for beta testing  RKurtzDmitriyev!
Title: Red Grinder 0.6
Post by: Krieg on 17 Dec 2009, 17:45:00
New version is up (for a while)! Check the first post for download!
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: RKurtzDmitriyev on 17 Dec 2009, 21:45:02
Gave your mission yet another spin today.  :)

Intro & Overview--

No complaints. ;)

Briefing--

You're still missing paragraph breaks in both the Detailed Plan and the KGB report. It would be easier to read if they were broken into paragraphs. Just open up the briefing.html file with Notepad and add <br> in the appropriate sections. A <br> is like pressing the "return" key on a typewriter, so <br><br> will make a new paragraph.

Mission--

Looks like you fixed the sideChat issue. :P Still haven't been able to finish the mission proper. Pretty difficult mission you've got there. Comments:

--Just once, when I approached fairly near Vernon, the mission ended in failure. No, my tank didn't blow up. (That's supposed to happen if you get too close, isn't it?) I was just given an End2 debriefing that says "Without support from  T80's, rest of attacking forces were destroyed." Vernon is well inside the area of operations, so I can't have gone out of it.  ??? Sometimes the OFP gods just mess with our heads. :D

--I know I suggested a "retry update" after the outpost. However, if there should be one retry update anywhere, I now think it should be between Durras and St. Pierre, because St. Pierre is way harder than Durras (so far it's proved impossible for me to seize without cheating.  :D ). I know I'm going back on my own suggestion, but the mission is lopsided if the only retry update is only 1/3 of the way into the mission.  :P

--After seizing the outpost, the surviving T-72s seem to take forever to move onto the next objectives. Did you program this, or is it just OFP's tank driving AI being stubborn?

I went ahead and Un-pbo'd your mission and had a look at it in the mission editor. Further stuff I noticed:

--After killing enough units in St. Pierre, the mission debriefing is shown instantly. This was rather sudden. I think the end would be more effective if you waited a few seconds, maybe showed a Mission Complete titletext, etc.

--You don't seem to have placed any ambient sounds such as birds chirping. Perhaps these sounds would be a nice touch.

--By the way, I tested moving into Vernon, and this time my tank exploded like it's supposed to. The bug noticed earlier might be a weird fluke with OFP. ???

Outro

Thanks for crediting me. :D No bugs that I could see. Again, the end is rather sudden, because you're instantaneously sent to the menu. A black out effect at the end might be effective.

Overall, good work, I didn't notice any really substantial bugs this time. :)  :good:
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Krieg on 18 Dec 2009, 13:26:03
Quote
Intro & Overview

Glad they do their job!  :D

Quote
Briefing

So that's how it's done! And I always thought you need to press "space" continuously until you get the paragraphs! Thanks for that!  :good:

Quote
Mission

I have no earthly idea how that happened  ???!  Maybe it was some weird bug OFP still has in it? I will look into it ASAP.

Quote
Sometimes the OFP gods just mess with our heads.  :D

Have to agree!

Will move the retry position! Maybe I should add artillery support before you move in?

What? A sudden end? I thought I fixed that giving you a minute to rise Soviet flag and a hint!

I guess it was a weird fluke.

Quote
Outro

Yeah, I noticed that. It was because I added 5 more seconds to outro by crediting you  :D, all I had to do is fix the trigger! There is a black out and music fade at the end.

Next version will most likely be released tomorrow.
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: RKurtzDmitriyev on 18 Dec 2009, 17:47:24
What? A sudden end? I thought I fixed that giving you a minute to rise Soviet flag and a hint!

I looked at your mission again in the editor, and I think that there are at least two problems. First, your End1 trigger with conditions ("alive _x" count thislist) <=2 is set to a countdown of max 60, min 60, mid 0. You need a mid value of 60, too. If your mid is smaller than the min, the trigger seems to execute at a time shorter than the min.

Also, your trigger with hint "You can lower the American flag" is activated simply at "West not present," but of course your End1 trigger has the condition of ("alive _x" count thislist) <=2 . I believe that means that if there's one enemy loon hiding somewhere in St. Pierre, and you can't find him in 60 seconds, the mission will end instantly without ever showing the hint. Perhaps both triggers should have a condition of ("alive _x" count thislist) <=2 .
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Krieg on 18 Dec 2009, 18:14:27
Ohh thanks! Will fix it immediately!

Edit: By the way, did Vulcans show up in your play-throughs yet? They have very low chance of appearing (one has 10% and other 20%). Also, did that squad from forest left of outpost (when you look in the editor) manage to make effective ambush? Or did they just die like the rest?
And also, T72's for some reason tend to stick with outpost. Perhaps their driver's AIs are being stubborn. I did not program them to stay at outpost.

Thanks for testing,
Krieg

Edit 2: New version is up! Check first post for download.
I think this mission is in it's late stages of development. I predict 3, maybe 4 version before it is ready for review.
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: RKurtzDmitriyev on 18 Dec 2009, 20:52:10
Edit: By the way, did Vulcans show up in your play-throughs yet? They have very low chance of appearing (one has 10% and other 20%).

I believe one of them did once.

Also, did that squad from forest left of outpost (when you look in the editor) manage to make effective ambush? Or did they just die like the rest?

That squad is not too dangerous. As I recall, they usually get caught on open ground.

Edit 2: New version is up! Check first post for download.
I think this mission is in it's late stages of development. I predict 3, maybe 4 version before it is ready for review.

Yup, probably just a few minor tweaks and you'll have a final version ready to go.  :)
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Krieg on 18 Dec 2009, 21:38:49
Quote
I believe one of them did once.

Probably one at St. Pierre, it has larger chances of appearing.

Quote
That squad is not too dangerous. As I recall, they usually get caught on open ground.

Maybe I should rise their skill? Nah, player has to worry about Durras more, if he gets too damaged before it, he wont stand a chance. I'll leave them as Cannon-Fodder :)!

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Yup, probably just a few minor tweaks and you'll have a final version ready to go.   :)

Thanks for supporting me in creating this mission!  :good:
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: RKurtzDmitriyev on 20 Dec 2009, 02:07:27
Thanks for supporting me in creating this mission!  :good:

You're welcome. Now the saga continues:

Intro

The intro itself is fine, but you must have included a BAS object since 0.6 . Now, if I play with only the specified addons, I get a "missing addons: bas_o" error.

Briefing

Looks good. :)

Mission

Still haven't finished without cheating. Had fun, though. :D

Again, I experienced that strange bug that causes mission failure near Vernon. Now I've been able to duplicate the bug, and I think I know what causes it. The player's tank actually is exploding, but since your end #2 trigger is set to "vehicle not present," the mission can fail instantaneously when the tank is no longer alive. This doesn't always happen, though. Sometimes I just get a death screen. Perhaps it depends on whether the mission failure trigger polls at just the right time. I took this screenshot--notice the debriefing booklet juxtaposed against my blackened tank, which is just about to explode :D .

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/7499/dyingtank.png (http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/7499/dyingtank.png)

The moral of the story, I think, is that your End #2 trigger also needs a "this && alive player" condition, and maybe a countdown of a few seconds (giving your tank plenty of time to blow up--perhaps the player isn't taken off the "alive" list in time).

Outro

Looks good. I noticed that it plays after a mission failure ending, too. Was this intentional?

P.S.: At the risk of pimping my own mission, you might be interested in giving Village De-Pacification another whirl. I don't know if anyone noticed that I updated it the other day, and I can't bump the thread because I made the last reply.  :D
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Krieg on 20 Dec 2009, 08:44:03
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Intro

That was accident! Will fix it immediately (removed bas_o from mission.sqm, hopefully that will fix it)!
Edit: This mission is playing tricks at me. I delete bas_o from mission.sqm, and it re-appears.
Edit 2: Fixed the problem. It seems that birds were the problem (i.e. their singing).
Edit 3: It reappeared again! I mean what the...
Edit 4: Fixed by editing mission.sqm manually.
Edit 5: Didn't work. Deleted sounds from editor then edited mission.sqm.
Edit 6: Fixed.

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Briefing

Thanks!

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Mission

Glad you had fun! Also, I neither managed to complete the mission.
Last time I tried, I was rolling down the hill at about 90 km/h, guns blazing, yelling "CHARGE!!!", and managing to take out both enemy tanks that spawned before being took out by AT infantry.

Will try to give some more time from player to be took out from alive and listed as KIA.
Edit: Fixed (I think), I gave 3 seconds before mission ends in failure, moved tank to Vernon, and got "you are dead" ending instead of failure every time.

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Outro

Well, not intentional, maybe I accidentally put it in outro loose? Or picked wrong end at end trigger?
I will check it.
Edit: I have no idea what's causing this. Will try to fix it before next version.
Edit 2: Did it appear when you won with cheating? If it did, then this is not problem at all, since it does not complete any story, and I use it as credits, I think it's OK this way.

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P.S.: At the risk of pimping my own mission, you might be interested in giving Village De-Pacification another whirl. I don't know if anyone noticed that I updated it the other day, and I can't bump the thread because I made the last reply.   :D

Downloaded and testing your mission!
 
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: RKurtzDmitriyev on 20 Dec 2009, 16:06:16
Well, not intentional, maybe I accidentally put it in outro loose? Or picked wrong end at end trigger?
I will check it.
Edit: I have no idea what's causing this. Will try to fix it before next version.
Edit 2: Did it appear when you won with cheating? If it did, then this is not problem at all, since it does not complete any story, and I use it as credits, I think it's OK this way.

Well, by "cheating" I meant using the mission editor to give myself an initialization of "this setcaptive true". Outro's don't play after the debriefing in the mission editor, so no, it didn't appear.

But when I get mission failure due to going AWOL while playing the mission as a regular SP mission, the outro plays after debriefing. I think I know what causes this. The trigger activating when the player leaves the field is an End #2 trigger, not a Loose trigger. Probably, the outro-win is played after any "end" trigger. Just change it to a Loose trigger and this should be fixed. (I think you'll have to add a corresponding "Loose" section to the briefing.)
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Krieg on 20 Dec 2009, 16:19:47
Thanks! I will get right on fixing!
Edit: Sorry for noobish question, but how to make loose debriefing?
Edit 2: New version is up! As always, check the first post.

PS. Cheating IS strategy.  ;)
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: RKurtzDmitriyev on 21 Dec 2009, 17:05:20
Edit: Sorry for noobish question, but how to make loose debriefing?

No, I'm sorry for the noobish suggestion. Apparently, there is no such thing. (http://www.ofpec.com/forum/index.php?topic=22265) :P There's another thread (http://www.ofpec.com/forum/index.php?topic=22381.0) with suggestions.
Title: Red Grinder (Please Review)
Post by: Krieg on 21 Dec 2009, 17:17:27
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No, I'm sorry for the noobish suggestion. Apparently, there is no such thing.  :P There's another thread with suggestions.

Heh, no problem.
I could try to script the outro accordingly to end, but I'd probably get stuck reading some script that I can not read at all.  :banned:
I guess that means one less thing to do . :)

Edit: Did some minor polishings. I deem this mission ready for review!
Walter_E_Kurtz, RKurtzDimitryev I thank you both for beta tests once again!  :good:

Edit 2: Sorry if someone has already noticed this, but I submitted this mission for review.
Edit in case no-one noticed.  ;)
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder (Please Review)
Post by: RKurtzDmitriyev on 22 Dec 2009, 15:20:14
Alrighty, I'll download and play it for enjoyment now.  :good:
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder (Please Review)
Post by: Krieg on 22 Dec 2009, 15:26:18
Have fun!
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder (Please Review)
Post by: Walter_E_Kurtz on 24 Dec 2009, 16:41:30
A couple of thoughts on finalising the package:

1. Compress the picture
   - open it with MicroSoft Paint (or similar) and simply Save it again as a JPeg. It should shrink from 291 kilobytes to 70 or so.

2. Include some of the addons
   - as you've experienced once already, attachments to posts can get lost, particularly after this thread gets moved to 'OFP - Reviewed Missions'.
   - I recommend including the bbs_Dangerschild.pbo
   - it's up to you if you want to include the kkb_gate also. Here's a link (http://ofp.gamepark.cz/index.php?showthis=2612) if you don't.
   - it would be polite to mention both these addons by name in your readme

3. Tidying the readme
   - It might make sense to mention that it's a single-player mission and you take the role of a tank commander.


I'll get round to checking the mission again later.
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder (Please Review)
Post by: Krieg on 25 Dec 2009, 20:56:56
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Compress the picture

Will-do!

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Include some of the addons

Will include both of 'em, and mention them in readme.

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Tidying the readme

Will-do!

Edit: Updated. Look in first post.
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder (Please Review)
Post by: Walter_E_Kurtz on 27 Dec 2009, 00:41:51
Testing mission pbo dated 21.12.2009 18:08 (which is unchanged in the latest zip)

Intro
   - like you've done for the mission, you can add OnLoadIntro = " ..." to Description.ext
   - would be improved by some playmove commands - see the library (http://www.ofpec.com/ed_depot/index.php?action=details&id=56). For instance, "EffectStandSalute" and "FXCivilFoldOnesArms" for the soldier and officer respectively

Mission
   - no low hanging fruit as far as improvements go, but there is one...
   - BUG: the mission doesn't end after blacking out to the "Mission Complete" message
   - I think this is a 'feature' of OFP, that missions can't end whilst Blacked Out
   - I suggest you modify end.sqs
Code: (end.sqs) [Select]
titletext ["Mission Complete!","Black Out",5]
~4
titleText ["", "BLACK IN"]
Outros
   - both worked

Overall
   - I played in Veteran mode and the difficulty was fair. You have to decide when to be Gunner (so that you can enjoy shooting things up) and when to be Commander (so enemies show up on the radar).
   - no other bugs uncovered. As far as I could tell, everything worked as intended: support, Red Wolf, radio messages, etc.

   A competent effort; I enjoyed it  :good:
Title: Re: [SP] The Red Grinder (Please Review)
Post by: Krieg on 27 Dec 2009, 08:39:53
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Intro

Adding right now!

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Mission

Will fix it!

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Outros

Glad they worked out, but will fix a thing I encountered (explosions from tanks can be heard, so I will remove their ammo and fuel, so they do not explode, trick I found out about yesterday).

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Overall

I still prefer to be driver, that's how I avoid getting hit by the enemy, combined with manual fire, works out for me. I guess it is fun for any kind of tanker and OFP player. I will try switching positions.

Edit: All that was suggested is added. Check first post for download.

Edit 2: Managed to beat my mission! It took me a while to figure out proper strategy for assault on Saint Pierre, but at last I figured out how. Don't wanna spoil it for ya, so I will not write down the strategy here. Unfortunately, I did not manage to replace the flag, but ending worked just fine (game ended just as I was about to replace the US flag).
Title: The Red Grinder - Review Completed
Post by: Walter_E_Kurtz on 28 Dec 2009, 21:44:49
I have commenced reviewing this mission.

This is likely to be my last major act for a while at OFPEC as I will be cutting down on OFP to concentrate on modelling, erm... Modding.

Review Completed (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=241)

This topic is open for after-review discussion. Have any spectacular stories? Feel free to share them!
Title: Re: (Review Completed) [SP] The Red Grinder
Post by: Krieg on 01 Jan 2010, 01:11:55
I am, as an author, satisfied with score mission got. 6/10 is a major step forward if we consider that The Final Stand got 4/10. Unless I receive some beta tests on Operation Hellfire, you can expect beta 0.1 of The Red Grinder II soon enough. I am looking forward to make "nigh-impossible". An excellent tank mission for OFP.

I also discovered that Red Wolf can be VERY useful tool in capturing Saint Pierre, if they survive.
And also, thanks for the review Walter_E_Kurtz!  :good: