The main mission editor

[Ironman]

Ok, a lil word barfing here....

Why does the "preview" in the editor perform certain actions that would lead you to believe there are no problems. However, once you export them to MP missions, there are problems.

I hope I described the problem well enough. I am just curious to know why.... and if there is a way around it.

[schuler]

Description and init load, then unit's inits,,,, I believe. There has been some talk about what loads first after the missions is PBO'ed . it is an trial and error thingo. Just keep testing.
The game is just like that,  plus MP is more touchy, then SP ,, I think!
Helpfully someone can give you a better answer!!!!!! 
cheers Schuler

[myke13021]

I guess it would help if you could descripte what "problems" arise to you when exporting to MP since i've never had problems with missions that worked well in editor preview.

[schuler]

hi , what kind of problems, just things in general? the more things you have happening at the start will be in the game engine ,,,so to speak......

[myke13021]

About init loadings, made a quick (not in-depth) research using this script:

Code: [Select]

_string = _this select 0;
sleep 1;
if (isnil "testarray") then
{
testarray = [];
};
testarray = testarray + [_string, time];
which i've called from several places/init lines. There were nothing else on the map, no other scripts running. The list i've got was the exactly the same at each preview:

Player Unit........1.003
AI Unit.............1.003
AI Vehicle.........1.003
Gamelogic.........1.003
Empty Vehicle....1.003
init.sqf..............1.003
Trigger (Condition set to true).....1.716

I also could keep the order whenever i've deleted one or another object/unit.

I don't know how representative this result is.

*EDIT*
Extended the test script with a sleep and a time output, added to the above list. It seems that initlines and init.sqf are executed at same time. For sure now it depends on complexity of called scripts how much resources they take and how long they take to proceed. I had scripts that took about 10 seconds to complete (with sleeps in it to not hit the performance too hard).

So, generally speaking, i guess it doesn't matter where a script is called if other scripts that inherits from them are coded the way that they'll wait until the predecessed script is finished.

[schuler]

ok, i am not sure,,,, try times like min 2 in tiggers so they all done go off at once, or in the  unit ~2
or ~2 sec delay,,,,
hope you know what i mean
 iam not sure if iam helping you 
cheers schuler

[Ironman]

Ok, a recent problem was getting a chopper to land using the heli land "GET OUT" then a command to disembark all the soldiers. It worked perfectly in the mission preview but in the mission it never landed and just kept going on its merry way lol....

There have been other problems, I can't remember them. But, hope this gives a better description.

[schuler]

do you have the sync line at the get out, with chopper?
edit
heli Land "LAND"  at waypoint

[Ironman]

roger dodger

anyways, like I was saying this isn't just for one problem, I am just seeking knowledge of why this poo happens.

[Mr.Peanut]

Ok, a recent problem was getting a chopper to land using the heli land "GET OUT" then a command to disembark all the soldiers. It worked perfectly in the mission preview but in the mission it never landed and just kept going on its merry way lol....

First off, if you are asking specifically about MP then post on MP board.

Did this problem happen when the MP mission was on a server? If so how exactly did you give the heli land "GET OUT"? The command must be executed where the heli is local. If the AI heli is not in a player group then it is local to the server. If it is in a player group then it is local the machine of the group leader.

A mission often does not behave exactly as in the editor, both when exported to SP and MP. You can do some very limited testing of MP issues by playing with your own machine as a non-dedicated server.  For full MP testing you need a dedicated server and a lot of patience.

The best approach is to ask a specific question on these forums with the exact details of what you are doing- even better upload a mini demo mission of the problem.

Even if you do not script, take a look at Mandoble and Spooner's MP Scripting Tutorial in the ED for some answers about locality.

[Ironman]

Woooo, did I just get fried? lol

This forum post was for everyone else to post comments about problems they have had. It is meant for the general populous to learn about this....

[nominesine]

Woooo, did I just get fried? lol

No, you just posted in the wrong section. It happens to everyone from time to time. There's a reason this forum has different sections: a General section and a Multi Player section.

ArmA (and it's predecessor OFP) behaves very different in a MP-environment. The problems you are refering to are well known by most of the members on this site. At least the ones that are interested in MP editing. If you post your question in the right forum, you will get better answers. It's as simple as that.

I'm an experienced MP editor myself and will gladly help you with your problem. It sounds as if you are facing a locality problem, as mr. Peanut suggested. Unfortunately you must be more specific. What's not working, exactly? How did you try to achieve it?

We can continue the discussion in this thread. No need to start a new one. A mod will move it to MP as soon as they see it.

[Rommel92]

Perhaps post your mission, or screenshots of what you have done in the editor, all these help us to come to conclusions... 

[nominesine]

Maybe Snypir's guide to MP editing is what you need. It was written for Operation Flashpoint, but since ArmA behaves exactly the same way, it's still very useful.

[Mr.Peanut]

Woooo, did I just get fried? lol

No, not fried, poached! Seriously, I was just trying to be helpful but also steer this thread to its proper home. Do things behave differently in the game editor than as a mission? Yes! And first encounters with this can induce hair-pulling.

[Ironman]

Ok, well I basically forced landed the chopper. So, it is working now but, I will keep you posted on the other stuff as soon as I am at my PC.....

[evilnate]

Geez I didn't realize I still have a account here, yay for me! 

Regarding locality of MP, it's a real pain for me and I can give some detailed examples of how I do work-arounds and where I need help.

#1) I made a MP mission that has several objectives and when we all start together and start completing obj's, it checks off on everyone's briefing. If someone joins in progress, they don't see that some of the objectives have already been completed. My awesome scripting buddies said that I needed to included the "onPlayerConnected" even handler however it never worked out (I've even seen this on other missions). My solution for this problem was strange, but highly effective. I noticed that triggers that detected if someone was alive or dead would update for new comers, but if there was say.. a trigger that detected if a building was destroyed it wouldn't update. My solution was creating some civilians on a distant island off sahrani and have a obj trigger for that civ. Once the building was destroyed, it would setDammage for the civi to 1.0 and then that trigger would detect the absent civilian.

#2.) The problems that I am still having are getting AI to do what they do in SP. I understand that AI controlled "leaders" are controlled by the server unless a human assumes control of the AI group. Some examples would be.. AI flying A-10's and attacking a enemy base, in SP or in "preview", they would perform precisely how they should - in MP on a dedicated server with default skill levels they would do several fly-bys before attacking anything, and most often get shot down for their hesitance. In preview, the extraction helo would come in with a LOAD waypoint sync'd to playable group's GETIN waypoint and wait for everyone to join then take off as normal.. IN MP on a dedicated server the stupid AI help would just hover of the marker and eventualy get shot down or just fly off. I did some investigating to see what I was doing wrong and the boys that hang at the BI fourms directed me to the disclaimer when you try to view the MP lobby from the game "Multiplayer game experience may change".

Does anyone on these boards know why the AI do strange stuff on a dedicated server even though they are not commanded by human players?

[Spooner]

#1: This issue has been fixed in ArmA 1.09. Before this, Jippers didn't get updated with any current building damage. Remember that onPlayerConnected/onPlayerDisonnected is only run on the server (and only in MP games), so you won't see the handler ever being run on your client PCs (or in the SP editor). Thus you need to manually communicate to the clients information about connections and disconnections.

#2: AI manipulation isn't my field. Sorry!