[MP coop 1-8] Once Upon a Time... Version 1-15

[fleepee]

Hi, beta testers!  

I've got some new stuff for you!
(future campain mission 1)

I've been thinking of a campaign in which "Destroy Power Station" and "Kill Kronsky" could take place...
These two long missions could be brought and separated with smaller ones...

Here is the starting point of it:
You're a local peasant, and as you're doing your daily work, russians break the border at Lopatino and attack for revenge Chernaruss. (see the "notes" text below)
As a peacefull civilian, you start with no weapon or item.
You've got a map, a gps in your car, that's all!
After the attack, you'll have to get weapons to counter attack russians.
Next step and mission should be to organize the resistance...

mission author: FleePee

mission type: COOP

Number of players: 1 to 10

Game version: ARMA2 patch 1.5

Addons: none

English and french versions!  (future english voices)

Duration: 1 hour?

Specifications:
- 10 civilians slots
- revive by all units

Lobby Options:
- number of revives
- grass layer
- view distance
- Time before respawn location choice

External Scripts used:
- revive script V0.42 by Norrin
- Urban Patrol Script by Kronzky
- Draper's AirSupport Scripts V1.1

Main Objective:
It's two years now that Chernaruss people live in a fragile peace...
Russians did never accept to be driven out of the country by the coalition leaded by US army.
Since that camouflet, they only think of revenge, they still want to appropriate chernaruss territory and its natural ressources, the harbours to where they want to build pipelines and oil terminals...
Thanks to an US military satellite, huge troops movements have been noticed near the border.
Questioned about them, the russian government pretend that it's just exercises, they are on manoeuvres...
Hard to believe...

I'm waiting for your feedback, enjoy!

[hoz]

Interesting look forward to trying it. I was hoping for quicker .. simplier missions like in the 20 mins to 30 min range per episode. let you know.

Edit:

Ok played the mission and its pretty good. The mission itself had some hiccups but nothing that couldn't use a bit of polish.  I will post a more detailed run through of the mission tomorrow but I wanted to tell you that the mobile respawn works fine in this mission. Now the briefing wasn't showing for the one player at the start of the mission, but after we made the trip to visit for the first guys and the tasks updated... all the briefing was noticable for everyone.

Now do you plan to string a story along 3 or 4 missions?

I'll kinda give some first impressions... then later maybe get into more of the spelling/grammar and more detailed suggestions after I learn like how far you will take it..


-The team mate ai's were kind of useless... we didn't use them.. they are hard to equipe from a leader persepective. either ditch them or give each player 1 unit or something. kinda undecided here but you defintely need to auto equipe the ai.

- mobile respawn worked... and it was good... but with the airport respawn it wasn't needed after the first town. so I think you should get rid of the airport respawn.

-dupelicate wp's boxes... I think your running this script on both the server and the client or running it on the client twice when the task is updated.

- wp for the airport had the dupelicate wp boxes too... except in this case 1 pointed to the airport while the other pointed to 20 km away.

- you need to check the rpt file you got some code spitting out errors...

- same issue with the other missions with the yellow chat text... and some blue chat text only showing up on 1 client.

-the civis don't start with any map, gps, or other components. so in the initial breifing... the leader was able to see the map (he had the equipment) however the one unit that my friend took didn't have any map equipement so he was unable to see the map.



Thats all for now..

[Ebden]

-the civis don't start with any map, gps, or other components. so in the initial breifing... the leader was able to see the map (he had the equipment) however the one unit that my friend took didn't have any map equipement so he was unable to see the map.

Pardon the premature post, I'll have a look myself tonight or this weekend.  Flee's first post states 'You've got a map, a gps and an handgun in your car."  I read that to mean all three items are in the vehicle.  That said, given how Arma2 manages mission briefings, the player needs at minimum his map on his person to allow the briefing to be effective.  Either that, or a cutscene showing how the civilian learned of the Russian movements (If not already, he really needs a name, something warm and endearing...so not Rocky or Butch). 

With the appropriate storyline and setup, I would enjoy having to collect minor equipment from various places at the start of a mission.  It helps the immersion and getting to know the character's backstory a little (I think flee is making good decisions about how he encourages storyline immersion in his previous two creations).  In this case, the civilian is just learning about the Russian incursion at Lopatino (radio? other civilian?) and has to quickly gather resources which he doesn't normally keep on himself, namely his auto's gps unit and the pistol.  Considering the character, would a hunting rifle CZ550 be more appropriate?  Or perhaps the pistol is a US 9mm or 1911 45acp salvaged from the US coalition 2 years previous?


As you can tell, I enjoy contributing, but I have zippo to offer on scripts (even if I had already tried the mission, which I will do after work)...I'll offer you my voice though if needed.  I have a pal at legionofsparta.com who is incredibly like Lee Ermey/Sgt. Hartman from Full Metal Jacket.  If you happen to need a gritty US drill instructor voice, he's your guy.  You've heard my voice, pretty typical N. American male, but it's there if you need it.  I wish I knew more russians though, I can't offer you any reliable accent on that end.

[hoz]

the player needs at minimum his map on his person to allow the briefing to be effective

The leader seems to have the map and radio and crap just not the other players.

I would enjoy having to collect minor equipment from various places at the start of a mission.

This is how he has it setup now. Once you find the ammo you can only take the civi guns like the 550. Once you start clearing out that first town there is plenty of weapons to choose from. Are you using a dead body remover script here? cuz I noticed that most of the rpg units are swept away.

Like I said before I need to play it a bit more, there are definitely some grammar issues. and some of the cut scenese so far could really use some tighter (see closer) angle shots. There may be some benefit to sift through the sp missions where the reviewers talk about the amazing cut scenes. check those out for some pointers.

Now for some critiquing...

The first task to run to the farm or what not just before the first cut scene... I particulary thought the joining of units was messed up. some 4 units joined me and 4 units joined my friend. then all the sudden I had all 8 units. I actually think that the units were of no use... and if you feel you need to bring in more units then bring them in a later episode. Keep the first episode fun easy and story building.  We actually found the enemy quite easy to defeat here. and i personally wouldn't change it unless you were doing this mission as a standalone. from a campaign perspective I don't think you want the first mission to be utterly impossible. A few well hidden smart guys could spice it up a bit.


*sigh* I totally fergot about the airport battle... Not alot to say here except that it went well and we used the air support. It was totally entertaining. a cut scene out of the mission would totally be in line here too... perhaps you can do something like have a helo come in an finish off the last tank and do all this in a cut scene fashion.

[fleepee]

Hoz and Ebden, thanks for your coments!

do you plan to string a story along 3 or 4 missions?

Yes!
After this first episode, in the next one you'll take contact with CDF and US headquarter, now as a member of the resistance, to get some material help... I won't say too much here about it...

I still don't understand the revive, sidechat messages and briefing problems in my missions...

The team mate ai's were kind of useless. you defintely need to auto equipe the ai. Once you find the ammo you can only take the civi guns like the 550

You're right: I think I'll disable AI in the lobby and suppress the "join" command in the mission.
There is a script that gives weapons and ammo to AI as you had the dialog at the weapons cache.
it seems that it didn't work for you!
At the weapons cache, you can find 2 hunting rifles, 2 AKMs, 5 AK47, 2 RPG launchers+rockets...

wp for the airport had the dupelicate wp boxes too...

I'll check this... (wp= waypoints?)

the civis don't start with any map, gps, or other components. so in the initial breifing... the leader was able to see the map (he had the equipment) however the one unit that my friend took didn't have any map equipement so he was unable to see the map.

I think it's logical for civilians not to have a map, a compass, a gps, a radio in their pockets.
I forgot about other slots, and didn't add map to their equipment for the briefing... Map is removed from the leader just after the beginning of the mission, but as said before, you can find items in the boss pick-up, and later at the weapons cache for the others.

We actually found the enemy quite easy to defeat here. and i personally wouldn't change it unless you were doing this mission as a standalone. from a campaign perspective I don't think you want the first mission to be utterly impossible

I've thought the same about the enemy quite easy to defeat...
I think I'll raise a bit the ennemy units skills...

I'm satisfied to know that the good "air support" scripts started when it had to and worked all right!

[hoz]

I think becuase you are a civi in this mission. the enemy AI don't fight back until provoked.
WP = waypoint.

[fleepee]

there is:

Code: [Select]

east setFriend [civilian,0];
civilian setFriend [east,0];
in the init file, so both sides  should be totally enemy to each oyther: east forces do shoot civilians and civil cars, even animals at attack start!
after that, perhaps the russian behaviour is less agressive...
I'll have a look in the UPS script to see if there's something about side behaviour when (enemy) civilians are encountered.

Edit: there effectively something about civilians in the ups script, i've modified it, not tested yet.

[hoz]

I had an occasion where i was face to face with the enemy and he wasn't shooting at me

[fleepee]

did you have this?

[Ebden]

Flee,

Attached here are the song lyrics updated with an english version.  It isn't the strict translation, but one I found that claims it will rhyme properly and can be sung in English to the tune (unlike a more precise translation, that probably wouldn't sound right).

Also, I completed a number of English edits in the attached stringtable.  I took greater liberty with the dialog between Igor and the USS Missouri.  I showed that part of the script to a soldier just back from Afghanistan, and got some pointers on the brevity a civilian might expect from an unexpected radio call to a US military ship.  (Of course, he said the whole thing about sending in air support based on a single unsecure radio message is completely illogical, but the storyline is yours, not ours!)  Note that in str_aero_3, I added a specific radio frequency#.  That should be changed to any identifiable frequency code that we could find in Arma 2, or we can leave it as the made-up number if there's nothing to contradict the frequency in-game.

In str_task2titre, task3titre, and task4titre, the english originally was identical 'Go back to the farm.'  I changed each, but still not sure if task3 is what you meant.

To make things a little more believable, what if Igor (I assume the main character, I never had a minute to play Arma this weekend!), was some sort of US informant in the previous war, and had a knowledge of minimal US radio procedures, security clearance codes, or some such thing?  Better yet, a senior officer on the USS missouri might have worked with Igor's intel during the war, and knew the name and voice as reliable, justifying the US support?  It would add a little to that dialog, having brief pleasantries between the two, but it could beef up the storyline as well.

[fleepee]

Thanks Hoz and Ebden for your help and support!

I've uploaded V1.3 that includes Ebden's english corections.

Many trials and changes to make civilians and russians be really enemies!! I've started with the editing of the ups script, but it wasn't a success!!
Finally, I've added in the civilians groups in the village a resistance high ranked unit with a probality of presence of 0...
For playable slots, I manually changed their side  to "guer" directly in the mission.SQM file...
Russians are now very agressive with us! 
AIs are disabled in the lobby, no groups, each player is on his own, it's up to you to communicate by radio to have team actions.

Couldn't play it in MP with another player yet, to check revive and mobile spawn.
I didn't modify the revive_init script after the side change of playable units, so...

Ebden: you're right about the storyline, I'll take care of it later, after i'm sure that the mission works corectly in multiplayer... I will certainly need the voices you told me about in an MP

[Ebden]

Right on, I look forward to having a look at this mission in a couple minutes.

EDIT:
Family pulled me away after about 20 minutes.   I got as far as attacking Lopatino while trying it in single-player.  Now that I've seen a bit of how the story develops, I'll have to give the English a second look.  Some of the dialog, like just after the explosions and first invasion cutscene, are not appropriate for the scene.  I'll make more edits and post them for your thoughts soon.

As far as other bits...
The mission load screen reads the mission title as 'Go to the warehouse'  but the mission name is 'Once Upon a Time'

Loading in seemed fine, and the equipment I expected to find in the truck was there, but I would not have known to check had I picked up the mission w/o this forum leadin.  (The fix is a simple dialog edit I can add, probably in the conversation just before I leave the tractor).

Great cutscene with the tanks, but I'd cut out the last part scrolling over trees and a field, it makes it a bit long and reduces the emergency I first felt from seeing all those tanks.

At Dimitri's, the KORD mounted properly, and I liked your choices for available weapons.  It's what I expected for this level of militia.  Also, great work on the song and the little cutscene to the truck and jeep.  The music was still playing, and the subtitles displayed while looking at a developing Russian force fit the mood.  One of the soldiers was running in place.  I don't know if there's much you can do about it.

Problem:  Just after fixing the cord, artillery (tank rounds?)began falling on Dimitri's home.  The very first, before I had a chance to even hit my keyboard, knocked out the tires of the truck.  I was left to walk all the way to Lopatino.  Dimitri died, and it was a neat little extra to find a watch on him I could take.  His wife, the poor soul, was left cowering by the fence with no home or hubby.

Other than figuring out how to keep the truck from being disabled on the first round (still leave it in a danger zone, it's good encouragement to get moving), I thought some dialog was needed between Igor and the wife about Dimitri's death, something simple and quick, not prosaic, but to the point.  E.g,  Dimitri's wife -calling Dimitri's name, then wailing, crying.  Igor also calling “Dimit-b`lyad'!  (I checked, it means ‘fuck!' in Russian.) Then to the wife ‘We'll get them for this.  I have to go.'

Approaching Lopatino I met another couple tanks, nice addition to keep me from running straight to the town, and another chance for me not to shoot at something. 

When attacking Lopatino I'll definitely need to try it in MP.  With the CZ550 I chose, my survivability was poor in CQB.  That's as far as I made it yesterday, but I'm excited to see the rest.  I'll adjust the English as needed and post a second draft when it's done..

[fleepee]

Just after fixing the cord, artillery (tank rounds?)began falling on Dimitri's home

You must have been spotted by the late armored platoon you saw in lopatino...
It wasn't designed in the mission!

some dialog was needed between Igor and the wife about Dimitri's death

I don't think i'll had these dialogs at the weapon's cache: I will make Dimitri invulnerable in this mission, he could die in a punitive raid in another mission...

[Ebden]

I think you have two Dimitri's on the mission, do you?  One carries the mobile respawn, and another is an interactable character at the spawn point who tells you to go to his brother-in-law.  Is that right?  It's a little confusing.

I worked through the mission in MP up to Lopatino again.  This time my computer went blue-screen during the attack, so I lost my review partner since I was hosting.  Other than some english tweaks to help the story make sense and sound correct, it all seemed to work as you intended.  I'd still remove the last 10 seconds or so of the first cutscene after the tanks are out of view and the view is slowly scrolling down a field, to keep our head in the coming tasks.

The second cutscene video performed differently =than when I tried in SP.  This time the scene zoomed to a single jeep and an officer standing in the road, I assume one of our targets, and what you must have meant for the cutscene to do.

The only bit that is troublesome is the difficult Lopatino assault.  I'm not suggesting to lower the difficulty yet, since I like the challenge, but I need to get a few more human players to better coordinate the assault (So I can give you feedback on the rest of the mission!)

[fleepee]

I'm on a version 1.4.
Cutscenes are different, details and dialog modified...
I'm waiting for some feedback about the revive script in MP before I uplooad it:
Can player revive others and be revived by other players?
In that version (and perhaps int the 1.3) the guy at the farm is called Yuri, no more confusion, I'm lacking of imagination for the names while editing!

The only bit that is troublesome is the difficult Lopatino assault.  I'm not suggesting to lower the difficulty yet

I like it like this!!

I need to get a few more human players to better coordinate the assault

I've tried it alone, to the end: you've got to choose your weapons wether you need long or close ranges fights...
 

[Ebden]

Never had a crowd to test the mission tonight, but I did work on the English stringtable a little.  Second draft posted with this thread.

[hoz]

Great update...

I think that you should hide the respawn button for airport until the town is cleared. Then add another one for the barn because at one point we got pinned down at the warehouse, where we just would respawn and then die continuously. Then you can hide the barn and show the airport once the town is cleared out.

After you get weapons and the cut scene starts, I think you should move the players during the cut scene to the warehouse. Or you could add 3 random spots  and move them to one of these to mix it up a little.

Still dunno why we go back to the barn after the first cut scene. Seems silly why don't we just goto the weapons cache?

Found that after the briefing we had lost our maps.

In this round we really found us battleing all the guys near the warehouse. its like all the guys came in  from town. You may want to save some guys for when the player actually gets into town. Overall the enemy forces weren't afraid to shoot back and we found it way more difficult. You may want to dumb it down a bit now that the enemy is fighting back. Then you can increasingly make it harder as you add other missions/episodes.

Good job so far... I think you need to add some sounds/ music I haven't really noted any yet.

[fleepee]

I think that you should hide the respawn button for airport until the town is cleared. Then add another one for the barn because at one point we got pinned down at the warehouse, where we just would respawn and then die continuously. Then you can hide the barn and show the airport once the town is cleared out.

As the respawn points are determined in the revive_init script, the markers used for respawn points are set at the beginning of the mission, I'm not sure I can hide or make them appear later in the mission...
I'll check it, and perhaps I should add one at the barn...

Still dunno why we go back to the barn after the first cut scene. Seems silly why don't we just goto the weapons cache?

You're right, the barn point was only made for dialogs, it's not important...

after the briefing we had lost our maps.

I still think that it's logical as civilians not to have maps at the beginning, but it's sure that it's not very good for starting the mission...

we really found us battleing all the guys near the warehouse. its like all the guys came in  from town

It's because of UPS scripts, once ennemies spotted, they're sharing informations and do flanking manoeuvres to shoot you, i'll let at least one squad without ups in the village.

I think you need to add some sounds/ music I haven't really noted any yet

there is some music in the cutscenes in V1.4, i'm waiting for the final english texts to add voices.

edit: V1.4 uploaded

[Ebden]

I still think that it's logical as civilians not to have maps at the beginning, but it's sure that it's not very good for starting the mission

I agree.  I even think the pistol should be ditched, since we don't meet enemies until after retrieving weapons from Dimitiri's Brother-in-law.

Of course, players should be encouraged to scavenge other characters for equipment.  Is it difficult to add a trigger when attacking Lopatino, say after the first Russian is killed, that Igor reminds others to check Russian bodies for usable equipment, like maps and weapons.  This will fit the next mission too, if Flee's intent is to start the group organized into a loose militia with a full compliment of basic equipment.  It fits because Igors reminder, and the human player's effort to make sure they each get a map, compass, gps, etc, will give more legitimacy to all players starting with equipment in chapter/mission 2 (even if a player finished w/o full equip, the character would assumedly continue scavenging for equipment between missions).

As for the music, there is the neat French Partisan's song.  It just hit me...French song, Eastern Bloc country near Russia...Do they speak Russian or French?

The following links depend on who actually controls the radio broadcast in your mission.  Is it the Russians or the Chernarus people?  I wasn't sure what you meant in the mission with the quote about the song playing for 5 minutes.

Here is a link to some 80s-era cold war songs  http://www.inthe80s.com/coldwar.shtml

Here is a link to Russian war songs, 20th century  http://www.sovmusic.ru/english/list.php?part=1&category=war

Of course, Sergei Prokofiev composed the soundtrack to the propaganda film "Alexander Nevsky," beant to boost Russian optimism against Nazi Germany (also won the Stalin Prize in '41).  Battle on the Ice might fit  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXr0m7SaGvs

[hoz]

Played again last night 3 of us...

Its coming along nicely. The town battle works well now, although we've only had one go through. I still think its a bit on the hard side. the airport is extremely difficult if you don't pick up some scoped weapons. so I think you need to consider making it increasingly difficult to keep the players interest. I think it will go along way to giving the player the desire to play on.


Still think you should auto move the players after the tank cut scene to the warehouse. Often the tanks are shooting the truck we are driving in.

I think you should add a repair truck to the town. one that won't get blasted up. In the first version we were able to steal a LAV and repair it with a truck and use it in the airport. which made the airport battle alot easier.

During the final cut scene in the town (once cleared out) you should add some dialog about getting some better weapons. Encourage taking the ammo truck it really helps.

Consider stashing some ammo in the warehouse.

I think the air port could be dressed up with some  containers, broken vehicles, along the run way for cover. its a brutal battle if you don't come prepared and there is no cover at all.

The airstrike in the last version isn't working properly... never saw the helo come in at all and then never had any option to run it again. In the first version we were able to run many air strikes again it helped with the battle.

The mission never ended properly, you might want to use a trigger that doesn't look for every last man. Perhaps when 98% of the enemy is defeated its time to end it.

[Ebden]

Its coming along nicely... I still think its a bit on the hard side.

I hosted with 4 others playing, for 5 total by the time we were en route to the airport.  The beginning worked well.  One friend was surprised to find himself off in the woods (he was the hunter), but we all had good spirit about starting as civilians, despite (or benefited by) the confusion of trying to regroup to attack Lopatino. 

I agree with Hoz about the mission difficulty, but only slightly.  The difficulty is fun, we all enjoyed being forced to scrounge from dead enemies, but taking back Lopatino took too long in the end, only picking up the pace once two others joined the game.  As a side note, the JIP seemed to work fine.  They all appeared, gathered equipment from enemies, and joined the fight no problem.

We had so much fun with the town, and as a stand alone mission I might suggest to leave the difficulty as-is, but as part of a larger campaign, I suggest toning it down a bit at Lopatino (more on the airport in a moment).  Perhaps sizing the occupying force to one platoon (25 or so soldiers, for lack of a reliable source on Russian military organization).  Keep the vehicles as is in the town, they make for good sport.  I wouldn't put an ammo crate in lopatino, we can get ammo from the civil ural by the warehouse, the farm, another near our spawn in south Lopatino, and also the ammo truck and dead enemies.

We finally cleared the town, searching a bit to find the last couple soldiers crawling off on a hill.  We definitely used our share of respawns this time.  Once on the way to the airport in two vehicles we took from the roadblock to the west, we found another soldier crawling, and then I received the text about trying the radio.  immediately after, I crashed to desktop.  It was a clean crash, no lag, no apparent hangups, but my hosting of the mission simply quit, leaving the rest of the guys stuck for a minute or two. 

As it stands, we never saw the airport, but from reading hoz's review, I would probably suggest the same.

[fleepee]

Thanks for your feedbacks!

As both of you are not talking about revive and mobile respawn, I imagine that they work allright!

Still think you should auto move the players after the tank cut scene to the warehouse. Often the tanks are shooting the truck we are driving in.

That's why the move to the farm was usefull, it permited to avoid the attack...
I will better move players during cutscene to one of the respawn point: Lopatino south, which is not far from the weapon cache.

I think you should add a repair truck to the town.  you should add some dialog about getting some better weapons. Encourage taking the ammo truck it really helps

There is a russian support group of an ammo, a fuel, a repair truck and an ambulance, and as supporting, they can be anywhere...
But I will add dialogs about the importance of stealing them.

Consider stashing some ammo in the warehouse

I thought once about moving in the warehouse or Lopatino south a rpg7 ammobox present at the weapon cache, it needs some dialogs about it, but as 2 launchers and 8 rockets seems to be a lot for a civilian, I think it's logical to only have it at the weapon cache, and then manage to get better weapons and ammunitions in Lopatino. Some PSO, PKP MG to pick from dead russians, and the hunting riffle is efficient!!

The airstrike in the last version isn't working properly. The mission never ended properly, you might want to use a trigger that doesn't look for every last man

I'll check it... It's very important to have air support at the airport, as the objective gets hard to complete without it! I'll add wrecks at the airport and will make a different ending condition.

[hoz]

Noticed tonight when you JIP you're shown the cutscenes. Plus new tasks are assigned even ones that have been completed.

The option for air support leaves once the player dies. is everyone allowed to run an air support?

When you JIP you're with out your guns.

[Ebden]

When you JIP you're with out your guns.

I think Flee wants it that way. JIP players vis-à-vis civilians act as new combatants against the Russian invasion.  They'll have to scramble for weapons in this chaotic first episode!  (at least that's the justification I've accepted)

[fleepee]

When you JIP you're with out your guns.

I think Flee wants it that way.

it's exactly that!

I think I fixed problems with jip players, i'll upload v1.5 tomorrow...

[hoz]

Now in this version the tent isn't working. it was working in last version.

[fleepee]

I think i was using a variable name that was also used in another script...
V1.6 uploaded seems to work corectly and adds too the possibility to choose between 2 units for mobile respawn man.

[hoz]

Still same problem now with this mission and the mobile respawn.

[fleepee]

ok...
here is v1.7...
I've deleted the choice of unit in charge of mobile respawn...
Air support should be available again after dying at the airport...
Air support is temporary no more restricted to the first playable slot (Igor)
I tested it this afternoon with a friend who played Igor, but he had to leave the game before we reached the airport, so when I arrived there, I wasn't able to call air support...
I hope all is working good now!

[hoz]

Ok ran it through tonight and its really coming along now.

Mobile respawn is working again.
Cut scenes are looking much better.
The battle isn't too hard.
The air strikes option didn't come on for me the leader, I was in a vehicle when it was assigned. Maybe you should move it to the actual radio for the leader.
The town cleared comes too quickly there are plenty of guys around so maybe you need to increase the radius slightly on the trigger.
I still think you should hide the airport respawn until its time. I'm pretty sure its duable even if you need update norrins array mid game.
You should add more dudes to the air port who are lingering in the forest and maybe some dudes at the other end of the runway. so far the runway battle seems to be tough if you don't have a tank or an attack vehicle but too easy if you manage to capture one.

There is still a few gotchyas but now thats it running smoother we'll be able to have so more testing.

[fleepee]

Glad to hear the mobile respawn works again!

The town cleared comes too quickly there are plenty of guys around

I didn't want players to search the town for the last enemy unit , thats why there's this message: "We almost have control of Lopatino", when the trigger condition is reached to move to the airport (number of enemies - number of players<5, and it's the same for the end condition of mission at the airport)

I still think you should hide the airport respawn until its time. I'm pretty sure its duable even if you need update norrins array mid game.

I will ask norrin how to do it, I don't want to ruin the revive again!
Another solution could simply be to suppress the airport respawn point, now that the mobile respawn works...

EDIT: there was an error in the stringtable file, so I modified it and add informations in the notes section, V1.9 uploaded!

[Ebden]

We ran it with 4 guys tonight, two tries.  It is coming along well, but a few major hangups.

The biggest was a freeze as we approached the airports.  I hosted the first, a friend hosted the second.  The lockup/screen freeze came as we got near the grey box (on the map) SE of the airfield.  I was AFK when it froze the first time, but the second time we found that a couple of us froze first, a couple continued to live in-game for 30s-1min before noticing moon-walking characters and the inevitable red-chain/server communication error.  The only consistent part of the freeze was several characters approaching the airport.  The first time, I had died in lopatino after we earned the airport objective, and I was able to respawn at the airfield and engage enemies (dying/respawning several times).  The other players had already received the audio and air support options.  This did not happen the second time.

Other tidbits:
On the MP setup screen, the names 'Igor' and 'Dimitiri' are all-caps.  The other names are first-cap, rest lowercase.

The first conversation about the tractor and associated cutscene started only 10-15s into the game, and the second conversation/cutscene at Yuri's house also started and scrolled too quickly.

The white pickup blew up without passengers in the first run, next to Yuri's house.  No other explosions/tank rounds fell nearby (if that's what it was).

After the narration text in top-right about Russians moving toward the airport, a second appears that reads 'blabla'

I'm very happy with the town difficulty now, and I can live with that many enemies still alive in Lopatino.  To help players handle leaving that many behind, the storyline/Igor's subtitles should clearly emphasize the need to leave a battle and rush to the airfield.  I'll have a look at the stringtable.  It might be fine as-is.

Ah-reminds me.  The stringtable file has nothing in its title to associate it with the mission.  It doesn't cause problems presently, but my MP folder is getting crowded, and keeping the naming convention in place for both associated files would help.

I don't have any comments about assaulting the airfield, since we didn't really get to it.

Great work!  Everyone who played it at sparta said it's a fun mission (up to the freezing part).

[hoz]

Had a run through last night with two players.

Saw some hints that went blablabla

Also we didn't get the airsupport option as we went down the long end of the runway and attacked from the buildings for cover.

The wheeled vehicle wih the rockets at the end of the town never came in.

Clear town trigger still coming on too soon.

No other issues to report.

[fleepee]

a freeze as we approached the airports

I've experienced the same...
last lines of my rpt file:

Code: [Select]

Ref to nonnetwork object 1a750000# 1147256: craterlong.p3d
No alive in 10000I got hundred of craterlong.p3d, don't know what it is...

Saw some hints that went blablabla

Sorry about that, it was for testing a player respawn script that permits to still have air support after dying...

Also we didn't get the airsupport option as we went down the long end of the runway

I enlarged the trigger at the airport to cover more space around. Air support is again restricted to Igor, the leader.

Clear town trigger still coming on too soon

I wanted to give leader the choice of leaving town with enemies or stay to clean it; yet only the second option seems to work in MP...

Edit :V1.10 uploaded...

[hoz]

Played it through again last night in veterans mode.  Had a couple of issues..

now the town complete wasn't registering as completed.
No tasks we're given after we got our weapons.
Air strike now works again.
Found the ammo truck at the airport...


Everything else worked fine.

[fleepee]

I made some edits and added last english corections by Ebden (thanks again!)
V1.11 uploaded!

[fleepee]

I forgot to upload V1.12...
Done!

[hoz]

Played this one a few nights ago.  Noticed that the mission title is called uppon instead of upon. There is also a dude by the checkpoint, who always freezes in mp games. He's dead but continues to stand and its the same guy each time. I'll try to get apic of him next time. We had some issues with mp sync not sure if it was version 11 or not  we'll give v12 a try next time.

[fleepee]

Didn't see that dead guy standing (on a dedi)
I saw 2 of them, see pictures...

I've added a (great!) intro cutscene, new mp lobby parameter for the revive script: time before respawn location choice, and changed minor things...

V1.14 uploaded!

[fleepee]

V1.14 uploaded!

[fleepee]

V1-15 uploaded!