(Review Completed) [SP] "USMC Village Raid"

[Bahger]

Okay, Zipper, have at it!  Here is a final, FINAL version with changes made as suggested by Ranger's post below as follows:

v1.2 Changelog (with thanks to Rangerx3x)

-   Changed Overview image to screenshot taken from outside HUD view
-   Changed "On Load" text in splash screen to i/d location not mission title
-   Decluttered HUD view by removing extraneous task carets
-   Changed radio channel name for extraction from "Alpha" to "Extraction", which is now how it is  referenced in the briefing, the Radio item menu and in the radio LED in map view.

File "VillageRaid_1.2.rar" linked below contains .pbo and readme.

Edit: This mission has been reviewed and is available from the Missions Depot.


v1.1 Changelog:

-   Fully-functional briefing with task notes properly implemented in map view and debrief
-   Automated task switching now works when task has been accomplished
-   Overview with screenshot
-   Map screen and briefing appears before mission start, with "Continue" button
-   Hints introduced by script on task completion
-   Autosave at end of insertion
-   Extraction script reworked so that the chopper will wait until the last squad member boards


Author: Bahger
Version: 1.1
Required Addons: None.
Mission Description: You will lead a Marine Rifle Squad on an assault into an insurgent-held village where a mobile AA radar has been camouflaged by local forestation. You will insert by helicopter, destroy the AA unit, and extract after using radio "Alpha" to summon the chopper back to the LZ.
Features: Helicopter insertion/extraction, task hints, 1 autosave, overview, detailed briefing.
Known Issues/Bugs: None known but please see readme re. AI notes.
ChangeLog: See above.

[RangerX3X]

Hello Bahger,

These are my observations on your mission:

1) There is no overview.
2) There is no intro.
3) Player goes straight into the mission with the transport helo inbound, with no opportunity to review the briefing that you have before gameplay begins.
4) Once in the helo, while viewing the map there were waypoints visible on it.
5) Radio trigger "Alpha" should be renamed for what it is: By the time I got to the notes section that explained this we were already at the LZ.
6) While the briefing is well organized, the admin & logistics section needs to be checked for grammar.
7) After my team unloaded at the LZ, the helo flew straight into the trees and exploded in a huge fireball.

With respect to your post "My preference is for polished, tactical scenarios", this mission appears to be completely slapped together. There was nothing about it to entice me to even attempt it a second time if effort cannot be made on the rudimentary basics (overview, working briefing and a "Well-executed helicopter insertion".

Intros and outros eye candy can be held off for later so that can be excused, but when playing this mission the first time out of the gate the question that comes to mind is "Did the mission author even play this himself?"

This is not a personal attack on you, so please don't take it that way. By the organization of the briefing I can tell there was some honest intent here for something polished, but absent the briefing everything else was poorly executed and can be much better.

Suggestion: Instead of using waypoints for insertion and extraction which tells the player exactly where he is going and where he must end up, allow for some dynamic insertion and extraction and use the SECOP module with secondary missions disabled to allow the player to choose where they will be inserted and extracted from:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Secondary_Operations_Manager#New_SecOps

Edit:

I decided to DPBO your mission to see if I could offer some additional suggestions and I found the following items that you should place some attention to:

1) You have first aid simulation and battlefield clearance modules on the map next to the player squad but these will never work because a) they are grouped together and b) they are not synched to the players group.

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/First_Aid#Setup

2) You have almost 30 separate animal ambient life units clogging up the map when you could have accomplished this effect with a single ambient animals module.

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Ambient_Animals

3) Your reinforcement trigger would have never worked because the type was set to "NONE" when it should have been "SWITCH".

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/trigger#Type

4) Your patrol group was a simple move/safe ending with a cycle waypoint which was synchronized to nothing.

5) There is no html briefing which is the new debriefing in Arma2. Based on your question in another forum yesterday, you knew this would be a problem:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=95273&highlight=debrief

6) Your ending would have never ticked off your tasks/objectives because no trigger or script existed that would have done so.

MAG_tskObj0 settaskstate "Succeeded" for task # 1
MAG_tskObj1 settaskstate "Succeeded" for task # 2

Is the bare minimum required to accomplish this.

7) Comparing the semi-sophistication of the helo routine (even though it crashed and burned) to the mostly broken mission itself in all other respects suggests that you copied this from someone else. If so, you should at least give some credit in a read me, which is also non-existant.

If this seems brutal, it is mostly coming from the fact that you advertise this in at least two different forums as "polished" and "works".

 

[Bahger]

Thanks Ranger X3X...

The mission was not "slapped together".

The helo only crashed 1 in 50 times I playtested it.  I must have run through it 150 times at least, while teaching myself the Editor from scratch so "did the mission author even play this himself?" is unneccessarily dismissive and discouraging.  I have played much sloppier missions posted here that have not drawn such contempt.

Dynamic LZs are not realistic; they would be carefully plotted on a briefing.

Since your critique will probably prevent anyone else from trying it, perhaps you will be kind enough to let me know how to make an overview.

[RangerX3X]

Please see the several links I provided in my edit above. And please look at the file you posted for people to download - the mission is severly broken.

[Bahger]

- The first aid module works exactly as advertised.  I have tested it many times.

- The reinforcement trigger works every time, the OpFor armored units deploying exactly as intended.

-  How dare you suggest I stole the helo insertion, you pompous ass?  I did no such thing.  I taught myself everything from what I could learn on the forums and in documentation found on the web.  Your accusation is quite unfounded and ugly and if you repeat it I will report you to the admins.

The odd thing is, your links are very useful to me, and I'm grateful.  I know there is much I need to learn and a great deal I can do better once I have the knowledge and experience but your finger-wagging tone betrays the notion of "community" and fails to acknowledge that I posted the mission in a "Beta Testing" forum.  Your inhospitable, prissy response makes me proud of never having treated less experienced mission designers this way in "Steel Beasts" or "F4AF" forums.  I remain hopeful that your attitude is not representative of this community.

[RangerX3X]

Bahger - As I suggested in my last post - you need to check the mission you posted for people to download - you may be playing a different mission than what you posted (a later version with bugs worked out perhaps?)

In the mission I downloaded and DPBO, your modules are clearly grouped together and not synched to anything which is a huge no-no. And the reinforcements only work because they are flooding into the zone immediately because the synch trigger is set to type "NONE".

Feel free to report me dude, seriously.

[Bahger]

For those who might still want to try this out after Ranger's brutal, dismissive critique, here is a contrasting opinion from the SimHQ forums:

I gave it a few playthroughs. Seemed to go fairly smoothly, nice work overall. I have a few comments that might be helpful for you.

The chopper at the start tends to depart prematurely if you have guys left on the ground who don't have mount orders. Might be better to have the team start in the chopper.

Good balancing on the attack at the radar site; heavy resistance but not overwhelming. The reinforcement column, however, pretty much wiped me out. It's hard to rely on the AI to use the AT to maximum effectiveness. I can team-switch I suppose, but I'd suggest dialing it down to one BMP and no UAZs, or the two UAZs and no BMP. Alternatively, you could try changing the pacing so that they only arrive once enemy strength in the town is reduced to two or three guys, so that the player doesn't end up getting flanked. It would be manageable with human players, but without my team radioing in contacts it's very hard to control the engagement.

The helicopter at the end never touched down for me, possibly because I fled the engagement zone rather than engage the BMP and UAZs, so they were still alive and shooting at the helo.

Not really a criticism, but you might be interested in employing the high command module to break the large AI team into smaller self-contained fireteams. This would allow for a more realistic platoon setup.

[Wolfrug]

It's always great to see new talent in the community, and I hope you won't give up just because of a bit of criticism. Remember everyone has a different opinion and a different approach to things, and I really don't think RangerX3X meant any offense - although he could take into account that someone's first mission is unlikely to be brilliant right off the bat. This is the BETA testing forum, after all - finished products are not necessary.

That said, I'll definitely take a look at this, and then hope to answer your post in the forum as well regarding some of your questions. Nice to have you with us, anyway!

Wolfrug out.

[Bahger]

Thank you, Wolfrug.  Ranger's own mission, also posted today, is terrific -- as I noted in the thread -- but you can imagine how discouraged I was by the tone of his response to mine.  I am very well read in small-unit infantry tactics and if, with some help, I can master the ArmA 2 Editor, I know I can contribute interesting tactical scenarios to this community.  I do not have the time to take on scripting at the moment, especially as I have no experience with code, but I am interested in understanding as much of the Editor as I can and appreciate your help.

I think the best things about my mission are the insertion, which Ranger accused me of stealing, and the counter-attack, which Ranger claims does not work.  Both assertions are false and ill-advised.  I do accept, however, that I have jury-rigged certain mission-design aspects that I need to learn to execute properly.

Your offer to test my first mission and respond here or in the forum is much appreciated.  ArmA editing is a very steep learning curve, especially for someone with no coding experience, but, as I said, with a little help I can make worthwhile contributions.

[Zipper5]

For things like briefing.html, overview.html and description.ext files, I'd suggest you try out this program. I've been editing BIS' games for many years and I still would not know how to build a briefing.html or overview.html file from scratch using Notepad. ArmA Edit is a godsend for me, and I use it in all of my missions. I hope it will help you out just as much.

[Bahger]

Downloading now, Zipper, will install with the recent update.  It's going to be a godsend for me, too, as I have absolutely no coding experience.  Thank you so much for the assist.

[Zipper5]

Figured I'd test it while I'm at it.

USMC Village Raid
By Bahger
v1.0

Played with:

• ArmA II v1.05.63826
• Regular difficulty modified to Veteran settings (allows more than one save game)

Package:
Came only with the mission file. I'd recommend adding a readme and perhaps a promotional picture in the future.

Overview:
None, but this has already been discussed.

Intro:
None. It's always nice to have one, but it is not necessary.

Briefing:
Did not show up at mission start, and presented the following error:

Code: [Select]

'...draw to LZ Golf for Extraction"];
obj2 |#|setSimpleTaskDescription ["Withdraw to <...'
Error 1 elements provided, 2 expected
File missions\__cur_sp.chernarus\briefing.sqf, line 13This meant that there were no task descriptions for the tasks assigned. To make it show up at the start, you need the briefing.html file to be in the mission folder, but it must only include the debriefing part. A strange thing that BIS seemed to have overlooked when changing the briefing style. I'd also recommend that you put -showScriptErrors into your ArmA II shortcut's command line so that you can see these errors. The briefing itself was ok.

Mission:
At the start I am given another error:

Code: [Select]

'this |#|AND Obj1 AND position Helo select 2 < 2'
Error and: Type Task, expected BoolAnd this remained for the rest of the mission. The helicopter came successfully, almost landing right on top of me actually. I got all my guys in and noticed that they started talking to each other. You may wish to use the following command to stop this:

Code: [Select]

this setVariable ["BIS_noCoreConversations", true];But, we all got into the chopper safely and headed for the LZ.

Upon reaching the LZ I ordered my men to disembark and waited for all of them to get out before moving on. I'd recommend using the saveGame command more often to save the game for the player before important/life-threatening events occur in the mission. We continued on into the town and had our first infantry contacts closer to the tower. After a brief firefight, we took them down, and I picked up an enemy RPG. I planted the satchel on the tower, retreated, and blew it up, successfully completing the objective. However, it was not show as completed in the briefing, and it did not automatically give me my next task. You need to use the following command to make this happen:

Code: [Select]

task1Name setTaskState "SUCCEEDED";
playerName setCurrentTask task2Name;
As we moved out of the town I heard vehicles coming in. I pulled out my RPG and shot the BMP once, disabling it and forcing all of the crew out, which my AI took down. The UAZ behind it shot a rocket at me and injured me in the arms. It was then I noticed that I had no medic. I'd suggest giving the player at least one in case he needs it. However, I could still fight, and we dealt with the rest of the infantry.

Once I got to the LZ, I used the radio to order the helicopter in. The helicopter successfully arrived, landed, and I ordered my AI in. However, two of my AI got stuck trying to get in, so I got out and tried to push them away from it so that they could get in. But the mission then proceeded to complete itself with me in the process of shooting the two AI as I could not move them. Might want to make sure that all of the player's squad are in the chopper before having the mission complete itself.

Debriefing:
None, but, again, we know about it.

Outro:
None. As with the intro, it would be nice to have, but it's not necessary.

Overall:
A good first attempt at a mission that has many rough edges but a solid concept. It is a bit on the easy side as well. After some refinement and perhaps an increase in difficulty I can see it being good for a quick "Take the Car"-esque romp for the player. Just needs to have the rest of the elements included to make it a finished mission. I look forward to any further updates you make.

[Bahger]

Thank you so much for testing it, Zipper, your input is very valuable and I will implment all of it.

- ArmA Edit will enable me to create a briefing.html file that will hopefully address the absence of the briefing before mission start.

- On the advice of another Editing ninja, I used the following code to trigger the mission end ( +30 seconds) because of the kind of difficulties you experienced getting the team to mount the helo.  I wanted the mission to end after the helo was less than 2 feet from the ground on landing, so that mission end was not dependent on getting an often obstinate squad still looking for enemy contacts aboard:

Code: [Select]

'this |#|AND Obj1 AND position Helo select 2 < 2'
Not sure why the error is being generated in relation to this message, I'll have to investigate.

-  Regarding "task succeeded", I used "Obj1" in the trigger syntax, although I think I read somewhere that this is outdated language for ArmA 2.  When I play through the mission, what happens is this: I set the charges and withdraw.  As long as Blufor is "not present" in the small area around the trigger, I get a "Objective Accomplished" (or whatever the phrase is) message in the top right hand corner of my screen and the "Get In" wpt for the extraction appears as the next active wpt.  Could you possibly comment on what should be happening?  If I use the syntax you advise:

Code: [Select]

task1Name setTaskState "SUCCEEDED";
playerName setCurrentTask task2Name;
Do I put this in the activation field for the trigger or the "Seek and Destroy" wpt, please?

Finally, I think I'm going to look up how to disable player saves and just insert a one savegame after the insertion and one after the radar has been destroyed.  Does this require a synchronised trigger of its own or can I place the order in an existing field?  I am weak on the logic here, sorry.

Thanks again for the invaluable advice.

Edit:  One more thing:

This meant that there were no task descriptions for the tasks assigned. To make it show up at the start, you need the briefing.html file to be in the mission folder, but it must only include the debriefing part.

Zipper, exactly what should be the "debriefing only" contents of this briefing.html file?

[Zipper5]

-  Regarding "task succeeded", I used "Obj1" in the trigger syntax, although I think I read somewhere that this is outdated language for ArmA 2.  When I play through the mission, what happens is this: I set the charges and withdraw.  As long as Blufor is "not present" in the small area around the trigger, I get a "Objective Accomplished" (or whatever the phrase is) message in the top right hand corner of my screen and the "Get In" wpt for the extraction appears as the next active wpt.  Could you possibly comment on what should be happening?  If I use the syntax you advise

That is indeed the outdated way of doing it. The old "objectiveNumber" objStatus "DONE" has been replaced with what I showed you. Now, you have to add a different bit of code to get a window appear similar to the "Objective complete" box that appears, which is the following:

Code: [Select]

[objNull, objNull, taskName, "taskStatus"] execVM "CA\Modules\MP\data\scriptCommands\taskHint.sqf";Obviously replacing taskName and taskStatus with the appropriate words. That will make a hint pop up like the ones in the official SP missions and the campaigns.

Do I put this in the activation field for the trigger or the "Seek and Destroy" wpt, please?

You can put it in the waypoint, in a trigger, or in a script. It doesn't really matter where you put it, you just want to make sure it happens when you want it to happen.

Finally, I think I'm going to look up how to disable player saves and just insert a one savegame after the insertion and one after the radar has been destroyed.  Does this require a synchronised trigger of its own or can I place the order in an existing field?  I am weak on the logic here, sorry.

The same applies here, you can put it in a waypoint, trigger or script. You just need to make sure it happens when you want it to happen.

...exactly what should be the "debriefing only" contents of this briefing.html file?

In ArmA Edit, you only need to fill out the Endings when you access the briefing wizard. They're on the right of the window that will appear. You don't need to fill out all of them. Just fill out as many as you have used. They are named "End #1, #2, #3" etc. just like they are in the trigger you use to end the mission.

[Bahger]

This is great information, Zipper5; it's very generous of an ArmA ninja like you to share your expertise with a novice.

I did some really good work on the mission last night, getting the overview (with picture) and task descriptions in the briefing "notes" and debrief to show up properly.

I'm in two minds re what to do next.  Basically it's finished.  If I had used the updated naming conventions you suggested, I could adjust the issue over switching from what is called Obj1 and Obj2 as you suggest, and avail myself of the hint module.  I am afraid of unraveling the whole thing if I attempt a do-over of task names and all the associated triggers.  When I play the mission as it is currently coded, I do get an "Objective Complete" message and the yellow arrow to the next WP (the extraction) appears.  I think the only thing missing from full functionality (and I may even be wrong about this) is an automatic task switch that can also be accomplished by hitting the "Make this my current task" link in the Notes text in map view.  If this is the case, I'm hoping to release the current build as a finished product unless you advise otherwise.  I culd then move onto another mission which I can make, using ArmA Edit and your advice, the proper way from the ground up.

"Village Raid" is not nearly as sophisticated, ambitious, large-scale or cinematic as much of the work posted here but, as one of the admins who kindly beta-tested it wrote, it has (as we say in the movie business) playability as a small-scale hit-and run.  I'd like to post the latest version here once more for final beta testing, after which you guys might deem it worthy of your download section, is that how it works?  If I post a revised version, should I start a new thread or use this one, which do you guys prefer?

[RangerX3X]

To post your revision, edit the first post in the threat and upload the newest mission file. Add a change log to your original post so people can quickly see what fundamental ajustments have been made. And always if you add a pic to your original post in entices people to d/l and try it.

[Bahger]

Good advice, will follow it to the letter!  Thanks.

[Zipper5]

Yup, just add the new version to the original post and so long as nothing gamebreaking is present in it, it will be reviewed when you want it to be.

Oh, and by the way, you do get the "Objective complete" hint pop up on screen when you complete the objective, but the task itself is not completed. If you go to the map and look at your task window, when the task is completed the square next to it should turn green. This happens when you use that code I showed you before (taskName setTaskState "SUCCEEDED";).

If you want, I could edit it for you, no credit necessary of course. Though I'm sure you'll be able to accomplish it.

[Bahger]

Thank you very much, Zipper.  Let me try and if I fail, should I send you the .sqs or will you just UPBO the mission?  I'm going to give it a shot, though.  I'm assuming "Obj1" is the task name -- next time I will be sure to name everything as soon as I create it -- and that I should put that line in the activation field of the trigger synchronised to the "Seek and Destroy" wp associated with the task?

As I said, this would have been easier if (i) I had known about Arma Edit so that I could create all briefing text in that instead of doing it from scratch and (ii) if I had realised  that all objects should be named.

Thanks again!

[Zipper5]

Just send me the PBO file or the uncompressed file of your mission if you need it.

[Bahger]

Zipper, I'm attaching a zipped User Save file.  As you'll see from the triggers at both objectives (the radar target and the extraction), I used the following text in the activation field:

Code: [Select]

task1 setTaskState "SUCCEEDED";
player setCurrentTask task2;
and

Code: [Select]

task2 setTaskState "SUCCEEDED";
I changed "task1Name" to "task1" because I did not give these two tasks names (a mistake that I will correct in all future missions).  How do you name a task in the Editor?  There is a "Name" field in Triggers but only a "Description" field in Waypoints and I had assumed that you have to name the task in the waypoint as that is where the task is defined.

FYI, I having saved the mission under a different title -- I'm not a total idiot -- I deleted the "1" ObjStatus SUCCEEDED etc. language from the same triggers as you indicated that A2 does not use these terms any more.  I can always restore this if I need to, I'm not sure what effect, if any, they were having.  

I'm sure I'm missing something very simple here.  If you could corrrect it, or take a look and tell me how, either in the "SetSimple Task" section of the briefing or in the Editor, I'd be grateful.

I have learned a great deal from this experience and intend to put it all, and more, to good use in future missions, without being nearly as needy here.  It's a steep learning curve.  Thank you.


Edit: attachment utilised; removed - WEK

[Zipper5]

Judging from your briefing.sqf file your objectives have been named obj1 and obj2.

Code: [Select]

obj1 = player createSimpleTask ["Destroy AA Radar"];The name given before the equals sign is the name of that specific task. They are defined in reverse order within the briefing.sqf file as that makes them show up in the right order in-game. Some weird thing BIS did to the briefing.

I changed a couple things in the mission to make it work better. The first thing I did was went to your Seek and Destroy waypoint for destroying the radar station. To accomplish this better, I decided I would have it execute a script once it was completed that would successfully accomplish the task, show a hint about it, set the next task as the player's current task, and then show a hint about that. So, I put in the synchronized trigger's activation line:

Code: [Select]

null = [] execVM "obj1Complete.sqf"And put the following in the script file of the same name:

Code: [Select]

obj1 setTaskState "SUCCEEDED";
player setCurrentTask obj2;
[objNull, objNull, obj1, "SUCCEEDED"] execVM "CA\Modules\MP\data\scriptCommands\taskHint.sqf";
sleep 1;
[objNull, objNull, obj2, "CURRENT"] execVM "CA\Modules\MP\data\scriptCommands\taskHint.sqf";
That's it done for the first objective of destroying the radar. I then went to your other waypoint for the player to get in the helicopter. I noticed that the way you were doing it would still have caused the mission to end if the player got in the helicopter and then got out. So, I changed your trigger by ungrouping it and changing it's condition to the following:

Code: [Select]

({_x in Helo} count (units grp1)) == count (units grp1) && taskCompleted obj1This will make it only run what's in the activation line once all remaining units of the player's squad are in the helicopter. To do this, I had to go to the player unit and add the following to its init line:

Code: [Select]

grp1 = group this;So, with that done, I changed the activation to execute another script:

Code: [Select]

null = [] execVM "obj2Complete.sqf"Which had the following in it:

Code: [Select]

obj2 setTaskState "SUCCEEDED";
[objNull, objNull, obj2, "SUCCEEDED"] execVM "CA\Modules\MP\data\scriptCommands\taskHint.sqf";
sleep 30;
missionEnd = true;And now, I created a new trigger with the activation "End #1" with the condition line missionEnd, which will end the mission 30 seconds after the player's squad has gotten in the helicopter.

I also made it so that the conversations were removed by adding the following to the Init.sqf file:

Code: [Select]

{_x setVariable ["BIS_noCoreConversations", true]} forEach allUnits;And I noticed that your helicopter was sometimes engaging the enemy when extracting us, so I changed it's behavior to careless and told it to never fire. Works better now. I also made it so that the first aid modules worked by synchronizing them to the player.

That should be it I think. I've attached the new version to this post. See what you think. Let me know if there's anything you want to be changed.


Edit: attachment utilised; removed - WEK

[Bahger]

This is great, Zipper, I owe you one.

Examining what you have done will teach me a great deal.  May I ask a couple of questions meanwhile?

-  What does the word "Null" mean in ArmA code and why is it often repeated, separated by commas?

-  what do the curly parentheses, { }, mean in ArmA code?

Your coding for the mission end at extraction is much more sophisticated than mine and I'm looking forward to testing it out.  The only possible fly in the ointment -- which is why I abandoned a previous end trigger for after the unit embarks -- is that sometimes it's a tedious chore for the player to get the unit to embark because (I think) even at "Safe" they run around in "alert" poses, sighting enemies they should not be engaging.  This is obviously not the case when all enemies are dead but I hate mission goals that involve killing everything that moves and deliberately wanted to challenge the player to withdraw under fire if necessary.  This is why I set the mission to end 30 seconds after the helo  was < 2ft from the ground.  So...if, after a few test-plays, this problem rears its ugly head again (it may well not, now that the coding is more streamlined), is there a quick fix I might be able to implement, a workaround?

[Zipper5]

null essentially means nothing. It's what you use for a variable if you don't want to define one. The {} is just part of the scripting syntax. In the way it was used in my scripts, it's to apply that same piece of code within them to multiple different units. I'm not sure about the exact name for them, someone from the Editors Depot can probably give you a better explanation that me.

And don't worry too much about the AI currently acting like they're in Danger mode no matter what stance you put them in. That was something introduced in one of the last beta patches before the v1.05 patch, and it is quite clear that the community wants it removed. You shouldn't have to worry about it for too long with any luck. But a quick fix you could have is detect whether the player is in the helicopter, have the script wait for, say, 30 seconds, and if all of the members of his squad are not in the helicopter it simply moves them in. In the case of this mission, you would use the following:
Create a trigger with the condition line reading

Code: [Select]

player in HeloAnd in the activation have something like:

Code: [Select]

null = [] execVM "extractCheck.sqf"Then, in the extractCheck.sqf script, put the following:

Code: [Select]

sleep 30;
if (({_x in Helo} count (units grp1)) !== count (units grp1) && taskCompleted obj1) then
{
{_x assignAsCargo Helo; _x moveInCargo Helo} forEach units (group player);
};That would automatically move the entire squad into the helicopter after the player has been in the chopper for 30 seconds and they still aren't in.

[Bahger]

Zipper5, a couple of things are broken in the improved build.

- No visible hints appear onscreen when the hint script should run after obj1 (destroying the radar) is accomplished.  Odd, huh? 

- I'm pretty sure the task-switch is not working quite as planned either.  The task box is filled in but I did not notice the yellow marker appear in the HUD to guide the player to his next wp.

- Most importantly: The helo won't land!

Maybe the helo won't land because the pilot's behavior is set to careless?  It overflies the LZ and lingers, hovering, which stalemates the mission.  I'd like to get the helo to land, as it did before, even under fire from a distance, and both accomplish obj2 (extraction) and end the mission without these events depending on a complete, successful boarding of the squad, the AI is just too squirrely for that to work every time.  However, I do want to get the chopper on the ground as it gives a sense of completion and I don't mind if the door gunner is engaging targets.  In playing the mission many times and observing how the AI will drag their feet on the withdrawal to the extraction if there are any threats left, no matter how tactically insignificant, I resolved not to make the obj2 success or the end mission activation dependent on a successful embarkation.  Rather, I wanted the player to reach the LZ, call the chopper, get the response, and have the helo approach and land, triggering obj2 success and then mission end after the chopper is down and a 30 sec timeout.  This way, if the AI is behaving itself, the player can still watch the squad begin to board and feel a sense of accomplishment in getting them off the LZ and on their way home yet the obj2/end mission triggers are not dependent on the AI actually managing to complete this event.

I'm reluctant to fiddle too much with your triggers and scripts as I have no experience scripting and I'd be thrashing about in the dark, possibly making things worse.  Could you take a look?  Worse case, at least my original, jury-rigged trigger grouped with the helo and conditioned by the 2 ft above ground event + 30 seconds seemed to get the helo down every time and the mission concluded but I do not want to reinstate it not knowing how it will interact with the added code.  Not that I'm suggesting you reinstate bad code but maybe we have too many moving parts here?

[Zipper5]

I'm pretty sure the hints show up, they did both times I tested the mission after I'd added them. They aren't like the Objective complete ones, they don't make a noise, they just appear in the middle of the screen. Exactly how they did in the official SP missions and the campaign.

When you say it didn't show the player his next waypoint do you mean after he destroyed the radar? That worked for me exactly how it should.

And the helicopter landed both times for me when I tested it. Before setting it to Careless and Never fire, it would always engage any remaining enemy forces and would not land until they were taken out. This often caused it to crash into the trees around it. When I put it on Careless and Never fire, it didn't do that anymore. Perhaps adding this setCaptive true to it would improve it further by not making the AI engage it at all.

This is quite odd. I'll have a look and see if I can find any of these problems and then try to fix it.

Edit: Ok, I tested it again, and all of the hints work:



The tasks also complete and switch how they should:

And the chopper lands every time it should in the mission.

However, I've found out why the chopper may not land sometimes. Due to the way you've done it with waypoints, the player has to have reached the get in waypoint which is synchronized with the chopper's load waypoint before the chopper will actually land. Therefore, if the player has not already reached that waypoint, the helicopter will not land.

This can easily be fixed by using a script and a few changes. First, change the chopper's load waypoint to a move waypoint and put in it's activation line:

Code: [Select]

null = [] execVM "chopperLand.sqf"Then give it a move waypoint immediately after it with the condition:

Code: [Select]

allInThen change the player's get in waypoint to a move waypoint and synchronize it to a new trigger with the condition:

Code: [Select]

atLZAnd then give the player a get in nearest waypoint immediately after it.

Inside the chopperLand.sqf file, there needs to be the following:

Code: [Select]

atLZ = true;
Helo land "GET IN";
waitUntil {({_x in Helo} count (units grp1)) == count (units grp1)};
allIn = true;
So now it won't rely on the player to have reached the waypoint for the chopper to land. I've attached the version with these fixes to this post. Unfortunately, that's the only way I know how to do this. It's worked for my missions in the past. I hope it's what you're looking for. Everything else appears to be working.


Edit: attachment utilised; removed - WEK

[Bahger]

Thank you, Zipper5.  I'm so sorry that your kind offer to help me out with this detail has led to so much busy work for you.  I'm not sure what happened last night when the hints did not appear but the game is not without its ecentricitied and anomalies and I'm sure it'll play though just fine now.  Either way, I appreciate the help and will get out of your hair now as I just playtest it a few times before releasing it...with a big thank you to you, the other participants in this thread and OFPEC in the readme!

[Zipper5]

It's no problem at all mate, it's what I signed on to do. Glad you seem to have got it working now, and good luck with releasing it to the public. Are you planning on putting it up for review at OFPEC as well, by any chance? We'd be more than happy to review it for you.

[Bahger]

Oh yeah, OFPEC first and foremost.  You guys have made this my home.  In fact, I'm happy to have it reviewed here and have anybody else who want to play it come here to get it.

[RangerX3X]

Hey Bahger,

I gave your mission a run through and here are a few suggestions that I have:

1. Although the zip file is "Village_Raid", you saved the mission with spaces in the name so it unzips as "USMC%20Village%20Raid%20Zipper%20Final.Chernarus". If you place underscores in the save as file name it will not have the %20 garbage in the file name. You have "USMC Village Raid" in the Intel section correctly and it shows up fine in the single player scenario section.

2. The overview pic shows your hud. I took the liberty of DPBO'ing your mission and I took a camera.sqs shot and have attached it to your post that shows the target. Feel free to use it if you like.

3. Your description file has "OnLoadMission = "USMC Village Raid";" which is obviously the same title as your mission. I would suggest using something other than this, such as "OnLoadMission = "Outside Krasnostav...";" or "OnLoadMission = "Waiting to board chopper...";".

4. No intro or outro sequences: This is fine and I am sure that you will develop into these tasks with later missions but please note that sometimes this site will dock you for not having them when reviewing your mission.

5. I would suggest that you name your radio trigger alpha to "Extraction" by placing that in the text field of the trigger, otherwise it just shows "Alpha" on the radio.

6. There are two waypoint carrots constantly visible during the mission: The players S&D waypoint carrot and the waypoint carrot created by using "obj1 setSimpleTaskDestination (getMarkerPos "Khelm");" in your briefing. I would suggest removing that line from your briefing. Even though the S&D waypoint is set to "Never Show", it shows.

7. The first aid system does not work. You can clearly test this by standing on the tarmac waiting for the chopper to pick you up by shooting one of your squad in the back which starts the AIS - Alternative Injury Simulation. No one will come to their aid, not even the medic. This caused me to have to provide first aid throughout the mission play. This is most likely a bug in the game with the modules. No matter how you synch them to a group where the player is the group leader, the AI will not perform the task (unless the AI controls the group leader position).

You can circumvent this issue by having the player as the high commander and the full squad as the high command subordinate. Then they will perform the first aid functions properly. As a suggestion you can break them up into three fire teams as high commader subordinates and have each group with their own first aid modules. Also having First Aid: Action module is redundant; those actions are taken care of in battlefield clearance and simulation modules. Group these to the AI group leader only if you go that route.

8. In the initialization field of the helo you should try "this flyinheight 150" or 200...on leaving the airstrip the helo barely cleared the hanger and on extraction it barely cleared the tree tops...made for some tense moments  

9. And as a final suggestion on the mission debrief it said I killed the following civilians: A mongrel, 2 chickens and a rooster. Instead of individually placing the farm animals on the map I would suggest using the Ambient Animals module.

Overall the mission took me about an hour to play. I worked the tree lines and split m guys up into three fire teams, using all three M136 (might consider throwing a Javelin unit in there for fun) units to attack the reinforcements first further south. Once we cleared that out we advanced north into the target area and had some interesting three way fire fights. At the end everyone was dead when we advanced to the radar and blew it up.

Nice mission that created some tactical opportunities. Look forward to more work by you.


Edit: attachment utilised; removed - WEK

[Bahger]

Great observations/suggestions, Ranger, much appreciated.

- I realised too late that all that junk shows up in the user-saved mission title so I figured I'd simply rename the file.  No dice.  ArmA 2 only reads files that were created and named inside the program and does not appear to acknowledge renaming via Windows.

- Thank you for the screenshot.  I will use this in the published mission.  I have spent too much time wrestling with the Editor to learn the cinematics, hence the lack of intro/outro and my inability to take screenshots from beyond the HUD.  (I am in two minds about the cinematics.  As capable as ArmA is in this area, I worry about putting the player inside a movie when I want him to be inside a simulation.  Just a personal preference.)

- Re wp carets, yup, I "inherited" the "obj1 setSimpleTaskDestination (getMarkerPos "Khelm")" from a briefing template I used and should probably lose it, it clutters things up.  Matter of fact, I'm not sure I like the hints either. Why hold the player's hand when he ought to read the brief?

- Interesting what you say about the first aid module, which appears to be a kind of proof-of-concept thing on BIS's part.  I find that I can summon the medic to heal wounded guys as long as they are in my FOV and that if I am wounded, my new "actual" summons him to heal me.  It works a lot better than when A2 was initially released but I have no idea whatsoever if the above functions are "vanilla" or actuated by the first aid module that I attempted to use (with Zipper's help).

- I must learn how to implement the high command module in missions.  As a tactical gamer/mission editor, it needs to be in my toolbox.

- Helo behavior is interesting.  Thanks for the tip.  Setting it to "Safe" causes it to take off vertically as opposed to an aggressive nose-down attitude, which helps avoid fireballs.

- Yeah, I'm always amused by being debriefed about civilian kills = a rooster and a mongrel.  In future I will use the module but  I hand-placed the wildlife as I did not want anomalies, like animals in buildings.

- It's gratifying that you chose to play the mission by preemptively attacking the reinforcements.  I'm glad that the basic mission design permits these tactics, which of course it would not if the reinforcements were spawned in.  I've thought of trying it this way but always assumed that the AI would get themselves killed.  The happy coincidence of the reinforcement activation trigger for me is that it usually puts the player in the position of having to decide whether to go forward with the initial mission task or to redirect his attention to the vehicles which he can hear approaching just as he gets in range of the AA radar.  This might be just the kind of tactical decision an MRS c/o would have to make, which is why I like it.  I'd be interested to know what you think if you choose to replay the mission that way.  If I knew how to make the scenario coop -- which I do not -- then a human fire team leader could use his satchel charge to ambush the enemy reinforcement convoy.  Anyway, I must now attempt to play the mission the way you did.

Thanks for the encouragement.  I very much want to make more missions but I'm a whole lot more comfortable with infantry tactics than with code and find the coding aspect -- in the Editor, that is, I can't even imagine scripting -- very challenging.  I want to figure out how to use ready-made scripts so that I can incorporate limited player-directed arty (mortar) or air support into my next scenario.  And I will leave helo insertions alone for a while!

[Zipper5]

If everything's all set, then I shall be more than happy to review this for you, Bagher. Just say the word.

[Bahger]

OK, Zipper, let me swap out the Overview pic and then I will post the file here later this morning.

[Zipper5]

Awesome. I'll review it and have it up ASAP.

[Zipper5]

Sorry it took as long as it did, Bahger, but I've now completed the review. Good job for a first mission.

[Bahger]

Very fair review, Zipper, thanks.  And thanks for your help in smoothing out some of the rough edges.  I hope you'll be involved with my next, probably more ambitious, beta mission at OFPEC.