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Author Topic: (MEC) [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.5  (Read 11693 times)

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Offline janat

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(MEC) [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.5
« on: 12 Aug 2011, 21:07:43 »
I've been making this mission for the mission editing contest. Unfortunately I don't have enough time to extensively test it myself, but you guys might want to have a look at it. This is the second mission I've published so far, with hopefully more to come.




Author: Janat

Version: 1.5

Required Addons: Arma 2 CO 1.60

Mission Description: Lead a USMC Force Recon squad through Russian occupied Chernarus in an attempt to sabotage a Russian power plant.

Features: A highly atmospheric covert ops infantry mission with multiple objectives like searching for a person and sabotaging a power plant. You can choose when and how to approach your objectives, as well as what weapons you use. Immersive stealth action.

Because this mission came third best in MEC 2011, I want to make it as polished as possible. In order to do that, I need your help with testing the mission to find all the bugs. Also, I'd appreciate your ideas on how to improve the mission.

Version 1.5 is the public release version.

Known Issues: none

TO DO:
- none

CHANGES (v1.05)
- Reduced the amount of spawning enemy patrols and the amount of enemies in a single patrol
- Enemy patrols now spawn further away from the player
- Some minor improvements

CHANGES (v1.1)
- Reduced the amount of enemies
- The mission is now more balanced
- Improved mission objectives
- Lots of minor changes

CHANGES (v1.2)
- Optimised performance (v1.11)
- Removed player team waypoints (v1.11)
- Objectives automatically update (1.12)
- All script errors fixed
- Many scripts have been tweaked
- The mission features voice acting
- Intro and outro tweaked and extended
- AI is now a lot more responsive
- Custom difficulty settings make the mission more challenging and realistic
- Numerous minor changes

CHANGES (v1.3)
- Tweaked cinematics
- Tweaked voice levels
- Removed most automatic save points
- Added G36 ammo
- Some minor changes

CHANGES (v1.4)
- Added unsilenced M4A3 ammo
- Improved handling of music tracks
- Script improvements

CHANGES (v1.5)
- Minor script improvements
- Added a couple more civilians

All comments and feedback appreciated  :)
« Last Edit: 28 Mar 2012, 15:10:11 by janat »
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Offline Denz

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Re: [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.04
« Reply #1 on: 13 Aug 2011, 05:07:41 »
Hey Janat first of all a big and hearty :welcome: to OFPEC! Always glad to see new missions from new editors  :)
Unfortunately my browser has real problems with downloading from the mediafire site, however your mission file is small enough i.e. under 5mb that it can be attached directly to your first post.
If you modify your original post you will see the Additional Options link, just click that and use the attachment option to attach your mission file to the post.
Read the submission instructions for a more detailed guide.
Looking forward to testing your mission ;)
I've got 'em right where I want 'em - surrounded from the inside!
Jerry "Mad Dog" Shriver, SOG Recon One-Zero
24/09/41 - 24/04/69

Offline Inlesco

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Re: [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.04
« Reply #2 on: 13 Aug 2011, 16:14:44 »
Uploaded on MU by me - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SI4VO42A

Denz, get Firefox or Chrome next time (both works very well with all most popular upload websites) and your nightmares while accessing Mediafire will be past :).

Offline Denz

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Re: [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.04
« Reply #3 on: 13 Aug 2011, 20:41:55 »
Thank you Inlesco  :good: I can give the mission a test run now.
Yep I think a change of browser is needed.
I've got 'em right where I want 'em - surrounded from the inside!
Jerry "Mad Dog" Shriver, SOG Recon One-Zero
24/09/41 - 24/04/69

Offline janat

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Re: [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.04
« Reply #4 on: 14 Aug 2011, 07:24:00 »
Thank you Inlesco for uploading the mission to MU, I added the link to first post. Also, I didn't know you could attach files to posts. The mission's been attached to first post. Looking forward to hearing some comments about the mission :)
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Offline mathias_eichinger

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Re: [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.04
« Reply #5 on: 19 Aug 2011, 16:53:00 »
Hey janat, welcome to OFPEC.

On your mission:

Overview

Overview and loading screen are both beautiful.

Briefing

Does contain a nice weapons selection, and some useful info. It is unclear, however, if Dr. Hladik is actually to be found at the C-130 or if not, where he could be.

Mission

Impossible. First of all, the landing waypoint leads me to gunpoint of russian guards, I have got a helo on the tail that makes survival a gamble of luck...and i finally beached close to this cape NW of the designated mission area.

Long march to Elektrozavodsk, where a whole load of enemies makes survival impossible. I get about as close as 100 meters to the C-130, still not eyes on it, and there are too many enemies at every corner. After about 15 retries I lost both count of them and will to try any further.

Suggestions

*Remove the helo
*Provide a benign landing zone
*Cut enemy numbers by 50%

Offline janat

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Re: [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.04
« Reply #6 on: 26 Aug 2011, 20:02:30 »
Thank you mathias for the feedback.

When I was playing the mission, I also felt that it was way too hard. It took a lot of saving and loading for me to complete it, and I took the easiest route there is. I have been very busy during this week, but did make some improvements to the mission. I cut the enemy numbers, and now the mission is not as difficult as it was while still providing a challenge. I also moved the landing zone, removed the helo and tweaked the missions a lot. I wrote some background story and added recon intel on enemy forces. I've attached the latest version to the first post.
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Offline mathias_eichinger

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Re: [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.1
« Reply #7 on: 01 Sep 2011, 21:47:47 »
Feedback for version 1.1:

Briefing
The briefing has been updated, but I did not spot AT missiles in the weapons selection, which dragged the mission down for me quite a bit (more on that later).

Mission

This time the landing went smooth, and there were much less enemies in the town - just enough to keep you busy and cautious, which - together with the good choice of music - created a good tension which I enjoyed very much. Enemy patrols were not so much responding, however. They could be improved if you could somehow manage to have them react to non-silenced rifle fire, this would be a great realistic touch.

I managed to reach the C-130, discover Dr. Hladik, and reach the power station as well. Boy, was I relieved that you provided an action because I had forgotten to pack some satchels and a lone roving T72 killed my Saboteur. I could not finish this mission this time again because you had a Vodnik moving in to chase me and the way to the extraction point was steep, hilly terrain. I had no means of tank/car disposal, so I unnecessarily lost most of my squadmates and my life.

Conclusion

Nice, slightly challenging mission with a great mood, dragged down only by the lack of AT weaponry vs. OPFOR vehicles.

Recommendations

  • Include AT weapons in the weapons selection
  • Try to implement an enemy reaction depending on fired weapon type, the fired eventhandler could be a point to try, but I never tried it myself.


« Last Edit: 01 Sep 2011, 21:58:56 by mathias_eichinger »

Offline Undeceived

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Re: [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.1
« Reply #8 on: 02 Sep 2011, 19:25:29 »
Hello Janat.
Thank you for this good mission! I really enjoyed it. :good:

I enjoyed the cinematics and camera angles, good job there.
Nevertheless the intro scene was very dark and only here and there I could see something as the flashes of the storm came. If you want, you can use the command camUseNVG true;, which makes the scene to play in NVG mode.

Music was good, yes. Good that you picked the atmospheric tracks and not the revolver-jam-funky-rock'n'roll songs. :D

Other than that I saw many script errors. Note that I run the game with the start parameter -showScriptErrors, which is quite useful for mission editors.


Here are the screenshots of the errors and other things I noticed:

At the beginning of the intro scene:
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/3420/arma2oa2011090215431219.jpg

Then a bit later (not sure if this is still the same error or another one...):
http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/1631/arma2oa2011090215434872.jpg

I saw this boat (?) at the beginning of the mission. Strange thing...
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/7522/arma2oa2011090215554795k.jpg

This one I saw many times:
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/3977/arma2oa2011090216002173.jpg

I sabotaged the power plant, but the action still was there. You should remove it for the player when he's done it (player removeaction actionname):
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/6402/arma2oa2011090216310796.jpg

And then I often saw this last script error many times (always when a new group was spawned):
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8079/arma2oa2011090216353408.jpg

About this last one: Generally I would prefer units that are there since the beginning of the mission, but hey - I also used group spawns once. :D
Nevertheless you could make it a little bit more believeable, because it was quite noticeable when new groups spawned (especially in the evacuation to the castle!). I checked one direction in the forest and 10 seconds later suddenly there were Russians running around. The trick works once or twice but then the player gets it and the atmosphere suffers.
I would suggest you to spawn the groups further away at a bigger distance to the player and then send them to the player, instead of spawning them 100 meters away.
Maybe also a mix between groups that are spawned far away and patrols that are there since the beginning of the mission (with waypoints) could be a good solution.

All in all I found the mission to be easy, maybe one or two more vehicles that try to hunt down the player would be good. Yes, you could add AT weapons to the gear selection, as mathias suggests but on the other hand the player can also take RPGs from dead Russians (I did it this way and destroyed some vehicles).
But then, on the other other hand :) I think that the USMC has some AT weapons left for their special forces. :) It's up to you.


Good work, Janat! :good: Good luck removing the (few) bugs.
« Last Edit: 02 Sep 2011, 19:48:35 by Undeceived »
Current project: Black Lands (Arma 3)

Offline janat

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Re: [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.1
« Reply #9 on: 03 Sep 2011, 15:35:53 »
Thanks again for the feedback.

I didn't give AT weapons to player squad because I thought it would make the mission too easy. You can avoid the Vodniks somewhat easily as there are only two of them and their patrol route is quite long. They won't see you as long as you are a few hundred metres away from them and prone. If you feel like destroying them, just pick up RPGs from dead enemies. Although if the Vodniks notice you and you haven't picked up RPGs, it's pretty much a death sentence...

The script errors aren't critical and the mission works as it should, but it's always good to have the scripts running properly and without errors. I fixed all the script errors, but there's now a new error when spawning enemy patrols. I don't know if my scripts cause the new error, but the error message says it's in BIS group spawn function. I haven't seen any weird behavior because of this error.

There are two boats patrolling the sea near the port. Also, the sabotage action is now removed as soon as the player succesfully uses it.

Normally I wouldn't use spawning groups, but as this mission is very player-centric, I decided to use spawning patrols in the forests for performance reasons. I did make them spawn further away from player.
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Offline janat

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Re: [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.1
« Reply #10 on: 19 Dec 2011, 08:03:53 »
As my mission ended up third best in the competition, I've decided to make it more polished. Additional testing is required, so if you want to help me make this mission the best it can be, please help me test it and give me so,e ideas on what to add/change/remove :)

To do:
- Full voice acting
- Bug testing
- ???
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Offline savedbygrace

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Re: [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.1
« Reply #11 on: 23 Dec 2011, 23:42:03 »
Played on regular with 1.59 Arma2CO

Overview
In game images are always better IMO, but yours is slightly blurry and not very creative in selling your mission. The text could have been a bit more specific with the Area of Operation. Perhaps let the player know what city rather than state?

Intro
was dark with only the cycling lighthouse to show the scenes. This would have been great had the author used other various light sources to light the scenes such as the flick of a lighter, smoldering campfire, vehicle headlamps or dim light inside a tent. Otherwise, the scenes were not very interesting and much of the text was accompanied by darkness. The dialogue had a few grammatical errors but for the most part, read well. There was no background story hinted to at all and no character introductions. The players character was referred to as "player". Use the actual characters name or use player id to capture the users name.

Briefing
The gear selection is VERY limited with not enough ammo to equip all of the guys with full gear. Please take the time to add enough magazines to fill every mag slot for every team member for every weapon that you provide. That way the player retains complete control of his load out. The links work but there is no link to the insertion point. The intel photo of the our first contact was a good add.
----------------
TEXT CORRECTIONS
NOTES/Under Dr hladik>>He does not work for *** Russian army nor government (the)
               >>field of expertese,(expertise)
               >>shown interest to technical sciences (in)
Briefing >>interrogate him for power plant schematics.(about)
          >>a few minutes ago* so there's two good reasons to get to him(,)
          >>Find him before *** Russians get(the)
Situation>>During that time* *** Russian army has killed thousands of ethnic Chernarussians,(, the)
           >>the amount of suicides has risen by 300 per cent (have) (percent)
           >>discussing the situation, and sees the things mostly the same way as we do.(much)

TASKFind Dr hladik>>Find Dr. Hladik before *** Russians find him. (the)


TITLECUT/hlad.sqf>>Hladik: You get me out of here, I give you *** info. *** Russians want to kill me." (I'll) (the) (The)
                 >>Give us Elektrozavodsk** Power Plant schematics ('s)
                 >>Okay. Here is the schematics. Either "Here is the schematic" OR "Here are the schematics"
SIDECHAT/hlad.sqf>>Whiskey Fifty, Charlie One. We found the prize. Found papers. Will proceed **** *** mission. (with the)

INTRO.sqf>>get schematics for Elektrozavodsk power plant and plant a small explosive device that can be detonated when the time is right.power (facility) OR (distribution center)
             >>small explosive device that can be detonated when the time is right.(a remote explosive device to be detonated by invasion forces)[Humble suggestion]

OUTRO.sqf>>The situation's got a bit complicated...(gotten)

SABOTAGE.sqf>>Find Dr. Milanovic to get info on where to plant the explosive device (Milanovic should be Hladvik, correct?
------------------------

Mission

Starting in a boat, we are given the freedom to choose our landing point but we would have to avoid patrolling rafts. The intel was true to it's word since there were foot patrols roving around the city as well as the occasional vehicle. The AI were dumbed down a bit by not giving them nvg gear. This made the journey fun rather than frustrating since it leveled the detection field for me as compared to the AI. The first objective made sense but the chosen position for a crashed plane with no collateral damage was unbelievable. You could either move that plane to an open field or bring down a building or two that was in it's path. The next objective was also pretty easy so long as I maintained stealth and didn't go sprinting across the fields. The satchels were not needed for the sabotage objective but it made no matter. The distance to the evac point was perfect. Most mission designers put them way too close to the AO. This mission had it over 2000 meters away. There was opposition along the road if I stuck to it and avoidable if adhered to the wooded areas. So that aspect of the mission was done well. Unfortunately, there is no randomness at all in the objectives and the only way to enjoy replay ability would be to brave different routes through the city and it did not look as if the entire city was built to accommodate that sort of travel.

Outro
Was simple and hinted at further missions but did nothing to conclude a storyline. Two or three angles as the helo lifted off and descended toward the sea was not much of a conclusion.

Overall
The Intro needs to have some creative lighting sources to light the scenes that need to be lit. I agree with your choice to not use them as night vision tends to ruin the beauty of night scenes. But not being able to view scenes develop, is far worse.

Get the gear sorted.
 
The mission held on to immersion by using 2 man and vehicle patrols throughout the city and along the coast. When editors use whole squads for patrolling infantry, it just becomes unreal for casual patrols in controlled areas.

Sound would have really brought the level of immersion up more, but the suspense of what's around the corner held it's own.

The randomness of objectives suffered greatly in this one nor were they unique at all. But the absence of frustration against AI was a fantastic balance.

The Outro leaves the player wondering if the primary task actually helped the invasion force. Maybe add some creative wording or scenes to help draw a better conclusion? And yes, audio certainly provides a complete package.

In the future, I would advise the use of a stringtable for easier editing and more importantly, for those who are striving to help you correct grammar.

Try to add one or even two voices yourself. Then ask other members for some help. It's not a good practice to ask for voices from others and not at least attempt one on your own. This way, if they ever need a voice, you can return the favor. The sound of your voice only matters to you and any quality is better than nothing at all. Others will enjoy the extra effort for sure.

I look forward to seeing the improvements pal.


Offline Mad_Cheese

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Re: (MEC) [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.1
« Reply #12 on: 04 Jan 2012, 05:19:03 »
Hey Janat,

Congrats for the 3rd place!

I just completed your mission and had a great time. Really nice atmosphere and suspense. Now I am by no means a good editor like the other guys here but I'll just bother you with some feedback anyways. 

I encountered enemy units only in the city and at the powerplant - they seemed a little 'tired'. They mostly only reacted if I was either 2m close or if one of their buddies had been hit. The naughty doctor kept ignoring my order to hold fire, somewhat tampering with my stealth operation since I had him grab an unsilenced weapon. Anyways, the AI did not decide to take action against him unless he hit one of their buddies. Another time I had an enemy soldier right in the middle of my squad. We looked at each other in mutual suprise.
And then i killed him :D
The high presence at the power plant still made the task very exciting.

I had the same scripterrors as Undeceived, the first one is just a missing ';' in line 96 of "alarm.sqf" (hint "alarm off")

The second one, also already mentioned, is in all of your different "spawnpatrol.sqf":

Code: [Select]
_ewp1 = setWaypointType "SENTRY";
(...)
will work with
Code: [Select]
[EnemyGroup1, 1] setWaypointType "SENTRY";
(...)
-> I don't understand why, but each time this error came up my fps dropped to 25 or even to 10 in the end. When I tested it in the editor the same happened. When it's fixed frames stay stable so that is the main reason why I decided to post despite my noobishness.

If I may make a further suggestion, you could make the player perform the repair animation for 10 seconds when the power generator is being sabotaged, just to give it a little edge.






Offline Wiki

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Re: (MEC) [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.1
« Reply #13 on: 04 Jan 2012, 23:08:51 »
So, I've finished your mission, and here is my feedback:

Overview

Overview and loading screen are nice, but they don't really show the aim of the mission (to me).

Briefing

We've got all the needed intel. However, I didn't really understand if the Dr. was at the down C-130 or if i was supposed to look for him afterwards.
Weapons selection: it's a good thing, but more ammo would be good.

Mission

I found the mission quite easy:
after I landed, I killed 2 guys who were patrolling. Then I moved to the chopper and killed another 3 guys quickly. Once I had the location of the power station, I made my guys hop in a car, drove to the station, killed the 2 guys who were there and moved to extraction.


Outro

Nice outro video, but don't understand why the USMC does use the PMC chopper...

Conclusion

It's both quite realistic and non realistic:

+:
-4 men is enough for this kind of operation, and you can't really ask more to 4 guys in hostile country.
-atmosphere is good
-it's not a "4-guys-squad" against an army

but:
-I encountered only 7 guys: not enough ppl after the crash of an ennemy plane (like no guard around:  :dunno:) and same at the power station: only 2 guys there!!! It doesn't feel like it's an important objective...

However, I liked this mission which was well made, but I was expected something tougher.

Regards,
Wiki
« Last Edit: 07 Jan 2012, 12:54:01 by Wiki »

Offline janat

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Re: (MEC) [SP / ARMA 2 CO] Cut the Power v1.1
« Reply #14 on: 08 Jan 2012, 14:15:23 »
Thanks for suggestions and feedback  :) I've fixed all the scripts and the mission is now error-free. There's now more gear, and enough ammo for everyone (except that M24 is restricted to one person). Also, I added an animation to sabotage action. It isn't always fluid with all the weapon switching and stuff, but is in my opinion better than no animation at all. The A2 animation system is really lacking, as you can't really stop a playAction animation >:(

I'm still working on making the AI a bit more responsive when BLUFOR shoots with unsilenced weapons with some success, but it's still far from perfect and I won't release the newest version yet.

We've got all the needed intel. However, I didn't really understand if the Dr. was at the down C-130 or if i was supposed to look for him afterwards.
In the intel it says Dr. has been seen a few minutes ago near the C-130. You don't know anything else about his location, so he's possibly still near it. I added a radio action so you can get his location marked on the map if you can't find him.

Quote
-I encountered only 7 guys: not enough ppl after the crash of an ennemy plane (like no guard around:  :dunno:) and same at the power station: only 2 guys there!!! It doesn't feel like it's an important objective...
There are at least 11 guys protecting the power facility, but most of them are patrolling around it. Maybe I should add one or two more standing around it. Anyway, as the country isn't at war yet and the city is supposed to be under their control, there's not a huge amount of troops in there.

Quote
Nice outro video, but don't understand why the USMC does use the PMC chopper...
They use it just because it's cool. Also, it's a Russian chopper and so is perfect for covert operations in Russian controlled territories  :whistle:
« Last Edit: 08 Jan 2012, 18:08:55 by janat »
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