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Author Topic: A blast from the past  (Read 11263 times)

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Offline THobson

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A blast from the past
« on: 30 Jul 2016, 19:33:39 »
Some years ago I wrote a mission for OFP called Abandoned Armies that proved quite popular.  Time moves on and I thought it had been forgotten about and then just recently someone sent me an email asking for the design notes/ spoiler document that I wrote to explain how the whole mission worked.  It seems that the link to the document I put up many years ago is broken.  Would it be possible to put that document up on the OFPEC site for historical record, and just in case anyone else wants to play the mission again?

Many thanks

Offline h-

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #1 on: 01 Aug 2016, 14:41:50 »
 :blink:
Well, seriously long time no see  :)

I guess it would be possible, depending on how'd you wanna do it, because some thing on this site are a bit  broken and no-one here to fix'em..
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Offline THobson

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #2 on: 01 Aug 2016, 17:39:26 »
Yes its been a while.  Sorry to hear about OFPEC's current state.  I see you have advertisements on the site now, a good way to generate revenue I hope.  I recall having to bail the site out of a significant financial problem a few years ago.  I hope that is now behind you. 

As OFPEC is the real home for my mission I would very much like it to be some how linked to the review of the mission.  I can provide a word or pdf file but I am not sure how or where to put it.  An alternative is for me to just put the whole text into a post on a relevant thread.  What would you suggest?

Offline h-

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #3 on: 02 Aug 2016, 19:13:50 »
Quote
I recall having to bail the site out of a significant financial problem a few years ago.  I hope that is now behind you.
How we ended up at the place we're now can read about in this news article.

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As OFPEC is the real home for my mission I would very much like it to be some how linked to the review of the mission.
I guess that could be done, I can do some editing around the site so not all is impossible (it just takes a while because it always takes some time to re-familiarize myself with PHP and how the site structure works), but for example a tutorial submission thingy we had is completely broken which would have been a perfect fit for publishing this.

So you can post it for me as a word doc, I'll try to link it to the review as soon as I can.
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Offline THobson

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #4 on: 03 Aug 2016, 10:11:01 »
Thank you.   A sad story given how vibrant the community here used to be.  I recall years before we had a major data loss and severe financial problems which we eventually recovered from.  I am glad you are still hanging on in there.

It would be wonderful if you could link the spoiler document to the review.  As far as I can tell OFPEC is the only place where the mission is available now.  I would be very happy to send you either a doc or pdf file.  Let me know your email address.  You can email me at trevor_hobson@hotmail.com

Many thanks

Offline h-

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #5 on: 03 Aug 2016, 13:40:28 »
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A sad story given how vibrant the community here used to be.
Quite.
I think the downfall for us started back in the day when we always managed to get this place off-line for various reasons and for varying lengths of time just when BIS came out with the next title in the Arma series so the void was filled by other sites, mainly Armaholic I guess.

Quote
I am glad you are still hanging on in there.
The resurrection of the site from the previous death was quite an ordeal, not sure why we even bothered given the fact that basically no-one comes here anymore. I guess it was due to the massive amount of knowledge stored here.
We had all kinds of plans, even to do a complete re-write of the site but those ideas soon died off.

I don't even know if any of the 1-2 other remaining staff come anymore, and why would they.
I've been here for like 14 years so I guess I'm just institutionalized so badly it's my daily routines to stop by here (and still fiddle with BIS games daily).. ::)


Anyhoo, e-mail sent, just noting it here in case you never receive it for some reason..
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Offline RichUK

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #6 on: 06 Nov 2017, 05:35:36 »
h- you are officially my hero!

Call me a sentimental old fool, but I was so delighted to see OFPEC still up and running after all these years.

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I don't even know if any of the 1-2 other remaining staff come anymore, and why would they.
I've been here for like 14 years so I guess I'm just institutionalized so badly it's my daily routines to stop by here (and still fiddle with BIS games daily).. ::)

Well I retired earlier this year and also got married (in July), but I am gradually now working through my bucket list of things that I put off until retirement, including OFP, ArmA, ArmA II, ArmA  III and... OFPEC! 

I never really officially retired as a staff member, and do not appear on any list of "Former Staff", probably as I was one who helped out a bit after the infamous Hubba hard disk crash (hence my "OFPEC Patron") status.   You perhaps remember that I built a new server which I was going to ship out to Hubba, but we decided it was better to go for paid hosting, which I helped out with instead (and used the server for something else).

If I remember correctly, I joined the Editors Depot staff under macguba in 2005, soon after Sui had taken over from Sef.  Unfortunately, for some time I could not spend much time on doing stuff as I was traveling a lot, all over the USA, as well as Australia and Europe in my role working for a San Diego based software company.  I was able to take part in the ArmA beta testing though, which was a lot of fun, but then I moved back to England and did not have a decent enough computer, or money to build or buy one to run ArmA or its successors.

I have some very fond memories of friendships within the OFP community and would love to help out with OFPEC again, as soon as I get everything running again.  Hopefully, I have a computer now to do it reasonable justice. 

My very best wishes to you, THobson and all that know me.

Offline h-

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #7 on: 07 Nov 2017, 14:38:52 »
Glad to see the that some of the "old breed" is still around and about  :P

I still come here at least once a day although the only thing to do here is to sometimes remove spam.  ::)

Quote
I have some very fond memories of friendships within the OFP community and would love to help out with OFPEC again, as soon as I get everything running again.
Well, there's nothing much to help here unless you are fluent in PHP because some things here are completely broken. But I fear that not everything is fixable.
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Offline RichUK

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #8 on: 07 Nov 2017, 19:10:18 »
Hi pal

Great to hear from you and know that you are still around.  I see quite a few guests listed, each time I have looked at the Forums in the last couple of days, so it is good that some people are still looking, even if they do not have an account or do not bother to log in  ;)

I have dug out my copies of OFP, ArmA and Arma II and am waiting for some bits to arrive to upgrade my main Desktop PC before I start installing stuff.  I am going to try running original OFP stuff using VirtualBox (possibly under Windows 98... hehe).

I am certainly not fluent in PHP although I did a little a while ago and have (a probably outdated) book on it  :D

I will message you.

Offline h-

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #9 on: 08 Nov 2017, 08:40:23 »
BIS updated OFP to 1.99 a "few" years ago (it was also renamed to ArmA: Cold War Assault; unofficially because the OFP name had been ruined by Codemasters and their sup-bar "sequels" to it, officially because they wanted to make their Arma lineage clear).
The update package can be found somewhere in their wiki or the forums...

It actually runs just fine on modern OS, have ran it on both Win7 and 10.
Well, you may have to tone down mouse sensitivity and such, but still. IIRC the 1.99 update also made it understand modern screen ratios, not 100% sure though..
« Last Edit: 08 Nov 2017, 08:53:16 by h- »
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Offline RichUK

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #10 on: 08 Nov 2017, 17:41:41 »
That is great news! :)  I think that "ArmA: Cold War Assault" was the re-work of the original OFP using the ArmA engine, carried out by a sub-set of the ArmA beta group after the main beta testing was done (which only the better or more experienced coders than me took part in).

I would assume that would mean that some of the stuff written for original OFP versions (prior to 1.99) would not work under that version without serious major modifications (as opposed to minor tweaks).  I still have a very overambitious mission that I never actually finished somewhere on one of my old hard disks, which I will have a look at again when I find it.  I remember that at the time of doing beta testing of ArmA, a lot of the stuff I was using under OFP did not exist in ArmA at the time.

Cheers  :D

Offline h-

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #11 on: 09 Nov 2017, 09:00:50 »
Quote
I think that "ArmA: Cold War Assault" was the re-work of the original OFP using the ArmA engine,
It is the original OFP just renamed and updated to 1.99:
"Bohemia Interactive announces the rebirth of a Legend - Arma: Cold War Assault

Prague, Czech Republic, June 23, 2011 - Bohemia Interactive, the independent game development studio, is delighted to reawaken a sleeping giant! Its revolutionary award-winning game, originally released by British publisher Codemasters in June 2001 as Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, is now discontinued. From now on, this legendary PC game will be available only under a new title Arma: Cold War Assault."

You're probably confusing it with CWR, Cold War Rearmed the mod that brought the OFP stuff into ArmA and Arma2..  :scratch:

EDIT:
And it's official: due to this discussion this forum has seen more action than it has in years  :D  :P
« Last Edit: 09 Nov 2017, 10:15:35 by h- »
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Offline RichUK

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #12 on: 09 Nov 2017, 18:22:35 »
Hi h-  :whistle:

Well I have been officially an old age pensioner since my birthday last 2nd of May, so I think I am suffering from OAR (old age rot) and had what the Americans like to call a "Senior Moment". 

You are entirely correct, I was mixing up "Cold War Rearmed (CWR)" with "ArmA: Cold War Assault" (which did not exist at the time I was last active)  :blink: :-[

As for the "more action" on OFPEC, if I can contribute to any readers enjoyment, even if laughing at an "old fart" is not much to do with game editing, that is fine by me.   :cool2:

Offline savedbygrace

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #13 on: 12 Nov 2017, 21:35:07 »
Hi RichUK,
Welcome back to the trenches. Much of the community has moved on, thanks to Steam but there are a few of us still lingering about. h- is certainly the faithful ole dog you have to nudge off the step to get in the front door and I honestly don't think we'd be up right now if not for his dedication. Good to have some old blood to warm the pages.

Offline RichUK

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #14 on: 13 Nov 2017, 22:24:09 »
Hi pal

Yep, i'm back :good:

I had to fight with BI support to resurrect my RichUK login on their stuff, proving that it really is me!  Anyway, they kindly did so and I am able to log in again there.  I still have a user page up on the wiki, but all my pre-2007 contributions seem to have evaperated  :dunno:

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/User:RichUK

I obviously need to update that page now  :scratch:

Well I am running ArmA Cold War Assault as I write this.  I actually had it without realising, as it was part of the ArmA X Anniversary Edition boxed set, which I bought a while ago and did not get round to installing.  I have to install the other bits soon, find my old stuff on my old hard diisks (I must have about 20 of those to go through).  I will also have to buy ArmA III.  Well there will be enough to do without any editing for a bit, but I will find time to do that before the end of the year.

I am very grateful for you, h- and so many others for keeping OFPEC going, even with all the problems.  I hope that now I am retired I will be able to play my part too. :D

Oh, and I live in Plymouth, Devon, England now.  I lived in Cornwall for about 6 years after returning from California and moved here and got married earlier in the year!

Offline h-

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #15 on: 16 Nov 2017, 08:03:29 »
Quote
h- is certainly the faithful ole dog
Or, an idiot who just refuses to stop beating the dead horse even though there're only some bone fragments left  :scratch: :D

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Offline savedbygrace

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #16 on: 04 Dec 2017, 05:59:24 »
Well, either way, you're still committed, ya bastud.  :dry:  God bless ya h-, you're definitely the sticky stuff between the pages. :scratch:

Offline Undeceived

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #17 on: 03 Jan 2018, 17:23:04 »
I wish you all a happy new year. Yes, that's right, it's 2018 and these good old forums still work.


Btw. I'll need your help in this board anytime soon. :)
« Last Edit: 03 Jan 2018, 17:41:44 by Undeceived »
Current project: Black Lands (Arma 3)

Offline RichUK

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #18 on: 04 Jan 2018, 02:31:09 »
Happy New Year to all from me too  :yes:

I am loving playing ArmA CWA, as original OFP, again after too many years.  I do have ArmA II and other goodies, and received new parts for my main computer, so will get that going soon, then on to ArmA 3 in a little while.

Offline DwightRan

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #19 on: 17 Jan 2018, 18:50:48 »
Haven't played ArmA CWA in ages! Has it at all over the years, Rich? What's your rig going to look like by the way?
« Last Edit: 04 Nov 2021, 22:10:24 by DwightRan »

Offline RichUK

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #20 on: 27 Jan 2018, 20:05:55 »
Hi @DwightRan. 

Well, I am just in the middle of moving into a new home, so do not have my main machine up and running yet (using a laptop ATM).  My PC is not terribly high spec and I was considering whether or not to upgrade the motherboard and CPU, but decided to just make the best of what I have for now and just upgraded the RAM to 16 GB of faster DD3 and bought an FX-8370 with Wraith Cooler, which is the best one I can use with my current motherboard.

Actually, in many ways my new laptop is actually better, it is a Dell XPS running a 7th gen i7, but I have not tried any ArmA stuff on it yet.  :whistle:

I also bought another SSD, this time a Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB so will use that specifically for Steam and ArmA stuff, to complement the SSD I am already using for my system C: drive.

As for ArmA CWA, I have had a lot of fun working through it all.  I have worked through all the campaign and standalone missions and even though the graphics, etc. are limited I loved doing all the OFP stuff again.  Later on I will work through my collection of old hard drives to find the stuff for a (rather overambitious) mission that I was working on many years ago.  I am determined to finish it, even if nobody else ever plays it except me!

At least I am retired, so can find some time to play.  It is amazing how many things I have to do during each day and I wonder how I ever found time to work for all those years  ???


Offline Raptorsaurus

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #21 on: 14 Sep 2018, 09:04:24 »
I still visit the sight now and then, though until "now" the last "then" was nearly a year ago. I sill play around with OFP and ARMA series mission making and addons, but family life takes priority. I actually just replayed Abandoned Armies a few weeks ago. It is definitely one of the best OFP missions and very re-playable because of its complexity.

Offline Artak

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #22 on: 25 Dec 2018, 22:35:29 »
How do you use this "forum".. there's no like button..

Bedges!! Where are you mate?!?!! We need the Malden Chain!!!  :dunno:

A whole geneneration has passed since this game (yeah, you know which one I mean) was released and I really really need to bond with my oldest son who is 14 now. He was infant when I was reviewing missions and this inflame true, my current ex-wife bitching me about playing too much. Maybe she was right. But she's not here anymore  :D I got my boy interested into OFP and it's a chance I don't want to miss.

The problem is... How do I get it to work on win10 g'daem!?!

Love you lots,  :-*
-Artak
Not all is lost.

Offline h-

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Re: A blast from the past
« Reply #23 on: 26 Dec 2018, 19:06:16 »
 :welcome:
"Hauska tappa vanha tuttu."

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How do I get it to work on win10 g'daem!?!
By installing the 1.99 version. At least works for me.. You probably need to slow the mouse settings a bit though.  :)

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Bedges!! Where are you mate?!?!!
I'd assume he won't be answering, he's long gone..
I mean from OFPEC, probably alive and well somewhere in the real world.
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