(Review Completed) [SP] Dustbowl

[MrN]

Here, have a brickbat.    

I've just had a quick run through just to check and I honestly don't know what happened to your game.

Things that were changed:
Flares are now red, but I have a horrible feeling these are cutting through the sand/fog more
2 more enemy groups added and existing groups' waypoints made slightly smaller
Chopper extract
Added Objective
Added retry at pilot rescue
Tweaked intro
Rewrote Briefing and notes.
Added gear selection

Things unchanged:
Loons on the escape route, it may be the chopper set off the trigger early though
Sand
Insertion. The parachute does drift though, start the mission 3 times running and you'll land in 3 different places.

The chopper won't take off until the player is in the chopper but I'm guessing you did read that? . If he still didn't move then…soz. My bad. I will double check.

Part of the problem could be that I have no real scripted counter-attacks or blatant waypoints until the journey out. This does add a lot of randomness to the mission but it could be that this might need refining.   :-\
Guess I'll have to try and be sneakier.  

Lag, I honestly don't know what's going on here, is this significantly worse than other missions on Afghan. Just a thought, are you running the Lite or High-Res version? The link I posted was for the Lite version which is a 36.5mb pbo, the Hi-res version is 64.4mb. Could you check to see which one you're running?

Link deleted for the time being until I figure out what's going on and reupload.

Guess this'll teach me to not rush things...

[Mikero]

>Have a brickbat

nah, have plenty of them already thanks

I downloaded and used the lite version because I was sceptical anyone would make a mission worth troubling over. Wrong, wasn't I. I intend doing something about that 63meg right now.

>Lag

From info gleaned from Sui I;

halved all my textures from 1024

no real difference i could see.

installed another 512 stick to bring the system up to 1gig ram.

no difference i could detect except possibly, dumber ai. The dumbness may have been perception because I could move faster, I don't know if either is true.

I have not noticed lag on dynamic afgansitan but can't give you a truthfull answer because I got a bit bored with it (no offence to Honcho, he knows why)

I DID have lag on a mission since deleted here, blackhawk down or similar.

The reason I beleive is identical. It's because you and that author used spawning techniques.

There is NO lag present fighting the bad guys out in the open, (on the way back to base eg)

It is present and cuts in rather than something solid, when I'm down to what appears to be a single nasty, there's a 'feeling' something is growing, spawning, somewhere else. You've hit the limit of my technical expertise.

--
Never tried the chopper to go home, my rescued pilot was just maddeningly dumb. That's fine btw, I merely report it. If I choose to shoot him, that's a player's option.

parachute drift is totally acceptable. On two previous goes I landed smack on mountain so had to assume you altered something.

there were no flares I was aware of, red, nor otherwise. They may have been present, i was not aware of them.

there was NO counter attack and I think approximately the same qty of nasties as before in the beginnings.

One thing I forgot to mention is the pilot campfire is pretty dangerous turf. The nasties are now so close to him that my guys grenade the area with obvious results. A non - issue if I have to learn to play this sequence, just letting u know.

[MrN]

I've found that changing Auto drop-down to none made a huge difference on my pc. The framerates can be slightly lower but much more consistent and image quality is better too.

Don't want to spoil it for you but one of the main times I spawn loons in, is on the way back to base.  

I have a plan though…

[Mikero]

>one of the main times I spawn loons in, is on the way back to base.  

however you dun it, you dun good because I was dun good, done in, it fact.

I was unable to tell when where or what direction the nastiness was coming from, particularly the when.

Normally, I simply won't play spawn missions because they end up as more and more and more of the same over the top sillyness. Put there because the author cannot think of how to put some bang into a dud mission. But yours was different. They gave the impression of coming from somewhere rather than materialising. If i'd seen them materialising it would have been an instant -endmission for me.

Be that as it may, I hope you can do away with them altogether. A very large part of the ofp mystique is being able to roam all over the map and trying diffferent desperate tricks (play wise). You limit my ability to go north first eg, swing wide west eg, if the reserve infantry aint there to begin with. Let the player be just as sneaky as the author.

The return trip on foot was marvellous. The zips and bangs landing on the hmmv's were bloody good (and others have mentioned that). They were the perfect choice wern't they, vs a boring old tank or two, or a soft skinnned bradley. But, if you wanted to expand your mission out I would engineer it that both the hmmv and the chopper just end in abject failure, eg choppr explodes as it lands to pick you up, half the hmmv's get swiped (which did happen). None of which is told to player, s/he just gets more and more desperate as the options dissapear.

>dust

the only time it appeared as thickly and as bad as version 1 was halfway to chopper. At this point it was a concentrated tornado which looked out of character with everywhere else on the map.

[MrN]

Another single player update.

Updates:
Hopefully better sand coverage.
Chopper extract.
Readme.
Added eye-candy.
Alternate endings.
2 savegame points.
No spawning .
Pilot not quite so dumb  :P…maybe
The drive home might not be quite so thrilling.
Etc.

With any luck it won't be a total lagfest, but I make no guarantees.

Did anyone join your game Armsty? BTW thanks for the link.

[Mikero]

OFP1.96, Vetmode, Bench 5695, no super ai

Readme:

Good, all urls I tested worked

Overview:

messy. This mission deserves a picture because of the stunning effect and surprise when 1st played. With a suitable pic, it would require no further commnet for replay value.

If the text remains as is, it needs to be separated into single line paragraphs to fill the page.

Version number and author advertising are missing.

Briefing:

Plan:

Lovely. My kind of briefing. Terse, to the point, gives nothing away.

Notes:

Very good, formatted with poor paras (I *know* this is a pig to do)

Personally, I prefer personal notes and don't like war situations in there instead. I would  prefer a details... link on 1st page of plan for the stuff written here.

I would change notes to be notes as in

"Jesus, five minute warning, no good info, no time to prepare, we just have to jump."

along those lines.

Be that as it may, this 'other' style also works perfectly fine.

Minor niggle.

choice of helicopter OR hmmv is not obvious at last page.

gear and selection;

yes, and yes, Nothing stupid, nothing over the top, no 500 of anything, all personal choice stuff. Lovely.

Group:

the fact that they are listed at all is a good thing (tm). This is no time for rookies, nor 'recruits'. It's not the kind of mission you can mix and match. The group tab reflects that.

Map:

the lack of noise on the map is well done. It's a concentrated area, and yet, it remains clear, distinct, what *might* happen.

Version:

I have read comments on reviewed missions where versioning the title is frowned on. It might be a better(tm) idea to leave it as dustbowl and put the number on the overview bottom left or right. That info is vital, but I tend to agree with review opinion on that point.

I have noted the care taken in spacing out the titleword.

Mission:

Man am I looking forward to this.....

SemiIntro:

If ANYONE wants to know how to do this, look no further. It has

theme,
visual content
information content
atmosphere.

I adore this intro.

Bad niggle:

please try and hit us all with NVG.  3/4s of the spectacle  is missing unti we 'get it'.

this is the best afghan mission that will ever be made. Period.

Niggle:

"get to your positions" etc is coming from afghan/arab nasties. Change this to farsi? Russkie at a stretch?

Battle Music:

there is none, and I absolutely and utterlt detest it whenever it is introduced. However, your music choice is ambient, not battle stuff. It actually blends with the wind and gives impression of the wind, singing. Give me an option to turn it back ON!!!!

more "eat lead commie scum"

absolutely NOT ON. Get rid of it if that is the best that can be done. This MUST be removed.

Too awe struck to report accurately who did what to who. Basics are

whacked from south as we near buildings west. Whacked from west, whacked from north as we get into 1st building line.

Smacked hard by nasties in at least two campfires, another firefight in garage area.

shot leader through window, great msg, not sure if savegame here.

blasted way up to pilot, pilot killed, great msg, preferred to retry. Got him healed, stood up and armed. If i'm stupid enough not to stand him up etc, let me remain stupid.

Great visual of truck wreck.

savegame kicks in, great.

another savegame at chopper, great, and a bastard to find the chopper, if your <ahem> busy saving your arse.

decided to split game into 3 parts

1) chose chopper

holy #@#@(&$@. Whacked from south, lose a few, chopper lands, mad scramble, takes off, rpg zips past my ear, we leave in a pool of blood, music cuts in, scenes cut in, oh man, unbelievably good. My left ear ringing from the rpg fly by.

bug:

"hmmvs returning to base" and a cutscene thereof.

"hmmvs are returning from STANDBY" and a cutscene thereof

BUG
hmmvs crash into each other in cutscene.

few more visuals that I sadly have to skip to get back to my retry.

2) chose hmmvs

on their way. GIVE THEM COVER !!!! (you clever bugger, author)

I lose or lost two of my people. It may have been before savegame, not sure. My squad are twitchy as hell about the south. Nearly all of us are wounded (great). I heal and reorganise while waiting.

BUGish

no lights for hmmv

No sign of enemy at any point. I *know* they're at the chopper, and I aint going back there. This is fine.

Single squad of 4 on drive back, having experienced them when they are in strength, am relieved. Drove over two of them and kept going (which is what you wanted me to do, keep running). BUT, put several patrols in road on way home, even a road block, possibly lose the rpg's. I realise there's chorepgrphay issues with hmmv coming in the 1st place, waypoint them into the road after hmmv's are loaded with me.

OR, just as good, probably better, let the rescue hmmv's run the gauntlet, If one gets swiped turn them back and tell me by radio, I have to use my feet (prevent chopper at this time)

cutscene comes in and I sadly have to hit retry again for option3,

3) walked

Nope, mission ended, damnit


Ok, all brilliant, all marvellous. I haven't tested all the what if's (order chopper and walk, order both and use one) and don't need to, am off to enjoy myself with headphones on.

This mission works at many levels, there's plenty you could add and there's nothing you need to add. I do think, because of the final long run home that you should introduce something separate and something dramatic half way there, but, the mission is fine as is for me, a total ball tearer that I just love to bits.

You MUST remove the american voiceovers. If you doubt, contrast this rubbish with the arabic ambient music.

[MrN]

Thanks again for the test and review.

"please try and hit us all with NVG. 3/4s of the spectacle is missing unti we 'get it'."
Sorry, don't get what you mean here.

All the chat and shouting is coming from your team  ;D this is part of Bremmers AI script, but I agree that "eat lead commie scum" is highly inappropriate! I'll remove that but I'm going to keep the other voices, adds atmosphere.

I'll add a savegame by the leader, I always end up cheat-saving here anyway so it makes sense.

That's not a truck wreck…  

I'm glad the chopper "scene" played out ok, that required A LOT (tm) of testing to get any where near how I wanted it. It's still not quite right but it'll do and OFP randomness adds some nasty surprises sometimes.

The HMMWV's returning to base isn't a bug, the message is obviously badly worded or maybe badly timed. I want them to go back to the base. No point them sitting in the middle of nowhere with no one to pick up.   I need to tweak their waypoints if they're crashing into each other.

"on their way. GIVE THEM COVER !!!! (you clever bugger, author)"
I wouldn't go that far, just stating the less obvious…

The return journey, it never occurred to me someone would walk that. I setup these lovely taxi's and you don't use them.  

I have a plan though…

"I haven't tested all the what if's (order chopper and walk, order both and use one)"
It should still work but the chopper will sit there like a lemon until you get in.. Not much I can do about that, it took me long enough how to figure out how to get the damn thing staying there in the first place.

You haven't mentioned lag, I'm hoping it's not as bad?

If you want to listen to the music again either restart or buy the cd.   It's by Autechre off the album "Tri Repetae", the outro music is off "Incunabula". Avoid their later stuff if I were you ( 2003+). It's electronica gone mad.

Back ontopic, I'll have an update available in the next week or so that will address these points.

[Mikero]

>please try and hit us all with NVG

during the initial drop, it's pitch black, and consequently terrifying, but, a lot is missed if we dont use our night vision. It's your call, if terrify is the intention it's fine, if you want us to see what's going on, we need to launch in green. No matter how quickly I might hit the 'N' key, others may not.

>cheatsave/savegame

it seemed so 'obvious' I wasn't sure I didn't get one

>The HMMWV's returning to base isn't a bug

true. and one of the best styles of outro tighten up I've seen. As in all i's are dotted and t's crossed. The phrase jarred because the impression was they were halfway to pick up point, yet, the player didn't order them to. You just need to slightly alter the msg to reflect a half waypoint or a standby situation.

>just stateing the less obvious

and always understate the obvious (copyright, MacGuba)

>Lag

none. Now only 'heavy' in some parts, which is bearable. Not knowing a thing about this, I assume it's the former spawning that caused this?

>music

yes, forgot to mention the also excellent music outro, partly because I was too busy trying to hit rety  

>walking

umm, damn, forgot all about option 4 in borrowing a truck. No matter, it would have been a good un.

as far as walking is concerned there is a separate atmosphere to the mission half way home where, effectively, the sun is coming up, the dust has gone and a sense of relief from leaving hell. You could use that, if you wanted to, by adding more to the mission at that point. Thematically, it's different and an interesting change which you aren't exploiting to it's fullest. 'Borrowing' a truck and it running out of fuel is one such device.

>american voices

your call of course. Must tell you that the impression was that most of this appeared to be coming from the enemy. It now makes much more sense. Perhaps a voice trigger when we land when no action is taking place, will alert the player to where all this is, in fact, coming from. Truly, it aint obvious. If it is contrasted against the music at that initial point in the game, then it becomes abundantly clear. Regardless, I apologise, I now understand, it's cleverer than I thought.

Also forgot to mention there were no flares I could detect. Not fussed, just reporting in case you thought there were some. The chopper landing can be a pig for player. Not too bad, but, could I suggest an orange? drop flare as it comes in?? or possibly extend this, theme wise, to both transport calls?

[MrN]

"during the initial drop, it's pitch black, and consequently terrifying"
Terrifying is good.  

">cheatsave/savegame"
Doh!

"The chopper landing can be a pig for player. Not too bad, but, could I suggest an orange? drop flare as it comes in?? or possibly extend this, theme wise, to both transport calls?"

That's what I like about your comments Mikero. You're truly laying down the gauntlet for me there. I'll whack my head against the monitor and see what I can come up with. I must have got through the equivalent of an A4 piece of paper, making notes playtesting, and after reading here about what needs working on. Don't get me wrong though, the challenge is interesting.

"I assume it's the former spawning that caused this?"
Dunno, the spawn was only used on one group on the original version near the town. Only after the HMMWV's had come in did I spawn some more. If it plays smoother then marvellous, I added a lot of effects this time round and I'm glad that they didn't have a big impact. Wolfsbane's tracer is a good example.

"Borrowing a truck and it running out of fuel is one such device."
All the trucks have different fuel loads and are different one play to the next. Haven't tested if it's likely you'll run out of fuel on all trucks but the trucks that are more likely to appear have less fuel.  

"the sun is coming up, the dust has gone and a sense of relief from leaving hell"
If that's how it came across then I need to capitalise on this.   ;D

There are no flares, I've altered the time slightly so it shouldn't be an issue. Liked the atmosphere, didn't like the effect.

"american voices"

I need to play this a bit more. Because I put them in I know what to expect, I have to confess I find it quite amusing to hear a teammate shout "Bastards" when they spot an enemy. Maybe I just need to grow up! ;D

[Commando]

Great mission, i like the music though it feels short  ;D
the sandstorm was cool fx too, and the paradrop was cool to start the day with  
Btw briefing was nice with everything on one page and more to read in the notes if you wanted to know more about the background.
okay back to the mission then  ,  me and the squad was happily running down the mountain or big hill until one of my men got injured so i had to heal him back to full strenght  ;D then i proceeded whith caution.
caution paid off and me and the team killed off the first bunch of rebels outside of the south eastern part of the town.
Everything was going fine , just one causaltie until i reached the town and rebels poped up from no where and the lag kicked in  :joystick:
Got to a place where three or more trucks was parked but i couldn't get the chance of see what kind of trucks they where cause of my battle instincts told me to scan for enemies and they came from the allyes and the roof tops and surprised me big time, got wasted there but i had saved just outside the town during the firefight with the first bunch of rebels.
hint : never save during a firefight  ;D you could get a grenade on you when you have loaded  
anyways at the second attempt to get to the rebel leader location that i had aimed for i took a more souther route after i have cleared the area with the trucks, then suddenly some guy laying down in a alley to the west part of the twn spot me and kill me when im under fire  :gunman: from 2 or more directions   i like this mission alot even though i haven't been able to complete it yet. probably because i avoid playing in veteran mode but i read that i had to use vet mode to play the mission so i did and got smacked up pretty good  ;D
Fun mission even though it laggs and i suspect its either the lag scripts or the a.i scripts or a combination of both because the amount of addons used what i have seen can't be it.
I have used more addons and had no lag  ;D but also used that amount of addons and had lag too so you never knwo whats going to happen  

The sandstorm script is very cool so i think you should keep it, the amount of soldiers in the squad is also ok, cause i guess Delta forces don't go in with 30 men , more like 13 men  ;D
the enemies in the mission are good, no old 1.75 version addon rebels there, this is sheer quality  
question though, do all enemies use hd mags or is it just random, or some use and some don't? I'll give the mission another go when a friend that is a realy vet mode player comes by on friday for our weekly lan party.
Me and my friend will probably give this a go in coop then  
i can run first and take fire and he can try to cover fire   :toocool:

[Mikero]

@Commando

that's a nice write up Commando, kind of stuff an author appreciates.

@MrN

you can't issue a savegame when leader is killed. Commando is right, you'll get hate mail. Fortunately there isn't one at present.

That's what I like about your comments Mikero. You're truly laying down the gauntlet for me there. I'll whack my head against the monitor and see what I can come up with.

You and Thobson are never to meet. I can't handle both of you picking on me . Put it this way, I do like to return the pain you cause me.

>American voices

no. I got that wrong. You just didn't apply them as well as you could, they were only obvious to you, that will change. Frankly, to hear them now, is quite 'comforting'

>Terrifying is good.

Agreed. 110% on that.

A truly great mission. Please take note of Commando's cadet mode comments.

[MrN]

Thanks for the test Commando.

The music will fade when you are detected, might be why it feels short.  

Did you try the updated version or the MP version? They are quite different now.

I will have to remove that cadet mode trigger, I'd forgotten about that. Another thing to add to the list!

[sim]

Really wanna play this but I can't download it  

[Mikero]

>Really wanna play this but I can't download it

Indeed you do.

It will be available by the time you read this at

http://andrew.nf/OFP/Missions/

Authors:

forget all about my (and sui's) rave about mission play. This is the one. This is the mission you need to rip to bits to look at the scripts used, particularly the sandstorm.

Over time we elevate missions to new heights. What would pass as a seven two years ago would now be a four, mostly because the novelty of what was done then, is old hat now. So be warned authors there's stuff in here that will make your missions stale by comparison.

[456820]

erm i think that links faulty it tells me that "This display page cannot be found"
plus i would love to play the next version the first was great