[SP] Elite Sniper Challenge [NO MODS]

[RichUK]

Author: RichUK (richukusa)

Version: 0.92

Required Addons: None

Mission Description:

The Elite Sniper Challenge is a test of Sniper accuracy.  There are ten target ranges, each of four targets, giving a total of 40 targets.  You start with six magazines of 7 bullets, giving a total of 42 bullets, so you can only afford to miss twice to successfully complete the challenge (a 95% accuracy rate).

The Target Ranges can be completed in any order and you can choose one of two methods to check a range after you believe that you have successfully completed it (one gives more information - the other one is quicker).

If you just want to Practice...

Should you just wish to use the ranges for practice, that is fine too.  You can abandon the Elite Sniper Challenge manually at any time and you will be given more ammo for your rifle.  You can also choice to try a different sniper rifle from the Weapons and Ammo box provided (you will automatically exit from the challenge should you do that).

There are a lot of additional features, including the ability to use UAVs to check where you hit a target, a range reset, so you can keep practicing a particular Target Range and a Bullet Cam, so you can follow your bullet's trajectory!  You can also exit the mission at any time and see what you have achieved, either automatically when you have completed and checked all ranges, or manually, by your own selection.

It is meant to be a fun mission, without having time constraints, or people trying to shoot you!  I hope that you enjoy it, as I do (even after completing it countless times during the development of the mission).

Features:

- Ten Target Ranges from 500 m to just under 1,500 m
- Two methods for checking a Target Range
- Method to Reset a Range
- Use of UAVs to examine bullet holes in targets!
- “Bullet Cam” to track the trajectory of bullets.
- Ability to practice with different Sniper rifles and accessories

Known Bugs: None

ChangeLog:

v0.9 - First public version.
v0.91 - Updates for view distance, etc. see Change Log on Steam
V0.92 - Now has updated Description in the description.ext, although because of 2 bugs, users will only see it if they put an UNPBO'd mission folder under Arma 3\Missions.  Also updated title on Steam to clarify that it is Singleplayer and requires no mods.  Unfortunately, Steam Workshop will not allow me to remove the Multiplayer tag, as it keeps adding it back every time I attempt to set the tag list.

Steam Workshop Download:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2013966321

[h-]

Had a bit of time to test this and right off the bat gonna have to go for cons:

• You assume everyone is using huge view distance settings (I almost never go for more than 900m for objects and something like 1000-1200 overall, no need for more as infantry man)..
  I would do this so that at the start of the mission store the user's viewdistance settings (overall, object), then if the distances are too low force the viewdistances to the minimum required for the furthest away targets. Then either have an action or something to reset the vd to original and/or do that automatically in debriefing(?)
• You should probably disable player movement before the automated map open in the start of the mission because if you immediately walk forwards you get both the automatic map open stuff and the stuff that shows up when you step close to the sniping pos (the big welcome text and the hints and the further automated task showing)
• For some odd reason the boat targets didn't work, no targets nor the bell tower to be seen anywhere. Only after the game crashing and relaunching the boat targets appeared 
• For me the sniper pos object is floating above ground, dunno if intentional or terrain detail setting related

Haven't completed the challenge yet because in some cases 30m range difference requires you to aim with more than "100m" above or below, and sometimes it doesn't 

[RichUK]

Hi h-    Thank you for finding the time for having a look at my mission.   You have made some good catches there, so let me examine them, one at a time:

• View Distance.  My bad, that was something that I meant to address and in the end completely forgot about!   I am currently running Arma 3 on a 24 inch Dell monitor at 1920 x 1200 px with a view distance set to the max it offers me in Arma 3 which is 1600 m.  The furthest Target Range in my mission is actually Target Range H which is nearly 1500 m.   I will have urgently implement the measures necessary to check the current vd, see if it can be set to 1600 m, with a warning to the user, and reset it when they exit.  It may be that for some people's systems,  the vd cannot be set to a high enough value to be able to complete the range?
• Disable movement.  Yes, point taken, I will disable movement before the fade-in opening stuff has finished.
• Ship Targets and Crash?  Not sure why you had problem with Ship targets (it is a bit big to be called a boat... lol).  It is possibly that you changed your view distance without restarting?  I am more concerned about your crash.  The only crashes I have ever had with Arma 3 have been caused by me doing wrong stuff in description.ext, and most of the time it even handles that giving a warning rather than actually crashing.
• Sniper Position.  Yes it is true that that sniper pos object does float slightly about the ground (especially at the front).  I have tried to adjust it a bit, but will have another go.  It only normally causes a problem if you try and move right to the front of it, when you "fall through it" to the ground underneath.

As for completing the range, it is important that you keep zeroing your rifle.  I have provided detailed information in the Briefing help about that.  I did not tell people everything; when you find from the rangefinder that a target is actually 1347 m away, you have to decide whether to set 1300 m for the rifle and aim at the top of the target or 1400 m and aim at the bottom.  Watch out for Target Range I, I have deliberately set the targets at 3 separate ranges, to catch out the unwary!

I will work on the things you have raised now.

[h-]

It may be that for some people's systems,  the vd cannot be set to a high enough value to be able to complete the range?

That is possible because it obviously causes more strain on resources the farther the objects are rendered at, so FPS is gonna take a hit depending on the given system.

I get 12 000m max on both sliders, not aware that it would depend on the system how much you can get out of them. Doubt that monitor size has anything to do with it if the rest of the system does, more the usual GPU, CPU and RAM (latter two Arma is really fond of). My monitor is 26" 1920x1200.

ot sure why you had problem with Ship targets (it is a bit big to be called a boat... lol).  It is possibly that you changed your view distance without restarting?  I am more concerned about your crash.

This can be some Arma thing, maybe for some reason the object placement just bugged out on the ship that time.
The crash happened when I started to look through the range finder towards the horizon pretty much, the oh so informative STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION crash.. Then upon restarting the game it crashed on launch because of some rtm (animation) file error 
Verified game installation and it verified OK, launched again and it worked. Worth noting I played using the dev-branch and it seemed to have some other trouble because the "Old Man" scenario thingy added in latest dev-branch update did not show up on that launch, only after the restart after the crash so it prob ably somehow partially mis-launched the game 

Yes it is true that that sniper pos object does float slightly about the ground

This can also be terrain detail related because the higher the detail the more bumpy it might get.
Not a big deal obviously, on my end it hovers easily like 30cm above the ground all the way so it was easily spotted.

[RichUK]

OK, so updates are done and mission v0.91 has been uploaded.

I had to use both setViewDistance and setObjectViewDistance to get things right and they work fine for me without restarting the mission.   I have used a script to set both to 1600 after telling the user what they have set first, then confirming what has been set (in case for some reason Arma cannot set it for their system, at least they will see what has been set).

On my system, when I use Autodect on Video Options -> General, it sets my Overall view distance to 1600, which I understand is the Arma 3 default.  My Object view distance is set to 1300 by default, so I needed to update that to 1600 too for the mission (before my update which does that automatically).

The way that it works is pretty good, in that the changes are only made for the duration of the mission and if you check the user video settings you will find that they have not actually changed, so you Arma goes back to whatever you have set when you exit from the mission.

Ok about the dev-branch you used.  Sounds like a glitch related to that, so I am not so concerned about the crash you had now.

I did make the "sniper mat" a bit lower.  It does need to be above the ground though, as otherwise, you are still too low when firing, and there is grass everywhere.  By making it slightly lower, I crawled around all over it and do not seem to be able to "fall through" onto the ground, so hopefully, it will be ok now.

I look forward to your next comments when you have played around more (and hopefully succeeded in the challenge, so you can comment on my dialog you will see then!).

[NightJay0044]

Hey rich, did a quick gameplay, since i don't have time do any official reviews, I'll give you what i liked and disliked.

Likes:
Bullet cam
Target Challenges
drone
Scripting

Dislikes:
Force map pop up start of mission (I want to open map, IMO)
arrows in front of sniping spot on the ground. (to much bling IMO)

Suggestions:
Reset all targets button add not just individually.
Ability to cancel bullet cam because I don't want to see my bullet fly across the map after it hits the target.
Possibly add moving targets be cool

Overall good mission, again this is just my opinions, you don't have to accept anything. If I come across any more thoughts i'll let you know. 

[RichUK]

Hi NightJay,

Many thanks for taking a look at my Elite Sniper Challenge mission.  I am pleased that you liked some things about it.  I got a little carried away with some of the options, but I wanted something that I would enjoy replaying many times myself, doing different stuff, so part of that was purely selfish

Dealing with your dislikes first:

Dislikes:
Force map pop up start of mission (I want to open map, IMO)
arrows in front of sniping spot on the ground. (to much bling IMO)

So, I have just been trying my mission again, to refresh my memory.  I think when you are talking about my force map pop-up at the start of the mission, you are referring to what occurs after you have selected Continue in the briefing where the map comes up with the first task of Move to Sniper Position, with the map as a background.  I will experiment with doing that a different way, perhaps with a dialog box, giving the option for the user to get more help from the other screen, or just carry on.

As for the arrows in front of sniping spot on the ground.  Yes, they are a bit of "bling" , but to some extent, this might be a personal preference, so I will leave them there for now (I only used them for the last 5 long distant ranges, which are not so easy to find, especially if your display is not so good).

Now, looking at your suggestions:

Suggestions:
Reset all targets button add not just individually.
Ability to cancel bullet cam because I don't want to see my bullet fly across the map after it hits the target.
Possibly add moving targets be cool

Yes, a Reset targets in ALL ranges button, might be an option to provide people with, although the resetting of targets is normally done when practicing a particular range multiple times, and using a reset cancels participation in the actual challenge (and the user is warned about that).  I will look into it.

You put "Ability to cancel bullet cam"?  I was initially surprised to see this as a suggestion, as the bulletcam can be toggled on/off (which you must have seen as it is off by default).   There is also detailed help on how to use it, like for all the other options.  After thinking a little more, you perhaps mean adding an ability to cancel the bullet cam whilst the bullet is in flight (perhaps by hitting a key or mouse button)?  If that is what you are requesting, I will look at it and see if that is practical, although I am not sure that it is right now.

As for add moving targets be cool.  Yes, that is a great idea.  I will experiment with it.  I might do an additional Range (or Ranges) with moving targets, or alternatively, create a separate "Sniper Moving Target Challenge" mission.

Feeback on built-in Help?

I would welcome your feedback on the built-in help system that I provided in the mission.  It has a lot of content and it took me quite some time to create as it uses snapshots from the mission to illustrate everything.  As you do not specifically mention it, perhaps you have not even looked at it?

Anyway, thanks very much for your feedback.  I really appreciate it!