OFPEC Forum
Addons & Mods Depot => OFP - Addons & Mods Beta Testing => Topic started by: Dinger on 03 Jun 2003, 08:59:08
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screenshots are up at http://www.ofp.at (http://www.ofp.at)
If you have any questions, I'll field them here.
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Well i can't read german but if this is a thread about an artillery addon don't bother making one because there are loads of working artillery addons (not scripts) out there. You just have 2 search!
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Thanks for the heads up fragsta. Before deciding to do this, we at CoC looked around for any sort of artillery addon that met the following criteria:
A) It fires its own shells and out of the barrel (or for rockets, after boost stage), they travel ballistically to their target, up to the weapon system's maximum range (for the unboosted 155mm projectile this is 18km; for the M26 rocket fired by the MLRS, that's 32km). Right now, when you're hit by a M109 HE shell, you get deathcam straight back to the firing unit.
B) Its fire is accurate at any difference between firing height (ASL) and target height.
C) It includes a control interface that allows the FO to plot shots in something approaching a realistic manner.
D) It can do all this without any scripting by the mission designer
E) It works in MP
F) The interface is "open-ended", allowing other addons to "plug in" to the existing structure without requiring a rewrite of the base .pbo .
G) Firing units automatically group into sections or platoons according to type, and generate realistic distributions (sheaves).
H) All models and textures used are used with the full permission and cooperation of the people and teams that made them.
I for one have been playing with artillery in OFP for a year and half and haven't seen any addon that meets more than one of these criteria (usually D). That's why we set out to do this. If you click on the link "UA preview", there is an english-language page o' screenshots, with an explanation of what's happening.
Since you are compiling the master index of addons, should you know of some one of the "loads of addons" that does this, I'd be very eager to find out about it.
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Very impressive!!!...looks almost done. When are you expecting to release?
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Hi Dinger, as you can see i am everywere, this screenshot rocks!
What will be the first units included with the script?
When are you going to release some kind of documentation?
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so this is like artillary you can acurately enough, fire at positions within its range, but out of visual sight?
like real artillery basicaly?
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Tigershark -- it won't be this week. While there aren't bugs that I know of, I'm sure there are bugs to be turned up by extensive testing.
This is also a large project. We have several people at the Chain of Command who are working on it, as well as at least three mod teams (DKM, UKF and SEB).
We're also waiting on a few things from some of our contributors, such as a final texture for the M270.
So when? I wish I could say.
Viriato: there is no script outside of the addon. The vehicles pictured in the screenshots are:
M252 81mm Mortar (SEB)
M109 Paladin 155mm SP Howitzer (DKM -- the official version)
M270 MLRS (UKF).
Documentation will be released with the addon.
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Bloody hell, i didn't know that the MLRS was actually firing now!
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i knew it was firing... but didnt know it was this close to release... lol...
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It's not textured Messy :)
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and of course that doesn't help
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Looks damn impressive! 8)
I didn't know that the MLRS was up and running, I thought Jonno was still tinkering with it :-[
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i thought jonno was on a break... lol... lilty, check the other forum fella ;)
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Messy, check your IMs, purple monkey dishwasher ;)
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yeah, now somebody get us a texture for that beautiful beast!
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lol...
*stares at Jonno*
i just make the mission guv ;)
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so this is like artillary you can acurately enough, fire at positions within its range, but out of visual sight?
like real artillery basicaly?
yes i wonder this also
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hehe. Grind_and_click -- you suffer from split personalities?
The answer to your question is:
Well, take a look at the preview. It shows firing shells 8500 m across the map and hitting with pinpoint precision. OFP's maximum visual range is 5000m.
So, in a word:
YES
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Messy, check your IMs, purple monkey dishwasher ;)
ROFLMAO...that was one of the best Simpsons gags ever. Very funny DeLitt.
@Dinger
Thanks for the reply.
Quick question. You mentioned in the official forums that the scripts were designed for use with radios. As you may know, certain BAS Rangers and Deltas carry a radio as a "weapon". Although these weapons do nothing they were intended for mission designers to program them to allow only units carrying radios to perform certain actions (call for CSAR for example)
Would it be possible using your scripts to enforce a rule that only the player carrying a "weapon" radio could access the artillery firing task?
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Hmm, alright, well first let me premise this by saying:
Everything I'm about to say is how the system currently works. The system as released may be simpler, more complex, entirely different or much the same.
Five design requirements dictated the radio comms system:
A) It must be simple
B) It must require zero scripting or description.ext input by the mission designer
C) It must work in MP
D) It must be modular and separable from the function of the firing units.
E) The interface has to be specifiable in a series of .sqf files, so later addons can "plug into" the CoC_Arty.pbo without necessitating a new release of the pbo. In other words, if two weeks later, we (or someone else) decide to release an M224 60mm mortar or a cruise missile launcher, or a nuclear mine, the interface has to be able to handle it.
As a result:
1) you can see we're using action menus/hint displays. I wanted to do dialogs but that ran against B). In any case, the dialogs have to be completely asset-specific, and while I can handle the metavariable-fu to do that, I don't have the experience with dialogs.
2) Currently, only human players can use the radio interface. AI can of course control the assets, but that would require some scripting, and it's probably better to do so ont he mission level. This could be as easy as the following example:
let's say I've got a platoon of M109s on the map. By the order of registration (determined in each mission), these M109s count as the third asset overall (so Asset index number 2).
I want to have a trigger that, when the player sets it off, we order the platoon to fire at the first object in the trigger's activation field. Now, assuming nobody has control over the asset (if someone did, this list would be a little longer to get all the settings back to default),
The "On activation" field would be:
CoCIFAsset2t0 setpos getpos (thislist select 0);
-- this sets the first aimpoint to the first object in the field --
CoCIFAsset2t = 1;
--tells our platoon that this mission will have 1 aimpoint--
CoCIFAsset2o = 0;
--Call For Fire--
(n.b., I will probably change the variable stems to CoC_IFA and CoC_IFU)
When the trigger is fired, the paladins would line up, and within about 2 minutes send off their fire mission.
3) our main system right now is a "radio system", where the mission designer places objects labeled radios in the map, and these objects have init EHs that interface with UA to addactions. The advantage is that, again, no scripting is required.
We also have a "ForwardObserver" guy -- just a regular soldierWB, but with some EHs that give him the actions he needs.
In other words, you can add the "radio menu" to any player you like with a simple addaction.
If you wanted to have it based on the ownership or not of those cool "Weaponized" radios that BAS and SEB use, well that's not in my control. You could easily script it in an individual mission:
A) on each client, poll every five seconds or so to see if the player has a radio. When the player has a radio, add the action to bring up the menu (currently: player addaction ["IF Radio", "\CoC_Arty\scripts\OpenMenu.sqs"])
B) once the player has a radio, poll to see if the player drops the radio. When that happens, run the script to shut down comms (currently [] exec "\CoC_Arty\scripts\end.sqs", but I'll probably change it to EndMenu or something).
Now, if you guys wanted to make it so that, say, all units in your BAS soldiers class automatically did this, all you'd need in addition would be:
C) An init EH that looked like this:
init = "if ((_this select 0) == player) then {[] exec ""\myaddon\radiomon.sqs""}"
where radiomon.sqs is:
~5
?CoC_IFRunning == CoCIF_Running then goto "Green"
exit
#Green
@CoCIFInit
#NoRadioLoop
?player hasweapon "MyRadioName":player addaction ["IF Radio", "\CoC_Arty\scripts\OpenMenu.sqs"]; goto "HasRadioLoop"
~5
goto "NoRadioLoop"
#HasRadioLoop
?!(player hasweapon "MyRadioName":[] exec "\CoC_Arty\scripts\End.sqs"; goto "NoRadioLoop"
~5
goto "HasRadioLoop"
simple, huh?
actually, maybe I better just slop something like that into the script library. :)
Oh, the plan is for things like CSAR to plug into the system. at least, I think they can ;)
hmmm.... maybe I better throw in a couple extra lines just to make sure :)
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Thanks for the detailed reply Dinger...can't wait to see this in action for myself.
How are you handling sound effects? Does each round have a sound effect?
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Quick question. You mentioned in the official forums that the scripts were designed for use with radios. As you may know, certain BAS Rangers and Deltas carry a radio as a "weapon". Although these weapons do nothing they were intended for mission designers to program them to allow only units carrying radios to perform certain actions (call for CSAR for example)
Would it be possible using your scripts to enforce a rule that only the player carrying a "weapon" radio could access the artillery firing task?
i'm still not sure how to make that work anyways :-\
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bn880 cooked up some sound effects for the M109
jostapo's got the MLRS SFX.
M252 currently is using stock OFP sounds
The doppler effects sound okay, but supersonic shells just don't sound right in OFP. You can tell the difference between high- and low-angle fire and whether a round is going to hit you, go long or go short.
The radio chatter is generic stuff (the non-debug-looking stuff in caps in the screenshots are sideradio messages, not sidechats), since my understanding of sideradio is that you can't combine radio messages on the same line (in other words, you can't string together say Hotel-Echo-Three-Two, and still be a sideradio). If I'm wrong about that, let me know.
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hehe. Grind_and_click -- you suffer from split personalities?
The answer to your question is:
Well, take a look at the preview. It shows firing shells 8500 m across the map and hitting with pinpoint precision. OFP's maximum visual range is 5000m.
So, in a word:
YES
aahhhhhh nniiiiiccceeeeev =D what do you think Grind?
yeah i think thats amazing totaly
but artillery shouldent always hit with presicion to be honest
by the way, you got somthing on your chin Grind....kinda...a little more....yeah there
thanks dude
yw
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Well, yes, precision, as my friend Harry would say, is said in many ways:
A) There is the precision of our simulation targeting routines. That is, when we fire a shell in OFP, this is the difference between where the computer tells us the shell will land and where it actually hits. This is what I was referring to when I mentioned "pinpoint precision". And actually, if you look at the screenshots, right now it's more like "living-room precision". We want this to be as precise as possible (and we're working to reduce this)
B) There is Precision Error -- which is the variance between rounds fired at the same spot ("dispersion" to those of you who like automatic weapons).
C) There is Bias Error -- which is the difference between the center of the pattern and the aimpoint , in other words, the variance of all rounds fired at the same spot, from the spot itself. This is why you have to adjust fire.
Now, obviously, we can hide some of A) in C), but the more of this that we can control directly, the better. (it also allows for better user control/tweaking of this figures -- just set say CoCM109BER to whatever you like, and you're good).
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Wow, it's been a while.
****************************************
* Readme COC_UnifiedArtillery *
****************************************
This is the Chain of Command Unified Artillery v. 1.0 (Battle Kings).
After installing files, users should play the mission "UA Introduction", as this explains a lot about how UA works, and includes a voice-over tutorial.
UA Introduction (CoC_uaintro) also has an intro cutscene. Proper preparation is necessary. Before viewing the cutscene, ensure that the volume is set as loud as possible and any pants the user might have been wearing are removed and secured.
CoC_Uatut3 has a tutorial on adjusting fire.
stuff in Addons Directory (CoC_Arty.pbo) goes into your ofp/addons directory.
stuff in Missions Directory (ChainOfCommand Folder) goes into your ofp/Missions directory.
CoC_UAIntro.pbo is strictly single-player.
The others work as MP-coop as well:
CoC_UATut1.pbo (3 players)
CoC_UATut2.pbo (4 players)
CoC_UATut3.pbo (3 players)
CoC_UATut4.pbo (4 players)
CoC_UATut5.pbo (4 players)
CoC_UATut6.pbo (6 players)
stuff in MPMissions Directory (co@07 rainy season.BAS_I1.pbo, co@07shortstraight.seb_iatrang ctf@24 ua.pbo) goes into your ofp/MPMissions directory. Rainy Season requires BAS Tonal-Tango pack and BAS Ranger/Deltas. ShortStraight requires SEB NamPack2.
editorMission folder (UATemplate) goes into the ofp/users/username/missions directory.
There will be an update to v. 1.0.
Currently, we plan to include:
A) at least one updated skin.
B) different munition effects (VT and Time fuzes, ICM, DPICM, Smoke, Illum)
C) a transaction-based dialog system.
D) any bug fixes.
speaking of which, please report any bugs to me or on the CoC Forums (forums.thechainofcommand.com)
some known bugs:
A) On some very big missions (such as CoC_UATut6), after a certain amount of time, a Crash-To-Desktop will occur on Retry, or (in MP) on reloading the Briefing screen (#Restart). BIS has already been contacted about this one.
B) In multiplayer on a dedicated server, between rounds, the firing units elevate their barrels to 90 degrees. This does not effect the firing of the rounds; it just looks weird.
-dinger (dinger@thechainofcommand.com)
Vehicles in CoC_Arty:
SEB M252 Mortar
BAS M101 Towed Howitzer
DKM M109 Paladin (SP Howitzer)
UKF M270 MLRS
Other objects/units:
CoC_Radio
CoC_Obelisk
CoC_ForwardObserverW
CoC_ForwardObserverE
Websites:
The Chain Of Command
http://www.thechainofcommand.com/
UKF:
http://www.project-ukf.com/
DKM:
http://www.dkm-mod.mkdi.net/
BAS:
http://www.ballistic-studios.com
License Agreement
-----------------
...
Coming soon.
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For Immediate Release.
The Chain Of Command, in conjunction with SEB, Ballistic Addon Studios, Decisive Killing Machines and Project: UK Forces announces the release of Battle Kings: The Chain Of Command Unified Artillery 1.0.
The Chain Of Command Unified Artillery (UA) combines models from many of the top Operation Flashpoint addon studios with a single command and control system to deliver to the OFP world the first true, fully functioning artillery system.
CoC UA main page (http://www.website.thechainofcommand.net/coc_ua1.htm)
CoC Download Site offline (We used up our bandwidth)
Mirrors (more to come. If you would like to mirror, contact us):
Blackdog's Mirror (help test his bandwidth!) (http://www.ofpboneyard.com/coc_arty.zip)
http://www.ofpec.com/addons_depot/index.php?ID=440 (http://www.ofpec.com/addons_depot/index.php?ID=440)
http://flashpoint.nekromantix.com/downloads/CoC_Arty_100.zip (http://flashpoint.nekromantix.com/downloads/CoC_Arty_100.zip)
http://www.ofp.info (http://www.ofp.info)
In conjunction with the release of UA, PMC has released a new version of their 30-mission CoC Command Engine campaign, fully integrating the Unified Artillery addon:
http://flashpoint.nekromantix.com/downloa.....r5.rar (http://flashpoint.nekromantix.com/downloads/PMC_Command_Cmp_v1.0b.r5.rar)
UA Features:
•   Persisting shells and rockets that fly ballistically to their target, up to 32 kilometers away (and, should the need arise, even farther).
•   Painstakingly detailed fire and recoil effects.
•   A single, unified command and control system.
•   Streamlined Mission Editor deployment: just place the objects on the map and go. No scripting required.
•   Built in Functions for one-line scripted operation of artillery.
•   Laser Designator/Rangefinder support.
•   10 missions included.
•   Targeting system uses a neural network for low overhead and high accuracy.
•   Can support user-made dialogs.
•   Dynamic structure enables additional modules (CoC and third-party) to "plug in" to the UA core features and interface: no need to update the .pbo to add new units!
•   Required Monolith object graces the landscape of OFP.
•   Multiplayer compatibility for all features.
Vehicles in CoC_Arty:
SEB M252 Mortar
BAS M101 Towed Howitzer
DKM M109 Paladin (SP Howitzer)
UKF M270 MLRS
Other objects/units:
CoC_Radio
CoC_Obelisk
CoC_ForwardObserverW
CoC_ForwardObserverE
***************************************
* Readme COC_UnifiedArtillery *
****************************************
This is the Chain of Command Unified Artillery v. 1.0 (Battle Kings).
After installing files, users should play the mission "UA Introduction", as this explains a lot about how UA works, and includes a voice-over tutorial.
UA Introduction (CoC_uaintro) also has an intro cutscene. Proper preparation is necessary. Before viewing the cutscene, ensure that the volume is set as loud as possible and any pants the user might have been wearing are removed and secured.
CoC_Uatut3 has a tutorial on adjusting fire.
stuff in Addons Directory (CoC_Arty.pbo) goes into your ofp/addons directory.
stuff in Missions Directory (ChainOfCommand Folder) goes into your ofp/Missions directory.
CoC_UAIntro.pbo is strictly single-player.
The others work as MP-coop as well:
CoC_UATut1.pbo (3 players)
CoC_UATut2.pbo (4 players)
CoC_UATut3.pbo (3 players)
CoC_UATut4.pbo (4 players)
CoC_UATut5.pbo (4 players)
CoC_UATut6.pbo (6 players)
stuff in MPMissions Directory (co@07 rainy season.BAS_I1.pbo, co@07 shortstraight.seb_iatrang ctf@24 ua.pbo) goes into your ofp/MPMissions directory. Rainy Season requires BAS Tonal-Tango pack and BAS Ranger/Deltas. ShortStraight requires SEB NamPack2.
editorMission folder (UATemplate) goes into the ofp/users/username/missions directory.
There will be an update to v. 1.0.
Currently, we plan to include:
A) at least one updated skin.
B) different munition effects (VT and Time fuzes, ICM, DPICM, Smoke, Illum)
C) a transaction-based dialog system.
D) any bug fixes.
speaking of which, please report any bugs to me or on the CoC Forums (forums.thechainofcommand.com)
some known bugs:
A) On some very big missions (such as CoC_UATut6), after a certain amount of time, a Crash-To-Desktop will occur on Retry, or (in MP) on reloading the Briefing screen (#Restart). BIS has already been contacted about this one.
B) In multiplayer on a dedicated server, between rounds, the firing units elevate their barrels to 90 degrees. This does not effect the firing of the rounds; it just looks weird.
-dinger (dinger@thechainofcommand.com)
Websites:
The Chain Of Command
http://www.thechainofcommand.com/ (http://www.thechainofcommand.com/)
UKF:
http://www.project-ukf.com/ (http://www.project-ukf.com/)
DKM:
http://www.dkm-mod.mkdi.net/ (http://www.dkm-mod.mkdi.net/)
BAS:
http://www.ballistic-studios.com (http://www.ballistic-studios.com)
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Nice work!
I reckon this'll be good for recon special forces missions, go behind enemy lines, set up an OP, and call in artillery on the target.
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Great Job!!! I had no idea BAS was working on artillery. Well, it is an excellent job from everyone, I don't even want to think about how long it took to make the scripts, addons, etc.
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Awesome work guys. Not only does it work like a charm, it's a lot easier to set up than Snypir's support pack for us wannabe mission makers :thumbsup:
:cheers:
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About time someone made this. Although a little hard at first (Should of read the manual) what a great addon! Thank you guys so much for this.
On a lighter side I would like to hear more radio chatter, pops and hisses, a little more infromation, kinda like "Roger observer!. System moving to said cords." mabey some background noise: people, computers, gears, men shouting. But other than my own wants It ROCKS!
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But in real life you don't have that much radio chatter; I worked in comms, and in a combat situation you try to keep the talking to a minimum.
I like the pack the way it is - I've always liked the MLRS. Was that bomblet warheads I saw? ;D
Will it work with a full four-unit battery of them?
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Just wondering, how hard is it to make compatible units? I'm just keen to see some 2S19s, 82mm mortars and BM-21s supporting the East. Some old artillery pieces would be nice for the Resistance too, stuff like Su-152 and big towed guns :)
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hi everyone !
it is possible to find a complete tutorial for using arty in the ofp editor?
tnx !
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It's the CoC UA QuickHelp document that has all of that stuff.
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Mission Editor resources:
A) Quick Help. Start here. This will get you familiarized with UA.
B) mission editing.txt: this has a bunch of tips for doing things like AI control, AI FOs and so on.
C) CoC_Arty_Documentation: this is the master list of everything. It's a little daunting, but if you go to the function section, maybe it'll be a little clearer.
You can also UnPbo the tutorial missions.
UA02, UA04, UA05 and UA06 each have enemy fire control systems of varying complexity.
UA06 has an observer system.
And you can post to the coc forums with specific problems.
And I"ll probably kick up some templates in a while.
MLRS airbursts a bunch of DPICM bomblets, yes.
We made a design decision with the UA that each MLRS unit be commanded separately. This is largely because the limitations of OFP make one MLRS plenty powerful. Other reasons are that A) MLRS batteries tend to be dispersed over a 3km by 3km area of operations. B) a fire mission from such batteries would usually involve separate aimpoints for each launcher, and probably multiple aimpoints. Even if B isn't the case IRL, the UA MLRS has enough accuracy that it's necessary.
Still, you can put three MLRS units on the map, set up AMC fire missions and launch them all at once.
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MLRS airbursts a bunch of DPICM bomblets, yes.
We made a design decision with the UA that each MLRS unit be commanded separately. This is largely because the limitations of OFP make one MLRS plenty powerful. Other reasons are that A) MLRS batteries tend to be dispersed over a 3km by 3km area of operations. B) a fire mission from such batteries would usually involve separate aimpoints for each launcher, and probably multiple aimpoints. Even if B isn't the case IRL, the UA MLRS has enough accuracy that it's necessary.
Still, you can put three MLRS units on the map, set up AMC fire missions and launch them all at once.
I'm trying to stop drooling, but with very little success... Is the toxicity of the exhaust plume simulated, or will troops be able to walk around a firing launcher?
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A) it is working now. Grab your MLRS and go.
B) we investigated toxicity and backblast, but unfortunately, it wasn't feasible at the moment.
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so how does soem one "plug in" other add-ons into the inter face?
is there any plans to add in airsport interface like this art one?
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This Addon Is Brilliant CoC
great job
the only thing that would make this better is if u added a shockdust script(if there is such a thing) so that the m109 paladin kicked up a shit storm when it went off and also if it had a sound that made the heavens tremble. :)
Tim writes m109 on his christmas wish list
Thanks
Tim
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A) it is working now. Grab your MLRS and go.
B) we investigated toxicity and backblast, but unfortunately, it wasn't feasible at the moment.
Hmm, do we have one of those "we are not worthy" smileys on this forum?
Oh well.
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Played with it and haven't found any bugs :thumbsup:
My only little trivial suggestion is to make the impact sounds LOUDER! Those little thumps, IMO, are wholly insufficient. We need earth-shattering, eardrum-popping BLAMMOs when those rounds hit ;D
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YES! We want BLAMMO! ;D
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The sounds of the shells incoming are SO COOL! When you hear the shell coming in it like "OH yeah bad guys you F'd" Also the far away booms from the cannons/missles. I do think a bigger BOOM when they hit the ground would be nice. But that might just be a OFP engine thing. The dust and stuff being kicked up when something fires is great too. Great addon!
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must stop messing around...
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what aboot air burst rounds or is that impossible from the OPF engine..
and what cna be used to rearm this things?
normal ammo truck or what?
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VT and TIME Fuzing scripts are in there, just not plugged in. VT fuzing is a little dodgy in OFP (and would require a small amount of cpu power, but multiply that times a barrage...).
Originally planned to have custom rearm jobs. But yeah, an ammo truck otta work.
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Another great addon from CoC i see ;)
one step closer to making OFP a 100% battlefield simulation ;)
* Fooling around in editor all day long :P *
anyway Great Job ;)
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Hmm.... I see a lot of work was put into this and it works great and all...
But what is wrong with "simulating" artillery using camcreated shells above the target? I mean, how can you even tell the difference between "fake" and "real" arty if you didn't make the mission? After all, the only thing you end up seeing is the explosions anyway, and to me they look the same as the fake arty kind. And since the sounds of the guns firing or the shells flying towards the target can also be easily simulated, why bother with the whole UA thing anyway?
I don't mean to put down your work or anything, I just honestly don't see the difference between this and "simulated" arty. I only ask because I was thinking about including this in a mission I'm making.
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because it makes things easier and simpler.
plus it is easier for the player to control.
plus multiplayer as well..
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Hi Barron,
that's a good question, and that was my first reaction when jostapo suggested we do UA.
I can say that I didn't fully realize the difference between the two until I started setting up test missions with UA.
As you know, I also did a pretty involved camcreated artillery suite.
So let's leave out everything else, and ask:
what advantage does the UA ballistic system have over making the artillery fire fake shells and camcreating shells over the target? Why bother with all these fancy 2-minute TTL hacks and neural nets? How can you tell the difference?
Well, I see five major advantages.
A) Sound. In spite of what might be thought, you can't "fake" dynamic 3D sound. You get all kinds of sounds: Shells passing overhead on their way to a target 1km away, the different sounds of High- and Low-angle fire. With the doppler and some experience, you can tell if a round is going to go long, short or hit you. And that sensation 3 seconds before impact of "I'm going to eat this one" is priceless.
B) Trajectory. Believe it or not, RL artillery shells don't fall straight down. Artillery works very differently on slopes or in object-rich environments like towns. Try hitting a hilltop with low-angle howitzer fire in UA, or take shelter behind a big building during a barrage. Yes, you could just spawn shells and setvelocity them in the general direction, but at that point, you lose the advantage of precision.
C) AI interaction. When a unit is killed by a UA HE round, the firing unit gets credit for the kill. EVen better, the AI becomes aware of the firing unit. That means that an incoming round triggers AI "under attack" actions, which doesn't really occur with created shells. Also, if the AI's on guard, and the unit's close, they'll even go and take out the offending artillery.
D) Added depth. Most people are just going to use UA and shoot with it, but for those who want to become experts, UA can be rewarding. For example, the dynamic nature of UA means that the pattern of shell hits varies across ranges. Thus a skilled observer will take into consideration range, terrain and target type in setting up a fire mission. And someone could "read" the sheaf and guess where the enemy shell is.
E) Realism. Anytime you fake something (And we all have that need from time to time), you limit the "suspension of disbelief" element. Yes, it's true I'm biased: I've made missions with both sorts of artillery, and I know darn well what the differences are.
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Yes, and General Barron it also depends on the mission type you are designing. For example my "passion" is having artillery assets as secondary objectives that also keep interfering with your main objective. Having this UA changed my mission(s) completely now that I am converting over. It really is a huge bonus to watch and listen to the artillery fire. Then the shells fly out/in, I find it amazing myself now that i have tried it in my own mission. (not just design/testing)
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Good points. Especially point C in Dinger's post. I hadn't thought of that; but I have been trying to make the AI act as if they are under attack during my fake arty bombings. Maybe there is a good reason to use UA....
However, I'm really not too fond of the interface used to control the arty. I'd rather have a more streamlined system. I guess it's nice when you have many different types of I.F. assets at your disposal, but it seems kinda clunky if you only have one type. Pardon me for not reading the editor's manual yet, but is there a way to use this via my own system for calling for fire? If not, I can't really use it in my own missions.
Oh, and as an aside;
What is a neural network? I've seen the term thrown around by you CoC guys, but I have no idea what that is. Sorry, maybe I'm the only under-grad in the room, but I am curious. ::)
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What is a neural network? I've seen the term thrown around by you CoC guys, but I have no idea what that is. Sorry, maybe I'm the only under-grad in the room, but I am curious. ::)
Here is the CoC unified Doccumentation page over time all our doccumentation will be migrated to it.
http://www.thechainofcommand.com/docs/ (http://www.thechainofcommand.com/docs/)
Click on COC_LIBANN for a full explanation of the CoC Neural Network and how it works.
In general Neural Network or NN is a form of Artificial Intelegence, basicly it imitates the animal brain and the neurons/nodes that model the outside environment and use it to make decisions about how to interact with it. It learns first of all by trial and error.
In UA then it has learned how to fire a shell so that it will hit a target in the OFP environment. The closer it gets to the target the bigger reward it recieves the futher away it is the bigger punishment. You learned how to walk in exactly the same way.
The major advantage is that this mathmatical model of the world outside is much smaller than that world or in the case of UA the fire tables used to fire a shell. It is also more accurate as OFP world physics cuts a few corners too and being an adaptive system the NN takes acount of it.
Like you I think the major advantage of CoC UA is that the OFP AI reacts to it. Seeing AI units stand around while CamCreated shells fell among them always anoyed me. With CoC UA they will actualy duck as soon as they are aware of incoming rounds and they will even run for cover. I think it is only a matter of time before the OFP AI starts putting a guy with Radio at the top of the kill list ;D
It is however a whole realism package we have recieved an awful lot of praise from real artillery soldiers for it.
Kind Regards Walker
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The action menu interface:
Yes, it's clunky, and it's clunky for good reasons.
UA is supposed to work within the mission editor. That means we needed a system that worked without dialogs.
The design of UA then is that, at the absolute lowest level of functionality, there's an action menu system. Since at this level, the user changes settings on the fire mission on the fly, we had to include the acquire/release feature to prevent MP interaction.
But this whole interface is optional, and was designed to be superceded by a transaction-based dialog (which, alas, is still in development).
The dialog system would use the functions CoCfIFenumerateAssets to build a list of assets on a side, and whatever parses avails.sqf to get the list of options and default settings.
If you check the mission_editing text file, you'll find a variety of functions for control that run the major UA transactions (CoCfIFCallFire, CoCfIFFire, CoCfIFAdjustFire). All you need to do is call those functions wtih the appropriate values and it'll work.
If you want to use the UA radio system (for whatever reason), you can bypass the interface at the IF menu stage, by setting:
CoCIFDialogAvailable to TRUE
and
CoCIFdialogaddress to the directory of the .sqs file you want to run.
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I keep getting this error every time i use anything from the UA pack......something like "objet missing "obhum.pbo".....it still works but its really annoying that keep popping up!
any ideas?
Vyper
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Yes. This is an incorrect entry in the UA config.cpp conflicting with an incorrect entry in another config.cpp.
To fix:
A) make a backup copy of coc_arty.pbo
B) use PboTool or a similar program to uncompress CoC_Arty.pbo
C) Open the config.cpp with a text editor, and use the search feature to find the two entries that begin:
sounds[]
Delete those two lines (all the way to and including the semicolon)
D) use Pbotool or something and compress CoC_Arty to CoC_Arty.pbo.
That will fix it.
If that's too much work, you can always move CoC_Arty to your res/addons folder. that will give CoC_Arty priority and make the other addon give the error.
We will fix this and other errors in a patch.
BTW General Barron: If you've got only one CoC_arty asset on the map, you can have the player control it via a very simple interface, such as:
OnMapSingleClick "[CoCIFA0, [_pos]] Call CoCfIFCallFire"
(CoCIFA0 is the name assigned to the first UA asset. CoCIFA1 is the second, and so on).
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OF COURSE there's a difference betwen real and simulated rounds. Would you want to play with simulated bullets and vehicles. Are the islands simulated? What a question!
Ben