OFPEC Forum
Missions Depot => Mission Discussion => ArmA - Reviewed Missions => Topic started by: firecontrol on 06 Jul 2007, 03:00:46
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Please review me. :) Thanks to all at OFPEC for your great work!
----UPDATE #5---- :whistle:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v462/FireControl/OV1.jpg)
See intro here (http://www.mediafire.com/?dl1tdhcregi).
Name: The Raid
Version: 1.05
Type: Single Player
Game: Armed Assault v1.08 (non hotfix, should work w/ hotfix ok.)
Role: Squad Leader, 7 subordinates.
Island: Sahrani
Addons: - NONE
- Modern War Sound Mod from here (http://www.mediafire.com/?cnmnxlzz9i7) is 'required' for a better experience, as well as having the ability to clearly hear the beginning dialog. (HMMWVs are too loud w/o mod)
ZIP file size: 6.96MB
See readme.txt for changelog and other pertinent info. Caution: The changelog has spoilers.
This is my first mission, and would appreciate some beta testing as such. I wouldn't expect too much from the mission, as I am by no means a great mission maker, but I did have fun playing it.
Thanks to those who have tested already! I will of course test for you if needed and add you to the credits.
Be sure to remove the old version, or be sure which one you click when selecting the mission.
Since the zip is just over the attachment limit:
New Download: The Raid v1.05 (http://www.mediafire.com/?8x2j30mmdsj)
This thread contains spoilers! Play before reading if you don't want to know. :)
Thanks guys/gals!
-FireControl
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Overview
The overview was good. A fine description of the mission, author's details on the bottom... I also
liked the image. It did fit well in the overview area.
Intro
The intro was fine. Nothing special but it'll do. I liked the scene where the tanks were being filmed. ;)
Briefing
The briefing was pretty good. Had a lot of useful information and notes. No spelling mistakes found.
Mission
I took myself an M136 and we headed to the town with hummers. We took position in the south and
eliminated some enemy armor. I tried to board one dammaged T-72 but I got a note that I can't use it.
Shame... After some fighting, we defeated the enemy. Then I got the radio message about the artillery.
We headed for it on foot. First we attacked the outpost east of the artillery position. Then we had
a little fire fight in the artillery position itself. After a couple of tries, we finally disabled them.
Then I got the radio message about the SCUD launcher. Damn, that squad is being hazed around a lot. :confused:
I took an ural from the outpost, which we first attacked, and boarded my team into it. We took position from the
hill north of the SCUD. I gazed up for some targets and spotted some friendly tanks in the west, but
how could I call them? I had a couple of tries but I couldn't go on. Not without the armor support.
Debriefing
Didn't complete the mission.
Summary
So far it seemed a very nice mission. Very challenging and should keep the player busy for at least
30 minutes. A very nice mission for your first one. You seem to have some knowledge about mission
making already. Keep it up!
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Thank you very much for the test and the kind words! The tanks are 'called' when you meet them at the rally point, which is right there near them.
I'll have to try to make it clearer that you need to meet up with them. Let's see.. there was a radio message saying to meet them at the rally point and a map marker. Did they not fire for you? Any ideas how I can improve on that?
I agree that your squad gets hazed around a bit, poor buggers. But that's what happens when you're some of the only ones on the island! heheh.
Thanks again!
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Overview
The overview was concise and I really liked the picture
Briefing
I liked the briefing, again all the info that was required was there.
No weapon selection though.
Mission
A few of my squad were without rifles (?), my No. 2 Sgt. Hill was only loaded with ammo- I thought we were in the middle of a patrol?. Anyway, split them in to two fire teams and boarded the two HMMWs. Arrived in Somato in the nick of time to stop the garrison being creamed - most of these guys were without weapons also. A brief fight ensued but was over fairly quickly. I then received the order to silence the artillery bringing down the barrage. I skirted the site of the Special Forces ambush to approach the artillery position from the South East. Got into a bit of a skirmish as I neared the artillery position and lost two men to the BMP2 skulking in the depot. The firefight around the artillery got pretty hectic and I got surprised by an enemy squad coming back through the depot I'd just cleared from the East.
I hit the same stumbling block as Relikki with regard to the M1s, when it came to taking out the SCUD. Although I came at it from a more North - North East approach (between Cayo and the SCUD's position) and just got swamped by T72s. It would have been nice to coordinate with the friendly tanks to take the pressure off my beleagured squad.
Summary
So I didn't complete it either and as the time is now 0552 and I've got to be at work for 0830 I'll have to leave it there.
Pretty good mission though, I don't think it would take much to improve it. :good:
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First, thanks for the test! Appreciate it much.
No rifles!? That's new to me. I've never seen that before, in any mission. The infantry should all be standard, as in I didn't mess with them via removing weapons. Very odd indeed. All soldiers on the map should have weapons. I can't seem to duplicate it either, any special circumstances? Mods, Addons, etc?
Oh yeah, about the weapon selection.. I opted to make an ammo box at the insertion point instead, and there are some scattered around as well (the opfor version.) Do people generally prefer to have the weapons available during the briefing instead?
Same problem with the tanks as Rellikki, damn. The player is supposed to actually meet up with the tanks at the rally point, I thought that was pointed out. :( Maybe I'll have to add a radio trigger as well, in case people come from a different angle and don't want to go to the tanks.
In any case, thanks for the feedback! Looks like those Abrams are a sticking point. Noted!
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Ok I'll have a look through my addons folder although I always use mod folders a rogue file might have got loose.
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I'll have to try to make it clearer that you need to meet up with them. Let's see.. there was a radio message saying to meet them at the rally point and a map marker. Did they not fire for you? Any ideas how I can improve on that?
Oh, must have missed that. Yeah, you should make it clearer for the player. Maybe add an objective where he needs to meet at the rally point.
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Rellikkis template:D
Overview
I liked the overview. good image and contact information
Intro
I liked your camerawork, also the part where the officer is captured.
Briefing
The briefing was good. Think about a some gear. I don't like wasting my time on letting the stupid AI pickup some AT at the start of the mission. You loose to much time with that
Mission
I played the mission once till now, will try it again soon.
The start is a bit weird. You're on patrol, but with a big Ammobox on your shoulder, perhaps it's better to put the gear in the UAZ's.
I liked the way you arrive at the city. Death bodies all over the place, you have no idea where the enemy is. NICE:D.
Also the tanks seem to roll around and in the city which makes it extra challenging to spot. As soon as i finished the last T72 my team was completely whiped out (i'm no leader:() so i had to continue on my own.
Small min here, my mission plan was updated before the first shots arrived and the radio-message was shown. It would be better to set the objective 'active' after the radio message.
So there i was crawling injured towards the artillery. I killed 4 guys on the plain before the trucks. and moved further. Shot one guy at the house. I would love to see one guard sitting in it and coming out if you approach as a matter of surprise. One guy lay down under a truck so i demolished it.
This is the point where i stopped. You have to pass some enemy's and i couldn't make it on my own with only one legshot left for me to die.
Debriefing
Didn't complete the mission.
Summary
I liked the mission mostly because of the first part. Real nice setting. When i moved further on my own i noticed the AI of the soldiers on the plain does it's job, they are crawling so i couldn't hit them lying down. However they retreated with the 4 of them as soon as i started shooting.
Also the house where the UAZ's are could be better guarded. It's more realistic to have some guards at the gate than hiding in the bushes behind it.
Overall It's a nice one, haven't checked out further parts, but I hope to see the same quality there:D
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Thanks for the test!
You're on patrol, but with a big Ammobox on your shoulder, perhaps it's better to put the gear in the UAZ's.
Yeah, very true. Putting weps/ammo in the HMMWV would be nice, I'll probably just go for the briefing selection, easier.
I liked the way you arrive at the city. Death bodies all over the place, you have no idea where the enemy is. NICE:D.
I'm a big fan of chaos! :) Thanks
Also the tanks seem to roll around and in the city which makes it extra challenging to spot. As soon as i finished the last T72 my team was completely whiped out (i'm no leader:() so i had to continue on my own.
Yeah, I was a little afraid of that. I usually track tanks by sound (nice 5.1 surround headset does wonders!) But if you think about it, the tanks are at a severe disadvantage in the town... they can't maneuver as well, you have plenty of cover to run between, pop out and fire, and disappear again. Once I got the hang of the anti-tank warfare in the city, they can't touch me now. hehe. Just make sure to keep your AI safe! They're not the brightest, I usually hide them.
Small min here, my mission plan was updated before the first shots arrived and the radio-message was shown. It would be better to set the objective 'active' after the radio message.
Very true! Thank you.
So there i was crawling injured towards the artillery. I killed 4 guys on the plain before the trucks. and moved further. Shot one guy at the house. I would love to see one guard sitting in it and coming out if you approach as a matter of surprise.
Ah yes, that was originally a progressive respawn spot for the MP version of the mission. I'll do some conversions. :) Make it seem a bit more checkpointy.
Thanks for the good info.
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Updated with version 1.01.
See the readme.txt changelog. Caution: The Version History contains spoilers!
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Overview: Great pic.
Intro: Good intro. Music suited it well. Told the story. That officer was pretty dumb to drive up all the way to barricade.:)
Mission: This is a really good combined arms total action mission. The towns and bases are well populated. The place feels lived in...that's really good. Playing the V1.01, and now ATs are a little more scarce for the town defence. Had a rough time until I figured out to put my whole squad on the hill with ammo and 2 Hummer/MGs. Love the way mission changes dynamically...
Voice acting a little flat...but what the hell...we ain't pro actors... The lines are all good and informative. Flat voices might be masked/improved if blended with radio static (for the radio voices).
Cover alot of ground in this mission, but never get bored, because of varying objectives.
On scud takedown, the "Commence Abrams" dialogue was textual rather than sound. I chose to deploy with my 3 remaining mates around low rocks on road north of scud. It worked out pretty well...all abrams survived. But lost my mates. Sniper near town had a good angle on my rocks, and was quite a nuisance.
Plot twist was an excellent idea. RHIB "landing" was superb (my favorite part). I don't know if that happens the same way everytime, but it was wicked to watch, so I hope you planned it that way (don't want to spoil this with any further details).
By this point I was solo, and haven't quite survived the final cleanup. Tense moment on beach hiding behind a pebble so 2 tanks don't see me (see attached pic).
I have a scoped AK, and am wasting boocoo infantry, but one always manages to flank me and I get popped. Its late now and must crash. Will try to finish it later to see the outro.
This is one hell of a fun mission, and I would love to play this COOP with friends.
Keep 'em coming.
Johnnyboy Out.
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Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
The pic you attached reminds me of just about every time I've tested it. Although I've never been pinned all the way at the coast! Damn those tank crews! About that sniper... I just placed him up there randomly, but it's almost like he's in a perfect position to annoy the heck out of me. He always makes life hard for me when I've tested that part, and is tricky to take out.
Well, if anyone sees the credits at the end... I razz my voices a la "bad voice acting and crappy cutscenes by FireControl." Heheh. I really hate the radio messages, but didn't want to leave everything text-based. I'll have to modify them, or maybe even solicit some good voice actors at some point.
Thanks again for the feedback, much appreciated.
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hey Firecontrol,
I liked the mission too- i just gave it a try. The chaos at the beginning is good, I definitely like the fog of war feeling and being thrown into a hasty action. Very fun. Here are my less positive constructive criticism points:
Intro-- the camera angles and movements are a bit dizzying. I'm guessing you used camcommit 10 etc to move the camera around? Maybe just move the camera from point to point, using left control click and camera.sqs?
I could not find the ammo boxes right away, that seemed a bit random and unrealistic. Plus there were no AT weapons in the ones i found, so i had to wait for my AT guy to die before i could pick up an M136. By that time we'd been crushed. Also in terms of realism the enemy infantry attacks first without armor support? That seemed suicidal on their part.
But this is fun and i liked it, keep it coming
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Thanks Lee. :)
Yeah, my cinematic skills are severely lacking. Even if I understand how to do it technically, I'm really not all that artistic.
As far as the realism goes: I am a huge fan of realism, but for this (what started out as an MP mission just for some kicks for some friends and I) I fell more to the side of fast action with some pauses inbetween. The briefing weapon selection should have a couple M136's for you to disseminate, too.
Infantry assault without armor: This was supposed to be a very impromptu assault, as the enemy had to do what they could to attempt a rescue. The armor was misplaced by the SLA leadership. The plot later in the mission explains some of this. I suppose this comes back to a bad intro... I need to add more of a background. The outro explains plenty as well. (Again, sorry for the cinematic nightmare in the outro! lol)
Thanks for the feedback Lee. Still have plenty of work to do on this one here it seems. (Love the blooper reels you made btw.)
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Glad you liked the blooper reel, gotta finish teh voiceovers for the second one then i'll put it up on the Mission Discussion Forum.
Played The Raid again up to the artillery, this time paying attention to the player loadout (added some M136's for me and the squad!). Have to run out the door now but wanted to give more feedback on this Saturday when we have time to play around with this stuff!! Definitely loved the chaos again at the town and lost most of my squad, ironically to the surviving crewmembers of the destroyed BMP and the T-72. But i liked also how the battle goes on even after you leave- sometimes missions feel too "complete" at each stage when really you are just disengaging from one crisis to head to another more important crisis. That was cool.
The sudden artillery barrage was great-- very realistic. And I understand what you meant in the last post about the SLA attacking ad hoc with what they had at the time, combined arms or not. I'm gonna have to de-PBO your mission and see how you got that going. The artillery area was pretty cool too watching them fire repeatedly.
I swung around the flank of the artillery and used my Humvee to batter down the fence. But when I got close, with just myself and two squad members surviving, i realized only under nightfall or excessive saving and reloading could I beat the machine guns, Shilka and arty crews. Maybe give the player some reinforcements if he's taken too much of a beating early on? Or call in an air strike or something to help out? If you decide not to though i understand, its my fault i let the squad get beat up so bad!
I really think is a great mission, add in some more voiceovers and maybe a better intro and it would probably get a really good rating. Those extra touches are really worth it and I think this mission is strong enough to justify the extra efforts :good: Will let you know more when i finish the rest...
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i didnt play it all..... as ArmA crushed wen i tried 2 reload a savegame (after gettin shot in da leg nd my medic died) but heres couple of (14) comments
start w/ intro
1) u use a white out 2 cut between scenes and have a white text shown in da white background
2) da camera work is iritating made me feel like dat :blink: ;) instead of camcommit 10 2 move between cameras use camcommit 0 play w/ dat also go here (http://www.ofpec.com/ed_depot/resource_details.php?page=0&all_rows=7&type=tu&cat=cu&res=50) if u dont know da camera.sqs script
briefing
1) da briefing feels 2 much as MP brief... as were playin SP remove da brieifng of da unplayable squad
2) also in da notes makes someting else instead of hints... mebe a diary or situation report
mision
1) playin on veteran nd bein 2 lazy 2 use compass on start of mision i run long way 2 da oposide side of da map (away from my objective) so mebe have da player start headin towards da objective
2) also it cud b nice 2 start closer 2 somato... maybe halfway dere already... it will save da player alot of x4 runnin around (ny part w/ x4 is not really good 4 da mision
3) decorate da ammo dumps a little... add a shed around dem or someting... dey look strange bein just thrown around da town
4) also if da russians r tryin 2 free da officer... u shud put him somewere in da town...
5) also have more dan 1 soldier as LAW soldier in da default loadout... 4 da lazy ppl who dont like choosin weapons 4 da whole squad
6) in da end of objective 1 u have text sayin its over... change dat 2 radio msg (use sidechat command)
7)in da msg at da end of 1st objective u say we stopped da reinforcments... while da city is still under attack... say we have more important mision or somin like dat
8) in da second base i think da soldiers shud try 2 engage me more... at da enterance i sniper da whole 2 squads (dey were 2 or 3 m not sure) while dey were far away.... dey come closer but just a lil bit... have em tryin 2 engage us... after dat i went 2 da arty place nd did da same... after getin bored of snipin (also it seems dey tried 2 flank me nd i thought dey run away so came closer) i got shot in da legs after i lost my medic
9) at dis stage ArmA crashed a loadin... (last savegame was just b4 engagin arty base).... so ill play da rest wen i have time (mebe on next ver :P or somin)
LCD OUT
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Thank you all for the replies! Much appreciated, all of you.
I'm working on version 1.02 now, and hope to have it uploaded tomorrow (Sunday.)
I hope that the new and improved intro will be to everyone's liking.... I agree the last one was horrible.
Thanks LCD for those tidbits! I'll look into changing some of those things you've mentioned.
I'm also tweaking certain things, that I've found whilst tooling around near the end of the mission as well.
I don't plan to change the outro, I like its simplicity. :)
Thanks again guys, you've been a GREAT help.
...stay tuned!
-Fire
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Greets firecontrol, just wanted to let you know you've got one more tester as soon as you upload v1.02, which is probably pretty soon, haha.
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Hey there MOAbner, thanks! Looking forward to your report. :)
On a side note: UPDATED! v1.02 is up, check initial post for download.
I completely redid the intro, and a few other little things based on the past few posts.
I need some feedback on the very end of the mission though. Johnnyboy was the closest to completing it, but I'd like some good info on how the end plays out. :) I'm certain there are plenty of bugs/annoyances there... you guys caught quite a few that I missed in the beginning of the mission.
What I need to do yet is add/modify the radio message (if anyone knows of a couple good voice actors please do tell!) I can't stand my "voice acting." :P
Thanks guys, love the community here!
(P.S. I will be doing much more beta testing for others as well, I've only done a couple so far. :( Been tied up with this damn mission.)
Hopefully 1.03 will be a review candidate!
EDIT: I'm aware of a small bug in version 1.02... I forgot to remove a hint displaying the _numUnits variable when you're near the arty position. :-[ Will be removed for 1.03! Also I believe I executed some auto savegames incorrectly... as such things may be slightly different than they were supposed to be if you load auto in certain parts. (i.e. the dynamic changes to the enemy in the arty position.) This will be addressed for v1.03 as well.
EDIT Again: Meant to ask.... I know for OFP missions there was an expectation to have an overview pic w/ a frame around it, since that's the way BIS did it... in ArmA, BIS has left the pics w/o borders, and I think it looks better that way as well. Are missions still rated lower if they don't have a border around the pics? What about contact info? I read the post with the excerpt of the reviewer's guide... but it was written with OFP in mind methinks. Please advise! :) Thanks.
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Regular, V1.08 FDFSounds, Truview Mod
Overview:
Perfect
Intro:
Nicely done, although there’s one slow-mo shot of a bloke running left background to right foreground that seemed to drag on a bit.
Briefing:
Seems ok
Mission:
Headed West and entered the town near the northern tip. Get an autosave and leg it to the ammo location at Eg60 and stock up on AT.
Spot a bmp, take him out, didn’t spot a t72 who takes me out.
And repeat…
I’m not doing too well at this. I seem to have a savegame where all the AI are dead apart from my group and there’s a T72 who’s on a mission to second guess my every move.
Finally get the bmp and t72, autosave, a volley of shells hits and I’m told to go get the artillery.
Headed west then south, took out the dudes on the gate
Got another autosave and a hint _num units 6
Spotted a bmp in the base, fired a rocket at him then moved in. Brief gun battle while my dudes were overlooking the base, After A LOT tm of retries I manage to get the artillery. This section of the mission feels a bit stagnant, there's dudes in the base which aren't going anywhere so I have to go right around the outside of the fence to snipe them before I can deal with the artillery.
I then get another objective. Seems a bit harsh when I only have 4 troops left now and have had to start scavenging for ammo.
It kind of went a bit weird at this point, number 8 was crawling and refused to get into any vehicles and number 5 insisted on climbing up and down a ladder on a building. So I left them to it.
Went to the rally point and started the m1’s a bit early so by the time I got to there they’d cleared the area. Went down to the scud, did that ;), on the way back I got sniped by a sneaky sob sniper.
Same as before but this time make sure he’s a goner nice and early, ran back to the exfil point, did that ;). Not sure what was going on in the next part to be honest, I just stood by where the boat was for a while watching the planes flying about.
Mission ended.
Outro:
Fine
I liked this, all the triggers seemed to go off ok, no error messages etc. The only thing I have issues with is the very end, it leaves the player a bit deflated after going through all that he has to just stand there wondering what’s going on and doesn’t get a proper exfil. I would suggest either leaving the a10’s out or let the boat do what the briefing says.
All in all though, good job.
Cheers
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Thanks for the feedback MrN! (Btw, still trying to finish your Dynamic War mission, it's a long one. hehe)
so I have to go right around the outside of the fence to snipe them before I can deal with the artillery.
By the way, to disable the artillery, you don't need to destroy the cannons. :) They don't operate themselves! Hint, hint. Hehe.
Seems like you got a bad string of luck w/ the AI. :( Sometimes they perform beautifully, the next they're blithering idiots... grr. About the end, yeah.. I'm still trying to tweak it, will give the player much more interaction in finishing the mission. I've got some tricks up my sleeve yet that I just thought of to throw in.. without making the mission any longer, that is. As it is now, you can just stay there and the A-10s will basically finish the mission... but it is really fun to get back up there and get dirty.
On a few occasions I've been fighting the T-72s from behind one of the sandbag fortifications, and a couple of them had me pinned good... all of the sudden here comes an A-10 screaming in from behind me, lighting them up with it's gun! Big satisfying explosions as the A-10 goes overhead... It was awesome... that's the kind of feeling I want to add to the end of the mission, I'll have to do some tricky scripting, but I know it can be done.
Thanks again for the feedback. :)
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hey Firecontrol,
Just finished 1.02 this morning!! :good:
Overview:
Good
Intro:
I loved the new intro cutscene! Well done. I agree with MrN that the slowmo of the US soldier and Stryker could be a few seconds shorter, but its a good scene and gets the player motivated for the mission.
Briefing:
Solid
Mission:
As usual half my squad got wiped out at Sumato, but I managed to duck in and out of the alleys and finish off the enemy armor. I used Fraps.com software to get some video captures. Very entertaining shots of me getting blown away several times by T-72's right after i shoot them or their surviving crew.
The machine gun crews at the Arty base all left and came around the fence to hunt me down (i again flanked the arty base from the south with my 3 surviving squaddies.) Eventually myself and my squad wiped out the infantry and then i cleaned up the arty-- see the youtube link i will post for some entertaining footage of me getting shot point blank by some of the arty pieces! :whistle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Es4DHjZD4
First few times charging with the M-1's i got killed on teh Scud attack, then i backed off and drew the infantry to me first. That worked better and then i managed to get into the Scud hut. Three M-1's survived, then i took off for the boat. With getting killed about 15 times etc took me 2 hours. Great fun though this is really a fantastic mission. Only bug was when i got to the arty base south fence a hint came up that said 3 squadmembers left.
Outro:
I think once the A-10's come in you could do a cutscene of that instead of having the player by the boat or in harm's way. That would also be more satisfying. But this is a fantastic mission and I really enjoyed it!!!
PS i liked your credits but the voiceover acting was fine and the cutscenes are much better now! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9Es4DHjZD4
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Wow, thanks Lee! Always love to see video. Hehehe. I think you've inspired me to make one too!
Here's a list of the changes sofar for 1.03:
== 1.03 - Removed a debugging 'hint' from view.
- Adjusted timings on the intro.
- Added a 'reinforcement squad' which brings the player's squad numbers up to 10 after defeating the arty.
- Updated the 'endgame.' Made it a little more involved, exciting (hopefully.)
- Added more radio sounds.
- General clean-up of the mission folder, removed unused scripts, deleted unused global variables, etc.
- Slight dynamic clean-up, i.e. in-game removal of triggers/global variables after becoming defunct.
Hopefully all these little things are addressed to everyone's liking, and I hope to release a review candidate this weekend barring any major show stoppers.
EDIT: I uploaded v1.03. I decided to take your advice, Lee, and make the end-part a cutscene. :) Hope all is well!
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heya :D
finally got 2 it... ive played nd wrote on paper any thing dat i thought needed changin/editin/improvin/commentin/sayin :P
start from da intro
1)it sayz on my paper top-top :D :cool2: i like
briefing
1) da notes section is good now... but i still think u need 2 remove da spec ops briefing :P its not MP no1 is playin da specops
mission :
1) still have problem w/ initial player placement (alwayz been lazy nd not love runnin long) also have da player start facing da objective and not da oder way around :P
2) i once had da tanks stuck in da ambush position (i retried dat part about 10 times ::)) it didnt explode... but i just waited and waited (i think it took 5 mins) till a sniper got me :no:
3) i still think u need 2 remove da text saying what objective i completed 2 a radio text w/ player reportin on objective complete or HQ sayin dat objective is somplete :P
4) da ammo boxes do look nicer now :D
5) i still didnt see da officer hidden inside da city... didnt search 2 much tho :dunno:
6) da soldiers guardin da enterance of da arty base r dumb dumies... i think dey shud engage me or atleast try 2 do somethin.... its 2 easy 2 get close while prone till u can see deir heads and just pop em
7) also mebe have a squad comin 2 rienforce da entrance gate soldiers... its only 3 ppl now and da arty base itself is kinda easy if u clear it from above
8) da BMP inside da arty base is also static..... i shot it and missed and shot it again and it didnt move (I did get a direct hit from da arty tho ::)
9) dere are couple of soldiers just laying around da artilery... not moving and behind sandbags... da AI cant shot from behind da sandbags... also it seems da crew of 1 arty got out and tried 2 engage while da oders were just sitting inside it and tryin 2 take me down (it worked only when i was far away tho... twice)
10) maybe have a ammo box inside da arty base itself ?... im 2 lazy 2 go n search 4 RPGs 2 take da arty out
11) again use radio instead of text 2 inform of objective complete
12) also have a link pointin 2 da M1A1 marker...
13) was dere suposed 2 b any chase from da scuds location 2 da rhib ??? it seemed dat only da choper cared about me... and i got it usin a sterla from one of da ammo boxes :P
14) nice cutscene 2 finsh da mision... but i didnt understand da part of da airplane trying 2 shot a tank... maybe have some serious explosions or somin
outro
1) not alot in it.... just tellin us da end of da story... maybe have some firefight or somin ?
nice mision ;)
LCD OUT
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Thanks again for the time and effort, LCD!
Appreciate it much.
1) da notes section is good now... but i still think u need 2 remove da spec ops briefing :P its not MP no1 is playin da specops
I just wanted to let people know that someone else is out there actively trying to get the tanks.
1) still have problem w/ initial player placement (alwayz been lazy nd not love runnin long) also have da player start facing da objective and not da oder way around :P
But that's the way you were facing on your patrol... setting up a little checkpoint. Markers on the map are very clear that the fighting is SW, in Somato. I can add a waypoint... but I don't like playing w/ waypoints, as it takes away the feel of "I can do this any way I see fit."
Did you miss the two brand new HMMWVs sitting there right next to you? :) You shouldn't have to run anywhere in this mission, there are more unlocked vehicles than you can shake a large stick at. As a matter of fact, the only thing in this mission that I locked are the D30's. All tanks, cars, trucks, etc. are unlocked. Now you're not trained how to use certain things, being strictly infantry and all..... but you do know how to drive cars/trucks. :)
2) i once had da tanks stuck in da ambush position (i retried dat part about 10 times ::)) it didnt explode... but i just waited and waited (i think it took 5 mins) till a sniper got me
Crazy, it's almost like you and I have incompatible versions or something. In your mission the AI was really buggy, and that officer was nowhere to be found. In my mission the AI is really buggy for you.... In any case, all tanks that count toward completing an objective or flipping a trigger are set to (not alive, or not able to move, or not able to fire) so you don't need to destroy those disabled tanks. If I understand #2 above correctly, that is.
3) i still think u need 2 remove da text saying what objective i completed 2 a radio text w/ player reportin on objective complete or HQ sayin dat objective is somplete :P
I'll agree with you here.... looks like I'll be adding more voices/radio. Man this mission's gonna be 20 meg by the time we're done with it. Lol.
4) da ammo boxes do look nicer now :D
:good: Thanks for the idea.
5) i still didnt see da officer hidden inside da city... didnt search 2 much tho :dunno:
Well, in the MP version, a player (pilot) is supposed to pick him and his guards up from Somato. As I turned the mission into what it is now, the officer became more back story than anything. I figured if the officer was captured by SpecOps (See new intro) then they would have him somewhere covert, i.e. indoors., locked up, for "interrogation".
6) da soldiers guardin da enterance of da arty base r dumb dumies... i think dey shud engage me or atleast try 2 do somethin.... its 2 easy 2 get close while prone till u can see deir heads and just pop em
Those guys are the gate guards. They don't fall for diversions. They stay at their post like good soldiers. If you sneak up on them, they should be easy prey. Try driving a vehicle through that gate.
7) also mebe have a squad comin 2 rienforce da entrance gate soldiers... its only 3 ppl now and da arty base itself is kinda easy if u clear it from above
There is a fireteam just inside the first gate, they should respond (they do to me anyhow?)
9) dere are couple of soldiers just laying around da artilery... not moving and behind sandbags... da AI cant shot from behind da sandbags... also it seems da crew of 1 arty got out and tried 2 engage while da oders were just sitting inside it and tryin 2 take me down (it worked only when i was far away tho... twice)
There is a roving fireteam which patrols the perimeter of the arty position. They will usually flank you while you're concentrating on the arty. The soldiers in the 'pit' are ordered not to abandon the arty team.. they're the defensive fireteam.
10) maybe have a ammo box inside da arty base itself ?... im 2 lazy 2 go n search 4 RPGs 2 take da arty out
There is! Right by all the Urals. ;)
13) was dere suposed 2 b any chase from da scuds location 2 da rhib ??? it seemed dat only da choper cared about me... and i got it usin a sterla from one of da ammo boxes :P
Hahaha, there's only one Anti-Air missile on the whole island... nice find! Yes, there are tanks and a helo that will chase you.
14) nice cutscene 2 finsh da mision... but i didnt understand da part of da airplane trying 2 shot a tank... maybe have some serious explosions or somin
There are explosions. The A-10s take out the tank that the camera is attached to every time. I've watched it many many times, anyone else able to duplicate? Sounds like another problem with your Arma vs my Arma... :( It seems people w/ the Atari version have some problems with your mission, and maybe vice versa? Very odd indeed.
outro
1) not alot in it.... just tellin us da end of da story
Ah, but I like its simplicity. Anyone else think it's boring? I figured if it were all action packed, no one would read the story... and then come back with "I didn't understand why such and such happened..." ;)
Thanks again LCD. :clap:
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just wanted to let people know that someone else is out there actively trying to get the tanks.
its a good idea.. but u shud make it more pretty... u cud explain 2 da player how da defence works... or tell him 2 support da black-ops and say what dey r (num of soldiers... deir orders... whatever) but u dont need 2 brief da spec ops on da players briefing :P
But that's the way you were facing on your patrol... setting up a little checkpoint. Markers on the map are very clear that the fighting is SW, in Somato. I can add a waypoint... but I don't like playing w/ waypoints, as it takes away the feel of "I can do this any way I see fit."
Did you miss the two brand new HMMWVs sitting there right next to you? You shouldn't have to run anywhere in this mission, there are more unlocked vehicles than you can shake a large stick at. As a matter of fact, the only thing in this mission that I locked are the D30's. All tanks, cars, trucks, etc. are unlocked. Now you're not trained how to use certain things, being strictly infantry and all..... but you do know how to drive cars/trucks.
its not WP tingy... i dont use em :P its just dat i as reflex just start running foprward when da mision starts :P countin on da mision maker 2 point me on da right direction ::) :D not very wise... but it seems 2 make sense dat if u want som1 2 move in a direction u put him facing dat direction :D... as 4 da cars... i dont like movin in cars were it may b possible dat enemies r present :P
Crazy, it's almost like you and I have incompatible versions or something. In your mission the AI was really buggy, and that officer was nowhere to be found. In my mission the AI is really buggy for you.... In any case, all tanks that count toward completing an objective or flipping a trigger are set to (not alive, or not able to move, or not able to fire) so you don't need to destroy those disabled tanks. If I understand #2 above correctly, that is.
yeah dats what i meant... BIS is alwayz wierd :blink:
Well, in the MP version, a player (pilot) is supposed to pick him and his guards up from Somato. As I turned the mission into what it is now, the officer became more back story than anything. I figured if the officer was captured by SpecOps (See new intro) then they would have him somewhere covert, i.e. indoors., locked up, for "interrogation".
makes sense :D mebe metion sometin bout dat in da briefing (say dat da officer is just being interogated or somin)
There is a fireteam just inside the first gate, they should respond (they do to me anyhow?)
dey probably moved... cuz dey just wernt dere 4 me (they did on da 1st version i played)
There is! Right by all the Urals.
i told u im lazy... searchin is so much work :D ;)
there are tanks and a helo that will chase you.
mebe make da tanks move faster... or use a chase script... cuz dey just went 2 da scud pos and seemed 2 loose interest...
here are explosions. The A-10s take out the tank that the camera is attached to every time. I've watched it many many times, anyone else able to duplicate
it didnt explode just had alot of smoke around it on my comp... strange
LCD OUT
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The Raid - ArmA v1.08 Veteran Mode
Package
A great example to others! Includes a picture, readme and the mission. May I suggest that you rename the image to "TheRaid.jpg" or something like that.
Overview
Good picture, don't like the title ALL CAPS. Text and modest advertising are fine.
Intro
Starts with good music and sets the right atmosphere. However, the scene with the civilian on the ground (please try to let him stand, looks better) is the final. Won't continue from there on.
Briefing
Like the notes section, enough information present in the plan section. Map is well layed out and has enough information for the player, while not being too crowded. Weapon selection is quite extensive, maybe a bit too much weapons present for the setting (we're on a patrol).
The objective is clear. One thing, I don't understand why you want me to defend the city and help the Spec. Ops at the same time?
Mission
I find it strange that the HMMWVs are parked off the road, why not let us start inside the hummers? That would look a lot more realistic to me. There is quite a lot of lag on my PC once I enter the city, please look into it. Maybe you could do something to reduce it, like deleting some objects or spawning them when needed.
As I arrive it's all quite hectic, a big chaos. I like that, but would prefer it if you could make the defending forces more like a perimeter set up by them. So that the player has a bit more time to set up his men. Another thing, maybe you could add more default AT soldiers? Right now I've only got one and with three tanks coming up that is not too much. Gave myself an M136 Launcher and badly needed it.
Had a lot of fun fighting the tanks, haven't seen too much infantry, most were killed while fighting friendlies. Lost a few guys in squad during the defence of Somato. Had to do with tanks coming up really fast before being able to reload my AT :).
As I disabled the last tank, there was a titleText coming up. Could you change this to a radio message? That looks more realistic, maybe a message of the Team leader contacting HQ?
I like it that you have a 2nd objective for me. Noticed that the MG near the entrance was unmanned. Liked the patrols on my way there. Moved on foot from there and eliminated half a squad of SLA troops in the base before the artillery field. Then the pain started, disabling those field guns. It took me quite a few loads in order to eliminate the guns. Like the artillery script you are using, but noticed that the guns stopped firing after a while.
Hmm another objective. Good that you bring me some reinforcements, had only two men remaining thanks to the artillery shells being fired at my position. May I suggest that you put in a savepoint on the way towards the 3rd objective? That could save a lot of time for some people who manage to get themselves killed upon arriving at the 3rd objective.
Like tackling the defensive positions of the SLA here along with the M1A1s. Lost five of my men in the fight, enjoyed the long range fighting however. It was good and took me a few loads in order to complete.
Shot the chopper with an RPG on the way towards the beach. Liked the cutscene that followed and the course of events taking place. Noticed something in this mission outro: "qualed to fly" -> "qualified to fly"?
Outro
Fine, nice way of ending the story / mission.
Overall
Enjoyable. Only a few things can be improved.
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Thanks Cheetah! This feedback is mostly in line with what I'm doing now for 1.04, along w/ LCD's feedback.
Intro
Starts with good music and sets the right atmosphere. However, the scene with the civilian on the ground (please try to let him stand, looks better) is the final. Won't continue from there on.
The intro wouldn't complete you mean? I'll have to see why. :scratch: The Civilian can stand instead, I was debating this myself. Thought it looked kinda neat if they had him pulled out of the car lying on the ground.
Briefing
The objective is clear. One thing, I don't understand why you want me to defend the city and help the Spec. Ops at the same time?
Aaah yes, I've changed that already, made a new briefing to make things a little clearer here. One of LCD's sticking points too! hehehe.
Mission
There is quite a lot of lag on my PC once I enter the city, please look into it. Maybe you could do something to reduce it, like deleting some objects or spawning them when needed.
Sure, I can try to optimize a bit more. If you check out the mission in the editor, there's not really all that many things in there. I create a lot of things on the fly already. That's one of the reasons I start the squad somewhat "far" from Somato, to allow the mission to initialize a bit. I'll see what I can do to ease the demands on older PCs.
As I disabled the last tank, there was a titleText coming up. Could you change this to a radio message? That looks more realistic, maybe a message of the Team leader contacting HQ?
Yes. :) In the works! I'm gonna get a sore throat from all this voice recording, lol! I am never satisfied with the way they sound, so I end up recording each one like 20 times to get a half way decent one.
It took me quite a few loads in order to eliminate the guns. Like the artillery script you are using, but noticed that the guns stopped firing after a while.
Yeah, they can be tricky. I have them set up so that if one is disabled or otherwise not firing at Somato, then they are free to defend themselves. Seemed a little better than having them ignore the incoming fire and keep shelling. An easy way for me to kill them is to have one of my guys take an SPR from the briefing, and I'll swing him all the way around the North side of the arty to the West side. There's a hole in the fence back there... he can lay down in the shrubs and pop the arty crews while I peek out around the buildings to the East to draw their fire.
May I suggest that you put in a savepoint on the way towards the 3rd objective? That could save a lot of time for some people who manage to get themselves killed upon arriving at the 3rd objective.
Absolutely. If one isn't in there then it's a mistake, I thought I did. :-[
Shot the chopper with an RPG on the way towards the beach. Liked the cutscene that followed and the course of events taking place. Noticed something in this mission outro: "qualed to fly" -> "qualified to fly"?
"Qualed" or "Qualled" is a shorthand term we use to refer to "Qualified" yes. Since it was radio chatter I figured I'd make it semi 'realistic' without being incomprehensible... military speak can sound like a foreign language sometimes. :) I've avoided a lot of military jargon in this mission tho. Maybe I'll make the text "standard" and the voices "milspeak"???
Thanks again Cheetah, much appreciated. :good: Good advice here.
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@Tackling the artillery
Flanked them from the.. north I think. Had a satchel so used it to destroy a section of the fence after which I used M203 grenades to finish of the gunners I couldn't see (shielded by the gun's plating). And with my M4 ACOG I got all the others I could see. Once in position it was pretty easy, but getting into position and getting myself to use the 'good' tactics took a while. Sometimes an direct attack is a lot more fun, couldn't complete it that way though.
@Qualed
I suggest that you do the radio text in non-military and the speech in army slang.
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Downloading now...looking forward to it!
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v1.08, Regular (Cadet) level
- Overview looks fine, good picture and clear text. Mission objective - defend the city - sounds simple, something tells me it's not going to be...
- Intro very strong and atmospheric - and the AI seems to work as you'd want! Just wondered whether a voice-over would be better than text, am sure someone could do it for you if you don't fancy doing it yourself!
- Briefing - short, and to the point - like a classic OFP briefing. Nice to have the lack of heli support explained. Loadout of the team looks fine although numbers 7 & 8 have 2 pairs of NV goggles for some reason.
MISSION
- Start next to two Humvees. Was thinking maybe a radio message from the town garrison might be good here? Not much of a sense of urgency.
- We hop in the Hummers and drive to town, as soon as we hear the sound of gunfire I stop the vehicle I'm driving and we disembark. Almost immediately the game saves. Up to this point not much has happened - wondered if maybe we could have started in the town itself, or perhaps some dialogue to cover the drive in and create a sense of anticipation over what's coming up?
- Just south of us a US squad is coming under fire, I get my guys in line formation and we engage a small SLA patrol. Using burst fire I manage to get through a whole clip in about 3 seconds, but we take the patrol out with no casualties.
- We then move south out of the town to the SpecOps team. Sound of vehicles in distance, no contact yet.
- Then I get on top of the rise to the right of the road and we see the armor coming in. One of our guys takes out one of the T-72s, but I miss the other one and it takes me down with its machine gun. Reload.
- This time as we clear out the SLA patrol in the woods we get a nice bit of radio from the other squad. It's cool, adds atmosphere.
- I take a hit - good to have a medic in the team for a change!
- I set my team up on the outskirts of the town; with 3 M136 launchers in the team we easily take out the first T-72 but I catch another damn bullet! Pull back to my medic and heal myself - again...
- I fix myself up and move back out to the line. No bad guys in sight but there's still the sound of armour somewhere behind the hill.
- We move up to the hill. The rest of the SLA armour is static south of the town. We leg it back to the line - I'm expecting them to push forward any moment.
- We take out the last of the armour and another team reports on the radio that they're taking artillery fire. I get my team together and we head East. Got to stop playing at the minute - will carry on asap. Enjoying the mission so far!
LATER:
- We head out east, following the line of the road, and take out the gate guards at the base.
- We head to the main base compound, and see the D-30s on the other side of it. Compound itself looks pretty quiet, so we move on through. Take out a BMP and a few grunts.
- The artillery target is very well defended and was a nightmare to attack frontally! Ended up borrowing an RPG-7 and the offroad truck in the base and driving round to the Northern flank, leaving my team in the base mopping up infantry. Shilka toasted, I snipe around at the G-30s. I think I've destroyed them all but nothing happens - then notice one last rather pointless man sitting behind a gun not doing anything. Waste him, and the mission moves on.
- Move back to base and call in Charlie, no problems. Maybe some chat when the guys arrive as well as on the radio would be good here?
- Hop in the truck and head South to meet the Abrams, after a couple of minutes a hint comes up saying they're ready. Should this be another radio message?
- Immediately after typing this I get blown up by something! Fortunately saved the game after the artillery objective, but it might be good to have an autosave here maybe?
- Try a different tack this time and move in down the road North of Cayo. We disembark the truck in the hills.
- I move closer on my own to scope out the area. Lots of infantry and a couple of tanks, but at least they're out in the open. The SCUD installation looks very foxy from 1k out! ;-) Wish I had a sniper rifle in this situation though...
- Its a small point, but from my recon position at EF69 I can see the installation, and the Abrams tanks. The Abrams aren't visible from the SCUD point I don't think, but there's a four-man patrol to the west just standing still, if they moved they'd see the tanks.
- I get my loons to hold fire and I set them up on the road to the North, ready to attack.
- Great twist - suddenly instead of victorious heroes we're running as fast as we can. I think about using one of the MG positions to try and take down the chopper, but given how slim the chances are I decide to keep running!
- Man, this is not a good day - when the RHIB goes up I get a proper feeling of, oh sh*t, I'm going to die. Then the message comes through to hold on for the A-10s. Is hope on the way?
- I call my medic to help me - and we cut to the ending cutscene. This looks great, AI again seeming to do what you want. I'd have liked to have had the opportunity to pay the Slags back a little more though!
- Outro - satisfying end to the mission's story. Camerawork very simple but effective!
OVERALL
- This is a classy mission, particularly in its use of reversals and hidden objectives. Just when you think you know what's going on, it switchbacks and you're in a whole new situation. My only slight gripes might be 1) savegames are applied inconsistently - maybe instead call them in after each objective? 2) I know you're working on this already, but it would be worth following through on voice acting for voice overs and radio transmissions throughout. Otherwise, already a very enjoyable, challenging and rewarding mission. Nice one mate!
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Hey there! Thanks for the test! Appreciate the feedback, good stuff.
- Intro very strong and atmospheric - and the AI seems to work as you'd want! Just wondered whether a voice-over would be better than text, am sure someone could do it for you if you don't fancy doing it yourself!
I had pondered this, I think it would be a lot better. Anyone know that guy who does the movie trailer voice? :) Or, if anyone wants to do some voices for the intro/outro... (someone with a Sahrani accent?) ;) I'd be much appreciative! European, Latin, or Slavic accent would do nicely methinks. Big shiny spot in the credits, and the starring role in the sequel to The Raid if you do!
- Briefing - short, and to the point - like a classic OFP briefing. Nice to have the lack of heli support explained. Loadout of the team looks fine although numbers 7 & 8 have 2 pairs of NV goggles for some reason.
Yes. :( I just noticed that in your mission as well, I never knew ArmA assigned NVGs to certain types and not others. Thanks for pointing that out! Of course I notice it in your mission and not my own! Lol.
- ...Almost immediately the game saves. Up to this point not much has happened - wondered if maybe we could have started in the town itself, or perhaps some dialogue to cover the drive in and create a sense of anticipation over what's coming up?
In the works. :) The savegame is there because it sucks to take all that time to outfit your squad with a custom weapons loadout just to get popped by some lucky SLA grunt as you drive by and have to do it all over again.
- This time as we clear out the SLA patrol in the woods we get a nice bit of radio from the other squad. It's cool, adds atmosphere.
Thanks. I cringe everytime I hear my horrible voices! Hahah.
- I take a hit - good to have a medic in the team for a change!
Indeed. A medic is a requirement as far as I'm concerned. I even help you out a bit later on if he dies.
Got to stop playing at the minute - will carry on asap. Enjoying the mission so far!
Cool. Thanks a lot for the effort and the feedback, hope you enjoy the rest of the mission. New version is in the works, too... changed a bit based on the past few posts. Hope 1.04 will be up this weekend.
EDIT:
Just noticed DarkAngel edited his last post! (I thought it was supposed to put a "new" marker by the topic?)
In any case, thanks DarkAngel! Quite helpful. Indeed I am adding quite a few voices/radio sounds to the mission all over the place. The savegames: I can modify them, sure. One after each objective sounds good, the one at the beginning stays though for people like me who spend too much time second guessing myself in equipping the squad. ;)
For the G30's: I'm thinking that once any one crewman from a gun dies, then the other two will hop out and try to defend as infantry... since the gun should require a three+ man crew to be relatively efficient (reloaders, etc...) Also, I'm going to optimize that script. As it is now, it could get stuck in an infinite "waitFor".... :-[ The things you notice with a few beers. Heheh.
About the saveGame inbetween the arty and the SCUD: There should be one, at the same time the hint comes up that the Abrams are ready.... odd! (That hint will become a radio message, btw, thanks for that!)
Thanks again to all who've beta tested so far! Invaluable!
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Wow, what a piece of a mission...
Overview
Very good picture that was already a bit promising.
Intro
Superb camerawork, long cinematics and very good custom music. I loved the aspect that the story was told by an innocent civilian and the player would play another perspective, i.e. the Americans.
Briefing
Very good and to the point, nothing to improve here.
Mission
Started quite easy, I loaded my men into the 2 HMMVs and off we went to the city to defend. There was nothing to do for the immediate defense because the BLUFOR present held off the enemy quite well. But the battle ambience was great. Hearing reports about tanks I headed for the hills straight ahead and together with the ambush team managed to take the Tanks and BMP out. When I managed this, artillery started raining down on the city and I was ordered to find and destroy it. So I took my HMMVs and headed towards the old RACS training ground where the artillery was situated. Encountered a road block quite some distance ahead which was quite easily fought down.
But the artillery itself proved to be a different story. I was mauled by the infantry at the gate first, so I tried to sneak around the fence and take it on from behind. Not a good idea, because the guns are tremendously accurate in self defence. Then I tried again, crawled forward on my belly and my squad could kill all the infantry in the eastern part of the artillery barracks area. I took out a BMP, but the Shilka that was also active on my last try did not move. When I crossed the barracks, killing a few more enemies, I noticed a dead tank crew, that's probably the reason for it. Surprisingly, the artillery was dealt with suddenly, probably due to a few lucky shots from my squad and I had one less headache.
The shooting ground itself was a bit difficult as well, because it was hard to hit the MG gunners in their bunkers. But finally I made it and got reinforcements and a nice truck to drive. Again I was re-tasked to take out a SCUD far away in the south and drove my squad close to the road just north of it. We disembarked, crawled forward and called for the available tank support. Fortunately the tanks did most of the work and we just killed a squad of infantry. Then I discovered that there was no SCUD at all! It was a trap and we had to escape.
So what do you do in such situations? Just rush for the Exfil point.....which in this case was quite pointless because a Hokum chopper rocketed us on the way. Scary how good this works in ArmA 1.08 compared to OFP.
Ok - another try, running towards some ammo boxes I discovered on the map. Thankfully, there was a Strela SAM and I could down the heli. Now another dash towards the coast, fearing another nasty surprise as there were tank noises in the background, with me thinking "damn, should I have picked up an RPG launcher before running?". Then the boat finally arrived only to explode near the beach. At this point it REALY felt contrieved and a bit over the top regarding bad luck and mission design. But I did not have to face tanks as I feared but was greeted by a superb cutscene.
Outro
Great camerawork, music, storytelling and it explains the mysteriously exploding boat (just a trap). :D
Conclusion
One of few missions which manage to keep the player on his toes with constant action without resorting to simply throwing endless waves of enemies at him. The only moments where I was not constantly on my guard was the necessary driving. Fair autosaves and voice acting are another plus (did not mention it under "mission"). Just a great mission.
Keep up the good work
Mathias
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Thanks Mathias! Great stuff to hear.
I've got 1.04 lined up and near complete. Changed a bit of the small stuff that Cheetah, LCD, and others have mentioned, as well as adding a few more radio voices, sounds, etc.
Hoping to get this mission finished for good soon so I can start on my second mission. That one probably won't be released for a bit though, it seems like it might be a bit of work. :)
Thanks again for the time and effort!
EDIT: New version 1.04 available.
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its been 2 long since dis got a test, specialy since u beta 4 every1 :D :good: so heres da resaults 4 latest version :D
overview
1) i think u can change da wording of it a lil.... "da sla is throwin everything 2 rescue him. defend da city" (not exact qoute) seems 2 have a misin part :P
Intro
1) i still think u shud have da civie standin w/ hands on his head instead of layin on da ground
briefing
1) da notes part looks more like a diary now... mebe a date at da top of da page ?
2) i think u shud add a 2 more laws 2 da weapon selection (so i can have 3 laws 4 each launcher)
mision
1) da talk @ da start... (nice idea :D) da 1st man 2 talk is da srg... nd he bets its not important... so u may wanna switch da person who talks 2 som1 else nd have da srg say da line hushin da 2 soldiers
2) it seems da tanks take even more time now 2 arrive 2 da city
3) da 3rd tank (tank comin from da west) just stays outside da town and waits till i shot him... it used 2 come into da city nd engage...
4) btw did u put less US troops in da city ? cuz da city seemed 2 get empty really fast... mebe have more pl arrivin 4 a constant feel of chaos ???
5) i still think da guards in da checkpoint shud at least move around a lil... right now i snipe em in da head nd dey dont move (u can get good snipin pos from da road... all u have 2 see is da top of deir helmet)
6) da second squad in da checkpoint (da suport) react really bad... mostly runnin near da gate while i stay outside nd take em off.. i think da gate is a lil prob 2 em, u may wanna search 4 a workaround
7) i hate da part w/ da arty pit... its realy hard :no: nd it seems da arty can hit me w/ amazin skill
8) mebe lock da offroad trucks ? cuz i just got into 1 of em nd drove 2 da pit nd da arty ignored me
9) u may wanna script da arty soldiers 2 get outta arty if da west side is 2 close... after i parked near him w/ da offroad truck he just shot his own sandbags nd died
10) did u change da layout in da arty pit ? i think dey reacted better last time i played
11) i think u shud add a closer ammo dump 2 da arty pit... going back 2 da enterance of da militart facility (da checkpoint) is 2 far
12) after we discover dat da scud is not dere u shud add a retreat WPs 4 da abrams as now dey r just waitin dere
13) is dere suposed 2 b a chase 2 da exfil point ? cuz it didnt do dat 4 me :D
14) da last part (were da A10 bombs a tank) still shows only smoke nd no explosions
overall
da mision is more or less ready... but stil some small fixes can b nice :D
LCD OUT
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its been 2 long since dis got a test, specialy since u beta 4 every1 :D :good: so heres da resaults 4 latest version :D
Well thanks very much! Really appreciate the effort. (I know I'm tired of playing this mission! hehe)
Intro
1) i still think u shud have da civie standin w/ hands on his head instead of layin on da ground
Indeed. I don't know why I didn't think to do that... in the first intro to this mission I had the SLA officer put his hands on his head. I guess "civilians can do that too" didn't transfer into my brain. On that note, civilians are a MOFO to control. I can't keep the guy standing. And in the new mission I'm working on, they do anything possible to defy me. Enraging.
briefing
1) da notes part looks more like a diary now... mebe a date at da top of da page ?
2) i think u shud add a 2 more laws 2 da weapon selection (so i can have 3 laws 4 each launcher)
1) Date at top sounds like a good idea.
2) I was trying to think what would "semi-realistically" fit into a couple of HMMWVs.... since that is all the squad has, and well, technically.. there are no M136 "magazines"... they're single use tubes... fire and toss them. But, I figured a launcher and two "magazines" each would fit without being "unrealistic" (notice the overuse of quotation marks, lol.) I suppose since I've already strayed a bit from the realistic side of things, 2 more couldn't hurt.
Any other beta testers have an opinion on this?
mision
1) da talk @ da start... (nice idea :D) da 1st man 2 talk is da srg... nd he bets its not important... so u may wanna switch da person who talks 2 som1 else nd have da srg say da line hushin da 2 soldiers
Oh yeah! Crap, I rearanged some things and forgot to change it back to having #3 and #4 talking, then #2 piping up. Good catch!
2) it seems da tanks take even more time now 2 arrive 2 da city
Really?? Well hell, I actually moved them closer since 1.03, no idea why that is. I had to remove the BMP since he has a very high probability of flipping over before he can make it to the town... and checks like !(canMove) won't work either, since he's not damaged at all.
3) da 3rd tank (tank comin from da west) just stays outside da town and waits till i shot him... it used 2 come into da city nd engage...
Hmm. Buggy AI problems again? If any of the tanks get a hint of a BLUFOR, they go crazy running through the streets after them usually. It's all really random how these guys react.
4) btw did u put less US troops in da city ? cuz da city seemed 2 get empty really fast... mebe have more pl arrivin 4 a constant feel of chaos ???
I moved them out a bit to set a more realistic perimeter, but I agree it does detract from the experience... I'll probably move them back.
6) da second squad in da checkpoint (da suport) react really bad... mostly runnin near da gate while i stay outside nd take em off.. i think da gate is a lil prob 2 em, u may wanna search 4 a workaround
Yeah, I may end up knocking those fences down in an init-like file, I don't like them. That's gonna be some work though.
7) i hate da part w/ da arty pit... its realy hard :no: nd it seems da arty can hit me w/ amazin skill
This is really the only part of the mission that takes any form of tact. I like it. :) The arty pit is already adjusted dynamically in-game. i.e. If you have lost even 1 man by the time you get there, the shilka is removed. If you've lost 2 men, a machinegun is take out, 3 men, the other machinegun is gone. This is right on the "front-line," and a good defense should be expected (And actually, the arty shouldn't even be that close. I didn't want to make the player go a realistic distance to get to them. (An arty piece will actually shoot further than the entire length of the Sahrani island in reality.)
Maybe in the readme... or even a new file called hints.txt, I can put in some strategies for doing things.
8) mebe lock da offroad trucks ? cuz i just got into 1 of em nd drove 2 da pit nd da arty ignored me
Well, I've gotta say the offroads should be taken out. They serve no purpose.
9) u may wanna script da arty soldiers 2 get outta arty if da west side is 2 close... after i parked near him w/ da offroad truck he just shot his own sandbags nd died
Yeah, I still want to do this. Such that if any one of a three man crew is killed, the other two will get out and attack.
11) i think u shud add a closer ammo dump 2 da arty pit... going back 2 da enterance of da militart facility (da checkpoint) is 2 far
There is an SLA crate right there in the pit. :) It's got the camo netting "shed" over it. Can't miss it.
12) after we discover dat da scud is not dere u shud add a retreat WPs 4 da abrams as now dey r just waitin dere
Good idea, escaped my thoughts.
13) is dere suposed 2 b a chase 2 da exfil point ? cuz it didnt do dat 4 me :D
Yes, an "overwhelming force" does come. A Kamov will clean up any friendly armor, and there a plenty of T72s to give chase. Why they didn't? I have no idea. Will look into it.
14) da last part (were da A10 bombs a tank) still shows only smoke nd no explosions
All I can say is that this has to be part of the whole "pre-1.06/post-1.06" phenomenon that I'm looking into. I hope some people who had no other ArmA version prior to 1.06 from Atari can get in on this and try to duplicate. As it is now, on both of my computers, I always see an explosion. Tested this nearly 50 times I must say. :(
overall
da mision is more or less ready... but stil some small fixes can b nice :D
:good: Thanks LCD. Fixes will be made. Much appreciated!!
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Hey fireControl,
I just watched your new intro, and its very well done! Good imagery using the statue and time lapse.
You mentioned in previous post that you were having trouble making the civilians stand in the intro. Unfortunately, civvies seem to ignore SETUNITPOS "UP" when they feel threatened.
One trick I've used is to make them the same side as their captors, then they don't react to the OPFOR by laying down. This trick is only good in controlled situations (like cutscenes), as during gameplay you probably want civvies to consider opfor enemy. It should work fine in your cutscene case.
Note that the civvies in your intro worked fine for me though (they stayed standing).
Will re-test the mission when I get more time.
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noder thing dat shud do it is 2 set da resistance friendly 2 all... as u dont have nyy fightin in da intro it shudnt b problem... mebe also use da setfriend comand on da civie side (check da comref)
also i looked into ur code... it seems u count on da A10 2 shot in ur endin script ? (were i get only smoke...) heres an advice... never count on da AI 2 do nythin alone... dey just bad @ it... mebe create explosions dere or somin...
LCD OUT
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Hi
Had a little time on my hands so I gave it a shot..... v1.04
I have the US Atari version, patched to 1.08. I also use the FDF sound mod and was abl;e to hear people in the vehicles.
Intro
Didn't work for me. All I got was the statue (cool BTW) and then the cam was on the pavement looking at the bottom of some phone booths......music played and it just sat there.
Did a quick look at the mission...death by T-72. :o
Just wanted to let you know about the intro.
edit: Ok I reproduced the same thing in the intro.......4 times, with and without the sound mod. I see the statue, fade to black, some text and hear some music. The camera is like frozen on the bottom of the phone booths.
It's gotta be the Atari version. Atari :shhh:........They should have stuck with Asteroids :yes:
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Thanks guys for the last few posts.
Nixer, just out of curiosity, how long did you see the phonebooths? Was is more than 10 seconds or so? I'm just asking since there is a bit of a delay in that scene before anything happens, should be a few seconds at most.
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The music ended or changed. I watched it that long. At least 30 seconds one time.
I was eye level with the pavement BTW.
And we both have the US version..correct????
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Yeah, my game was originally 1.06 from Atari. I haven't heard anyone else having a problem like that. :( Cheetah had a problem with a trigger not firing, but I think I've got that sorted.
This, on the other hand.... I'm just stumped. If you see the phone booths, the game's not waiting for anything, you should see some feet shortly.
??? :dunno: Anyone have any insight? I'll pour through the script again, see if I can't find something.
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Been a while since I last time played this. I gave it a try to see if you added anything new... :scratch:
Package
It has everything it needs.
Overview
The overview is good. It's also using my favorite format. :D
Intro
I see you updated the intro. It seems very interesting but it wouldn't go on after filming the phone boots, just
like person said.
Briefing
The briefing is fine. Interesting stuff in the details page.
Mission
I armed me and my team with all the M136's and SAW's that we had available. We headed to Somato, disembarked our
vehicles and engaged some infantry that already had came in the town. We took position in the bushes, south-east
of the town. The SF's ambush didn't quite work, they got shot by the T-72's. We managed to disable them anyway.
I got a radio message about the artillery fire, so now I headed to the artillery place with my team. It took me
a while to clear it because of the MG's. The cannons also tried to shoot us. :( I solved it by placing my team
in front of them so they could shoot some infantry from the camp while I flanked them and attacked from behind.
Once it was clear, we headed for the outpost, east of the camp, rearmed and boarded one of the urals. I then headed
for the SCUD with the new reinforcements that I called in.
We took position from the hills, north of the SCUD. I spotted some enemies for my team mates with my binoculars.
Once I was ready, I called in the abrams' and ordered my team to open fire. Ahhh, it surely sounded lovely when
all my 10 team mates were firing like crazy. :) Didn't take long until the whole place was cleared. I moved in to
the shed where the SCUD was supposed to be but it wasn't... Well, that was unexcepted. We then headed for the
excraction point but the boat was destroyed. Well, THAT, if anything, was unexcepted.
The cutscene with the A-10's and T-72's started. The A10's didn't manage to destroy the armor at the first fly-over,
so the camera kept following the tank for at least one minute. Otherwise it worked fine. Mission completed.
Debriefing
Nothing wrong here. Completed the mission with 34 infantry kills and 3 vehicles. Duration 53 minutes. No casualties
at all.
Outro
More unexcepted things! :o The outro was fine but some moving cameras would have been better.
Summary
This was a pretty good mission. It had lots of action to keep the player busy for at least one hour. Also, you had some very
nice ideas there. The only thing that really needs fixing is the intro.
Project Beta Approved
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I've officially gone insane, just FYI. >:(
I have no idea how the intro gets all screwed up for you guys. Maybe if you guys can post your settings? As in terrain detail, post-processing level, etc. I can get a better idea of how to troubleshoot this.
On a side note, I made a video of the intro here (http://www.mediafire.com/?dl1tdhcregi) so you can see it in it's whole. It's a little laggy since Fraps took up a bit of my resources, but it usually runs rather smoothly (no texture loading, etc.)
Thanks for the beta test again, Rellikki.
Version 1.05 is in the works now, and I'm trying to tweak the thing such that the intro/outro cutscenes work for everyone. It's odd that only a couple people (but more than one) get some serious errors. Makes me wonder about video settings... :scratch: But as it doesn't error for me, it's quite hard to troubleshoot a problem that I can't duplicate. :(
I do know that if I turn my view distance waaaay up, the intro doesn't run quite right... but it doesn't stop working. I figure that people have their settings set to a reasonable level based on their system.
FireControl = sad.
Oh, also.. what version of Windows are you guys using? XP, Vista?
EDIT: I've posted v1.05 (see first post) which hopefully addresses some of the issues brought up recently. If the intro (and outro cutscene) is still buggy for some people, I'm about out of ideas. It's nearly impossible to troubleshoot this when it works so flawlessly on each of my computers here (running different settings, different operating systems, even different versions: with and without 1.08 hotfix.)
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Can't download 1.05, some javascript error on the website?
EDIT: tried firefox and internet explorer
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same here. Try a new browser it says.... :blink:
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Ok, should be fixed now. Had to re-zip the files, guess the last one was corrupted. :(
:good: Thanks for the heads up.
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The new intro worked fine for me FC. :good:
Very nice Intro....now I just gotta figure an ambush for those dang T-72's
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The new intro worked fine for me FC.
I could hug you. Thanks for testing that again! I'm just happy it's working. Hopefully that's sorted for everyone.
As far as the T-72s go, they're at a severe disadvantage inside the town. If you let them get in there, and keep your men safe, you can pop around corners - fire - and disappear pretty easily. Another good way is to take advantage of the mines in the weapons selection, and pick up an M136 from one of the ammo crates one you've placed the mines in strategic locations. :)
Thanks again for the good news! :D
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My pleasure man.
Got the tanks...awful busy with real life and a little Hurricane mabe headed my way, will try to do a proper review of yours and a couple of others though.
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Ok this is my first review so cut me some slack :yes:.....LCD wouldn't let me borrow his secretary...sumthin about Dictation.. :cool2:
The Raid [SP]
by firecontrol
I have the Pong (Atari) version, patched to 1.08
Package:
The .zip includes a raid_readme. I know this has been brought up before, lots, but it is good to see people make a mission_named_readme vs just a readme file. Search your computer for readme and see what happens. :o
Overview:
Hey it worked for me....nice pic
Intro:
Nice... I enjoyed it and appreciate firecontrol's efforts to make it work for everyone.
Briefing:
Brief and to the point, not much fluff.....but I ain't into fluff anyway...it's called a BRIEFing for a reason. Gave the info that I needed to get started, started dying that is. :weeping:
Mission:
What can I say, I enjoyed playing this mission alot. Nothing super fancy, lot's of bad guys and pretty clear cut objectives. firecontrol develops the mission with some good additional hidden objectives and gives ya the stuff to get it done. Not too hard, but certainly not real easy either. Nice ending too.
Outro:
Again I liked it and thought it was very well done . Good job firecontrol.
Summary:
As I've hinted.... :blink: I liked this mission. Good placement of assets, both friendly and enemy. Play this one folks, you'll be glad you did. Just be ready to use some vehicles and ya have to be a little stealthy in where ya go with em.
Project Beta Approved
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Thanks Nixer! Appreciate the time you took to test this.
And a huge thanks to all who've beta tested this. The mission has definately improved since I first posted it here... you all have provided great feedback. Well done!!!
On that note, I wanted to add a little more fluff to this, but... I've moved on to a bigger, better mission (I hope) that I'm working on. :) As such, I'm submitting this for review, and hopefully my next mission will be much better.
Review me please. :) Thanks to all at OFPEC who make this kind of stuff happen!
-Fire
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Well done Firecontrol! Gonna play the final reviewed mission again and looking forward to your next big one! :good:
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I'll be reviewing this mission sometime this weekend (around the stacks of circuits work :P). :D
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Awesome.. thanks Tyger! Hope you have fun playing it!
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Review completed (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=119).
had fun ;)
After-review discussion is now opened!
LCD OUT