OFPEC Forum
Missions Depot => Mission Discussion => OFP - Reviewed Missions => Topic started by: DarkAngel on 19 Feb 2003, 14:13:55
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Hi folks.
I've been checking out the OFPEC site for a while but this is my first shot at a decent, postable mission and I'm really keen to get it as good as possible, so all beta testing would be appreciated! It's a Black Ops mission set on Nogova with two objectives, the first to destroy a Shilka near the town and then to clear a communications facility up the top of the hill. Stealth is really important as there are a hell of a lot of Soviets in the area. You start off as a lone wolf and join your patrol later in the mission.
It's all created using Resistance v1.85 and no addons are used. It's quite a small ZIP (18.5k). Currently there is NO intro or outro, also no picture for the overview as I'm gonna use a shot from the intro. I'm looking for comments about gameplay, realism, bugs, really anything you guys can think of - all criticism is good as I'm pretty much a beginner!
Thanks folks.
DarkAngel
Edit: This mission has been reviewed and is available from the Missions Depot (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=234).
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Hey, congratulations on your first mission DarkAngel! :)
Don't have time to play it now but the download is ok and the mission starts fine.
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Yes I too have downloaded it but due to computer problems (this thing is running slower than my dead aunt Gladis!) I can't play it.
When everything is back to normal I'll give you some feedback.
:)
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Now I'm no expert but it seems to me that this is a very good mission. It gets more interesting as it progresses, and it has (i think so anyway) a good amount of challenge.
However, there were a few things. I think you should expand the breifing a bit. Special Ops breifings, i think, need more information on enemy positions, situation, and details like enemy awareness. It seemed a little like i was just tossed in by the collar. Include some recon photos of key enemy positions, maybe, and add more about the circumstances in which the mission takes place.
Second, I think the Shilka was well placed. The boats patrolling off shore was a cool touch. However, I would take out the BMP patrolling the penninsula road and put in more soldiers instead. I think it would be more realistic considering the short scale of the road and the small width of the area.
Third, and not so important, I would reconsider the insertion point. It seemed a little....frank. Plop, there you are, right on the beach. The insertion must have been by boat, I assumed, and with Russian boats patrolling off shore with huge searchlights it would be hard to sneak in in that short amount of time and small space. Maybe it's not as important, but I would suggest starting further up near the main land.
Fourth, the tanks come after you when you are sighted. It don't think, though, that they would send their heaviest armor out if they spotted a couple of Black Op soldiers. They would probably send several patrols or Spetz Naz out to hunt them down. Maybe have a couple of truckloads of troops come out and look for you, or a mechanized infantry group.
Other than that, it looked really good. Again, like I said, i'm no expert. But this is my opinion. :D
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I'll write this as I go along.
Briefing. Make the Plan slightly longer: put the Objectives on the first page and then link to one or two other pages for the background (which is very well written btw.) The link to the RV in the Notes section doesn't work. What is the significance of the red shaded area on the map? The Briefing should indicate whether you are going to lead or be a member of the squad. It should also tell you the composition of the squad, since you don't get it in Gear.
How did I arrive at the insertion point? I would suggest a boat disappearing into the darkness, timed so that just as it disappears the patrol boat arrives. They shouldn't meet though.
If you're after realism then this phase shouldn't be done alone. I would suggest that the whole squad lands togther: you and one other move (of course it should really be a 4 man team) off to do the Shilka, while the others patrol quietly and successfully to the RV.
No green tick when the Shilka goes, though I did get some titletext. In fact I got no green ticks at all, so that needs looking into. (The problem is in briefing.htm, the objectives are not numbered.)
Make your hillpatrols smaller: it makes them harder to detect and more fun to take on if you see them. With 9 loons there you aren't going to shoot - it's very hard to drop 9 before one of them drops you, if only because you'll probably have to change mags.
You need to make it clearer in the Briefing what has to be blown up at the Comms centre. I placed a satchel between the building and the tent and got lucky, but you should mention that the critical stuff is the computer equipment in the tent.
Lose the fire at the exfil point, its unnecessary since you have the boat there to identify the place. Make the trigger area smaller so that you get a little closer. Link the trigger to the player (F2 drag and drop) otherwise you can complete the exfil by sending one of your loons over there.
All this stuff is just nit-picking, overall this mission is great. Couple of other thoughts:-
I would consider an outro or ending cutscene (I know they are a real bore to make) showing the choppers landing successfully. It would help with the sense of achievement.
The RV base is no good, its far too substantial for the circumstances. If you want to have one lose the fire and make the ammo crates specific to the mission, i.e. you can't pick up any new weapons or anything, just replace ammo that you have used. Better still would be to have no base at all: have 4 men land from the boat, one going with you to the Shilka and the other two heading off to do a recce. They would "check out" the Comms base and when you met they would report some stuff like the number of sentries or the fact that the computer equipment was in the tent next to the building.
Timing is I think a little tight: 30 minutes does not give you enough time to do proper recces of the targets or to move tactically across the ground. I did it with 5 minutes to spare, but only by relying on savegames (which I use a lot when beta testing)
There is no medical treatment available for the player. I would suggest that one of the squad is a medic, or if that creates addon problems make a little script to fake a medic at the RV. Alternatively have a hospital at the Comms base, or halfway along the road from the Shilka to the town. (To be fair I'm just sore because I had to crawl most of the way to the exfil ....)
No bugs. Realism ... well each task would have taken a 4 man team who would have been inserted one or two nights previous to the assault.
Oh yes, tanks .... well once I was halfway up the hill I wasn't bothered by them because I knew they couldn't follow me, at least not in time to be relevant. I would be much more concerned by a couple of Spetz Natz teams in UAZs. Also, if you happened to have a battle in the middle it would be virtually impossible to meet the deadline.
Now that I've read Uberminch's opinion I'd agree with everything he said except that I'd leave the insertion point where it is. He is right, it is a bit direct, but I hate long boring marches in so in the interests of fun gameplay I'd leave it.
If you want to improve replayability put placement radii on the patrols' waypoints.
Excellent first mission. Well done.
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Another quick thought: have the time reminders at 20 minutes to go, then 10, 5, 3, 2, 1. The increasing frequency will add to the tension.
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Thanks for your comments guys.
You both mentioned the tanks, which I have to admit were a bit of a last minute addition to the mission. I'll get rid of them and put in some ground troops, or maybe scramble a Hind carrying a few SpetzNatz. That would be good as it would make escaping in the BRDM at the comm centre a little trickier. Uberminch, I think you're right about the BMP, it doesn't really do all that much anyway, apart from add to the atmosphere. Maybe a few more troops at the gate would do it better.
The briefing definitely needs expanding - i should have pointed out in the original post that it was really a stopgap until I work out the full thing. Definitely a more detailed report on enemy dispositions, maybe some pics (I need to figure out how to do this in HTML, i'll check out a tutorial.). I'll also do something about the insertion point. And try out MacGuba's suggestion about having a guy with you to do the Shilka. I'll also give a little more time, a few more (smaller) patrols, and things should be dandy ;D
Thanks a lot for all your comments, I'll take them on board and get a second beta up soon.
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Hi guys.
Have been reworking the mission according to your comments and it's coming along v well. Unfortunately though I've run into a snafu doing the briefing. I've redesigned it so that the Objectives are on the first page of the plan, but you can link to further information re intel, mission plan and political situation. All these links work fine but when you link back the Objectives are nowhere to be seen?! >:( Does anybody know why this happens? I've attached the briefing as a .txt file so it'll need to be converted again and renamed, sorry. :'(
Cheers
DarkAngel
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just a quick hint here before I test and download the mission:
There are a black op medic addon at the addons depot (http://www.ofpec.com/addons/index.php)
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All these links work fine but when you link back the Objectives are nowhere to be seen?!
This happens due to a bug in OFP.
The way around it is to link to the notes page, then from there back to the briefing and then the objectives will still be there... ::) (sometimes you just have to roll w/ the punches) ;)
Asmo
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Ok, hereÂ's my report.
I read the breifing. Avarge, you should add some more stuff to it. Also, let me at least be a captain, not this sergeant shit.
So I proceeded. Walk up to da fence and when I saw da guard in front of me I stoped. I just stood there. Scared. Then the guard proceeded and I fast run out into the water and continued my journey. I walked, saw a boat, ran up just to be almost detected by a BMP. I threw myself down. When the BMP stopped at the camp I walk slowly into the camp from the right. My strategy was to take out the shilka with my only LAW, cause I got 1 LAW and 2 satchels and then make a go for it. I heard some russian voices, threw myself down and prepared myself for a fight. There was no fight. I tried to shot down the crew cause weird or not weird, it was only them who reacted by my discover. I couldnÂ't get a clear shot and I just let them go. Very dumb. In that range it looked like soldiers but when I heard that noice when you turned the tower I was really scared.
Anyway, I advanced, took out a guard and suddenly the shilka was in front of me! I havnÂ't seen it! I saw that it was active but it didnÂ't c me so I put a satchel and ran away. Just as I was to press da button I was shot by the fuckin shilka!
TOTAL:
This is a great mission so far. I donÂ't like special ops missions normally but this rox so far. IÂ'll give it some more tries and when I complete the mission I get back here for a full report. Good job! Looking forward to full version.
EDIT:
One more thing. You havnÂ't included the overview picture in the zip file so I cant c the picture.
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Ok, so now IÂ've played the whole thing. Good job!
I started and this time I tried to blow up the Shilka from a very big distance. I did that. The escape was rather easier this time witch it should be cause I didnÂ't close in on the base. Sure, they shot behind me but they didnÂ't hit cause I hit the dirt and crawled the way.
I headed for the forest and suddenly a patrol walked just a couple of meters ahead of me! weapons armed and the whole thing. I threw myself down and I breathe fast and loudly cause IÂ've made the fast-run if you c what I mean ;D. After about 30 sec they put their gun on their back and started to walk after each other, regrouping just beside my head! Several guys just 5 meters in front of me looked at my head but didnÂ't c me. I embrased the dark and thought for myself "Praise BIS for their dumb AI! I hope they dont upgrade that in OFP 2 ;D".
I ran, and when I was just outside the forest a patrol shot at me, then just wandered away after I regrouped with my team and IÂ've ordered them to hold fire. Strange.
When I saw the base I thought "I am never gonna enter that camp without been discovered". I tried several times with different weapons to enter the camp but I always got shot down and the alarm raised. Then I came up with the brilliant idea to throw in a grenade in da tent, sure, the alarm would be raised but I would at least take out the whole base and my only worry would be the reinforcements. So I did. The alarm didnt raised!
I didnÂ't know where to satchel so I took the radio at the fire and the tent. Orderded my men to enter the BRDM or what do you call it but 3 didnÂ't wanna enter so he drove the truck. Why didnÂ't he wanna enter? check that up.
When I came to extraction point it just ended. Boooooooring. You must do a outro.
TOTAL:
The mission itself is great! The only thing you should work on is the intro witch you must have, the outro witch you must have, the breifing and the overview cause you dont include da picture in da zip. Great job! You made me like a special ops mission and that is very impressive!
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You don't need to worry about a link back to the objectives page because the player can get back there anyway with the Plan tab at the top of the page.
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Hi guys.
Here's the Beta-2 version of Darkness Before Dawn with the following modifications:
- expanded briefing with working links (thanks Asmo and MacGuba)
- medical support added with a hospital in the town (am so far keeping addons out but may drop in a black op medic for the final version)
- BMP removed and replaced by more infantry
- scripted AI at the Shilka site
- patrol waypoints given placement radii and timeouts for replayability
- tanks at the comm centre replaced by a rapid response team
- more realistic insertion - whole squad infils together then splits to seperate tasks at the objectives.
- recon section has intel on the secondary objective
Known issues:
- no pic for overview
- no intro or outro yet - i still need to sit down and script the darn things
cheers for all your comments. hope you enjoy the new version - a final post should be ready soon.
DarkAngel
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was there tanks at comm center? I avoid things best when I dont know of them ;D
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downloaded,
reply tomorrow evening probably. Black op missions rock!
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was there tanks at comm center? I avoid things best when I dont know of them ;D
There were supposed to be, and believe me, you should have known about them, that was the problem! I kinda forgot that tanks don't drive up mountains too well ;)
If you've downloaded the second beta it should be more of a challenge. That's all I'm saying...
Cheers everyone for coming back to this thing. Intro/outro version should be ready soon.
Darkangel
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IÂ'll wait to beta test untill da intro/outro versions comes. ;)
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mission don't start
any idea about a "mad_sa80" addon?
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Nope! OFP doing strange things to me again I reckon. Didn't happen to anyone in the first version. I've got that addon somewhere but it's definitely not used... ::) I'll look into it and get back to you.
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check dis out angel!
open notepad and oper yer mission.sqm and thereÂ's the addons yer using, if any1 doesnÂ't belong, just remove it and c what happens.
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Cheers Armstrong.
Right, this should work, with no addons included whatsoever. I've also added an Intro and Outro-Win, so this mission is pretty much nearing completion and this is hopefully the final beta.
I've acted on a lot of the earlier beta-test comments - there's an expanded briefing with some background about the mission; you now have an insertion point with the whole squad and a buddy to back you up; there's a scripted response to the Shilka attack and so on.
Known issues
- still no overview pic, coming soon!
- sometimes Alpha's first radio message doesn't appear, no idea why this happens ???
Hope you enjoy this, look forward to your comments!
Dark
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Got it...
gonna play it...
get back to you soon ;)
Kaliyuga
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got it,
reply this evening or tomorrow during the day.
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Well.... I beat it last night..... ;)
so here's some feedback...
The intro and briefing were fine..... although I noticed you put AAA instead of AA in one place ;) and perhaps the boat should be on stealth when leaving to go drop your guys off .... so the light isnt on
Mission: First off.. It's nice that there is a weapon selection in the briefing, cause the UZI you start with by default just doesn't do the trick. I took the HK instead, a much more accurate and reliable weapon
Ditched one of the satchels for two more clips as well.....
Having the glock as a sidearm is a nice touch too.. but how about using the silenced version instead? ;)
So I started out..... told #2 to go with the others and hide in a bush somewhere..... which is pretty much where they stayed for the mission ;)
made my way alone down the beach.... took out two patrolling soldiers along the fence line.. and continued down the waterline to the end of the peninsula... crawled up the hill.... placed my satchel under the Shilka and set the timer for a few minutes ... then scoped out the area real quick....
ended up crawling to the ammo truck nearby and hopping in....
I ran down about 5 or 6 guys on my way out of the base before hopping out and crawling away through the small town nearby.....
Headed up to meet with the rest of the squad.... and when they rejoined.. I sent them up one side of the hill as a diversion and circled around the other side myself.... took out the sniper..... and a well placed grenade took out a few guys that were in the tent still....... ran in... placed a couple more satchels... and got out of there... the chopper was a nice touch... but I was a little too quick to get out of there for it to really have any impact on me......
told the rest of my squad, minus one, to head on towards the extraction point... got there.. mission over... ;)
attached is my screenshot of score.....
I may go back and try to beat it without firing a shot.. cause I think it's possible ;)
It was a fun mission overall.. just lose the UZI, and maybe at team of three would be enough instead of four...... I think #2 would just get in the way if you were trying to sneak into destroy the shilka
(Just my opinion.. I hate AI team mates, or walking ammo crates as i call them)
Also .. when the alarm goes off... nobody goes to investigate the beach area at all..... I felt rather unimpeded to the shilka..... I think I could have snuck away from that first peninsula after only killing the two patrolling guys, without setting the alarm off whatsoever... but I hopped in the ammo truck because its just more fun to run guys down with a 5t truck... I just love the way they bounce off the grill.... kinda sucks you don't get credit for guys you run over as kills.... ::)
P.S. I'm assuming you're going to remove the radio option to make yourself a captive whenever you want? ;D
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AA stands for Anti-aircraft and was used in WW2. When SAMs came out, they changed 'AA' to 'AAA' to mean: "Anti Aircraft Artillery" so that they can differ the missiles from the shells.
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Cheers Kaliyuga.
I'm going to revert back to my original plan and send the player in to deal with the Shilka alone. During my recent playtesting it's just been irritating having someone else along, they always get spotted!
I think generally I'm going to beef up the enemy presence. At the moment they're a bit too easy to avoid and/or slot entire patrols, which seems a little unrealistic, no matter how elite you are. A couple more patrols should do the business. I'm also going to add a couple more guys at the fence.
Nice touch with the ammo truck, I've tended to use the UAZ rather more myself, but I'm glad you thought of something different ;)
The scripting at the Shilka area is still in progress, in v0.95 a squad will probably come and check out the beach as your primary means of ingress. I'm also using a flare script so that, once the alarm goes up, the bad guys will be able to see you.
I hope you do try to go back and do it with no kills, it is possible! I'd like to be able to add in a bonus score (a la GoldenEye on the N64) for completing the mission without killing anyone or being detected. Anyone got any idea how I can do this?
I may cut down the chopper's response time a little. Don't want to make things too easy now, do we?
Arctic, cheers for the post about AA/AAA. I thought I was right about that (too many flight sims when I was younger :))
Cheers to both of ya
Dark
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re,
beat it also a few mins ago:
Kaliyuga has said most of the thigs that bothered me too
- the peninsula is well covered, but could do with more, also check the road east of town and the beach opposite of the shilka. I took a law in weapons selction and after "two" go shot a few times I decied togo to the beach south of the town (there is no living soul out there) set my view to 3000m, saved, and lawed that shilka (what a satisfaction 8) ;D ).
there was still no reaction from whatever unexisting enemy. :(
So I moved up the hill and fell upon the patrol (bad luck for them) moved in killed the spetz (the alarm went off somehow) and shot the comps (that didn't coplete the objective so I satcheld them but still no objective, guess yu should make it clear yu hve to satchel them). After that I went to the boat, lost a guy to the bad ones and mission complete.
-remove the radiocommands in final version
- remove "two", he's just annoying
- script some response to setting off the alarm ("two" was spotted and shot, a that moment there was a squad 20 m from me (at the harbor), they went on combat an I thougt "this is it", after 2 secs they went back to safe and everthing was ok.)
- place patrol on the road going east of Modrava
- place a patrol to the beach south of Modrava
- add some more infantry to the radar and better response (the spetz didn't shoot too well if at all)
- a sniper on a tower that you can see from two miles away is not very clever (but the only way to have one I guess), he seems just to be there to get shot and trigger the alarm that way.
A very nice mission, challenging thoughnot complete. I like black op missions.
Nice Intro (check music and sound fadeout) , Outro could use some more real fighting.
Briefing, very nice (check for minor errors), good old Gastovski :)
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Thought of one more thing that slipped my mind when I last posted..
the text that states "Bower Field" you use for your onloadintro should be changed to something more universal.... as whatever you designate as your "onloadintro" is also used by default as the "onloadoutro"
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Hey guys, thanks for all your comments so far!
Attached is v0.95, with the following modifications:-
- Default weapons are now the HK and silenced Glock. This means you need the BIS Weaponpack addon (included with Resistance I think) to play.
- Added patrols to the east and south of Modrava to stop clever tricks like Kaliyugas ;D
- Flares now go off when you get detected around the Shilka; the scripting's been tightened up a little too.
- You're on your own for objective 1, no annoying squad members.
- Comm centre has more security
- Quicker response times for the chopper
- Waypoints added for cadet mode.
I'm still having problems getting a decent overview pic, probably due to not having a good graphics package! Anyone got any idea what I might be able to do? (I have Paint and Microsoft Photo Editor, and that's it :-\)
Cheers.
Dark
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Microsoft Photo Editor is fine as long as you have a decent screenshot to start with. The best pics usually feature one vehicle or 2-3 soldiers .... anything bigger usually looks crap.
IMHO the overview pic is THE most difficult thing in OFP editing.
Are you having a particular problem?
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Hey man.. sounds like you made some good changes to the mission...
I'll give it another play sometime soon....
about the pic.. I know how having subpar graphics and really effect your screenshots.. cause i used to be in that boat for a while...
when I play it this next time through I'll snap off a couple that You might want to then edit in your photo program...
any idea of what you want in the pic?
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Cheers guys. Kali, if you could do that it would be fab. I had in mind a nice shot of you placing a satchel by the Shilka. I know there's something similar in the 1985 campaign but want it to be a bit different this time round. I'd hate to think I was using a really old and unoriginal mission idea. ;)
If testing goes well I'd like to get this mission finished by the end of the week and get back to the real world for a bit. At the moment my social life kind of sucks 8) Still need to sort out the Outro though - it was a bit thrown together. I'll up the combat level, maybe whack in some artillery. Should be fun!
Thanks so much for all your help guys
Dark
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I just played it for a second.. and I have to say already that this version is tons better than the last....
The last time I played.... I killed two guys before hitting the fence... and this time... It was more like 12 or 13 :o The alarm went off before I crossed the fence line and the flares worked well..... I did get an error though sporadically from that point on....
Boat2 setbehaviour "aware" .... etc....
I pretty much stuck to the beach.. cause Its still the best route IMO.....
but i wasn't alone.. and thats a good thing..
Got a few more kills on the way.... and set the satchel charge on a timer... I had the opportunity to take out two more guys while crawling away... I set the timer on two minutes.. and went back to the beach this time.....
I should have set a longer timer though.. because once the Shilka was gone.... I was found pretty quick....
I noticed you took out the savegame you had there as well ?
maybe you could give the player a one time radio save as well.... I wished I had saved somewhere between the beach and the shilka , because even though it's not a far distance.. its pretty intense now....
Keep up the great work.. and track down that error message.... it's pretty close to being done from what I've seen so far.....
I'll get back to you with more on the second half of the mission and how that goes. once i manage to blow up the shilka and get out of there....
But now I'm off to sunny Vietnam for another mission ;)
Later :toocool:
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DarkAngel, I'm sorry I haven't had time to test your mission again. However, I have been following the thread, and if I may be permitted to offer a word of advice .... don't make the mission too difficult.
It was probably a bit easy to start with, but everybody who has played it has suggested yet another patrol. ;D Don't go overboard - it's very easy just to chuck in another few guards, but a small number of well placed sentries/patrols makes for a much better mission than just having a shootfest. You should have a decent chance of making it to the Shilka and back (as long as you haven't blown it up) without being detected.
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Great mission, so far. I think you should add a few more patrols in certain places along the beach. No bugs in the mission that I noticed. I think instead of using the word bad guys in the intro you could say "Soviets" or "enemies". The outro could do with a few more camera angles. And, there doesn't seem to be many patrols (that I noticed) around the area of the comms tower. Maybe you should place some patrols that search the trees and area away from the tower. Other than that, very good.
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IÂ'm sorry m8 I havenÂ't tested your latest missions. I have to get my arse off the scripting. :D IÂ'll test your mission as soon as I get home from school(7 hours). Untill then, need any scripting ;D?
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Hey guys,
Thanks for your continued support!
@Kaliyuga, sorry about that error message. I thought I'd fixed it but clearly hadn't. Oops :-[ Glad you enjoyed the increased difficulty! The point all the way along was to make a mission where you had to use stealth - I've played too many black op missions where you can just tab into the target area, let fly with a LAW and then mission accomplished. With DbD you really now have to avoid patrols (not too hard cos it's night - I was playtesting yesterday and this patrol walked up to its waypoint about 2 metres from my position and didn't see me - ninja power! ;D) and use timed charges - I'm developing a growing affection for ten-minute fuses on my satchels...
@MacGuba, really good point. As I said above, the idea is that you do have to use stealth to complete the mission - particularly objective 1 although the comm centre is still a potential kill-fest. While I have slightly increased the numbers of enemy infantry from the first beta, most of the changes are in placing and scripted behaviour - so that now, for example, the 4-man patrol along the beach always intersects with the most direct line to the fence. In the first beta this was a full squad, but they were usually too far away to cause the player any trouble. The patrol is now small enough to beat in a firefight, if you need to, but in a position to cause you trouble. Thanks for the point though!
@Wacky, Cheers mate. I don't really want to add in too many more patrols but I'll definitely bear your comments in mind. Perhaps there's still room to expand the comm base a little - although there actually is a patrol in the woods at the moment, however they do go pretty much around the whole hill so their WPs may be too far apart. I'll have another look for the final version. Absolutely right about the outro, though, it's going to get totally reworked for v1.00.
@Armstrong, cheers! Hope you have fun, and thanks, I think I'm OK for scripting at the moment. Apart from this one error message which is entirely due to my typing being pants, and wanting to get 0.95 posted in a hurry.
I've now fixed the error message and reinstated the error message around the Shilka script. Unfortunately the size of my ZIP is now over 50k and so I can't post it here! Since I don't currently have a site of my own I'm going to have to leave you guys in the dark during final tweaking, until I get a site up and running. I'm no expert so how would I do this? I'm thinking probably of getting some GeoCities space for this and future missions, I can design a basic page in MS Word, but don't know anything about the mechanics of u/ling or d/ling files. Any advice, anyone?
In the meantime please do keep enjoying v0.95, it plays pretty well apart from the d**n error message, the outro still sucks, but it's nearly done!
Cheers all
Dark
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I can't remember the name of the free webspace I have, but click on the link ..... if I can manage it that proves its idiotproof.
Freewebs???
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Hey guys
A shiny, bug-fixed, near-as-dash-it-finished version of this mission is now available from my equally shiny website http://www.geocities.com/tomlemans2000/DarkAngel.html, or direct link to the mission http://www.geocities.com/tomlemans2000/Darkness.zip.
The actual site is really not all that interesting, but at least it's a place to put the mission ;).
All I think it needs now is a d**n overview pic and I think it's good to go, but I'd really appreciate any final comments.
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Sorry I havenÂ't been able to test your mission as I promised, m8 :-\. But IÂ'll get into it right away now!
[size=0.01]Since this version is almost done, I will "review" it as you have submitted it and I was the reviewer.[/size]
EDIT: Direct URL isnÂ't working :-\.
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Hey m8, absolutely no idea why the direct link isn't working - will look into it. In the meantime the DarkAngel site link seems OK, and you can also type in the address for Darkness. Am now v confused. ??? but look forward to being "reviewed"!
Cheers
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REVIEW OF DARKANGELÂ'S DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN.
version 1.1 now. Changed the camera grade and the overview grade.
INTRODUCTION:
This is a black op mission. The standard stuff. Blow up that, kill that, blow that, proceed to extraction point. We all know the plot too well.
OVERVIEW:
Not much, no picture, and it doesnÂ't scream out "play me!".
INTRO:
You get a breif from a commander on an airbase. Scripted, thank god.
BREIFING:
Are you the kind of guy who loves to read 10 pages of breifing. Then youÂ'll love this breifing. I like more a quick, but understandable breifing because all you want to do is to get to the action. However, you donÂ't have to read everything to understand what you need to do, which is good for those who are as me.
I couldnÂ't find any spelling errors. Perhaps one, but itÂ's not much - not much for a breif that big.
A big weapons selection, a must for black ops missions.
Very well done!
THE MISSION:
The first objective is to blow up a Shilka. At your first try you might find it easy, but thereÂ's always a patrol that catch you when you are speeding up the time. The place a crawling with russians and you really get the stealt atmosphere. Even I who always complete stealth missions by blowing up half the map was forced to make a stealth entry. After a try or two you enter the base.
Now is the difficult part of the mission, to blow up the shilka and get out of there. Since itÂ's very dark I crawl the whole way back, but it ainÂ't as easy as entering, because now the guards are looking for me. And theyÂ've got several boats with search lights.
So far so good. Now to the bad part. Your second objective is to blow up a comm center. On the way to it you have to RV with your team in the forest. I noted that the WP to the RV said "RV with your patrol" ::).
The comm center is the easiest part. Bang, bang, duh, me like bang, bang. Far away from the strategy of the shilka destroy. There isnÂ't many enemies either and they react like crap when the alarm goes off.
I donÂ't want to spoil what is gonna happened next but I recommend you take the Ural. The AI have some strange problems and donÂ't want to board the UAZ.
OVERALL:
A very nice black op mission. Deserves your download.
EDIT:
Forgot the outro :P
OUTRO:
Scripted, but not very much. You see a fight between a couple of guys in Modrava and thatÂ's it. You see some credits and stuff but that is really it. Cool music though, sounds like the OFP soundtrack but IÂ've must have missed it cause I didnÂ't recognize it. A standard outro, 5/10.
Camera7
Scripting3
Overview3
Breifing10
General Score7
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Armstrong, thanks again for your comments - the positive and the negative.
My recent forum silence has been due to beavering away putting together v0.96, which is now ready (I think). Radical changes have been made to the communications facility area, the whole objective is now different. Rather than blowing it up, you have to get into the facility and upload a virus into the system. The enemy are now scripted much like the Shilka area (I was just being lazy before!)
Anyway, would really appreciate comments. You can download it via my site http://www.geocities.com/tomlemans2000/DarkAngel.html
Unfortunately I can't seem to get a direct link to work, but the mission loads easily from the site.
Cheers!
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Sounds good to me.... my spring break officially started this afternoon so I should be able to snap off that screenie for ya.. and play the latest as well..
I'll get back to you
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IÂ'll test your new version, and IÂ'll use the old review but at the places I changed I write in blue ;).
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INTRODUCTION:
This is a black op mission. The standard stuff. Blow up that, kill that, blow that, proceed to extraction point. We all know the plot too well.
OVERVIEW:
Not much, no picture, and it doesnÂ't scream out "play me!".
INTRO:
You get a breif from a commander on an airbase. Scripted, thank god.
BREIFING:
Are you the kind of guy who loves to read 10 pages of breifing? Then youÂ'll love this breifing. I like more a quick, but understandable breifing because all you want to do is to get to the action. However, you donÂ't have to read everything to understand what you need to do, which is good for those who are as me.
I couldnÂ't find any spelling errors. Perhaps one, but itÂ's not much for a breif that big.
A big weapons selection, a must for black ops missions.
Very well done!
THE MISSION:
The first objective is to blow up a Shilka. At your first try you might find it easy, but thereÂ's always a patrol that catch you. The place a crawling with russians and you really get the stealth atmosphere. Even I who always complete stealth missions by blowing up half the map was forced to make a stealth entry. After a try or two you enter the camp.
Now is the difficult part of the mission, to blow up the shilka and get out of there. Since itÂ's very dark I crawl the whole way back, but it ainÂ't as easy as entering, because now the guards are looking for me. And theyÂ've got several boats with search lights. However, DarkAngel as made it possible to leave the area, as well as entering the area in many, many ways.
So far so good. Now to the bad part.
Your second objective is to upload a virus to a comm center computer. You might think that a virus is something new but it have exactly the same style as blowing up the computer.
*REMOVED BECAUSE I DIDNÂ'T PLAY CADET MODE*
The comm center is bang, bang, duh, me like bang, bang. Far away from the strategy of the shilka destroy. There are a lot of enemies too. Too many. Why the hell put 50 people on a hill that only got 2, 3 tents? I would have put some AA soldiers/vehicles and some guards over there. And perhaps put some mines around.
The guards scripting arenÂ't the greatest either. Some of the guards react like crap
I donÂ't want to spoil what is gonna happened next but I recommend you take the Ural. The AI have some strange problems and donÂ't want to board the UAZ.
OUTRO:
Scripted, but not very much. You see a fight between a couple of guys in Modrava and thatÂ's it. You see some credits and stuff but that is really it. Cool music though, sounds like Seventh but IÂ've must have missed it cause I didnÂ't recognize it. A standard outro, 5/10.
OVERALL:
A very nice black op mission. Deserves your download.
Camera6
Scripting4
[/color]
Overview3
Breifing10
[/size]
General Score7
[/size]
NOTE: The overview score is 3.5 and the camera score is 6.5
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I've been playing this a bit this morning and once again I have to say that this mission is lots of fun.. just the kind of mission i like to play ;D
Still getting that error regarding boat2 and his setbehaviour command once the alarm went off......
and as I was playing just now, I had crept into the camp without firing a shot.... and planted my satchel.... gave myself a 5 minute timer this time ... and had barely managed to sneak across the fence again when it went off...
And I got that titletext saying "looks like they know I"m here" (or something like that anyways ;D)
I dont think you really need it... I've never been a fan of titletext in missions... cutscenes are cool since you can't use radios in them.. but since the alarm went off , and there are flares as well.. it should be evident that your presence is now known...
I didnt get too meet my squad however.. as some infantry and a BMP were heading down to check out the damage I caused I got into a small firefight and was killed......
This next time I might lay more satchels about ..and definately give myself a nice 8 to 10 minute timer before those puppies go off...
I got you some pics as well.... well.. one really good one (I think;D) and a couple others that are average looking shots....
all show a black op planting a satchel by the shilka... and I added a couple other things to the shot to make it interesting ;)
They're all over the 50k limit so I uploaded the ones I like best here:
(copy+paste links)
http://www.freewebs.com/meds2you/dark.jpg
http://www.freewebs.com/meds2you/darkness1.jpg
http://www.freewebs.com/meds2you/ninja.jpg (this one is 256x256, I have the larger version still if you want to see it.....
I can also send you the unedited screenshots I took if you want.... they are full screensize bitmaps .... let me know ;)
P.S. they had to be lightened up a touch because of how dark out it was.. the unedited ones are really dark .. so if you want to play around with the brightness/contrast at all.... the originals will be best
I'll give this another try really soon ...
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and as I was playing just now, I had crept into the camp without firing a shot.... and planted my satchel.... gave myself a 5 minute timer this time ... and had barely managed to sneak across the fence again when it went off...
Looks like my "DarkAngel has made it possible to get out of there in many different ways" seem to work.
On my first try in the first version I blowed the shilka from a range with a LAW launcher.
In 0.95 I moved in from the west, had a massacare with my MP5, and crawled outta there.
In 0.96 I moved in from the east, quite smart cause there are no guards at all once you get past the town(DonÂ't put out more guards. You should have, if you are smart enough( ;D ) have it easier) massacared the guards and blew the shilka, then took the UAZ, drove as hell, picked up a RPG launcher, didnÂ't stop untill almost at the forest, blew the 2 BMPs that were chasing me and dissappeared. Damn that was fun!! ;D
One note to DarkAngel that I forgot in the review: The crew is quite stupid, there are guards dead all over the place but they wont enter the shilka untill shot at. And when they are in the shilka they donÂ't move. They should go look for me or perhaps get out of there.
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Thanks guys.
Kaliyuga, the pics look cool. Think I'll probably use the one you called "ninja" as I like that enemy soldier standing there like a fool as the satchels are placed.
I have no idea why you're still getting that error message - it's not come up in any of my tests. You are playing the latest version (0.96), right? You know it's that one thanks to the flares when the alarm goes off etc. Armstrong, did you get that message too? The reason the Shilka doesn't move is that I took out the fuel ;) - because it's in that camo bunker, what happens as soon as the crew get in was that they'd end up destroying their own camo, so I made them stay where they were! Might change this back to normal.
They're scripted to board as soon as you're detected anywhere in the area, though - weird.
I've been a bit busy with real-world stuff just lately but the final polished version should be uploaded soon.
Cheers
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Nah, I didnÂ't get an error message. :P Wierd :hmm:
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Played it again this morning.... and yeah... I still get the same error message when the alarms go off.. regarding the boats.... ???
And there are flares .... so it must be the latest
anyways.. I made it to the top of the hill today.. set my guys up nicely how I wanted them.... and snuck in to plant the satchel....
I set it right by the comm tower..... and ran off.. told my guys to retreat...
set off the satchel......
no objective....
:hmm:
so I had to go back up again.. and place another charge..... and I died..
I repeated this a couple of times.... and just couldnt seem to get it in the right spot or something cause I'd set it off.. and that tower wouldn't be damaged enough to count.. I'd go back up.. and get shot........
I've got it saved near the tower anyways so I'll keep trying ;)
Next time I'll use the two I have ... and all the ones I find on the spetz natz in that tent ;) that should blow it up...
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If this is the latest version (sounds like it is) then the objective at the comm centre has changed a bit. Instead of just blowing it up you have to access the computer in the tent, so you have to get in there and past the spetz natz guards without damaging the equipment.
That should all have been changed on the briefing.
I have absolutely no freakin' idea why you're still getting that error message... d**n that pesky Flashpoint engine! ???
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geez... you expect me to actually read the briefing man ::)
;D
Guess it shows you how much I pay attention.... ;) armed with that latest intel I should be able to make it this time
I have no idea about the error either..... ???
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Hey dudes.
The boat bug is (so it seems) fixed, and I've added one of Kaliyuga's pics to the overview. I'm thinking this mission is about as good as I can make it with my current editing/scripting skill level, but I'd really appreciate any final comments. Armstrong, I'm afraid I haven't made it any easier ;) - both targets are supposed to be top-level facilities, and while the hill may be a small base, it's well defended because of its importance. I take your point about it just being bang bang, but I like the difference between the fight on the hill and the stealthier assault on the Shilka. It makes for more variety in the gameplay of the mission.
Thanks guys for all your help; new version available now at http://www.geocities.com/tomlemans2000/DarkAngel.html.
Dark.
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Final version posted to OFPEC today. Thanks for all your help, guys!
DarkAngel signing off...for now.
Edit: This mission has been reviewed and is available from the Missions Depot (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=234).