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Missions Depot => Mission Discussion => ArmA - Reviewed Missions => Topic started by: HailStorm on 22 Sep 2008, 19:46:19

Title: [SP] Hog's Breath v1.2 [Review Complete]
Post by: HailStorm on 22 Sep 2008, 19:46:19
Version 1.2

(http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/3654/a10strikehbpsmallcj0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Mission: Hog's Breath

Mission by: HailStorm
Current version: 1.2
Story: conduct an air strike on an enemy convoy in the South Sahrani desert.
Version needed: ArmA 1.14
Type: Single Player only
Island: Sahrani (sara)
Addon Requirements: none

Special Features:
- Two Separate difficulty Levels; Veteran difficulty won't be a milk run!
- 60+ lines of recorded dialog, using proper aviation radio terminology and lingo
- a level of realism and immersion not yet seen in an aircraft-related mission, including actual aerodrome procedures
- built-in contingency plans; break your jet, and you (may) not be forced to walk home!
- it's not a mission that forces the spamming of high-powered weapons! think tactically to complete your objectives

a little bit about this mission:
I've had this in the making for a long time, well over (heh, two years now). The reason it's taken so long to do, was because I really, really didn't like the flying model in ArmA, yet also felt that flying was too under-appreciated at the same time, so a lot of it was me working on it for a week or two, then getting frustrated with all the bugs and everything and leaving it for a while, then coming back to do some more later.

This mission is both a revolt against those "fly-straight-to-this-area-and-spam-missiles-rinse-repeat" objectives that seem to be the norm with flying missions in ArmA, as well as proving the concept that you can take a relatively simple mission and take it to another level by introducing a standard of immersion and realism not yet seen in a mission of this type. it started as a simple play-around in the mission editor, to a personal challenge to see how far I could take the concept/premise. so, the mission may seem have echoes of a really newbish mission (eg. waypoints, unimaginative targets, etc.) but I've attempted to show that these things, that are often the cause derision due to lack of realism, actually can add to the immersion if you put it in a finely polished and executed package - to show what you really can and cannot do with ArmA.

It's also the first mission I've ever considered fit for a beta release, so it should be interesting to see how it goes.

Change log

- v0.898 beta
Initial Release

- v0.899 beta
   - Locations of way points and flightpath placed on map via markers.
   - Altitude cap raised from 100m AGL to 150m.
   - mission will no longer immediately end upon the convoy reaching it's destination when the player has ejected and is attempting to exfiltrate - mission will wait till the player has completed the exfiltration before moving to the lose outro.
   - Removed R-73 AA loads from 2 of the 4 interceptor Jets.
   - added several smoke grenades to the gear screen.
   - ammunition cargo removed from the trucks parked in the Hangars.
   - Convoy driver skill upgraded.
   - A few spelling errors and weather report errors rectified.

- v0.941 beta
   - added new (and much improved) 'intro' and 'outro - win' cut scenes.
   - fixed the evac call from the island not triggering correctly.
   - added more enemies to the second objective
   - added new dialog and radio messages
   - added "bitchin' betty" audio warning track to the below the radar segment. The player will now get an audible "WARNING: ALTITUDE!" from betty if they are flying above 110 metres, to warn them of the altitude infringement at 150 metres.
   - altered November Two wreck demolition.

- v0.944 beta
   - fixed radio chatter to proper 'cfgRadio' format - radio calls will now not overlap or play with time acc. on.
   - added two difficulty levels - regular difficulty features less enemies, and a higher altitude cap.
   - added repair/re-arm point at the western end of the airfield. unlimited reloads on regular difficulty, a single re-load on veteran.
   - tweaked trigger positions and added new radio clips to improve mission immersion and resilience.

- v0.945 beta
   - Added new script that makes the 'destroy convoy' waypoint lock onto any surviving ural trucks (regular difficulty only)
   - Added new radio call warning the player when intercepting fighters are within 4KM (roughly two miles)
   - FIXED: properly Removed the R73 missiles off 2 interceptor jets.
   - rejigged some trigger parameters to enable the mission to be able to be completed using alternative vehicles (like an AH-1).
   - waypoint text now uniformly changed to capitals (OFP style)
   - edited a frame in the intro movie to get a better profile shot of the A-10

- v1.0
   - Final Release Version
   - Added Credits

- v1.1
   - fixed several spelling errors in the briefing
   - changed outro flyover altitude to hopefully prevent crashing
   - changed several parameters of the Obj. Bravo helicopters (waypointing, Weapons)

- v1.2
   - Added code to prevent abandoned boats from preventing the mission progressing
   - Extended the UAV intro to better sync with the sound effects

Anyway everyone, hope you have fun with this, it's a flying mission that that I hope should have a different 'feel' to it. oh, and by the way, I apologize in advance for my really, really bad American accents - I'm Australian, so it's not really natural for me to do them (though the air traffic controller is supposed to have an Aussie accent!).

- cheers

HailStorm


Edit: This mission has been reviewed and is available from the Missions Depot (http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=255).
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath
Post by: mathias_eichinger on 15 Oct 2008, 22:17:39
Hi Hailstorm!

Now for the first beta test of your mission:

Overview

Nice one, with a good, fitting picture.

Intro

At first I was a bit puzzled about the unusual perspective and the strange sounds of the intro, but then I realised that it was an aerial observation camera. But I thought it was an UAV because of the low altitude above ground. Not really story-telling here, but a nice view anyway.

Briefing

Very extensive and complicated for the average Mathias. I am interested in military aviation, yet I don't know the USAF lingo, so especially the weather Briefing did not make much sense to me.

Mission

The detailed approach to the takeoff procedure was really interesting. I began in front of the ready room, passed by some very cramped Harrier hangars. Good job on the eyecandy here.
Then I got various clearances from the tower (all properly voiced), took off and headed towards the mission area.
As the ArmA controls and my bad luck have it, I had no Joystick available, and the Hog behaves like a freight ship in the air when controlled with keyboard and mouse. It was hard to fly the craft itself, even harder to keep below 100 m and impossible for me to loiter, spot and engage targets.

Bottom line: For expert pilots and the players with a joystick: A must-see, it looks promising at the beginning. Keyboard jockeys might be as bad off as me.

Cheers

Mathias
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath
Post by: HailStorm on 17 Oct 2008, 02:04:44
Hey Mathias, thanks for giving this one a look in.

Intro: yeah, i'm not the greatest at camera scripting, and it definitely shows in the intro and outro - win; what i really wanted to do with the intro was to have a tv-set overlay or similar attached to it, to accentuate the fact it's from the viewpoint of a someone in a command centre (hence the background noise) all my attempts have failed so far, so this is more of a placeholder showing off the basic idea than the true viewpoint i want to achieve.

the meteorological forecast: i was torn between omitting a weather report entirely, which would definitely feel missing for a flying mission, or to put a proper aviation-standard one in, to which almost everyone wouldn't understand, and i chose the latter. don't worry about feeling like you can't understand it, it's there more for immersion purposes than giving the player any actual, tangible info (it basically says 'clear skies, low wind'). for those who are interested, i'll add some translation notes in the readme.

mission: Mathias, did you play this one with waypoints switched on or off? the reason being is that if the waypoints are followed correctly, several things happen; 1) the A-10 is flown out to the north, over the water and then takes a long, swooping flightpath around to the west and southwards (so the 100m clearance bit doesn't have any obstacles that the player has to navigate above/around), 2) a savegame, and 3) the 100m clearance is annulled before your reach land, long before any hostiles worth shooting at - enabling you to climb to any height you want when you actually get to the point of blowing stuff up.

the next version will have markers on the map to make this bit clearer, and to enable waypoints-off flying (hopefully), also, raise in the altitude cap is probably a good idea too if the keyboard controls are the limiting factor to the overwater flight.

if you actually flew straight to the target after taking off, under the 100m, i'm impressed you got all the way to the desert in the first place without busting it - it's incredibly hard to do and not what i intended for the mission. i agree, the A-10 handles like it's magnetically drawn to the ground when under keyboard control (and joysticking it isn't that much better) try to do small amounts of bank and pitch movements - there's no time limit, take your time, do wide sweeping, controllable turns if you're not under fire. banking over to large degrees at low level will get you into trouble quickly. oh, and one other thing - keep you speed above 200km/h (110 knots on the A-10's HUD) at all times! you'll stall out and likely crash at anything less.

i'll have a new version up and running in a few days, but feedback before then on anything else i can fix up would be great!
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath
Post by: mathias_eichinger on 17 Oct 2008, 19:31:16
Hi Hailstorm!

Yes, I had the waypoints switched on, with all that you describe happening. I took incredibly wide turns (more like a Boeing 747), too wide to find my targets and even then I crashed numerous times.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath
Post by: Zipper5 on 17 Oct 2008, 20:21:17
You could try using this (http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=3157) addon for the mission, HailStorm. I find it makes the A10 a lot more realistic, plus somewhat easier to fly - doesn't bleed so much speed when turning. Might help some of the issues with the current terrible A10 flight model.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath
Post by: Denz on 23 Oct 2008, 09:13:11
I don't know how useful a report this will be as I didn't complete it and I'm probably the worst pilot ever but here goes...

v1.14 Veteran Difficulty with MaddMatt's effects, Durg's Vegetation Fix and RKSL's Improved A10 Flight Model
(It may be improved but it didn't help a sucky pilot like me)

Overview
Good description with a decent picture.
Picky English time:
on a enemy > on an enemy

Intro
You know I think I heard the loading sound the old sinclair spectrum used to make in that lot.
It really needs a voiceover because at the moment it is just some disjointed scenes with a realistic comms overlay.

Briefing
Hmmm, I get the feeling that you have some experience in the field of avionics.
Very well written and detailed briefing although those not familiar with military acronyms may need a glossary ;)
The meteorological bumpf went right over my head though - very realistic though I have to admit
Typo: signifigant > significant (and in the Notes)
"due to the our forces" - in the Notes
Gear selection:
Perfect, you play a pilot after all although I did take some grenades from the truck in the hanger  :whistle:

Mission
I would consider taking the gun off the player at the mission start and give it back later as it just looks a little funny to begin the mission pointing a gun at someones face.
The first time through I very nearly got run over by that Hummer roadhog zooming through the base  :D
I thought the taxiing process and take off were very well handled and authentic and the base really felt alive  :good:
At no point during my 5 attempts did I make it to the target area without exceeding the flight limit so I had to deal with some pests on my tail.
My first thought was to run through an area of friendly AAA (hopefully equipped with Mando Gun) but alas there was nothing. I did catch a lucky break when I flew through some blackhawks conducting training parajumps which got the blighters off my tail for a while.
I managed to get near the convoy twice - the other times well, I think that pilot was drunk or something. It looked like he could hardly fly at all  :blink:
Had another lucky break on one attempt when I was taking a wide arc near the target area when there was an explosion near my tail which lined me up perfectly with the convoy's route. I managed to get off a couple of FFAR in the general direction but due to ground based AAA and having bogies constantly swarming over my ass my poor A10 succumbed to damage and I had to punch out. That was as close as I got  :-[
Considering the level of detail you went to in creating alternate E&R points I was mightily disappointed when the mission ended due to the convoy reaching it's location.

Outro
Well obviously I only saw the outro/loose.
The scene with the trucks came up then a black screen flashed for a second then it played the scene through.

Summary
Well, what I saw of it I liked. The level of detail is fantastic.
I'm not saying that you should have an evasion mission as an alternative but for ground pounders like me, I could have got something more out of it.
Zipper's suggestion was a good idea but it didn't make enough of a difference in my case.
I'm not giving up though, I shall return once I've mastered the damn plane.

Oh I didn't have the waypoints on.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath
Post by: HailStorm on 28 Oct 2008, 13:07:36
ok, thanks denz - i've used your feedback as well to edit the mission.

I'll agree, the RockofSL-modified A-10 is really nice - probably more fitting to the real A-10. Ultimately though, I want to keep this mission Addon-free, so throwing in one now isn't what I'm looking for. It's sad to think that the bad flight physics and controls supplied by ArmA are almost the killer of the mission.
- v0.899 beta
   - Locations of waypoints and flightpath placed on map via markers.
   - Altitude cap raised from 100m AGL to 150m (voiceover still needs replacing)
   - mission will no longer immediately end upon the convoy reaching it's destination when the player has ejected and is attempting to exfiltrate - mission will wait till the player has completed the exfiltration before moving to the lose outro.
   - Removed R-73 AA loads from 2 of the 4 interceptor Jets.
   - added several smoke grenades to the gear screen.
   - ammunition cargo removed from the trucks parked in the Hangars.
   - Convoy driver skill upgraded.
   - A few spelling errors and weather report errors rectified.

the new version is posted in the first post.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.899
Post by: rok on 28 Oct 2008, 23:42:26
I tested the latest 0.899 version with A-10 at regular difficulty.

Intro/Outro
I liked them a lot. Simple and clean, yet detailed. Everything worked without a glitch. As an almost exclusive multiplayer gamer it's nice to see some well made scenes.

Mission
Takeoff/Ingress
The airfield felt really alive with all the helis, harriers and humvees moving on and taking off. Also the conversations with control tower felt very real.
On a first try I totally forgot the 150 m altitude cap so I got screwed pretty fast by the enemy planes. On a second try I had no trouble staying below 150m cap. (Playing with joystick here. I'd consider myself rather experienced in ArmA piloting.)

Primary mission
As I closed to the target I felt I need to get rid of biggest AA threats before entering area so I used all my Mavericks on Shilkas and other tanks near Cayo. After that I had to do several attack runs on the convoy with rockets. Had to be careful when circling around while there was still AA in neighboring towns. Of course A-10's flight model didn't make it any easier as I had to watch my speed to avoid stalling.
Finally got all convoy vehicles destroyed. The last one damaged and didn't show any more on HUD reticle so I had to do some extra runs to spot it.

Secondary mission
After finishing with convoy I did a large circle to the west and approached the little island from "wrong" direction. So I got some radio conversations in wrong order when passing over the island and flew to the Recon Run Line-Up after that. Anyhow it didn't affect the flow of mission.
While patrolling the island I missed the direction enemy was to be expected but was able to spot and eliminate enemy threats just in time.

Return/Landing
This went smoothly as expected. Some harriers maneuvered quite close while I was landing.

Bugs
- In Overview there's .Sara at the end of the mission name.

Final words
Great, detailed and realistic flying mission. Well done. :)
ArmA flying model sure caused some extra drama on tight curves. The mission wasn't too hard for experienced pilot on regular difficulty settings. Sure it required a few tries from the ingress saving point but that was to be expected. Secondary mission could be spiced up a bit. Maybe enemy helis could attack from different directions.


Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.941b [updated 09/02/09]
Post by: HailStorm on 09 Feb 2009, 15:44:27
I've now updated to version 0.941 beta.

changes:
- v0.941 beta
   - added new (and much improved) intro and outro - win cutscenes.
   - fixed the evac call from the island not triggering correctly.
   - added more enemies to the second objective
   - added new dialog and radio messages
   - added "bitchin' betty" audio warning track to the below the radar segment. The player will now get an audible "WARNING: ALTITUDE!" from betty if they are flying above 110 metres, to warn them of the altitude infringement at 150 metres.
   - altered November Two wreck demolition

 - Note that there is an extra radio trigger in the mission for beta testing purposes; it's covered in the readme, but the gist of it is it will get you to the second half of the mission quicker (if you're looking at testing that bit only).

Link is at the bottom of the first post, Harrier version in the 7th post down.

cheers
-HailStorm
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.941b [updated 09/02/09]
Post by: savedbygrace on 23 Feb 2009, 19:46:26
Let it be known That I am no pilot. But despite my inexperience, I was able to complete this one in 32 minutes with a stream of burning oil serving as my smoke trail.  :D Kudos to Hailstorm for a valiant effort.
Tested with: Arma 1.15 with difficulty adjusted down slightly for me.
Overview
Pic is a good summary of the mission while text is more than informative.
Intro
Very nice overlay to resemble reconnoitering the target area. The accompanying sound was good but sounded strange in some parts. The fact that you added special sound is a plus for me. The sounddile was longer than the scene it was suppose to be in so it messed up the start sequence of the next scene. The next scene however, when the music begins and the camera angles highlight the primary weapon to be used in the mission was enjoyable to watch the sleek closeups as the camera seemed to caress the features of the warthog.
Briefing
The others seem to have covered this quite well but I'll touch on it quickly.
The link to EJ52 does not function. Other than that, it is a very well thought out brief and even though I do not understand the weather statistics it helped to provide me with the feeling that I was an important asset that they would relay such information for my intel. (Maybe you could provide an explanation in the notes section which expounds on the acronyms? Or in the readme?)
Mission
I must agree that the pistol in the hand of the pilot while running around sort of removes from the immersion. (perhaps you could create a trigger which adds it to the player once they leave a trigger which surrounds the airfield and removes it again when he re enters?)Just for immersion sake, but its really unimportant.

The airfield is setup nicely, hangars are detailed, fixed wings have their armament removed within the hangars.
The looping jets coming and going are nice( I watched them for about 10 minutes to see how they would conduct themselves if they were to meet and they evntually bunch up but I did not see any collisions..restart..

The communications between the tower and pilots was splendid. I did not like the altitude restriction or the annoying warning and I am glad that it only lasted until just before engagement. I am however thankful for the savegame right after that point.

The waypoint pattern removes from freedom of approach but at the same time, it maintains a disciplined airspace for all airtraffic conducting maneuvers in the region and thus allows the inexperienced pilots as myself with the greatest approach alignment just before weapons are ordered free.

Since I suck at aim, the Tab button came in very handy during the engagement. My technique was that of fly in at a downward spearhead, take out a target with a guided missile and as I got within a few hundred meters I would squeeze off some rounds with the cannon. Once past the target areas, I would pull up at full throttle, in multiple barrel rolls to evade response fire and after a few hundred meters, nose up until the ground came into view and then barrel row for a another pass. I received quite a bit of damage on the second pass and so I returned to the airfield for repairs and rearm but was disappointed to find that there was none....Restart...Hmm, I am not good enough to avoid fire like the pros do, so I chose to implement a cheat by using my mission testing helping hand(lokis lost key). Since there was no way to rearm, repair or refuel I chose to use the unlimited ammo just for the sake of finishing the mission for feedback. With the help of this cheat, I was able to eliminate the entire opposing force, without being shredded by their counterfire. I got the convoy, did the low flyby over the second objective island and then circled north over the mainland while the radio chatter impressed me. Nice work on that. The approaching heli threat from the south was taken out with two passes and my metal munching cannon and so I circled south for a wreckage identification pass and a sitrep on the S&R. Heard some more chatter identifying boats approaching from the mainland and so a couple of passes through the bay and I was able to make em fish food.(too bad there is no rooster tail effect from lowflying jets eh?) Got the orders to return and headed back. (again, my landing is as bad as my flying so I utilized the auto landing feature) and voila!
Outro
I think one of the A10's crashed on approach....nice little cinematic to conclude the matter.

Overall
Lots of love put into this one. So much so that I had to create a practice mission in the ediotr just to get use to flying the warthog. Couldn't pass up a mission so well done.
But I would definitely add a repair, refuel and rearm facility or trucks at the airfield.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.941b [updated 09/02/09]
Post by: HailStorm on 04 Mar 2009, 16:17:45
Hey Savedbygrace, i'll try and comment on what you said:

Briefing

the link to EJ52 should work, problem is that it's the exact same position as the marker before it "ready room", hence why it won't move if you clicked that one previously. I'll make that clearer in the next version.

There should already be a weather report explanation in the readme - it's a big file, and there is also some useful tips on flying the A-10 in there, too - It's definitely worth a read.

Mission

Re the pistol - the player has a choice as to what weapon they select during the mission: i'm not really sure how to actually save whatever weapon they are carrying and give it back to them later.

I'm glad you noticed that the Harriers don't crash. the AI in ArmA have this stupid tendency to taxi their plane right into the path of a landing aircraft - I tell you, nothing spoils the immersion in a plane mission than coming back and having to fly over a massive pile-up of aircraft wreckage sitting at the threshold of the runway!

the re-arm, re-fuel and repair points: this one's a bit hard to work around. with a little searching, there are actually places where you can re-fuel, re-arm and repair at the airport, but they are not marked on the map, and the repair one is (almost uselessly) parked inside the starting hangar, which will be fixed.

the problem i have though is i don't want this to be a "missile spam" mission: adding a fully loaded ammo truck somewhere spoils that effect. i wanted the player to get through the mission without actually having to re-load (like a true combat sortie), and I've tried to help this by having only six convoy trucks (which i just realised is a very crucial bit of info that should be the briefing) and less than 5 anti-air guns in any one area. a good use of Mavericks on either set of targets will make the mission much easier!

in addition, (shh! here's a secret!) the entire second part of the mission can be completed without ANY use of the A-10's weapons! give it a try. those special forces guys on the island are surprisingly well-armed! I did this to ensure that the player wasn't royally screwed if they had used most (or all) of their ammo on the first bit, and coming in for a second landing really breaks the immersion.

In any case, I will add a more accessible repair truck, mark the location of both it and the refueling trucks, and I may add an ammo truck with 1 reload available, if i can manage to work out some system of limiting the amount of Mavericks the player can access.

Outro:

you said one of the A-10's crashed? heh, probably. Right now, they skim so close to the top of the hill that they can actually kill (read: run over) someone standing on the very top. i'll add a metre or two to the clearance.

thanks for the test, it's some good feedback.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.941b [updated 09/02/09]
Post by: schuler on 15 May 2009, 06:04:50
Hi Hailstorm,  just tried out Hogs Breath and Harriers Breath.
The overviews both have the same pic, and intro. I really enjoyed the sounds in the intro and missions.
I found my beta testing as a ditto with the other testers, lots of positive feedback. Well done intro and briefing. Good details on both.

Here,s my take on game play. I adjusted my control of the mouse in the arma option to get faster movement on the mouse.
The waypoints worked just fine if you quickly adjust your flight to them so you line up the target. And the waypoints are made nicely to do that. I just found it hard to hit any thing. I never liked the way the planes are in OFP or Arma, its just not that kinda game. The heli's are nice though!  I used to play Modern Air Combat and I liked flying the A-10 the best, but my joystick messed up on me.

I dropped my bombs, got shot and bailed out near the house a FB-71. Went there, called for evec and it went to the cutscene. Ended quit abruptly, otherwise a very professionally done time well spent mission.
In the debriefing I found I didn't hit any targets. :(
good mission for pilots  :yes:
cheer, schuler
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.941b
Post by: savedbygrace on 27 Jun 2009, 11:17:52
Okay, I removed the [updated] from the initial post because the date stated 9-2-09. After looking at the b added to the version in the title, but nothing else indicating and update, I have to ask if this has indeed been updated to since the version I played? If so, I'm thinking you meant to insert 6-2-09 as the date. If this is so, I apologize for overlooking it and just want to remind you that its okay to bump your thread when you upload a new verison.

EDIT:Ah, never ye mind. I can see that it has not been updated.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.941b
Post by: schuler on 27 Jun 2009, 14:07:23
nice bump sweet hart!  :-*
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.941b
Post by: HailStorm on 03 Jul 2009, 17:29:34
I'm getting around to it, been fixing little things here and there, but not enough at the moment to require a new beta release... yet. I need to change the radio chatter (it plays with time acc on, etc.) and a few big things that ultimately probably won't seem different but will make the mission more robust to 'creative' players. Also need to create a script that will re-load the A-10, just haven't got time to do that right now.

oh.. and savedbygrace... the date 9-2-09 is in dd/mm/yy format (9th Feb 09) not mm/dd/yy format (which would be 2nd Sep 09) sorry bout the confusion!
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: HailStorm on 31 Aug 2009, 09:10:18
Updated to v0.944 beta.

Changes:

- Fixed radio chatter to proper 'cfgRadio' format - radio calls will now not overlap or play with time acc. on. It does however annoyingly add that 'double beep' noise to the end of each and every friggin' call (breaks the immersion for me as a pilot, anyway).

- Added two difficulty levels - regular difficulty features less shilkas over the target, Intercepting aircraft have all of their AA missiles removed (but still uses their guns very effectively), and the ingress part uses the higher altitude cap of 150m.  

Veteran difficulty essentially stays the same as it has always been, except you now have to fly lower than 100m to get to the target.

- Added repair/re-arm point at the western end of the airfield. Unlimited reloads on regular difficulty, a single re-load on veteran. To re-load, use the action menu option when you're parked on the taxiway out the front of the depot. To repair, have to manually taxi up to the back of the repair truck.

- Tweaked trigger positions and added new radio clips to improve mission immersion and resilience (some radios calls now trigger every time you do something applicable, e.g. on approach to land, etc.).
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: savedbygrace on 01 Sep 2009, 14:58:22
I dropped into this one again today.
This time I was nearly rear ended by one of the inbound crafts with callsign Hazel as I was cleared for takeoff. You may want to consider inserting a variable that is declared true when Hazel reaches a certain waypoint and add an additional conditional check for the radio command which prevents the radio message that clears the player for lining up on the runway if they have reached that waypoint.

I guess I was use to the altitude warning although it seemed you lessened the distance that I have to travel under that restriction, which is better in my opinion because the other craft did not seem restricted by it.

Upon approaching the AO, I was intercepted by enemy air units(obviously you know this) but I did not know since it is a new addition. Okay after being smoked repeatedly, I finally figured out that the inbound smoke trails were coming from the sky and not from ground units. Oh my! Okay..no problem, I'll just adapt my stategy to include those contacts first, except that they have auto lock missiles and I do not and since their are two bogies on my tail combined with fierce ground AA, I have to take the fight to the sea. I was frustrated that in such a sophisticated tool of technology I did not have some sort of warning system that identified air targets from ground targets, no beep or buzz to indicate a missile lock. This seriously just ramped up the difficulty(veteran btw).

After attempting several different tactics of engaging those bogies in dogfights it became very apparent that an air asset designed for use against ground targets was no match for an opponent designed specifically to remove his presence.

I tried blasting through the AO and distributing my payload as quickly as possible and then exiting the AO and sweeping back around toward Paraiso to line up for another run but no matter what I did, their auto guide missiles always and without mercy found my wings and smoked me out of the sky

High, Low, it didn't seem to matter how I maneuvered because once they locked on, I was toast. I just couldn't shake them. I became frustrated fast and was trying to figure out how you yourself beat this mission. In fact, I would be delighted to know your own strategy.

As it stands, I would reconsider those bogies. Or at the least, delay their arrival until the hog has had some time to make a pass or two before having them respond to his threat. This way he would atleast have a chance to achieve his objective before he is forced to eject.

Please...give the player unit a rifle of some sort and put him in safe mode at the start. That will prevent him from aiming at the guy at the start and also give him a weapon when his boots inevitably hit the ground. I had to engage a uaz and half squad with that pistol( I was going to nab the uaz and chase down the convoy) but again was outgunned. I took out the gunner but his cronies got me while I tried to scoot back into cover.

I'll keep trying but I don't forsee myself overcoming the challenge of the interceptors.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: CH on 03 Sep 2009, 13:50:59
Since I like flightsims I felt obliged to try this one out.

Briefing
I think understand what you're trying to accomplish with the briefing but most players will probably not read all of it.

Intro
The aircraft is the star in this mission so it makes sense to introduce her properly.

Mission
I haven't flown fixed-wing aircraft in ArmA before, so it took me a while to get familiarized. However, I followed the instructions I was given via the radio and didn't encounter any problems during takeoff. Once over the target area I failed to identify the interceptors as hostile. I just assumed that AWACS would inform me of any airborne threats heading my way, luckily the game was auto saved just before I was engaged, so I replayed from that point. This time I knew what I was up against so I immediately went into action and downed two bandits.  During the dogfight I think I spotted a third fighter but I was unable to find him again after my second kill. Even if the AI is stupid as hell you might want to reconsider the number of hostile fighters, since engaging in a one vs two, possibly three, dogfight almost requires that the player is using Track IR and a joystick (witch I did).

After the dogfight I had some serious trouble locating the convoy. If the waypoint could track the lead vehicle it would have been better in my opinion. After several attempts I was able to locate and destroy the trucks. The AAA didn't pose much of a threat as long as I kept my speed up.

If the first objective was to hard the second was almost to easy. I didn't fire a single shot at the helos but all three went down anyway. I fired a couple of rockets at the boats but I don't think they caused any damage. It was someone else that took care of them, don't know who.

After that I went back to the airbase. I used the autopilot to land my plane and parked it in the hangar.

Outro
Short but I liked it

Summary
I think this mission is very immersive with great attention to detail and good voice acting. In my opinion it's just the gameplay that needs to be tweaked a little.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: savedbygrace on 03 Sep 2009, 14:44:38
You're a better pilot than me pal. I tried repeatedly to shake those bogies but their missiles always found their target. I don't know how you managed to shoot em down without them ripping you apart first. I was able to get behind one and fire couple hundred rounds at it with the nose cannon which did some real damage but the other had already circled and fired his auto guides before I could disengage. One day, I will get myself a trackir but until that day, the keyboard will have to do.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: HailStorm on 18 Sep 2009, 09:19:47
Hey Guys, thanks for giving this a go again.

@savedbygrace: that's wierd, those interceptors have been there since version 1 of this mission - i've been tweaking them constantly since.

a good thing to try out (that's new with this version) is to give it a shot in 'regular' difficulty - a lot of the problems you ran into are made significantly easier. for example, the interceptors don't carry any Anti-aircraft missiles in Regular.

"veteran" difficulty is just what it says now - this level is for proficient flyers. this a whole new ball game, so being a 'veteran' soldier or tanker won't mean much here!

my tactics? i stay as close as to the interceptors as possible - the one advantage the A-10 has over the Su-34 is it's ability to fly much, much slower - stay at about 200, and those interceptors fly right by - then blast 'em up close and personal with the cannon.  i do take a few hits from them at the start, but there's really not much you can do about it (ArmA1 & ArmA2's missile physics are far to simplistic to do much - most BIS missiles WILL hit you once you are locked on)

another trick is that you can lead those interceptors back over Paraiso airfiled, or overhead the small army base to the north of arcadia (Ea63). both these sites have parked vulcan cannons, which make short work of any fighters on your tail.

re. the rifle. i probably won't give the pilot a rifle, simply because no combat pilot has ever gone into battle with one. they get an M9 strapped to their chest for self defense, that's about it. it's even a bit of a stretch allowing the player to choose a silenced one at the start, TBH.

if you were looking for a vehicle to drive around in, there are quite a few empty ones dotted in practically every town in south sahrani - i put these here just for that purpose. be careful though, vehicles like UAZ's may belong to a nearby foot patrol... although there are also lots of abandoned civilian vehicles in places where you'd expect to find one, as well. Also, if you're on foot, give the army base at Ea-63 a look in. there might be some... toys to play with there.



@CH, well done for completing it. the trouble with the second objective was that i had no way of working out how much ammunition the player had at this point, and thus no way of working out how many enemies to use. in the end i just decided to use as many as it took to make it fun, but have the soldiers on the island 100% capable of fending for themselves - which is what you saw, they shot down the helicopters, and also shot at the boats when they got close enough. that way i figured the player can go and rack some more kills up if they have the ammo, but if they didn't it wouldn't mean they failed the mission.

when it comes to spotting fighters, it isn't really necessary to use trackIR - the radar in the top of the screen has more than enough info to tell you if there is a jet in the sky or not - if it's moving at peculiar angles and seems to be moving much faster to other blips - it's probably something airborne. stuff like this is why the radar is so hated in the engine - it just makes hostiles far too easy to spot if you know what you're looking for.

adding the ability for the Destroy waypoint to follow the lead convoy truck is a great idea - i'll work on it next.

this mission seems to me to be pretty complete, so i'll try and get these things done and get it out for review pretty quickly.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: savedbygrace on 18 Sep 2009, 15:33:52
that is weird about the interceptors being there since version 1 because I have no recollection of them at all.

The m9 is great. I'm just a lonewolf type infantry player who loves to accept challenges with far greater difficulty when as a pilot, I should be evading and hightailing it to predetermined pickup spot.

An idea though...place a trigger which detects if the player is not in a trigger area at the airfield(the size of the airfield and slightly larger) and not in the plane. repeatedly
Code: [Select]
Condition: ? this && !(player vehicle == plane1)     
OnActivation: player addmag "M9"; player addweapon "M9"; player add mag "M9"; etc.
OnDeactviation: removeallweapons player

That weapon and mag type may be incorrect.

I enjoy veteran status but have to admit when and where to use it. I'll give your idea a go on your next version.

BTW, check into adding that variable which clears the player for runway lineup when Hazel is on approach(in a trigger area) That was the only flaw in the cycling assets I think.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: HailStorm on 20 Sep 2009, 15:36:06
yep, the four interceptors launching from pita have been there since day one. it's always been the penalty the player gets for busting the altitude cap, as opposed to simply failing the mission. they won't take off if you get to the target by successfully flying under the radar.

(oh, btw, don't try flying anywhere near pita - you'll get a nasty surprise in the form of Kamovs with 1.14 killer AA missiles. Thanks, BIS, for that one... go ahead and break every Airborne mission with a kamov as an adversary, why don't you?)

With the M9, i'd love to do something like that but i see a problem with it, as A) the player has the option of choosing what handgun to use before the mission and b) it provides an possible exploit that would give the player unlimited ammo (though i'll admit if someone is relying on this, they're doing the mission wrong).

if someone can give me help as to how to 'save' that status of the player's weaponry (i.e. whether they have a silenced m9, normal m9, how many smoke grenades and clips they have) and can then constantly remove and give back those weapons to the player depending where they are, i'll certainly stick it in.


the Hazell jet: there's already a trigger setup around the airfield that prevents both the player and the other harriers from getting a clearance to taxi onto the runway with another aircraft on finals (about to touch down) - with the player they simply won't get the "line up" radio order, and the harriers get a sandbag barrier placed in front of them, just under the ground. this tricks the A.I into thinking something's in the way, and they just stop, as opposed to trying to taxi around it. i found it works very well - AI planes will stop, and any that got though just in time have enough time to take off without getting a harrier up the jacksy. it also means that the harriers also won't taxi onto the runway when YOU are trying to land.

problem is, i haven't found a way to tell a landing jet to disable their landing autopilot and fly away if something IS blocking the runway. so this means if any thing is in the way (like the players' jet) a landing plane WILL crash into it. this also means that the player has to pretty much take off immediately when ordered to, but since that's a pretty normal thing to do with operating aircraft, it's only a small problem. Ever wonder why air traffic control is considered the world's #1 most stressful job on the planet?

there's this joke that goes around the flying circles:

what's the difference between a pilot and a controller?
when a pilot screws up, the pilot dies.
When a controller screws up... the pilot dies.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: CH on 22 Sep 2009, 12:06:49
the radar in the top of the screen has more than enough info to tell you if there is a jet in the sky or not - if it's moving at peculiar angles and seems to be moving much faster to other blips - it's probably something airborne
I guess someone who knows what to look for can detect bandits in that way, but in my opinion it's pretty hard.

the one advantage the A-10 has over the Su-34
The A-10 ??
I've tried the mission  (v0.944) in both "veteran" and "regular" mode but the waypoints  always led me to an AV-8B.

I just assumed that AWACS would inform me of any airborne threats heading my way
I guess I wasn't paying attention...
...but one additional warning once they are within weapons range would be a welcome addition for confused pilots like myself.

Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: savedbygrace on 22 Sep 2009, 20:23:39
Quote
...but one additional warning once they are within weapons range would be a welcome addition for confused pilots like myself.
Wow, that is an excellent idea and could increase the immersion tremendously. Aside from that, it would be easy to do. When the bogies get within a certain distance of the players position, alert goes off like, "Warning aerial threat detected" OR "Incoming" Or perhaps a high pitched blip that signals every second and speeds up the closer the bogies get.

I can't remember if you did or not but a mention that staying at a certain altitude would prevent your detection by radar would be helpful. I know I broke that altitude barrier in one of my last tries over the AO but never encountered the bogies.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: HailStorm on 23 Sep 2009, 16:51:21
The A-10 ??
I've tried the mission  (v0.944) in both "veteran" and "regular" mode but the waypoints  always led me to an AV-8B.

Hmm, there are actually two versions of this mission you can download in this thread: "Hog's Breath", which will sit you in an A-10, and "Harrier Breath" which i've substituted in an AV-8B with the A-10's Weapons. the A-10 version can be downloaded from the first post, the Harrier one is in the seventh or so. you probably just downloaded that other version, and i'd recommend giving the proper A-10 one a go. (just be careful, the A-10 is a fair bit underpowered and a lot more unforgiving)

I just assumed that AWACS would inform me of any airborne threats heading my way
I guess I wasn't paying attention...
...but one additional warning once they are within weapons range would be a welcome addition for confused pilots like myself.

that is a brilliant idea.  I'll work on that one too.

I can't remember if you did or not but a mention that staying at a certain altitude would prevent your detection by radar would be helpful. I know I broke that altitude barrier in one of my last tries over the AO but never encountered the bogies.

there is only a small part where you're altitude is restricted - between when you take off, to when you're about to re-cross the coast at Arcadia is the small sector where you have to try to stay under a certain altitude. at any other point you can fly higher and not have a problem.

you can tell what your altitude limit is by reading it in the briefing, or alternatively, the air traffic controller will announce what altitude you have to stay under as you are taxiing prior to takeoff.

he'll say something like "cleared waypoint 1 to 6, not above XXX metres above ground level" - thats what altitude you have to stay under. it changes depending on what difficulty you're in.

if you haven't been cleared yet, you'll get that "warning:altitude" audio track when you're approaching the limit. if you don't hear that, then you don't need to worry about breaking it and calling the fighters.

if you manage to stay under the limit till waypoint 6, the controller will lift the restriction (he'll say something like "your altitude restriction is canceled"), and you can then climb higher without triggering the fighters.

from a technical aspect, the whole radar altitude bit is dictated by one script which loops every 1.5 seconds and checks if the player's aircraft is below 100m for veteran and 150m for regular. if the player gets within 30m or so of breaking the limit, it starts the audio warning, and if the plane further climbs and breaks the limit it fuels and makes airborne the four fighters parked on the runway at pita. the script keeps checking until either A) the player breaks the limit or B) they fly past waypoint 6, where it will then play a radio track to tell the player they can climb freely and the script will disable itself.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: savedbygrace on 24 Sep 2009, 12:55:21
Thats what it was then. The first time I tried, I remember having a problem with the altitude height(why I couldn't climb above but choppers could) and so I maintained the correct height. It all seems fair enough. I have yet to try it on normal though.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: CH on 29 Sep 2009, 00:16:38
i'd recommend giving the proper A-10 one a go.
I will definitely play this mission again, but since you've already announced that you're making changes to it, I think I'll await the updated version.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.944b [updated 31st Aug 2009]
Post by: haroon1992 on 24 Oct 2009, 16:50:35
Just played this mission !
I admit that this is the FIRST mission I've EVER played SMOOTHLY...!

Your mission is somewhat GREAT! :clap:
I like it......
Keep Up the good work............  ;)
I'll be waiting for your next release....... :yes:
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.945b [updated 25th Oct 2009]
Post by: HailStorm on 25 Oct 2009, 08:01:57
Thanks haroon1992, it's good to know, - I've constantly been trying to keeps this mission as bug-free and as smooth as it can, given what i know.

and now for an update: V0.945 is now available from the first post.

Sorry that it takes so long to get updates like this done, but between work and the missus, there's hardly time to get a few days in to just sit back and diagnose how a bug is happening, what I can do to fix it, and eventually enacting those plans. But I've taken all the new feedback and gone and worked on it all:

- v0.945 beta
   - Added new script that makes the 'destroy convoy' waypoint lock onto any surviving ural trucks.


this one took the most time, but now works perfectly as advertised, so now you shouldn't have trouble finding those trucks! it'll scroll through any surviving vehicles till you've taken them all out, and can move on to the next objective. I have made it so that it's only available on regular difficulty, however, as Veterans should by now know how to rely on the MKI eyeball!

   - Added new radio call warning the player when intercepting fighters are within 4KM (roughly two miles)

This one by CH's request. you'll now get an additional warning by Paraiso operations that will tell you that the interceptors are two miles away. However, I'm not sure if 4Km is enough distance though, as by the time the radio conversation ends, those interceptors are practically on top of you already thanks to their speed.

   - FIXED: properly Removed the R73 missiles off 2 interceptor jets.

Just a bug fix that I thought I had already done. Removes the missiles off 2 of the four Su-34's. these jets will also be the only ones you encounter in 'regular' difficulty only, as that difficulty also will delete the other, fully armed, Su-34's (there are originally 4 in total)

   - rejigged some trigger parameters to enable the mission to be able to be completed using alternative vehicles (like an AH-1, if you can find it...)

   - waypoint text now uniformly changed to capitals (OFP style)

   - edited a frame in the intro movie to get a better front-on shot of the A-10

what can I say, guess I'm a bit of a perfectionist :P
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.945b [updated 25th Oct 2009]
Post by: haroon1992 on 25 Oct 2009, 11:59:24
Okay and sounds good...
Downloading.....










Haroon1992......................................
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.945b [updated 25th Oct 2009]
Post by: CH on 26 Oct 2009, 14:15:13
Version: 0.945
Difficulty: Regular

First attempt:
I think I noticed some small changes on my way over to the hangar. One helo was airborne and the other two was about to take off. A soldier that ran to hangar two (and then calmed down and started to walk). It felt as if the airport was more alive this time around.

I boarded the aircraft and began taxiing but I got stuck some 100-200m from the hangar because I had some problems with my joystick. When I arrived at the holding point I watched Hazel 05 land in front of me. I waited for the next waypoint to appear but nothing happened. Since I waited in front of the holding point I turned my aircraft around to see if that would help, but it didn't. So I took off anyway to see if I could carry on without waypoints, but after a few minutes it felt as if I had broken the mission so I restarted it.

Second attempt:
This time I reached the holding point in time and the takeoff waypoint appeared as one would expect. I managed to get to the target area without alerting the enemy. The tracking waypoint was very helpful.  I destroyed most of the trucks with unguided munitions and only took a few hits.

I didn't notice any changes to the second objective. The init waypoint reappeared for a split second when the convoy was destroyed. I took out one of the helos with the gun and some of the boats with Mavericks. Then I flew back to base and ended the mission.

Version: 0.945
Difficulty:Veteran

First attempt:
Took off without any problems but didn't stay below the assigned 100m AGL since I wanted to see the changes you've made.  The extra warning that the enemy was close was a welcome "heads up".

I engaged all four fighters but the convoy arrived before I could destroy the last bandit. No one fired any missiles at me, don't know if that was because denied them the opportunity or something else. Took some screens during the fight.

I saw the mission failure outro and I have a little suggestion.
Code: [Select]
cutText ["","BLACK"];
sleep 1.5;
_cam = "camera" camCreate _camPos;


Edit: image attachments (1, 2, 3, 4.jpg) lost in crash of 2009 - WEK
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.945b [updated 25th Oct 2009]
Post by: haroon1992 on 10 Nov 2009, 15:31:44
First of all i haven't tested this version yet.

I lost the downloaded zip file along with a failure with my mem stick.

And i receive a 404 error with your download link.
You should check that attachment..
I think its lost along with the problem just happened a few days ago at OFPEC.

Please re-attach it,i am willing to go for a try........................
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v0.945b [re-uploaded 12th Nov 2009]
Post by: HailStorm on 12 Nov 2009, 06:47:29
@haroon1992: I've re-uploaded the mission, should be fine to download now.

@CH: with the waypoint not triggering, the only explanation i can give is that you won't be able to proceed any further if any western troop or vehicle is in proximity of the runway, but since the only vehicles that are waypointed to travel within this boundary are the harriers, only two things could be occuring:

1: there might still be a harrier within this zone, either on approach, or sitting on the runway itself (you should get a clearance to line-up on the runway after Hazel lands; but you will not get a clearance to take off until hazel is far enough down the runway for you to have enough room to take off safely, or

2: you yourself might be inside this trigger zone, thereby preventing your own takoff clearance. however, this should have fixed itself up after you turned around and stopped BEFORE the holding point markers (with the centre of your aircraft directly above the holding point waypoint.

i'll have a look and see if i can re-create this one and see what i can do about it.


the fighters; this time it should be a little easier to fight them, as only two have missiles - given how hard it is to actually see the missiles in flight, it's possible that they did in fact fire on you, but luck made them miss.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v1.0 [Please Review]
Post by: haroon1992 on 18 Jan 2010, 11:52:14
Okay,let me have a chance to test your mission.....before it is being reviewed
I think your final versino hasn't been tested by anyone...??
Or we have been busy since this time.....

Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v1.0 [Please Review]
Post by: HailStorm on 18 Jan 2010, 13:56:29
Both yes and no... I only just made it ready for review yesterday and I called it V1.0 just as it's the official 'finalized' release; the only change I've made in the mission is adding credits to the win outro and in the readme. Other than that, the mission is essentially V0.945, so I figured it really doesn't need further testing. but hey, tell me what you think anyway!
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v1.0 [Please Review]
Post by: CH on 18 Jan 2010, 22:12:30
there might still be a harrier within this zone

That's it, my graphic settings don't allow me to see down the entire runway. Missed that earlier, sorry.

Played the mission again today, definitely ready for review. In my opinion, it's a very polished mission that deserves a big audience.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v1.0 [Please Review]
Post by: haroon1992 on 19 Jan 2010, 03:34:30
Yes,your mission is thrilling to play, especially when trying not to exceed the altitude limit (but i always exceed and limit and got shot by those boggies  :D)

I was unable to complete the mission though,I managed to kill the convoy,but as  you know,I am not a good pilot...
I landed my plane on the head of a US Soldier standing in the airfield  :D(LOL)

This is a great mission,and I can always try to improve both my flying skill and shooting skill by playing this mission.... :clap:

The radio chatters make the mission more realistic,the accent is perfect for this kind of message..(in my opinion)

Like CH,I was unable to spot that harrier due to my graphics limits...(I played it with a vd of only 500m,my CPU is the limitation here :()

Good Job
 :cool2: HailStorm :cool2:


(forgive my bad english)
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v1.0 [Under Review]
Post by: savedbygrace on 11 Mar 2010, 00:20:11
Been playtesting this one quite thoroughly today.
PLayed on veteran, Arma version 1.18 no mods or addons.

There are still some mispells in the briefing although this is not what put the review on hold.

At first I decided to challenge the responding soviet aircraft and again I proved to be a terrible dogfighter. I proceeded to attempt to clear out the urals but found the amount of AA fire, bogies and my own flyboy inexperience to be too much for me to handle. That is definitely for the better flyboys and sure will make you challenge yourself to remain below the required altitude. Kudos on that player induced difficulty level.

I restart and this time I remain below the required altitude. The amount of AA fire is very frustrating but terrific at the same time because why wouldn't they protect their areas? I manage to make several swoop passes, ensuring that I angled between the cities and their eager guns and was successful in taking out the urals while taking only minor damage. (much easier without those bogies sniffing by vapors) At this point everyhting is working great.

Autosave kicks in and I'm off to recon the island. Works great. I'm ordered to guard the area so I begin making circle passes before I am ordered to engage some approaching helos. This works great as well aside from the fact that the A10 main gun sight is off a little. What I can not hit, the specops take out instead.

Next come the boats and I can't hit those things for squat but no matter, the specops take thos out as well.

Now comes the problem. After all boats are sunk, the guys just stand there on the shore and watch the waters. No matter what I do, it does not proceed from there.

So after getting low on fuel while waiting, I retry. Same thing. They kill the boats and just stand there. I take the opportunity to test all of the evac points starting with the island. All of those work great.

Bravo objective never ticks off and the mission will not end unless I bail and make it to a safe zone.

The outro still has an A10 clipping the hilltop, though not everytime. Thats okay though, it could represent the downing of another craft. :D
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v1.0 [Review On Hold]
Post by: HailStorm on 18 Mar 2010, 06:51:52
Thanks for more feedback.

Misspelling - I just put the whole briefing document through MS word spell check, hopefully there are no more errors (besides the the idiosyncrasies between different versions of English i.e. colour=color), though if there is anything specific I've missed (or you think would fit better) feel free to suggest it.

A-10 sight - funny, I haven't noticed any error in the sight before or after 1.18 (although I'm referring the white dot, NOT the green overlay on the HUD). to be fair though aiming at those choppers is quite difficult because being over the sea there is no stationary reference point to judge the speed of those choppers so you can attempt to lead them with the gun reticule.

Boats - I've been re-playing this, and I just cannot replicate what you experienced, however there was one point where the troops ran out of ammo (which created a short pause as they ran over to an ammo box and grabbed more rounds), but they did still successfully kill all boats before I was running on empty tanks. did you get the radio call of the pilot telling the helicopter crew the boats have been sunk before the showstopper?
the radio conversation is supposed to trigger the moment all 6 boats (not boat crew) are dead, and the same trigger calls the javelin soldiers back to the rescue chopper as well. So if the showstopper happens after the radio call, I'm completely stumped as to why. If it happens before, the only reason would be that the game believes one of the six boats hasn't been destroyed yet. Do you still have the save file of that mission? maybe send it over to me so I can take a look.

Evacs - good to know they work. did you notice that you may get company if you hang around your wrecked aircraft for too long?

Outro - Added a few more meters to the A-10's altitude - it's strange, this never occurs when I run the outro, maybe it's a frame rate or otherwise different computer-related issue.

Posed an Updated Version 1.1 in first post.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v1.1 [Review On Hold]
Post by: savedbygrace on 18 Mar 2010, 13:49:49
The A-10 sight really is probably my inability to use it properly but I had to aim above each target to hit it.

I do remember from a previous test, some enemy uazmg approaching my position after I bailed though I didn't know they focused on the craft. I did not see any responders thsi sime around though I did not hang around either.

I played it only twice. The first I went above the alt limit and encountered the enemy fighters. I restarted and kept below the limit during the second play and kept retrying from the savepoint after the convoy was destroyed. The helos and boats seemed to get destroyed everytime but I never received a message that they were loading up. They all just stood there on the bank watching the water where the boats were.

I did view the outro several times and the A-10 did not crash everytime, in fact, it occurred the very first time I viewed the outro and not afterward.

Will give it another go.

EDIT: The cause of the showstopper was a boat near the shore that I had just grazed with my gun and killed the crew(I think) since there was an unmoving boat near the mainland. All ended fine once the boats were destroyed.
I have completed the review and it awaits checking by other staff but I was wondering if you would like to add something which destroys the boat if its crew are dead, just to be sure the mission will end properly?
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v1.1 [Review Complete]
Post by: HailStorm on 30 May 2010, 12:22:01
Thanks for the update savedbygrace, just fixed this and the intro sound desync in version 1.2, which will be up shortly.

The boat fix will now kill the crew if a boat is destroyed, and also the opposite will occur if somehow you get the driver and not the boat itself. Thanks for this catch - I never would have come across this omission otherwise.
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v1.1 [Review Complete]
Post by: haroon1992 on 30 May 2010, 12:29:44
Is the mission really Review Completed?

I am definitely gonna try it tonight.

Regards,
Haroon1992
Title: Re: [SP] Hog's Breath v1.2 [Review Complete]
Post by: HailStorm on 30 May 2010, 13:00:04
Version 1.2 posted on first page.

- v1.2
   - Added code to prevent abandoned boats from preventing the mission progressing
   - Extended the UAV intro to better sync with the sound effects

@haroon1992: the review is in 'pending' status, meaning that it's written, but waiting to be checked by other staff members for things such as spelling and syntax errors, etc. It should be up as soon as it's cleared for publish.