how to get people really p*ssed

[Comrade Joe]

Mission makers, lend me your ears -
 
I dont know how other people are, but when i scan through the missions depot and i read an interesting overview i smile to myself thinking that ive found a winner and open the mission's page. Everything's fine until my eyes fall on a 10 line list of addon URLs. That really ruins my mood! For Christ's sake, cant you put all of those addons in a single .zip file? I found myself downloading 5 seperate addons from 5 diffrent URLs for just one mission! Then i discover that the mission was utterly bad. Im not going to give any names. Whats even more perverted is that sometimes one has to download a bunch of addons only to discover that the author seldom uses them in his mission. For the love of God or Allah or whoever you belive in, refrain yourselves from using so many addons or, if you really cant help yourselves, put them in a single .zip or folder or paper bag or something accompanying the mission file!
I'll go take my pills now.

:moon:

[Sophion]

The limit for attachments is 50 KB. Thats why they don't put addons in them.

But, there is no sense in using so many addons in a mission. This got me p*ssed a couple of times, because... THE ADDONS DEPOT IS OUT OF ORDER!

So yeah, I agree. It ticks people off.

[macguba]

It would be madness to distribute addons with missions.    You would have to d/l the same addon time and time again, every time you want to play a mission that uses it.    However, I totally agree - it is very frustrating when a mission designer makes poor use of an addon. and it is much too common.  

My favourite example was a motorbike, which I had a lot of trouble finding and downloading:  motorbike addons were rare in those days so I was looking forward to it.    Didn't spot it during the mission so I unpbo'd the thing and looked for it in the mission editor.  Found it hidden between two buildings.   Admittedly you did visit that village, but with a whole squad so what use a motorbike was was open to question.  Fortunately, that didn't matter, because it was locked.....

As you say, the Missions Depot lists all the addons that are required for a mission, so at least you know what's needed before you start.   If you find a mistake, or if you would like to congratulate the author on good addon use/warn other people against it, post a [constructive] Comment on the mission.

It is worth reading the review and checking the score before d/l a mission.    Mission reviewers aren't perfect, and in any case there is frequently scope for genuine disagreement, but in my experience the reviews are always fair and usually there or thereabouts when it comes to score.     5 and above are definitely worth playing, 4 and below it depends if you like whatever sort of mission it is/owe the author money.

The usual size limit for the Missions depot is 6meg (I think, don't quote me):   50k is the limit for attaching files to forum posts.  

For news on the return of the Addons depot click the link in my signature line.

[Comrade Joe]

Oh, yeah - the donation thing . Sadly, i cant donate because i dont have a credit card yet and even if i had it would be murder to transfer money from Romania to any western country. Taxes are a pain in my pelvis.

Now, as i was saying, ppl should refrain themselves from using 100 addons just for the sake of it (the motorcylce thing, for instance) and start using the original BIS Resistance vehicles ( i mean, what the hell is wrong with them?).

[Tomasz]

Hey all,

I agree, right now if I want to download missions, I only download the addonfree ones. In the old days of my OFPEC existance, I downloaded loads of addons for the different missions, mods, capaigns, etc... and now I find myself not using them at all. :tomato: This is the reason why my team's campaign, which is in the works, will be as much addonfree as possible, and any addons needed ( which will be about 2 or 3 ) will come with the zip file.

cheers

Tomasz

[Ade]

I would say, use addons, but only if they are going to be a major feature of your mission.  Maybe include a link to one of the other ofp sites that carry them (but which aren't as good as OFPEC  ).

If the mission looks good I am happy to do half an hour of downloads and have a cup of tea while I wait, but Comrade Joe is dead right, check the BIS units and vehicles before even thinking 'addon'.

However, remember that the openness of the game and the fact that it allows third party addons is a big part of the fun...

Ade

[Artak]

The matter discussed here has driven me to a state where even the smell of addons disgusts me. 99% of the missions that I play are for multiplayer, and do you know what poor use of addons does to multiplayer missions? It kills them. In multiplayer EVERYONE has to have the addons! g'daem I'm so sick if it..    ;D

Anyway, not giving any names, this is a list of addons (note no url's) from a mission we got in the Missions Depot a few months back. It's for multiplayer and I'm posting this as a very warning example

6G30.
AADSpetsnazVer1.
ABOX.
apac.
ASF_Speznas.
ASF_Commando.
Auslnf.
BIBGreenBeret.
BIBMarineDress.
bibusmcwd.
BIBWoodLandMarines.
BIZON.
BMP2.
BRMD.
c130v1a.
ch47.
drgsas.
DWR_PlantsBamboo.
DWR2NVA.
DWRGeneral.
DWRGhillieSniper.
DWRGrass1.
DWRGrass2.
DWRGrass3.
DWRGrass4.
DWRGrass5.
DWRGrass6.
DWRGrass7.
DWRJungleM21.
DWRNamMP1.
DWRNamSoldier1.
DWRNVA.
DWRVietCong.
DWRVietCong2.
ebe1.
EditorUpgrade1.
editorupdate102.
EJARMMGUN.
evi_planes.
EVI_UH1HUEY.
F16.
FLAGS.
G36A.
Huey.
humr.
HUNTER.
island1.
kegkiowa.
kozi.
LAZERGUIDED.
LT1SealTeam.
M101A1.
m16scope.
M2A2.
M2F.
M2ss.
M60e3.
M4A1Suppr.
MDXVietkong.
MFR.
MM-1.
Mp_Field.
mpm1.
MpTp.
MTY4.
objects1.
objects2.
OH58.
Operation Grasshopper.
PKmg.
psg.
psgs.
rafch47.
RCON.
rpd.
S70.
SCMM4SOP.
SEBDeltaWpns
SEB_VietCong.
sebnam_1a.
sebnam_a.
sebnam_ci.
sebnam_ia_trang
sebnam_nv.
sebnam_obj.
sebnam_us.
sebnam_vc.
sebnam_vh.
sebnam_wp.
sebsfuh1h.
sebsfuh1hresfix.
SEBVCCivil.
STElrrps.
Steyr.
STTScopedWpns.
sttvietnamsoldiersw.
su25.
SVc.
trab.
USMCsymbols.
VoiceRH.
vulcan.
XMS.
zu23.

[Comrade Joe]

My GOD! Ive heard of MODs with less customs.

[Planck]

That is a ridiculously long list, mind you, at least 19 of them are official addons.


Planck

[Cpt. Red Nain]

One thing possible would be to have a list of the more frequently used addons. For example, i always use (since they're out  ) the BAS and JAM addons...
I know: how could one tell which addon is best? why? who decides?

Maybe a new section on the OFPEC where members would post the name of their best addons, why and where can they be dled (while waitting for the addon depot to reopen  :'()........


Good or bad idea??

[Comrade Joe]

Well, i think that the defunct addons depot could be revived but without any direct download links.

"Friendly fire - isn't"
"If you are short of everything but the enemy, you ARE in the combat zone."

*notices sig - eyes fall on own sig*
Murphy's combat laws! Gotta love em.

[General Barron]

Ah, the classic OFP paradox....

The majority of the OFP community seems to be just in love with addons. Everyone wants to make addons, or wants them to be made. However, very few missions seem to be made that use those addons, or so the complaint goes. However, when people do make missions that use a million addons, no one wants to download it. See... a paradox. :O

You know what I think the solution is? People shouldn't make addons just for the sake of making addons. They should say, "hey, I want to make a mission like this", and then they decide they need to make an addon for that mission. Or, addon makers with no editing skills should always find a mission maker to make a mission featuring their addon. That way, every addon has a mission with it.

The way it is now, people just download addons, play with them in the mission editor for a while, then forget about it. Yay! Everyone is so excited when a new addon comes out, but that isn't really a good use of an addon that takes so much time to make, IMO. If the addon came with a complete mission featuring the addon, then you would be able to see the thing "in action", which means you not only get a good mission, but it also gives other mission editors ideas on how to use that addon.

Anyway, just my two cents. OFP's addon-crazy community has always confused me. By that I'm referring mainly to the inhabitants of the Official Forums, not OFPEC, btw.

[Cpt. Red Nain]

. *notices sig - eyes fall on own sig*
Murphy's combat laws! Gotta love em.

http://www.murphys-laws.com/murphy/murphy-war.html
Check 'em out there (if u don't already know this website)

[BronzeEagle]

Erbody and they momma knows, if you gonna make a mission using addons you betta make it worth it.  I'm talking good.  

[Kammak]

I have to preface my statements by saying I've never downloaded a mission, ever.  I've only played my own and the BIS/Red Hammer missions.

However, I think addons really make a mission.  I haven't made a mission without a 3d party addon in fact.  I can't stand most of the BIS models.  So bad in fact that I can't get past them and enjoy a mission (obviously I don't play the canned missions much!    ).

There are so many weapons not included in the BIS stuff, that any realistic treatment of modern combat has to include some addons that provide the missing pieces.  (Ex: SAWs, M240s, Combat Optics, RPKs, radios, USMC vehicles, etc....)

I can honestly say that without the many quality addons for OFP, I would have zippo interest in OFP.  The Marine Assault Pack units & weapons, BAS helos, Tales of War's AAV, Laser and ORC Russian units, Vit's APC pack, all these make the game playable for me.

And while I agree with General Barron that most people download a new addon, drop in the editor, say "OOOOO", then never use it again.  But I actually enjoy making missions with the good ones.  They give OFP a more realistic and contemporary feeling that makes it enjoyable for me.

So I would definitely encourage mission makers to use addons, but use them smartly.  If I ever do download some else's mission, the first thing I would look for is which addons it uses.  If its just plain BIS stuff, I'll pass.

Not that its a bad mission because of that, but I can't get past the really bad models to enjoy a mission using those.  As I posted on another forum, no US soldier/Marine has worn a bedroll on his shoulders since the War of 1812    what in the world were they thinking?

[Kuro]

Hello,

just my thoughts: To all mission makers: Try to limit your addons down to five. Nobody can tell me he can not do a good mission with five addons. Sure they are some realism guys out there (the color of the stock of the gun is not correct, no joke, i have had that, lets use a addon for it !).
To the addon makers, try to make complete addons (i like the sebnam) because it includes it all.  Although an addon without missions is nice but of non use. I think OFP need more good missions and campaigns.

Greetings
Kuro

[The-Architect]

I'm of the opinion that addons make a mission. Granted not all missions need addons to be good, but if the author knows what he's doing then I'm fine with it.

Ofpec is the best site for missions in that you can get some idea of whether its worth downloading something because of the review system. If a mission has a score of 1 and a long list of addons, then you know to leave it alone.

If, however, the score is high, then downloading the addons is generally worth it.

If you rented a movie and it turned out to be shit, you don't complain about how long it took to drive to the video shop.

Sometimes a huge list is daunting, but then you can rely on other people's comments or the user ratings.

[.pablo.]

I'm of the opinion that addons make a mission. Granted not all missions need addons to be good, but if the author knows what he's doing then I'm fine with it.

well i think that the point that the rest were trying to get across is the whole concept of diminishing returns: yes, a few good addons can really add to a mission's atmosphere, but with too many addons it becomes impossible for the player to use (or even notice) all of the addons that they had to download to play the mission.  because of that, the mission designer should only use addons that are critical to the mission.

[blackmamba]

oh man i guess yu guys gunna rip me good. oh well sorry but if yu pik a  cat3 afghanistan map to dl yu gotta expect to  use desert addons  am i wrong?  i only make desert missions so expect  to use desert addons or eh just dont dl mission. another warning i run 3.4 gig chip and 1 gig memory so beware of Sunni Triangle mission if your 56k also. sorry if u have trouble with it.   It  even pushes limit on my hardware.
so is best to run on fresh reboot

[Commando]

I never make missions without addons these days...  ;D
I get sick and tired with the original bis stuff over and over and over again , hearing the same sounds and seing the same sights  
sorry guys but i rarely even download many missions because original stuff bores me out  :-\

I played half-life mod counter-strike before i joined ofp community and what made me go sick of C.S. was that there was never new weapons and that kind of stuff but there where skins and stuff like that but some dipshits used them for cheating so they got banned and so you could'nt enter servers when you had custom skins  
and i played in a clan and i got tired of staying in the same damn corner in the same damn map i got pissed and bored.

I saw the light in the tunnel when i tested the ofp demo and i realized that i would have to buy the game to enjoy the addons and cool mods that where done for old ofp 1.20  ;D and i bought the game quickly and i started doing tacky team deathmatches and a few coops to move on to only coop these days  

I don't think many people would touch ofp if it wasn't for the missions and addons and countless mods that are being produced every day, and that makes ofp for me and many others i presume to stand out from alot of the regular action games out there  
The love for another game Far cry lasted for a summer almost but the love for ofp has lasted since 2001...what can i say its freedom its more free than most of the other games out there and the mods range from anything to a new bike to reflective water and total conversion mods and crazy mods like Tigers ( the animal you know   ) so i can't do missions without addons because it gets unintresting so easy after a while.
Ofp is freedom and its also quality and dynamic modability and playability  :thumbsup:

i just can't understand what makes people complain about addons usage, i made a mission that used 11 addons once but they where good quality addons and the mission was a part of my coop mission series.
I have made readme files to where to get the addons wth precise URLS and stuff, in the future when i release it i will probably make a big html readme with pics so that people can see how the addons look like and so on so they get a preview of whats going to be featured in the mission  
Anyways have a nice day and hope all the 56-kers can get DSL someday also and world peace for everyone!  

[Ex-RoNiN]

My favourite example was a motorbike, which I had a lot of trouble finding and downloading:  motorbike addons were rare in those days so I was looking forward to it.    Didn't spot it during the mission so I unpbo'd the thing and looked for it in the mission editor.  Found it hidden between two buildings.   Admittedly you did visit that village, but with a whole squad so what use a motorbike was was open to question.  Fortunately, that didn't matter, because it was locked.....

 

It was the messenger...you were meant to shoot the messenger :-X You'd think you could let it go after all this time :-\ ;D

Won't happain again guv, honest