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Author Topic: (Review Please) Three Kings v1.06  (Read 12329 times)

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Offline Jezuro

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(Review Please) Three Kings v1.06
« on: 29 May 2005, 16:22:26 »
THREE KINGS

http://andrew.nf/ofp/missions/
(OFPEC beta mission site, many thanks to Mikero!)

Author : Jezuro

Required version : 1.91

Island : Malden (orig)

Side : West

Type : Singleplayer mission

Size : 14.7 MB

Addons needed:

 BAS Delta/Ranger units  http://www.gotf.net/download.asp?dl=25

 BAS Blackhawks pack  http://www.gotf.net/download.asp?dl=78

 BAS JAM2                 http://www.gotf.net/download.asp?dl=72

   StreetLamp         -packed with the mission-

This mission was already released in Czech Republic, but I'd like to make it accessable to the whole community. Above all I need help with correcting english grammar mistakes  :-\

Downloadable is version 1.04.
Here's a link for patch to the latest version 1.05: http://2dmm.wz.cz/Files/TK_ENG_patch_104_to_105.zip


Thanks all for playing!


Edit: Version 1.06 is available from the Missions Depot.
« Last Edit: 14 May 2009, 02:11:08 by Walter_E_Kurtz »
"We are Her salvation, and through Her command we shall live forever. I will not die. Not here. Not now. Never!!!"

Offline Jezuro

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #1 on: 29 May 2005, 16:27:26 »
Oops, forgot to add some changes. You can download the patch 1.03 (this version is available for download in the first post):

Link removed - patch obsolete

Doesn't need patch 1.02 ;)
« Last Edit: 12 Aug 2005, 19:48:46 by Jezuro »
"We are Her salvation, and through Her command we shall live forever. I will not die. Not here. Not now. Never!!!"

Offline macguba

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #2 on: 29 May 2005, 16:37:44 »
Sounds good, Jezuro.   :)

If you need to add something to your post, or edit it, you can use the button in the top right hand corner of the post.   Saves making a second post and keeps the thread cleaner and easy to follow.    ;)
« Last Edit: 29 May 2005, 16:38:40 by macguba »
Plenty of reviewed ArmA missions for you to play

Offline Jezuro

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #3 on: 29 May 2005, 18:35:52 »
If you need to add something to your post, or edit it, you can use the button in the top right hand corner of the post.   Saves making a second post and keeps the thread cleaner and easy to follow.    ;)

Well, I know that of course. But someone could read the first post only once and then not look back. The later patch is much more important, so I wanted to make it as visible as possible. Will be more rigorous, though ;)
"We are Her salvation, and through Her command we shall live forever. I will not die. Not here. Not now. Never!!!"

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #4 on: 29 May 2005, 18:42:00 »
I would like to try your mission. But your patch 103 link doesnt work. :(

Offline greg147

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #5 on: 29 May 2005, 19:27:29 »
I'm having trouble with all of the links. The 2 patche links don't work for me, and the main one gets to about 3% before saying the server connection has failed and it closes down.  :(
Royal Air Assault Battalion - [L/Cpl] Greg
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Offline MachoMan

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #6 on: 29 May 2005, 20:25:55 »
Plz try to repack all the files into one pbo Jezuro, that way you'll get more beta-testers.
Get those missions out there you morons!

Offline Mikero

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #7 on: 29 May 2005, 22:17:14 »
Hi Jezuro

I don't want to discourage you so please hang in there....

the 14meg initial download is a big ask when the patches themselves can't be accesssed.

the names are incorrect
http://2dmm.wz.cz/Files/TK_pach-103.zip
=
http://2dmm.wz.cz/Files/TK_patch-103.zip

your server mostly times out and finally when i do get them, they are corrupt (which is a server issue, not the files themselves)

Suggest you re-organise this and patch the file yourself then re-submit it as a single download please.

 :-\
Just say no to bugz

Offline Jezuro

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #8 on: 30 May 2005, 19:30:30 »
Oh, gosh! No bugs found and I've already put myself in shame! ;D Sorry for all that chaos I made here :P

Sure it should be TK_patch-102.zip and TK_patch-103.zip

But you're right there, I will pack it into one pbo and resend. However, my internet connection is slower than an old lady in her bed (with no wheels) and it would be simply impossible for me to upload it again and again after every fix. But I can send a version 1.03, which is hopefully bug-free and so it solves the problem ;)

Link : http://2dmm.wz.cz/Files/TK_v103_ENG.abel.pbo

 - the first post was modified, too -
« Last Edit: 30 May 2005, 19:34:24 by Jezuro »
"We are Her salvation, and through Her command we shall live forever. I will not die. Not here. Not now. Never!!!"

Offline macguba

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #9 on: 30 May 2005, 21:04:43 »
Jezuro, I'm assuming that the size is due to picture or sound files.   If so, and assuming also that they haven't changed with each version, then when you upload a new version make it complete apart from the large files.     That way the tester can just drop the new version in without having to worry about details.   It's easier than worrying about which scripts have changed or whatever.

Let's not forget I'm just a British wanker!
« Last Edit: 30 May 2005, 21:23:25 by MachoMan »
Plenty of reviewed ArmA missions for you to play

Offline Mikero

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #10 on: 31 May 2005, 00:45:05 »
@Jezuro

wow, that was a tuff one, grabbing from the host site, several resumes required. Is that site on a modem by any chance? the download took ages!!

btw, please read the article here

on how to post missions. Your's is *only* a pbo with no accompanying readme. I zipped it up and it compressed a further 3 MEG!!! (your pbo contains uncompressed sound (ogg) files )

will have a scratch and peck at the mission itself now.

modbreak: URL fixed.

(thanks)
edit:
streetlamp. pbo (included in the original post but not now) has been uploaded to the beta missions site along with (of course) all the bas stuff

« Last Edit: 31 May 2005, 09:52:50 by Mikero »
Just say no to bugz

Offline Mikero

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #11 on: 31 May 2005, 14:10:03 »
OFP1.96, vetmode, bench 5895, no super ai

Overview:

Interesting pic, and a nice text

2nd page advertorial might be too much for some, but I like this approach very much. If advertising is going to be done, this is, the way to do it.

version number is missing.

Intro:

Beautifully, beautifully done. You couldn't make this intro more perfect for me. Sound, perfect, music, perfect, use of titletext, perfect. Use of teletype , perfect. Length of black out, perfect. Movement and scene's, perfect.

I got the storyline instantly, and that, is the purpose of a good intro. I think, that's what intro means !!! I'm ready to play this interesting mission on the Intro alone.

Some minorest of typos and English gramattica which can be mentioned on a 2nd review

I won't spoil this intro for others, they can look for themselves.

Briefing:

excellent of course. Concise objectives and to the point. An immediate thought is that you should NOT have the other objectives listed until the 1st is met. I dont see their purpose now, you should put them in progressively. You do so for other things, you should do so for the entire thing.

Gear and selection.

considered and properly thought out

Group:

missing, I always like to see who i am. It appears later, when I play the mission, this is a bug.

Plan:

typos

will be started= we'll be starting
this villages = these villages
the Bravo = Bravo x 2
enemy's = enemy
enogh
woman names = women's names

Notes:

well, this is your preference of course, but I'm used to seeing real, personalised notes rather than a rehash of the plan: I consider this a wasted opportunity.

Mission:

Loved that selection panel.

I cannot tolerate crap AI, especially my side, so i chose 50% me, 100% them, which is the best I can do. Having now played the mission, I am severely dissapointed with my incredibly stupid team members. For what you ask of me as a player, this, is a mistake. There is no point giving me dumbed down troops, and, expect me to protect them when they attack. This spoiled the mission for me, big time, and became very frustrating with many retries because, you effectively, blamed me with failure for their stupidity. You will get hate mail.

Instantly loved the chatter, frankly, I would NOT attempt to use English voice overs, this is highly authentic, lovely stuff, as it is. Keep it, do not touch. Do NOT translate to English voiceover, it is entirely, totally, unnecessary. Change the storyline slightly, to allow me to be a czech speaking spec op.

cutscene boatride
again, and almost, beautfiully done. Music, beautiful. Not happy with the author advertising, that was overdone.

grammatica:

enjoy it = Enjoy Yourself.

Througout the mission there are occaisional gramatic errors, they annoy, but are not important enough to list now.

hint.
not happy. Get rid of it. it's noisy and removes the atmosphere, bringing player back to reality, not good. Having played this, the hints are bloody awful, you're immersed in the game, then this splatter comes in and breaks your concentration, they do not need to be anywhere near as verbose, nor, as repetitive. I am not 6 years old.

Retry position

perfect

Of course, I went straight to village and missed my contact, but both scenes played out fine when I found the dead civilian. Great both ways.

Loved the time transition, loved the savegame count.

Drove right thru squads, figured I'd take the hint and behave like a russian officer. Because I didn't stop and get out, I figure loons took no notice of me.

Cutscene and time transistion.

Brilliant plot, disguised Russian.

Have no problem being US special forces and speaking in czech, I am, US 'special' forces. Do NOT use English voiceovers, this will destroy the theme.

another savegame. Excellent.

bzzt insect, brilliant.

bzzt radio, why? I'm one meter away from him what on earth was that for?

excellent action from russian to stop truck.

a little unclear when troops get in truck if they're ours or theirs. You don't explain well that we will use truck to pick up more of us. Your briefing is over the top noisy, it's not necessary, and not desirable, for you to be so specific as to how this game will play and what the objectives are, let me discover the objectives by playing. As it stands, you have confused me with far too much, elaborate, information.

cutscene at Riviere excellent

got to pow camp and then it went muddy.

BUG

got ejected from truck and because I had pistol in hand, fight started. I can do nothing about this, the game 'sets' me with pistol in hand.

retry

Dropped to ground, told to go to tents. Had time to put pistol on back walked into tents

someone shouted now, mission failed

retry, stood outside entrance, drew pistol shot 2 mission failed

retry shot 2 + officer mission failed

retry shot 2 and my guys shot others. mission ok

this is not good, you have to do something here. This was a mess.

Buggish the freed prisoners don't collect weapons, that is odd to extraordinary that resistance would not collect everything they could, and, they are unarmed and this is the first thing any prisoner would do. Not good.

cutscene fadeout
great
music great
titletext great

2nd cutscene to forest and etc's ditto

BUG

very difficult to follow the resistance leader, I need to be in his team not to lose him I am trying to watch him and radio trafiic at same time. Not good. I can't see him or others in the forest. I must be part of that team.

BUG

Destroy Shilka and clear road?

rubbish.

Clear road, and destroy shilka.

BUG

I have no means of knowing where or which forest I am in (other than use gps), you should have put a new target marker on map at this point. You have already confused me that I have to attack shilka first, and I assume I am north, not south. Not good.

BUG get rid of those damn hints.

great use of fade in cutscenes ingeneral.

BUG

The attack was messy. First I am not part of this team and had great difficulty following them and finding them, then, magically, you decide to make me their leader. This is poor, too too cute. Make me the 12th member to start with.

The enemy ai was savage (good), my people were pathetic. At best, 3 of them survived. This is wholly unrealistic.

BUG
somehow, someway, the resistance have to defend their base. In the meantime. i magically lose my 3 remaining squad (good, coz I'm sick to death of them) and they simply stay standing exactly where they are. Later, they vaporise with a de-spawn. Terrible.

The attack on vigny was 'ok' to good.

Another cutscene and I am enjoying this fade out technique you're using.

Final Goisse

In a word. Crap.

Firstly there's no suggestion and no indication i should get in truck, I couldn't even see it.

Second, the magic sniper rifle you force onto me is attrocious, it can't hit the side of a house.

Third, you arm me with so little ammunition I have almost no chance of taking out all the enemy, and you wont let me use Bravo to do it because you know they'll get killed.

4) Bravo are so dumb, it's inevitable they die, and you, tell me, I failed. This, is very poor.

Ok, so I struggle thru and take Goisse.

Bug

no end brieifng

Bug

a jarred music change at end mission to something nice in the outro cutscene. The end mission music is awful, get rid of it and use the nice stuff from the outro.

Outro
a nice credit list with nice picture postcard.

Overall:

Initially, I was prepared to rave about this mission. It was and has the beginings of one of the best out there. It really is clever. It is destroyed by some very poor friendly ai and a sense of hopelessness continuing with them.

The forced choice of a crap sniper rifle with next to no ammunition made me nearly -endmission there and then.

Also, I am deeply unhappy at your use of a yeardate (1986) this is extremely crass. You took away, stole, a players imagination here by not allowing her to 'imagine' some other time that suited her better, suited how the player felt the mission was. Get rid of it, it is entirely over the top stupid to use one.

Rating:

Basically a 4 because of the bugs present at the graveyard. A 6 if this and the poor La Pesagne were fixed up and a 7 if the ai were improved to tolerable levels with no player punishment for failing.

This is and can be an excellent mission, one of the best,  if the ai is dramatically improved and the flow of fighting considerably tightened up. The storyline and theme are potentially great but are destroyed by these poor battle sequences.
« Last Edit: 31 May 2005, 14:31:24 by Mikero »
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Offline Jezuro

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #12 on: 31 May 2005, 19:35:10 »
Mother of God! And i thought it was bug-free and almost perfect! I really appreciate your critique, one of the most constructive I've ever read. Thanks. I'm gonna remake some of the "crappy" moments. However, there are some things I'd like to argue about :)

 - radio before the "truck action"; it is radio check, they've got time to try out if they hear each other via radio. Important.

 - the fight on the graveyard shouldn't start when you got ejected from the truck, but actually after you making first shot. The engine can't detect drawing a weapon, so I had to check only player's firing. I know it's confusing, but every time I played it, after the ejection my Glock was in its sheath. Will revise it. This stage is supposed to be tough.

 - I can't simple join the player to officers team because there are radio codes to save game, heal yourself etc. It's good enogh if you press W key and simultaneously read radio messages ;)

 - I never had problems taking La Pessagne, I just blown up that BMP and the following explosion took out most of soviet troops.

 - guerilla team is not de-spawned, but there's a V3S coming to pick them up. It arrives, they get in and go to defend their camp.

 - there's a note in briefing about that truck waiting for you after taking Vigny.

 - None of people who played it so far haven't had any problems with that sniper rifle

 - the credits music is NOT awful! ;)

 - I don't consier no debriefing to be a bug
« Last Edit: 31 May 2005, 19:42:20 by Jezuro »
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Offline Mikero

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #13 on: 01 Jun 2005, 01:49:21 »
>Mother of God!

 8) looks like i did my job well.

Thank you for your considered reply, I am not known for being 'nice'

>radio before the "truck action";

the problem here is a lack of jargon-english. Too formal perhaps. The instant impression was my radio was deliberately intended to give away my position to the enemy, as in I thought you had cleverly made me go hide, only to be 'discovered', because the radio went off.

You need to make it abundantly clear that the Resistance Russian is doing a check out, the wording does not convey that, EVEN though it says so !!! I would add a second line from me telling the Russian to shut the F up. I now understand, and am saying to you it is not obvious, and should be, because it is a piece of immersive detail. Ie something you didn't need to do but made the game richer by doing so. Play it up, bigtime.

>The engine can't detect drawing a weapon

then you need to change the wording about doing so. Just be subtle and msg that "we'll start shooting when you do".  There is something going on here that you aren't aware of engine wise because at one point I simply waited at the tents and "now" happened. Ah yes I KNOW this is the 'blue on blue' bug with ai. They will attack each other, no matter what. When, is the only question. I copped it immediately, followed by a little later. This is an engine bug.

>This stage is supposed to be tough

accepted. However, because at best, we are 50% vs 100% the nasties draw their weapons faster than my idiots do, making it that much tougher.

>I just blown up that BMP

me too (acutally I blew the ammo truck, kept the bmp and was going to use it against the tank), it was locked, damnit.

The fighting sequence for me was fine to excellent, the dissapointment came from my crappy ai. Nearly all of them died around the mash tent and god only knows how they got that far.

The change to losing Marek was clever as hell, it was, again, the dissapointment at being given these idiots that ruined that part of the mission.

>there's a V3S coming to pick them up

my error. However, they shouldn't have, or you shouldn't have, triggered this sequence while nasties were still firing at me. The effect was, these idiots stood up and were ignored for rest of game play. A good idea (tm) would be to waypoint them out of the town, as in fleeing, sorry, we have to go. Gasp. Abandoned.

This *is* what you intended, but didn't carry through properly because, they did NOT abandon me, just stood there. Duh!

>there's a note in briefing

there's too much note in the briefing !!!

If you have to, put these 'hints' (such as the W key) in the notes proper, and reduce, severely reduce, the briefing. You have that typical problem of many others describing how you designed the mission rather than describing how the game will play.
No one but you is interested in how you placed a truck 'there', we just want the magic to happen with look and feel. A typical problem of this over the top briefing is with sniper, because I had to digest so much (where as I did not need to digest a single thing in this mission, it would have all flowed) I misunderstood the briefing and took a sniper from the ammo crate in the forest.

>any problems with that sniper rifle

that's self evident nonsense. There's not enough ammo at 5 rounds per and a fully loaded reinforcement truck.

>the credits music is NOT awful!

It's bloody great!!. You misunderstood me. The music just before the credits jarred very badly against it.

>- I don't consier no debriefing to be a bug

Oh that's an interesting take. I accept that comment. What you did (clever bugger) is make sure we saw the outro. Well done.
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Offline Jezuro

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Re:Three kings
« Reply #14 on: 01 Jun 2005, 18:39:40 »
OK, I understand what you mean now, I'm gonna start fixing. Thanks again.

*EDIT : I almost forgot to mention one more thing:

That "Now!" on the graveyard happens if you don't start showtime in a specific time (30 secs), because it's weird that the escort stands there and still looks at that bastard they caught, even if the should say something to that officer and get out of there to get a bottle of vodka :) It would be queer if they just stood there let's say half an hour, don't you think?
« Last Edit: 01 Jun 2005, 18:59:27 by Jezuro »
"We are Her salvation, and through Her command we shall live forever. I will not die. Not here. Not now. Never!!!"