MP mission testing

[Jimboob]

Can't do Wednesdays, only weekends for me (my weekend includes friday evenings  )

[sharkattack]

due to lack of interest  im  gonna go eat some humble pie with  the guys at ses
best  to stick with artak s  offer of a server  ...  ses admins are creating a server  on request
a lot of work  involved   for two or three players ..

[Cheetah]

Hmm Artak. Could you give us some information on your server, is it 24/7 online?
It's indeed best, not to use the SES server as shark attack pointed out, it takes too much work for the few players available for MP testing.

Artak, if you can get the server up for this evening, we could gather and play there. Sounds good? Gather at about 7:00 - 8:00 pm GMT? Let's meet on MSN, for information check my profile. Please send me or shark attack a PM if you're interested.

If you're interested, check the following threads. They are on the playlist for the upcoming MP BETA testing.
[coop] Operation Blue Ribbon by BensTooCool
[coop] Special Operations by Shark attack

EDIT: postponed until server is set up.

[Artak]

I can offer my private server for exclusive 24/7 use for you guys on certain terms.
1. I don't have time to set up anything.
2. The one(s) administrating the server (setting up missions and addons) must be member(s) of OFPEC staff.

I've PM'd you with some details.

[sharkattack]

nice one artak ... 

[Cheetah]

We are now commencing the first ArmA MP Beta testing, interested?

Server name: OFPTF - S1(ArmA)
Time: 11:15 GMT

Missions to be played:
[coop] Operation Blue Ribbon by BensTooCool
[coop] Special Operations by Shark attack


Report on MP mission testing:

We played the two missions mentioned above on Artak's server and everything seemed to work well, the pings were pretty good for each of us. The players of OFPEC involved were Shark attack and myself, one other player Swelego joined us on both other missions (there was no password). A fourth player, named Issetea joined just in time to play Special Operations with us. They were really helpfull and willing to cooperate, I don't know if they were public players or guests of the forum, but I'd like to see them again for the next MP test.

Both missions got tested, so what now? As soon as your mission gets tested I will try to write a report on it and may ask the others to do the same. Why? Everyone enjoys a mission in his own way and has his own taste and I prefer seeing multiple opinions on a mission. One report is usually not as good as two or three ones.

How did we play? Every map got loaded on the server, we picked a role which we found the most enjoying. Everything went smooth during play, in Blue Ribbon most communication went by the ingame commands - the squad leader was in command. In Special Operations, communication was done by general chat and worked out fine. For next time though, or somewhere in the future once more people join in, we will use Teamspeak for those who want to. It opens up more room for tactical play and reduces the number of casualties by spreading the info.

To conclude with, I hope that more people are interested and will join us in future tests and possibly write a report on the mission if you feel like it. Remember that a good mission needs testing, in order to write reviews a mission has to be tested. In MP people have to gather up and play together to make this possible.

[macguba]

For the avoidance of doubt, the Missions Depot staffer writes the review of the mission and awards the score, as for an SP mission.      However, in MP, this process is significantly enhanced if some of the other players give the reviewer their thoughts.  He may or may  not agree, but he will take careful note of them.

Note also that most of the people who visit OFPEC never become members.   Many more people read the forum than post there.   Consequently it is quite likely players will join games who are not members of OFPEC.   Such people should be given a warm OPFEC welcome.  (As long as they behave, obviously.)

[Cheetah]

Next MP Testing (two people required to play, three or more for effective testing):

Game information:
Date: Tuesday, 22 of May.
Server name: OFPTF - S1(ArmA)
Time: 19:00 GMT (converter)
Server Game Version: 1.05

Hope to see you there! Please drop me a PM if you think that you can make it - but you don't have to PM me in order to participate.

Participants
-Rhysduk (MD)
-Shark Attack
-Cheetah (MD)

Playlist:

[coop] Especas Commandos by Shark Attack
[coop] Guns of Paraiso by Novusordo
[coop] Phoenix Project by Shark Attack

Note to mission authors
Please make sure that your threads in the Beta Testing board (ArmA) contain enough information - does the mission work? is it an mp or sp mission (or maybe both)? do you want it tested or reviewed?

Important: Before you put a mission up for review - make sure that all stuff goes as you want it to go. Once the mission has been reviewed there is no turning back! You're free to update the mission, but the review won't be rewritten!

Right now there are numerous threads lacking this information, which makes it hard for me to put them on the playlist. Please reply to existing beta reports when showstoppers have been found or when you've updated the mission and released a new version. Also, make sure that the download link works!

[Jimboob]

Sorry I couldnt make either of these, I've been pretty busy. I'll make sure I'll make the next one!

[Cheetah]

Last evening's night was a success! All three participants showed up and we were joined by Lazzi[FIN] and Swelego during the testing.

Next time we will be using TeamSpeak, as the coordination wasn't top notch. Which resulted in us not being able to complete Especas Commandos. I will try to set up or arrange a TS server, hopefully for the next testing. An announcement will be made, but the next testing is probably going to take place Friday evening (~6pm GMT). Hopefully more people will be able to attend so that we can test the larger MP maps too.

The playlist will be made public either today or tomorrow.

Note to mission authors:
Please make sure that your MP mission has at least been tested once by you if you want us to beta test it. If you put your mission up for review, you have to be sure that it works and is to your liking, if there are too many bugs / a showstopper it will be rejected. And be clear whether you want it TESTED or REVIEWED.

I've PMed a number of authors asking to put up their newest version or to upload the mission file again. Please ensure that the mission can be downloaded.

[Trapper]

After skimming this topic, I've got another idea for this.

Right now you're more drifting into the direction of making and coordinating an OFPEC Clan. Maybe this creates more trouble than necessary for you, in the goal of beta testing and reviewing missions. It also limits the testing to an almost perfect playground, like "clean laboratory conditions". That could be good for very few special and realistic coops, but will weight the results for any mission more casual.
Keep in mind that there are players around without a clan, looking for missions that are fun in a free for all environment.

With Artak's server, if it's possible to get this server up as much as possible:
-the only missions present will have to be the ones around for testing and reviewing
-all mp mission makers will have to include a predefined OFPEC intro and outro screen, telling everyone that this mission has to be tested, and that they are welcome at the ofpec boards to participate in beta testing or how to contact the author for feedback (email).
-official ofpec mission testers or makers can join whenever they see the situation fits to test their candidate in free for all conditions
-if necessary the server could be password protected even when it's free for all, with a topic on many arma boards and news pages, so we'll find more players that already know what's waiting for them.
-and of course, from time to time the server could be locked completely to allow "laboratory" testing for organized ofpec events

[Mr.Peanut]

I also send my regrets for not being there, but being in GMT-4 means I was at work. I think MP testing is an OFPEC priority. "Lab conditions" are also important to make sure that the mission critical triggers and scripts work as intended in MP. I spent a lot of time once testing a so-called MP mission for a clan. The author had made extensive use of grouped triggers which did not work properly in MP OFP.

[Cheetah]

Good to see so many people interested in the MP testing!

@trapper

I agree with you on the idea of the server available 24/7 as long as Artak agrees, won't do much harm - don't think that the efficienty is high though. Don't know if Artak wants to support us in that though, have to hear from him about that. Allowing people to join in at any time would make it possible for them to join up and test mission. But, we can only hope that they actually post their comments on the mission.

That's the advantage of the current method, there are comments which make it to the author. With the server open 24/7, there won't be less reports, so it's never a wrong-wrong situation. However, I don't agree with you that authors should put in and intro/outro point out that this is a mission which is undergoing beta testing or a review. Right now, most authors have their e-mail address somewhere in the briefing, but frankly I think no-one actually uses them.
And I'd rather have good missions without bugs, than authors spending time on an intro / outro which includes a text "please test this mission and give feedback to..".

Locking the server is a no-no for me if the server can support more people. More people having fun is better. It's a different situation when 10 people want to participate (replied or PMed) and the server can't support more. I'd like to lock the server in that case.

About only allowing missions in beta test to be played, it can work. But deleting ALL other missions doesn't sound good to me. For example, after playing all three missions for quite a while 2.5 - 3 hours we did a DeathMatch game with other players joining later. Sadly, there were only two maps for DM, one for 20 and the other for even more players. So the map was a bit too large to support 6 or 7 players.

Thanks for your feedback trapper. Hopefully more usefull ideas are added to this thread. More information about the next test will appear soon, including a newspost.

[Artak]

I don't agree with mostly anything you've said Tapper, except that the server should stay on for 24/7. As I said above:

I can offer my private server for exclusive 24/7 use for you guys on certain terms.

The server can support more people and I've just now ordered some 1GB more RAM for it.

-the only missions present will have to be the ones around for testing and reviewing
-all mp mission makers will have to include a predefined OFPEC intro and outro screen, telling everyone that this mission has to be tested, and that they are welcome at the ofpec boards to participate in beta testing or how to contact the author for feedback (email).
-official ofpec mission testers or makers can join whenever they see the situation fits to test their candidate in free for all conditions
-if necessary the server could be password protected even when it's free for all, with a topic on many arma boards and news pages, so we'll find more players that already know what's waiting for them.
-and of course, from time to time the server could be locked completely to allow "laboratory" testing for organized ofpec events

- I want the server to be available for everyone to enjoy a good game of ArmA (or OFP) and having only missions that are to be beta tested or reviewed won't attract any random players that's for sure.
- Whaat? We can't possibly ask mission designers to include anything like that. Although it would be some good promotion for OFPEC brand, it just wouldn't go through in the community.
- I was under the assumption that any official OFPEC mission terster / reviewer (or anyone[/] can already join the server, and in a free for all condition
- Setting up a password will only reduce the amount of players, not increase it. We can however advertise the server more and change it's name to reflect it's current job.
- When the OFPTF was reviewing missions for OFPEC, we used to have the server password protected and only selected people would play. Back then we were lucky enough to have so many so dedicated people, but that isn't the case right now. To allow realistic gameplay and enough people for the mission at hand the server needs to stay open. However, if needs be the server will be locked.

[sharkattack]

i agree ... server  needs   a nice mix of missions  and  also to remain  unlocked
if only to make up the numbers ...  first two sessions  have been  full houses ...
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after testing  on sunday  we played  some  mission  about  a virus (didnt get the name)
it was  great ... a real blast ... a welcome change from the norm ...
=================================================
pleased to see things  looking so promising ... 

thanx  agin  to Artak  for providing  server