(Review Completed) [SP] The Sahrani Run V2.0 - An Epic Mission

[Arkon]

Hi, Everybody

Thanks to all the beta testers that have given us valuable feedback for the campaign. We now feel that the time has come to invite reviews.

A Couple of points :

1) When played as a campaign there are issues that are beyond our control. These are documented below.
Preferably read all the notes or if you wish to skip them, make sure you at least read the following section :
  
++ Armed Assault bug - commonly known as SAVE GAME BUG? ++

Alternatively you can play the campaign as two separate missions. (Just download the two mission filies and the ReadMe file) RECOMMENDED

2) Reviewers please note that the Campaign is quite long and will take some time to complete.

********************************************************************************
UPDATES - THIS SECTION IS RESERVED FOR UPDATES AND NEW INFORMATION LINKS
********************************************************************************
In order to keep this first post from growing too much or getting too confusing we'll be using this top section to point to discussions on problems and solutions as they are found or fixed. Once you've read the main text below you just need to check the top of the thread for anything new.
IMPORTANT: Please make sure you've read and understood all the Save / restore and beta notes on this page first!!

*********************BEGIN UPDATE SECTION***************************************

1) The SAVE RESUME question is really a problem that seems to be something that BIS need to look into. We are now going to try to get them to look at this problem. Watch this space.

2) Cleaned up the text below to include generic information. This update section now will contain anything new.

3) WORKAROUND for Part2 load bug
Ok, we have done this workaround for anyone that may have a problem when trying to load a savegame in Part 2 which isn't fixed by the usual RESUME/REVERT in the workaround suggestions below. Of course you can restart the mission or go back to one of your part 1 saves.

4) NEW!! An alternative -  A MISSION VERSION!

We've also provided a way to run the whole Campaign as 2 separate missions.
You won't have what you had when you crossed over between the 2 Parts (we don't know that ), some weapons and some sandwiches will be provided.

*********************END UPDATE SECTION*****************************************

THE SAHRANI RUN

The Sahrani Run - this is a very long mission, so long it has been split into 2 parts and made into campaign format:

Its been running for a while now so reviews are welcome...
Please report any Bugs/Suggestions etc...

Overview

The Sahrani Run V2.0 (single player) gives players a chance to try their hand at a stealth mission (sniper with M24). You are Major Mark Fullagar, a British special operations officer, brought in to do an important job for the Western Alliance on the island of Sahrani. The mission is long and involving, featuring a well-developed storyline that includes elements of RPG and Adventure. This is not the usual run-of-the-mill mission and offers something a bit different for players - give it a try and see! And let us know what you think.

Please read "IMPORTANT PLEASE READ" and "SAVING, RESTARTING & BETA TESTING NOTES" BEFORE starting the Campaign.


No addons required
Armed Assault 1.08

Features:
Dynamic gameplay and Storyline
Healthpacks and Healthchecks

INSTALLATION

Although this mission isn't a Campaign as such it needs to be run as one, therefore to install it you need to unzip the files into the campaign folder. Ie. drive:\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA\Campaigns

++++++++++++++IMPORTANT PLEASE READ+++++++++++++++++++

++ Armed Assault bug - commonly known as SAVE GAME BUG?

This has caused countless problems for players in the past and for us when trying to debug our Campaign!

Firstly this should be referred to as a "LOAD" bug and not a "SAVE" bug because we've established that there is nothing wrong with the saved files in most cases (although the SAVE bug is also known to happen occasionally), in our tests at least. That includes all three types of saved files : the autosave, the exit save and the manual save.

There are two scenarios that appear to happen when resuming the campaign after starting the game;

1) Corruption of Variables, states, AI state etc (who knows what else)
2) Crash to the desktop on resume

The culprit turns out to be some kind of bug that affects a RESUME after the game is fired up. Although one may initially think that the SAVEGAME file itself is corrupted, this is not the case. In our tests the problem does not happen once the saved game is loaded in a particular way:

WORKAROUND for 1)

Run the game, select the campaign, then RESUME. Immediately after it's loaded (error or not) you can either back out to where you will be offered a RESUME again or a RETRY or simply hit escape and choose LOAD (if you made a manual save).

WORKAROUND for 2)

Crashing to the desktop (particularly in Part 2) when using the RESUME after running ArmA for the first time is a big pain because you won't be able to do anything about it other than use the technique we've outlined below for beta testers. (we are trying to get some answers from BIS on what is going on and how to fix this problem).

OK, we reckon the best thing for now is to use this workaround...
Fire up the game, (you will need a saved game of some sort to make Part2 available on the menu) - load the mission (part 2 - REVERT NOT resume). That will take you to the beginning of part 2. Press ESC once - Then Alt-Tab to windows, copy the save files in, go back to the game and hit ESC 2 times more - Then use LOAD. This should work 95% of the time. A bit long winded but the best solution for now - Remember to make multiple save points as you go along and put them into separate folders.

THE BOTTOM LINE !!

To Sum up: Never play a resumed campaign after starting Armed Assault. Always get into the habit of reloading after the resume using any one of the 3 saved files. Autosave.ArmASave, continue.ArmASave or save.ArmASave
(We believe that following the above advice is relevant for all misions/campaign's)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

SAVING, RESTARTING

Particularly for beta testing we've found that it's a good idea to follow a few rules to save having to
replay the whole mission or part. Here are a few suggestions :

Get into the habit of making putting your saved files into separate folders after you save at key points in the campaign. This way you'll have a saved game at many intervals during the game. This will allow you to go back if necessary to any part of the campaign without having to to restart.

Replaying Part 1: from a saved game after having started part 2.

Either start the campagn again or select part 1 and REVERT. Once it has loaded, pause the game (ESC) then ALT-TAB to windows, copy the saved files from your save folder. ALT-TAB back into the game and press ESC twice. You should then select the LOAD.

Replaying part 2:

Part 2 is more simple but as a precaution you can do exactly as above, it's best to Save part 2 as soon as it starts.
However, restarting will work ok but do not use ESC / RETRY. ABORT the campaign first then select part 2 and REVERT.
This will read the object.sav and the player vehicle state and should put you in exactly the same position as you were
when you crossed the border.

Restarting the Mission from the beginning (god forbid)

There is one thing that does need to be done. The Object.sav file may cause problems in part 2 so it must be manually
deleted from the save folder. Better still if you are restarting delete everything in that folder. This is an ArmA oddity which only causes a problem when transferring vehicles and states from one mission to another.

Also don't forget to observe THE BOTTOM LINE !! (see above) when starting up Armed Assault.

   Sahrani Run - Changelog

   V 1.01 :
      Corrected spelling mistakes
      Fixed bug where heli pilot got out of heli when the player got in
      Fixed various small bugs

   V 1.02   :
      Fixed sqs error "Actionarray.sqs"
      Fixed ambulance sometimes not arriving
      Fixed Health pack problem
      Fixed problem with Drako's picture
      Tweaked sound/music volumes

   V 1.03  :
      Fixed gear problem moving from Part 1 to Part 2
      Fixed various small bugs
      
   V 1.04  :
      Fixed view staying black until the camera starts at begining of mission
      Added new cutscene in Part two
      Added new action in Part two
   
   V 1.05  :
      extended trigger size around ambulance base
      added auto save games
      Fixed bug with taking gear into Part two
      Fixed various small bugs

   V 1.06 :
      Fixed various small bugs
      Added new Actions to Part two
      Fixed major bugs at Ambulance Depot
      Fixed bug with taking vehicles into Part two
      Tweaked Part two to improve FPS

   V 1.07 :
      Fixed various bugs
      fixed heli pick-up
      Fixed bugs at Ambulance Depot
      Fixed some objectives
      Added weather variation
      Fixed car bomb text
      Improved AI of some groups
      Grammar corrections

   V 1.08  Hotfix for getting stuck on Map at the start

   V 1.09  Added vital information regarding SAVE GAME BUG (how to avoid)

   V 2.0   Fixed loads of bugs: including heli pick-up at end
      Added some more sounds
      Added extra way to get to Part2 of mission

NOTE
Do not use old saved games with new versions

Arkon

OFPEC Review

[firecontrol]

Awesome, a new mission. Sounds fun!

A word of advice though, maybe remove the "please review" from the subject if you want to get beta tests. Add "review please" when you want one of the OFPEC reviewers to do an actual review of the mission.

I'll test this soon.

Looking through the package: I love that picture that you included with the .zip! The mission folder should be in .pbo form though. Save to single player missions from the editor then include that .pbo maybe?

[Arkon]

Hi firecontrol,

Thanks for the quick response and tips - i did think that in Campaign format the files could be as they are
but if it is essential I will PBO them.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the Mission,  It may not be to everyone's taste but it took six months to complete so I hope there
are enough people who do like it 

Regards

Arkon

[LCD]

if ur sure u dont wanna beta test it 1st....

ill review dis

LCD OUT

[Arkon]

Hi LCD,

Um...

Yus, it needs beta testing first cos it is a very long mission - sorry did not realise - I will remove the
"review please" - but do test it if you have time to.

Thanks

Arkon

[LCD]

beta test 4 ppl.. nd ppl wil test 4 u

ill beta tesxt dis wen i have time.... not promisin nythyin tomorow tho

also u may wanna read dis tips 4 new authors (also edit ur 1st post acordingly)

nd also dis

tips 4 new betaers

have fun

Cheetah: corrected link

[DarkAngel]

Hi Arkon, I'll give this one a look later today if I get the chance.

edit:

Package should contain a .pbo, not the mission.sqm and scripts. Export it properly and repost the package properly, then I'll take a look.

[Arkon]

Hi, DarkAngel

Thanks for your post.

Don't know how to PBO a Campaign, as the format seems a bit different from single missions.
Maybe its as easy as firecontrol suggests "Save to single player missions from the editor then include that .pbo maybe?"
But I am not sure of the directory structure etc... eg. one of the description.ext and overview.html file has to be outside the mission folders in a campaign and there is a also a scripts folder too.

Anyways, I will try to find out and check out the format in a campaign thats already been done.

Is there any reason why you cannot play the game as it is?

Incidently, macguba's Offical tips for NEW MISSION AUTHORS states that "The mission must be in the form of a zipped .pbo." but it does not in any way refer to a Campaign being treated in such fashion, allthough obviously a Campaign usually consists of a number of missions. But either way I'll do me best to sort it out.

Perhaps you know how to do this?

Regards

Arkon

[LCD]

im not sure how ArmA handles da pbo dis tool creates but try it nywayz

click on da red link try it nd get back 2 us

LCD OUT

[firecontrol]

As far as I know a campaign saved (to .pbo) as a single mission works just fine as long as it's installed into the "campaigns" folder by the end user. I'd be more than happy to test the functionality of the overviews and whatnot for ya.

[Arkon]

Hi LCD/Firecontrol

I downloaded the PBO Util - then PBO'd the campaign files and put the PBO in the The Saharani Run folder -
but when I went to run it it sent me to my desktop with "error in campaign structure"

Not that I think it is why the error occurs but I don't think you can just bung everything in the PBO.
So the question maybe what goes in the PBO, what is the directory structure and where do the campaign description.ext, readme and mission jpg go?

firecontrol

As far as I know a campaign saved (to .pbo) as a single mission works just fine as long as it's installed into the "campaigns" folder by the end user

The Campaign is 1 mission split into 2 parts (missions) (its only a campaign as it was to big to fit into one mission) - not sure how you can save this as a single mission!

EDIT:
From looking at other Campaigns - the current non PBO structure I am using fits with them

>Campaign folder
                     >The Sahrani Run folder
                                                    >Folder with missions (folder) campaign description.ext, readme and mission jpg.
                                                                         >And the missions in the mission folder, that's it.

I believe this is the correct structure, so it seems like its what to PBO and where to put it.

Regards

Arkon2

[smoke52]

still playing it but heres what i have so far. ill update as i go.

package
needs to be PBO'ed

update (playing v1.04): the readme has no contact info and version still says 1.0. also you should give links to this post (or any others) so people can go and check out the latest version or give you feedback.  all of this not too terribly important though 

intro
intro was good, i knew what was happening and didnt see anything wrong.

briefing
 

mission
first bug was when i first boarded the heli the pilot jumps out, runs about 20 feet away from the heli then gets back in and takes off.

the insertion ride in the heli is kinda long, maybe find a song to play during that time

next bug was when me and the press guy made it to the second ruined house and he tells me he saw Draco. after all that a script not found comes up, called actionarray.sqs.

i liked the SLA chopper doing a missile strike, but it hangs around doing nothing after that, maybe get it to fly back to base or do more strafing runs.

after alot of running i made it to the arcadia town and ran into a camp fire with 15 or so guys all standing around. i tried to engage them and died, which is where i found another annoyance, i had to start all over again. add some savegame commands after the "action bubbles", like after talking to the press guy.

update (playing v1.04): just some suggestions:

when the map first starts you start in the eyes of a troop for a split second, i guess to spawn the camera. if you could some how get it to stay black until the camera starts to point up to the stars.

take the night vision off the players character when he talks to the officer then gets in the heli. he could grab them when he boards the heli

the music is fine, i just had it turned down in my options. my fault...

something i forgot to mention and i dont know if it's intentional, but i can hear the enemy heli off in the distance, get him to start off the ground or start farther away. it gives it away that the enemy heli is going to come and do something before or after you meet your contact.

when i made it to arcadia i followed a fence line close to the top of the mountain area i was running along, then the cutscene kicked in. i suggest having the screen go black before it says "Meanwhile...". also at the end of the cutscene i was expecting to see draco driving away in his truck on the road, i think it would make it more dramatic if you see him driving away.

went into town, saw the two vehicles and grabbed the motorbike, on the way out of town i saw a civilian just standing outside of the town, dont know what hes doing there. i went on towards my objective and ran into a small squad of guys at the oil field. i took care of them and continued on with a UAZ. killed a bunch at the gas station then made it to the town where i died from a tank i thought was empty. wish i had some satchels >

anyway next load i grabbed the bike again and this time didnt see the civilian. made it to the town again but ran into a second tank. i will play some more later and update this as i go.
outro
none yet
summary
the mission is looking good so far.

Project Beta Approved

[Arkon]

Hi smoke52,

Thanks for the comments:

needs to be PBO'ed

Working on this - a bit tricky as its a campaign and the structure is different from a normal mission

first bug was when i first boarded the heli the pilot jumps out, runs about 20 feet away from the heli then gets back in and takes off.

Yus, I think he went for a last minute leak - Fixed

the insertion ride in the heli is kinda long, maybe find a song to play during that time

There is a soundtrack playing - have u got yer sound turned up enough? Maybe I need to turn up the volume!

next bug was when me and the press guy made it to the second ruined house and he tells me he saw Draco. after all that a script not found comes up, called actionarray.sqs.

Yup - happens a few times - has no effect on game - fixed in V1.02

i liked the SLA chopper doing a missile strike, but it hangs around doing nothing after that, maybe get it to fly back to base or do more strafing runs.

The chopper is supposed to be doing a Seek & Destroy, I'll take a look though

after alot of running i made it to the arcadia town and ran into a camp fire with 15 or so guys all standing around. i tried to engage them and died, which is where i found another annoyance, i had to start all over again. add some savegame commands after the "action bubbles", like after talking to the press guy.

Presume the save game is related to the difficulty level that you have selected - but looking at incorporating a save game option soon.

Anyways thanks very much for your input - do me best to correct things you have pointed out
Please keep me up to date with anymore issues you come across

Regards

Arkon

[DarkAngel]

Hi Arkon,

No worries - just followed your installation instructions and seems to work fine so far. Campaign overview looks fantastic. A small thing - your campaign folder spells Sahrani as "Saharani".

Mission 1

Intro

None

Briefing

It's all clear and makes plenty of sense. Some links to markers might be good though, eg where you say to meet your contact on the South Island, or if you want to keep that secret till later, perhaps just noting where the President and resistance might be hiding. This would give a sense of the situation on the island from the beginning. Also, large chunks of text can be quite hard on the eye, particularly if you're playing on lower resolutions, so maybe insert some line/paragraph breaks in your briefing.html. "part 1" - the P should be capitalized.

Mission

Opening cutscene is good. The pace is quite slow but I think that works. Then the mission begins, inserting to Estrella and opening my sealed orders. The new objective and marker work fine. The soundtrack is pretty quiet relative to the sound of the chopper - maybe bump the volume up a bit? The message about being blown off course comes on and I drop off to my LZ. All working fine so far, and I like the realism of the drop-off snafu.

I skirt round the outside of Estrella and meet Saltzman. Flare goes off. The second Saltzman hint gives his first name as John, the first as Harry. The flare goes off and we escape to San Peregrino where he tells me about the other contact. He leaves and the KA-50 turns up - great touch. I head towards Arcadia to meet Draco and find his red Skoda. A GPS would be helpful in navigation, and so far there's quite a lot of running in the mission so more vehicles might be a good thing.

I walk to Arcadia, avoiding the campfire that smoke52 had trouble with, and see the Draco cutscene. No sign of him in town, but I do come across his red car which blows up in my face. There's a handy motorbike nearby which I hop on for the long drive to the buoy. Passing the oilfields and Cayo I run into a whole load of SLA but no-one fires their weapon at me. Finally as I'm crossing the Dolores bridge a sentry takes aim at me - and I'm dead. Due to the lack of savegames (if playing in Veteran mode you only get 1 savegame per mission) I'm back to my only saved point, just before the Arcadia cutscene. I'd follow Smoke52 in saying you should add savegames after each encounter or cutscene. Having to go back miles through the mission if you're playing on Veteran could end up being a real turnoff to the mission.

So far though, I enjoyed playing it - it seems very different to the normal run of ArmA missions. There's a real sense of a story unfolding - this will be even stronger once you add voice acting. Keep up the good work - but please put in those savegames otherwise the mission could become very frustrating!

Project Beta Approved

[Arkon]

Hi DarkAngel,

Thanks for your time.

It's all clear and makes plenty of sense. Some links to markers might be good though, eg where you say to meet your contact on the South Island, or if you want to keep that secret till later, perhaps just noting where the President and resistance might be hiding. This would give a sense of the situation on the island from the beginning. Also, large chunks of text can be quite hard on the eye, particularly if you're playing on lower resolutions, so maybe insert some line/paragraph breaks in your briefing.html. "part 1" - the P should be capitalized.

Trying to go slow with pace early on but still give the players enough story to get there teeth into - its a very long mission that starts to hot up towards the end of Part one. The story unfolds quicker in Part two but this is partly to do with the story itself (without giving too much away) - split the Briefing up a bit - Can't find the "part 1" P you are referring to.

The soundtrack is pretty quiet relative to the sound of the chopper - maybe bump the volume up a bit?

Tweaked the music volume up to 0.9

The second Saltzman hint gives his first name as John, the first as Harry.

Well spotted - this was because of a name change half-way through development.

there's quite a lot of running in the mission so more vehicles might be a good thing.

There are a number of vehicles scattered about and we have tried to make the mission as much non-linear as possible.

I'd follow Smoke52 in saying you should add savegames after each encounter or cutscene. Having to go back miles through the mission if you're playing on Veteran could end up being a real turnoff to the mission.

Iv'e added three save games to Part one and will do the same for Part two.

Well, thanks again, your appraisal has been brilliant - please carry on if you can find the time -
its great to get such good constructive feedback after 6 months hard slog not knowing if you are wasting your
time or not.

Regards

Arkon2

[smoke52]

well i think i worded it wrong that the heli just hung around. the heli did follow me until i made it to the camp area near arcadia.

also ill check the sound in the heli ride again, maybe my music was turned down.

ill update my first post when i play more.

[Arkon]

Hi smoke52,

Thanks for getting back to us - re the music if u r playing with 3rd person switched off
then the heli sound is even louder so I probably need to turn the sound down a bit as well
as turning the music up.

EDIT

Hi smoke52

Only just noticed your updated post:

when the map first starts you start in the eyes of a troop for a split second

Fixed now (V1.05)

take the night vision off the players character when he talks to the officer then gets in the heli. he could grab them when he boards the heli

Yes, good idea!! (actually he's not the real player but a dummy one pretending to be the player)

something i forgot to mention and i dont know if it's intentional, but i can hear the enemy heli off in the distance

Moved him back now

at the end of the cutscene i was expecting to see draco driving away in his truck on the road, i think it would make it more dramatic if you see him driving away

Hmmm, it would only work if you were near the road - the cutscene is triggered even if you are far away from Arcadia

on the way out of town i saw a civilian just standing outside of the town

Well spotted - he is a gatecrasher, that i had not noticed!!

Thaks very much for spending your time playing and writing your post - would be great if you can do some more.

Anyways its best to use the latest Version now (1.05).

Regards

Arkon

[smoke52]

sorry, i had some comp troubles or i would have had more to add 

anyway its all fixed now, so heres some more testing:

Hmmm, it would only work if you were near the road - the cutscene is triggered even if you are far away from Arcadia

i was way up on the mountain looking down on arcadia and the sea, so i was able to see the road clearly. for those people like me that went around the high road it would add to the atmosphere, but its only a suggestion you dont have to do it

after playing a few times, loading from the arcadia area, the placement of the motorbike seems odd in the middle of the road. hide it near the radio beside a building. when i first came across the car and bike, i obviously went for the car, but it went up in flames, so i cautiously took the bike half expecting it to blow up when i drove a certain speed or something

anyway my first load i took the bike and drove near the car to set it off; the writing came up, but the car didnt explode.

next i drove to my usual spot and picked off the first set of guys i came across near the oil pumps. moved on to the gas station, but lost my bike hitting a rock while i was looking at my map so i bailed and sniped the guys at the gas station. the next thing i noticed wrong was the car beside the gas pumps was sunk in the ground.

moving on i decided to sneak around north and bypass the city with the tanks to go for the ammo. i retrieved some ammo but the objective didnt tick off, but thats not really important. next i made it to the buoy and lost my weapons swimming out there...i should have stored them in my jeep before i went out but now im stuck with the pistol going into the ambulance area. you should give a hint to the player to stash their weapons before swimming out, just have a trigger on the shore line. you could make a trigger along the shore to add the m24 with ammo or make a script that looks what they had then give it back because i had some satchels too. also it started getting lighter out once i lost my NVgoggles. im not sure if thats a game bug or did you make it so it gets lighter out while swimming out to the buoy?

another bug i found was leaving the saltzmen and draco stuff until making it to the buoy makes it so you cant remove it from your action menu. i dont know how many objectives you have but maybe you could do it all through the briefing.html? when the objective completes have a hidden one with something to click and take you to the information they recieved.

next i waited for awhile with 4x speed on and no ambulance came, i dont think i was detected because everyone is still standing. i couldnt wait any longer, so i decided to get my jeep and make a run for the border

i made it through somehow to the second wall. bailed out of my jeep and crawled under the second wall. killed two guards and made it to the finish area. i finished the mission with three things not ticked off; get ammo at the crate, hitch a ride, and meet colonel chantico objectives. maybe have the crate and hitch ride tick off when the player reaches the last end trigger.

last suggestion is have the screen fade to black when they complete the first part of the mission.

-------------

second mission
checked briefing and the first three were done (meet saltzer, go to buoy, cross border) and the meet colonel was still unfinished, so thats where i was going. i hit continue and to my surprise i started in a tank with no fuel, beside two others. one was running, so i grabbed that one and went towards the colonel, but the mission failed saying spec ops cant leave the area. im a little confused what to do here? it definitely needs a mini intro or something, if this is how its meant to play out.

i bailed from my tank and read the PIER message. it tells me to do the ambulance thing and get across the border....

ill test some more later when you tell me what supposed to happen

[Arkon]

Hi smoke52,

Thanks for the marathon feedback

the placement of the motorbike seems odd in the middle of the road

Moved!

the writing came up, but the car didnt explode

Hmmm wondering if this is a mission bug or summint to do with the save game object status - looking into

i retrieved some ammo but the objective didnt tick off

Ok... but this is not an objective

next i made it to the buoy and lost my weapons swimming out there

Hints & tips in the read me

another bug i found was leaving the saltzmen and draco stuff until making it to the buoy makes it so you cant remove it from your action menu.

Not sure what you mean here - You should be able to remove the saltzmen and draco text at any time - but the pier stuff is different (see below)

next i waited for awhile with 4x speed on and no ambulance came

How close to the base did you get? - you need to get within 150yds to set the trigger off - but been having some probs with this!

three things not ticked off; get ammo at the crate, hitch a ride, and meet colonel chantico objectives

Ammo (see above) hitch a ride is not an objective - Meet colonel chantico is not achieved until Part two (u ain't met him yet)

to my surprise i started in a tank with no fuel

How did you get this tank and the others?

but the mission failed saying spec ops cant leave the area

This happens if you try to head south (back into S. Sahrani) you need to head towards your next objective "Meet colonel chantico" as marked on your map (this is why you cannot remove the pier text until Part two).

Well, thank you very much for your mega test - you found lots of bits and pieces to sort out 

Hope you can find time to do some more.

Regards

Arkon2

[mathias_eichinger]

Hi, here`s my take on the mission:

Package

Complete with Promo Pic and Readme. Good job.

Intro

None.

Briefing

Was quite sketchy and secret and kept me wondering what I would be up against.

[bMission[/b]

Good ambience with the helicopter starting and with me receiving my secret orders in flight. This is an "action film feature" not seen very often in ArmA. After the cutscene I am paradropped on the beach and approach the marker on the map. The village is totally deserted which is not what I expected since the readme hinted an adventure type gameplay.

I need to state that I began the mission yesterday and hit exit just after I found my contact, the flare was fired and we were on the run to San Peregrino. Upon loading it today I got the error message "void is not a class"  and the civilian guy refused to run on. Luckily I remebered the next task (that I had to go to San Peregrino). Here I noticed the first flaw of the mission: All messages should update the Briefing or else the player would be forced to write them down if he doesn`t bring a whole day`s worth of playing time. Yes, that would force the player to comb trough many pages of notes, but that is quite normal for an adventure I think.

Despite my contact not being there I had a conversation with him  .
And then the objectives were updated with a really horrible (drum roll?) sound. For me, this sound needs to go, it is really ugly. So I had to make a mental note again about going to Arcadia and killing a guy with a red Skoda there.
When I was close to the village, a pitch-black cutscene kicked in which was completely useless because I could not see a thing. Well, not completely useless, because it told me that my target is about to leave.

When I entered Arcadia I had no clue what has happened before and I encountered a civilian whom I shot because it could have been my target that just had changed his mount. Finally I found the empty Skoda and nothing else happened in that deserted town. I took the motorcycle of the civilian and rode towards Dolores, past some enemies at the side of the road who did nothing to me. Dolores itself was a different matter, and I got shot there. So I took to the hills around Dolores to go to Geraldo beach.

I hopped off my motorcycle and shot the boat crew successfully after a few retries. The boat stranded conveniently at the beach, allowing me to hop in and investigate the buoy. There was much undocumented text about the difficulty to get into North Sahrani and that I needed to hitch an ambulance. "No problem" I thought, "I am in the boat and will simply race along the coast". But what happened? You made the boat stop working in the middle of the ocean. I was quite angry at that point because you denied me the most logical thing to do and forced me to stick to the mission plan.

Ok now, out of the boat and racing towards the ambulance base. Managed to sneak in and get into the ambulance M113. And then I experienced a Showstopper. The ambulance would go nowhere despite waiting 10 minutes in game. Heard some shooting in the distance and that was all.

Conclusions

Phew, where do I start?

*Get rid of that horrible sound that accompanies the Briefing update.
*The cutscene before Arcadia needs to have night vision
*Simply let me drive my boat along the coast
*Add every hint to the Briefing
*Look into the ambulance bug
*The map should be more alive (e.g. more civilians in villages, more patrols).

I hope I am not too harsh here, but while the idea itself is quite interesting and worth developing, it is lacking in the realisation at this stage.

Cheers

Mathias

[Arkon]

Hi mathias_eichinger,

Thanks for your feedback...

Are you using V 1.05?

Was quite sketchy and secret and kept me wondering what I would be up against

This is part of the story - time explains all 

The village is totally deserted which is not what I expected since the readme hinted an adventure type gameplay

Early days yet - this is a very long adventure and it needs to be paced correctly - as the overview sez the southern part of Sahrani is mostly deserted.

I got the error message "void is not a class"

Yes - someone else reported this - not sure what it is yet

All messages should update the Briefing or else the player would be forced to write them down if he doesn`t bring a whole day`s worth of playing time

Don't quite understand you here, are you saying that the Action menu notes are insurficient?

And then the objectives were updated with a really horrible (drum roll?) sound

Ok, I have to agree - it'l have to go!

When I was close to the village, a pitch-black cutscene kicked in which was completely useless because I could not see a thing

Don't know what happened to you here - you are the first to report this!

You made the boat stop working in the middle of the ocean

Well, it was not made to do this - it just ran out of gas! - it would be just to easy to skip Corazo in the boat so, to
do it you have to find some fuel first 

The ambulance would go nowhere despite waiting 10 minutes in game

Sorry, yup had a few problems with the ambulance - trying to sort it out now

Ok, you found quite a few things that you did not seem to happy with, some of which I have tried to answer. But, this is what Beta testing is all about - just sorry that you seemed to run into more problems than most.

Thanks again for your time - look forward to more feedback 

Regards

Arkon2
 

[smoke52]

i retrieved some ammo but the objective didnt tick off
Ok... but this is not an objective

yeah its not important but i think it would look better being ticked off, just to show you went there.

another bug i found was leaving the saltzmen and draco stuff until making it to the buoy makes it so you cant remove it from your action menu.
Not sure what you mean here - You should be able to remove the saltzmen and draco text at any time - but the pier stuff is different (see below)

for some reason it just wouldnt delete it from the action menu. probably from a save point bug because i hit two different save points before i decided to try and remove them. its one of those "once in a blue moon" bugs i guess

next i waited for awhile with 4x speed on and no ambulance came
How close to the base did you get? - you need to get within 150yds to set the trigger off - but been having some probs with this!

what happened was i was driving to the medical place and hit the save point, i made a quick left turn into the bushes, but i think i could of been spotted by the BMP. i bailed out and the first time i snuck around the back and went in the fence opening on foot. i didnt know where to go so i ran towards the tents and turned left around the building where i sat for awhile. i could of been spotted by an officer then because i saw him laying down and standing again. i thought i was spotted so i decided to get out of there but died.

next load i drove the jeep into the fence and made an opening in the north west area of the base than waited in the barracks, i dont think i was spotted unless, like im speculating, was spotted by the BMP just as i hit the save point.

three things not ticked off; get ammo at the crate, hitch a ride, and meet colonel chantico objectives
Ammo (see above) hitch a ride is not an objective - Meet colonel chantico is not achieved until Part two (u ain't met him yet)

i know, just thought i would let you know how it looks and plays out

to my surprise i started in a tank with no fuel
How did you get this tank and the others?

but the mission failed saying spec ops cant leave the area
This happens if you try to head south (back into S. Sahrani) you need to head towards your next objective "Meet colonel chantico" as marked on your map (this is why you cannot remove the pier text until Part two).

this is where it got wierd. see pic
[img=http://img34.imagevenue.com/loc1009/th_56748_route_122_1009lo.jpg]

i did that route in the pic and it said mission complete. it gave me the briefing book with my stats and stuff. i clicked continue and it said loading PART2, so when it loads im inside a tank with no fuel, one is running in front of me and a third is sitting there with no fuel. i said ok and tried driving but wouldnt go so i got in the tank that was running and drove towards the colonel. the map was emtpy, so i thought maybe this was a flashback in time and switching roles to guard corazol or something. the briefing had the same as the first level so i didnt know what was up and drove towards the mountain area where i was supposed to meet the colonel, but i hit that trigger saying i left the area.

theres probably an easy explaination though...i played your map to the buoy and quit to the main menu. then i downloaded v105 and installed that without closing ARMA and played the rest out, so that must have done something

[mathias_eichinger]

Don't quite understand you here, are you saying that the Action menu notes are insurficient?

Yes, I think so. For example, the mission in Arcadia is mentioned nowhere in the action menu notes, and while the Briefing tells me to hitch a ride in the Ambulance base, it is very easy to forget about the details (e.g. where is the hole in the fence). So, as this is a long mission, if I would have quit before Arcadia and left if alone a few days I could have easily forgotten that I need to go there, or if I would leave the mission alone just before the ambulance hitch it could have been harder because I might not remember to look for a hole in the fence.

Therefore I vote for the use of the Notes section in the Briefing. Anything else would overcrowd the action menu and force the player to constantly remove the hints.

Well, it was not made to do this - it just ran out of gas! - it would be just to easy to skip Corazo in the boat so, to
do it you have to find some fuel first 

Ok that`s a reason, but it still makes me doubt the Communist Common Sense of patrolling a harbor in a boat with only a few minutes worth of fuel 

Cheers

Mathias
 

[Arkon]

Hi smoke52,

Thanks for the feedback again

for some reason it just wouldnt delete it from the action menu

Yes, this because the player needs some of that information for Part 2 of the mission (it can be deleted in Part 2).

Sorted out the Ambulance stuff in V 1.06 - The ambulance is already at the base waiting for the player now.

The tank business was probably caused by updating whilst the program was still running...

If you have any more time and patience, I would be very happy to get some more feedback.

Thanks again

Regards

Arkon

[smoke52]

playing v106

briefing
theres a helicopter "laid on" at helipad 1

im not sure what that means (laid on). maybe change it to "waiting"?

in the notes area:
"no-one's"

"no one is" sound better

Mission
in the harry saltzman briefing when you reach the second ruined house, he says

"He now does their dirty work for them. You might find him..."

maybe change it to He does their dirty work for them and you might find him..."

in arcadia i jumped on the motorbike and rode close to the car. it gave an error about "_b1 = "m_ch29_at" #createvehicle _pos"

im in the ambulance area and i find it very difficult to get to the ambulance because everywhere you go theres someone looking where you have to run or crawl across to get to the ambulance. i like the barrels going up along the building but then what? theres a guy in the tent looking that way and a squad of guys at the front gate. how do you go that way? going the right side around theres an officer and two guards looking where you have to run across and no cover. i made a run for it and i was shot but still made it around to the ambulance. i think more cover to crawl behind would be cool for that area, like barrels, boxes, etc. maybe i wasnt patient enough to watch and see if they turn away, but it looked like they were static.

i sat in the ambulance with 4x speed on and a cutscene kinda kicked in (i would suggest having the cutscene kick in once the player enters the ambulance). it looks like the camera is looking towards the officer and its moving back and forth between two spots about 3mm apart. i cant hit ESC to get out of it and i think its stuck forever in that position until i reload. i let it sit for awhile thinking maybe the ambulance still went and would hit a trigger to end it but it didnt. something was broken  

second time i started from the beginning and this time at the ambulance area i rammed a hole in the fence with my jeep. it seems no one is alerted to me because all their backs are turned. only if they were like that my first time around

anyway it worked this time through and the cut scene was going good until it went to the camera that zooms in on the officers face. after the zoom you see the camera quickly move to a new position only a fraction away from the original camera making the camera jolt. then after that it turns to the ambulance turning left down a street but the camera stays where it is tracking the ambulance through a building for about a min. then the words come up that says "hmm..the hunter becomes the hunted." still tracking through the building. after some time the camera gets to a new position and does some more camera movements. it ended with a look at the parked ambulance and 3 tents where it sat for awhile until some troops showed up. again it sat for awhile longer and even more troops came (about 10)....i waited and waited but im pretty sure it was supposed to allow me to control my player by now, so i alt-tabbed and ended the program :\

[Wolfrug]

Hey there!

I've been playing and enjoying this mission a bit, and I'll give you a proper review once I've actually managed to finish it, but I thought I'd mention a little "cheat" I found with the Geraldo-buoy objective:

That boat that comes out of the mists when you arrive there? Judging by the way it explodes once you've killed all of its occupants, you're not really supposed to take it, right? Well, if you snipe JUST the driver, the two gunners will, due to the way the AI works, jump out of the boat after a while and start swimming. -> just swim out to the boat and drive it to shore, load it with weapons and off you go to the other side.

Also: why do you still have your weapon pool when you start the second part of the mission?  I mean, where exactly do you get to rearm, just barely out of Corazol? Suggestion: use clearWeaponPool to clear the old one, then use something like "pickWeaponPool" to transfer any new items you've got in i.e. your car. 

Anyway! Continuing to play this. Nice stuff, so far!

Wolfrug out.

[Arkon]

*SPOILER WARNING!*

Hi, smoke52

Thanks for the feedback,

I have taken note re your grammatical suggestions

in arcadia i jumped on the motorbike and rode close to the car. it gave an error about "_b1 = "m_ch29_at" #createvehicle _pos"

I have not been able to reproduce this error - still trying

im in the ambulance area and i find it very difficult to get to the ambulance

Yes, its not easy this part - but its not meant to be
You have the right idea though - creep along the barrels as far as you can then, dash for the wall immediately ahead of you. This shields you from the guards at the gate, don,t worry about the medic in the tent (he's busy stitching some guy together). Now, run for the far side of the ambulance (the side nearest the wall) again this shields you from the gate guards and the guards looking at the map. Its a piece of cake with a little practice (the auto-save just outside the base 
ensures multi-tries)

it looks like the camera is looking towards the officer and its moving back and forth etc

Erm.. never seen this happen before - perhaps you needed a reboot or summint - Arma can do some real weird things when it gets confused - sorry dunno what else to suggest here:(

Thanks again for your time - sorry things did not seem to go to well for you this time, seems like it was not much fun

Regards

Arkon

[Arkon]

Hi Wolfrug,

Thanks for the points you made...

What Version are you using?

That boat that comes out of the mists when you arrive there

Hmmm... that's ironic, as that is a left-over from the time before we discovered your script for transferring vehicles between missions. 
So we had to find crude methods to stop players taking vehicles with them. The boat explosion was one of them - its sorted now 

why do you still have your weapon pool when you start the second part of the mission?

Erm... I am not that familiar with weapon pools transfers from mission to mission - I have PM'd Louiscar who done most of the tricky scripty bits for an answer.

BTW...
We have recently realized what happens to the "states" of vehicles when you "restart" a campaign.
We found that if a vehicle was damaged when you moved from Part1 to Part2 this is reflected when you start Part2 as expected - but If you then restart Part1, when you reach Part2 the damage is "remembered" from the previous transition

Also not sure of the implications with a "Retry" - what stuff is remembered/forgotten etc.

Thanks again for the feedback

Hope you enjoy the campaign

Regards

Arkon

[Wolfrug]

Regarding "remembered" -> Yes. Sadly, whenever you save something using any of the "save" commands, they're saved until...well...forever (or rather until you delete the objects.sav in your Myprofile/saves/ca/campaignname). Which essentially means that if you revert back to a previous state of your campaign, all the saved variables will still be the same  I suppose the only way to prevent that is simply to tell people not to do it! I'll probably have to find a way to bypass it in my campaign at some point, we'll have to see...

Weaponpools -> they're governed by these commands: "pickWeaponPool", "putWeaponPool", "clearWeaponPool" and "addWeaponPool" / "addMagazinePool". Finally there's also "queryMagazinePool" and "queryWeaponPool".

For your mission, all you really need to do is to call "clearweaponpool" the start of the mission (not before the briefing though, a trigger with a 1 second delay is good) : that will make the weaponpool empty for the second mission. If you want to get smart, and involve i.e. the players' vehicle or somesuch, you can play around with "putweaponpool" and "pickweaponpool". Try it out. 

Oh, and I used the latest version, I think? 1.06 or somesuch?

Wolfrug out.

[megz]

Seems like a good mission. However, just past the petrol station on the way to the boi there is a patrol moving along the road, i think they are all set to careless cos they didnt do anything when i passed, so i went back and ran them over 1 by 1 lol. I was then on my way to the ambulance, i sneaked in and waited and waited on x4, nothing happened. so i reloaded from the auto save and tried it about 5 more times, still nothing. i tried to sneak past but cos its daytime its beyond me, to hard.

Looks like a really good mission just needs ironing out and more life, like empty cars, cars driving on the roads, responsive patrols and civies walkin about.

Megz

[Arkon]

*SPOILER WARNING!*

Hi megz

Thanks for the feedback

there is a patrol moving along the road

Ok, I'll take a look at this, lazy dudes
Can you be a bit more precise as to where you saw these guys please?

i sneaked in and waited and waited on x4

Were you waiting for the ambulance to arrive or leave? (let me know please)
If you was waiting for it to arrive then you need to download Version 1.06

Looks like a really good mission just needs ironing out and more life, like empty cars

There are empty cars around but you have to look for them - also as the story tells you the Southern part of Sahrani is mostly deserted.

Thanks again

Regards

Arkon

[megz]

hey, the patrol is on the northern main from cayo to dolores, at about point 61.

There was already an ambulance in the camp, just near the med tents and where 2 soldiers are looking at a map with an officer, i sneak in past the barrels, get in the back and nothing happens, i used the download link in your first post on this topic. cheerz 

[louiscar]

Regarding "remembered" -> Yes. Sadly, whenever you save something using any of the "save" commands, they're saved until...well...forever (or rather until you delete the objects.sav in your Myprofile/saves/ca/campaignname). Which essentially means that if you revert back to a previous state of your campaign, all the saved variables will still be the same  I suppose the only way to prevent that is simply to tell people not to do it! I'll probably have to find a way to bypass it in my campaign at some point, we'll have to see...

It's a real shame because all BIS had to do was provide some file operations within the scripting, then the objects.sav file could be deleted in the event of a retry. You could of course tell people to delete this file if they are going to retry but frankly I've not tested to see what other problems there would be if a retry is used. In theory any saved vars should still be there and should be picked up by the script.

One solution might be an auto save immediately after part 2 starts which I believe Arkon has implemented.

Weaponpools -> they're governed by these commands: "pickWeaponPool", "putWeaponPool", "clearWeaponPool" and "addWeaponPool" / "addMagazinePool". Finally there's also "queryMagazinePool" and "queryWeaponPool".
For your mission, all you really need to do is to call "clearweaponpool" the start of the mission (not before the briefing though, a trigger with a 1 second delay is good) : that will make the weaponpool empty for the second mission. If you want to get smart, and involve i.e. the players' vehicle or somesuch, you can play around with "putweaponpool" and "pickweaponpool". Try it out. 

The script we used which was based on your script was to achieve the following:

1) Transfer any vehicle that the player was in or near including it's current state and weapons.
2) If the player was in that vehicle then put him back in it.
3) possibly transfer other vehicles in the near vicinity.

Other things were:

1) transfer the player's status including weapons and health packs
2) remember where he crossed the border and the direction he was facing.
3) set the correct time.

[Arkon]

Hi megz

*SPOILER WARNING!*

There was already an ambulance in the camp, just near the med tents and where 2 soldiers are looking at a map with an officer, i sneak in past the barrels, get in the back and nothing happens

I think the ambulance bug is solved now - you will need to download the new version V 1.08 (do not use old saved games though)

Thanks

Regards

Arkon2

[Arkon]

Hi All,

Sorry to those who downloaded Version 1.07 but I have had to issue a Hotfix as players
were getting stuck on the Map at the start of the mission - please use V 1.08

Thanks

Regards

Arkon

[LCD]

too much walkin 4 me but i have a partial review (gave up after da masacre cutscene....)

package

u still need 2 PBO da file... ask in da general forums how 2 do dat surly som1 will answer

Overview

 

mebe add some pics 4 da individual misions overview....

Intro

None

Briefing

1) give da player a callsign... da name of his group...
2) deres 2 weapons w/o a magazines on weapon selection... a javelin and M16
3) deres a flag marker on rahmadi.. not realy explained (i guesed it marked da choper pos... but u dont realy need it as da player gets in durin da cutscene...
4) give da player da name he shud have (name of dat brit guy )... use da setidentity command

Mision

1) Some voice recording is alwayz nice
2) da heli ride is realy long... u cud use a setpos trick 2 make it shorter... or some conversation bout nothin between da pilot nd player...
3) u have some extra spaces b4 da marker links dat apear in da briefing
4) u realy shud add some retry points... or mebe even give da player some free retries usin da radio... mision dat involves so much walkin... nd u may just get into a way of a patrol while on X4
5) Also mebe try n populate da towns around da area... just 2 make da island feel more alivish... even tho most citizens evaced dere shud b some... also mebe some more patrols actualy runin around... just 2 keep da player on his toes
6) in san pelegrino da reporter says he shud leave b4 it "gets too light" shud rephrase it
7) Da draco in picture doesnt have same face like draco in da mision (1s black oder is white ) shud use setidentity on him 2....
I was walkin in arcadia and sudenly exploded ? i guess its a boby trap... but how did u want me 2 see it ?
9) have a beter reaction from soldiers 2 me getin detected... more movin around and stuff...
10) also when da guiner of A UAZ w/ MG is shot u shud have da driver get out....
11) add an animation 2 da health-pack... u can see it 2 done in dozens of 1st aid scripts
12) after goin out and getin back in i got an eror saying "eror on load value "/" class" somthing somthing (didnt realy write it down )
13) I took over UAZ.... soldiers dont shot em... only tanks... its a most fix....
14) da marker is not exactly on da bouy... it took me some time 2 figure dat 1 out (i didnt realy read da briefing of dat part )
15) da shiop placement is realy nasty... it came couple of times when i was in water... its 1 uinavoidable death 4 da player... not realy good thing in a mision
16) U shud tel 2 da player 2 stash his weapons somewere b4 getin da bouy... else he looses his weapon (realy tell him like in a hint or somin... b4 he enters water....
17) i loaded couple of times on dis part (i took my UAZ past da border)... nd in 1 of da timez da UAZ dat shud come towards da town w/ da bouy didnt move... it was just sitin onroad halfway 2 corazol...
18) i passed thro da border w/ da UAZ kinda easily... after i discovered were 2 avoid da tanks... nd were da AGS is (sniped da gunner)

part 2

19) I got killed just after i started... loaded nd sudenly didnt have my jeep... mebe have a save just on start so player can retry nd still have his stuff.... nywayz i run all da way 2 dat resistance base.... long long run on X4... nd didnt get 2 see ny1 on da way....
20) i think it sudenly became day when i talked 2 da general (who is in a shed... not a field tent )... but i think its an ArmA bug in da way it handels dawns nd dusks...
21) da attack on da resistance base takes really long time 2 arrive (i stayed 2 help)
22) u shud rearange da T72 navigation... couple of T72s got upside down nd stuf like dat....
23) I sugest turnin off da alarm sound after some time... it drove me krazy
24) Im not sure u realy intended da player 2 stay n help da resistance... i killed da RPG attack from da west... destroyed 3 outta 4 tanks (an M1A1 took da 4th)... nd w/ da remaining 2 soldiers (every1 else died) started attack soldiers on eastern mountains when paras arrive... after couple of retries i just run away usin a jeep from da base... dont tel da player 2 stay if u dont want him 2... or at least have som1 tell him 2 go on w/ da mision when it seems da resistance is loosing....
25) i think dat on da way 2 da castle deres couple of soldiers on careless... i moved pass em w/ da jeep nd dey didnt even look on me...
26) Da timin 4 da masacre cutscene was realy bad... i was on road w/ my jeep when it started... when it ended i was srounded by SLAs who just shot da hell outta me

dats all i played...

LCD OUT

[Arkon]

*SPOILER WARNING!*

Hi LCD,

Thank you for taking the time to review the mission 

What Version r u using?

too much walkin 4 me

There are a number of means of transport available for the player to use, but you do have to look for them.

u still need 2 PBO da file

Ok... I will do that

give da player a callsign... da name of his group...

Done

deres 2 weapons w/o a magazines on weapon selection

Never realised there was a weapons selection screen
When does that show up?

give da player da name he shud have

Done

da heli ride is really long...

Ok, but did you not hear the music?

n san pelegrino da reporter says he shud leave b4 it "gets too light" shud rephrase it

Why is that?

Da draco in picture doesnt have same face like draco in da mision

He should - he has the same "Setface"

I was walkin in arcadia and sudenly exploded ?

Must have been summint you ate 
What you exploded or was it the car that was booby trapped?

have a beter reaction from soldiers 2 me getin detected... more movin around and stuff...

Where was dem lazy soldiers?

add an animation 2 da health-pack

You can see it in 3rd person

after goin out and getin back in i got an eror saying "eror on load value "/" class"

Yus, nobody seems to know what this is 

da shiop placement is realy nasty...

Depends what version u r using - changed in version 1.08.

U shud tel 2 da player 2 stash his weapons somewere b4 getin da bouy

In the Readme 

oaded nd sudenly didnt have my jeep... mebe have a save just on start so player can retry nd still have his stuff.

It does an auto-save as you start Part Two - see "SAVING, RESTARTING & BETA TESTING NOTES." in the Readme.

I sugest turnin off da alarm sound after some time... it drove me krazy

It does go off after a while - but I will shorten its length

i think it sudenly became day when i talked 2 da general

What!! Do you mean it was dark all the way to the Colonel's Camp?

Im not sure u realy intended da player 2 stay n help da resistance

Well, that is part of the RPG (role playing) in the game - the player can choose for himself - what happens later depends on his choice

i think dat on da way 2 da castle deres couple of soldiers on careless...

I will find them and they will be court-marshelled 

Da timin 4 da masacre cutscene was realy bad.

Yup - i gotta to change this bit

Thanks again for pointing out all those things

Sorry that you did not get any further - I hope that you enjoyed what you did do.

Regards

Arkon

[LCD]

var 1.08

Never realised there was a weapons selection screen
When does that show up?

in da briefing.... group tab... click on players name...

Ok, but did you not hear the music?

I may had.... dont remember 

Why is that?

donno... im not english man bet "gets too light" just doesnt sound right 2 me... shud b gets too bright or somin like dat ? donno tho

He should - he has the same "Setface"

didnt work out 4 me  he was wihte... and going bald... mebe i shud recheck

What you exploded or was it the car that was booby trapped?

i figure out it was da car... wasnt realy lookin at it... was lookin more in da direction of da motocycle

Where was dem lazy soldiers?

in da city w/ da bridges (cant remember da name)... ArmA soldiers in general seem 2 have probs w/ bridges 

Yus, nobody seems to know what this is 

dis errors sounds like somin inda description files... mebe u shud look dere...

Depends what version u r using - changed in version 1.08.

i was on 1.08 nd its still 2 nasy 4 me

In the Readme

alwayz have somin in da mision itself... 60%+ dont really read da readme....

Do you mean it was dark all the way to the Colonel's Camp?

i think it was... mebe its a bug in ArmA... nd da thing w/ ArmA having no real dawn... but I didnt remove my NVGs all dat time (till da cutscene...) nd everything was lookin fine (so it shud have been dark... else i wudnt see nothing ?) nd den sudenly after da cutscene it was day nd da NVGs didnt help at all...

Well, that is part of the RPG (role playing) in the game - the player can choose for himself - what happens later depends on his choice

but da mision still seemed impossible (or can I realy fend off da attack ?)... does it realy detect if i stayted dere or not ? how ?

LCD OUT

[Arkon]

*SPOILER WARNING!*

Hi LCD,

Thanks for replying

Never realised there was a weapons selection screen
When does that show up? - in da briefing.... group tab... click on players name...

How the hell do you get rid of these extra weapons 

but da mision still seemed impossible (or can I realy fend off da attack ?)... does it realy detect if i stayted dere or not ? how ?

As I said earlier, you do not have to get involved here (as the Colonel points out) but you can certainly affect the outcome of the attack depending on the many different things that you can do (and yes it does go on for a while, but it is meant to - things continue whether the player is present or not). Yes it does detect if you stay - a simple trigger checks for the players presence after a given time - there are quite a few things that the player may or may not find and some of these affect future events 
The idea is that the player is in a dynamic world that carries on around him as he travels through it 

I know this may seem a bit hopeful to achieve, but this is what we r trying to do.

BTW. I guess u did not take the ambulance ride through Corazo, but did the troops there not try to stop you?

Thanks again.

Regards

Arkon

[LCD]

How the hell do you get rid of these extra weapons

its in da description.ext of da mision

As I said earlier, you do not have to get involved here (as the Colonel points out) but you can certainly affect the outcome of the attack depending on the many different things that you can do (and yes it does go on for a while, but it is meant to - things continue whether the player is present or not). Yes it does detect if you stay - a simple trigger checks for the players presence after a given time - there are quite a few things that the player may or may not find and some of these affect future events 

we realy got mowed down.... i think i run away w/ only two soldiers still alive... unless dere some rienforcments comin in, in wich case dey take too long.... i think da objective is too hard...

I guess u did not take the ambulance ride through Corazo, but did the troops there not try to stop you?

i took a UAZ over da border...

only da tanks and AGSs attacked me(i avoided da tanks nd sniped da gunner in da AGS)... all regular soldiers do not shot on friendly vehicles even if deres enemy driving em (a strange ArmA bug if u ask me...) but i think deres a way 2 solve dat... ask in da forums

LCD OUT

[Arkon]

*SPOILER WARNING!*

Hi LCD,

its in da description.ext of da mision

Ain't got any weapons in the description.ext file

we realy got mowed down.... i think i run away w/ only two soldiers still alive

Take a note of what the Colonel tells you as to what you can do to help.
Yup, well, this is quite a long battle (but not an objective, its up to the player to decide wether to stay or go)
Reinforcments, do arrive as you are told over the radio 
Wait and see if you want to as the senario unfolds or get on with the mission objectives (Alcaza Castle)

all regular soldiers do not shot on friendly vehicles even if deres enemy driving em

Not sure about this, once you use an enemy vehicle, I thought it became tainted. The enemy certainly attack it if you get out. 

Regards

Arkon

[LCD]

class Weapons
{
  class M24
  {
      count = 1;
  };
  class M16A2
  {
      count = 1;
  }; 
  class Javelin
  {
      count = 1;
  };   
};

class Magazines
{
  class 5rnd_762x51_M24
  {
      count = 10;
  };
  class 30rnd_556x45_stanag
  {
      count = 0;
  };
  class 30rnd_9x19_MP5SD
  {
      count = 0;
  };
  class PipeBomb
  {
      count = 0;
  };
  class TimeBomb
  {
      count = 0;
  };   
  class Javelin
  {
      count = 0;
  };     
};

dats part of ur description in ver 108...

Take a note of what the Colonel tells you as to what you can do to help.
Yup, well, this is quite a long battle (but not an objective, its up to the player to decide wether to stay or go)
Reinforcments, do arrive as you are told over the radio 
Wait and see if you want to as the senario unfolds or get on with the mission objectives (Alcaza Castle)

I think u shud make it slightly easier

Not sure about this, once you use an enemy vehicle, I thought it became tainted. The enemy certainly attack it if you get out. 

when u get out dey shot u... but wen ur inside u can move thro unengaged by soldiers (tanks nd static weapons do recognize u as enemy)...

LCD OUT

[Arkon]

Hi LCD,

dats part of ur description in ver 108...

Gosh! erm... thanks for that, its sorted now...

when u get out dey shot u... but wen ur inside u can move thro unengaged by soldiers

Hmmmm... I don't get it, when I try to drive through Corazo in a UAZ everybody shoots at me 

How come they don't shoot at you 

I know u r on the Missions Depot Staff and all that but... 

Regards

Arkon

[LCD]

read dis thread.... also da cheat doesnt work against tanks and oder vehs (i think its conected 2 dem having a radar view...)

da only thing dey gave me from da MD is dat blonde secritery....   

LCD OUT

[louiscar]

da only thing dey gave me from da MD is dat blonde secritery....   

I wondered where she went!

[louiscar]

Hi Arkons,

I've discovered something that might explain a number of problems this mission has been having. It appears to relate to the ARMA so called "save bug".

This is what I found.

I finished playing the other night and today when I went back to the mission, ie. load arma and hit "RESUME" I got an error:

"Value/" is not a class {"oid" accessed}

I've seen this a couple of times before but not realised how it affected the game till now.

Firstly the nature of the error I believe could be anything, the problem is that some variables get lost and the consequences were pretty dire and could affect the whole mission from there on.

In my case these are the things that were affected.

1) My health was perfect where I had some damage when the exit save was performed.

2) I could no longer delete any of the actions that were installed to do with briefings etc. Eg. Saltzman's briefing.

3) I had a health pack present whereas this wouldn't be on the action menu unless I was damaged. Clearly this was the case but my health after this error was perfect. Unable to use the health pack, nothing happens. It should use the health pack regardless of whether you are damaged or not.

NOW WHAT I'VE DISCOVERED.

Firstly this should be referred to as a "LOAD" bug and not a "SAVE" bug because I've established that there is nothing wrong with the saved files. That includes all three types of saved files : the autosave, the exit save and the manual save.

The culprit turns out to be the RESUME. This error only happened when resuming. After a resume hitting esc and then either loading my manual save or selecting RETRY loaded the save game without any error.

After which everything was hunky dory. I believe that this bug dropping info / variables or states when loading could cause a plethora of untraceable problems and would certainly explain why some people have not had problems that others have had.

It is IMPORTANT therefore to observe this restart method as once you continue the mission and save or autosave you will permanently affect everything from thereon.

Hope this helps, I've by no means gone into this or any other variations that may happen exhaustively but this is certainly the solution for when those resume errors come up after a load. There could easily be other factors hiding in the bushes ... so to speak. 

[Arkon]

Hi louiscar,

Thanks for that comprehensive analysis 

Could probably do with a thread of its own.

Regards

Arkon2

[louiscar]

I've not tried 1.09 beta. I wonder if this has been fixed?

The problem is interesting as it can be repeated, I was wondering if the campaign with a save file for part 2 could be passed on to one of the programmers. It would be good to get an answer as to why this is happening. Your mission is the biggest I've seen but then this shouldn't be a limitation.


 

[Cheetah]

A brief Missions Depot Staff discussion produced a rejection of this mission.

Due to:
- Failing load system
- Multiple smalls bugs


Please take a look into these issues.

[Arkon]

HI Cheetah

Thanks for posting -

Are you referring to the campaign version or the missions version.

Failing load system

Do you mean when reloading a saved game or what??
If so did you read the readme?
If so you will see that this is a BIS problem!! and we published a workaround.

Multiple smalls bugs

Can you not point out these Multiple smalls bugs as it is most unhelpful to generalize in this fashion
especially as this game has gone through at least 1000 test hours and has been tested by at least 100
different people on various forums... and 6 people locally. If we did not think the game was playable we would not have
made it available for review.

We have had a great many complements for the Sahrani Run and therefore are somewhat puzzled by your junction.

We appreciate that Sahrani Run is an ambitious attempt but believe that the Armed Assault deserved the try.

This took me (and 3 others) 1500 work hrs to produce so i would appreciate something a bit more substantial
than the 2 liner supplied....

Thank you

Regards

Arkon2

[Cheetah]

Review completed.

Feel free to open the after-review discussion.