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Author Topic: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse [Review Complete]  (Read 6868 times)

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Offline Celery

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[SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse [Review Complete]
« on: 19 Sep 2010, 23:14:11 »


Mission:
South Zagoria is being overrun in a massive surprise attack conducted using the cover of a Sunday night when the Christian country is sleeping or otherwise indoors. You are the only one who can alert the sleeping Chernarus and avert total disaster for the CDF and the country's population.

Requirements:
ARMA 2 and Operation Arrowhead

Current version:
1.06

Changes:
1.06
New script template with too many changes to mention
Difficulty level is more humane
Requires Combined Operations as of this version

1.05
Fixed a bug relating to enemy behavior

Download mission
« Last Edit: 31 May 2011, 23:24:24 by Denz »

Offline ZapBrannigan

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse
« Reply #1 on: 20 Sep 2010, 00:50:58 »
OK, i started this mission the intro was pretty neat, a climbing view of a tower. I read the briefing and found out my squad had all been killed by the Russians  or Chedaki and that i had to get to a radio tower and alert my forces about an enemy invasion.

Start:  I had a compact AK and nightvision goggles. Standing near a road.   No Russians or CDF forces, just me alone. I got into a car and drove up to the tower. at some point along the road the engine made a strange rumble noise and broke down. I jogged the rest of the way up the road keeping an eye out for Russians. Still nobody.  When i arrived at the tower I found some civilians but didn't have any option to talk to them or anything. I couldn't figure out where to go, i was expecting a Russian ambush at any moment. After looking around the camp I decided to climb the tower.  I opened the door and closed it behind me to make sure no Russians come in behind me (I hope you haven't scripted the ability for enemy soldiers to open doors :o) but as soon as i was inside I started taking damage from something.  Maybe poison gas inside the room??  i tried to run to the ladder inside but i kept taking damage then finally i died.  I don't know if it was poison gas or radiation inside the tower but it couldn't make it through. I'll test again later tonight.

Good:
Very nice atmosphere, spooky, a sound affect for when the car breaks down.

Bad: No enemies...  no explanation for the poison gas inside the tower. (was i not supposed to go inside or something)? And the civilians at the tower seemed poorly placed, just all bunched around outside the tower when i come in, and when they see me they started running around.

Maybe make the civilians greet me when i get to the tower.  Or better tell me how to make a broadcast.  The mission needs enemies. Maybe a Russian squad holding the civilians captive and the player should rescue them then they help him make the broadcast. Definitely place the civilians at the tower better.  some can be talking others can be sitting or using the radio tower controls. Don't just put them in a big bunch in front of the tower.  Set them to safe or careless mode too. They were running around.

also: the jeep breaking down sound has something wrong with it. after the jeep broke down it kept playing over and over. If you set it in a trigger make sure that it is only activated once, not repeatedly

all in all its a good start. I will try again tonight.

zapp

Offline Celery

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse
« Reply #2 on: 20 Sep 2010, 01:38:17 »
Hey Zap, could you tell me which addons you were running when playing the mission? The mission is not supposed to behave like that in the least. Could you please try running the mission without addons?

Your review did make me double-check the whole mission and I did spot a silly mistake in enemy behavior introduced by one of the latest version's additions, so thanks for that.  :)

New version available for DL.

Offline ZapBrannigan

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse
« Reply #3 on: 20 Sep 2010, 02:12:31 »
I didn't play it with any addons. Ok, I'll try the new version later tonight. Regarding the enemy behavior problem, at what point in the mission were the Russians supposed to attack?  If its after you send the broadcast then maybe there wasn't a problem with them because i never got to send the broadcast due to the poison gas in the tower room.  maybe you can explain to the player in the briefing how to send the broadcast then make the civilians near the tower be like "Be careful there's poison gas in the tower! You need to find a gas mask before you can go in there." when the player gets there.  Just some things that can give me an idea what the hell i'm supposed to do :P.

Good luck and expect another test tonight.

Offline Celery

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse
« Reply #4 on: 20 Sep 2010, 02:42:09 »
Not even ACE or some other total conversion mod? Because normal Arma 2 doesn't have a breakdown sound for a UAZ that only runs out of fuel. The enemy is supposed to be all over the forest and around the tower and the player is supposed to start with a shotgun and a pistol, not AK and NV goggles.

Offline ZapBrannigan

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse
« Reply #5 on: 20 Sep 2010, 03:32:14 »
I didn't use anything just normal arma 2....  The UAZ breakdown sound was weird not what id expect to hear a car make, like a moan.  or actually a lot like a cat in heat. After it played when the UAZ broke down it got stuck and kept playing over and over again.

I didn't see a single Russian or enemy soldier, i went up the road all the way to the tower and there was nobody but civilians.

Oh now that you mentioned it after i died from the poison gas i briefly restarted and that time when i restarted i had a shotgun and pistol. but i didn't have time to play again i had to leave. When i am back i'll try again for you.

Offline Celery

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse
« Reply #6 on: 20 Sep 2010, 03:35:06 »
In case you still get the stuff that you described in your first report, this is what the mission is supposed to look like (other testers beware, slight spoilers).
« Last Edit: 20 Sep 2010, 03:36:43 by Celery »

Offline ZapBrannigan

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse
« Reply #7 on: 20 Sep 2010, 05:26:06 »
ohhh lol, dude why didn't you say its a zombie mission.  I thought they were civilians. Ok upon playing again i see there are zombies running in the forest and  they do attack me(kinda). But your zombie scripts need serious work.  Shooting them doesn't really do much but i just ran past them and they couldn't keep up.  they always stand still watching me until i run past and then after i pass by start following.  for one, in the scripts  when the player isnt facing them give them a speed boost so they can actually keep up with the player(out of his field of vision). and  not be left far behind.  2. when the player is moving in a direction, IE velocity [10,0,0]  you need to get all zombies in the general direction of that velocity (an equilateral triangle with one of the verticies on the players position and side length of maybe 50 meters which means all enemies within 50 meters and to the front of the players position in a 60 degree field)   and give them a domove(or however you control them)  to a position that will be slightly infront of the players path. otherwise it looks stupid they stand there looking at you waiting for you to run past then follow.

as far as the zombie attacks it also needs work. Common dude we are in arma 2 now we have the attachTo command.  Zombies don't slap people.  They jump on you and bite at your neck. How this needs to go down is when one zombie gets in attack range of the player he jumps and grabs on, this slows the player down. allowing other zombies to catch up and grab on too.  obviously some random chance stuff if the player can shake the zombie off and depending on how many zombies grab on finally the player is pulled to the ground. the zombies then start their biting at which point unless somebody else is there to shoot the zombies off the player the player is done for.  If only one zombie gets the player and the player doesnt shake him off you can start adding smaller amounts of damage that way too until the player manages to shake him either by a key press you add that makes the player swing his arm to get the zombie off him, or just by running and stuff.   

You also need infection.  If the player is bitten or hurt by the zombies. He cannot complete the mission until he finds the antidote (obviously this being a zombie mission, some scientists tried to play god in a lab yada yada zombies escaped people get infected, the main point is the scientists always have an antidote for the virus.) obviously you cant make a mission inside a lab but you can set a truck up somewhere that was transporting medical supplies for the scientists (including this antivirus) and is now left on some road (the driver of course being found dead in the drivers seat)  after the final objective the player then gets a new objective(only if he was infected) that he needs to find the antivirus and a time limit starts. as time passes vision gets blurry, speed slows down, he falls down randomly (as the virus starts to take effect)  but he needs to find the truck before its too late. he can find some clues about the trucks location, maybe he rescues a guy who knows where it is, or finds a note or hears a radio message whatever you wanna do theres tons of ways to do it.  find the truck gets the antivirus, then he can go to the evac point and finally complete the mission.

so yeah make sure you script that stuff cause then this mission will be awesome.

also the door to the tower,  as soon as it opens a zombie has to jump out at the player, its gotta happen.  the way it is now the zombie walks out like hes coming out of the bathroom.  Set up a playmove and setvelocity that bastard right at the player knocking him on his back. the player then shakes him off and has to stand up quickly and shoot the zombie before he can get up and attack the player. zombies dont climb ladders so remember no zombies in the tower, just one behind the door when the player opens it.

great start!

Offline Zipper5

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse
« Reply #8 on: 20 Sep 2010, 13:22:18 »
Thanks for testing, Zap!

The only way the zombies will take damage is if they're shot in the head (insta-kill) or shot at close range with a high caliber weapon. The Makarov, therefore, will not do any damage to them close range, but the shotgun will.

They do chase the players. I had originally started with the design of this script and despite it's broken-ness before Celery rewrote them they still always chased the player when in their chasing radius, which is now randomized and increases if you shoot them. The zombie will constantly chase you until you drop. If the zombie doesn't know about you, he will always be walking around, not standing still. There are only some zombies which stand still in the mission but they will chase you as soon as you get too close.

attachTo will definitely not work. It will look far too weird to have him just snap to the player and then his movements will be relative to the player, thus it will probably prove impossible to shoot him. It won't look good, and it will simply make it too hard. I think Celery and I will agree that the current attack method is pretty much exactly how we want it to be. Infection is also a no-no as given the huge amount of zombies we plan to have in the series (hordes and such, you'll notice one if you enter the tower and stay outside for too long) that will make it impossible to complete. We're going for a more Left4Dead style with the zombies. It's going to be very dynamic with the main scripting elements being calling a certain zombie behavior based on what the player does in the mission.

Anyways, it really does seem like you're playing with some sort of unknown mod or a strange version of Arma 2, as you're the first person to report such serious oddities in the mission. Are you sure you haven't thrown some random mod into your AddOns folder by mistake? There isn't anything in the mission itself that will cause the behavior you got in your previous posts.

Thanks for the ideas nonetheless, Zap, but I don't think we'll be using the attachTo idea or the infection one. Sorry. Still, as before, thanks for the test! :D
« Last Edit: 20 Sep 2010, 13:54:21 by Zipper5 »

Offline ZapBrannigan

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse
« Reply #9 on: 20 Sep 2010, 15:52:56 »
Again, no mod, the zombies just didn't attack me the first time, I also start out with an AK and NVGs each first time i play the mission but after restarting i get the shotgun


Well, i guess the infection thing depends on your choice. but I highly recommend you do  something with the zombie chase or attack scripts.  I was able to get to the tower very easily without firing a shot, i just keep running without stopping, run to the tower,  then run around in circles around the tower until all the zombies walked out and its free for me to go in, then i just close the door behind me and if theres one zombie left inside shoot him. I'm just telling you if you keep the scripts the way they are now, this will basically just be a marathon for the player. Even worse is I found that dropping your gun will allow you to run more smoothly and also wont confuse the action menu when you need to quickly open doors.

And I wouldn't put down attach so quickly. in the past I was able to get some stuff that looks really good by combining an animation and an attach script in just like 20 minutes of playing around with it. Bis made the wounded carry which happens in broad daylight and you cant notice any "snap".  your mission is in pitch black darkness.  I forget exactly what i did, but i combined an attach along with one of the prone animations and a vector thing to make him at an angle compare to the player. it looks like the zombie is holding on to your waist while his feet drag on the ground as you run.   But i guess if you wanna keep your slapping zombies then ok. :P  But one thing I don't get is how a zombie lying on the ground can possibly slap me to death when Im wearing thick fatigues on my legs.


zapp
« Last Edit: 20 Sep 2010, 15:56:14 by ZapBrannigan »

Offline Celery

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse [Review please]
« Reply #10 on: 21 Sep 2010, 13:28:26 »
Zap, could you tell us your computer specs?

Offline ZapBrannigan

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse [Please review]
« Reply #11 on: 21 Sep 2010, 16:38:48 »
intel quad core 2.7
6GB of ram and a Geforce GTX 295 GPU
150 GB of memory in a single Solid state Drive.
running windows 7 and arma 2 on steam

Offline savedbygrace

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse [Please review]
« Reply #12 on: 22 Nov 2010, 01:40:24 »
Well, I gave this one a go tonight. No mods or addons with the exception of the Master key. In any case, I got the same start as Zap did on my first play through. I had an Ak of sorts and Night vision.

I loathe zombie missions but was quite impressed with the dialogue you guys used to convey the hits. The zombies behaved in the same fashion as they did on the video, where you killed that poor zombie bunny? The sounds were great, the chase was thrilling if not overwhelming and spooked is an understatement when playing in the dark with a 5.1 surround headset.

Anyhow, my tactic was stay in the open so that I could have a chance against rushes. It worked until I was bottle necked onto the path between forests, leading to the tower. by then I was torn between running my scared buttocks off or walking slowly to face down the rushes. After they began to swarm, I had no choice but to run, screaming like a school girl. But alas, they were too hungry and I was too panic driven.

My second play through, I was given a shotgun and thought, that's cool, random starting weapons to make it different. After reading the thread through, I figured it is a glitch of some type. I decided to try the uaz. My thought was...I bet they attack me through the vehicle.
When I got in and noticed the fuel low, I thought uh huh, this is a set up. I'll drive this thing right into the middle of a pack and it will run out of fuel. It didn't happen that way though but rather got me half way up the hill and chugged out. It was worth a try anyways.

I got out and worked my way up the road, trying several different approaches. I am not as accurate with a Macarov as Celery so I opted to use the shotgun. That proved quite a bit more formidable than the AKS-74U but still, my low skill level at fending off rushing canibals with a pump shotgun proved to be my death, once again.

At this point, I'm thinking, I hate zombie missions. I actually do FYI. But as with all beta missions, I was determined to complete it to find any other bugs. SO, I initiate the Master key and begin my walk to the tower as Rambo with endless ammo and a surplus of ultimate firepower at my muzzle. I switch to a high powered fixed wing armament and deliver my payload to any flesh munchers that dare approach me. Suffice it to say, I cleared the way very nicely and took out a few trees along the way :D. Yes I know, cheater, cheater pumpkin eater.

Anyhow, I went back and grabbed the uaz to test it against the attacks and it didn't prevent them. If you guys plan on using the scripts in more than this mission, I would certainly think of allowing the zombies to damage the vehicle with every strike, say... .005 for each hit to allow the player some thinking space before his ride is no more and to also induce panic once the windshield begins to break against their attacks, albeit very slowly.

I used the Master key to refuel the uaz and decided to take it for a spin to a nearby city to find out if you guys populated it. I was impressed you thought to implement that deterrent. Good work.

Once I was satisfied with the outer limits, I drove to the tower, got out and began clearing out the compound. I sat at the lower level at the corner watching the door to see if they would attack me through the walls but after about three minutes and at the least, 5 or 6 surrounding it, I was satisfied that I was pretty safe until one opened the door and entered. Very nice! I blasted him and another behind him before easing up to the door and closing it. I then rushed up the ladder, popped a cap into the flesh muncher that entered from the outside and sent off the signal.

At first I thought that you had an error in your script until I noticed it in the video too. It was the green code that popped up to indicate the execution of the broadcast.

Music was great, groans and growls were great, effects was great. Probably the best zombie mission I have seen used in a BIS engine so far. (But that's not saying much)

Not sure that I would look forward to playing your campaign since I am not a fan of this type of project but I would be curious to see how you guys pull off a story line with it.

My only negative would be that there seemed to be an awful lot of zombies in the middle of nowhere...together. So, your story would definitely have to sell it better.

If the request for review still applies, I think we can manage that fair enough but before I proceed, would you guys like a chance at correcting the initial gun problem?
« Last Edit: 22 Nov 2010, 01:47:51 by savedbygrace »

Offline mathias_eichinger

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse [Please review]
« Reply #13 on: 15 Dec 2010, 19:45:44 »
Hey Celery, would you mind to upload your mission once again to have it reviewed? Or is that review request no longer current?

Cheers

Mathias

Offline Celery

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse [Please review]
« Reply #14 on: 10 Jan 2011, 02:05:36 »
Hi, and a belated thanks for the awesome report! The feedback has been noted and I'll be sure to implement the vehicle damage thing. I'm in the middle of making the first part of the campaign and I'll update this mission with the campaign's scripts at some point. When that time comes, I'll upload a new version of the mission and the review request will be current again. :)

Offline Celery

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse
« Reply #15 on: 26 Apr 2011, 03:32:03 »
The time has come! The mission has been updated with a new version of the script base and after testing it and having Gossamer finish it without trouble, I can't think of ways to make it any better, so it's fair game to you reviewers now!  :)

Review request re-issued.

Download:
http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=107647

Offline Denz

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse [Please review]
« Reply #16 on: 26 Apr 2011, 04:05:09 »
Seeing as I've recently gotten into The Walking Dead on tv I'll take this one for review - about time I pulled my weight around here  :whistle:

edit:
I do see a problem however and that is the download is just a pbo file - it could do with a readme inside a folder as per our submission standards.
Oh and your download link in the threads first post doesn't work.
« Last Edit: 26 Apr 2011, 04:11:15 by Denz »
I've got 'em right where I want 'em - surrounded from the inside!
Jerry "Mad Dog" Shriver, SOG Recon One-Zero
24/09/41 - 24/04/69

Offline Celery

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse [Please review]
« Reply #17 on: 26 Apr 2011, 14:49:19 »
Readme added and first post fixed.

Offline Celery

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse [Under Review]
« Reply #18 on: 09 May 2011, 14:51:18 »
How's the review getting along? :)

Offline Denz

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Re: [SP] Dawn of the Apocalypse [Review Complete]
« Reply #19 on: 31 May 2011, 23:29:45 »
The review is complete and can be viewed here in the MD
I've got 'em right where I want 'em - surrounded from the inside!
Jerry "Mad Dog" Shriver, SOG Recon One-Zero
24/09/41 - 24/04/69