(Review Completed) [SP] Darkness Before Dawn

[macguba]

Microsoft Photo Editor is fine as long as you have a decent screenshot to start with.      The best pics usually feature one vehicle or 2-3 soldiers .... anything bigger usually looks crap.

IMHO the overview pic is THE most difficult thing in OFP editing.

Are you having a particular problem?

[Kaliyuga]

 Hey man.. sounds like you made some good changes to the mission...
I'll give it another play sometime soon....

about the pic..  I know how having subpar graphics and really effect your screenshots.. cause i used to be in that boat for a while...

when I play it this next time through I'll snap off a couple that You might want to then edit in your photo program...

any idea of what you want in the pic?

[DarkAngel]

Cheers guys. Kali, if you could do that it would be fab. I had in mind a nice shot of you placing a satchel by the Shilka. I know there's something similar in the 1985 campaign but want it to be a bit different this time round. I'd hate to think I was using a really old and unoriginal mission idea.  

If testing goes well I'd like to get this mission finished by the end of the week and get back to the real world for a bit. At the moment my social life kind of sucks   Still need to sort out the Outro though - it was a bit thrown together. I'll up the combat level, maybe whack in some artillery. Should be fun!

Thanks so much for all your help guys
Dark

[Kaliyuga]

 I just played it for a second..  and I have to say already that this version is tons better than the last....

The last time I played.... I killed two guys before hitting the fence... and this time... It was more like 12 or 13    The alarm went off before I crossed the fence line and the flares worked well.....  I did get an error though sporadically from that point on....

Boat2 setbehaviour "aware" .... etc....

I pretty much stuck to the beach.. cause Its still the best route IMO.....  

but i wasn't alone.. and thats a good thing..

Got a few more kills on the way.... and set the satchel charge on a timer...  I had the opportunity to take out two more guys while crawling away... I set the timer on two minutes.. and went back to the beach this time.....

I should have set a longer timer though.. because once the Shilka was gone.... I was found pretty quick....

I noticed you took out the savegame you had there as well ?
maybe you could give the player a one time radio save as well....  I wished I had saved somewhere between the beach and the shilka , because even though it's not a far distance.. its pretty intense now....

Keep up the great work.. and track down that error message.... it's pretty close to being done from what I've seen so far.....

I'll get back to you with more on the second half of the mission and how that goes. once i manage to blow up the shilka and get out of there....

But now I'm off to sunny Vietnam for another mission
Later :toocool:

[macguba]

DarkAngel, I'm sorry I haven't had time to test your mission again.   However, I have been following the thread, and if I may be permitted to offer a word of advice .... don't make the mission too difficult.  

It was probably a bit easy to start with, but everybody who has played it has suggested yet another patrol.    ;D  Don't go overboard - it's very easy just to chuck in another few guards, but a small number of well placed sentries/patrols makes for a much better mission than just having a shootfest.     You should have a decent chance of making it to the Shilka and back (as long as you haven't blown it up) without being detected.    

[Captain Wacky]

Great mission, so far. I think you should add a few more patrols in certain places along the beach. No bugs in the mission that I noticed. I think instead of using the word bad guys in the intro you could say "Soviets" or "enemies". The outro could do with a few more camera angles. And, there doesn't seem to be many patrols (that I noticed) around the area of the comms tower. Maybe you should place some patrols that search the trees and area away from the tower. Other than that, very good.

[dmakatra]

IÂ'm sorry m8 I havenÂ't tested your latest missions. I have to get my arse off the scripting. IÂ'll test your mission as soon as I get home from school(7 hours). Untill then, need any scripting ;D?

[DarkAngel]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your continued support!

@Kaliyuga, sorry about that error message. I thought I'd fixed it but clearly hadn't. Oops   Glad you enjoyed the increased difficulty! The point all the way along was to make a mission where you had to use stealth - I've played too many black op missions where you can just tab into the target area, let fly with a LAW and then mission accomplished. With DbD you really now have to avoid patrols (not too hard cos it's night - I was playtesting yesterday and this patrol walked up to its waypoint about 2 metres from my position and didn't see me - ninja power!   ;D) and use timed charges - I'm developing a growing affection for ten-minute fuses on my satchels...

@MacGuba, really good point. As I said above, the idea is that you do have to use stealth to complete the mission - particularly objective 1 although the comm centre is still a potential kill-fest. While I have slightly increased the numbers of enemy infantry from the first beta, most of the changes are in placing and scripted behaviour - so that now, for example, the 4-man patrol along the beach always intersects with the most direct line to the fence. In the first beta this was a full squad, but they were usually too far away to cause the player any trouble. The patrol is now small enough to beat in a firefight, if you need to, but in a position to cause you trouble. Thanks for the point though!

@Wacky, Cheers mate. I don't really want to add in too many more patrols but I'll definitely bear your comments in mind. Perhaps there's still room to expand the comm base a little - although there actually is a patrol in the woods at the moment, however they do go pretty much around the whole hill so their WPs may be too far apart. I'll have another look for the final version. Absolutely right about the outro, though, it's going to get totally reworked for v1.00.

@Armstrong, cheers! Hope you have fun, and thanks, I think I'm OK for scripting at the moment. Apart from this one error message which is entirely due to my typing being pants, and wanting to get 0.95 posted in a hurry.

I've now fixed the error message and reinstated the error message around the Shilka script. Unfortunately the size of my ZIP is now over 50k and so I can't post it here! Since I don't currently have a site of my own I'm going to have to leave you guys in the dark during final tweaking, until I get a site up and running. I'm no expert so how would I do this? I'm thinking probably of getting some GeoCities space for this and future missions, I can design a basic page in MS Word, but don't know anything about the mechanics of u/ling or d/ling files. Any advice, anyone?

In the meantime please do keep enjoying v0.95, it plays pretty well apart from the d**n error message, the outro still sucks, but it's nearly done!

Cheers all
Dark

[macguba]

I can't remember the name of the free webspace I have, but click on the link ..... if I can manage it that proves its idiotproof.

Freewebs???

[DarkAngel]

Hey guys

A shiny, bug-fixed, near-as-dash-it-finished version of this mission is now available from my equally shiny website http://www.geocities.com/tomlemans2000/DarkAngel.html, or direct link to the mission http://www.geocities.com/tomlemans2000/Darkness.zip.
The actual site is really not all that interesting, but at least it's a place to put the mission  .
All I think it needs now is a d**n overview pic and I think it's good to go, but I'd really appreciate any final comments.

[dmakatra]

Sorry I havenÂ't been able to test your mission as I promised, m8 :-\. But IÂ'll get into it right away now!

[size=0.01]Since this version is almost done, I will "review" it as you have submitted it and I was the reviewer.[/size]

EDIT: Direct URL isnÂ't working :-\.

[DarkAngel]

Hey m8, absolutely no idea why the direct link isn't working - will look into it. In the meantime the DarkAngel site link seems OK, and you can also type in the address for Darkness. Am now v confused.   but look forward to being "reviewed"!

Cheers

[dmakatra]

REVIEW OF DARKANGELÂ'S DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN.

version 1.1 now. Changed the camera grade and the overview grade.

INTRODUCTION:
This is a black op mission. The standard stuff. Blow up that, kill that, blow that, proceed to extraction point. We all know the plot too well.
OVERVIEW:
Not much, no picture, and it doesnÂ't scream out "play me!".
INTRO:
You get a breif from a commander on an airbase. Scripted, thank god.
BREIFING:
Are you the kind of guy who loves to read 10 pages of breifing. Then youÂ'll love this breifing. I like more a quick, but understandable breifing because all you want to do is to get to the action. However, you donÂ't have to read everything to understand what you need to do, which is good for those who are as me.
I couldnÂ't find any spelling errors. Perhaps one, but itÂ's not much - not much for a breif that big.
A big weapons selection, a must for black ops missions.
Very well done!
THE MISSION:
The first objective is to blow up a Shilka. At your first try you might find it easy, but thereÂ's always a patrol that catch you when you are speeding up the time. The place a crawling with russians and you really get the stealt atmosphere. Even I who always complete stealth missions by blowing up half the map was forced to make a stealth entry. After a try or two you enter the base.
Now is the difficult part of the mission, to blow up the shilka and get out of there. Since itÂ's very dark I crawl the whole way back, but it ainÂ't as easy as entering, because now the guards are looking for me. And theyÂ've got several boats with search lights.
So far so good. Now to the bad part. Your second objective is to blow up a comm center. On the way to it you have to RV with your team in the forest. I noted that the WP to the RV said "RV with your patrol" .
The comm center is the easiest part. Bang, bang, duh, me like bang, bang. Far away from the strategy of the shilka destroy. There isnÂ't many enemies either and they react like crap when the alarm goes off.
I donÂ't want to spoil what is gonna happened next but I recommend you take the Ural. The AI have some strange problems and donÂ't want to board the UAZ.
OVERALL:
A very nice black op mission. Deserves your download.

EDIT:
Forgot the outro

OUTRO:
Scripted, but not very much. You see a fight between a couple of guys in Modrava and thatÂ's it. You see some credits and stuff but that is really it. Cool music though, sounds like the OFP soundtrack but IÂ've must have missed it cause I didnÂ't recognize it. A standard outro, 5/10.

Camera

7

Scripting

3

Overview

3

Breifing

10

General Score

7

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[DarkAngel]

Armstrong, thanks again for your comments - the positive and the negative.

My recent forum silence has been due to beavering away putting together v0.96, which is now ready (I think). Radical changes have been made to the communications facility area, the whole objective is now different. Rather than blowing it up, you have to get into the facility and upload a virus into the system. The enemy are now scripted much like the Shilka area (I was just being lazy before!)

Anyway, would really appreciate comments. You can download it via my site http://www.geocities.com/tomlemans2000/DarkAngel.html
Unfortunately I can't seem to get a direct link to work, but the mission loads easily from the site.
Cheers!

[Kaliyuga]

 Sounds good to me.... my spring break officially started  this afternoon so I should be able to snap off that screenie for ya.. and play the latest as well..

I'll get back to you