Intel Depot

OFPEC Interviews... Doolittle

Jan
08
2008

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In this edition of OFPEC Interviews we delve deep into the world of CTI (Capture The Island) and Anti Cheat systems by Doolittle. For those who are new to ArmA, Doolittle produced some very popular respawn scripts for Operation Flashpoint including CTI missions and he is now releasing beta versions of his CTI system for ArmA. 

OFPEC is interested in learning more about the Bohemia Interactive community, and we'd like to thank Doolittle for chatting with us about some of the interesting projects he has going on in the ArmA multi-player world.

When I see your name 'Doolittle' I definitely don't think of someone who does a little! Where does the name originate?

I really like the Pixies' music. It's the name of one of their albums. I was going to go with Gigantic, one of my favorite songs by them, but that didn't sound right.

You've been around the Community almost from the beginning of the OFP days; what is it that brought you back to ArmA? You created a lot of useful stuff for OFP, including missions and many multiplayer scripts.

OFP and ArmA are only games where I feel very free to do whatever I want in the game world. The whole idea of there being no map borders. Plus I really like how you can walk forever through a forest, then jump in a plane and fly over it in a few seconds. You get a good sense of size and distance. But most especially because I'm a computer programmer in the day, so having the scripting functions available to us is very tempting. You can really run with your imagination.

What did you think of Bohemia Interactive's CTI?

Big let-down. Showed me BIS didn't "get" CTI. How can you call it a CTI if you can't even build stuff or buy equipment and manage resources? Plus I think it would have been so easy for BIS to let someone from the OFP Community get their hands on a Beta ArmA and make a CTI mission for them before game release. I hope they do that with ArmA2. I'd certainly volunteer to code a map for them (I've begged them in e-mails actually.. heh)!

The DlCTI seems to be gaining popularity; what separates your CTI from others?

Well, there's RTS. But I haven't seen any other CTI=type map out there that has Join-in-Progress support. So I'd say having JIP separates it. Plus being able to build anywhere (as well as build defenses like bunkers and guns) separates it from RTS.

I see alot of fans requesting that the AI have the ability to build their own bases, I'm guessing these are the people suffering from MFCTI withdrawal, is this something you plan to implement down the road?

I think it comes more from people who want to play a more dynamic single player experience. I had planned on doing it, but now I'm just trying to get a regular CTI game of player versus player going. Plus it's a lot of work to add something like that. It's possible, but I'd rather be coding that for BIS officially (wink wink)

How long do typical DlCTI missions last?

Heh, to be honest, I've never been able to play a serious game of Doolittle CTI online! Just a couple test runs here and there. You can put your time and effort into something but that doesn't mean people will pick it up. 88th Blue Devils squad has been trying to help me though, and that's really nice of them.

Have you created DlCTI in such a way it can be easily modified for user made addons and islands?

YES! After looking through a lot of the code for the other CTI's out there and seeing more than a thousand script files ... even back in OFP days I always wanted to release a CTI that could be easily modified by anyone. DooCTI is only 30 script files plus 18 that make the various items you can buy. Plus if you wanted to, say, add in addons, you'd just have to change one file.

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DooLittle CTI

I have been reading a little bit about your Anti Cheat project (or should I say projects) - you have an addon and then you have something server side?

It started with MadDogX (ArmAAC author) suggesting I release as an addon. Actually, it started with me seeing how they were doing the cheat and realizing if they can send scripts to other players to run, why can't the server send scripts to players to ask them to check their config. So that's what it does, sends a script to each player when they join, and if they don't have a "valid" config file then it locks their keyboard up. Of course, you can do other cool stuff too, like have all maps turn grass off or set view distance low or a welcome message, etc. Gives more power to server operators.

Do you think your efforts are helping? BI has indicated that the next patch will have anti cheat features; do you think this will render your efforts useless? Do you think you've already done some good in the world of multiplayer?

Well, it's been a fun game "fighting" the cheat crowd. They never were able to release a public fix for their cheat that avoided detection, but that's only because I release the Anti-Cheat privately to server operators. The next BIS patch won't be able to stop the cheating that happens when you load a cheat made from a PBO (after all their cheat is just abusing the scripting power BIS gave us), but it will probably stop some of the memory EXE cheats out there. I hope my Anti-Cheat's done some good... but I'd rather be known as the CTI guy than the Anti-Cheat guy. :)

Are there people getting caught in the Anti Cheat system who are just a plain old user?

Well, I can't go into specifics, but of course if someone has an addon that adds... stuff... somewhere... then they would look like a cheater. Of course if it's all legit then they tell me and I fix it as soon as possible.

How can server administrators get a hold of you to get the latest Anti Cheat system? Do you have a mailing list or should they PM you over at the BI forums?

I hand out the Doolittle Anti-Cheat System (DACS) to people who give me their server website and e-mail. They can PM me on BIS forums.

Anti Cheat thread

What is "GSC"? I noticed in your signature this description - "Run script on all maps, turn off grass without having to edit each mission". Could you explain maybe in layman's terms how this might benefit server admins and scripters?

I used what I learned making the Anti-Cheat and released a public version... without the cheat detection. Global Server Config just lets the server operator script any code they want the clients to run when they first join a game. Since this happens on all maps without having to change each mission file, you can do stuff like turn off grass and other commands that are only run client side.

GSC information

If you were to take the pulse of the Bohemia Interactive community, how would you characterize it?

To be honest, I've been so busy scripting, I really haven't been playing or reading the forums. Seems like a ton of good addons are coming out daily... I don't see Suma post as much as he used to though. The few times I have played I've really enjoyed the realism clans that move around as a squad, giving orders on Teamspeak. That's something new for me.

Does the Global Server Config require addons for the end user?

No. End user doesn't need it. It all happens server side.

To me the GSC sounds like a great idea, even for developing addons and multi player missions.

It should be seen more as a utility the server operator uses to tweak their server... stuff BIS should have let server operators do from server.cfg.

If you could have any scripting command what would it be?

"getConfigPatch" will list every config a CfgPatch PBO adds (or overwrites). Also "combatMode unit" that returns what a single unit is set to (e.g. holding fire), not the whole group. Also "createTriggerGlobal", "removeVehicleInit", making "player" and "playerSide" work as soon as a player joins the game (e.g. when init.sqf runs)...

If there was any feature BI could add to the game what should it be?

Quick vehicle get in (do anims though) & switch positions like BF2... just hit E to enter a vehicle and 1, 2 or 3 to move around. You've GOT to get away from that scroll wheel on the mouse. I hate it. Especially in a firefight.

I see that you use the Biki often, you post comments and ask questions, do you think this is a valuable resource?

At first I didn't like it because I was used to OFP's one help file. Now I really like the Biki. It's actually my first experience using a Wiki and it's been rather enjoyable.

What is your view about OFPEC, how do you think OFPEC could be improved to help the luminaries out there?

OFPEC is a great resource for learning scripting, most especially the forums where a lot of people like Mandoble, Spooner... so many cool people answer questions or talk about different things they want to try to script. The script forums are better than the official BIS ones, I think. Improved? I dunno. I wish I had submitted more back to the community. I felt more active back in OFP days. I just have a full time job now.

I'm attaching a file with several maps that have scripts I used when making my CTI map. Maybe they could help someone out?

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