1st Arma missions - issues?

[smilodon]

Having fun creating a simple sneaky mission. It's a very simple little mission and seems to be mostly working fine so far, however I have a couple of issues and any advice would be much appreciated.

1. I'm using Sparko's mission template with the virtual ammo box as a base. I'm wondering if our usual revive setup will work as a default or if I have to add scripts/modules to get it to work?

2. I'm going to have three objectives i) find something ii) kill something iii) escape. I just want to trigger the next objective as soon as the specific area involved is clear of enemy troops. Is there a module that detects when a specified area has no enemies i.e. we've cleared it and then triggers the next objective? I'm sure several of our own missions work this way.

3. It's not crucial but at the end I'd like us to get to an evac point. I have that all set up with a chopper that flies in and then flies out when we're onboard. Currently we get flown out to a safe location, land and then.... nothing happens obviously. Rather than just leave the mission hanging I'd like to fly the chopper out over the sea and trigger an 'End Scenario' when we fly through a specific waypoint. I've no clue how to even begin doing this.

Other than that it's looking like it's working, famous last words.

[Sparko]

You don't need to add anything to get the revive to work.  My template should work without having to add any scripts or modules, however it does use the older version of the virtual ammo box, some people prefer the newer version.

You can use a standard trigger function that fires when no enemy are within the radius of that trigger, set the trigger to activate when no opfor are present, obviously you will need there to be enemy within that trigger area at the start of the mission.

If the evac point is the same place every time you can set a trigger to fire at that point when it detects bluefor and set that trigger to 'end mission', you can also set a delay on that trigger so that we land and then the mission ends.  The only downside is that this trigger will fire if at any other point in the mission we wonder into it so you would need to make sure it's well out of the way of anywhere we would venture.

If I'm on steam at any point give me a nudge and I'll be happy to walk you through a few things

[smilodon]

Thanks. I've got the evac working, although it will limit the map to eight players max. That's the most hat can fit into a Ghosthawk and I'm not going to try to create an evac with two of them just yet.

Good news on the revive, one less thing to worry about. And I have just set up my first task to start and complete, without problem. Slowly getting there

[Penfold]

Exciting and sounds exactly what I was looking for !

Are we coming in by boat?

[OldBloke]

Thanks for doing this, Smilo. Much appreciated :thumb:

No-one's mentioned it yet so I will ...

Just because the mission works locally doesn't mean that it will work on the server. Much tearing-of-hair and gnashing-of-teeth have resulted because of this. It appears, from what the other authors have told me, that map-making for ArmA is *not* an exact science. Fingers crossed for you, matey.

[smilodon]

I doubt it will run properly but it is pretty simple. What I have no idea about is how to balance stuff. I've no idea if I'm adding too many or too few enemy. It's fun to do though. Might be ready for Wednesday and a quick run through.

Pen, there will be boats.... among other things.

[Sparko]

Thanks for doing this, Smilo. Much appreciated :thumb:

No-one's mentioned it yet so I will ...

Just because the mission works locally doesn't mean that it will work on the server. Much tearing-of-hair and gnashing-of-teeth have resulted because of this. It appears, from what the other authors have told me, that map-making for ArmA is *not* an exact science. Fingers crossed for you, matey.

It can be very temperamental but the reward seeing your mates get wiped out from your work is worth it .

On a serious note, the more testing you do the better the results will be, not only that you get an idea of how the mission is lead, and can make slight adjustments to tweak it.  I love creating missions it's just very time consuming and like oldie says it works well in the editor but then random things go wrong online, but get it right and it's so so worth it!

Looking forward to it Smilo

[smilodon]

It's the little things that get me. I have some text that appears as part of a trigger in the 'effects' panel, explaining what needs to be done in the mission. It's only a few sentences but the text disappears before it can be read. I know I can delay the trigger which I have done but is there a location where I can control the effect duration? The trigger area is big so it's not that players are leaving the area. I'm hoping there is a duration script I can use in 'on activation' or something. Google isn't helping so far.

This method seems easier than using the diary entry module plus trigger apart from this annoyance.

[TwoBad]

Hey smilo, good work!

As has already been said, local and server testing can yield very different results so be ready for lots of hair pulling.  I have found that using the completion of one task to start the next problematic when using the editor to create them, i now use scripts to do it and once you get your head around it the code is fairly simple.

As Sparko says, you have to be careful when placing triggers that they don't get set off accidentally, which can then cause additional issues making you spread your mission across the map when you might not want to.  Again, an easy way around this is to use a script.

To try and allow for more players could you now use the larger Mohawk?

I much prefer the latest version of the  virtual ammo box / revive script and i have a configured version you can virtually just drop straight in if you want to use it.  I find its less buggy and more user friendly.

As for the text now showing on screen for long enough, are you talking about the Task Notification that comes up in the middle of the screen when you get a new task assigned (or completed) ?

[smilodon]

At the moment I have a few triggers running on the map. Basically I start with an assigned task as per Sparko's tutorial, which triggers at the start when we enter the first area. This completes when all Opfor are dead in the target area. I am using the completion trigger to start the second trigger, but note your comment on it being buggy.Which is similar in that it's a task to kill vehicles, again using Sparko's instruction. That's on a completely different part of the map though. Finally when the vehicles are dead the third task is assigned which is to get to an evac point again some distance away.

So far that's about it. I'm not sure whether to place enemy units in advance when the map loads or have them spawn on a trigger. At the moment they spawn as players approach. I'm assuming with them not on the map all the time there is less chance of them getting into mischief. I just need to be sure they actually will spawn.

I have changed the start so the text delay isn't an issue. I'm not sure how to use scripts. I am adding stuff into the on activation boxes etc but not adding extra files into my mission folder if I can help it. An upto date ammo box and revive would be nice, if it's simple enough to add in?

Thanks

[TwoBad]

PM me your email and i'll send you a ready to go version of the revive script.

Accessing scripts from the game is very easy but i'd leave it for now until you're happy with what you're doing, save it for your next mission

[smilodon]

Cheers PM sent.

Almost finished now. I still have a couple of issues though.

1. I need to work on the chopper extraction script. It works perfectly but won't wait till all units are onboard. As soon as the first unit boards it takes off. My script is

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((!alive unit1) or (unit1 in evac)) and (!alive unit2) or (unit2 in evac)) evac is the name of the chopper and unit1 and 2 of the player and grouped soldier.


2. Oddly of my three tasks the third (get to evacuation point) shows as complete unit the assign task module triggers when it then shows as active. It then completes properly when the set task state trigger fires.

Arma make a great game but boy do they make mission editing a pain. No wonder they don';t like doing much single player stuff!!

[smilodon]

Oh the difference between "AND" and "and"  :doh:

Just problematic task triggers and deciding if I should put all the Ai on the map at the beginning or spawn it as we go along?

[TwoBad]

Not had a PM :sad:

I tend to use &&

As for chopper extraction.  So your chopper lands on a way point, correct?  Add a trigger and sync to the way point.  Type should be Switch, activation should be none, size set to 0. In the Condition box add

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({_x in Heli_Name} count units My_Group) == (count units My_Group)Change Heli_Name and My_Group to the correct names.  You can either name the players group (which is us) or you could use "group player"

[smilodon]

The chopper evac is working fine now. The chopper holds until a proximity trigger fires at the evac site. It then arrives and lands. It checks to see if the players are either dead or on board and then when everyone is in, it takes off and flies out through the end mission trigger. My mistake was typing the conditional statements AND & OR in lower case. Now that's correct it's working fine.


My only real problem is I'm not sure how to create a group ID. I have eighteen slots for players and some of the scripts need me to identify the players. I'm sure that rather than list out all 18 units I can group them all and refer to them collectively by a group name i.e. mygroup. I just have no idea how it's done, although I imagine it's very simple...... like me.