Misson Development - Nuka

[Nuka]

Just a quick one.

A while ago, I started making a mission that made players assault a base and steal a truck which was okay, but a few beginner mistakes made the mission a bit simple and linear.

I just wanted to ask: What is people's favorite type of mission? Is a linear 'Go here kill these guys, get to here' better, or is the large map of optional objectives favored. Any input of any kind is greatly appreciated!

Thanking you!

[BrotherTobious]

It all depends on the person I know that OB loves a good town fight and close combat stuff.  I like missions with twists and turns but you will learn that when we play a mission we will do it differnet from how you have planned it.   I am really also enjoy the reduced load out ones.  A Night one could be a good laugh always pretty when something goes boom.  

Lib, Sparko, Smilo and Twobad always like to watch with interest how we  approach the mission and makes changes to keep us on our toes.

Hope that helps

[Nuka]

Is a linear objective one better to you or do you prefer a Camp Pegasus style mission Toby? Oh and by the way, is it BTC revive that is used in the missions?

[BrotherTobious]

I really dont mind, mate surprise us, what would you enjoy us trying to do

[Nuka]

mate surprise us

Oh, I've got a few surprises planned

Hopefully there will be a test version for a Wednesday/Mid-week mission soon

[smilodon]

I think it's fun to use both types of mission.

The on rails type is good if you want to guide your team along a predefined route. It's good for missions that require you to get from one point to another. I've used it for a mission where you have to deliver a truck to a certain point. The idea is to follow a predetermined route and I've added encounters, ambushes and suchlike along the way. The downside is that you need to keep the team on your course. If you let the hike cross country to the destination then they will miss all your content. I use a combination of minefields and mission orders to keep everyone on track. They play out like mini stories or multiplayer versions of single player missions you might find in Call of Duty or Battlefield, or that's the plan. You need to have a variety of different challenges along the way, a few false alarms and a bit of music is nice as well. They can be tricky if you have several tasks to complete in order. I never quite seem able to get them to start and complete as expected. Somewhere the scripting fall over and a new mission won't trigger when it is supposed to.

However the above always seems a bit to strict and doesn't allow for much planning or tactics. Sparko has a map where you have several missions that you can take in any order and Twobad has one where you have to defend a camp from waves of enemies. I have a map that is just one huge city battle that plays a bit like Blackhawk Down. These are easier to do and seem more natural. However they work best if you keep them more localised. So they are good for 'attack this town', 'defend this base' and 'kill this target.

I think the easiest to write would be the type where you setup your enemy and send the team in to complete the objective.

[Nuka]

Alright, Thank you Smilo. I've decided on what the mission should be, though pulling it off and making it work my be a different story

[Nuka]

Annnnd...Wheeeheyyyy! I have encountered my first problem - 10 minutes into development! What is it you may ask? VAS. Yeah, I am so much of a beginner at missions that my VAS doesn't work. Upon trying to open the ammo-box, the following message is displayed: "VAS never initialized. This probably means that cfgFunctions.hpp was called by Desicription.ext". I dragged the folder named VAS into my mission folder, as well as description.ext with the lines:

#include "VAS\menu.hpp"
class CfgFunctions
{
   #include "VAS\cfgfunctions.hpp"
};

and I have also put stringtable into the folder. The ammo-box in the game has:

this addAction["Virtual Ammobox", "VAS\open.sqf"];

and yet it still comes up with this message.

Well, I've fallen at the first hurdle.

[TwoBad]

Are you using the latest version because those links are wrong.

The only cfgFunctions you need is

Code Select Expand

class cfgFunctions {
    //// Respawn Script - Start ////
    #include "INS_revive\cfgfunctions.hpp"
    //// Respawn Script - End   ////
};
And in game you would use

Code Select Expand

this addAction["Virtual Ammobox", "INS_revive\VAS\open.sqf"];

[Tutonic]

The instructions on Armaholic look a bit different from your code:

It is best to attach the action to a pre-existing ammo box so place a ammo box on the map via editor and in the initialization field put:

Code Select Expand

this addAction[&quot;<t color=#ff1111&quot;>Virtual Ammobox</t>&quot;, &quot;VAS\open.sqf];
And your done! Just look at the ammo box, scroll and click Virtual Ammobox. The interface is easy to use so have fun!

Does that help?

EDIT: Forum code is messing the formatting up a bit - check the link for the original text.

[TwoBad]

This is the one on Armaholic we use.

[Nuka]

This is the one on Armaholic we use.

That's probably why, I'll change it over in a minute

[Nuka]

Okay, so now the INS_revive half works. I've combined two scripts' descriptions together (one INS, the other is a secret) which is fine, but now the box says \INS_revive\VAS\open.sqf could not be found. The description.ext must be okay as the game knows what it should be doing when I try and open the box,, but it apparently can't  find the open.sqf, even it's there and I can find it. I'm going to try and have the descriptions separate

[TwoBad]

And you have this in the init.sqf file in your mission root folder (where the description.ext is) ?

Code Select Expand

// INS_revive initialize
[] execVM "INS_revive\revive_init.sqf";

[Nuka]

Phew..Sorted, It's alright now TwoBad, thank you! I've got the secret script and INS working, now I just have to build the mission...