A few editing info requests from a beginner

[FWB]

I was wondering if anyone here could lend me a hand regarding a few features/events I want to put into my coop map, or at least direct me to the relevant info. What I would like to do is:

1) Have two planes fly over the players heads once they reach a certain location, ideally attacking a certain target, then flying away to land somewhere. If I can get them to just flyby and then land, that inwould be good too.

2) Launch an AI assault on a location after a timer has counted down once the players have achieved an objective. For example, I want the players to try and capture a town (by killing all the AI in the area) and then receive a message that a counter-attack by the AI is planned, then give them 5-10 mins before it launches so they can prepare a defense.

3) Implement progressive spawning for coop, that is, once the team achieves an objective, such as elimenating a troops in a region, their respawn position moves. I actually would prefer to use the Revive Respawn feature mentioned by dolittle in the FAQ on this site, but I have no idea where to begin, since I'm a beginner at this.

4) End the mission by having the team flying to a location on the map.

5) Radio call for airsport. Ideally I'd only like to allow the squad leader to perform this once and ONLY once an objective has been met. I also, for the life of me, can't get AI planes to takeoff.

6) Send txt radio messages to the players to guide them through the map.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and you'll get a credit in my map.

[rhysduk]

I htink this should be in the MP Section if it is to do with a coop map ;D

Anyway,

i only have time to answer 4 sorry ;D Ill answer the rest when in home ;D

4. - Pick ur location on the map where the player has to fly for the mission to end.. Place the trigger hear with propertires of ;-

Activated by - West and Once
Type - End1 or End 2 et cetera...

and 6. then ;D

use sideChat

Example :-

player sideChat "Message goes here"

Its much easier to use this than sideRadio coz i think u have to define the Radio Message... its easier for me ;D

Rhys

[Tomb]

  Heya, FWB, and welc... *cough* hold on, m8


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Welcome to the sewers of EDITING

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  hehehe, its been a while since I did that

Anyway, triggers and conditions, these are your primary goals. Learn about that, and yer next step (scripts) won't cause ya any trouble.

"1" objstatus "DONE"
this will kill ("done") objective number one

 by the way, choose between:

 "DONE", "FAILED", "ACTIVE", "HIDDEN"

So if you want the AI to do a counter attack, just put this in yer triggers condition field:

"1" objstatus "DONE"

then set the three COUNTDOWN fields to 140   140   140

this would make the trigger wait firing untill 140 seconds after obj. #1 is done  

And just hit F5 and drag a synch. line between the trigger and a HOLD wp for the AI-group.
Ya can put that HOLD waypoint right in front of the AI group, then they'll stay there (untill the trigger fires).

oh, and make it a switch trigger (trigger type menu)  


Later

- enjoy yer stay, m8

[macguba]

Welcome to the forum!   Tomb is right, the answer to most of these questions is a trigger of some kind.    In particular, learn about triggers which are type "switch".    There is a specific tute in the Ed Depot.    Once you understand those (which won't take long) then you'll be able to solve most of your problems yourself.

A few specifics:

1)   To get planes to land give them a getout waypoint on a working airfield.     To control the timing of the flyby use a switch trigger.    To make them attack a target place a destroy waypoint on top of the target.   (The WP must attach itself to the target.)

2)  Switch triggers, as Tomb says

3)  Dunno, but I think you have have the respawn point at a marker.   All you have to do is move the marker.    Use the command setMarkerPos.     You'll probably have to have another marker already there, to make it easier to define the position.

5) and 6)   This is well covered in the Tutorial Mission in the Ed Depot.    It was designed to be taken to bits, so you can see how stuff works.     It includes some radio chatter and an an airstrike which can be called in only after a certain event has occurred.

To get AI planes to take off they need to be on a working airfield.     Place them on the taxiway facing south, and give them a waypoint anywhere on the map.    Ideally they should "pick up" the taxiway, turn onto the runway, take off and head for your waypoint.     Make sure the taxiway and runway are clear and that they are not getting in each other's way.    As with so much else, you can control when they take off with switch triggers.

[KyleSarnik]

for #3 just setmarkerpos your respawn marker to the next location using:

"markername" setmarkerpos position

you could replace position with:

(getpos objectname)
getmarkerpos "markername"
[x,y,z]

objectname and markername would be the object or marker the respawn marker setpos's to, or you could use [x,y,z] were x is the position on the X axis of the island (North to South) and Y is pos on Y axis (East, West) and Z is height, but since its a marker its irrelevent so leave it at 0....

[FWB]

Thanks for the replies guys. I've managed t sort out a few issues, namely timing the launching of the AI assault, so thanks alot for youe help. However, I still have a few problems:

- The planes. I can't for the life of me get them to take-off. I tried placing them southward, near the taxis ramp but they still start heading overland towards the waypoint (which I did place miles away over the sea). I thought this might be because I was using the Nov airport, which runs west to east, not north to south, but I tried to setup a take-off on another map but got the same results. I've thus resorted to starting the planes in the air, but that's really not what I wanted.

- AI. What to you guys do for enemy AI? Currently I just give move and a final seek and destroy order on the village for the assualt, but what of units defending the village? I have them standing or just moving around in safe mode. When they see the enemy some of them just hit prone and lie there. Is there a way to get them to move offensively/defensively once the enemy has been spotted.

- The Move commands. Is there a list where I can find out what they all do? Sentry, guard, talk, etc, and how best to use them?

- I still can't get the map to end. I don't know if I'm missing something here. I checked to see if the triggered work by throwing some text on the screen (and it does), but it won't switch to any of the endings.

- Is there a way to adjust the altitude that planes fly at? I tried a set heightposition, but I'm not sure if thats actually doing anything. I'd like to do a really low flyby, leading to a gain in altitude, then have them swing round and drop down again.

- Objectives. Thanks for the info on them, it really helped, but I have a two issues. Firstly, when I first implemented and completed an objective, my player was getting a "Objective complete" message in the top left hand corner. All of a sudden that's now disappeared. Have I removed something by accident? The objectives still work. Secondly, what should a init.sqs look like? I tried just starting a new txt file (renaming it of course) and throwing in Hidden commands for markers and objectives, but that didn't do anything, I think I need to see one to get to grips with hidden objectives. Is there a link somewhere?

- Scripts. Does anyone know of smoking (cigarette) and crouching scripts. The first one I want for my soldiers, the second for a civy farmer, working the land. It doesn't need to be anything special, just crouching down , looking at the ground for about 10-15seconds, the standing up and moving again.

Ta again for any help.

[Tomb]

Thanks for the replies guys. I've managed t sort out a few issues, ... However, I still have a few problems:

- The planes. I can't for the life of me get them to take-off.

Ta again for any help.

Well, if I wanna make planes (AI controlled) wait, take off & fly to some location,
  here's what I usually do :

slide the FUEL bar (when creating the plane) down/left so the crap can't start at all.
Then I NAME the vehicle in the "name" field, lets just name it "P1" or alike.

place the bird on the TAXI way, nosing south, near the airport houses (or just south from there).
If ya have more birds, put 'em in a column and make some space between 'em.
And remember   to set the first WP to "column" to get them to STAY in this formation (the column).

ok, and then I put the first waypoint on the southern part of the big RUNWAY, right left of the taxiway ending.

and THEN I add a waypoint on wherever spot, the place where U want the birds to fly to.  

simple as that, and when ya want the crap to fly, just throw in the following code in a trigger
or in some morons waypoint (the "On Activation" field of triggers/wp's) :

P1 setFuel 1; P2 setFuel 1; P3 set... etc.

that will give 'em back the juice & they'll start up & take off  


Oh, and when ya make that column of planes, be sure to set each birds "special" field to NONE, or they will start in a pre-defined formation (defaults)

[macguba]

The other thing about planes is that you have to be on a working airfield.   In Nogova it is the one in the desert in the SW.    The one on the island to the north is no good.

- defensive AI.    You need waypoints and switch triggers.   See the Tutorial Mission for an example:  the second objective has loons doing exactly the kind of thing you want to happen.


- waypoints.   You should find a listing in one  of the waypoint or general tutorials in the Ed Depot.   Try the compilation one by Rob, snYpir and hangfire.


- endings.   Create a test mission to learn how to make a mission end.     Create a trigger with a small area

Activation box:   anybody present
Type:   End#1

with a player unit placed outside the trigger area.    Preview theh mission and run into the trigger - the mission should end.   Once you have got that working transfer the idea to your real mission.  


- plane height.    Use the command flyInHeight.


- Objectives.   Read snYpir's tute on how to use objectives and init.sqs.   You can get an example init.sqs from the abovementioned Tutorial Mission.    Copy it into your own mission and change what you need.      As with all files, make sure it is not named init.sqs.txt by mistake.      To make a mission completed hint appear with a ding in the top left hand corner of the screen you need to have this line of code somewhere:-

hint "Objective completed"


- Scripts.  I have a feeling there is smoking script in the Ed Depoit, but I'm not sure.    For the movements, you need the command switchMove/playMove.    There is a full listing of the possible animations in Tutorials - References.    You'll need to experiment a bit to find the best ones for what you want.


Hope that helps.  

[KyleSarnik]

Ok the thing with your objectives... a lot of people just don't seem to realize this but when you first open OFP and start editor, certian things are disabled... like map icons don't apear for units, WPs and leader icons arn't visable unless your in a vehicle, and objectives... But, if you start up OFP, play a campaign game or single mission, then exit the mission and then start the editor and all of that stuff will work... Its just some odd thing but theres nothing wrong with your mission, and it will work just fine once you export it to single missions...

[Knut Erik]

Its just some odd thing but theres nothing wrong with your mission, and it will work just fine once you export it ti single missions...

The thing is... When OFP starts, it is in veteran mode by default  
Therefore is all the wp's and sutch "disabled"
So you need to start a new sp mission, but make sure that you play in CADET mode..

 

[FWB]

Great guys. With your advice and the excellent tutorials on here my mission is coming along very well. I've not found that smoking (cigarette) script though. However:

- Is there anyway of holding the end of an animation when you issue the AI a "playmove" order? I've found the perfect animation for my farmer, to give the impression of him working the land (putdown), but alas it lasts all of 2 seconds before he gets up again. I'd like to play the move, freeze the ending for about 10-15s, then have you get up, ove to another part of the field and do the same. Any possibility?

- Is there anyway to get the AI to fire upon an area of ground? I know there are artillery scripts, but that's not quite what I want. I'm basing my mission on the Invasion 44 mod and I want an enemy 80mm mortar team (from the mod) to provide support before an assault on the players' positions. Can I have him fire at a general area or does he always have to have a specific target?

[m21man]

For the artillery: You can have them target a gamelogic, and randomly move it around in the target zone.

[macguba]

There is also an invisible target addon somewhere.   Anybody know where?     AI won't target gamelogics (though obviously an arty script can).     The old fashioned way was to setpos a target underground and then doTarget and doFire at it.

For holding an animation the command doStop might help.   Or sometimes a little looping script does the trick.

[FWB]

What about an invisible H? Do you reckon that might work as a target? I assume to move it around I'd have to do some sort of setmarker command? Does the AI always fire on the centre of its target? Because if not, if I could find an invisible target the size of the town that might solve having to even move it around?

[macguba]

Give it a try, can't remember if invisible H works or not.    To move it around use the command setPos.    Alternatively, place a bunch of them in different places and target them one after another.

[KyleSarnik]

about the playmove, the farmer probably gets up because your telling him to move somewhere, use the dostop command while hes down and then when he gets back up use domove or maybe dofollow will make him go back to his original WPs....

[FWB]

Ta guys, but I think I've decided to halt on the artiller. I figured out that the AI doesn't know how to use the Invasion mod's mortar anyway. Cheers Kyle for the playmove tip, I'll check it out. Two other issues have popped up though:

- How do I set the name of my mission on the setup page and at the top of the briefing? I know how to do briefing files, so I assume its not there.

- Secondly, how do I do multiple endings? I have 2 positive and 1 negative. Both positives require that the players trip a trigger to exit the map, but one of them requires an objective to met (blow something up) while the other requires the same objective NOT to be met.

[KyleSarnik]

1. Click on the top right corner in editor, where all the weather information is and stuff, and put the mission name in the first box. The rest is in your breifing.html witch you can find some tuts on in the editors depot  

2. In triggers, I forget what the box is called but its got None, Switch, Gaurded by east... and so on. In that box are up to 5 (or so) positive endings and one negative one called Loose...   The debreifing message you get from them are once again defined by the brefing.html

[FWB]

Ta. Inregards to multiple endings, what I really meant to say was how do I create two triggers of which only one of them will trigger, with which one depending on whether a specific objective was met or not? I'm assuming it would be involve something like:

Ending 1 - Objective completed
Condition: "1" obj "DONE

Ending 2 - Objective not completed
Condition: "1" obj NOT DONE

Am I right?

[KyleSarnik]

well, what I do is, for every objective I either put obj1=true, or obj1f=true; obj1=false if its failed, then in the triggers:

obj1 and obj2
End#1

obj1f and obj2f
Loose

Notice I did not put obj1=true; obj1f=false... I did that because sometimes, after you have completed an objective and do something wrong later, the objective has been failed

[macguba]

For each possible ending you need a seperate trigger, fired by variables.     When the trigger is fired it not only ends the mission but marks the various objectives completed or failed as appropriate.

Note that a numbered ending (End#1 etc) will fire when all the triggers of that type have fired.   However, the Loose ending will fire when any of the loose ending triggers fire.      The other difference between a numbered ending and loose is the outro that will play after the debriefing.   Also, the numbered endings each have a different debriefing text but loose has no debriefing text.