"Coop essentials" Package (DELETED)

[myke13021]

Retiring all works from public. Has nothing to do with OFPEC nor with any member of OFPEC.

[LeeHunt]

hi Myke13021,

I've started taking a look at this package-- quite a fantastic resource (I'm sure SharkAttack will find this Coop creation tool very useful!)  Very thorough and well documented, and worth the time for me to give some feedback and constructive criticism here: 

As I am somewhat of a rookie and "lowest common denominator" (is that what LCD stands for by the way?    just kidding LCD) my initial feedback could be useful to help "idiot-proof" this resource (me being the "idiot").

1) The how-to initialize the A-CEP (page 4 of the PDF) could be shown to the player when he loads up the demo mission and starts wandering around the empty streets of Cayo.  At first I thought, where is everybody?  I of course then read through more of the manual and found the answer (they have to be initialized in a new init.sqs/sqf), but you see my point-- some people may load it up and lose interest because their hand is not held at the beginning on how to get started.  Also, correct me if i'm wrong, that the player has to add a line to a new init file for the mission so...

2) you could add a demo mission instead with the initialization already included, and then give the player advice on how to tinker with the line already created
3) When i tried creating an init.sqs file for the mission using this line:
nul = [WEST,[EAST],[Civilian],[20,10],true] exec "coop_essential\cep_init.sqf"

I got an error
cep_playerside |#| setfriend [_x, 1]
Error type Any, expected Side

And when i used this line (which i didnt expect to work) I got a boolean error.  The reason i mention this one here below is that some people might type that in right away because the PDF says to do tha tto initialize, though i could see that you had to choose some of the parameters, i'm sure someone might do that.
nul = [WEST,[EAST],[Resistance,Civilian],[20,10],true/false] exec "coop_essential\cep_init.sqf"

But aside from these minor points related mostly to documentation, this ArmA Coop Essentials Pack really looks extremely well made and should be very useful to mission designers.  Look forward to hearing more from you myke13021 on this and how i can figure things out 

[myke13021]

Thx LeeHunt for your preview.

Let me short go through your points to see:

Point 1: Indeed, i didn't thought to tell the payer where he is and what will happen. Was too much into "hell i know myself what will goin on" and didn't thought that other users will not know anything about it. Will add a hintc showing up and tell what will happen and where he should look.

Point 2: I don't understand but it isn't because your explanation more my lack of english (german native, ya know). If you could be more desriptive please.

Point 3: Yep, there's a typo in the readme saying exec instead of execVM. Will fix this, was a little lazy and well covered with other things last weeks. Bad excuse i know

I'm sure the error is related to this exec/execVM issue as the A-CEP was d/l @ armaholic.com over 500 times without reporting this error.


I will fix these issues asap and hope to get uploaded a fixed version till tomorow evening.


Myke out

[LeeHunt]

hey Myke13021,

Ok great thanks for the information on the typo.  I will try execVM instead of exec and check out the new download as well.  I will write more feedback as I progress in testing it later...

[Spooner]

Haven't got around to looking at this properly, but I'll try to peek at it ASAP. Some comments on the thread, though:
- You say you haven't done any MP testing with more than one player, but do you know that you can connect to the dedicated server (arma_server.exe) with multiple clients using the same CD key, if you stick "kickduplicate=0;" in your server.cfg file?

- I've also noticed that createCenter doesn't seem to achieve anything. Ho hum, not like we should expect these things to work...

- On a more general point, unless a demo really, really needs to be in Sarahni, such as when it requires large distances to be travelled, please stick it on Ramadhi. Doing this saves everyone testing it about 60 seconds loading time, which could add up to years of life wasted if the script pack gets popular ;P

[myke13021]

As usual life messes up all plans for the weekend

Wasn't able to do some work on the A-CEP sadly. Hope i get tomorrow some time to. Life's a biatch


@Spooner
Some friends were "testing" it, saying they have it included in some of their mission. As the missions are already played on a regular basis, i guess i can state it "MP tested". I surely would have got some requests about bugfixing if there were any recognized. And i did some basic MP tests myself since dedicated Servers are sometimes a little pity to handle by scripts.

Well, yes, the CreateCenter...already stated in the first post that this command seems to be buggy and a pre-placed AI will fix this. I guess it's a little problem since a good map shouldnt only use the scriptpack but also have some well placed static defense lines like MG or Cannons. In these cases the bug is only a theoretical problem.

About Rhamadi/Sahrani: didn't thought about this issue since i load Sahrani at gamestart and therefor i wasn't aware that for other people the loading would take "a little longer". Will move the Demo over to Sahrani.


Myke out

[sinchi runa]

greetings.. i have been using this script a lot in MP.. works AwEsOmE!!!

one question..

is there a way to not delete the maker after the first spawn... ?

then have after so many bad guys are dead they start respawning... ?

until a trigger or condition is meet..??

i.e. killing the commander of the base.

...  also.. it would be nice to have any remaining troops surrender.. just ideas..

script gets  from me.

[myke13021]

@sinchi runa

The A-CEP is not designed to generate endless waves of enemies. However, you're free to setup multiple triggers as zonecenters covering the same area, each set to spawn new Units to a condition set by yourself. But i do not recommend this unless you can make sure there will never be Units spawning in the back of the players.

Troops surrender can be made by using triggers, set one to determine when the the zone has activated (and Units are present) and switch a self defined variable to true. A second trigger can be set to fire off as soon the variable is true AND the units count is lower than a predefined number. Then you can launch a surrender script on activation.


@Spooner
Updated the A-CEP (finally). Wrote changes into the first post and actualized the file. I've decided to keep the demo mission on Sahrani because Rahmadi ist a bit too small in my opinion.


Myke out

[sinchi runa]

thanks for the reply,

the only part of the response i understand is about having triggers... i been at this scripting 2 weeks now..

have you played the evolution map? it has a random enemy unit generator and respawn that is attached to the radio tower and a commander of the city.

so long as the radio tower is there.. troops respawn.. when the tower is destroyed, no more respawns.. when the command is captured the remaining troops surrender...

granted capture is not needed.. just how such a trigger to a surrender script from the death of the commander and what it would look like.

however... your coop essentials is by far the best and easiest i have seen to date just the way it is.

just curious as to something like i mentioned above.

 

[Spooner]

Myke, it would be a boon if you could arrange the package file structure so that the readme file (which is a hefty 0.75 meg) isn't with the mission scripts. If such a file is hidden amongst the scripts, rather than in a separate directory, some people might unnecessarily include the file with their missions and it is a fair size. Although 0.75 meg isn't too much for mission, it does seem a lot of space to waste.

Regarding the demo mission location, I was just meaning that you should use Ramadi if the scripts don't need the space on Sarahni to operate. For most scripts, it doesn't matter, but I see now that you are better off on Sarahni. Sorry!

[myke13021]

@Spooner

You're right, the readme is not a really small file and could easily overlooked in the script folder. Moved them out now, updated link above.

I thought a long time about placing the demo on Rahmadi but as you say, some things can't be shown on a too small area and for this, Rahmadi is IMHO too small. Double the size of the Island would be good.


@sinchi runa
I know Evolution (even if i'm not a fan of it, it contains great scripts and a unique idea) and i guess i know how it works. It uses a similar system, linked with present/not present triggers (guessing that, no idea if it's true). With the A-CEP you can achieve the Evolution effect also, it just needs a smart use of triggers. As the units in Evolution are created once a player approaches a Town and are deleted (reset) when no players near, you can do the same thing with a-cep too. Just can't give you a exactly "how-to" but playing around with triggers, conditions and a few variables should give the desired effect. Sorry for not beeing more concrete.

Myke out

[Liongreek]

OK sorry for reviving the topic, but I seem to have a strange problem. Sometime ago I used the dgc reloaded for a mission using addons. I changed the EAST units to the addons I wanted to use and all was well. When I tried to do the same with Coop essentials, though I use the correct syntax, I always get WEST teams spawning in the area I want.

Is there something else I should be doing differently than dgc reloaded?

Thanks

Never mind...

[maxou]

Hi everybody,I used this pack script since 5 missions .
A great work also from Myke,Thanks...
And for the last I'm working on ,I would like to use civilian as ennemy.

When I use East side as ennemy,the pack works perfertly.And my problem is when I try to use civilian as ennemy.

I got errors messages:






I didn't modified any scripts inside the folder and I don't really know how to resolve that.


Thanks...

[myke13021]

@maxou

I'm sorry, wasn't online for a long time (real life taking lots of time). I will go into this problem this weekend and see why this happens and where the error is located.

Myke out

[sharkattack]

this is sweet  mate ...
gives a new dimension to co op game play

shit .. even i understand it ...  an excellent package



well done mate   

[lebson506th]

I just switched over to this from the Dynamic Group Creator, and I'm having some problems.

When i call the script, the group is created, but after a few seconds all but 1 guy disappears and the i get the following error in my arma.rpt:

Code: [Select]

Error in expression <oup _cep_group;
if (count cep_DynBr_Men > cep_DynBr_max_men) then
{
while {(coun>
  Error position: <> cep_DynBr_max_men) then
{
while {(coun>
  Error >: Type String, expected Number
Error in expression <oup _cep_group;
If i set cep_DynBr_max_men and cep_DynBr_max_veh in init.sqf, the error goes away but it doesn't change anything.

Also, after the disappear, i can walk toward the center of the trigger and they respawn again. Any ideas?

[myke13021]

@lebson506th

When i call the script, the group is created, but after a few seconds all but 1 guy disappears

Also, after the disappear, i can walk toward the center of the trigger and they respawn again.

This is a wanted behaviour. Whenever a group is created (not implemented for vehicles) a secondary script is launched for each group, checking distance to nearest enemy of the group. If teh distance exceeds a certain range, the group is reduced to group leader and the rest is stored. Whenever an enemy closes up, the group is restored and should behave as they were there all the time. The group leader always remains to guarantee  realistic group movements while enemies are away. This way you might guess where the group could be whenever you return to them. No fancy random replacement.
This feature should help to reduce CPU load as not a group of maybe 10 units has to be calculated but only a single unit. Especially in bigger missions, human players might change theyr mind and after a first attack maybe switch to another objective. As the zone is already activated at this point, switching to another objective and activating more zones might lead to CPU slowdowns.

About the error in the arma.rpt: never seen this before. If nothing else goes wrong and everything works fine, you may ignore it. If it bothers you or it doesn't work as expected, please send me the mission as editor version so i can take a look at it.


Myke out

[lebson506th]

The way i observed it, the guys spawned when i was about 20m from the center of the circle, then all but 1 despawned. The rest of the squad didn't respawn until i was about 2-5m from the group leader's dead body...

Also, i tried changing the distance variable and that didn't seem to change anything.



The error in the arma.rpt was a weirdly worded version of an error i was getting in game. I'll get a screen shot of it, as well as find more accurate measurements as to the distances for spawning and despawning.

[myke13021]

@lebson506th

Did you dowload the A-CEP here on OFPEC or from Armaholic? If its from armaholic re-download it from here (first post) as this is the newer version of it and some problems with unit caching was fixed. I'm too lazy when it comes to update my packs on all sites...my fault.

However, what was the zone size u used? Did you make a Mission or just some tests with the A-CEP with very small zones?

Once the group is created, the caching routines no longer takes zone center as reference but the actual position of the group leader. The distance the group is restored should be a little smaller than the zone size (just a few meters) and the caching distance should be similar to zone size.

So if you have a zone with size of 100 as example, you stand close to its boarder and the groups are created, one close to you, the other on the far edge of the zone, the group near you should not delete units (you're closer than 100m from them) for caching but the far group will (as the distance is bigger than 100m).

This is how it SHOULD work. If it doesnt and you're sure you have the latest version (no need for editing scriptcalls, 100% compatible) a screenshot of the error and a sample mission (editor version please, not a .pbo) would be nice. As i said, never heard of that error before but this means nothing.

Awaiting your informations to track down this ugly bug.


Myke out

[lebson506th]

I got it from ArmaHolic, so i'll get it from here and try again.

[lebson506th]

Here's the error message i get (Same as before)

Code: [Select]

'...oup _cep_group;
if (count cep_DynBr_men |#|> cep_DynBr_men_max) then
{
while{(coun...'
Generic error in expression
Happens when someone is killed and the rest of the group is cached.

Either the group leader, or me, still happens either way.


Also, the unit don't uncache until i get really close to the dead group leader.

[lebson506th]

Any thoughts?

[myke13021]

However, what was the zone size u used? Did you make a Mission or just some tests with the A-CEP with very small zones?

Once the group is created, the caching routines no longer takes zone center as reference but the actual position of the group leader. The distance the group is restored should be a little smaller than the zone size (just a few meters) and the caching distance should be similar to zone size.

So if you have a zone with size of 100 as example, you stand close to its boarder and the groups are created, one close to you, the other on the far edge of the zone, the group near you should not delete units (you're closer than 100m from them) for caching but the far group will (as the distance is bigger than 100m).

This is how it SHOULD work. If it doesnt and you're sure you have the latest version (no need for editing scriptcalls, 100% compatible) a screenshot of the error and a sample mission (editor version please, not a .pbo) would be nice. As i said, never heard of that error before but this means nothing.

Awaiting your informations to track down this ugly bug.

Please send me the requested editorversion of the mission so i can see 1 on 1 what you did and where it hangs. Not .pbo'ed please.


Myke out

[lebson506th]

I'll send you a stripped down version later tonight.

[lebson506th]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0R98UMPN

There it is =)

[myke13021]

Thanks for the editorversion.

Found the following error: your scriptcall for the initializing script was written with "old" parameters. Some things changed. The Body remover now takes two numbers instead of string and number. Also a there's a new parameter (editormode: additional markers are set and hints showing the progress of the zones initialization) to set.

In the PDF it is described how the parameters work. refer to it please.

As i changed this, i didn't got any error. What i can say about the caching: it is supposed to select triggering distance big enough so Players wont see the creation (and counterwise the AI wont see the Player too) and the caching.

I guess it's my bad. Didn't worked on or used the A-CEP for a long time so i forgot that i made some changes in the init scriptcall. I'm sorry for this.

One advise though as i don't know what kind of mission you are about to make: for enemies that come at the very beginning of the mission and the player wont have the choice to avoid this conflict situation, it is maybe better to work with editorplaced groups and units instead of using the A-CEP for it. You can enable body removal for those Units too, there's a chapter in the PDF about it.

Hope this helps, else feel free to ask for further help.


Editors note:
As Mapfact has now released it's DAC i don't plan to work more on the A-CEP, except bughunting if any came up. Everyone's free to edit the scripts to its own needs. Anyone may use code out of it if anyone has use for it.


Myke out

[lebson506th]

The part that i sent you was actually the very end of my mission.


Anyway, thanks for looking into it. I'll look at the PDF... i swore i had it right. Oh well.

EDIT: Yup, works great. Thanks =)

[myke13021]

Anyway, thanks for looking into it

No problem mate, glad i could help. Don't forget to delete the PDF from the mission to keep filesize small ;-)


Myke out