(Review Completed) [SP] The Red Grinder

[Krieg]

Thanks for the test, Walter, I will get right on editing&fixing !

Readme

Added&Fixed ("For other addons go to http://www.ofpec.com/forum/index.php?topic=34312.0" line added).

Red Wolf

I'd leave it like this, it would be a bit irrealistic if T72's would know what intel could not tell.

Support

I did not use any support waypoints in order to prevent Red Wolf from using support group every time they get hit, and eventually lead it to destruction. I will instead give them hold waypoint, teleport them a bit further away from player and give them move waypoint to player. Hold waypoint will be synchronized with "Support group - go!" radio command. And I will fix the script (thanks for fix-version of it).

End Trigger

I will give it a fix. The flag thing is extremely optional thing to do. It falls into "if you wanna do, you can do it" category. I will warn player that he can do it.

Personalisation

Agreed on every point except that Red Wolf should be broadcasting on open channel (i.e. globalChat) .

Variety

Will do!

Edit: New version is up! Check the first post.
Also, I would like to know if mission was too difficult, too easy, or at just about right difficulty.

Edit 2: I have worked on new overview picture (last one was bad quality real-life T80 pic).
See the first post for picture. Actual overview pic is sized down 256X256, but this is still at 1024X768 for "propaganda" purposes. I hope it is better than previous one!

[Krieg]

New version is up. Check first post.
Hope you enjoy it,
Krieg

[RKurtzDmitriyev]

I thought I would give your mission a spin since you've been kind enough to test mine.  

Overview:

No complaints.  

Intro:

The soldiers with subtitles but no sound or expressions look a little silly, but hey, I understand. It's a lot of work. I didn't do custom sounds for my mission, either. Otherwise, pretty cool stuff.

Briefing

Looks good. Comments:

--I noticed that you left off a lot of articles before nouns ("the," "a," "an"). Was this intentional?
--There's no "start here" marker. Of course, the T80 has its own map crosshairs thingy. However, a briefing link to a "start here" marker will make the starting position easier to scroll back to.
--Change "we assumed this mission will go easy" to "we assume this mission will go easy," unless the mission spoken of is already over.  
--In the KGB report, you need paragraph breaks when the report begins to discuss a different objective. So, for example, there should be a break before "Recently, Americans have established a camp...."
--In the notes section, change "I give us chances of winning at one in four" to "I give our chances of winning at one in four."

Mission

Pretty difficult! I haven't been able to seize Durras. (Playing on vets mode, of course). Those M46 guns will really mess you up. The infantry alone can wipe out all the T-72s at the outpost.

I was surprised that there were no waypoints for the player group. Maybe add some to help the player know where he is going?

Also, perhaps a retry position update is in order after outpost is cleared?

Edit: Bah, it could go either way. My mission has no retry pos updates.

Two major bugs I noticed:

--Every time I died, I got a hint saying something like "Are you going AWOL, Comrade? Don't leave the field of battle!" I surmise that your trigger which fails the mission when you leave the AO is ticking off because player is not present. Perhaps you should modify the conditions to say something like "this && alive player".

--After seizing the outpost, I got a bug report bar at the top:

"Error sideChat: type array, expected string".

It looks like you accidentally put the message intended for sideChat inside of brackets.  

All in all, it looks pretty cool. I'll try it again sometime.

[Krieg]

Thanks for the test, RKurtzDmitriyev !

Overview

Glad it does it's job !

Briefing

It was not intentional to left out the nouns, I am just not best at paperwork (and my primary language has no connection to English).

I will add start marker, thanks for suggestion!

Yep, I should change that, since this is not debriefing!

I actually tried to do that, but for some reason pressing enter does not work in Chris' OFP Script Editor, so I had to press space until I got it to be in position.  I got annoyed because I missed every single time, so I just left it like that. I might change that in future.

Will be fixed, thanks for noticing!

Mission

I will add a checkpoint in between outpost and Durras. Player can save if he wants to later on !

I intentionally did not add waypoints because player already has been given all of the objectives in briefing, and since he is limited to small part of Everon, there is very little space where he can go. He might still choose basic maneuvering option, though.

Will be added, thanks for noticing !
And also, I will fix sideChat thingy.

Thanks again for beta testing  RKurtzDmitriyev!

[Krieg]

New version is up (for a while)! Check the first post for download!

[RKurtzDmitriyev]

Gave your mission yet another spin today. 

Intro & Overview--

No complaints.

Briefing--

You're still missing paragraph breaks in both the Detailed Plan and the KGB report. It would be easier to read if they were broken into paragraphs. Just open up the briefing.html file with Notepad and add <br> in the appropriate sections. A <br> is like pressing the "return" key on a typewriter, so <br><br> will make a new paragraph.

Mission--

Looks like you fixed the sideChat issue. Still haven't been able to finish the mission proper. Pretty difficult mission you've got there. Comments:

--Just once, when I approached fairly near Vernon, the mission ended in failure. No, my tank didn't blow up. (That's supposed to happen if you get too close, isn't it?) I was just given an End2 debriefing that says "Without support from  T80's, rest of attacking forces were destroyed." Vernon is well inside the area of operations, so I can't have gone out of it.  Sometimes the OFP gods just mess with our heads.

--I know I suggested a "retry update" after the outpost. However, if there should be one retry update anywhere, I now think it should be between Durras and St. Pierre, because St. Pierre is way harder than Durras (so far it's proved impossible for me to seize without cheating.  ). I know I'm going back on my own suggestion, but the mission is lopsided if the only retry update is only 1/3 of the way into the mission. 

--After seizing the outpost, the surviving T-72s seem to take forever to move onto the next objectives. Did you program this, or is it just OFP's tank driving AI being stubborn?

I went ahead and Un-pbo'd your mission and had a look at it in the mission editor. Further stuff I noticed:

--After killing enough units in St. Pierre, the mission debriefing is shown instantly. This was rather sudden. I think the end would be more effective if you waited a few seconds, maybe showed a Mission Complete titletext, etc.

--You don't seem to have placed any ambient sounds such as birds chirping. Perhaps these sounds would be a nice touch.

--By the way, I tested moving into Vernon, and this time my tank exploded like it's supposed to. The bug noticed earlier might be a weird fluke with OFP.

Outro

Thanks for crediting me. No bugs that I could see. Again, the end is rather sudden, because you're instantaneously sent to the menu. A black out effect at the end might be effective.

Overall, good work, I didn't notice any really substantial bugs this time.  

[Krieg]

Intro & Overview

Glad they do their job! 

Briefing

So that's how it's done! And I always thought you need to press "space" continuously until you get the paragraphs! Thanks for that! 

Mission

I have no earthly idea how that happened  !  Maybe it was some weird bug OFP still has in it? I will look into it ASAP.

Sometimes the OFP gods just mess with our heads. 

Have to agree!

Will move the retry position! Maybe I should add artillery support before you move in?

What? A sudden end? I thought I fixed that giving you a minute to rise Soviet flag and a hint!

I guess it was a weird fluke.

Outro

Yeah, I noticed that. It was because I added 5 more seconds to outro by crediting you  , all I had to do is fix the trigger! There is a black out and music fade at the end.

Next version will most likely be released tomorrow.

[RKurtzDmitriyev]

What? A sudden end? I thought I fixed that giving you a minute to rise Soviet flag and a hint!

I looked at your mission again in the editor, and I think that there are at least two problems. First, your End1 trigger with conditions ("alive _x" count thislist) <=2 is set to a countdown of max 60, min 60, mid 0. You need a mid value of 60, too. If your mid is smaller than the min, the trigger seems to execute at a time shorter than the min.

Also, your trigger with hint "You can lower the American flag" is activated simply at "West not present," but of course your End1 trigger has the condition of ("alive _x" count thislist) <=2 . I believe that means that if there's one enemy loon hiding somewhere in St. Pierre, and you can't find him in 60 seconds, the mission will end instantly without ever showing the hint. Perhaps both triggers should have a condition of ("alive _x" count thislist) <=2 .

[Krieg]

Ohh thanks! Will fix it immediately!

Edit: By the way, did Vulcans show up in your play-throughs yet? They have very low chance of appearing (one has 10% and other 20%). Also, did that squad from forest left of outpost (when you look in the editor) manage to make effective ambush? Or did they just die like the rest?
And also, T72's for some reason tend to stick with outpost. Perhaps their driver's AIs are being stubborn. I did not program them to stay at outpost.

Thanks for testing,
Krieg

Edit 2: New version is up! Check first post for download.
I think this mission is in it's late stages of development. I predict 3, maybe 4 version before it is ready for review.

[RKurtzDmitriyev]

Edit: By the way, did Vulcans show up in your play-throughs yet? They have very low chance of appearing (one has 10% and other 20%).

I believe one of them did once.

Also, did that squad from forest left of outpost (when you look in the editor) manage to make effective ambush? Or did they just die like the rest?

That squad is not too dangerous. As I recall, they usually get caught on open ground.

Edit 2: New version is up! Check first post for download.
I think this mission is in it's late stages of development. I predict 3, maybe 4 version before it is ready for review.

Yup, probably just a few minor tweaks and you'll have a final version ready to go. 

[Krieg]

I believe one of them did once.

Probably one at St. Pierre, it has larger chances of appearing.

That squad is not too dangerous. As I recall, they usually get caught on open ground.

Maybe I should rise their skill? Nah, player has to worry about Durras more, if he gets too damaged before it, he wont stand a chance. I'll leave them as Cannon-Fodder !

Yup, probably just a few minor tweaks and you'll have a final version ready to go.   

Thanks for supporting me in creating this mission! 

[RKurtzDmitriyev]

Thanks for supporting me in creating this mission!  

You're welcome. Now the saga continues:

Intro

The intro itself is fine, but you must have included a BAS object since 0.6 . Now, if I play with only the specified addons, I get a "missing addons: bas_o" error.

Briefing

Looks good.

Mission

Still haven't finished without cheating. Had fun, though.

Again, I experienced that strange bug that causes mission failure near Vernon. Now I've been able to duplicate the bug, and I think I know what causes it. The player's tank actually is exploding, but since your end #2 trigger is set to "vehicle not present," the mission can fail instantaneously when the tank is no longer alive. This doesn't always happen, though. Sometimes I just get a death screen. Perhaps it depends on whether the mission failure trigger polls at just the right time. I took this screenshot--notice the debriefing booklet juxtaposed against my blackened tank, which is just about to explode .

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/7499/dyingtank.png

The moral of the story, I think, is that your End #2 trigger also needs a "this && alive player" condition, and maybe a countdown of a few seconds (giving your tank plenty of time to blow up--perhaps the player isn't taken off the "alive" list in time).

Outro

Looks good. I noticed that it plays after a mission failure ending, too. Was this intentional?

P.S.: At the risk of pimping my own mission, you might be interested in giving Village De-Pacification another whirl. I don't know if anyone noticed that I updated it the other day, and I can't bump the thread because I made the last reply. 

[Krieg]

Intro

That was accident! Will fix it immediately (removed bas_o from mission.sqm, hopefully that will fix it)!
Edit: This mission is playing tricks at me. I delete bas_o from mission.sqm, and it re-appears.
Edit 2: Fixed the problem. It seems that birds were the problem (i.e. their singing).
Edit 3: It reappeared again! I mean what the...
Edit 4: Fixed by editing mission.sqm manually.
Edit 5: Didn't work. Deleted sounds from editor then edited mission.sqm.
Edit 6: Fixed.

Briefing

Thanks!

Mission

Glad you had fun! Also, I neither managed to complete the mission.
Last time I tried, I was rolling down the hill at about 90 km/h, guns blazing, yelling "CHARGE!!!", and managing to take out both enemy tanks that spawned before being took out by AT infantry.

Will try to give some more time from player to be took out from alive and listed as KIA.
Edit: Fixed (I think), I gave 3 seconds before mission ends in failure, moved tank to Vernon, and got "you are dead" ending instead of failure every time.

Outro

Well, not intentional, maybe I accidentally put it in outro loose? Or picked wrong end at end trigger?
I will check it.
Edit: I have no idea what's causing this. Will try to fix it before next version.
Edit 2: Did it appear when you won with cheating? If it did, then this is not problem at all, since it does not complete any story, and I use it as credits, I think it's OK this way.

P.S.: At the risk of pimping my own mission, you might be interested in giving Village De-Pacification another whirl. I don't know if anyone noticed that I updated it the other day, and I can't bump the thread because I made the last reply.  

Downloaded and testing your mission!
 

[RKurtzDmitriyev]

Well, not intentional, maybe I accidentally put it in outro loose? Or picked wrong end at end trigger?
I will check it.
Edit: I have no idea what's causing this. Will try to fix it before next version.
Edit 2: Did it appear when you won with cheating? If it did, then this is not problem at all, since it does not complete any story, and I use it as credits, I think it's OK this way.

Well, by "cheating" I meant using the mission editor to give myself an initialization of "this setcaptive true". Outro's don't play after the debriefing in the mission editor, so no, it didn't appear.

But when I get mission failure due to going AWOL while playing the mission as a regular SP mission, the outro plays after debriefing. I think I know what causes this. The trigger activating when the player leaves the field is an End #2 trigger, not a Loose trigger. Probably, the outro-win is played after any "end" trigger. Just change it to a Loose trigger and this should be fixed. (I think you'll have to add a corresponding "Loose" section to the briefing.)

[Krieg]

Thanks! I will get right on fixing!
Edit: Sorry for noobish question, but how to make loose debriefing?
Edit 2: New version is up! As always, check the first post.

PS. Cheating IS strategy.