Rookie Needs Help

[Captain_Makin]

Just completed OFP and I am having a go at the Editor, but I'm failing miserably. Ive downloded guide after guide, I follow them at the start but then they loose me! What I want to do is have an opening cutscene with a village, occupied by Russians being attacked by Americans, then it changes to a cutscene with loads of Russian soldiers sat around talking, then the siren goes off and they get up and stand in a line at attention. Then it changes to the normal game, with you standing infront of them. I can take it from there. What I've just described will only be about 30 secs (give or take) but I cant do it, I cant get the sequences or anything. Any help would be appreciated and I realise the explanation would be time consuming. You can either post here or email me at jammy_sod@hotmail.com.
Thanks
Cpt.

[macguba]

OK, first things first

Welcome to the forums!

Now, just relax and stop beating yourself up.    There's a lot to take in when you start OFP editing, we all went through how you are feeling now.        You have not failed miserably.    You just haven't quite figured out how to make the cutscene you want, which coincidently is a problem I'm wrestling with this evening.

Next thing, read the post at the top of the forum.      No more nonsense about emails, ok?   We post here and we answer here.

Right, now there are two steps to making a cutscene.     The first is setting out the units, vehicles and action that you want.    The second is filming it.      Neither of these steps is trivial, and the cutscene you have described is pretty ambitious for a first attempt.

So what we need to do is break the problem down into its constituent parts.    We also need to get you up to speed on the stuff you really need to know.      So I'm going to give you a 3 phase plan plan to follow:   at the end of it you may have created the cutscene you want.  If you haven't, well, hey, it doesn't matter, you, me and everybody else who wants to help will persevere till we get there.

Phase 1

You seem to have some basic knowledge of mission creation, so we'll take that as read.  Now, if you haven't done so already, read the following tutorials

snYpir's guide to camera scripting (can't remember the exact name, sorry)
messiah's guide to camera.sqs

Phase 2

Download and examine the Tutorial Mission that you will find in Tutorials - Getting Started in the Editors Depot.    There are a couple of very very simple cutscenes in there which will demonstrate the kind of thing you are trying to do.    Take them to pieces and see if you can understand what is going on.

Phase 3

Create your own little cutscene.     A Russian is in a village.    An  American enters the village.   One of them shoots the other.   The End.


Phase 4 of course, is to take the knowledge you have gained and use it to create the cutscene you want.   Make it by

1) creating the scene you want to film

2) filming it

It isn't difficult, you just need to gather the knowledge.    Learn to walk before you can run and all that stuff.  

If you get stuck, post in this thread (which will be moved to the cutscenes and sound board by the mods) and we'll help you.     I don't usually visit that board so you may need to IM me if nobody else happens along to help you, but just bring the post to my attention, keep the questions on the forum.

One thing you will need to think about is the plot - what happens when the village is attacked by the Americans?   Who wins?   Who are the Russians sitting around talking?    Are they the same ones who were in the village?

btw, you have the best hotmail address ;D

[dmakatra]

Welcome to the forums!

Hey! ThatÂ's my line! Are you mad cause I took your job at two topics at the beta testing board?

Anyway,

[shadow=red,left,300]WELCOME TO THE FORUMS[/shadow]

My line is flashier ;D. I beat ya ;D.

[macguba]

lol Armstrong, any time you get there first and save me the trouble I'm a happy llama.  

Especially if its telling somebody in the beta forum to get their finger out and post a list of addons/working link to their mission etc.

[Captain_Makin]

Cheers for the info, Ill try to be patient and develop my skills. I already got snYpir's camera creater, still working through it, I tried to apply it to my cutscene and it wasn't succesful ;D, so time to get back to basics.
lol, my hotmail address used to be pimpin_papa_smurfy2k@hotmail.com! A little long winded and the new one was the first one that came into my head, couldnt believe it wasnt taken!

[macguba]

Read through snYpir's, don't worry if you don't understand it all at first.   Then go on to messiah's .... then back to snYpir ... then look at the Tutorial mission examples .... back to messiah or snYpir again and so on.    Don't get bogged down in one tute.  

You can copy and paste from any tutorial into your own mission to your heart's content.   Just make an acknowledgement in the readme of your completed mission.

[ARVN Marvin]

Hello all,

 I just had to add my "two cents" on this.

A while ago I found myself in the same boat as Cap'n_Makin. I was reading all the posts, DL'ing snippets and I was still at square one. I couldn't make heads or tails of 99% of what was posted in the forums.  
Thanks to the Tutorials and a buttload of free time, there really isn't a single item or topic on this whole site that I can't follow along with, even if I don't have the skill level of 1/10th the people here.  ;D

Modding CPP files for the hell of it gave me a thirst for "C++" and that lead to a desire to start writing scripts, which led to a great comprehension of Camera scripting and cutscenes, and then I just had to add sound and voice!!! Every step of the way I found someone at this site who had taken hours/weeks/months to write a tute on it and I can't thank them all enough.    
And although I've used a bunch of words to say nothing important, and I haven't really helped you Captain_Makin, I have to say....you came to the right place!!!!