ECP ideas/suggestions

[General Barron]

First off, let me compliment all the guys working on the ECP mod for their great work. It definately adds a lot of atmosphere to the game! Now, with that said, here is how I think it could be better:

   About vehicle fires

I love the fires, but there are a couple small problems. First off, there is an explosion sound that is played randomly, which is fine, except that it uses the same sound effect as a tank shell impacting! Sometimes it makes me think that there are tanks attacking somewhere. This should definately use a different sound, to avoid confusion methinks.

   More about vehicle fires

Now the big beef. The fires look great when a tank is destroyed. Sparks, big flames, billowing smoke, etc. Looks great and realistic. But then when a car dies, why does it also have the same effect?!?!? I can understand huge billowing flames and smoke from a tank full of ammunition, but a car should only have a small engine fire. Not this Hollywood style BS.  :-\ There should be a lesser burning effect for cars, trucks, busses, and any other vehicle that lacks weapons or jet fuel. Also, perhaps you could check the amount of ammo/fuel/ammo cargo/fuel cargo in a vehicle when it dies, and adjust the flame effect accordingly?

   Building fires

You could also apply a burning effect (minus the electrical sparks) to buildings that are destroyed. I dont' think I need to say much more on that.

   Simple AI bugfix

Now to tute my own horn! I wrote a script to fix an annoying bug in the AI. Check it out here: http://www.ofpec.com/editors/resource_view.php?id=608
The script would have to be slightly modified to work from an init eventhandler, which I could do if you wanted. This would be a huge improvement to the game!

   Turning off parts of the ECP

Perhaps there is a way to do this already, and I didn't read carefully enough, but.... There should be a way for mission editors to "turn off" certain parts of the ECP in their missions. Specifically, I'm thinking of the "random weather" script. I don't know about anyone else, but personally, I specifically select the weather that I think would fit each part of my mission best. I dont' like the idea of someone playing in nice, sunny weather due to the ECP when my mission is supposed to be foggy and stormy. Just like I wouldn't want a "random daytime" script running.

Also, it would be nice to be able to turn off things such as tank shockdust, helo downwash, AT backblast, etc. if the editor has already included such effects in his/her mission.

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Hmmmmm..... well, I guess that's all for now. Keep up the good work!

[snYpir]

GB, thank you for the vebose ideas.

I agree with your first 4 suggestions - absolutely. But - the ECP is struggling to survive at the moment. It is a 2-3 man show, and the majority of time is spent fixing bugs let alone adding/refining features. It was a side-project, a hobby, to keep a few of us interested in the game, and it sort of grew.

Now there are many good suggestions being made (now that everyone can see the obvious potential ECP represents) but not enough dudes here to make it all happen.

Version 1.07 (finally) brings MP stability to the ECP. 1.071 will be released tonight, fixing some very minor issues. And then it is 'quiet time' while the ECP team regroups, and determines if we have the will/manpower to continue.

Unless we get some talented assistance - from people such as yourself - the ECP will stop progressing in the very near future. I am about to embark on a massive campaign to recruit, but it is quality assistance from people with scripting experience that we need. These people are almost always occupied elsewhere.

What do you say? Would you like to join the team? The ECP is very simple in design, whilst individual scripts can be as complicated as required. Your suggestions are all doable, but you may have to do it yourself hehe

As I have said to quite a few interested people with good ideas over the past few days, over to you

Perhaps there is a way to do this already, and I didn't read carefully enough, but.... There should be a way for mission editors to "turn off" certain parts of the ECP in their missions.

Any ECP variable (in ECP_Settings.sqs) set in a mission (via init.sqs for example) will replace any that is set by the user in a settings file. This information is in the 1.07 readme (for the first time).

[General Barron]

What do you say? Would you like to join the team?

Count me in  
However, I have absolutely NO experience with multiplayer scripting whatsoever, so be warned  

Your suggestions are all doable, but you may have to do it yourself hehe

I don't think that will be a problem

Sounds good to me. Not sure how much time I can spend on it (I really should study more....), but I'm sure it would be better than nothing. And I guess I'll have to de-pbo and look more closely at the code too, so I can catch up to speed with the rest of 'yall.

PM me the info, and we'll go from there