(Review Completed) [SP] Abandoned Armies

[THobson]

So you got the conversation about getting the civis to repair the lodge etc. but no scene and the civis are still following you.

Did you get any text to go with the voices? Do you now have a green tick for the first group of civis?  Did the soldier with the first group of civis join you?

Do you now have an objective to find a second group of civis?  If you have then the mission will still work, let them follow you, they may get killed and give you a red cross but only if you kill them will there be any serious consequence.  I wonder if SANCANIM is doing something to my cutscenes.  This fits with you not being able to see the intro.  Did you get a cutscene when you picked up the first group of civis? when you arrived at the lodge? when you spoke with Tatyana?

If you do not have an objective to find a second set of civis then the mission is not playable in anything like the form I built it.

When I read your first post about the problem I assumed I had screwed up and not allowed for the possibility of Alexi doing the journey to the first group of civis on foot.  I have just checked the script and I had in fact taken that possibility into account.  So this is begining to look very wierd indeed.

[Sir Test-A-Lot]

So you got the conversation about getting the civis to repair the lodge etc. but no scene and the civis are still following you.

No....nothing about the civvies repairing the lodge.

When I go to get the civvies, I get the cutscene, the voices work fine, the text works fine.

When I go to drop them at the lodge, we all get out and that's it. No green tick. I do get a red x if I kill them. They disembark, and continue following me.

Do you now have an objective to find a second group of civis?

Nope.

The problem with the Intro is not your fault. That's a serious screw-up with my ofp somewhere. It happens all the time, even with the simplest missions that don't even have Kegety's addons at minimum.

You didn't use BAS_OPFOR or fml_civilians in your mission, correct?   These two addons are trouble for me, but it isn't the fault of your mission.

I've been playing your mission the last few times without any mods, so I don't think SANCANIM is the problem.

I could just be the fact that my PC is full of holes, as it where.  :-\

[THobson]

You didn't use BAS_OPFOR or fml_civilians in your mission, correct?

I have no idea what these are.  Me and addons are like maiden aunts and sex.  Holding hands makes babies right?  I have a chastity belt on my hard drive.

What version of OFP are you running?  I have looked through the scripts to see what instruction might be causing that script to fail but which has not occurred in earlier scripts.

My prime candidate at the moment is the while command.  I am not sure in which version of OFP this became a valid instruction but if you have an earlier version that would explain the current situation - but to the inability to see the intro.

[Sir Test-A-Lot]

What version of OFP are you running?

1.96.  


 :-\ I'd like to know if this has happened to anyone else?

[Goettschwan]

I played a good part of the mission with Sanctuary Anim Patrol Pack (SANCANIM) enabled and had no problems with it. 1.96 Ofp here, too. However there seem to be three different anim packs of sancanim,nowadays, and i can't say if there is another that doesn't do it right.
I have tried several times with tatyana and three times with the lodge, in different approaches, and had no problems whatsoever neither getting the cutscene nor inside the cutscene.

But due to a nice doubleclick on the missions name i had to play all the way again, and as i am now where i was i have seen new things :

Is there a moment when the two sides will attack each other without my intervention ?
I ask this because i went carstealing in La trinite, and jogged down to clean doudan, down to houdan with the doudan truck , and when i returned to la trinite i heard the engines of the northron convoy. I waited out of sight until they left, and let 9 get to the stolen truck we parked outside the city.
I went on foot, and 9 tells me that there is a LAW Soldier near the church and slots him.
Now,after that i checked the village, and there was not one soul inside it as usual.
I got some message about another savegame, and i went outside the city, sending 9 home with the ammo truck.
Now after waiting outside the side for the arrival and departure of he southron convoy i went inside the city , and,  Tadaa,  a whole squad in company of some tank and a bradley is waiting on the south side of the city (and i hear the northron convoy approaching). I will watch this a bit, it could end up funny (i am actually watching the buildup of forces here, ain't I ?)

Whenever i get into a jeep/MG as gunner and the car is stopped the car starts bouncing heavily up and down , pivoting around the axis going through the doors.
This makes it near impossible to correctly aim the MG. I will look into it to determine if this is in conjunction with Sancanim Pack.

The Bungalow at the lodge, after repairing, has a problem with the placement,
if i walk onto the veranda instead the character walks until he is waisthigh in the concrete. If i go prone i can even see all the civies under the house. Also something i will look into without the sancanim pack.

Found out the hard way that enemy tanks can see and are able to kill you inside the market houses in La trinite. I don't know if this is planned like this. I would understand it because its a 50cal and the building is of wood, but the fact that he knows you are inside and targets you precisely makes me think the wall does not exist for him.

Thanks, StG

[Mikero]

>I am not an Emporer

then you misread? my quote from a famous fable.

The Emporer's courtiers design him a new costume, full of feathers, gold, jewellry, stunning satins. The Emporer has doubts, but all the 'expert's, all the 'knowledgeable' people of the court wax lyrical over the new designs, how good it looks. "If we just add a peacock feather here,,,," It's all in their imagination, it's not real. They became engrossed in the detail and forget to look in the mirror.

On the day of the Inauguration (or whatever) out steps the Emporer in his new clothes, stark naked. The populace and crowd are too cowed to mention, so they go along with this, until a small boy points out the obvious.

It's the innocence of not knowing better that makes NON scripters valuable. Fussing over flagpoles until someone points out, there is no flag!

But, your earlier post is the right one, I'm not concerned with pre-knowledge that you cant (tm) wobble a handgun. I just want the handgun to wobble and shake.

[THobson]

Test-A-Lot:  I am afraid I am stuck.  I have no idea what is causing your problem - sorry.  1.96 is what I am running and the mission has had quiet a few beta testers none of whim had this particular problem.  I am very interested in knowing about this issue.  If you do find a solution please let me know.

StG:

Is there a moment when the two sides will attack each other without my intervention

There should not be.  I have let it run for nearly a week to check that it doesn't.  So you have the southern convy at La Trinite and the northern convoy is approaching?  That should only happen if the southern convoy has been badly damaged.  I would be interested in any details on this that you can remember.

mikero:  I know the story, but in the version I know no one dares tell the emperor because they are frightenend of his importance and reputation.  It was in that context I made my comment.

[macguba]

But due to a nice doubleclick on the missions name  i had to play all the way again

That's happened to me a few times ... VERY annoying.

but the fact that he knows you are inside and targets you precisely makes me think the wall does not exist for him.

It probably doesn't.   There is a recurring problem in OFP of the AI being able to see through walls.    There is nothing much you can do about this except to remember that it is very dangerous to be inside a building.    I console myself with the the thought that this fault is the price we have to pay for the scale and openness of the game.

@Sir-Test-A-Lot.   I think you should clean up your addons folder and play this mission with no mods.   I suspect everything will then work.    This stuff about the civvies and the lodge is critical to the mission so if there is a real problem which nobody else has found then THobson needs to know about.   On the other hand if its a combination of the game going mad, your computer being evil and some mods being less than robust, then it all be put down to experience.

[THobson]

StG

squad in company of some tank and a bradley is waiting on the south side of the city

I have been thinking about this.

This sounds like one of the guard group that have turned up - presumable the LAW guy spotted your team before they dropped him and the guard group has turned up to investigate.  It sounds to me though that this is a northron guard group so I don't expect any action when the northron convoy arrives, if the guard group sticks around long enough to meet the soutron convoy then the war will start.  On the face of it that is okay, but what puzzles me is why there was a lone LAW soldier in La Trinite in the first place.

[Goettschwan]

Well, you asked for details.
What i have done before the LAW gunner incident :
Stealing the bmp and the repair truck from La trinite
Jogging to dourdan. Eliminating the garrison and stealing their truck (no kills until here)
Via truck to Houdan. After picking up the guy returning via dourdan to
La trinite. I hear engines north, so i stop well before the south of the city, and get me an the guy out to hide.  After a while there are engine sounds going farther and farther, so i recon: the northrons left.  I tell 9 to get back in the truck, he tells me there is a law soldier at the church. (I investigated, it seems it has been an AA soldier with a strela, i cannot find another body here but then i investigated after the showdown, see below)
After some time there are sounds from the south (in the meantime 9 has left with the ammo truck) and i thought its the southron convoy, but it wasn't the convoy like i know it.  I have seen minimum 8 soldiers,  one with AA, two with LAW/RPG, i have seen  a tank but ducked away too fast to be positive about any type, I am positive about the bradley though. They stopped at the south end of the city (at the level of the church; on the road or near it) and did nothing.
Thats when i heared the northron convoy and did my post. I am positive about it due to the flag and i have seen it very good from my position, it is the habitual convoy. (BMP2,Trucks, Vulcan at the end)
I have lain in wait to watch and take screenshots ever since  my last post because they didn't like each other  ;D got the we've got them fighting message as soon as they made contact.

Theory of mine is that if it was the strela soldier he was awfully close to the wall of the church, could it be he got stuck in the wall like it happens to me all the time in La Trinite ?
Theory two, its the guard group en route to dourdan, and then when they arrived in dourdan the law gunner told them i was there, so they went to inspect.

Thanks, StG

edit: if i say tank i do mean a main battle tank, just to be clear it is not a vulcan that came from the south but imho an abrams.

[Hawkins]

Hmm, this one has been sitting on my HD for sometime. I downloaded the newest one and took a spin.

I didn't complete it (obviously since I only played a bit over an hour ) but so far I've been so amazed of the wideness of the mission. THIS is what OFP was built for and THIS is something that has been waiting to get done since the game was released.
Now that I've got that off, here's a few pointers.
I didn't read any of the replies mentioned above (duh, would have taken sometime ;D ) so these might have been fixed/reworked, but here goes.
When I get to the lodge to get the first group of civies (was it sgt. Vasiek who was with them?) and start humping back to the mountain hideout, some of the civies refuse to board my truck. Two of them just stand at the back of it and Vasiek stands a bit further away, his gun still on his back. He continues to keep his gun on his back throughout the way back to the hideout.
Once I come back to the hideout once more, I go looking for the corporals. I find them, and number 8 (sorry forgot his name, he was the medic) gets sent back to the hideout. The rest of use continue towards Houdan to look for the two MIA civies. On the way we have ran into a group of soldiers. The poor bastards were taken down before they knew what hit them. I grab whatever I find might be useful (LAW's, RPG's and a stinger) and move on.
A few minutes later, when we're almost at Houdan, I get reports of a Abrams and a BMP2. Reaction force? I let them go, we can't handle the Abrams.
I get to the abandoned farm west of Houdan. Since I have a nasty habit of being very curious, we check it out. A lone soldier guards the road leading up to the barn. You can count him out, and then 3 more come up from the road. Quickly take them out, I think they didn't really realise I was there. Excellent.
Then the most unexpected happen. When I move along to check out the dead bodies of the 3-man patrol, I get shot. Now, that was bound to happen at some point, but what amazed me was that the loon had an AK and shot me from around 500m on the hill through thick fog! Well, there's the way it ought to be and there's the way it is, I revert back to my last savegame (just before I killed the lone guard at the farm) and try again. I execute everything as I did before, but this time I leave the darn bodies alone. ;D
At this point, I saved and called it for the moment, I will most definitely go back and continue, so you probably haven't heard the last of me. ;D

Oh, forgot to say, but somehow this reminds me of the Mad Max series. I don't know why, but it does. The story which was well displayed on the intro kinda made me feel that it has some similiarities. But anyway, so far I've loved every minute of it.

[THobson]

StG
Thank you very helpful.  I think I now understand.  You stired something up in Dourdan and they came looking for you - why it was only one LAW guy I don't know - maybe you killed all the rest.  He saw you and some guard units turn up just in time to give the northron convoy the good news.

Theory of mine is that if it was the strela soldier he was awfully close to the wall of the church, could it be he got stuck in the wall like it happens to me all the time in La Trinite ?
Theory two, its the guard group en route to dourdan, and then when they arrived in dourdan the law gunner told them i was there, so they went to inspect.

The first of these cannot happen, and if it did the convoy would be stuck until the guy got on board - it would certainly not leave without him.  I am with you on theory two.

Hawkins:

some of the civies refuse to board my truck.

My apologies.  It was a typo on my part - fixed for the new version.  The reason I did not spot it when was testing is that I only ever took one of my squad with me so there was plenty of room in the truck - even after taking into account the 5 game logics I inadvertently left there.

An AK from 500m?  I can only apologise on behalf of BIS.  I have done nothing special to these units.

At this point, I saved and called it for the moment, I will most definitely go back and continue, so you probably haven't heard the last of me.

I hope I haven't and I hope you enjoy it.

I don't know anything about Mad Max - all this has come out of my sick mind.

But anyway, so far I've loved every minute of it.

Wonderful.  Thanks

[macguba]

A long time ago I also had the Mad Max thought.   (Series of films set in a post-apocalyptic near future.   Lots of custom made dune buggies with mounted machine guns.)   I'm not quite sure why - it's nothing to do with the post apocaptic thing per se.   I think it's more to do with scope and the fact that nowhere is safe.

Regarding versions.   I think you should post a new version before tackling the cutscenes again.   They will change anyway, as a result of comments.    No point in redoing them time after time.

[Goettschwan]

I played a bit more. I borrowed myself a T80 from the northrons, apparently they thought it was not anymore in running condition after some RPGs.  ;D
 Next thing on the list is pay the airport a visit.
I just got the message "You have got another savegame" another time, this is the second time. Its actually me, too, who destroyed the southron convoy, it was totally intact and coming to la trinite.
Fighting has nearly stopped around me, only occasional firefights and tank guns.
Thobson, exactly how many helicopters are in the mission?
Because the man in Houdan said "each side has one", so , well , i shot one down, i think i heard the other go down, and now theres another one audible ? Maybe i didn't hear it go down and something else exploded.

But when i returned to the mountaintop (just west of the lodge, the beginning of the plateau, see photo) where i have told my men to park the stolen repair truck, ammo truck and medic bmp i found something which i would like to show you,  
Hence the photo, i don't know how to explain it shorter.
Getting in and driving a bit forward helped, there are all normal now.
Thobson, you are not using some kind of Quicksand script, aren't you ? ? ?
 

Thanks, StG

[Goettschwan]

I just used the SAVE function from the pause screen menu, and the book with the objectives from the map screen has disappeared ? I used one of the radio savegames shortly afterwards, and after a retry to that savegame everything was okay (i.e. the book returned to its old place)