Pro's and Con's

[nominesine]

I've noticed that a lot of people frown upon the idea to create a camera and run a MP-cutscene/intro directly in the init file of a MP mission. Despite this fact I've seen it done in several missions (and has done so myself a few times without problems).

Can someone explain to me what's so bad about using the init.sqs as a camera script?!? To me it seems practical, since the init is launched on every computer right at the start, without delay. But I suppose I missed something...  ;D

Note to moderators: I put this in general, rather than MP, because I suppose the answer aplies to SP editing as well.

[macguba]

People who play MP missions, are, in general, phillistines.    They are not interested in plot, character or atmosphere - they just want to hide in bushes.    Cutscenes interfere with their ability to hide in bushes - or indeed run around not hiding in bushes, depending upon their style of play - which is what makes them unpopular.

Either pander to people who wish to enjoy OFP to the full extent of its capability by including extensive cutscenes in MP missions, or pander to people who wish to gain pleasure by playing OFP while simultaneously excluding from their universe many of the best aspects of the game by not having cutscenes.    The former will allow you to gain respect from connoisseurs of the game like me, and the latter will mean that your mission will be played by the masses.    

Choose.

There is however a technical point equally applicable to SP and MP, connoiseurs and morons alike.    It is tedious to have to sit through a cutscene which you have seen before.    Since Intros can be skipped, and cutscenes cannot, it is generally desirable that "initial cutscenes" be done as Intros rather than cutscenes in the mission.    

In addition, an opening cutscene is usually a bad idea in terms of the pacing of the the mission:  you have had all the delays and background of getting the mission started, and when it starts you want it actually to start:  at that point a cutscene is frequently sub-optimal.    Getting the mission and Briefing is Slow, so now you want Fast.    In other words, don't do opening cutscenes:   put it in the Intro and Briefing.

[CrashnBurn]

Only one reason strikes me as pertinent, and that's the fact that the init.sqs is an event based script, and cannot contain scripting arguments, which are very common to any script.

For example, if you have an actor in your cutscene who says something, you may want to check if he's alive in the script before his dialogue happens and goto another section of the script if he isn't. You can't do that in the init.sqs. It does not accept arguments. So, if your script is just a simple list of commands, I guess you could put it in the init, but bis never did, and that's probably the best reason not to do it right there.

[nominesine]

It is tedious to have to sit through a cutscene which you have seen before.    Since Intros can be skipped, and cutscenes cannot, it is generally desirable that "initial cutscenes" be done as Intros rather than cutscenes in the mission.    

I'm also a big fan of MP missions with a story, and comfort myself with the fact that it's always possible to include a "skip intro" check box in the MP setup. Anyway, glad to hear that more people than me enjoy the finer aspects of OFP gaming, like cutscenes, story and voice acting.

I take it from the answers in this thread so far that there is no technical reason to avoid using the init.sqs for the cutscene? Right?!?

[StonedSoldier]

my only gripe with cutscenes in MP is that they tend to push the filesize up, so if you can include sounds, camera and dialoge without filling up the file too much then go for it....i like my OFP missions to have some sort of purpose

[macguba]

I wouldn't run a cutscene from init.sqs.   Probably better to call the cutscene script from init.sqs.

And I'm delighted to see there seems to be a market for it.  

[nominesine]

For example, if you have an actor in your cutscene who says something, you may want to check if he's alive in the script before his dialogue happens and goto another section of the script if he isn't. You can't do that in the init.sqs. It does not accept arguments.

This is not correct. I've used different loops and goto commands in the same init.sqs.  After the first intro cutscene I kill the camera and tell the script to @wait so that the players can start to interact with the AI. When they reach the next cutscene I create another camera in the init.sqs. Depending on what actions was taken by the players, the script then chooses between two different paths (using loops and goto) to run the apropriate dialogue between AI and human player. It works fine.

I did this because I wanted to give the player a chance to interact with things that happens in the intro/cutscene.

I've released a simplified SP version of this. It's included in my campaign Finlandsky Vokzal. unPbo mission #2 and have a look at the init.sqs.

[Zombie]

As for me, I only make MP missions, and I always make an intro cutscene.  If it is short, like 10 seconds or so, I don't include an option to disable.  If it is longer then I usually do.  If nothing else, an intro cutscene shows the area of play by making a quick camera pass over the area.
  I also call the intro from the init.sqs, I name my intro scenes movie.sqs  

[nominesine]

Thank's for all the quick responses. Good to hear that other people share my view on intro's. But my question was not about CALLING the cutscene from init.sqs. It was about  USING init.sqs directly, instead of making an intro.sqs. I wanted to know if there is some special problems connected with the init.sqs, that makes it different from other scripts. So far I understand that the answer is: No.

my only gripe with cutscenes in MP is that they tend to push the filesize up, so if you can include sounds, camera and dialoge without filling up the file too much then go for it....i like my OFP missions to have some sort of purpose

I usually try to keep my missions below 1 Mb. Average 500-600 Kb. Maximum I think was 1.5 Mb. ThatÂ's 2-5 minutes of dialogue, 1-2 pictures in the briefing, and some custom SFX or radio chatter. It takes a little time while you stare at the "Sending..." screen, otherwise I've never experienced any problems. But I tend to make missions with the purpose of playing them in our LAN-group. We are only 2-4 people, sitting on high end computers and with fast connections. In a 56k environment I suppose I would have to change my habits.