Domination Fixes and Updates

[Halli~SPARTA~]

Zeno will remove all maps but the Sm fx from US domination server as it was having problems yesterday but the UK server with same Map had None.

 

THis will solve the problems (with hope).

 

As for Ammo box not sure what the deal is but Frank likes blowing up assets I guess and maybe Frank became red, bad Frank.

[Morgan]

We had some issues last night... my game crashed/froze 6 times in less than 20 minutes. Crashes were rampant throughout the server population.

 

Noticed that the same old problem with AI mysteriously populating the userlist (especially when they are sitting in the top Engineer Team leader slot) was back again, and again it made the server terribly flaky.

 

I punted the AI out of the top slot and everything smoothed right out pretty much. Didnt crash again after that... this was a bug we encountered pretty early on, but I havent seen it since 1.03 came out.

 

So, might be worth checking if the server seems to be getting flaky/touchy.

[PANiC]

usually crash about every 20 mins or so on the US server, UK was rock solid all last night for me

[MH6~SPARTA~]

C130 modders early in game were talking about the turning radius and used a truck to turn it.

 

Yeah I tried that, didn't work too well. I may try a different method later on though.

 

As for the ammo boxes; that's because they're client side.

 

I also agree with Morgan about the AI causing instability. Seems like whenever I have an AI for my squad leader, weird shit starts happening.

[Zeno~SPARTA~]

I deleted all custom maps except the MH6's map, the server ran all through the day, until I reset it with a password, Then it ran perfectly.

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Anyone got any experience setting up Arma2 dedicated servers? 'Cause I need one for testing purposes and it's being a right pain in the ass.

 

Edit: Nevermind got it working. Had to put the ded. server on a separate PC, just wouldn't work having both client and server on one.

Edited August 28, 2009 by MH6

[Fenrir]

Dno if it was suggested or not (so many posts ^^ ), but for rewards, could you perhaps find a way of making them build up? Instead of having the chance of getting an A 10 after the first side mission you do? Might be good if it starts of with lav's, AAVP's etc, and then builds up to MBT's and Air support.

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Dno if it was suggested or not (so many posts ^^ ), but for rewards, could you perhaps find a way of making them build up? Instead of having the chance of getting an A 10 after the first side mission you do? Might be good if it starts of with lav's, AAVP's etc, and then builds up to MBT's and Air support.

 

That could work.

 

Oh, and I had an interesting idea today. Here are the results.

 

BLU-82 ("Daisy Cutter") deployed over target from a C-130J Hercules

 

 

 

Moment of impact

 

 

 

Smoke begins to clear

 

 

 

A 328ft-diameter clearing

 

 

 

Plenty of room for an LZ! (The two X's mark the edges of the clearing)

 

 

 

I would like to include this in the Sparta map (with a time limit restriction, say, once per hour), but I know some of you guys dislike air support. Still, it'd be useful for creating an LZ where it'd be otherwise impossible to land. We could even deploy the C-130's cargo after and setup a FOB. True, it could be used on a town, but aside from killing infantry it doesn't really do much damage (and again, it'd be once per hour or so). Whatchu' guys think?

 

Edit: Oh, and I also added the option to HALO jump instead of ejecting normally (normal eject = immediate opening of a parachute that you can't steer--sucks when you're above 600ft). So now the pilot can fly the C-130 above 10,000ft to protect itself from AA fire and the troops won't be stuck parachuting for 20 minutes.

Edited August 29, 2009 by MH6

[Zeno~SPARTA~]

MH6 I think there is a memory leak, can you double check the body clean up in the existing version

 

Cheers

 

[MH6~SPARTA~]

MH6 I think there is a memory leak, can you double check the body clean up in the existing version

 

Cheers

 

Will do. I think that's something Xeno has already fixed though, wish he'd just release the damn thing.

[Lightspeed~SPARTA~]

whether it is included or not, that daisy cutter was impressive.

[MH6~SPARTA~]

whether it is included or not, that daisy cutter was impressive.

 

Thanks.

[Zeno~SPARTA~]

I had a go on the C130 on a training mission that Fenrir is working on. If you are on the left taxiway and try to turn, it will not complete its turn on base. There is no reverse thrust (I think you can change the pitch on a prop plane to achieve this effect, but I am not 100% sure)

[MH6~SPARTA~]

I had a go on the C130 on a training mission that Fenrir is working on. If you are on the left taxiway and try to turn, it will not complete its turn on base. There is no reverse thrust (I think you can change the pitch on a prop plane to achieve this effect, but I am not 100% sure)

Yep, that's why I added the ability for the pilot to manually rotate the C130. Basically it just spins on the spot like a tank. It's lame I know, but it works well enough, and you only ever really need it for the 90-degree taxiway turns. The only way I know of to truly fix the C130's turning is to change 'wheelSteeringSensitivity', which can only be done by an addon, not a map. Let's hope Bohemia might actually change that one variable themselves next patch...

 

I could try to make a tow tractor or something but I doubt it'd work very well, as there's no way to attach an object to another and allow rotation at that point (like a trailer hooked to a truck). So, when the tractor moved, the aircraft would kind of swing out behind it like it was welded to the tractor instead of hooked to it.

 

Edit: Oh and I added illumination flares. It dispenses three flares at three second intervals, and they're quite a bit brighter than the regular M203 flares. The end effect is pretty sweet looking.

Edited August 29, 2009 by MH6

[Zeno~SPARTA~]

GJ bud

[MH6~SPARTA~]

C-130's can now also deploy decoy flares in addition to illumination flares. These decoy flares will attempt to misdirect any inbound AA missiles.

 

Countermeasures are lovely...

[Durka-Durka~SPARTA~]

Excellent MH6, these Ilum flares will give our pilots something to do on night missions. How's the performance on a dedi server for all this stuff being added on?

 

As long as all these additions keep the emphasis on ground-pounding infantry tactics, I'm all for it.

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Excellent MH6, these Ilum flares will give our pilots something to do on night missions. How's the performance on a dedi server for all this stuff being added on?

 

Runs fine here, and I'm hosting my ded. server on an old ass Pentium4. Since there will only be two C-130s at any given time, nothing I've added can occur in such a frequency or amount as to strain the server. Even dropping a stream of 10xBLU-82s doesn't hurt anything. There is a minor FPS drop on the client side of things though--that's quite a number of explosions happening simultaneously, after all. Still, if I include them in the live version, they will be restricted to a few times per hour.

 

Also, the M270 MLRS is fucking badass (it's working now).

 

Still need ya'lls input about whether you want the daisy cutters in the live version or not. I'd love them personally, if for no other reason than to be able to clear a forested area.

Edited August 30, 2009 by MH6

[Grimwolf]

Is it possible while you have the MHQ in the C-130 to spawn in it? Jus thinking about having a mobile spawn you can HALO jump out of sounds intriguing.

[Morgan]

Hehe... an orbiting spawn point would be uber kewl except I wonder if the game would see the mhq as being in transit and disallow teleporting...

[Durka-Durka~SPARTA~]

Personally, for me, I'm still not convinced I want a carpet-bombing scenario in Dom, but I'm more than welcome to have an open mind and talk to the other moderators to get their input.

 

Think we can take it down to only one C-130? That should be sufficient for all our needs, which is really a troop/vehicle transport anyway. The only other use I see for it is for dropping Ilum at night, which will come in handy soon...

[Morgan]

 

 

Edited August 30, 2009 by Morgan~SPARTA~

[MH6~SPARTA~]

Personally, for me, I'm still not convinced I want a carpet-bombing scenario in Dom, but I'm more than welcome to have an open mind and talk to the other moderators to get their input.

 

Think we can take it down to only one C-130? That should be sufficient for all our needs, which is really a troop/vehicle transport anyway. The only other use I see for it is for dropping Ilum at night, which will come in handy soon...

 

Yeah I can delete one of em.

 

I wouldn't really consider a BLU-82 a carpet-bomb; though I do have to create multiple explosions in order to take down trees effectively (why they took trees out of the 'nearObjects' function is beyond me...if that method still worked I could have one relatively weak explosion but still clear out a lot of trees). Still, it's only real combat use would be to take out stationary targets, such as D-30 installations or structures. Or were you referring to the MLRS?

 

My ultimate goal with the C-130 was to be able to deploy an entire Forward Operating Base, anywhere.

 

Since, personally, I would like to see less "park the MHQ outside of town and run in one by one" and more "deploy an FOB a couple clicks out, and assault in co-ordinated groups using ground transport with armored vehicle escorts and manually operated artillery as support"; but that's just me.

 

Is it possible while you have the MHQ in the C-130 to spawn in it? Jus thinking about having a mobile spawn you can HALO jump out of sounds intriguing.

 

Thanks for mentioning that, as I had forgotten to set 'mr1(2)_in_air' to true when the MHQ is being transported by C-130. I could just leave that variable to false and see how it works, though. I have a feeling it will leave you plummeting to Earth without a parachute.

 

If ya'll really do want to HALO out of a MHQ in a flying C-130 though, I can easily add the functionality.

 

P.S.- Nice videos Morgan. I use that attachTo command for sticking vehicles in the C-130 cargo bay, but attaching weapons on the outside is kind of ugly looking tbh. Otherwise I may have made an AC-130 Spectre already.

Edited August 30, 2009 by MH6

[Halli~SPARTA~]

C-130's can now also deploy decoy flares in addition to illumination flares. These decoy flares will attempt to misdirect any inbound AA missiles.

 

 

Countermeasures are lovely...

 

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[MH6~SPARTA~]

Love those angel flares. I wish I could make the in-game ones look a bit more like those, but I'm afraid so much smoke would cause some insane lag.

 

Oh, I actually found a way to destroy trees using script commands, so I lowered the explosive power of the BLU-82. This should help eliminate client-side lag but still allow it to fulfill its purpose. It could still be used as a weapon, but it's nowhere near as lethal anymore. At the moment it's akin to a couple Mk82s. The end result is a nice circular clearing in the middle of a forest. Since the BLU-82 is not so devastating anymore, I'd like to include it in the Sparta server's map, if that's cool with you guys.

 

I've also setup a system for flares so they'll deploy automatically whenever they detect an incoming missile. Though they can also be fired manually if needed. That way you have some protection when trying to airdrop cargo and can't actively fire the flares.

 

I'm also thinking about adding green/red lights and a message signifying when to parajump. Basically the pilot would be flying towards the target, and when the plane is over the drop zone, he hits the Jump button. Red light goes green, cargo ramp opens, and the script writes "Go, go, go!" to chat. Once the plane has passed the drop zone, ramp closes, light goes red.

Edited August 30, 2009 by MH6