[Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

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Goth Zagog-Thou
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

Oops, sorry Tenoh for not responding to ya.

Not sure what's happening with your install of Warzone then. 8.1 is what I run as well, and I've never had that problem occur. Kludgy video driver would be my best guess at this point.

And thanks for the vote of confidence. :) Plenty more to come!
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

Okay folks, Release-23 is available for download and testing. Get it while it's hot! Link to OneDrive Folder

I've changed download locations from Github to my OneDrive. Since I only plan to use OneDrive to host Campaign 4 and my other Warzone-related stuff, I have NO personal data there at all -- hence, no worry about security. Everything is read-only to everyone else anyway. ;)

I'll upload my other stuff (and the older Campaign 4 versions) to that location over the course of this evening. The link to my OneDrive is also under my Avatar next to the PM button.

Enjoy!
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

Ugh. A pretty serious oversight on my part will necessitate a bugfix release. Expect that release late this evening when I finalize it. Apologies to all.

That's what happens when real-life intrudes, and I forget to take notes. :annoyed:
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

Quck Changelog includes:
---------------------------------

- Repair the intended Transport Two Rescue event to play out like it should
- some AI refinements for M1 and M2
- After some research on how and why VTOL Aircraft work, we gave Chief Watts some more educated dialogue as to why Transport One is Condition-Zero. ;)

Stress testing is ongoing. Updated release should be out later today.
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Tenoh »

Woot, ill test it asap.
"No, you don't want to buy this Sh[beep]t from me. It shoots sideways, it was built by retard zombies in some f[beep]king outreach program." HL:G
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

Remember, I haven't uploaded the latest bigfix version yet. I'm human and require sleep. Didn't get to bed until 7am my time. Made my significant other a little unhappy about it too. ;)

(She's already over it, for the record. Just shook her head at me, chuckled and said "I see you're back in developer mode". I responded in the affirmative and said "Everything is once again right with the Multiverse".) Ahh, memories. :)

I didn't finish stress testing the latest changes, so I'll do that today. I have some menial housekeeping duties to perform (since I am a good mate and contribute when things need to be done), so we'll have another release to play with sometime this evening.
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

The bugfix release is beginning to turn into another one of those larger "point releases". I've got a notepad and a pen (yes, an actual notepad and an actual pen) of things I want to fix/add for Release-24, and some of it is creeping into v23b. I think I'll go ahead and just add v24's stuff in and do the release. Expect it soon.
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

Okay folks. Release-24 is available on my OneDrive. Link is the globe next to the private message button below my Avatar. Fresh out of the oven!

--------------
Changelog:
--------------

- Repaired the massive oversight on my part (introduced in Release-23) that made it impossible to rescue Transport Two. :oops:
- Further AI enhancements throughout M1 and M2's map-space letting us utilize units that were already there.
- Added beacons for the Survival Pods so that we can actually find them now. They are Survival Pods, after all. They want to be found.
- Chief Watts now has educated dialogue to explain why Transport One can't simply fly away once the Auto-Repair system gets the Transport to 100% health. (Thank you, Wikipedia).
- The "Changeover Event" (where Teams One and Two are lost, and Team Three takes over) now properly handles whether Transport Two has been destroyed or not and adjusts .. FINALLY. :stressed:
- Further streamlining of the map areas where AI units appear to be getting hung up on defenses. This has helped pathing performance by around 25% and general performance by 40%. Work will continue in this regard, as I believe I can squeeze an additional 50% general performance improvement simply by uncluttering things even more. Sometimes the best thing to do really IS remove things. *sigh*
- Updated the INTMESSAGES (when one clicks on a beacon in the game) to properly display what the objective is. And yes, they actually contain more useful information than in the past. These can be enhanced to contain even more information if desired. Pretty neat.

As always, report bugs, unwanted behavior, etc. in this forum thread. I'm always open to feature requests. Finishing the dataset port to the 3.2 branch is now going to be my main focus, as the enhancements to the JS API and Warzone as a whole on that branch are quite attractive.

Once the dataset is ported, the next step is moving Campaign 4 over to the JS API. Now that I have a very solid base with the VLO/SLO Campaign, moving it to JS will be both a challenge and a joy. Not impossible by any means -- in fact, the hard part was building it on vlo/slo/wrf .. the "old way" -- and it will take some time, certainly. But the advantages of JS are so myriad .. I honestly find JS a slice of heaven to work with in comparison.

We'll cross that bridge when we get there. ;)

In the meantime, enjoy v24, everyone.
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

Instead of starting a new topic, and since this is still technically dealing with Campaign 4, I want to shift gears a bit and turn the discussion (for the time being) toward porting the WUDS Dataset that Cam 4 uses over to 3.2.

The reason I need some discussion on this is I've run into a snag that I need some assistance with. I have been cleaning up the data files to make things generally easier to work with, and with that comes organization. The problem I have is with the Mechs. As I stated previously, my desire was to move them into their own namespace so as to be more easily recognizable to modders, etc. The dataset was working previous to my adding the modified Mechs, so I know this is the problem for certain.

This is the part that gets "Technical". Forgive me if it's difficult to follow along. I'll walk everyone through my process.

We start with Berg's version of the Mech mod, found here.

In the folder /anims, we change the filename "cybd_run.ani" to "mech_run.ani", then added

Code: Select all

	"mech_run.ani"		11
to anim.cfg. Up a level back into the parent directory.

In /components/bodies, we change the filenames of the pies to mech_ instead of cyb_ , because we don't want to overwrite anything that could be there when we merge the folders later. Up a level.

Same procedure for the .pie files in /weapons. mechbody.pie can stay as it is. I delete the mechbody.pie~ file, since it's a backup. Up two levels into the main folder.

go back into /anims, open mech_run.ani in a text editor. Make sure we're referencing mech_run.pie, and nothing else. If not, change it to read mech_run.pie. Save it and exit. In your file explorer, up a level. Merge all folders and files here with the main dataset folder and files.

We should be in WUDS_PROTOTYPE_FOLDER now. This is my work folder for the 3.2 port. (Remember, this is MY procedure .. I'm walking everyone through this so that we can see if I missed a step somewhere ... )

Open basic.wrf. In the

Code: Select all

directory	"components/bodies"
section, add

Code: Select all

file		IMD	"mech_run.pie"
file		IMD	"mech_std.pie"
Further down, in the

Code: Select all

directory	"anims"
section, add

Code: Select all

file		ANI	"mech_run.ani"
We should be good to go now, but we aren't. Warzone is crashing out with an access violation error about not being able to find some garbled-name .png file. Not very helpful at all, is it. Anyone have an idea what's going on? [EDIT] And yes, I checked the texpage names in the .pies. Everything is fine there.
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by NoQ »

Could you post a mod that crashes? Soo~ much easier to investigate (and, actually, to post).
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

I'm starting to think that isn't what is wrong.

I removed the Mech stuff from basic.wrf and anim.cfg & deleted the Mech-related files, and it still dies right when we get to displaying the game world.

I make backups every time I change something -- and the previous backup works fine still (before I added the Mech stuff). I will re-add the Mech stuff to THAT backup and try running that particular version and see what happens. If not, I'll upload it and you can take a look.
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

Well, I was right. That's not the problem. Looks like I'll be troubleshooting tonight. The Mech stuff wasn't the issue.
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Rman Virgil »

.

Thought to comment sooner. Was inspired over the last couple weeks to work compulsively on one of my projects. A natural break came up this week and the urge to get back to Cam 4 arose in its stead.

Over the course of being away from playing the latest version of Cam 4, I thought it was just as well so as not to monopolize feedback with my perspectives. In any case.....

Continueing with some reflections started in v. 22 feedback that hold in v. 24 - as well those insights just arisen in my v. 24 play experience.

I'll divide them into three brief sections: Story, GPMs & Mapping.

~ Story:

* When last I mentioned gameplay suspension for mission briefs it was only at completion of a mission and before begining the next mission and not for Sit Rep briefs within missions. I wasn't clear on that score first time around.

* I've found myself wondering about the state of the world preceding the opening of Cam 4. The Project, the factions, what has brought us to this far flung region so distant from Project HQ in Colorado, etc. ?

The Pumpkin Cam addressed this state of the world, setting the stage before opening up with missions proper, in 2 ways. The opening montage FMV brief with voice over narrative which is then partly reused in the WZ Comic, with some added details. This narrative backstory primes the player imagination with texture and density in conjuring the world within which gameplay unfolds. The immersive visual art of the mapping, the new eye candy of units and structures, these alone will not trigger this imagination density primeing. The extant briefs, along with their well balanced and diverse conflict opportunities, will support an imagination already thus primed at the outset.

This last is not the same as crafting, through suggestive omission, a thread of mystery throughout which contributes to creating that tantalizing atmosphere which drives immersion desire to momentum.

~ GPMs:

* I like that the structure of Cam 4 allows for rewarding canny coordinated maneuvers between multiple combat groups such that inferior force strength has a chance against entrenched superior opposition. I find the challenges, and variety, of such asymmetric engagements fresher than typical monolithic clashes.

One thing I have noted is that when my combat groups clash with the opposition, thier units donot bird dog mine when I retreat. Ever. So far. Which amounts to 2 consequences. One - if I'm weakened, they do not press the advantage. Two - I cannot set up ambushes.

* When I attain control of the NE Base there are some issues.

First - I enter from the north west. The base is divided in half by a scripting boundry such that my units cannot move across to the eastern part of the base.

Second - None of these structs are functional: pumping derricks, factory, power gens, research facilities.

~ Mapping:

* So far, all my maneuver clashes and challenges are at sea level. An occasional dealing with the oppostion having the High Ground advantage (minimum 3 tile vertical elevation) would break up the combat flow in an interesting way, I think. Perhaps, you've done this in the later missions I've yet to get to.


- Regards, Rman. :)
.
Last edited by Rman Virgil on 02 Nov 2014, 07:28, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Goth Zagog-Thou »

Hi, Rman. :)

I'm aware of what you're talking about now. My apologies for missing it all this time. :stressed: I've been working on Release-25 on and off, and something I came across was that the entire M4-M5 arc was disabled. That's why that entire half of the map would not open up.

I apologize to everyone that this issue has affected, especially in light of the fact that you and others have reported this issue to me numerous times. It never occurred to me that this was the problem in the first place.

Just ... argh. Something so tiny like two lines of code (place beacon and an event trigger) being commented out caused all of this.

That's what happens when something gets forgotten about. O_o :oops:
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Re: [Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

Post by Rman Virgil »

.

Hi Goth. :)

That reminds me of an aphorism generally attributed to French novelist Gustave Flaubert and greatly popularized by one of the masters of modern architecture, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. I combine it with its more recent variant into a single adage:
God is in the detail and so to is the devil.
:shock:

.
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