[Campaign 4] Release & Development topic

[Iluvalar]

Also, accuracy was not removed; it's only changed on the level of stats, so mods are completely unaffected.

Except they'd use an unsupported accuracy system which have known bugs into it.I know for sure that I couldn't come up with any mods that could work around that bug correctly (except turning all accuracy to 100% myself).

Now that I think of it, the campaign stats will stay with that buggy accuracy right ? So as long as goth tune his campaign experience over it, it should be pretty much look like he want. He might not end up affected as much as I tought at first by the 3.2 changes...

[Rman Virgil]

That's been one of the goals -- to make it a challenge without making it tedious. To take what the original campaign did and add several layers and flavours, without making it too drawn-out (as the original campaign could become).

I found some of the original CAM missions disposable filler between meat and potato missions you could really sink your teeth into.

We're looking at a nice 12-mission hub on the first map, and 8-10 for the second map. Obviously not meant to be played in one sitting, since most of us actually have lives and other things we need to attend to during the course of any given day.

That's a generous helping. Savoring over days will be my approach. Not to mention the replay value inherent in the design goals realized. Those will play out over months and years, I venture.

These days, if games even include a CAM, whole dev teams seem to average 10-12 mission CAMs. Trying to control dev budgets (and earlier release timetables) has taken its toll on the 30+ Mission CAMs of yesteryear.

As today has not been the day for me to work on the game (as I had hoped), I'll simply say "I'll keep plodding away on it until it's ready".

However long it takes, will be worth the wait. I have no doubt.

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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

I think I've finally tracked down why I have to do the research workaround in the first place. I have observed that resultstructure and resultcomponent are not being completely obeyed in campaign mode -- other times it does MORE than it should be -- and I suspect that it affects all other things that make research work as well, to one degree or another. In skirmish/MP mode the exact same stats files work flawlessly.

I'm going to treat the issue as a deficiency in either the JS API or Warzone itself. When I have a better idea of what exactly is going on, I'll submit that information to bug tracking. Dev team members may feel free to contact me anytime for additional debugging output and information. I have both Win32 and Linux systems available to test with.

In the meantime, I am going to try using the research code in wzscript (adjusted for that API, of course) and see if the issue persists there as well.

And yes -- I enjoy testing and debugging as much as anything else. It's an intellectual challenge -- and I LOVE flexing neurons.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Moving right along .. little status update to add to the release notes for R-18:

- Three weapon paths are now fully implemented - Machineguns, Rockets, and Mortars. Please speak up if there are any topics that don't enable when they should, or enable TOO quickly when they shouldn't. Balancing and tuning the research tree will be an ongoing process. The other weapon paths will be implemented over the course of R-19 and R-20.

- New music track 'Fallout' added.

- SitRep is now fully functional.

- More appropriate map touches added here and there.

- Mission Hub "A+" (where we save both Transports and both Sergeants) is now considered the "Primary" Mission Hub/Storyline. The other hubs all end up at the same place as that one does now. Divergent Paths was a great learning experience, and elements of it WILL be put to use elsewhere -- but in the end we're trying to tell a story and I've spent WAY too much time getting it scripted. Cam 4 should have been finished and released by now, and Cam 5 in full-bore development already. Sorry to disappoint.

Stress testing is underway, and barring anything unforeseen R-18 will be released by 8 am EST Saturday morning.

[Rman Virgil]

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Sunday I'll look forward to playing a few hours and reporting back.

Today it's all about the Broncos vs. the Rams. First good look at the starters. Should be playing 3 quarters - including Peyton Manning.
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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

A couple of minor problems are holding it up.

- Fallout.ogg refuses to play in-game, even though it works flawlessly in VLC and Foobar2000. Is there a particular bitrate that it needs to be for Warzone to play the track? Re-exporting it at a different bitrate didn't solve the problem either.

- Having trouble with 'droidHasSeen()' function. In stress testing (when I first tested the function) I'm getting 'Type Mismatch' errors -- leading me to believe that the documentation is incorrect as to its' usage. If I can't resolve this problem this evening, I'll implement something that will act as a stopgap for the time being.

Aside from those two issues, it's ready to go. I'll keep plugging away at it.

@Rman: Tigers for me, buddy. Detroit has been playing as if their lives depend on it. The pitching and hitting both have been outstanding this year.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Release-18 is available now. Please read the release notes in the first topic for details. Enjoy!

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Found a new issue which causes massive lag and then a crash.

A bugfix release is forthcoming as soon as I fix whatever is going on. Looks like it's related to giving the orders to Teams One and Two after NEXUS takes them over.

This bugfix release, since I've already been working on the script for Release-19, will also see the Cannons weapon path implemented. We'll call this Release-18b.

Expect it within the next hour or two.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Wow. Looks like there's more going on than just the above. Sorry folks, looks like it's going to take me longer than an hour or two to fix what's wrong.

Another set of issues added to the mix:

- M3 does NOT unlock like it should with Tac Sergeant Jenks in charge.
- NEXUS does NOT go bat poop crazy on the player when player units are detected (aka the Attack Event never begins).

Looks like it'll be well into tomorrow or Monday before bugfix is released. Sorry everyone.

[Rman Virgil]

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I did dl R 18 and played through the opening map sequence once. You addressed all the issues that came up with the sequence in R 17 such that it flows without any of those hitches now: good balance though-out, all scroll limits opening up when reached, no units getting stuck, I can catch most of the Sit Reps (Which strike me as well thought out and written in a manner that conveys a genuine personality. Too bad that after they run the text can't be stored in the Intel section of the Reticule for Player refresher recall during a pause in action.) Net result, unlike in R 17, I don't feel disoriented. The story trajectory and needful actions are clear & in sync even as i'm free to choose from different paths to roll my strike force.

Couple things came up that made me wonder "what's up with that", but I wanna play the opening map sequence at least one more time before I articulate those thoughts (btw, I wouldn't call them "show stoppers"). It's about about 3 am here now and I need a little more shut eye. After I get up in a few hours and have some breakfast, I look forward to getting back to playing - either going back to the beginning of R 18 or dling R 18b and doing likewise.
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[Rman Virgil]

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Little break to get to those couple of "what's up with that" experiences.

I'm gonna sacrifice a bunch of details because I don't want my feedback to become a spoiler. There will be just enough so that you the creator will know exactly what I'm talking about.

~ First: I know all the reasons why you did the transport the way you did it and why the make up of the player's unit contingent. The goal is preservation and there are a lot of enemy offensives to deal with that already direly challenges your success in that goal. Enough to keep the Player busy and not have them question the fairness of your fundamental design constraints. I think you have a good balance of enemy assaults and player resistance forces. So no adjustments there or with the mission timers. However, to preserve the fundamental sense of fairness throughout the whole design construction, and not provoke the Player to question its base design rationale, an adjustment is called for I think. It's simply this: up the start of game % of health from what looks to be around 50%, to 75%. I think that alone will circumvent any possible protests crying "unfair design !" It will still very much be a close call, hair-raising, experience at that upped %.... which is the heart of what you are seeking to invoke in the game play anyway.

~ Second: Came across the gated base before it was meant for me to enter - I think. I could trigger opening the gate but could not enter. Would seem to indicate an adjustment in the scroll limits such that my unit passage cannot dispel the fog of war concealing the gate, let alone trigger its opening, until it's meant for the Player to enter that base.

I'll proceed with R 18 just because i'm enjoying it. But for purposes of playing to offer appropriate feedback to your most current adjustments, i'll await your release of R 18b.
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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

Glad you enjoyed it Rman.

The deal with the "Friendly" base is this:

We're not meant to enter that base until the Rescue Team enters the zone. Due to the bug present at the end of Killing the AA Base mission, the Campaign doesn't get that far due to lag/crash. I've already fixed that particular issue, and things can proceed as intended.

How we actually enter the base? Since control is transferred to the player, Here's the procedure:

- Team One and Two get assimilated by NEXUS.
- Dialogue where we find out what's what and the Rescue Team enters the zone.
- The South Gates are transferred to player control, allowing us to enter the base without issue.
- Upon reaching the green marker in the center of Delta Base, we are given complete control of it and may proceed to build up as needed.
- Drive Tac Sergeant Jenks to the M3 marker to begin the M3 mission in the south-southwest corridor.

Still getting checks switched around from the Commander to Jenks and altering the dialogue as needed -- that's where we're at right now for Release-19. It's too big of a jump to simply make it R-18b.

When that is completed and stress testing/dogfooding is satisfactory, I'll release it. Shouldn't be too terribly long -- monday or tuesday.

[Goth Zagog-Thou]

In response to observation # 2 ... I've been thinking about doing just that -- increasing the bodies that the units have an additional factor (light to medium, etc) would indeed alleviate the "flimsiness" that units like Repair suffer from. The enemy units can (and often do) one-shot them, so I agree with your observation and will alter those units accordingly.

[Rman Virgil]

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I managed to preserve both my Repair Units throughout the many battles. Actually, I give myself too much credit because I in no way babysat them. But I was also thinking of the unit they can't repair.... because.... well you know.

Thanks for details on the NEXUS assimilation sequence (both a savory reversal and neat segue to the base take-over).
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[Goth Zagog-Thou]

I'm about 3/4 of the way done with the latest round of changes. The changelog now includes:

- Player units have been buffed 20-40% by upgrading the vehicle bodies the smaller units were using.
- Addressed an issue where issuing secondary commands via script would cause an overload and eventual crash of the Campaign script.
- Altered the dialogue and storyline to accommodate the latest version of the storyline in M1.
- Altered the gameplay during the M2 stage so that all results end at the same place.
- Altered the gameplay in M3 to reflect the new objectives.
- Work has begun to alter gameplay (however needed) in M4 to reflect the new storyline. This will take greater shape for Release-20.
- Cannons weapon path now enabled in addition to the others. All weapon paths will be enabled by Release-20.
- Slight map changes to accommodate the new story in M3.

Going well so far. Expect release tomorrow or Tuesday.

@Rman: Glad the description helped out. You're going to like Release-19 -- we get to steal things from NEXUS!