cyncrwler

Just ignore these people.
If they ignore the advice in the Post, the name "EXPERIMENTAL" (which is obviously not meant for beginners) and don't read what is written inside the readme.txt, they don't deserve any form of support from our side.

My advice to everyone that can't read:
Better host a BF server, or simply stick to playing A3 and let the others host servers You can then play on.
And the argument about "everyone has to start at somd point" or "everyone was once a beginner" does not count here, because there are tons of other missions/mods where beginners can learn how to be an admin and add/edit mods/scripts besides the ALPHA (Read it again: ALPHA) release of EPOCH.

@Xatu
I really thought I fixed this issue.
Excuse me but goddamn that annoys me.
Can You please use the old fn_getWorldData.sqf with the fixes from the posts a few pages ago (meaning the one You used with v0.7.1) and report back if it works with the new v0.8

I really need to install Tavi and Bornholm and finally fix this issue for the stable release of v0.8

Greez KiloSwiss

Worked on enabling vehicle support today. Also went through the AI spawn script and simplified it.
 
Need to do testing tomorrow but it should mean vehicle based missions and static AI support.
 
Stay tuned for more teasers.

If everything went well, the new v0.8 EXPERIMENTAL can now be downloaded from GitHub.
I call it experimental because I changed a lot of things and only did a quick check if the missions spawn and no errors are showing up in the logfiles, but I did no playtest, so be warned if You want to use v0.8 on Your public Server and make sure You set "SEM_debug" from "true" to "false" inside the file "initMissions.sqf" if You do so!
 
Download:
https://github.com/KiloSwiss/Simple-Epoch-Missions
 
Changelog: v0.8 (23.011.2015)
 - Removed "Player AllowDamage" Functionality.  - Fixed: AI not moving (they are very active now).  - Fixed: World Data not correctly loaded on custom islands.  - Added: New Mission Markers, marking an area where the mission spawns.  - Added: New Outpost (still testing/improving).  - Added: Changed AI to server side only.  - Added: Driving over AI seriously damages Your vehicle.  - Added: Mission Marker have a time out when finished successfully (duration can be changed).  - Changed: BE Filters (only Lines 41, 42 and 43 have exceptions now, the other/old ones can be completely removed!)  - Changed: Mission Markers are no longer spot on the mission coordinates, but have a random offset. And many other changes, excuse me if I forgot to mention some of them, they will be added when the status of this update changes from EXPERIMENTAL to STABLE.   /Edit And of course I changed the loot boxes and crates, please report back if they still get deleted by some AH.   Greez KiloSwiss 

Awesome job Kilo, everything seems to be working flawlessly. AI are crazy active now!! Absolutely loving it. I'll let you know if I run into any issues.

Moving AI already works, only a few small fixes and new features need to be added.
The next Update will be released approximately this WE.

Land_Panelak
Land_Panelak2
 
Those are the 3 story and 5 story A2 apartment buildings respectively.  
 
To be clear, the issue isn't that AI are spawning under them.  They are roaming around outside and somehow glitch inside the building as they are wandering around.  It's probably because on the server level the unit doesn't "see" the building and thinks that there is a shorter path of travel through it, so the unit roams in and cannot get out and cannot be killed.  Not sure that's something you can fix but feel free to prove me wrong.  lol

BIS_fnc_findSafePos is a standard BIS function that can not be changed directly.
But it is possible to send wrong arguments to this function, which can cause errors in the script.

Spawning an additional unit should not be neccessary, just take one of the units from the group.
 
@Ducky
For testing set "_debug = true;" in the file "initMissions.sqf" and for bug reports attach the RPT to Your post (rename it to ###.rpt.txt or zip it).
Greez KiloSwiss

I know it's unrelated to current development targets but is it possible in the future to add some static positions spawning as well?
 
I'd like to be able to define areas of the map that are generally AI controlled with a set respawn timer, so players can clear the area for a time but then they come back and retake it. What would be optimal is them spawning a couple of hundred meters out of town (like a findsafepos) then a waypoint being set on the centre of town 100m wide and told to fortify or patrol that area, so they don't just stand there.

The hotfix is out.
You can download it at the usual place.
 
Let me know anyone is still getting errors.

It was brought up by a player:
 
"It would be awesome if we could snap foundations vertically as well. Basically you put one foundation down, and you can snap another where it currently snaps to now. Then move that foundation so it snaps to the distance of floor + Wall + floor so that proper height of second level is achieved."
 
Basically i believe he wishes to snap foundations vertically so that you can have one level, then when go to place another foundation you can properly set the foundation to the right height in which stairs will reach evenly (would have to include floor thickness). 
 
 
Just an idea to ponder.

I think the Epoch classnames should follow more strictly the Arma 3 classnames.
 
for example:
- arifle_Rollins
- arifle_AKM
- hgun_1911
 
etc.
 
Trying to dynamically sort the class of the object using toArray > toString doesn't work well with some of the current epoch weapon classnames.

In my opinion i don't see this as a problem more than smart tactic. Plus it makes the builder reexamine his/her base and builds it better. 

Great feedback I guess. But it seems most of you have forgotten that we are only 25% into the Alpha and haven't even hit beta yet.
 
So stay tuned!

Here is an example of one crate I modified
_crate addMagazineCargoGlobal ["5Rnd_127x108_Mag",3]; _crate addMagazineCargoGlobal ["20Rnd_762x51_Mag",3]; _crate addMagazineCargoGlobal ["150Rnd_762x51_Box",1]; _crate addItemCargoGlobal ["optic_Nightstalker",1]; _crate addWeaponCargoGlobal ["m107_EPOCH",1]; _crate addItemCargoGlobal ["muzzle_snds_B",1]; _crate addWeaponCargoGlobal ["LMG_Zafir_F",1]; _crate addWeaponCargoGlobal ["srifle_EBR_F",1]; _crate addWeaponCargoGlobal ["arifle_MX_GL_Black_F",1]; _crate addMagazineCargoGlobal ["3Rnd_UGL_FlareGreen_F",2]; _crate addItemCargoGlobal ["FAK",4]; _crate addMagazineCargoGlobal ["3Rnd_UGL_FlareYellow_F",2]; _crate addMagazineCargoGlobal ["3Rnd_HE_Grenade_shell",2]; _crate addItemCargoGlobal ["ItemGoldBar",1]; _crate addItemCargoGlobal ["optic_NVS",1]; _crate addItemCargoGlobal ["EnergyPack",1]; _crate addItemCargoGlobal ["optic_tws",1]; _crate addMagazineCargoGlobal ["5Rnd_127x108_APDS_Mag",3]; _crate addMagazineCargoGlobal ["30Rnd_65x39_caseless_mag",2]; Hope that helps

Someone postet a few pages ago that he had implemented a bunch of custom missions into SEM.
I will make new (dynamic) missions for the next update, but I would appreciate it, if someone from the community submits his custom missions here in this thread.

Greez KiloSwiss

I agree. There is nothing worse than spending the better half of an hour or two strategically killing AI, and to finally complete the mission, only to have some "opportunist" steal the loot while you're getting back to the crate.

@aFuzzybuny
The AI will do movement (including flanking maneuvers) in the next big update, but this week I have not a single minute to work on it.

@wanes
A BattlEye kick is not an error but results in wrong filters/exceptions, which is a sign of a bad configuration, made by the Admin himself.
You have to follow the installation instructions step by step.

Greez KiloSwiss

It was designed that way so someone couldn't "steal" your mission, but configurable is always better.

That isn't an SEM mission example, that's blckeagl's mission system :P

Radio messages are showing up on my server at the moment which I think is perfect, it's incentive to carry a radio.
 
Also is there any way to call your AI on specific locations? Just to occupy areas.
 
The loot is a big deal for the system, with that fixed it'd be pretty much a complete system.

Well, Vampire, we have been testing this for a day now, and it has been a success. I think it really adds something to Epoch that it was missing, especially during those times when there aren't that many players online and the ones that are want something to do. I also like how this doesn't require any battleye-filter changes, and that it's basically plug and play (almost, apart from the mission file changes) may I suggest that you keep that way if at all possible?

Here are some of my thoughts on improving it further:

Behavior
* AI dying will lead to other AI nearby taking cover/using cover more
* AI dying without no clear attack source (ie. sniper at 1km) makes the AI pull back into town/inside buildings
* AI will enter buildings to follow players that run into them
* AI will spread out more when moving
* Once the AI drop to a certain lower number, make them more hesitant and cautious, and not run in the open

Equipment
* AI will, like players carry food, drink, and such items (for immersion)
* 1 in 10 AI will have a secondary long-range weapon (sniper rifle) that it will switch to if attacked from long range, and will also engage at 1km distance
* AI that spends its ammo will switch to secondary or ... loot other AI or player bodies
* AI will use voice commands to communicate

Vehicles approaching
* AI will place land mines (anti-vehicle) (or the mission will spawn land mines) in the area of operation
* MG-AI will make vehicles a priority target

Reinforcements
* If AI spot a higher number of enemies, they will call for reinforcements (that can arrive via chopper, and paradrop)



Ideas for expanding the "attack the cities"-mission:
* Make an AI-win condition, something they will try to accomplish in town (such as blowing up an important building after X amount of time or, blowing up all vehicles in town, or something).
* Add more random factors to the spawning enemy AI, maybe sometimes there's a spec ops unit with higher tier weapons/military camo, using more low-profile tactics

SEM will work with "unsupportet" Islands too, it just takes the Map Center from the world config file, which is not always as accurate, but it should work.
For proper bug reports, make sure You add the whole rpt as an attachment to Your post.


For anyone interested, I'm currently working on a function to get the predefined locations from the world config to figure out locations for a town invasion or a possible convoy destination.
Screenshots in the spoiler:




Greez KiloSwiss

working well on my server,
 
some new players asked if the difficulty can be dialed down,
 
This was my face.... :huh:
 
This was my answer.... :lol: ..... No :ph34r:

Maybe try running VEMF with dynamic weapon generation off.
My guess would be an error with VEMF generating random weapons, or generating random loot.
 
 
Yes.
 
@Everyone, working on some really cool radio logic. It's going to simplify the mission alerts, make it more interesting, and give the players a log to refer to.
Also going to roll into it a system where messages keep going out over time until it's clear.