tdavison

Parachute Supply Drop Crates addon for Arma3 Epoch (Now with paratrooper AI)
Give your survivors a little love
 
This is a lightweight mission for dedicated or layer-based game servers. A Mohawk helicopter will fly in from North, South, East or West oceanic spawn positions (chose randomly at mission start), and drop a supply crate (via parachute) to random locations on Altis. The crates are configurable, but 4 types are pre-defined in the code.
 
Features:
Random landing zones for supply crates delivered by AI pilots 4 supply crate types are pre-defined: Food & Clothing / Supplies / Weapons & Ammo / Random Loot Customizable crate loot (via editing init.sqf) also has random loot generator 500-meter radius marker for LZ lets players know where to look Auto repeating mission once crate has been found Virtually no BE filters - uses mostly vanilla loot (but you might need to add a few) Latest Release: v1.0c (releases can be downloaded here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases   This release has the following updates:   Added AI units that parachute down with crate and guard it AI units each have a sub-set of skills - these guys are tough by default AI might drop krypto BIS_fnc_findSafePos now called from helicopter spawn position and uses world safe anchor for range Added JIP (Join In Progress) support to eliminate multiple copies running on server Replaced all WaitUntil loops with While (sleep) loops to fix major lag Loitering helicopters should now be fixed (they get deleted)   I tested this PBO on my game server (Vert Hosting), and had it running side-by-side with VEMF / BlckEagl / A3AEI and had no issues. All the AI seem to have a mutual respect for one another :P   A big shout out to all the modders who inspired me to make this. Sorry, in advance, if there are tons of supply drop missions out there. This one is pretty straight-forward, and can be easily edited to your liking. Hope you enjoy!   You can download it here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop

Parachute Supply Drop Crates addon for Arma3 Epoch (Now with paratrooper AI)
Give your survivors a little love
 
This is a lightweight mission for dedicated or layer-based game servers. A Mohawk helicopter will fly in from North, South, East or West oceanic spawn positions (chose randomly at mission start), and drop a supply crate (via parachute) to random locations on Altis. The crates are configurable, but 4 types are pre-defined in the code.
 
Features:
Random landing zones for supply crates delivered by AI pilots 4 supply crate types are pre-defined: Food & Clothing / Supplies / Weapons & Ammo / Random Loot Customizable crate loot (via editing init.sqf) also has random loot generator 500-meter radius marker for LZ lets players know where to look Auto repeating mission once crate has been found Virtually no BE filters - uses mostly vanilla loot (but you might need to add a few) Latest Release: v1.0c (releases can be downloaded here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases   This release has the following updates:   Added AI units that parachute down with crate and guard it AI units each have a sub-set of skills - these guys are tough by default AI might drop krypto BIS_fnc_findSafePos now called from helicopter spawn position and uses world safe anchor for range Added JIP (Join In Progress) support to eliminate multiple copies running on server Replaced all WaitUntil loops with While (sleep) loops to fix major lag Loitering helicopters should now be fixed (they get deleted)   I tested this PBO on my game server (Vert Hosting), and had it running side-by-side with VEMF / BlckEagl / A3AEI and had no issues. All the AI seem to have a mutual respect for one another :P   A big shout out to all the modders who inspired me to make this. Sorry, in advance, if there are tons of supply drop missions out there. This one is pretty straight-forward, and can be easily edited to your liking. Hope you enjoy!   You can download it here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop

I think the only issue, besides the hint text not working, was the loot tables for random crates (Nightmare's fix below):
 
In SupplyDrop_Functions.sqf, replace the code starting on line 148 with the following (only replace the portion needed):
// Generate Loot { _tmp = (getArray(_x >> 'items')); {SDROPLootList = SDROPLootList + [ ( _x select 0 ) select 0 ];} forEach (_tmp); } forEach ("configName _x != 'Uniforms' && configName _x != 'Headgear'" configClasses (configFile >> "CfgLootTable")); I'll try to get the hint text working again by weekend.

Parachute Supply Drop Crates addon for Arma3 Epoch (Now with paratrooper AI)
Give your survivors a little love
 
This is a lightweight mission for dedicated or layer-based game servers. A Mohawk helicopter will fly in from North, South, East or West oceanic spawn positions (chose randomly at mission start), and drop a supply crate (via parachute) to random locations on Altis. The crates are configurable, but 4 types are pre-defined in the code.
 
Features:
Random landing zones for supply crates delivered by AI pilots 4 supply crate types are pre-defined: Food & Clothing / Supplies / Weapons & Ammo / Random Loot Customizable crate loot (via editing init.sqf) also has random loot generator 500-meter radius marker for LZ lets players know where to look Auto repeating mission once crate has been found Virtually no BE filters - uses mostly vanilla loot (but you might need to add a few) Latest Release: v1.0c (releases can be downloaded here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases   This release has the following updates:   Added AI units that parachute down with crate and guard it AI units each have a sub-set of skills - these guys are tough by default AI might drop krypto BIS_fnc_findSafePos now called from helicopter spawn position and uses world safe anchor for range Added JIP (Join In Progress) support to eliminate multiple copies running on server Replaced all WaitUntil loops with While (sleep) loops to fix major lag Loitering helicopters should now be fixed (they get deleted)   I tested this PBO on my game server (Vert Hosting), and had it running side-by-side with VEMF / BlckEagl / A3AEI and had no issues. All the AI seem to have a mutual respect for one another :P   A big shout out to all the modders who inspired me to make this. Sorry, in advance, if there are tons of supply drop missions out there. This one is pretty straight-forward, and can be easily edited to your liking. Hope you enjoy!   You can download it here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop

v1.0c Supply Drop with AI Paratroopers is now released: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop
 
Added AI units that parachute down with crate and guard it AI units each have a sub-set of skills - these guys are tough by default AI might drop krypto BIS_fnc_findSafePos now called from helicopter spawn position and uses world safe anchor for range Added JIP (Join In Progress) support to eliminate multiple copies running on server Replaced all WaitUntil loops with While (sleep) loops to fix major lag Loitering helicopters should now be fixed (they get deleted)   Known issues (if you consider them as such): Crate can be destroyed by certain terrain (rocks) AI units sometimes die on drops when they hit the ground (most often by rocks) AI are extremely tough to beat solo (can be edited in SDROP_Functions.sqf) AI sometimes drop down far from crate - but they should head to it after recovery from drop You might need to add !="srifle_LRR_SOS_F" to your addWeaponCargo.txt as snipers will sometimes be deployed with unit

v1.0c Supply Drop with AI Paratroopers is now released: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop
 
Added AI units that parachute down with crate and guard it AI units each have a sub-set of skills - these guys are tough by default AI might drop krypto BIS_fnc_findSafePos now called from helicopter spawn position and uses world safe anchor for range Added JIP (Join In Progress) support to eliminate multiple copies running on server Replaced all WaitUntil loops with While (sleep) loops to fix major lag Loitering helicopters should now be fixed (they get deleted)   Known issues (if you consider them as such): Crate can be destroyed by certain terrain (rocks) AI units sometimes die on drops when they hit the ground (most often by rocks) AI are extremely tough to beat solo (can be edited in SDROP_Functions.sqf) AI sometimes drop down far from crate - but they should head to it after recovery from drop You might need to add !="srifle_LRR_SOS_F" to your addWeaponCargo.txt as snipers will sometimes be deployed with unit

Yes - that is because I was using a heli CREW rather than creating a GROUP (for pilots) with specific waypoints and combat conditions. This updated version should fix that issue.

Yes - that is because I was using a heli CREW rather than creating a GROUP (for pilots) with specific waypoints and combat conditions. This updated version should fix that issue.

After a helpful suggestion from the author of I've been able to find the server lagging issues, and will have them fixed this weekend. I am also introducing an optional AI component to the supply drop.
 
Thanks again for everyone's comments and suggestions to help make this add-on better.

Very nice. I'm working on a paradrop unit to come with the crate now. Hope to have it all wrapped up before the weekend is over. It'll be an optional item, so if you prefer to just have the crate, you can, while others can have AI parachute down with the crate and guard it.

Very nice. I'm working on a paradrop unit to come with the crate now. Hope to have it all wrapped up before the weekend is over. It'll be an optional item, so if you prefer to just have the crate, you can, while others can have AI parachute down with the crate and guard it.

Fixed it!
 
I made some changes so it will spawn smoke and chemlight every 75 m it gets to the ground, as well as every 75 meters the player gets closer to it when its on the ground.
 
http://youtu.be/OYgbTp--_d8
 
https://db.tt/fdn6qulD

Parachute Supply Drop Crates addon for Arma3 Epoch (Now with paratrooper AI)
Give your survivors a little love
 
This is a lightweight mission for dedicated or layer-based game servers. A Mohawk helicopter will fly in from North, South, East or West oceanic spawn positions (chose randomly at mission start), and drop a supply crate (via parachute) to random locations on Altis. The crates are configurable, but 4 types are pre-defined in the code.
 
Features:
Random landing zones for supply crates delivered by AI pilots 4 supply crate types are pre-defined: Food & Clothing / Supplies / Weapons & Ammo / Random Loot Customizable crate loot (via editing init.sqf) also has random loot generator 500-meter radius marker for LZ lets players know where to look Auto repeating mission once crate has been found Virtually no BE filters - uses mostly vanilla loot (but you might need to add a few) Latest Release: v1.0c (releases can be downloaded here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases   This release has the following updates:   Added AI units that parachute down with crate and guard it AI units each have a sub-set of skills - these guys are tough by default AI might drop krypto BIS_fnc_findSafePos now called from helicopter spawn position and uses world safe anchor for range Added JIP (Join In Progress) support to eliminate multiple copies running on server Replaced all WaitUntil loops with While (sleep) loops to fix major lag Loitering helicopters should now be fixed (they get deleted)   I tested this PBO on my game server (Vert Hosting), and had it running side-by-side with VEMF / BlckEagl / A3AEI and had no issues. All the AI seem to have a mutual respect for one another :P   A big shout out to all the modders who inspired me to make this. Sorry, in advance, if there are tons of supply drop missions out there. This one is pretty straight-forward, and can be easily edited to your liking. Hope you enjoy!   You can download it here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop

V1.0b Hotfix added to my github: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases
 
Below are the changes:
Moved all functions to separate file and compile on init Replaced sleep command with uiSleep for performance issues Crates get cleaned up whether they are found or not Better handling for timers Hopefully, the timer issue is fixed. Below is an excerpt from my RPT files this weekend which show them working. I apologize if anyone has issues. You can see it sending choppers out about every 20 minutes, and crates get deleted now. You can set SDROP_Debug = false; if you don't want entries added to your RPT file.
16:59:55 [SDROP]: Starting Supply Drop Mission Framework. 17:14:58 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 17:19:11 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 17:49:11 [SDROP]: No players found the crate. Deleted crate 18:04:17 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 18:06:55 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 18:49:04 [SDROP]: Player found crate. Crate Deleted after timeout. Restarting new drop. 19:04:05 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 19:08:41 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 19:38:41 [SDROP]: No players found the crate. Deleted crate 19:53:44 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 19:59:45 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 20:29:45 [SDROP]: No players found the crate. Deleted crate 20:44:48 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP

V1.0b Hotfix added to my github: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases
 
Below are the changes:
Moved all functions to separate file and compile on init Replaced sleep command with uiSleep for performance issues Crates get cleaned up whether they are found or not Better handling for timers Hopefully, the timer issue is fixed. Below is an excerpt from my RPT files this weekend which show them working. I apologize if anyone has issues. You can see it sending choppers out about every 20 minutes, and crates get deleted now. You can set SDROP_Debug = false; if you don't want entries added to your RPT file.
16:59:55 [SDROP]: Starting Supply Drop Mission Framework. 17:14:58 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 17:19:11 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 17:49:11 [SDROP]: No players found the crate. Deleted crate 18:04:17 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 18:06:55 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 18:49:04 [SDROP]: Player found crate. Crate Deleted after timeout. Restarting new drop. 19:04:05 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 19:08:41 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 19:38:41 [SDROP]: No players found the crate. Deleted crate 19:53:44 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 19:59:45 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 20:29:45 [SDROP]: No players found the crate. Deleted crate 20:44:48 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP

V1.0b Hotfix added to my github: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases
 
Below are the changes:
Moved all functions to separate file and compile on init Replaced sleep command with uiSleep for performance issues Crates get cleaned up whether they are found or not Better handling for timers Hopefully, the timer issue is fixed. Below is an excerpt from my RPT files this weekend which show them working. I apologize if anyone has issues. You can see it sending choppers out about every 20 minutes, and crates get deleted now. You can set SDROP_Debug = false; if you don't want entries added to your RPT file.
16:59:55 [SDROP]: Starting Supply Drop Mission Framework. 17:14:58 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 17:19:11 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 17:49:11 [SDROP]: No players found the crate. Deleted crate 18:04:17 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 18:06:55 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 18:49:04 [SDROP]: Player found crate. Crate Deleted after timeout. Restarting new drop. 19:04:05 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 19:08:41 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 19:38:41 [SDROP]: No players found the crate. Deleted crate 19:53:44 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP 19:59:45 [SDROP]: Crate landed. Starting Crate de-spawn timer 20:29:45 [SDROP]: No players found the crate. Deleted crate 20:44:48 [SDROP]: Helicopter spawned, and moving to WP

I plan on getting a different server today and will start with vanilla EPOCH and only my mission for testing. I should have an updated version by end of weekend. I plan to update the timers, and do some additional crate cleanup (currently crate will not get de-spawned if a player gets within range of it/loots it). Thanks for letting me know about the issues.

Parachute Supply Drop Crates addon for Arma3 Epoch (Now with paratrooper AI)
Give your survivors a little love
 
This is a lightweight mission for dedicated or layer-based game servers. A Mohawk helicopter will fly in from North, South, East or West oceanic spawn positions (chose randomly at mission start), and drop a supply crate (via parachute) to random locations on Altis. The crates are configurable, but 4 types are pre-defined in the code.
 
Features:
Random landing zones for supply crates delivered by AI pilots 4 supply crate types are pre-defined: Food & Clothing / Supplies / Weapons & Ammo / Random Loot Customizable crate loot (via editing init.sqf) also has random loot generator 500-meter radius marker for LZ lets players know where to look Auto repeating mission once crate has been found Virtually no BE filters - uses mostly vanilla loot (but you might need to add a few) Latest Release: v1.0c (releases can be downloaded here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases   This release has the following updates:   Added AI units that parachute down with crate and guard it AI units each have a sub-set of skills - these guys are tough by default AI might drop krypto BIS_fnc_findSafePos now called from helicopter spawn position and uses world safe anchor for range Added JIP (Join In Progress) support to eliminate multiple copies running on server Replaced all WaitUntil loops with While (sleep) loops to fix major lag Loitering helicopters should now be fixed (they get deleted)   I tested this PBO on my game server (Vert Hosting), and had it running side-by-side with VEMF / BlckEagl / A3AEI and had no issues. All the AI seem to have a mutual respect for one another :P   A big shout out to all the modders who inspired me to make this. Sorry, in advance, if there are tons of supply drop missions out there. This one is pretty straight-forward, and can be easily edited to your liking. Hope you enjoy!   You can download it here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop

Version 1.0b has been released on my github page: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases
 
This should fix helicopters that cannot find a safe position from hovering aimlessly. Some other performance-related fixes (using logic for drop height) were made, which should fix any yellow link icons from happening. 
 
Thanks again for all of your testing & suggestions. Hopefully this add-on will run better than before.

Version 1.0b has been released on my github page: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases
 
This should fix helicopters that cannot find a safe position from hovering aimlessly. Some other performance-related fixes (using logic for drop height) were made, which should fix any yellow link icons from happening. 
 
Thanks again for all of your testing & suggestions. Hopefully this add-on will run better than before.

Version 1.0b has been released on my github page: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases
 
This should fix helicopters that cannot find a safe position from hovering aimlessly. Some other performance-related fixes (using logic for drop height) were made, which should fix any yellow link icons from happening. 
 
Thanks again for all of your testing & suggestions. Hopefully this add-on will run better than before.

I haven't tested this, but I think you can do something like:
if (isServer) then { if (count playableUnits > 10) then { //call mission [] ExecVM "\SDROP\init.sqf"; }; }; Again, not tested. Sorry if any errors - you also want to make sure any other "isServer" calls are not in the IF condition to check players.

The marker is 500 meters x 500 meters - you can change it, but the crate might not be within a smaller radius. I'll be doing a hotfix for this in just a little while. The hotfix includes some performance issues as well as putting the marker where the crate is (with a slight offset).  After the hotifx, you can change the radius to be smaller - but I'd suggest at least 300 meter radius, unless you want to use the exact position marker.

KiloSwiss: Do you happen to have any references or pages that reference performance issues with BIS_fnc_findSafePos? From what I can tell, it simply returns a coordinate that meets the parameters set in the array.
 
According to Lost_Noob - he gets the yellow link when the helicopter drops the crate, which makes no sense at all to me - because BIS_fnc_findSafePos was called way prior to that... the helicopter is simply dropping the crate and attaching to a parachute. I will add deleteVehicle _chute; after the crate has landed.
 
Ahh - this is most likely the issue causing the yellow link:
while {(getPosATL _crate) select 2 > _chuteMinDistanceToOpen} do { sleep 0.2; }; I'll have to find a better way to handle that one... but will most likely just remove the _chutMinDistanceToOpen variable. Which really means the parachute will most likely fall outside the LZ.

Parachute Supply Drop Crates addon for Arma3 Epoch (Now with paratrooper AI)
Give your survivors a little love
 
This is a lightweight mission for dedicated or layer-based game servers. A Mohawk helicopter will fly in from North, South, East or West oceanic spawn positions (chose randomly at mission start), and drop a supply crate (via parachute) to random locations on Altis. The crates are configurable, but 4 types are pre-defined in the code.
 
Features:
Random landing zones for supply crates delivered by AI pilots 4 supply crate types are pre-defined: Food & Clothing / Supplies / Weapons & Ammo / Random Loot Customizable crate loot (via editing init.sqf) also has random loot generator 500-meter radius marker for LZ lets players know where to look Auto repeating mission once crate has been found Virtually no BE filters - uses mostly vanilla loot (but you might need to add a few) Latest Release: v1.0c (releases can be downloaded here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop/releases   This release has the following updates:   Added AI units that parachute down with crate and guard it AI units each have a sub-set of skills - these guys are tough by default AI might drop krypto BIS_fnc_findSafePos now called from helicopter spawn position and uses world safe anchor for range Added JIP (Join In Progress) support to eliminate multiple copies running on server Replaced all WaitUntil loops with While (sleep) loops to fix major lag Loitering helicopters should now be fixed (they get deleted)   I tested this PBO on my game server (Vert Hosting), and had it running side-by-side with VEMF / BlckEagl / A3AEI and had no issues. All the AI seem to have a mutual respect for one another :P   A big shout out to all the modders who inspired me to make this. Sorry, in advance, if there are tons of supply drop missions out there. This one is pretty straight-forward, and can be easily edited to your liking. Hope you enjoy!   You can download it here: https://github.com/tdavison70/Helicopter-Supply-Drop