VEMF - Vampire's Epoch Mission Framework

[Halvhjearne]

to make the box spawn loot try this ...

 

find this part in Vfunctions.sqf line 413:

VEMFLootList = VEMFLootList + [((_tmp select _z) select 0)];

change it to this:

VEMFLootList = VEMFLootList + [((_tmp select _z) select 0)select 0];

however, there is still a lot of stuff in this that could be improved and some errors that will occur now and then ...

[TheVampire]

Hello Everyone, I know this is long overdue, but I have enough time to begin working on VEMF.

I've been working at a full time factory job for the past year and a half, and their slow season is October to February, and it's about that time of year again. I'm hoping to find a less time consuming job related to my career path in the near future when I get my car loan paid off.

What's new with me? I have the audio equipment my former patrons provided for me, and I have changed internet providers so I now have the speeds to be able to stream reliably. I hope to stream and upload more VEMF related content this time around now that I have better speeds so I don't have the frame drops I was experiencing last time.

This means that continued development on VEMF will mostly be streamed on my twitch. I also now have a twitter instead of a website blog to try to keep you up to date.

I know that I have let down the individuals who were my patrons, and I apologize. I am closing my Patreon down until I feel like I have made it up to the community for my absence. To those that were my patrons, I am still very appreciative of the support you provided me.

I also want to thank IT07 for taking over while I was away, and he has renamed his version of my code to VEMF Reloaded to avoid confusion. I am working off of the existing code I left without his changes.

 

So where is VEMF headed from here? The Arma 1.52 FilePatching change has affected a lot of how my system works. Even just launching it requires downgrading server security in BI's eyes, and for this reason I want to change it. Changing VEMF to be ran config-based with tags requires a lot of tearing apart and reorganizing code, and all the function calls in VEMF have to be changed. The end result should function better and be more organized. This is the first reason I want to change how VEMF works.

VEMF as originally imagined and written on my Patreon and this original post was supposed to be more than a fetch-the-box mission system, and I feel like I have failed at delivering that. It could be improved farther along the way, but at it's core with the Town Invasions, it was still a fetch-the-box mission system with clear-the-town in front of it. My AI however are very aggressive and intuitive that made it unique but not unique enough to what has already been done. This is the second reason I want to change how VEMF works.

 

When I first envisioned the town-invasion missions back when I was working on DZMS, I also envisioned an infection mechanic, or hostile takeover mechanic (I prefer to use infection). The idea being that a town would be invaded lightly to begin with, but the longer the town is invaded (over real-time days) the town would become more fortified with more reinforcements, supports, and supplies.

The main drawback with this is that either a server has to run without restarting, or the information has to be stored somewhere in a Hive. With the Epoch Redis calls, this should now be possible.

The interesting part is that after a town reaches a certain level of fortification, missions in the traditional sense can be spawned nearby. One of these missions would be a scout vehicle style mission that would be heading from the infected town to a nearby one. When the scout vehicle reaches the town, and guards it for so long, the AI would also "infect" that town. Over the course of a week unchecked by the player-base of the server, AI could infect multiple towns and be quite a threat to normal day-to-day operations. There would be a users-online check to make sure a low-pop server doesn't become completely infected to ruin new-player experiences.

So where's the reward? The AI along with their fortifications will also be bringing in heavy firepower and the supplies and resources for that heavy firepower. There will also be trader based missions to attack specific locations that are "infected" that will reward crypto instead of relying on finding cache's left by the AI.

I think that this would add a great dynamic to PVE and PVP servers. For PVE servers there will be an option to spawn the server "completely infected" from the start. PVE servers players should band together to take on the AI Antagonists, and on PVP servers, players will be forced to work together to an extent or risk complete annihilation.

 

I'm interested in your feedback on this new direction VEMF is headed in! Keep an eye on my twitter and twitch for Streaming notifications, and this thread for progress updates. (You can visit my website by clicking my signature banner if you don't know my twitch or twitter)

I'm glad to be back.

Edited October 8, 2015 by TheVampire

[cyncrwler]

First off, welcome back!! Secondly, the proposed changes sound fantastic. Can't wait!

[TheVampire]

Will be streaming VEMF Development and Isla De Spero Map Development over the weekend, possibly starting with some tonight.

 

Stay Tuned for VEMF V1.

[Chainsaw Squirrel]

Yes Welcome back ..and I for one am so excited to hear the new change
s

[Capt Caveman]

OH MY GOD!!!!!!  

 

To re-iterate cyncrwler, welcome back, and from my point of view, this sounds like a complete overhaul and update, including a major dose of CTI dropped in there. We are currently running the latest version of VEMFr and have heard the words 'these AI are too hard...turn them down for us?' all the time, although personally I think they are spot on if not a little predictable.

I cant wait to see this working on the current Australia map, running round like a blue a%$£d fly, working to clear one town, only to come back the next day and find that all that hard work has gone completely, as well as a little extra. oh the fun that could be had......

Once again, Welcome back, 

[spartan]

Yes welcome back Vamp !

At this stage any new direction for VEMF would be great, as always players get a little jaded with the same game play so new content is always welcome, having said this VEMF has been a major mainstay for my server since it's release and appreciate your efforts and IT07's for allowing me to continue to use it.

Importantly to me is having a reasonable level of customisation to suit my needs and would appreciate any new versions having this option.

 

I must of not been paying attention as I did not realise you were behind Isla De Spero, this is the only new map I have taken more then a passing interest in and the reason for this is it's islands, I have always liked creating sector B type locations but have never come across an ideal map for these scenarios other then Taviana and I did not want to go back to this always hoping for something new.

With this in mind I would really love to see an island that is ideally suited to building, ie as level as possible.

The other thing that I really appreciate is a good selection of buildings, my first choice is always those with interiors in fact this goes for all assets/objects I think as many as possible should be interactive as it improves immersion within the game.

Sorry about going off on a bit of a tangent on Isla De Spero as I realise this is a VEMF thread, that was just what was going through my head at the time.

[TheVampire]

I must of not been paying attention as I did not realise you were behind Isla De Spero, this is the only new map I have taken more then a passing interest in and the reason for this is it's islands, I have always liked creating sector B type locations but have never come across an ideal map for these scenarios other then Taviana and I did not want to go back to this always hoping for something new.

With this in mind I would really love to see an island that is ideally suited to building, ie as level as possible.

The other thing that I really appreciate is a good selection of buildings, my first choice is always those with interiors in fact this goes for all assets/objects I think as many as possible should be interactive as it improves immersion within the game.

Sorry about going off on a bit of a tangent on Isla De Spero as I realise this is a VEMF thread, that was just what was going through my head at the time.

Richie and WinstonSmith of UKGZ are the primary creators, I'm ust one of the lackeys placing objects.

 

And thanks for the feedback, what you're picturing is exactly the kind of thing I am going for.

At the time VEMF was started the calls weren't laid out and there was no way to effectively store information over server restarts. We didn't have access to the hive in DayZ Epoch nor A3 Epoch when it was being written. I actually had the idea during the development of DZMS and waited until VEMF to enact limited town invasion missions

I'm stuck at work for another two hours before I have a chance of streaming anything. Probably going to skip tonight and stream tomorrow.

[Richie]

Richie and WinstonSmith of UKGZ are the primary creators, I'm ust one of the lackeys placing objects.

It's a team effort, TheVampire is far more creative at placing down objects than i am, so while myself and Mr Smith do sat/mask and config changes, TheVampire and another team member do the eye candy stuff.

Cordova was a fantastic town, tonight we see the birth of the capital city, It will be streamed on Twitch any questions or ideas post in the Isla De Spero thread, just so we keep things in the right place.

[spartan]

It's a team effort, TheVampire is far more creative at placing down objects than i am, so while myself and Mr Smith do sat/mask and config changes, TheVampire and another team member do the eye candy stuff.

Cordova was a fantastic town, tonight we see the birth of the capital city, It will be streamed on Twitch any questions or ideas post in the Isla De Spero thread, just so we keep things in the right place.

It's true half the battle is being able to imagine something first and THEN try to make it possible, creative muse is an important keystone to projects like this but I do not under estimate yours and Mr Smiths contributions either.

I will confine any further posts on Isla De Spero to the proper thread now though.

[TheVampire]

Streaming VEMF Development right now. Should be up at least 4 hours. Tune in at HERE

[TheVampire]

Development is going good. VEMF is now an addon folder with configs in a cpp. Hive calls are working well. Working on the unit spawning code to try to simplify it compared to previous versions.

 

Teaser: Planned feature of the next version are player stats.

 

If any coders want access to the WIP to help out send me a message.

[spartan]

Great to hear that Vamp and if I knew anything about writing code I would gladly help, I can offer moral support in droves though, lol.

[spartan]

Just thought I would top up the moral support and say I am looking forward to the release of this new bright and shiny VEMF, I have always liked shiny things, (he said wringing his hands and with a covetous look in his eye).

[rsxownes]

Any updates to this?

[Havoc302]

So two months and no activity, what's happening with this mod?

[Cavadus]

Would also like to know.

[Cavadus]

Oh, boy.  Currently have the following error continously reporting in my log:

while {_loop} do {
_bPos = _x buildingPos _bNum;
if (str _bPos == ">
 3:20:34   Error position: <_x buildingPos _bNum;
if (str _bPos == ">
 3:20:34   Error Undefined variable in expression: _x
 3:20:34 File VEMF\VFunctions.sqf, line 198
 3:20:34 Error in expression <tmpArr = [];

Any ideas?  My server has been up for all half an hour and this loop error has already made my rpt log bloat up to 2GB (yes, GIGAbytes).

[Sneer]

When I kill all the AI, I don't get any mission completed, should I?

[Blackmor]

Epoch server 0.3.7.0110

Epoch client 0.3.7.0

Arma 3     1.56

rpt log

VEMFVersion  1.0.0c-PreAlpha

 

16:12:42 [VEMF]: Running Supply Convoy Mission.
16:12:42 Error in expression <ach VEMFBlacklistZones;
if (!_nearP && !_isBlack) exitWith {};

uiSleep 30;
};

>
16:12:42   Error position: <_isBlack) exitWith {};

uiSleep 30;
};

>
16:12:42   Error Undefined variable in expression: _isblack
16:12:42 File VEMF\VFunctions.sqf, line 168
16:13:12 Error in expression <ach VEMFBlacklistZones;
if (!_nearP && !_isBlack) exitWith {};

uiSleep 30;
};

>
16:13:12   Error position: <_isBlack) exitWith {};

uiSleep 30;
};

>

 

[TheVampire]

I am continuing work on this. Anyone who feels they can contribute and wishes to be added to the private repository on github please PM me to get access.

Everyone else can participate in the issues and projects pages on the normal VEMF Repo.

https://github.com/SMVampire/VEMF/issues

https://github.com/SMVampire/VEMF/projects

[Boonji]

My server has been up for 35mins now and I can't see any missions popping up.

[Boonji]

On 07/04/2016 at 2:32 PM, Blackmor said:

Epoch server 0.3.7.0110

Epoch client 0.3.7.0

Arma 3     1.56

rpt log

VEMFVersion  1.0.0c-PreAlpha

 

16:12:42 [VEMF]: Running Supply Convoy Mission.
16:12:42 Error in expression <ach VEMFBlacklistZones;
if (!_nearP && !_isBlack) exitWith {};

uiSleep 30;
};

>
16:12:42   Error position: <_isBlack) exitWith {};

uiSleep 30;
};

>
16:12:42   Error Undefined variable in expression: _isblack
16:12:42 File VEMF\VFunctions.sqf, line 168
16:13:12 Error in expression <ach VEMFBlacklistZones;
if (!_nearP && !_isBlack) exitWith {};

uiSleep 30;
};

>
16:13:12   Error position: <_isBlack) exitWith {};

uiSleep 30;
};

>

 

 

Okay, I'm getting this same error.

[TheVampire]

The current version of VEMF is broke. I'm currently working on a new version.

You can track my progress on the new version here:

https://github.com/SMVampire/VEMF/projects/3

[TheVampire]

One at a time! Please have your documents and identification out and ready to be checked!

 

Checkpoints generated dynamically on the roads in infected territory coming soon.