Helicopter Parachute Supply Drop

[tdavison]

Hey I keep having issues with the chemlights and smoke not working. I think they are being removed too early or something

 

They should only be getting removed if you are within 10 meters of the crate. The smoke will go away automatically, but the chemlight should stay on for a while.

[computermancer]

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

[tdavison]

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

 

 

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.

[computermancer]

Hell yeah, guards sound awesome! I am horrible at AI stuff. 

 

I would like an AI script to have AI Guards for my base, but I am awful at AI stuff.

 

If you can configure AI to do stuff at my Jammer, I can make a menu to control them.

 

GImme variable and I can make you a Dialog Box/Menu to control them

 

 

LOVE YOUR SDROP script man! :wub:  Keep up the great work!  :lol:

[R4ziel]

Im not entirely sure if im on the right track here but I implemented this last night and it worked like a charm, but after the 2nd supply drop the server ground to a halt and needed to be restarted. We started it up and all was well, until the supply drops came again, it was absolutely killing out server.

 

I might be pointing at the wrong thing here but as soon as we disabled the supply drops everything started working again. Ill investigate further, just seeing if Im the only one thats had this

[tdavison]

Im not entirely sure if im on the right track here but I implemented this last night and it worked like a charm, but after the 2nd supply drop the server ground to a halt and needed to be restarted. We started it up and all was well, until the supply drops came again, it was absolutely killing out server.

 

I might be pointing at the wrong thing here but as soon as we disabled the supply drops everything started working again. Ill investigate further, just seeing if Im the only one thats had this

 

I honestly have no idea what would cause this issue with regards to the addon. I'm not doing anything 'too much differently' than other addons. In fact, I had this running with VEMF, A3EAI, and BlckEagl's with no issues (other than poor server performance from ViLayer). I've since moved to Vert hosting, and haven't had an issue yet - but I also play on a really low-pop server. I am optimizing some code in the next version... wish I could help more. 

 

Have you looked at your server's RPT to see if there are any weird issues?

[tdavison]

Im not entirely sure if im on the right track here but I implemented this last night and it worked like a charm, but after the 2nd supply drop the server ground to a halt and needed to be restarted. We started it up and all was well, until the supply drops came again, it was absolutely killing out server.

 

I might be pointing at the wrong thing here but as soon as we disabled the supply drops everything started working again. Ill investigate further, just seeing if Im the only one thats had this

 

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.

[computermancer]

Nice, can't wait for the next update! XD

[Richie]

Awesome script, really nice :)

1 small issue though, its ran perfect for days but now my players are reporting a swarm of helicopters, they're not dropping the crate and continue flying, then another spawns and so on.

[tdavison]

Awesome script, really nice :)

1 small issue though, its ran perfect for days but now my players are reporting a swarm of helicopters, they're not dropping the crate and continue flying, then another spawns and so on.

 

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.

[Richie]

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.

 

Nice, i'll keep any eye out for the update.

[nightmare]

@tdavison nice script thx! +++

[tdavison]

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

[tdavison]

In the event you downloaded the update - I forgot to un-comment a line and change its value. It is in the updated version on github. I was getting a yellow link when the crate dropped, so in the missions folder (SDROP_SupplyDrop.sqf), I un-commented the timer and set it to 5. Seems to have fixed that.

			} forEach units _grp;
		};
		uiSleep 5; //this is where I made the change to fix the link issue
	};

[computermancer]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/allowDamage

 

You can set this so the crate doesn't take damage

 

Does waitUntil really cause that much lag?

[narrundo]

hey mate can I implement this AI mission to Epoch Bornholm ? Do I need to configure anything or just do it like in instruction ? Thanks

[tdavison]

hey mate can I implement this AI mission to Epoch Bornholm ? Do I need to configure anything or just do it like in instruction ? Thanks

 

You'll need to edit the SDROP_SupplyDrop.sqf position array values (see below) for helicopter spawns - that should be all you need to do:

 

// ALTIS - north, south, east, west starting locations for supply helicopter

// these distances are all oceanic spawns

_posArray = [[15971.3,25950.5,200],[14727.5,3934.5,200],[26869.5,15454.5,200],[1306.16,14832.8,200]];

[tdavison]

https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/allowDamage

 

You can set this so the crate doesn't take damage

 

Does waitUntil really cause that much lag?

 

I didn't want to set that condition on the crate, but users are free to edit that condition. And, the WaitUntil method runs once every frame... so having those can cause lag because the condition is checked far too often (especially if you have more than one waitUntil running).

[Moody]

Very cool addon. I'm using it on my server. I do have two requests:

 

1. Percentage chance of it running.

2. Percentage chance that the heli will crash before dropping it's crate, just to make it more interesting.

 

Now, if anyone wants to use it for Chernarus:

 

1. Open SDROP_SupplyDrop.sqf.

2. Replace the "_posArray" line with this:

_posArray = [[72.0000,8184.00,200],[15320.0,7816.00,200],[7528.00,15320.0,200],[6888.00,40.0000,200]];

3. Replace the "_mapCenter" line and the "_coords" line with this:

_mapCenter = [7067.50,7798.63];
_coords = [_mapCenter,500,5000,30,0,10,0] call BIS_fnc_findSafePos;

The _posArray line has positions for helicopters to spawn on the edges of Chernarus. The _mapCenter sets the center of the map at Novy Sobor and _coords sets the distance from the center of the map to spawn the supply drop to 5000km. The edge of the map is around 7.2km from Novy Sobor, so that keeps the supply drops away from the edges of the map.

i added the _coords | _mapCenter and _posArray as you mentioned to my SDROP_SupplyDrop.sqf, still no sign of the supplydrop on my chernarus server

 

// ALTIS - north, south, east, west starting locations for supply helicopter

// these distances are all oceanic spawns

_posArray = [[72.0000,8184.00,200],[15320.0,7816.00,200],[7528.00,15320.0,200],[6888.00,40.0000,200]];

 

//random supply helicopter spawn

_heliSpawnPosition = _posArray call bis_fnc_selectrandom;  

 

//these variables determine a safe location for the supply crate drops

//using the helicopter spawn as starting point

_mapCenter = [7067.50,7798.63];

_coords = [_mapCenter,500,5000,30,0,10,0] call BIS_fnc_findSafePos;

[tdavison]

 

i added the _coords | _mapCenter and _posArray as you mentioned to my SDROP_SupplyDrop.sqf, still no sign of the supplydrop on my chernarus server

 

// ALTIS - north, south, east, west starting locations for supply helicopter

// these distances are all oceanic spawns

_posArray = [[72.0000,8184.00,200],[15320.0,7816.00,200],[7528.00,15320.0,200],[6888.00,40.0000,200]];

 

//random supply helicopter spawn

_heliSpawnPosition = _posArray call bis_fnc_selectrandom;  

 

//these variables determine a safe location for the supply crate drops

//using the helicopter spawn as starting point

_mapCenter = [7067.50,7798.63];

_coords = [_mapCenter,500,5000,30,0,10,0] call BIS_fnc_findSafePos;

 

 

By default, the drop default timer is 15-minutes... the latest version, with the paratrooper AI, doesn't use the _mapCenter anymore... it uses the helicopter's spawn position which is set in the _posArray.

[computermancer]

Ah, yes, once every frame is a bit too often for most of these checks,

[Floyd]

I'm trying to run the mod on Chernarus.

In SDROP_SupplyDrop.sqf I've commented out the -posArray line:

// ALTIS - north, south, east, west starting locations for supply helicopter
// these distances are all oceanic spawns
//_posArray = [[15971.3,25950.5,200],[14727.5,3934.5,200],[26869.5,15454.5,200],[1306.16,14832.8,200]];

and have used the following instead:

//CHERNARUS - starting locations
_posArray = [[7300.0,15200.0,200],[7300.0,1200.0,200],[14500.0,8200.0,200],[100.0,8200.0,200]];  

The mission spawned, but off the map. It appeared to move back and forth a VERY short distance before dropping its crate.

Is there something I've missed? Or perhaps my coordinates are off?

**Edit**

Working on the co-ordinates. Even moving the co-ordinates in, the mission will still often spawn just outside the "box" and bounce off Chernarus' invisible wall.

[tdavison]

I'm trying to run the mod on Chernarus.

In SDROP_SupplyDrop.sqf I've commented out the -posArray line:

// ALTIS - north, south, east, west starting locations for supply helicopter
// these distances are all oceanic spawns
//_posArray = [[15971.3,25950.5,200],[14727.5,3934.5,200],[26869.5,15454.5,200],[1306.16,14832.8,200]];

and have used the following instead:

//CHERNARUS - starting locations
_posArray = [[7300.0,15200.0,200],[7300.0,1200.0,200],[14500.0,8200.0,200],[100.0,8200.0,200]];  

The mission spawned, but off the map. It appeared to move back and forth a VERY short distance before dropping its crate.

Is there something I've missed? Or perhaps my coordinates are off?

**Edit**

Working on the co-ordinates. Even moving the co-ordinates in, the mission will still often spawn just outside the "box" and bounce off Chernarus' invisible wall.

 

 

BetterDeadThanZed used the following to work with Chenarus:

_posArray = [[72.0000,8184.00,200],[15320.0,7816.00,200],[7528.00,15320.0,200],[6888.00,40.0000,200]];

_mapCenter = [7067.50,7798.63];
_coords = [_mapCenter,500,5000,30,0,10,0] call BIS_fnc_findSafePos;

You might have to play around with coordinates - really just pick any spawn N, S, E, W that a player can't get to (somewhere in oceans). I re-worked a new mapCenter and findSafePos algorithm (from Kilo Swiss' SEM) and may consider adding that to a future update to make things easier/more efficient.

[Achmed]

on altis i keep getting the crate landing in the sea. how do i fix this?

[SpiRe]

and crate isnt lootable sometimes