Ghost Recon: Heroes Unleashed

[Kyle_K_ski]

Thanks for the nicely detailed reply Jose.

I see.

Engine limitation.

Engine limitation.

Engine limitation.

Now that I know that a SDK was never released, and I look at all of the content that was STILL created, I'm all the more awestruck by it.

Wow!

The modding community just blows me away with its hard work and dedication.  Yeah, seeing the Big Picture really humbles me all the more.

Thank you for the information.

[wombat50]

1) GR has about 30 sound files related to whizzes, strikes and ricochets.  
2) Files would have to be done individually to add those effects. A big job but doable. GR has a wide variety of decent sounds but they certainly could be improved. Most sounds have to be mono otherwise it makes GR CTD but I think echo could be added at least simulated echo. Mono definitely holds it back as a sound converted from stereo to mono is always made flatter and not as satisfying. 
7) Effects can be made to look different with photoshop but how they are generated in the game is hard coded. 
8) Tinker told me AI can see through smoke. With experimenting this could definitely be found to be true or false.  I think Centcom had throwable smoke.
   I have had some luck re-tagging vegetation textures so maybe it is possible to re-tag the smoke textures so AI could not see thru it. 

[BlindSniper]

Hello,

About the Iron Dragon mission CTDs: I had the exact same problem with the first autosaves, until I noticed that after I had progressed the mission to a certain point (more specifically, I *think* it was right after I saw a truck with some enemy soldiers in it leaving the starting area and heading north), the rest of the autosaves loaded without any problems.

Today, I also noticed that the same applies if I kill all the enemy soldiers in the truck. The truck remains in the starting area, but I can load the game without any problems. So, it *might* have something to do with both the truck and the enemy soldiers in it. I can't be 100% certain though, so take that with a grain of salt.

[Rocky]

Great post Kyle, I think it's awesome when detailed feedback and appreciation like that is posted - I know it is hugely appreciated by the modders concerned.

 

Thank you.

[wombat50]

M01_Caves_Mis_Test.rar

See attachment for the mod to test the Caves mission in the HU V9 campaign.

This is an edited version of HU mission M01 Caves, the second mission of the HU campaign.
I edited it to correct the CTD when trying to load a save.
The "Effect - Hidden" was set an at height of 9,999 meters, IIRC. I set it to 2 meters and
have not had any CTD when loading any save either ingame or when resuming the mission.

For Testing:
Start a new Hereoes Unleashed V9 campaingn so as not to mess up your current campaingn
and name it Caves Test or similar. You can use autowin in the console to skip thru the first mission and get to the Caves mission quicker. 

Requires and activated like so:
GR patched to 1.4
DS
IT
HU version 9
M01_Caves_Mis_Test Mod

Anyone interested in giving feedback about the test mission please do. As in it works fine when loading a save or the damn thing still CTD.
Thanks to BlindSniper for giving me an idea to check the effects or something to do with teleporting. 

Thanks, wombat50

[BlindSniper]

I'm happy to report that both the autosaves and my manual saves are loading properly now, without any exceptions. No CTDs at all.

Great work wombat! Thanks  

[wombat50]

Thanks for testing BlindSniper! 
I had not thought about it until now but I'll play the mission to completion to make sure it works all the way thru. 

Edited August 1, 2017 by wombat50

[nyleken]

21 hours ago, Jose21crisis said:

 

1. The ACU they have is US Army standard as of 2008, which is when the game takes place. But a lot of people doesn't like it, and its understandable. I would prefer some other camo as well

Since the Ghosts are part of the 5th SFG (and arguably qualifies for CIF considering they focus almost exclusively on Direct Action missions), having them use UCP is correct for the game's time period.

 

That being said, I'd argue that the Ghosts are a bit of a step-up from your typical Green Beret. Giving them Delta gear from the same time period, like older generation Crye combat shirts and Paraclete plate carriers in Multicam along with gunfighter cut helmets might not be out of place.

[shakealeg1212]

17 hours ago, nyleken said:

Since the Ghosts are part of the 5th SFG (and arguably qualifies for CIF considering they focus almost exclusively on Direct Action missions), having them use UCP is correct for the game's time period.

That being said, I'd argue that the Ghosts are a bit of a step-up from your typical Green Beret. Giving them Delta gear from the same time period, like older generation Crye combat shirts and Paraclete plate carriers in Multicam along with gunfighter cut helmets might not be out of place.

I still argue that The Ghosts would be fielding Multicam for the first time ever. Multicam was being tested in 2008 and I think its safe to say a super elite (fictional) unit has the liberty to use a camo pattern that was in existence during the events covered.  Though nothing beats the nostalgia for BDUs and PAGST gear. 

 

And thanks for the quicksave fix wombat! I usually play through missions without saving but it's still nice to have just in case!

[AlexKimov]

On 01.08.2017 at 08:24, wombat50 said:

7) Effects can be made to look different with photoshop but how they are generated in the game is hard coded. 
8) Tinker told me AI can see through smoke. With experimenting this could definitely be found to be true or false.  I think Centcom had throwable smoke.
   I have had some luck re-tagging vegetation textures so maybe it is possible to re-tag the smoke textures so AI could not see thru it. 

They (devs) used the same magic plugin almost for every single object or effect in the game. Typical Red Storm's workflow in 1996 - 200?: create object, effect, map in 3ds max, export it with a plugin and test it.  No self made tools, just "vanilla" 3ds max. Only names were harcoded (i.e. "someobjectname.pob").

.pob files were used to store effects and we can open them and edit (smoke, fire, explosions, whatever). I mean we need to create tools, but hex editing isn't that bad.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131829/postmortem_redstorms_rainbow_six.php

Quote

Furthermore, instead of creating our own level-building tool, we built everything using 3D Studio Max. Thus, artists had more freedom in the types of spaces that they could create, but they didn’t have shortcuts to stamp out generic parts such as corridors or stairwells — everything had to be modeled by hand.

It's about Rainbow six (1998), but nothing changed.

Edited August 3, 2017 by AlexKimov

[nyleken]

On 8/2/2017 at 14:42, shakealeg1212 said:

I still argue that The Ghosts would be fielding Multicam for the first time ever. Multicam was being tested in 2008 and I think its safe to say a super elite (fictional) unit has the liberty to use a camo pattern that was in existence during the events covered.  Though nothing beats the nostalgia for BDUs and PAGST gear. 

 

And thanks for the quicksave fix wombat! I usually play through missions without saving but it's still nice to have just in case!

Delta started fielding Crye Precision gear around 2006 (in AOR1, interestingly enough!) and switched over to Multicam around 2008. So yes, the Ghosts would probably field test those too, likely to the chagrin of their fellow Special Forces brothers who are stuck with not-so gucci gear.

 

Did some digging and found this neat diagram for GRAW. Game was released in 2006 so I find the amount of Crye porn interesting.

[wombat50]

Did limited testing to see if AI could see thru the smoke in HU.
I had a friendly AI with me and I threw some smoke.
My friendly AI would fire on targets thru the smoke and we were fired on by AI when we had smoke between us and them. 

The texture used is: ike_fx_smoke_light.rsb
I thought I might tag it with the RSB editor as vegetation which is similar to no line of sight.
But that option was not available for that texture in the RSB Editor. The usual options such as Gunshot Transparent, Grenade Transparent, LOS transparent, water as well as foliage were all absent.
Might be possible with hex editing and AlexKimov's RSB template???

Edited August 3, 2017 by wombat50

[AlexKimov]

Quote

But that option was not available for that texture in the RSB Editor. The usual options such as Gunshot Transparent, Grenade Transparent, LOS transparent, water as well as foliage were all absent.

https://github.com/AlexKimov/RSE-file-formats/wiki/RSB-File-Format - any help is approciated.

1. Choose "Foliage"

Type numbers shown in 3.png (see below) or summ of the numbers, i.e. 3 (1+2) or 15 (1 + 2 + 4 + 8) and so on.

Edited August 4, 2017 by AlexKimov

[wombat50]

I think this is the correct idea but I am having troubles. 
Template result for M01_shrub is similar to what you show in #1 in your post

Template for what I get for smoke_light is different

There is no UNIT surface channel count.
I have UNIT 16 mn8 instead of Unit Game Properties.

When I make changes and save in the RSB Editor it shows no effect and the tags section is empty:


In a plant texture it shows tags with options

I think if the smoke_light texture could show these tag options in the RSB editor smoke grenades would be made effective and AI could not see through it. 

I did try the hex edited smoke Light ingame and I'm confident the AI see through the smoke.
Thanks
 

[AlexKimov]

Quote

I have UNIT 16 mn8 instead of Unit Game Properties.

Update, please. ) https://github.com/AlexKimov/RSE-file-formats/tree/master/010Editor-templates

Quote

There is no UNIT surface channel count.

That's ok, depends on version (see File Header).

Edited August 4, 2017 by AlexKimov

[AlexKimov]

Quote

The texture used is: ike_fx_smoke_light.rsb

are you sure? try to delete/rename and see what happens.

Quote

UNIT

UNIT UINT = unsigned integer 

Edited August 5, 2017 by AlexKimov

[Jose21crisis]

OK, after testing the little patch you did up there, I can confirm it does work. I could quick load in Mission 2.

Also, now that I could play that mission completely, I can say that I'm imppressed by EVERYTHING. I took like 30 minutes just to complete it, and that's a lot for my standards, I usually do missions in 10 mins at most. The friendly AI is really accurate, and the enemies are smarter. There is a certain highground point where I usually go to end the mission, since I can snipe 2 tangos that appear on the extraction zone. This time the enemies were in that highground trying to take pot shots at us. They failed because they couldn't see us. I eager to see how the other missions are.

[wombat50]

@Alex,

I got the newer version of the RSB.bt.
I have run into a problem with the RSB I have never had before which is several years.
In the RSB Editor>property editor> game tab the tags section is always empty even for plant textures.
I never had this issue. Hard to make progress if I don't know if I'm making changes with the 010 Editor.
EDIT: I'm an idiot. In the RSB Editor I had to set the Project to IKE in the Options. Now the tags section has the usual options.

ike_fx_smoke_light.rsb is definitely the texture smoke grenades use. I have edited the appearance with photoshop to check.
 

Edited August 5, 2017 by wombat50

[AlexKimov]

Quote

ike_fx_smoke_light.rsb is definitely the texture smoke grenades use. I have edited the appearance with photoshop to check.

you can replace it with random "properly tagged" texture. ) Any progress?

Edited August 5, 2017 by AlexKimov

[wombat50]

I renamed M01_Shrub.rsb as ike_fx_smoke_light.rsb.  M01 Shrub is properly tagged not to be seen through. 
Friendly and Enemy AI fire thru it at targets on the other side of the smoke.
The prefix ike may have something to do with it as most of the smoke and fire textures are named with it.

[AlexKimov]

Quote

ike_fx_smoke_light

just a filename.

Quote

Friendly and Enemy AI fire thru it at targets on the other side of the smoke.

it seems to me that game's collision system ignores it. I think the best (only?) solution is to create custom map and add fake smoke.

Edited August 5, 2017 by AlexKimov

[wombat50]

I don't have any more ideas to try either. 

[AlexKimov]

also, in theory it may be "vehicle" with smoke effect, but i'll better vote for HD remake. Ubisoft, dont' let me down

[Kyle_K_ski]

From BlindSniper

Quote

I'm happy to report that both the autosaves and my manual saves are loading properly now, without any exceptions. No CTDs at all.

 

Is this observation strictly in relation to the caves-based headquarters' mission, or also in relation to the very first mission, Iron Dragon?

 

I'm interpreting this statement as strictly applying to the caves-based mission.

 

If so, has anyone else found success with BlindSniper's observations regarding the first Campaign mission, "Iron Dragon?"  That dealing with the truck and its load of soldiers will allow for proper reloading of Saves made after they've been eliminated?  I'm 95% certain that I did take out that truck and its squad before I saved, and upon reloading I still had a CTD, BUT I can't recall if I tried reloading from a Save that was made PRIOR to the truck's appearance/being destroyed. 

If anyone else has success with reloading after the truck and its men are destroyed, then the bug is most likely confined to whatever scripts govern what's happening with that vehicle and its occupants. 

 

 

In regards to the Ghosts' uniform's camouflage...

...I'd greatly prefer to have the pattern changed to something that was much better at concealment.  I wouldn't even care if it was completely fictional, as these guys are supposed to be "The Best of the best," and I'm quite certain that they'd field test gear that nobody else would get their hands on.  Whatever it is, in the end, I'd hope that it would be based on Multicam or Crye samples, and completely avoid the ridiculous digital pixelated patterning.   I still can't wrap my mind around that.  Mother nature is overwhelmingly dominated by CURVES.  The only sensible purpose of going full on pixelation is that it would look "cool" enough to recruit video game junkies.  I'm so grateful to see that the Pentagon brass is correcting this super obvious anti-nature travesty.  Said "mistake" nicely made millionaires out of some crony professional shysters who clearly didn't care how many needlessly lost lives and injuries that would result out of their pathological selfish greed.  "Look!  Glow-in-the-dark blocky 'camouflage!'  Aim there...!"

 

 

In regards to sound effects of passing rounds...

...for both the default game and the modified one, I don't hear bullet cracks/snaps.  This would be a sound file assigned to every traveling round, unless it was sub-sonic.  If I recall correctly, the STALKER series' engine limitations make travelling-bullet cracks/snaps impossible to do.  HOWEVER, there are a few mods out for the games that came up with a "solution" that was good enough to keep: they assigned the cracks/snaps to replace SOME of the material-strikes.  Thus if a burst of rounds impacted an object, some of the sounds would be of the bullet hitting the material, and some would be of the "passing bullet" crack/snap.  Those cracks and snaps are enough to fill someone's diapers when they're heard.  I'm convinced that being able to find a way to put them in the game would be a significant way to increase the sense of immersive dread. 

 

 

In regards to wombat50's FUNCTIONAL smoke grenade efforts...

...First, I have to say, I love the Multicam uniforms you have your unit wearing in the screenshot that you provided!  NICE! 

Second, in all of my years of contributing to mod development, it never ceases to amaze me the patient workarounds and tricks that are used to get a desired feature to work properly.  Seeing the vegetation-smoke cloud is more than a little surreal!   And funny!

Hopefully, assigning the correct tag will finally deliver a satisfactory result. 

Third, if AI-blocking smoke is achieved, please widen the distribution of the cloud being generated.  It's far too narrow, and, if my memory serves me correctly, ceases producing smoke too quickly.

Fourth, I wouldn't be taken aback if the AI reacted to seeing the smoke cloud by laying down suppressing fire into the region of the smoke, BUT  I have a sneaking suspicion that if that was done, that one's Ghost comrades would always automatically freeze where they were, when, in reality, they would most likely take advantage of the concealment and bravely charge through.  If the Ghosts would freeze up, then I wouldn't want the AI to blind-fire into the cloud.

Fifth, it'd be great if the AI could use the smoke wisely to their advantage as well. 

 

 

Keep up the great work everyone!  Real Life's been keeping me far too busy to play this ASTOUNDING mod, hopefully I'll get a break soon.

Peace!

 

  

 

[BlindSniper]

Hi Kyle,

To answer your question, this observation refers to the Iron Dragon mission.

Not sure if you noticed, but wombat uploaded an edited version of the Iron Dragon mission, which seems to fix the CTD problem. So, my observation comes from testing wombat's edited mission.

Whatever the cause of the CTD bug, it seems to have been fixed (thanks again, wombat!), so grab the fixed mission and give it a try whenever you get some free time