Converting Campaign Missions To MP

[mr.pibb 0]

Hey guys, got a few questions here,

I am considering making a few missions in my newly released campaign Multi-player compatable.

If I do this, that means that the missions are instantly accessable through Multiplayer in GR without having to unlock those locked missions right?

Also I have one mission with a helo insertion that cannot be escaped because of the length of the flight, this poses some possible problems:

1-The helo of course can only accomodate like 6 player-actors, so can you limit the number of players allowed on a mission in MP?

2-Can the helo be used in MP or does it cause problems?-i.e-like of course having to teleport the player platoon to it and it not showing on the replays. Also will the individual players automatically be teleported to the helo just as the playerplatoon is with the same script?

And lastly, there are a few missions that have some 3-4 min. cinematics that are integeral to the mission and cannot be removed, there is some hiding and showing in all of the cinematics. I dont know much about the shadows problem, only that it exists through hiding. Do the shadows remain for hidden actors and vehicles and do the shadows disappear when the hidden vehicle is shown, then teleported or moved or is the shadow a permanent spot once it occurs?

All of the missions will only be avaliable in the MP mission style.

I know, someone trying to answer this is hating me right now, but I would really appreciate the info here, so as to make a MP patch for my mod quick and painless, rather then spending a week or two on it.

Thanks, I look forward to hearing from someone,

Christian

[H-Hour 0]

1-The helo of course can only accomodate like 6 player-actors, so can you limit the number of players allowed on a mission in MP?

Not to my knowledge. But there are clever work-arounds. You could probably figure out a way to kill off any extra players, but that wouldn't be very nice at all.

2-Can the helo be used in MP or does it cause problems?-

The helo will not work properly in MP. It only updates it's location information to the server, not the client, so the host would see it move, but everyone else would see it right whree it spawned. If it is entirely stationary it might work.

Also will the individual players automatically be teleported to the helo just as the playerplatoon is with the same script?

Yep. Player platoon works the same for SP and MP.

And lastly, there are a few missions that have some 3-4 min. cinematics that are integeral to the mission and cannot be removed, there is some hiding and showing in all of the cinematics. I dont know much about the shadows problem, only that it exists through hiding. Do the shadows remain for hidden actors and vehicles and do the shadows disappear when the hidden vehicle is shown, then teleported or moved or is the shadow a permanent spot once it occurs?

Cinematics will not work in MP. Here's how the shadow problem works. If an actor is hidden during the game, sometimes a sillouhette will appear where he is. If that sillouhette is killed, it will crash the game. Once you un-hide the actor, the shadow will go active and not be a shadow anymore. So, if you un-hide all actors on startup, you shouldn't have any problems. Recommendations:

1) If you decide to have shadows during the game, make sure they are invincible to prevent crashes.

2) Set up a seperate Startup trigger that will only go if the game mode is Coop. Then, un-hide all actors that may be hidden in the SP version. It will only un-hide them for Coop. And when I say "un-hide", I mean use the Show trigger.

3) Teleporting vehicles is tricky. I've run into problems with a humvee that was teleported. On the server's machine it would teleport correctly, but on the client's, it would not teleport. Recommend you avoid the use of vehicle teleportation in MP unless you can test it thoroughly.

Are your missions going to be server-sided?

[Jack57 0]

Yes missions will be available in MP even if they are still locked.

Do not use the standard Blackhawk in MP. Believe me it does not work correctly and will cause lots of problems. Some of the 3rd party choppers (HX5 for example) can be used for MP.

Avoid cinematics in MP missions. They will work fine on a peer to peer network but if run on a dedicated server the server will crash.

Shadows only affect hidden actors. As soon as they are made visible to the game world they will behave normally. Ensure all hidden actors are invincible for the duration. To avoid the shadow issue try to make missions so that hidden actors are shown before players are in the area and can see them (this will also avoid the cardinal sin of spawn kills ). If this is not possible try and have them in an area the player cannot access - many maps have areas outside the playable area that can be used and they can be teleported to thier starting location when needed. Sealed tents are very useful for concealing them also and on some maps you put them inside rocks etc

BTW, I played your WWIII mod and I have to say that it the most refreshing mod I have seen in a long time. You have brought something a little different to GR (a breath of fresh air) in a clever and innovative way.

Nice work - kudos to you

[FNG_DRx 0]

So any MP mission with an intro scene will crash a dedicated server? lame. why?

[mr.pibb 0]

Thanks Jack, the fresh air is sometimes a little clogged with the smell of burning vehicles though.

I really appreciate this info guys, as I can see I will only be adding a few of the missions, due to the fact I just dont have the time or the patience anymore to make more gigantic changes to my mod, but a few missions is better than none and the one mission that I prefer the most has no hiding.

H-Hour, I dont even know what Server-Sided means. All I really know is that you can throw on the little check on the Multiplayer option in Igor and your mission is ready to go online.

Is the server sided something I need?

Thanks, all extremely usefull info.

[Jack57 0]

I dont even know what Server-Sided means. All I really know is that you can throw on the little check on the Multiplayer option in Igor and your mission is ready to go online.

Is the server sided something I need?

Serversided means your mod contains no modified files (apart the mis file of course). That is to say it contains only elements (actors, vehicles, graphics, etc, etc) that are part of GR\DS\IT depending on which of those are required for your mission. Also the mission will need to be installed to the mission directory of one of GR\DS\IT, again depending on which ones are required.

Cheers, Jack

[H-Hour 0]

Yeah, Mr. Pibb. What Jack said about server-sided. The benefit is that a server can host that mission and people can join and play the mission without having to download anything.

Mr. Pibb, look into scripting things based on mission type. You can set it so that if a game is Coop it won't go into cinematics and stuff. It may not be ideal, but it will turn a non-functional mission in MP into a functional one.

[mr.pibb 0]

I gotcha guys.Thank you again.

I just came back from poking into the script in one of the missions with the cinematics, I see it will require a major overhaul, and it will also reveal the mission before it was ever reached in MP with the added minus of not seeing the cinematics too, therefore decreasing the value of that missions part in the campaign.

I have decided if I release any MP missions, it will be only one mission. Its the first playable mission in the campaign so it dosent harm anything by making it usable w/out unlocking.

It does seem pretty impossible to be server sided, tons of allied actors that are custom, tons of weapons too.

So it may not be server sided, but it will work I think.

Thanks for the very helpful info guys

Christian

Edited February 13, 2004 by mr.pibb

[Jack57 0]

So it may not be server sided

I wouldn't worry too much about that. It will be a good incentive for people to download your mod and then they will prolly end up playing the SP missions

BTW, I noticed you included the intro.avi from the original GR in your mod. That adds 17.5MB to your mod size (and it won't compress a great deal more). Anyway if you're interested I can show you how to have it copied over from the Ghost Recon\Data\Video directory to your mod during installation and enable the Show Intro option. Will save you a good deal on the size of your mod. PM me if you want to know more.

Cheers,

Jack

[mr.pibb 0]

Thanks Jack

Christian