Ghost Recon: Heroes Unleashed

ApexMods · June 2, 2009

Thanks for the heads-up, Gache. This means that SI probably downloaded from FileFront, too. What a mess!

OK, as this seems to only affect the full install for PC, I have manually uploaded this file to my personal FileFront account again as a temporary solution. Here's the link:

Heroes Unleashed v1.0.0b5 Full Install - FIXED DOWNLOAD (1012 MB)

**Tinker** · June 2, 2009

Downloaded and works fine.

:thumbsup:

ApexMods · June 4, 2009

A little update on the download problems some people encountered.

Just had another email exchange with ModDB and apparently the file corruption on FileFront got fixed. When the ModDB guys tried the downloads today everything came down intact, and meanwhile several people reported successful downloads from both FileFront and StrategyInformer, so hopefully it is all sorted out now.

Kyle_K_ski · June 9, 2009

Terrific work on the mod. It's been a LONG time since I've posted anything here, been too busy, but I've done some lurking every now and then, and if you visit your listing on Mod DB, you'll notice that I had the first post regarding the latest release, so y'know I still care!

BUG(s)

Quick Mission, location 124 Vigilant Resolve. One of my favorite maps, and oh my brains, has this map been giving me troubles! Only once has this map loaded up for me after saving it without quickly crashing afterwards. I have no idea why. I think that every time that it has happened it has occurred when my team has been spawned by the emplaced machineguns. Anyone else having such issues?

SUGGESTION(s)

Any chance that we could have tracer rounds from the Ghosts' small arms entirely removed, or, save the tracers for just the last 5 rounds (a technique that informs them that their magazine is about to go empty)? It's hard for me to imagine that they'd be using them in a normal fashion. In fact, if it's not possible to just remove/modify the Ghosts' tracer rounds, then I'd be perfectly happy to see tracers removed from EVERYBODY's small arms, a scenario that would be more accurate than not. Perhaps replace the small arms tracer with an invisible one?

Remove the Rounds Remaining counter from the display. It's acceptable to me to leave the Magazines/Grenades Remaining counter, but having the individual rounds counted for you takes a chunk of suspense out of the game. If the last five rounds of every magazine were tracers, then we really wouldn't need such a meticulous counter.

Is it possible to broaden the range of weaponry available to the Ghosts to include more from the Red forces? I deeply appreciate the suppressed AKS74u along with its suppressed grenade launcher, but it's surprising to me how often I'll see photographs of American SOF on patrol/in the midst of a mission, and they're carrying AKs. I've even seen photos of SOF using AKs that have been modified to be able to use Aimpoints, Reflex sites, and Western-made scopes of all sorts. In my mind, the frequency of such photos seems to indicate that such options should be more varied and available than they currently are, even in this superb mod.

Keep up the great work. And thank you for it.

Edited June 9, 2009 by Kyle_K_ski

Kyle_K_ski · June 13, 2009

The Quick Mission on Caya Lagos (if I got the spelling wrong, it's the map set in Cuba) is also frequently CTD on me. I always save the game within the first couple of seconds of it starting. The crashing seems like it happens after the 5-6th enemy is killed. Awesome map, it'd be great to have it in a stable format.

ApexMods · July 13, 2009

First of all, sorry for my late reply. Real life keeps me extremely busy with no end in sight at the moment, so I hardly find the time to keep up with forums and emails for Heroes. But don't you fear - I'm still modding and the next update for Heroes Unleashed is in the works.

Terrific work on the mod. It's been a LONG time since I've posted anything here, been too busy, but I've done some lurking every now and then, and if you visit your listing on Mod DB, you'll notice that I had the first post regarding the latest release, so y'know I still care!

Thanks a lot, Kyle! It's very much appreciated! :thumbsup:

I have to admit that I did not notice the separate comments in the ModDB downloads section, because of the main comment section on Heroes main page at ModDB.

BUG(s)
Quick Mission, location 124 Vigilant Resolve. One of my favorite maps, and oh my brains, has this map been giving me troubles! Only once has this map loaded up for me after saving it without quickly crashing afterwards. I have no idea why. I think that every time that it has happened it has occurred when my team has been spawned by the emplaced machineguns. Anyone else having such issues?

There are still some maps that seem to have issues with saving in certain locations. I'll have to check this one, but my preliminary guess would be that there is an issue with the 3D model boundaries, which would mean that there isn't much I can do about this at the moment.

SUGGESTION(s)
Any chance that we could have tracer rounds from the Ghosts' small arms entirely removed, or, save the tracers for just the last 5 rounds (a technique that informs them that their magazine is about to go empty)? It's hard for me to imagine that they'd be using them in a normal fashion. In fact, if it's not possible to just remove/modify the Ghosts' tracer rounds, then I'd be perfectly happy to see tracers removed from EVERYBODY's small arms, a scenario that would be more accurate than not. Perhaps replace the small arms tracer with an invisible one?

The game does not allow setting tracers for just the last couple of rounds - it only lets me set the tracer frequency for each weapon. As I recall, this is currently set to one tracer in five rounds for most automatic weapons in Heroes Unleashed, as this is the application most commonly in use for tracers in real life. But it would be possible to remove tracers altogether if this felt more realistic. I don't know what's the general consensus on this one, so people: please let me know! Maybe I should include another add-on mod in the X-tras folder for the next version that disables tracers?

Remove the Rounds Remaining counter from the display. It's acceptable to me to leave the Magazines/Grenades Remaining counter, but having the individual rounds counted for you takes a chunk of suspense out of the game. If the last five rounds of every magazine were tracers, then we really wouldn't need such a meticulous counter.

Sorry, another one that is hardcoded into the game. Try the "Hardcore" add-on mod in the X-tras folder - among other things (hardcore realism!) it takes HUD minimalism to the max. And then of course there is the option to disable HUD elements in-game with the function keys (I think it's F11 and F12 - see the manual to make sure).

Is it possible to broaden the range of weaponry available to the Ghosts to include more from the Red forces? I deeply appreciate the suppressed AKS74u along with its suppressed grenade launcher, but it's surprising to me how often I'll see photographs of American SOF on patrol/in the midst of a mission, and they're carrying AKs. I've even seen photos of SOF using AKs that have been modified to be able to use Aimpoints, Reflex sites, and Western-made scopes of all sorts. In my mind, the frequency of such photos seems to indicate that such options should be more varied and available than they currently are, even in this superb mod.

Certainly possible! I've limited the weaponry for the campaign because this is what the original game does, and also because some people might feel that there are too many weapons to choose from, already. But I agree, and I guess adding a couple of quite common "foreign" weapons in the next release won't hurt.

Keep up the great work. And thank you for it.

My pleasure, and thanks a lot for the great feedback! :thumbsup:

twcrash · August 7, 2009

Hey I uploaded it to Mediafire just need people to test the download to make sure its ok (no corruption) If I get some feedback ill post it as well. Use the link as you wish.

Heroes 100B5

Edited August 7, 2009 by twcrash

ApexMods · August 24, 2009

Thanks for the extra mirror, Crash. I don't have a PC handy for testing at the moment (and my current download speed is sub-optimal). But from what I hear, the ModDB downloads should all be fine (non-corrupted) now.

ApexMods · September 2, 2009

First of all, I am sorry that development has stalled for some time due to a total absence of spare time on my part, and as a result I am trailing the original timeline for a finalized release considerably. But it looks like I might soon find some time (keeping my fingers crossed) to finally continue working on Heroes Unleashed. By now there were over 20,000 downloads (all mirrors combined) and the mod even got posted on several "warez" and bittorrent sites, so I presume it is already quite popular in its beta stage.

Feedback for Heroes Unleashed has been a bit lacking as of late, and I am really interested in what people would like to see implemented next. Of course I will work on fixing any remaining bugs first, but luckily there don't seem to be too many. There are still some minor issues with the new game types introduced in v1.0.0b5, especially the SP/COOP "SAR" and "Random" ones, but I think those should not be too hard to fix.

So, aside from the obvious bug fixes, what is it you want me to work on next? Here are a couple of options:

- Packaging the mod in an installer application (like the update patches)

- Finish re-scripting the remaining campaign missions

- Continue fine-tuning weapons (external and terminal ballistics)

- Continue balancing map zones (insertions, extractions, spawn points etc.)

- Re-work remaining "less-than-beautiful" textures

- Add some new full-scale missions to non-campaign maps

- Add more single and multiplayer game types

- Add more weapons

- Add more maps

- Add more characters/skins

- Add more Xtras (e.g. more add-on mods)

Now, I probably won't have enough spare time to work on all of the above for the next release, so please let me know what would be the most important things for you. You are of course welcome to name other requests and suggestions missing from the list. Thank you. :thumbsup:

wombat50 · September 2, 2009

Just some thoughts from a co-op player.

- Packaging the mod in an installer application (like the update patches)

I like it as you have done up to this point. Correct me if I am wrong but they have all been 7Z archives.

- Finish re-scripting the remaining campaign missions

Not really interested in playing these again even if you have improved them. Let's face it, they were decent to start with. So IMHO not time well spent.

- Continue fine-tuning weapons (external and terminal ballistics)

As they are is fine. But you have improved them a good deal and if you have some ideas to improve them further, go for it.

- Continue balancing map zones (insertions, extractions, spawn points etc.)

Time well spent. For my personal use I have shifted the map points for FF's and like the result.

- Re-work remaining "less-than-beautiful" textures

:thumbsup:

- Add some new full-scale missions to non-campaign maps

:thumbsup:

- Add more single and multiplayer game types

We had a layoff from HU while we tested and played P2. Last Sunday was the first time we played HU online

since the update. I didn't realize you had added some excellent new gametypes until I saw your above post.

So we will definitely be trying some of the co-op ones. At the moment probably not time well spent adding new gametypes.

What does the XL stand for in the gametypes?

- Add more weapons

For Pete's sake I don't think I have tried them all yet and have played HU a good bit.

- Add more maps

:thumbsup:

- Add more characters/skins

Would like to see the opposing force characters with a different look then the stock ones.

- Add more Xtras (e.g. more add-on mods)

Depends on what it would be. So far we play HU without the add-on mods. It's easier that way.

Gonna get some supper now.

Gache · September 3, 2009

Apex, I simply haven't played HU beta5 enough to comment on most of these options. (After falling afoul of P2's hardware requirements, I've been running through some older, less graphically-intensive mods.)

One thing I can say, though, is that a basic 7z archive is much better easier than an installer, unless that installer is really well done. For example, most mod installers don't say whether to point them at the GR folder or the Mods folder - I've lost count of the number of times a mod has ended up in the wrong one. The messages announcing 'this is a free version of a payware installer' don't give a terribly good impression, either. HU is better than that! :thumbsup:

ApexMods · September 3, 2009

Thanks a lot for the feedback guys, this is very much appreciated! :thumbsup:

I actually share your opinion on the 7z archive and prefer its simple drag-n-drop install over an installer application myself, but some people who used the update patches have approached me and suggested to have the full mod install like that, too. On second thought you are absolutely right though - this should not be a top priority at this point.

BTW - Gache, the Heroes Unleashed update patches that come as installer apps don't show a freeware reminder because I actually purchased licenses for both the Mac and PC versions, and both automagically point to the correct install location so you just need to click the install button and you're done.

Great feedback, wombat. Very interesting to hear you opinion on the campaign. I always wanted to play the GR/DS/IT campaigns again without the little issues that annoyed me to a degree in their original form (e.g. repetitive behavior of enemies). But I see that this may be a rather personal preference of mine, so offering completely new missions should probably have higher priority.

The new weapon ballistics setup introduced in v1.0.0b5 is indeed pretty close to what I want to achieve and many players would probably not even notice additional fine-tuning, so yes, this is another one that can wait a bit longer.

As for balancing the maps - I don't know if you noticed, but I actually scripted all game types to randomize insertion and clear the immediate surroundings of OPFOR, so you should never encounter an enemy close by you when you insert (something that happened on quite a few maps in the older versions). So remaining map balancing would mainly concern SOLO/TEAM multiplayer.

The XL game types are "Xtra Large OPFOR" versions of the originals, which means there are a lot more enemies to fight.

Yep, I hear you about the weapons - maybe it really is enough for the time being.

Maps... yes, there can never be enough of those, eh?

The current "ARCADE" and "HARDCORE" add-on mods in the X-TRAS folder aim to provide two additional 'flavors' of Heroes Unleashed. While the ARCADE version takes the mod closer to the original game in some ways (e.g. original reticules on all weapons, less aggressive/smart enemies), the HARDCORE version takes realism (and difficulty) up another notch (e.g. minimal HUD without threat indicator, very tough enemies). Expanding on this should probably not be high-priority at the moment, either.

Thanks again, and please keep the feedback and suggestions coming. :thumbsup:

Gache · September 3, 2009

BTW - Gache, the Heroes Unleashed update patches that come as installer apps don't show a freeware reminder because I actually purchased licenses for both the Mac and PC versions, and both automagically point to the correct install location so you just need to click the install button and you're done.

Ah, I didn't realise you'd bought an installer... should have looked before criticising, eh? :whistle:

(If it works, that's great... I'm still annoyed with a well-known, respected mod that installed itself in completely the wrong place the other day and made me hunt for it :angry: Sorry if I came off as harsh.)

I always wanted to play the GR/DS/IT campaigns again without the little issues that annoyed me to a degree in their original form (e.g. repetitive behavior of enemies). But I see that this may be a rather personal preference of mine[...]

Actually, playing tweaked/upgraded versions of the original campaigns is something I enjoy too... Back when I didn't have DS/IT I spent countless hours getting wiped out in the old 'New Cold War' mod - ah, good times :blink: :wacko:

Edit: Have you thought of using some of the extra maps to fill out the backstory between the original campaign missions? An 'extended' campaign might add a bit more interest for people who've played the originals a lot, and co-op players would get some new full-scale missions... hmm :shifty:

Edited September 3, 2009 by Gache

ApexMods · September 3, 2009

Have you thought of using some of the extra maps to fill out the backstory between the original campaign missions? An 'extended' campaign might add a bit more interest for people who've played the originals a lot, and co-op players would get some new full-scale missions... hmm

:hmm: Hmm... inersting...

ApexMods · September 11, 2009

Meanwhile, I started playing around with some gameplay videos on YouTube. Nothing fancy yet, just some clips to test different video encoding qualities (so please don't mind the gameplay).

Anyhow, here's the YouTube link to some early test videos.

**Rocky** · September 12, 2009

Nice vids Apex, really good quality, graphics so cool. I'll bet when some folks on youtibe see that they'll be saying "Wait, what, this is a 8 year old game?!"

wombat50 · September 12, 2009

I was trying to zoom in and fire my weapon while watching.

Nice job Apex.

**Tinker** · September 12, 2009

LOL @ being noob tubed by the enemy 4:50

:rofl:

ApexMods · September 12, 2009

I was trying to zoom in and fire my weapon while watching.
Nice job Apex.

Thanks, wombat. Yes, I do the same thing every time I watch the clips.

LOL @ being noob tubed by the enemy 4:50

I just knew you would love that part!

jconradh · September 12, 2009

I posted this on Heroes Unleashed forums as well. I hope this is the correct place to get input:

I have to say this is a great mod.

I have been hosting a server on LAN and internet simultaneously and it has been crashing intermittently. No other mods are installed on the server nor any of the clients.

The mod priority is top-to-bottom:

Desert Siege

Island Thunder

Heroes Unleashed

The crashes happen on client started servers as well as dedicated.

I am including the IKE log text:

***** User's system configuration *****

CPU: AuthenticAMD 2080 MHz Recent AMD

RAM: 1536 MB

O/S: Microsoft Windows 2000 5.1 Service Pack 3 build 2600

Ghost Recon (RELEASE) version = 1.4.0.0(0)

HAL (hw vp): RADEON 9600 SERIES X8R8G8B8

RSSoundMgrPC: Selecting sound device NVIDIAï¿½ nForce Audio

driver is nvapu.sys

DedServerScript: Could not open c:\games\ghost recon\data\save\script\default.ass for saving

IkeRulesMgr::HandleMapScriptModsRequest - Server access not granted

Loading map c:\games\ghost recon\mods\origmiss\map\m01_caves\m01_caves.map

SimGun: Gun node Fixed MG 01 has no camera offset helper point.

RSFILEDATA: FindFile could not find file opposing_force_7.atr