Ghost Recon: Heroes Unleashed

[wombat50]

Well done especially his talent for commentary and the video quality is very good.

Edited July 15, 2020 by wombat50

[ApexMods]

Yep, all his reviews are really well done. Great YT channel.

Meanwhile, I remembered EasyCo did some nice HU campaign videos a while back. Here’s the first.

 

[ApexMods]

 

[ApexMods]

 

[Rocky]

Wow, nice collection!!!

[ApexMods]

Found another clip I feel compelled to post here, especially as the guy offers some very nice commentary. 🙂

 

[die7]

Hi Apex, nice that you are active again ..btw any news about HU update, are you still working on any new features?

Btw I am big fan of HU tbh I host dedicated HU server 24/7  http://5.45.107.182/  :))

[ApexMods]

Thanks, mate. Hope I‘ll be able to drop in on your HU server one of these days.

Of course, I‘m still busy with HU, and there‘s loads and loads of work left to do for the next update. Currently doing some map re-texturing and sound design.

Don‘t expect fundamental changes, it‘s probably going to be mostly fine tuning and little feature expansions here and there in the future.

[ApexMods]

A bit of teaser information for the next HU:

Adversarial multiplayer games have received a complete overhaul. Let the good times roll! 🙂

Single player soldier stat progression can be re-enabled via legacy addon mods. Autosave can be disabled. Legacy single shot RoF is a customization option (this one’s for you, Jack). The all-in-one „HU - Legacy“ addon is becoming quite a sizable  monster in its own right, and it’s getting closer to the classic vanilla experience (oh, the nostalgia!) So far, there are now over 80 customization addons included in the next update.

Still a million things left to do, but making progress every day. 😎

[Rocky]

Sounds awesome, if you need anything let me know.

[die7]

can not wait to get it under the finger...great work Apex, keep rocking..any timeline?

[ApexMods]

Thanks, guys.

Well, it takes as long as it takes. Loads of scripting left to do, some retexturing, maybe a few more maps to adapt, some character models to add, and I‘m thinking of expanding MP team choices (which would be another boatload of work).

Best case if all goes well (and I can stop myself from adding more stuff), it will still be at least several weeks until it’s ready for testing, which will probably take another couple of weeks. Worst case (more new stuff, but takes longer) would be the end of the year. Thoughts? 🤔

[Rocky]

End of year with a teaser in October?

[die7]

Hi Apex, 

 

On 10/07/2020 at 07:08, ApexMods said:

it takes as long as it takes

yepp, and we can wait

 

meanwhile, since I really love HU and use it even on my dedicated server,  I have some unclear points/questions or suggestions:

I see also you have added high resolution rsb textures with name xl_ are they used from game engine at all? and how? 

Did you manage to fix bug with xxl games on xxl maps?

random mission generator has from time to time bug with some ghost enemies which are just frozen

tracer ammunition? I never saw that? how I have missed that..and how I can see it?

weapon/ammo reloading times are for my felling not realistic.. to fast

body damage model ca be improved, currently lower leg/arm shoot > kill  ..maybe you can take look to general enemy realism mod damage values by chance? 

more variants of same maps would be great (night,dusk,rain,winter)

maps from skypeghost/centcom ( I guess some of them are missing)

aimed rate of fire for sniper weapons is really to high (I most admit also for other classes)

Heroes Unleashed - HARDCORE" add-on? is this still an option? (maybe above points can/are already a part of?)

Documentation of ADD-on's ..some of them are self-explained, but some of them def need word or two

tbc..

Edited July 14, 2020 by die7

[ApexMods]

Excellent points. Thank you, die7! 👍

The xl_ RSB were meant to be shared map textures, but weren’t implemented yet. For the update, they have been moved to HU dev resources XTRAS (among many other dev stuff leftovers in the main HU folder) to serve as templates. Those that got implemented are used exclusively by each map (no longer any shared textures), meaning that all RSB used by a map are found in each map‘s own folder, regardless of size. While this will grow total data size further, it also e.g. facilitates future retexturing efforts by avoiding texture conflicts between maps.

The XL game type / map conflict is not a bug per se, it‘s the result of an engine limit for dynamic objects (characters, effects etc.) per game scene. Ike (GR‘s engine) allows up to 256 dynamic objects to be processed simultaneously. More than that and it will crash. Sadly, there’s nothing I can do about that. The only alternative would be to remove XL/XXL game types.

During startup, the random mission generator (and other GTF) attempts to hide and teleport enemy actors away that are too close to the random player insertion zone. It’s a complex process where it dynamically measures hundreds of distances before deciding who to hide / teleport, in order to work on all kinds of maps, from small CQB settings to large open spaces. It takes Ike to its limits (that’s why mission launch takes so long) and doesn’t always work perfectly, but it’s probably the only way to script total randomness into the GTF. I have a couple of new ideas for this, but I’ve already used up the entire allowable script size (64 KB, IIRC) for the current GTFs. Don’t know if I could squeeze more into the scripts through further optimization either, as I‘ve stripped every aspect down to bare bones already (open the GTF in Igor and you‘ll see that even variable names are just short cryptic acronyms or single characters to save space).

Tracers are found in non-suppressed belt fed or hi-cap magazine fed weapons like LMGs and GPMGs. Admittedly, I could hardly see them myself upon testing just now, and I‘ll have a look what can be done about this.

Good point about reloading. I remember to have looked into this way back when, but don’t recall what held me back there.

Got to run now, to be continued...

[wombat50]

2 hours ago, die7 said:

random mission generator has from time to time bug with some ghost enemies which are just frozen

It has been awhile since we have run HU for our Sunday games. We did run into this on some coop gametypes
where there would be one group, 5-6, enemy that were frozen. We called them statues. It did not interfere with being
able to complete the game. Sorry I can't be more specific

[ApexMods]

Thanks wombat. 👍

Continued...

The HU combat model is the result of a lengthy series of in-game trials with various weapons and types of body armor. Ghost Recon‘s damage / wounding system is somewhat rudimentary, as there‘s e.g. no way to fully represent different bullet characteristics. Armor piercing, round nose, buckshot etc. all share the same combat model values, and the same goes for different kinds of characters‘ body armor, so the combat model has to be a one-size-fits-all compromise. As for hitting feet or hands, I don’t think those wounds should be more lethal at all. After all, there’s limping and other wound penalties in GR for a reason.

More new maps and map variants are coming. Some in the next update, more in the future. HU is still missing some of the great classics and a number of lesser known maps. It will take time, but I have about a hundred further maps and map variants on my longterm todo list.

Realistic aimed RoF seems to be a matter of contention. Some find it to high, others think it’s too low. Have a look at HU‘s manual for some info why I did it this way and what the engine limitations are.

There is no hardcore add-on mod, because HU itself IS the hardcore mod. The add-ons allow softening it down, not the other way around.

You‘re right, some documentation of the „undocumented extras“ would make sense. But where do I find all this time required for all these things? Help! 🙂

[die7]

thank you for the explanation.👍

current hires folder has size of 3.65GB..maybe you can create player edition mod without unused stuff them to keep size low as well download traffic, so long they are not implemented.

Dev edition is for sure interesting for mod devels, but probably it just confuse normal player.

2 hours ago, ApexMods said:

open the GTF in Igor and you‘ll see that even variable names are just short cryptic acronyms or single characters to save space

ahhh that's the reason, and not protecting intellectual property :))) I've spend hours and hours to understand your scripts, order and dependency. Sometimes with more or less luck.

btw. did ever experimented with values which can be found in soaf in CmbtModl.xml:

 

    <ArcadeModeKillChanceFactor>0.500000</ArcadeModeKillChanceFactor>
    <RecruitFriendlyKillChanceFactor>0.500000</RecruitFriendlyKillChanceFactor>
    <RecruitFriendlySkillAdjustment>2</RecruitFriendlySkillAdjustment>
    <RecruitEnemySkillAdjustment>-3</RecruitEnemySkillAdjustment>
    <EliteFriendlySkillAdjustment>-2</EliteFriendlySkillAdjustment>
    <EliteEnemySkillAdjustment>2</EliteEnemySkillAdjustment>
    <RecruitEnemyDelayFactor>1.250000</RecruitEnemyDelayFactor>
    <VeteranEnemyDelayFactor>1.050000</VeteranEnemyDelayFactor>
    <EliteEnemyDelayFactor>0.750000</EliteEnemyDelayFactor>
    <RecruitEnemyAimFactor>1.350000</RecruitEnemyAimFactor>
    <EliteEnemyAimFactor>0.750000</EliteEnemyAimFactor>

yes please please take look to by the chance:

reloading times

tracers

aiming

1 hour ago, ApexMods said:

As for hitting feet or hands, I don’t think those wounds should be more lethal at all

but this is current the case in HU, shoooting lower leg or arm lead to kill (sorry if I was not precise enough), that's way I stated please consider to take look to damage model.

I have spent many weeks testing different values and come to point that next are pretty realistic:

       

        <BallisticHeadFactor>1</BallisticHeadFactor>
        <BallisticChestFactor>180</BallisticChestFactor>
        <BallisticArmoredChestFactor0>360</BallisticArmoredChestFactor0>
        <BallisticArmoredChestFactor1>770</BallisticArmoredChestFactor1>
        <BallisticArmoredChestFactor2>1625</BallisticArmoredChestFactor2>
        <BallisticArmoredChestFactor3>2200</BallisticArmoredChestFactor3>
        <BallisticAbdomenFactor>540</BallisticAbdomenFactor>
        <BallisticUpperArmFactor>1000</BallisticUpperArmFactor>
        <BallisticLowerArmFactor>500</BallisticLowerArmFactor>
        <BallisticUpperLegFactor>400</BallisticUpperLegFactor>
        <BallisticLowerLegFactor>900</BallisticLowerLegFactor>

I like your plan to bring soldier stat progression back.

How about to adopt AI skills of OPFOR and any actor to higher values

    <Weapon>4</Weapon>
    <Stamina>4</Stamina>
    <Stealth>3</Stealth>
    <Leadership>4</Leadership>

and not

    <Weapon>0.125</Weapon>
    <Stamina>125</Stamina>
    <Stealth>100</Stealth>

0.125 ..is really low..or how did you come up with that value?

 

New maps :), multiple variants ... hundred further maps and variants..oh boy...THANK YOU

I know how you feel with lot of work and less time.. I am open and willing to help you, definitely but I also understand (like myself) why you are (if that still the case) are rather lone wolf.  

[ApexMods]

I understand that HU‘s enormous size can be detrimental, but I don’t want to rip it apart, because I‘d like HU to serve as an anthology of sorts, a comprehensive collection of assets serving gamers and modders alike.

Lol, you thought that was about protecting intellectual property?!? Nah, I wish Ike allowed for much larger scripts, so I could properly tag, comment, and explain the whole thing. That’s why I started adding the dev notes text file to XTRAS, so other modders get an insight into the intricacies of HU, how it all works, how it could be expanded by others. There’s also script templates I added explicitly for others to use.

SOAF‘s engine was slightly modified. Those values are non-functional in GR.

Actor stats, like combat model, where a result of years of testing.

I‘ll certainly look into everything you‘ve mentioned. Always happy to get some actionable feedback. Will try your combat model, too.

Well, when you work alone nobody can let you down, except yourself. I‘m also quite insane, and a horror to work with. 🤪

[Rocky]

1 hour ago, ApexMods said:

I‘m also quite insane, and a horror to work with

🤐

[ApexMods]

Tracer effect fixed. 🙂

[ApexMods]

Pretty much all effect textures will get a facelift for the next HU, e.g. muzzle flash, smoke, lens flare etc.

[ApexMods]

I had forgotten how much of a pain in the ass scripting helicopters was! Hours and hours of trial and error for a few seconds of flight. 😫

[die7]

34 minutes ago, ApexMods said:

 Hours and hours of trial and error for a few seconds of flight. 😫

🙄😁 I feel your pain, for one of the missions I needed 2-3 days go get them to proper path and to keep them there

[Rocky]

It does create a more polished and immersive mission though!