Saving an MP mission??

[Breakshot]

A really simple question to the lockon crowd that might have been asked before:

 

Is there a way to save a mission file from an MP session in different state than the original version of the mission? For example, after the mission has already been concluded or still in progress (lets say some ground units have been destroyed etc). Basically I want to know how do you save progress like this in MP, because AFAIK it is very much possible to do this in SP, but appears impossible in MP.....

 

After trying to find a way to save a mission in its concluded state in MP, it appears that at least in the lockon UI this is not possible!! This is very frustrating as it means that anytime a mission is saved either by host or client (even when the host is running and user joins when the mission is at its final stages, the client would save the mission like it was from the beginning!).

 

Is there some sort of tool that would allow this outside of lomac? Or is there some other way I am not aware of? Help would be much appreciated!

[ViperVJG73]

Absolute nothing! MP missions can one do not save! :D

[Carlos73]

How about tacview?

 

Is there a way to save a mission file from an MP session in different state than the original version of the mission? For example, after the mission has already been concluded or still in progress (lets say some ground units have been destroyed etc). Basically I want to know how do you save progress like this in MP

 

You cant save progress to mission files.

But try this. Use tacview. Install and open the produced logfile in lockon/temp folder. You can see what was destroyed, who did what to whom etc.

Get tacview from http://lomac.strasoftware.com/lomac-acmi-en.php

[Breakshot]

Well thats great, and i use tacview but, thats still not good enough to produce a mission based on the previous results. Is there a way maybe to convert some part of the tacview file back into the mission or track format?

 

Or perhaps some sort of third party app that could actually save missions in different states?

[Scooternutz]

This really needs to be looked at. I have tried to manipulate missions based on previous flights but the triggers get messed up. This seems like a simple export deal but I am not knowledgeable enough to figure it out. It seems like we could have an external program running and hit a key command to export the current mission data. This would enhance the playability of this sim more than many realize. In my Squadron, we are discovering that having the ability to to join continually makes missions go for hours. WE LOVE IT! There was on Saturday where we were in BS for more than six hours. Please ED, help us make this possible. We are asking you to make us want to fly even more. How can you say no?

[Panzertard]

Hm. Now there's something I'd love to add to servman.

But it's a huge thing to save the state of all the objects in the virtual world.

I'll consider it to be an interesting experiment for late nights when I cant get any sleep. ;)

[h00t74]

Something I have been looking at as well. If Panzertard get it where UNIT NAME will be reported in Servman it will help for a Co-Op Campaign the V66th is going to be testing out and eventually role out to public and make VS mode.

[Grimes]

How exactly is it very much possible in single player but not in multiplayer?

 

I think all we would need is an ability to save, send, or load trigger states into different mission. Then we could save the multiplayer state by using known flag values and spawning AI based on said values.

 

However it would be a far better and accurate solution to have a 3rd party app modify the mission file itself before load. It could be done simply by finding the group that is dead and setting its delay time to 10 days.

[Panzertard]

Hard to say, bud.

With TacView you get to use the export.

With regular server/servman export isnt being used.

One would porbably need a combination of both methods - attaching both to the export and gettings serialization of many of the objects from that part.

Next, the status of some of the other objects through the server/net code.

 

Think of all the states that needs to be saved:

- Units, groups & position. (Units in motion). And which is dead & not and their wrecks.

- Which weapons are deployed at the moment.

- Players?

- Static world objects destruction.

Just a few of the aspects. But it looks like a interesting project.

[Case]

The simplest concept would be to run a LUA script to use the exported data to write all the unit positions for the frist frame and a given frame, either selected by a keypress, or the last frame before the mission was ended.

 

Those positions could then be used to update the mission, both figure out which units are dead, which are still alive and where they are.

 

Triggers will be a nightmare to change, so I expect you'd just copy what was present in the original mission.

[Scooternutz]

What if a program took the trk file and ran it to a selected point and saved it so players could enter the mission. The TRK file has all the info and if it could be fast forwarded and paused it may work. I have never tried it but can't you enter a trk file and select to fly it while it is replaying?

[Breakshot]

The simplest concept would be to run a LUA script to use the exported data to write all the unit positions for the frist frame and a given frame, either selected by a keypress, or the last frame before the mission was ended.

 

Those positions could then be used to update the mission, both figure out which units are dead, which are still alive and where they are.

 

Triggers will be a nightmare to change, so I expect you'd just copy what was present in the original mission.

 

Case that sounds cool... but is is possible to do so realistically?

 

the reason i was asking in the first place is because of Crimean Incident... that would save X-Man a hell of alot of time than doing all restoration manually!

[ShadowVonChadwick]

Hard to say, bud.

With TacView you get to use the export.

With regular server/servman export isnt being used.

One would porbably need a combination of both methods - attaching both to the export and gettings serialization of many of the objects from that part.

Next, the status of some of the other objects through the server/net code.

 

Think of all the states that needs to be saved:

- Units, groups & position. (Units in motion). And which is dead & not and their wrecks.

- Which weapons are deployed at the moment.

- Players?

- Static world objects destruction.

Just a few of the aspects. But it looks like a interesting project.

 

From memory im shore LockOn would save position and render all destroyed units for next mission in home made campaign. Pity its not carried into its siblings. Would help carry the story.

[Moa]

I'm working on a mission generation tool for dynamic campaign software (which I've posted about on these threads before). Part of this is reading an writing mission files. I also have existing (Java) code that can parse Tacviews. Given a mission and a Tacview I can generate a new mission which reflects the mission state at a point in time covered by the TacView.

 

Unfortunately, completion of this software is a couple of months away (it is a lot of work and will take a while despite me working on it nearly every night [which is why I fly rarely these days]). This is probably not soon enough for re-starting the 51st's excellent Crimean Incident, Breakshot - but might help later on.

 

incidentally, I intend releasing the source code to this software under the GNU General Public License v3. This will allow anyone to modify the code for whatever purpose they see fit - I'm a bit tired of people having to invent the wheel from scratch because many of the talented folk in this community hold on to their source material as if it would bring them millions of revenue. While that is their right, it is very inefficient in terms of the overall community. The source code matters more than any finished product!

 

In summary: I'm already working on a (dynamic campaign) tool that can generate a new mission based on an old mission + TacView log (+ reinforcement schedule + order of battle, although that part is not being asked for here). However, the fact that I'm already working on such software should not discourage someone else from making a 'quick and dirty' solution to this problem if they feel motivated.

[ShadowVonChadwick]

HI Moa

 

Nice to hear so keep us posted with progress, im shore many would be interested.

 

Kind regards .....Shad