Alternate "survival" missions , apart from dayz/Daizy

[benevolentdevil]

 Dayz/Daizy is nice  ... if you know how to make missions and use the code to get it all to work.

  However ... this seems to involve some "magic" or knowledge , I simply do not have, and I assume the common Arma2 oa user is in the same boat.  ( otherwise, we'd have millions of DayZ missions Sp, Lan, or MP ) ...

 Dayz is a very "polished" survival simulation ... but it is also a very specific type of "survival simulator", particularly involving "surviving" the "zombies/infected".  
  ( some may say, SP versions it's "surviving zombies+ AI" , and MP it's more about "surviving against other players".)

 There are many "issues" that roll around Daizy SP, that I have found incredible hurdles to try and over-come, and have still not been successful in doing so ...
  Maybe because I'm not a BIS engine/Code expert, nor a dayz code expert.  

In fact, I think MOST players can relate with me, as I know very little scripting, I do not know how to make mods , I have medium level experience using the mission editor , and have most knowledge in playing the game, as opposed how to stick it all together and make it all work.

 I had ideas of course, most fell through for one reason or another ...

 But I have an alternative to using Dayz as a base for "survival" missions ... especially if going beyond the "infected/zombie survival" ... and more into a general "survival" mode.  

Real Survival Pack Modis the first thing.
  The original documentation on this is not well written, and you do need to tweak a few things to make it work PROPERLY ...  I'll cover that in another post ... as I just now discovered HOW to make it function properly myself.
Second Mod needed to take things a step farther :
Ace2 core Mod
  I know, I know ... the eyes are rolling ... but let me breifly explain why ACE is "important" beyond the "realistic Milsim group play" ...
 Because it adds in a working functional medical system , if while in the editor, you place the proper Ace Modules, you can also "self heal" , use morphine , bandage wounds ... , it's as close to the dayz medical system as you can get, with-out using dayz code as a base.  
 Secondly, it adds in quite a bit of functional items for use.  
 Also, has capability to pick up and move some objects ( like food boxes/water boxes, ammo crates, ect ) and has capability of loading such into a vehicle , ... so you can "transport" goods/resources to other locations, unload and use em ...  
 Ace also has jerry cans  ... you can refill jerry cans at appropriate places.  You can load Jerry cans into cargos of vehicles, ... you can't however put a jerry can in your inventory or backpack ( kind of more realistic. ) ... a side note ... a full Jerry can, when shot enough "explodes" ... so you could potentially use one as a bomb of sorts or a "trap" ... I've not fully explored that yet, but will see ...
 Ace also has tires to repair wheels on vehicles ...  these can also go in cargos of vehicles ...
 However ... you can't fully "repair" broken vehicles by ace system alone , I do not think ...  you probably need a repair truck ( support ) , or vehicle service point of some sort to do extensive damage repairs.
 Ace allows you to tow or even "sling rope" vehicles using choppers ... if you have the proper ropes, and set up ...

 Of course, you don't have to use Ace2 ... I just thought the medical+ some extras it offers, put more of what we are commonly used to in DayZ "survival" into it.

 Now ... "zombies" ... very "meh" outside of dayZ in arma2 oa ... IF you want some.  There's the Undead mod, Infected Mod, Celery's Zombie Scripts, even the Stalker Mod has a form of zombified "stalkers" in it.  
 None behave like like Dayz zombies/infected though ... most are glitchy , and have horrible behavior.
 Most don't look like zombies, just regular arma units ...ect ...

 But if you want missions that have survival aspects desire to be different , or not have zombies/infected ...  RSP + Ace2 is decent base to work off of.  

 Like for example ... my "idea" was to make a mission base , where food/water, and somewhat gas was "important" not only to survive, but as needed resources ... you as the player, need to go around collecting up these items ...  find the proper trucks with supplies ...
 meanwhile , bandit/raiders are all around stealing these supplies ... or trying to kill/terrorize for them.
  Possibly other antagonist as well, ...
It could be possible ... while you are out away from "base" scavanging or collecting up supplies ...
The raiders come, and take the supplies you've gathered and left unguarded ... or get in a shoot out with your Ai friendlies at least ... you might come back to an empty Base, with all your buddies dead, or arrive to see raider bodies laying dead all around ...
  But you need vehicles , trucks especially ... you need supplies, medical, basic needs like clean water, food ... you might need tires to repair needed vehicles , or fuel for them ... or even towing em for repairs ... ect ...
 
 Just a rough Idea at the moment ... but something that was inspired by some mad-max movies ...

  Anyways ... unlike Dayz/Daizy , RSP and Ace2 are way more "forgiving" of other addons/mods you want to include to further your own desires/interest.  Less chance of "breaking" he mission , less chance of conflict between scripts or portions of mods conflicting with DayZ's code ...

 Oh, before I forget ... you do also need CBA ( Community Base addons) from armaholic as well, for RSP and ACE 2 ... it's listed in the requirements of the addons on armaholic as well.
 
 Now RSP and ACE 2 both use keys on your keyboards , that some people will not have ... to acess the in game menus ... , you will need to figure out how to re-route the key bindings to  what you like or have ... I don't know how, because I have a keyboard with the proper keys already, never looked into how to change or re-bind them.

 ---------------------------------------

 Please bear in mind ... nothing outside of DayZ will ever be dayz , daizy SP , or close to it ...
But what this does here ... is give SOME sort of capability to make "survival missions" , single player, CoOp , or Multi-player ... doesn't matter there.  

 All you really need is some general knowledge how to use mods , a minor scripting for missions , or be able to follow some online tutorials on making missions for Arma2.
 Then it's a matter of your limits are what the engine can do/provide , and your own imagination ...

 -----------------

 There guys, I finally feel as if I was able to contribute something.  Sorry it wasn't "daizy" specifically ... an only somewhat "related" , but it's do-able by anyone that's able to crack open the editor and follow a few mission making tutorials.

[benevolentdevil]

 You need to put a "init.sqf" file in your mission folder if running RSP as your "survival base" , and put this code in it :

-------------------------------
ASP_Food_Delay = 1;
publicVariable "ASP_Food_Delay";
ASP_Water_Delay = 1;
publicVariable "ASP_Water_Delay";
ASP_Animal_Delay = 30;
publicVariable "ASP_Animal_Delay";
ASP_Garbage_Delay = 60;
publicVariable "ASP_Garbage_Delay";
ASP_Debug = true;
publicVariable "ASP_Debug";
ASP_Enabled = Enable;
publicVariable "ASP_Enabled";

----------------------------------------------------

 THIS is the above code with comments on what each one is/does on the varibles.  Do not paste this into your init.sqf, the second one here is just an example ...
---------------------------------
ASP_Food_Delay = 1; / / minutes
publicVariable "ASP_Food_Delay";
ASP_Water_Delay = 1; / / minutes
publicVariable "ASP_Water_Delay";
ASP_Animal_Delay = 30; / / seconds
publicVariable "ASP_Animal_Delay";
ASP_Garbage_Delay = 60; / / seconds
publicVariable "ASP_Garbage_Delay";
ASP_Debug = true; / / On | Off Debug mode
publicVariable "ASP_Debug";
ASP_Enabled = Enable; / / Disable | Enable Survive pack
publicVariable "ASP_Enabled";
----------------------------------------------

 You can probably play around with the numbers, which might change how fast or long it runs portions of the scripts ... but once I figured out where I could visibly see changes in game happening , I decided this was good enough for me, it works.

 The originating documentation ( read me file in the addon ) is wrong ... will not work the way the original author wrote it for the above variables and init.sqf needs.  

 The rest of the documentation is correct as far as I can tell ...

 Canteens though, can't be filled at natural water sources , only "clean water sources" , wells, cisterns, and blue water barrels ...
 You need a knife to skin/gut/harvest meat from animals.  
 You need wood ( 2 logs) for fire, cut from the "woodpile" , sorry trees will not work currently.   If someone can figure out what trees in maps are by class-name , we can change the RSP config to include other ways to get wood.   The woodpiles are the triangular long piles of logs ,  ... they are in the "objects" category in the editor .
  You need a hatchet/axe to harvest wood ...
You need empty tin cans to cook meat and store it ...
 or of course find apples, yorkiebars, or MREs  ...
There's bottled water also , it's not specifically reliant on canteens and filling them ...

 There are a few scripts on armaholic that will help give somewhat of a randomized means of placing items, or you can load up your players with the player init field , with custom gear/items as normal.  
 Or putting such into vehicles, ammo boxes , ect ...  

 or alternatively if you chose ...
 You could modify a shop/trader , or make one if you know how ... add in a currency and decide on cost of these "supplies" ...
making a shop from scratch is a but beyond my skill/knowledge though ... , I could edit one ... probably if already done, I just hadn't tried yet.  



 

[benevolentdevil]

back to ACE2 ...
I forgot to clarify this :

You don't "need ACE2" to have some medical included , or even the "extras" like jerry cans/tires , ect ...

If you know more scripting , how to use action menu scripts ( especially not having a mile long scroll through action menu) , or ways to make "dialog" boxes for better in game menu selection ...
 You can find simple bandage scripts , use any "objects" from any addon or core arma2 you can find ... as long as you know how to script it to work as intended ...

I was going off the premise , most people are like me ... a scripting dummy that is , so ACE2 mod was decent because it provided a whole lot, already included.  
  Thats really why I used it so far.

as I learn better scripts myself, I possibly will change that aspect.  
 
 ARP mod, I know adds in tons of "items" , I've never loaded it up and used it myself ... as I read on it's forum post, you needed to know some advanced scripting to use the "role-play" items in game, an dthey just not be "filler"/Trash items ...
 But the ARP might have the items/objects in it, an djust need scripts attached and addaction commands to run the scripts ... I'll play around more with that avenue as I get time to.

 Right now, as of today ... just getting the RSP mod working and running is a huge boon to me, an dI'm kinda proud of myself on it.
 I've messed with RSP for over two years , always disappointing it never worked right while playing.
Now it's working properly ... I'm trying to see if there's any conflicts or buggs using ACE2 with it ...
 and also trying to imagine/make a plan on how to throw together a mission with it all in use as an example ...

[benevolentdevil]

I got into a slight discussion with a few players off Steam , on how another "survival" game made in Arma2 isn't "worth doing" , from thier point of view.  

 I think there is ...

 DayZ is nice, it's cool ... it's something we are familiar with big time.  

 But, are we not at times semi-bored with "infected/zombies"?  The Ai "bandits" one or two pest, or roving packs of heavily armed aimbots ... these things can only be experienced and done so many ways, so many times.

 Different isn't "bad" ... , it's just "different".  

 Take for example ... the AlienZ mod.  The AlienZ mod has some forms of "Alien zombies" or at least aliens that have "zombie like behavior" scripted to them.  There were so very few "AlienZ dayz" servers back in the day, but it to me ... a good concept, because it changed the game slightly for interest.  
 
 I thought before a full on "Alien occupation" mod/mission , where it'd be way less about Humanity trying to kill each other off, and more co-op in effort to pull a "resistance" to the occupation , a decent "plot" or "theme".
   But, many didn't even know about it , or rolled thier eyes at "alienz" ...
It never got popular enough, the server makers folded up, and we lost the files, the ability to keep it going, once thier ship sank ... everything went down with em.
 
 Thats just one example ...
What if you were a CIA agent , caught in the middle of a ongoing civil war? ( like DOS?) ...
What if you were a Bank Robber, on the run from Police , have to "survive" by theft/scavanging ... can't be seen or you get reported or cops show up?
 On the flip side, what if you were a Cop, the LAST one left after a huge criminal surge and war for gang territory, left you in the middle of it all?

 see , theres soooooo much that COULD be done , that dayz/daizy alone just doesn't even touch ...

 "Survival" after-all, doesn't absolutely need to be souly "dependant" on Dayz code ...
If dayz code was easier to work with, maybe some more conversions using it ...

 But for now, I gotta find alternate means , because dayz code isn't easy to work with, and daizy SP is a bit out-dated in dayz versions too.  

 

[Rachel-gamer(gaming and more).]

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[benevolentdevil]

I have no idea on "DayZ 8.0.3.1" ... , I don't see the option myself loading in LotD, then in editor.
Maybe because I have non-beta Steam version of Arma2 Oa?

 When things "work" but doesn't load the survival or loot ... thats odd, but must be related to the "character switch" that happens when spawning in the first time.  
 I have to guess, in SP it's done by external script or a trigger script ...  like when I start LotD from scratch , I spawn in ... but it takes a bit for my character to get a gun and starting gear , also time for loot to spawn , ect when first starting out.
  The way Arma2 editor works is, to do anything you must place a "player unit" or playable unit on the map.
But just placing a "bluefor survivor" by default , doesn't make the dayz code do anything ...  but if zombies are spawning , the loot should to.  Unless those crazy Russians found a external way to work around how the original Dayz system worked?   I'm just guessing really.  
  ------------------

 I think getting the Real Survival pack working is a nice thing.  
 It's not elegant like dayz of course, but it's something ...  

 BUT on the same hand ... RSP is quite a bit more "controllable"  than raw Dayz code based generation goes too.  
  We decide what spawns in and how, and where ... it's not randomly generated each time you get inside 300-500 meters from a group of buildings ... , well not unless you script it to of course.
  So, lets say ... you only want super hardcore "survival" , food is only generated once ... water bottles only so many, a finite number ... there's no going to Electro looting up, going elsewhere, and returning to Electro to nab up loot/food again ... Once food is found and used, it's gone ...
So eventually , if you survive long enough you MUST hunt for food, you must use canteens ...
 You need empty tin cans to cook in RSP , so you could kill/gut a hundred cows ... but with no empty cans, all that meat does you very little good ... maybe ... only places to find empty cans is near trash bins, or garbage piles ... once you picked up all the cans, you'd need to go other places until they are gone?
 It could eventually make "survival" ... the actual hard part of "surviving".  If thats what was chosen/set up ...
 Or it could be similar to Dayz loot system , or Just a "light survival" addition to enhance play.  

 RSP can easily be set up and used on any map , not specifically dependent on position and specific building codes of certain maps to generate it.
 
It's not hard to use universally  in other words.  

 

 

[Rachel-gamer(gaming and more).]

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[benevolentdevil]

ooohhh ... that.  
Possible yes.  

 1.8.0.3 was not long ago Dayz code wise,  most are for 1.7.7 , or 1.8.1 here on Daizy forums ... that is the version of dayz it was based off of.  

 If someone made a single player code for current dayz , it'd be 1.9.0.2 or something like that ... I forget what specific updated version is at the moment.

 I thought you meant, it was a hidden map or mission in the editor options, my bad! ;)

[benevolentdevil]

on RSP stuff, I just mean it's much easier, not too complex to use and set up how you like the "survival".  

You can make it "easy" or "very difficult" , but doesn't require as much knowledge/skill as working with dayz code survival scripts.

I just got wordy ... as I'm tired , lack of sleep impairing my redneck brain , hahaha!