Something a tad "different" , but mostly "STALKER"

[benevolentdevil]

 So I got bored again, but couldn't find my original STALKER Sandbox file ...

 But I am re-visiting the base idea ... but not exactly as a straight up " STALKER" clone.  


-This version will use Real Survival Mod to enhance play a bit.  You need food and water, but you do have loads of time before these deplete.  You need tools, fire, even need cans to cook in.  These things will be randomly generated around the map ... some items will be rarer than others.   More on that later.

- This version will include a FACTION based , "base building" system.  

 How this works is all playable factions will have a starting 20,000 money , in which they can purchase "base parts" that is somewhat modular , more like "epoch" base building, but honestly is much simpler in design.  Not only "base parts" , but there are other things that can be purchased from the menu ... fortifications, defense weapons ( searchlights, and mounted machine guns! ), you can buy ammo crates, and buy WEAPONS and Ammo!  
 
 MOST of what you need, can be had at any time in this way.  Gear, weapons, ammo, a semi-safe location.  Of course, such locations are only as "safe" as they are designed, only as safe as they are safely manned, or garrisoned ... ( hint , hint)
 
Why? that type of system? ... I'll explain more in a bit on it ...

- This version should have a single working Trader , whom will be Located in a "safezone" ( if I can get the safezone scripts to work ) ... somewhere on the map, will be a "neutral trader zone" , where it's basically  taboo to fight.  All are 'welcome' in this trader area.  
 The trader will also take funds from the global faction account, and add to it.
 Weaponry can be purchased, ammo, and basic supplies like medkits and anti-rad pills.  
 The Trader will also buy most weapons and ammo, and with any luck ... if I can array/code it it in ... also buy artefacts.  Artefacts will give the faction the most funds, depending on type and rarity.

- Stalker included Assets :  Aretfacts of course.  These should be somewhat randomly generated around the map.  Some artefacts will "defend" from certain anomalies , common ones worth a small lump of money at the trader.  Rarer, more expensive varieties ... probably will be in remote and very dangerous areas.  
 Anomalies -  You will have unlimited Bolts to throw. ( they throw like grenades). pay attention to your Detector ... if you run everywhere, the detector will usually beep after you hit the deadly anomaly you cannot see.  Always make sure with many bolts ... some anomalies are small, some are larger ... but you must hit it directly with a bolt, in order to see it's effect and where it' s located.  
 Anomalies are or can be everywhere.  Usually , they are more concentrated around higher end artefacts.
 Radiation Zones - Stepping into a rad zone ( again, pay attention to the detector) will cause damage, and leech your life force ... the closer to the center of a rad zone, the quicker your life will end.  You need Anti_rad pills , to counter this effect.  Stay in too long, radiation will continue to effect you until you die from it.  
  Mutants! - Stalker uses some mutants ... there's the Mutated Zombie Stalkers ( I wish they had snorks too).  You will know Zombied stalkers when you see them ... ( they pack a punch to, watch out! ) you might even HEAR them long before seeing them.  ( The zombies are a bit "buggy" at times ... some that should fall over to "die" will sometimes just keep running in a straight line, to who-the-heck knows. In test, I've used a lot of ammo, before I realized that zombie was actually dead. )
 Blind Dogs - well, at least Arma2 "dogs" re-purposed as "blind dogs".   Nasty pack creatures, that once they get your scent, will hunt you almost relentlessly.  
 BloodSuckers - These are the meany pants of mutants! They go invisible, run super fast ... and can kill you in a swipe or two.  They are VERY damage resistant ... fortunately Bloodsuckers are rare, and usually lurk/hunt in out of the way places ...

 The Stalkers themselves -  Depending on your Faction ... Bluefor is Freedom faction. Opfor is Duty faction. Independent is the Neutral, or "normal stalkers".  
  Oh yeah, some places will randomly generate/spawn AI groups when you go to certain places ... these AI are faction based , Bluefor and Indies will be "friendly" to Freedom and Neutrals ( as long as neutrals don't attack and kill many Freedom people.  Duty is pretty much hostile to everyone, that isn't Duty ( opfor).  
 Keep in mind, thats for AI mostly.  Players should not "team-kill" others of thier own faction ... but players are encouraged to "rp" a bit.  ( example, A Duty players, doesn't have to shoot on sight, like the AI will ... they can attempt to inniate conversation, trade with others ... ect. If they choose to. )  

- Undecided if Blowouts will be included or not.

 There will not be many vehicles to use , if any at all ... stalker is done by feet travel.  One might notice, the wrecks and Junk vehicles around.  Doesn't seem like any can be repaired.

  My basic Idea here is indeed a MP typ eof "sandbox" ... one that includes elements for any play style.

 I intend it to be more along the lines of a RP/Co-OP by faction system, with th epossibility of just enough PvP to make it interesting ...

 The basebuilding part ... Incentive to work together ... while there's no way I can code restrictions on it, individuals should be hooking up with thier faction team members somewhere.  While there's no rule saying you can't just start building a base, or pill-box-bunker ... doing so is using TEAM FUNDS no matter who's placing what.  
  Congregating and Co-Operation together ... could render your Team a magnificicent base , if ya'll work together and have some cohesion.
  Bases help keep you safe in case of attacks ... , I say they HELP keep you safe ... these are NOT "Epoch" bases , that you can lock and secure.  The walls will stop bullets and some damages ... up to a point.
 Most the basebuilding "parts" are destructible though.  Take enough damage ... a wall will get holes in it ... satchel charges could blow up a good bit of a base ... these can be re-paired or replaced , as long as you got funds to do so.  

 Thats what I thought would give things a bit of fun ... , it' s not JUST surviving the Anomalies, the Mutants, and Ai bots ... or just "survival" ... Players can build themselves a fortified, and weaponized home.  They can add to it.  They can set up small "out-post" even if they chose.  
 Just takes funds ... as long as you got funds in the account ...
 When funding gets low, probably need to sell some stuff. Go out and find those artefacts ...

 The Trader area being a "safezone" , means also a congregating point , so players of different factions can run into each other.  Or meet up with faction members.  News can be shared.  Stories shared.  Duty can gripe at Freedom , they can banter, threaten each other ... or be civil in this zone ... up to them.

 Having "bases" , means you got things ... most bases are probably gonna have weapon crate to outfit thier "team" with ... , smart Stalkers will have one "empty" or more for things like Medkits, food, water , tools, ..and even horde up found artefacts to go cash in ...
 Since the Bases are not 100% "secure" , they need to be manned or guarded usually.  

 Design of bases , should have some thought put behind them ... you want something defensible, and serviceable ... You want design so that in case of heavy attack, it all will not get blown up in one explosive charge.  
 If you are over-ran or base is destroyed, you can always relocate elsewhere too ...
  I figured, this will give the PvP folks , something to shoot for and do , beyond the roam around, try to spot an enemy faction to murder or rob.

 So, with this "Sandbox" being multi-player in design ... WTF am I posting in DaiZy SP forum the idea?

 Well, just because it's technically MP , I'm not making it to where SP is non-existent ...
SP will have all the same features ... just minus others to play with, or against, or help ...  They don't have to share funds with others either at the same time ...
 There's enough random spawns, enough mutants, enough anomalies and rad-zones ... and enough places enemy AI will spawn in , to keep a Single Player person busy for a long time.  
 It'll take time to build a nice base if a player alone wants to ... chances are, it'll never get attacked , unless close to an AI spawn by accident ... or a Zombie or pack of blind dogs spawn nearby and wander close.
  But the Single Player can enjoy creating something , with what' s available.

 The base building isn't super-fantastic , but it does kind of beat wire fences, and tents in many ways.  
( A bug/fail of the base building system, once you place something ... it' s there, so if you didn't get it lined up perfectly , it' s there no way to delete it.  It can be destroyed however , errr blown up... but that will usually take out everything around it to. )  So take your time, experiment with what' s there before committing to that "ultimate build".

 A big part of it all, was I wouldn't mind seeing screenshots or videos, or even in game play on other players creativity with the system.  

 Much of the "play" is somewhat "random" ... it's a controlled "random" of sorts.  
 Spawns might not be in the exact same location every time ... but will generally be in same general areas.  Like for instance ... Blind Dogs usually will be found in heavier forested areas.  Thats a general "region" of location ... so if you are going to cross the woods ... you might expect to encounter packs of those fast nasty dogs!
 AI should also be random at places, towns, buildings ... POIs ... they shouldn't spawn every time, nor in the same location every time.  
  Artefacts also should not specifically spawn in the same exact spot, but be located in a general area. The detector will help locate them.  
Anomalies can "migrate" a bit , but thier spawn radius is much smaller ... they don't "move" much , neither do Rad Zones. This is so as players gain experience on the map , they will generally know specific spots and areas ...  just like real Stalkers would.  

 Everything should respawn given enough time passes , so play can continue on and on if desired.

 - Future plans for SP only ... , Add in random AI missions that spawn around the map, and random Ai patrols as well. This will be a different and separate version, after I get the basic MP package done.
- From there, other map conversions of the same play, both MP and SP ...
( technically all SP will be MP compatible, if you only want SP save the mission in the Single Player folder, for MP, or LAN ... save in multi-player mission files.  I don't believe in one or the other, your "stuck" with whats made, or locked into one specific mode to play in.)

 Now all that said ... the Island is different one I'm starting on.  
I'm going to use SpritzIsland to start and flesh out the mission file.  Spritz is different map, it has kind a low " town/city" population, some interesting POIs , diverse terrain ... but it runs decently FPS wise on my crappy computer ... so anyone with a better rig is going to like the FPS.  
 It's an ill-used island ... so it' snot like Cherno or takistan where everyone knows the map by heart.  I feel, at least the first few weeks of playing, exploring and traveling around will be fun , based on hardly anyone is really all that familiar with it.  
  Spritz  had "just enough" , with some ruins here and there ... it's got loads of wilderness areas, plenty of base building spots , it's not too congested , has forrest areas, and much of it is some kind of rocky/grassy scrub land with bushes everywhere and small trees ... it' s not incredibly hard to see around, but also not too easy to spot those that are sneaky as well. Its got elevations ... roads, paths ...
I did find some badly placed things on it , I'm fairly sure they aren't game breaking ... too bad the Author/Creator abandoned the Island long ago ... it'd be nice fixed up, and more enter-able buildings.

 Ok, well ... it's not dayZ , or even DaiZy ... sorry.  
 For a sandbox, I couldn't really get the DaiZy code to work for multi-player.  
 For Single Player ... changing the "survivor" to a 'stalker' character , broke the 'character switch' portion on dayz code , so no items spawned, character was invisible , no zombies or AI would spawn either. ( I tried many times , just a no-go. )
Not entirely certain, I could have forced any Stalker Assets to work in DaiZy code either ...

 Last but not least ... I'm kinda running quite a good many mods/addons to do this.  
what I plan on doing, is packing them all into One Mod , and uploading it so others can get an all-in-one mod, and not need to search Armaholic up and down for what's needed.  
I'm fairly sure ... I can do it like that.   Some of the stuff, is old. Like from back in regular Arma2 vanilla days ... but it was avaliable, and I figured out how to use em.  
Unlike DaiZy or DayZ mods ... of such I hadn't been able to do much with at all as far as creation goes.  

 Ok, sorry ... I wrote an ecyclopedia here.  Sorry about the wall of text ... more to come as I update and get a Beta uploaded for ya'll to check it out.
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/923666416221298934/3AD8D63130B1E7589BADCE17F77603A5EFA866CA/

 

 

[Rachel-gamer(gaming and more).]

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[Rachel-gamer(gaming and more).]

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[benevolentdevil]

I know the system works on Real Survival Pack , but now you mention it ... not sure if the icons work or not. I've never ran anything long enough to see them change.
If it doesn't, I'll need to figure out how to make a working GUI for it.
 
 Any maps ( besides Lingor/Dingor)  that needs a bunch of extra-addons to use em, I tend to avoid.  
 
Spritz has some enter-able buildings, some not ... it's not actually got many buildings on it compared to other maps.  I might try adding some in via editor here and there ... and also, base building should help provide some minor bases, and out-post that can literally be anywhere.

 No Rad zones and anaomalies will have some basis of reasoning to be in areas.  You aren't going to wander 10 meters from camp and find them.  Things like radiation zones ... big ones will probably be already marked on the map.  It's assumed other Stalkers before, had discovered some things , and pre-marked locations commonly known to avoid or take care in.
  Also, there should be some VISUAL clues that make sense ... if going along exploring/hunting ... and you come across "dead bodies" strewn about ... , that MIGHT give an indication something invisible and deadly is up ahead or near those locations.
 

[benevolentdevil]

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/893266397587654410/43D025C7D612F55A05EAAC7170B101A6FD87D33A/

 Here's the Old version I started ( and lost due to a change of hardware ) ... where I was showing that custom bases can be made using the MGB creationism system , with the STALKER ( or even DaiZY mods if you de-pbo the mission, go in editor and drop in a functions module and the MGB module from f7 ) , repack and go. )  

 This was on Caribou Frontier 2 Island ( found on Armaholic ) ... a GREAT island in my opinion , but I could not get animals to spawn on it , nor some other extras work , so it kind of killed my enthusiasm to finish it. Then I changed my HD out , and lost the old mission files anyways.  

 When I get some more things fleshed out for the New Version on Spritz island , I'll post up more screen-shots for a teaser.

 Anyways, the example in the screenshot is just a very small example I slapped up ... it wasn't well planed out, and took maybe 40 minutes to place up.  
 The Doors are usable, you can enter in the structure.  Sandbacks and H barriers offer the same protections as regular arma ones, the "roof" is walkable ( there's a mounted machine gun up there if you look close enough. )  I made it a small two-story just to show you can modular create some semi-nice fortifications/bases.  
 

[benevolentdevil]

Real Survival Pack ...

 on the player end , it's similar to some dayZ stuff ... how you access the menu fo rit is by the left and right "windows" keys ( if you have ran ACE before, it's very similar menue access in arma2. )

 Most things will not show or "pop up" until you have certain things in your inventory, or are near the right thing ...
 Like gathering wood for fire ... , now this is an example of how the system works.  You must have an axe. You'll need to find one.  
 I don't know why, but the creator did not code chopping trees to get wood.  You got to find a WOOD PILE located on the map.  ( Spritz has many already placed) ... once you have an axe , and you get near a wood pile ... pressing the right windows key , pops up a menu to cut wood.  
 Once you pick up the wood , you can make a fireplace by the same menu/key press.

 Water collection ... canteens will be rare to find.  Most common finds will be bottled water.  How you gain water is by finding water barrels to fill from.  Again, I don't know why the original coder did not allow for wells and natural water sources to be used.  But I will place water sources all over the map to use.
 Once you have water ... the left windows key brings up your personal menu , it will show what you have and can eat or drink ...
 Eats ... there's a bit of food sources.  Hunting animals is best way ... a cow could potentially feed an army ... literally.  Other animals ( even dogs/blind dogs) give less meat out, but can be cooked as well. You will need a knife ( like in dayz) to skin/gut animals.
 In order to cook ... you need a fire. You also need empty tin cans to cook in and store your cooked food.
 There's also some fruits, chocolate bars, already canned foods and MREs to find ... though already prepared things like that, will be very rare finds too.

 I wish the creator had fleshed it out more ... but is what it is.  For ancient arma2 vanilla content, it was a decent idea at the time.

 I do have to see if the Icons for food/water work ... I've never noticed any changes in em when testing.
I also need to crack the mod open, look for the consumption scripts ... see how long it takes to get de-hydrated.  I want the survival to be a "need" , but not as intrusive as DayZ food/water consumption as well. ( Which un-realistcally runs to fast in my opnion. )
 Survival items/elements should enhance the game ... be an aid to RP on , a minor element to keep in mind and do, not a continuous search and pray you find so you don't die from it , and everything else take a back seat.

 Thats the basics of what I know and can recall with-out looking at it really.  A heads up on ho wthe survival system runs and how you access it.  
 (if you lack windows keys on your key-board , there's a way to re-map the keys ... I just don't know how to ATM , I never tried doing it as I have windows keys. )

[benevolentdevil]

hrmm, with Klaycuss kind of helping out a bit, I might be able to use some dayz SP code for the "survival" aspect, instead of Real Survival pack.  ... Maybe.

 That would gain some familiarity at least.  
I didn't quite want for it to be another dayz mod , but honestly the "system" is much better in dayz mods.

 This is still a big "maybe" ... I'm still learning how it all works together.

[benevolentdevil]

ooooh ... I -might- have found a new enemy pack ... well, it's actually old as dirt, but ... obviously under-used.  

 I'm gonna see if it works first, before any kind of reveal.

 If it works, it's ... different.  It beats zeta-borns, it beats bloodsuckers, it beats "predators" too ... lol.

[benevolentdevil]

well, of course my find was not complete, and broken ... happens a lot with older content.  Author never fixed the addon.

[benevolentdevil]

Started work, Neutral Camp ...

 Well ...
I discovered I couldn't use Spritz Island after-all ...  it would not spawn animals to hunt.
I don't know why, just wouldn't.  

 Switched to Chernarus to start building the idea.

I'm starting with SP , will add in MP and JIP after I get the map fleshed out.  The MP is for Co-OP/Lan ... playing with friends ... SP will have great advantage in the "building" ... of course, being alone no one to show off your great base build ... but it gives something to do.  
 
 Some things I noticed about Real Survival Pack ( I'm using it in lieu of DayZ "survival" , because can't seem to get any of that to work. ) ...
  You gotta get on the correct side of a wood pile ( timbers) to get he option to cut wood.  It takes two logs to make a fire ... in order to cook meat, you need empty tin cans to cook and store it in.
 I'm not too thrilled about how much meat animals give out, but I have not seen a way yet to adjust those amounts down. However, I doubt anyone would have enough empty cans to make use of all that meat anyways at one time that is.
Since I don't have any extended inventory back-packs , or know how to do those ... inventory management is going to be a must. Things take up room.  

 I placed some "starting items" in the neutral camp ... it's not much as far as supplies go , but you can gain every "need" right at the start ... gives you time to travel, explore , and seek more stuff.

It's a start anyways ... definitely a WIP