Vietnam: The Experience v0.3

[Snake_Man]

Vietnam: The Experience (VTE) v0.3



The leading, most detailed and the most comprehensive Vietnam War modification for OFP.

This is to announce the release of VTE v0.3 full install. Check out some of the items we include.

Aircrafts
C-130, MC-130 Combat Talon, DHC-4 Caribou, OV-10 Bronco, Bell47G, Il-28 Beagle, B-52 Stratofortress, B-57 Canberra, F-4 Phantom, F-5A, F-100 Super Sabre, MiG-17, MiG-19 Farmer, MiG-21, A-1J Skyraider, F-105 Thunderchief, A-6 Intruder, O-1 Bird Dog, F-86A Sabre, Sikorsky S-56, CH-53E Superstallion, CH-34 and the old SEB stuff like Hueys etc.

Ground vehicles
M24 Chaffee, M41 Walker, Centurion, DShK Heavy MG, GMC CCKW, Willys MB, T34/85, M3 Halftrack, BTR-50, BTR-60, BTR-152, NVA Truck, M551 Sheridan, M1919A4 tripod, Maksim MG, PT-76, ZU-23-2, ZPU4 AA, Bike, Scooter, Motorbike, Gaz69, V150 Commando, ZSU-57.

Soldier squads
Air Cavalry, Marine, Marine Force Recon, SEAL, Army, Special Forces, LRRP (ERDL/tiger), CIDG, MIKE, ARVN, Cambodian mercenary, Hoi Chan, Bushman, Civilian Villager, VC Villager, Village Rebel, VC, NVA, SOG, Australian SAS. All these avatars/units are brand new made from scratch by Ebud, they use Llaumas heads and overall are very high quality with good performance.

Weapons
Maksim MG, Browning Hi-Power 9mm, Bar, Mas36, Mas38, Chautelleret, Grease Gun, MP40, Thompson, Kar, M1 Car, M1 Garand, M1919A4, DP27, PPD-40, L1A1, Nagant, PPS-43, PPSH-41, M60 Shorty, M63A Stoner, Chicom Type 56, RPG-2, 90mm Recoiless MAW, M45 9mm SMG, M39 Hush Puppy, Ithaca 37, Typ 68, MAT 49, K-50M, Sten Gun MkII, Bren Gun MkII, Lee Enfield N4.

Vehicle Weapons
MK-77 Napalm, UV-16-57 Rockets, HVAR Rockets, MK-82R, AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-7 Sparrow, AGM-45 Shrike, AA-2 Atoll, FAB-250, Standard ARM, MK-81, MK-83, MK-84, M-117, M-118, BLU-82 Daisy Cutter, LAU-10 Rockets, 20mm Cannon, VYa Cannons, 6x50cal M2, SUU-30 Pod, M61 Vulcan, 4x20mm Cannons, GSh-23 Cannon, 7.62x51 doorgun.

Animals
Mule, Cow, Rooster, Chickens, Duck, Dog.

Islands/Terrains
Vietnam Intro, Vietnam 12km, Vietnam 25km, Ilo Ilo, Rumble In The Jungle, RSSZ, Long Son, MeeKong, MDSZ, A Shau Valley, SEB Ia Drang, Iron Triangle, VTE Ia Drang, 7 Mountains, IIICTZA Parrots Beak, Australian AO, Polei Kleng, Quan Binh Son, Vinh Thanh Valley, Khe Sanh, The Bra, FSB Gloria, Dak Seang, Tet68.

Objects & Textures
We include over 400 new objects including vegetation (bushes, trees, grass, palms, jungle canopy, rocks etc), civilian housing and military objects. The ground is covered with many brand new textures. Also there is the good old SEB objects and textures present for the original Ia Drang and few other islands. The objects have been now streamlined and optimized, they look better and should give better framerates.

All that material just for editor? Noope, we include 112 single missions, 14 MP missions and 8 campaigns. Brand new mission to get onboard was Vietnam Tour of Duty dynamic campaign based on GDCE by Kutya.

The changelog for fixes contains 363 entries, read the full list on Documents directory in the download package. But to list few most important; Fixed many model errors on various vehicles. Added more resolution lods to models (better framerates). Implemented first rough try on CAVS for RPG-2 and tanks (we already use JAM CAVS RPG7/M72 LAW). Replaced custom ammo on few weapons with JAM 3 ammo. Tweaked many missions and added many missions (to PMC NAM SEAL campaign for example). Optimized and binarized many islands. Removed radio comms voices (like in WGL). Tweaked walking and running speeds to realistic levels (like in WGL). Adjusted weapon "wobble" effect (like in WGL). Tweaked default smoke and explosion effects. Reorganized mission editor, BIS stuff under BIS <name> and so on, much easier for mission editors. Replaced many objects with higher res-textures. New high quality units with Llaumas heads. East, resistance and civilian names changed to vietnamese. Elite unit attributes adjusted to represent better training and physical attributes. Added downed pilot model. Replaced the SEB CAR15 and XM148 with a modified version of Laser's CAR15. Added dak seang, tet68 and fsb gloria islands. And the list goes on and on...



Required addons are as follows; Bn880 tracers, CoC Unified Artillery, CoC Mines, CoC Divers, JAM3 and USMC markers. Download these addons from the following links.

CoC Mines v1.0:
mirror 1: CoC site
mirror 2: filefront
mirror 3: ofp.info

CoC UA v1.0: (yes I'm well aware that v1.1 has been released).
mirror 1: filefront
mirror 2: ofp.info

CoC Divers v1.0:
mirror 1: CoC site
mirror 2: ofp.info

JAM 3: (any more mirrors?)
mirror 1: ofp.info

USMC Markers/Symbols:
mirror 1: CoC site
mirror 2: ofp.info

Bn880 Tracers:
At BIS topic

This v0.3 release is full, meaning no install problems, however we have setup a VTE Installation Help page for users are having problems with MOD directories.

Download from VTE ofpc.de - 435mb. Thanks from mirror to ofpc.de site. All new mirrors are welcome.
Mirror 1: OFPFiles
Mirror 2: OFP.info
Mirror 3: -{GOL}-
Mirror 4: OFP ARMA

You can visit us at VTE Official web page and also check out VTE at ofpc site.

November 3rd, 2006.
VTE Founder and Leader
Snake Man, PMC.

[Snake_Man]

I made a mistake, forget to write into the readme credits two items.

Vibes & Hugo the clown from WWIIEC - Jimmy truck.
Laser - CAR15s.

[Snake_Man]

More mirrors added to VTE homepage and in the above post. Thank you OFPFiles / OFP.info for hosting.

[Old_Bear]

You did an incredible job, I am not shure to play your missions and campaign, but I want to say it's really BIG.
Could I tell you, because I am currently a translator on OFP.info forums, that I think there is a mistake in the name of a french weapon, in the list there is a Chautelleret, I dont know such a weapon but there is a well known ... in France... Chatellerault LMG.

[Snake_Man]

Could I tell you, because I am currently a translator on OFP.info forums, that I think there is a mistake in the name of a french weapon, in the list there is a Chautelleret, I dont know such a weapon but there is a well known  ... in France... Chatellerault LMG.

Yes might be a typo, I dont know. Thanks for letting me know, I'll surely do research for this and possibly fix this for next release.

[NeF]

WOOT WOOOOOOOT WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAAAANKS !!!!!!!!!

[NeF]

After testing, this is my opinion:




It's wonderfull.


ps:can I still use the same skypack?

[Snake_Man]

After testing, this is my opinion: It's wonderfull.

Glad you like it.

ps:can I still use the same skypack?

Yes, as explained in the readme, we left out any skypacks because they arent related to the MOD itself. Pretty much same situation with the animations dta/anims.pbo but this was exception because we included the previously not released anims by Sanctuary.

So yeah, you can use any skypack you want and there is no problems from VTE side, no additional download size or hassle. Basically everyone should use separated dirs. For example here is my setup

x_vte/ <- VTE addons, bin/, dta/ and campaigns/ dirs.
x_vte_common/ <- contains the required addons, jam3, coc stuff, tracers etc.

Then I have separate skypack dirs like this

x_llaumax/ <- Llaumas sky
x_modul/ <- Modul sky
x_wgl_sky/ <- WGL 4.12 sky, unknown source.

And I launch my OFP with the parameters of -mod=x_vte;x_vte_common;x_modul

There I can change the skypack according to my mood or if newer/better/etc versions of skies come around. Also the skies are used for all my other mod dirs like that, so my OFP only has 1 skypack dir per sky, when before we duplicated the skypack inside the mod dirs like WGL, VTE, PMC etc. This is quite nice setup.

[NeF]

ok thanks!
BTW, I'm always looking for some VTE server with some nam addicts  8-)






edit: just found the GOL server

[Jack]

first of all:

thank you.


hello guys from Italy.

i love vietnam period so i want to play this mod o_o but there is a problem,

VTE help page is wrong when i read:

Double click on the "install-sky.bat"

i really dont have it in my rar archive.

Please help me to help you

[Snake_Man]

VTE help page is wrong when i read:
Double click on the "install-sky.bat" i really dont have it in my rar archive.

Thanks for letting me know, the install page was not updated after one of the public betas. Now it is, refresh the VTE install page and you should see Updated for v0.3 - Nov 12th, 2006. text under the header.

[Jack]

error:

Download these addons from:
CoC homepage link


so?

[gundato]

Thanks for the great mod. I am usually rather cautious when it comes to anything Vietnam-related (People tend to be unable to keep the politics separate from the hell the soldiers went through), but I am definitely glad that I tried this out. So far, I love it.

Hell, I only really have two comments aside from "Can I have your children?"
1. No voices for the radio commands. Most of us are used to having to read text for mission specific things, but simply saying "Advance" or "Hold Fire" is timeless(ly inaccurate. But I doubt we want to have to look for hand-signals and hear enough profanities to make a grown man cry :p)
2. A few simple typos. I have been taking a look around and it looks like there aren't any native English speakers. If you need a native, I can sift through the descriptions and the like and jot down any blatant grammatical or spelling errors.

But both of those are rather minor. Either way, this is definitely the most fun I have had with OFP outside of Sui's masterpieces and the core campaigns. You guys are gods (with a lot of time on your hands :p)

[Snake_Man]

1. No voices for the radio commands.

Yes I already answered in the other topic. Will be added feature in next version.

2. A few simple typos. I have been taking a look around and it looks like there aren't any native English speakers. If you need a native, I can sift through the descriptions and the like and jot down any blatant grammatical or spelling errors.

I would like to have the changes pointed out, but I think thats too much work to write them down separately.

So yeah, if you want to fix the mission/campaign descriptions, feel free to do and then sent them to me. Try to keep the same directory names so I know which html goes to which mission dir.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[frenchy]

Hi from Paris guys,
I have Win Xp in french and i run the resistance version from the GOTY edition of OFP
I followed the procedure of installaiton from your installaiton help page and...
When I try to change the code line "FLASHPOINTRESISTANCE.EXE -nosplash -mod=x_vte;x_vte_common -nomap" on my shortcut propreties i get an error message in french

translate as such:

the name: "C:Program FilesCodemastersOperation FlashpointFLASHPOINTRESISTANCE.EXE -nosplash -mod=x_vte;x_vte_common -nomap" specified in the target field is not valid. Check that the path and file name are correct.

what did i do wrong?

thanxs for helping

[gundato]

should be

"C:Program FilesCodemastersOperation FlashpointFLASHPOINTRESISTANCE.EXE" -nosplash -mod=x_vte;x_vte_common -nomap

[frenchy]

wow
that's it it work now thxs
amazing imersion, what a good job you guys did
thxs a lot
greetings from the french team

[Snake_Man]

New mirror added at Mirror 4: OFP ARMA

Thanks for Mirror 4: OFP ARMA site!

[Jack]

hey snake,

any ideas to have a porting of this mod on ArmA???

[Snake_Man]

any ideas to have a porting of this mod on ArmA???

Yes I would like to do that, but as can be read from this forum... I dont have ArmA yet.

[Jack]

obvious in germany they will take it on november 30th, dont know when here in Italy
but i think to buy it online from UK.



i "need" a vietnam mod for ArmA, please help me

[Snake_Man]

i "need" a vietnam mod for ArmA, please help me

Trust me, I'll do what I can.

[Jack]

Snake Man, i passed the voice around my clan, and your job is been really appreciated!!!

waiting for your work!

[fasad]

hey.
I gave vte 0.3 a go today. An very impressive collection of vietnam addons! However, I think that the sheer quantity of content has come at with a reduced the level of quality control. I began the PMC Nam 1965 campaign, and encountered numerous scripting errors in both of the first two missions. There were many also spelling and english language errors. The second mission never finished, presumably because of a single enemy inside a huge trigger. I began a single mission and again found script error warnings.

I also found some of the game design a bit unfriendly - this is only personal opinion. I really don't like the telepathic communication - without it important messages can be easily missed, it's implausable that you should be able to communicate that fast, and it doesn't actually help in most situations anyway. The AI can apparently see straight through the jungle, and their HD weapons are almost useless, making a rambo charge towards the enemy the best tactic.

Anyway, I guess I am suggesting that you shouldn't add in every single vietnam themed map, mission and unit, but instead only include ones that work! There is no point downloading broken missions..

[Snake_Man]

I think that the sheer quantity of content has come at with a reduced the level of quality control.

Okay. But compared to... what?

I began the PMC Nam 1965 campaign, and encountered numerous scripting errors in both of the first two missions.

Such as, give me few examples to begin with, please?

There were many also spelling and english language errors.

I or MadFred (who wrote the briefings) arent native english speakers, but in most cases you can understand whats going on in the briefing. I assume you refer to the first two briefings again, could you give few examples of the errors that are most noticeable, please?

The second mission never finished, presumably because of a single enemy inside a huge trigger.

That might be, but then again if I recall correct it was the LZ Columbus sweep mission and in a way you had to sweep the area. But indeed I'll write this down and investigate for next release.

I began a single mission and again found script error warnings.

There are quite few single missions, could you name the mission please?

I also found some of the game design a bit unfriendly - this is only personal opinion. I really don't like the telepathic communication - without it important messages can be easily missed, it's implausable that you should be able to communicate that fast, and it doesn't actually help in most situations anyway.

Yeah many people think this is a bug, yet even WGL uses it and people like it. Go figure. Anyways, next version includes voices ON config so you can use that if you wish (and die while AI is queueing the orders heh).

The AI can apparently see straight through the jungle

On the old SEB objects (SEB Ia Drang, Vietnam 12km and Vietnam 25km islands) or the new VTE objects?

and their HD weapons are almost useless, making a rambo charge towards the enemy the best tactic.

The old JAM HD or not to HD question, done this few times... I still think HD is the one of the most greatest OFP addon things invented.

Anyway, I guess I am suggesting that you shouldn't add in every single vietnam themed map, mission and unit, but instead only include ones that work!

Again big generialisation (spelling?) on the ones that dont work, bit more specific please.

[fasad]

>>I began the PMC Nam 1965 campaign, and encountered numerous scripting errors in both of the first two missions.
>Such as, give me few examples to begin with, please?

Okay, I meant the 2nd and 3rd mission since the first is non-combat.
2nd mission (sweep LZ) - air support script does not free the onMapsingleClick command, meaning i can't move my teammates via map without inadvertantly calling an airstrike on them. The script does not check the air units status. If i click several times, it spawns several air units, which i can hear crashing (no pilot?). The radio comms from the pilot continue after these explosions.
- when the reinforcements arrive to secure the LZ, there is an error in location array for the ammo box spawn script. [getPos helicopter], should be getPos helicopter without square brackets. No ammobox means hard time killing tanks.

3rd mission (defend base) - at the very beginning of mission, recieve an error about bad syntax. It appears to be a random delay script???
Same air support problems
Reinforcements never arrive, after 1 hour of fighting I'm left with 3 teammates, 2 AI friendlies and endlessly respawning VC suicide bombers(?). I've swept the jungle around the base and have no idea what to do next?

>>There were many also spelling and english language errors.
>I or MadFred (who wrote the briefings) arent native english speakers, but in most cases you can understand whats going on in the briefing. I assume you refer to the first two briefings again, could you give few examples of the errors that are most noticeable, please?

In mission text was the most memorable, such as "homicide bomber". I remember out of place capitilaztion of words too. Use a proof-reader?

>>I began a single mission and again found script error warnings.
>There are quite few single missions, could you name the mission please?

It was "Plei To". Immediately after exiting the chopper I had two very quick script error warnings. The second reads (_p <_rndpause>>I also found some of the game design a bit unfriendly - this is only personal opinion. I really don't like the telepathic communication - without it important messages can be easily missed, it's implausable that you should be able to communicate that fast, and it doesn't actually help in most situations anyway.
>Yeah many people think this is a bug, yet even WGL uses it and people like it. Go figure. Anyways, next version includes voices ON config so you can use that if you wish (and die while AI is queueing the orders heh).

How about a choice of talking or telepathic configs so everybody is happy?


>>The AI can apparently see straight through the jungle
>On the old SEB objects (SEB Ia Drang, Vietnam 12km and Vietnam 25km islands) or the new VTE objects?

No idea, you tell me! This was the PMC 1965 campaign, which has the following text on the map "IA Drang Valley by Select This"

>>and their HD weapons are almost useless, making a rambo charge towards the enemy the best tactic.
>The old JAM HD or not to HD question, done this few times... I still think HD is the one of the most greatest OFP addon things invented.

JAM HD is a great idea, but I think it is too HD. I don't know if you can edit the JAM values or not? My teammate shot 200 M60 HD rounds at a prone enemy less than 200 meters away without a hit.

>>Anyway, I guess I am suggesting that you shouldn't add in every single vietnam themed map, mission and unit, but instead only include ones that work!
>Again big generialisation (spelling?) on the ones that dont work, bit more specific please.

Based on the missions I played, I feel like a beta tester, which is not a good first impression for a first time user of this mod. I suggest you do not distribute any missions unless it has been extensively tested *before* release. It may be easier/wiser to make new missions than edit/remake old ones to use the VTE units and scripts. I'd prefer 10 working missions rather than 1000 broken ones.

[Snake_Man]

2nd mission (sweep LZ) - air support script does not free the onMapsingleClick command
If i click several times, it spawns several air units, which i can hear crashing (no pilot?).

Now I see what you mean, will be fixed on next release.

when the reinforcements arrive to secure the LZ, there is an error in location array for the ammo box spawn script. [getPos helicopter], should be getPos helicopter without square brackets.

Okay fixed for next release.

3rd mission (defend base) - at the very beginning of mission, recieve an error about bad syntax. It appears to be a random delay script???

Will check this, thanks for reporting.

Reinforcements never arrive, after 1 hour of fighting I'm left with 3 teammates, 2 AI friendlies and endlessly respawning VC suicide bombers(?). I've swept the jungle around the base and have no idea what to do next?

I'll check this, if it wont end then there is nothing for you to do. I'll try to fix it for next version.

In mission text was the most memorable, such as "homicide bomber". I remember out of place capitilaztion of words too. Use a proof-reader?

Didn't have any proof readers for that. Can you help? :)

It was "Plei To". Immediately after exiting the chopper I had two very quick script error warnings. The second reads (_p <_rndpause>On the old SEB objects (SEB Ia Drang, Vietnam 12km and Vietnam 25km islands) or the new VTE objects?
No idea, you tell me! This was the PMC 1965 campaign, which has the following text on the map "IA Drang Valley by Select This"

Yeah the old SEB objects are only the islands I listed, all others use our new objects. There might be somewhat AI seeing too much through the vegetation problems in the old objects. I'll see if anything can be done to it, but if I recall correctly, this too have been tweaked numeours times and should be the best it is now.

Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming as all is appreciated.

[mk1]

hi,

i'll post this here as well since the bis forums are down at the mo. been playing the campaigns of vte for some time now and here's a list of bugs that i've found so far:

THE NAM campaign

- welcome to nam - data3d/something_plot not found (magic)
- operation starlight - intro got stuck in "chopper rotor view"
- end animation - data3d/something_plot not found (magic)

Vietnam 1954 campaign

- intro - gets stuck in the scene where one of the sf guys goes to check the truck (he just keeps checking)
- intruders - after insertion you get an error when the chopper needs to refuel and another with the next message
- nightfall - after the mission finished the game jumped to main menu and no end briefing, second time it worked but displayed all end briefing texts.
- exchange - the intro gets stuck when the executioner shoots all his clips over the head of the victim
AI soldiers start firing at the arriving car making the mission fail every time. (can't get past this one)

Sector Charlie campaign

- welcome to ia drang - 'sound radioloops not found' when chopper hit
- pleibai moring patrol - 'cannot load mission, missing addon srk_vehl'
- village patrol - music vte_purplehaze not found
- river patrol - you start in a chopper instead of boat, everyone's parachuted into water and die (so you can't even play the mission)

[Stiff]

Hi,
Thank you for wonderful MOD.

It reports on the bug found by the mission making.
NVA Ammo Truck -> Ammunition cannot be replenished.
NVA Repair Truck -> It doesn't function.
NVA Refuel Truch -> OK

Question
Can the editor select the following?
Invisible Target
VTE_ITar1, n/a, ()
VTE_ITar2, n/a, ()
VTE_ITar3, n/a, ()

Some missions were made.
http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/i ... 55;t=54846
http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/i ... 55;t=54766
http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/i ... 55;t=54715

Thanks

[Snake_Man]

Thanks guys for the feedback, I have written them all down for the bugs list and I'll do my best to fix them for next version.

Can the editor select the following?
Invisible Target

Actually I havent checked, I dont think so. Do you think it should be available from the editor?

Stiff, welcome to the PMC forums! Thanks for supporting VTE by making missions, appreciated

[Stiff]

Do you think it should be available from the editor?

Yes.
I made it (VTE_ITar1,VTE_ITar2,VTE_ITar3) on the map with CreateVehicle. But AI did not react.

[Snake_Man]

I made it (VTE_ITar1,VTE_ITar2,VTE_ITar3) on the map with CreateVehicle. But AI did not react.

Hmm I never used these myself, I believe they are in use with the Charon's airstrike scripts which are not included in v0.3 release. I'll have to check and possibly add them into next version.

Has anyone else been using the invisible targets who could help?

[Stiff]

I'll have to check and possibly add them into next version.

I do not care even if not functioning because Invisible Target is in another add-on.

[Snake Man]

Vietnam: The Experience v0.4 has been released. Please continue on the new v0.4 topic, thank you.