TroopMon V0.8 released

[charonos]

Hi,
after 3 weeks of intense research and coding TroopMon V0.8 is ready for release. It features
ground-breaking methods of ArmA dialog control and 2D to 3D selection functions, never seen
before in OFP/ArmA dialog tools and will inspire everybody that is working on dialog-based addons.

Changelog for update to V0.8:

- New GUI feature: Viewport mouse-double-click unit selection!
- Waypoints and any map markers can be moved and put
now using the mouse on the map screen ! (before it was control buttons)
- Waypoints can now be created in the 3D view by mouse click.
- The camera can now be moved,rotated with the mouse.
- New startup method (Thanks to Snakeman and Gaia for the inspiration)
- Armament is now additionally displayed with images.
- Key addon config attributes are shown in the details display.
- All waypoint types are implemented now and working
- Ammocount and efficieny display implemented.
- Commandline option added.
- Individual mouse action sounds created.
- All ExecVM's replaced for spawns (Big thanks to sickboy for having the idea and doing it)
- All _filename variables removed and moved&replaced by CHN_TroopMon_xxxx global variables in MonInit.SQF
- CreateCenter.SQF if's replaced for switch with cases.
- All static script paths replaced by (CHN_TMPATH + "scripts\scriptname.sqf")
- 2 new viewmodes implemented, V5 suggested by Snakeman.
- Many many bugs, mostly with the unit display and waypoints
have been fixed.
- cleaned up config.bin ---> no entries in ARMA.RPT anymore (suggested by KeyCat)
- A comprehensive PDF-Manual that explains the usage has been written

What is TroopMon?
TroopMon is a GUI console for Armed Assault that is designed to help mission
makers to monitor the combat behaviour of the placed units in their missions.


http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/phaetonos/TroopMonV0.jpg


FEATURES:

- A camera with 6 Viewmodes:
1. A fixed 3rd Person view
2. Free/fixed camera mode that can be positioned around the watch-unit
or independently moved around the whole scenario.
3. A gunner's view through the ironsights of the watch-unit's weapons.
4. A 1st person view to find out where the watch-unit is looking at.
5. A 3rd person view that cycles through a random selection of units.
Primarily, units that are in combat are shown.
6. A top view onto the watch-unit suitable for CQB or urban scenarios.

- Crucial battle data is constantly updated such as:
which enemy is targetting,firing at or wounding the watch-unit
with the ability to switch the view to that enemy to evaluate it.
which enemy is the assigned target of the unit and which enemy
is being fired upon by the watch-unit.

- Troopmon works with all kinds of current/future soldier/vehicle addons
and island addons.

- The GUI console allows for very intuitive unit selection even in high
unit count battle situations, selections can be made with the mouse.
All status data can be shown or hidden by little toggle switches.

- Statistics are calculated for a numerical overview of the combat behaviour.

- New groups can be created and sent into the battle to try out new attack strategies
or enforce groups of isufficient strength without having to edit/restart the mission.
Waypoints for created or existing groups can be created and groups can be combined.
Infantry can be moved around with transports using TroopMon-created waypoints.

- Favourites and camera positions can be saved/loaded for repeating battle scenarios.



http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/phaetonos/TroopMonV0-3.jpg

Demonstration videos:

Video1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W90OtXPSiJU)
Video2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdbM30XyVFE)

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/phaetonos/TroopMonV0-1.jpg

This tool is also perfectly suited for addonmakers that just want to have a look at their
model in ArmA using the freely positionable camera.

If you have any suggestions for future versions or have noticed
a bug, feel free to PM me about it.
You can also let me know, how this helped you to improve your missions.

Download links:

ArmedAssault.info : TroopMonV0.8 (ftp://www.armedassault.info/armad/addons/TroopMonV0.8.rar)

Armaholic : TroopMonV0.8 (http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=727&a=dl)

TotalArmedAssault : TroopMonV0.8 (http://www.filecloud.com/files/file.php?user_file_id=370260)

freedatahost: TroopMonV0.8 (http://freedatahost.com/176404)

file size: 641 kB

[MattXR]

Niice

[Control]

Thanx!

[Snake Man]

This is excellent piece of addon, I salute you for your efforts on the Addon and for the Release. I wish your addon making standard would spread around to many other addon makers, OFP/ArmA scene would be 10 times better.

Will start to test this right away and report back if there is any issues.

I'm sure this will help me greatly when designing and debugging PMC missions. I thank you for creating this great addon http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

[KeyCat]

Great work Charon! Downloading now...

IMHO a must have for all scripters/mission makers!

/KC

[Shashman]

Could someone tell me, in layman's terms, what this is for? I'm a little confused lol http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/huh.gif

[ck-claw]

i have tested the first release-but not fully!

basically its like a live mission editor?

once u preview the map in editor -u can switch to any player on the map to see if their following they waypoints,who their shooting at,who's shooting at them etc etc!

you can even add extra stuff without exiting back to editor map!!!

phew! hope that made sense???

it wasnt lamens terms!!! more like cider's term's!!!

lol just got back from pub!!!!! http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/wink_o.gif

edit:-

btw will test this version when get chance!!!

nice work! http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

[Imutep]

Great stuff http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/thumbs-up.gif Good for mappers and co

[pk!]

Beautiful job.

[Shashman]

i have tested the first release-but not fully!

basically its like a live mission editor?

once u preview the map in editor -u can switch to any player on the map to see if their following they waypoints,who their shooting at,who's shooting at them etc etc!

you can even add extra stuff without exiting back to editor map!!!

phew! hope that made sense???

it wasnt lamens terms!!! more like cider's term's!!!

lol just got back from pub!!!!! http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/wink_o.gif

edit:-

btw will test this version when get chance!!!

nice work! http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif
Ahhhh charrrs for that (just watched Hot Fuzz so excuse the Daaarrrset accent loik)

Off to troy it owte roit naw http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/thumbs-up.gif

[december]

This is very nice http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif Similar to VBS1 editor.
Great for mission makers (or RTS fans)

Just 1 thing, is it possible to see all units in the map mode?

[Blue_Flight]

This tool is awesome, just what i needed http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif
Keep on it!
Very worth the download.

[esti_the_big]

sounds great!

[Malick]

This is a must have, indeed.

I can't do without, now... I'm currently working on a dynamic mission, and this tool proves very useful. It gives every information I need, that's great.

Thanks !

Malick

[EDIT] I've found that TroopMon eats a lot of resources when running but does not returns them correctly when shut. Once I launch it and after I exit it, my memory usage is very high and makes everything laggy. I have a AMD 4600, GeForce 7900GT 256Mo, 2Go DDR2 PC3200.
Other thing, once you quit TroopMon, the player cannot access the clock (O by default), the compass (K) or the map (M). Not very annoying, since it's for debugging, but I like to play in the editor.

[charonos]

Patch 1.05 has made massive changes also to the UI,
therefore TroopMon is suffering unitended font and dialog changes.
I am working on fixing the problems, for some reasons the fonts all look messed up with some letters being bigger than others?!
I will post an update link once it's ready.

[KeyCat]

I will post an update link once it's ready.
Happy to hear that since I already miss this great tool http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/tounge2.gif

/KC

[Snake Man]

Patch 1.05 has made massive changes also to the UI, therefore TroopMon is suffering unitended font and dialog changes.
Hehe, ouch!


Quote[/b] ]I will post an update link once it's ready.
Much appreciated, will be eagerly waiting for it.

[MehMan]

Noticed the UI changes, was just about to ask. But this little thing proves VERY usefull. I'm just working on this large scale battle and there is a lot of timing and other things that need to be taken in consideration and this addon helps a lot. I've also discovered that enemy AI will flee as soon as a helicopter flies over them, that screwed up my mission and I had 100 soldiers in one valley waiting for thier death when my platoon arrived into town. Was strange, at first nobody was around, I was half expecting an RPG ambush, but nothing, until we reached the very edge of town. Behold 100 AI soldiers waiting for the slaughter. Funny to see how fast two strykers and an M113 can chop down 100 troops.

[Malick]

I have no particular issue with TroopMon and 1.05 for now. At least, not the one you describe.

I had a couple of crashes in the editor (checking the state of a chopper and then computer freezes), but I think they are related with new 1.05 bugs with memory and hardware issues.

Keep up ! Your tool proves to be really useful for me, thanks.

Malick

[Törni]

I have issues with Troopmon: occasional hangs, map moves in inverse direction, waypoints do not appear where they should, some times whole display gets messed up when I quit Troopmon (displays a messed up map and weapon sights simultaneously) etc.

Is there a way to save the changes made by Troopmon into mission file?

I'm running 1.05 version.

[KeyCat]

Hopefully charonos will have some updated TroopMon to share shortly.

/KC

[MattXR]

Is there a way to save the changes made by Troopmon into mission file?
Maybe one day, because doing that would be like a real time editor and would be awesome.. http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/biggrin_o.gif

Yeah i have a few bugs and errors pop up, maybe because of 1.05.

[charonos]

I am afraid i can't fix the problems that have been introduced to TroopMon with the new patch.
It is hilarious, depending on which other addons are present in the addons folder, the waypoints are correctly or incorrectly displayed.
I have not made changes to the actual map display used with the m key still it gets screwed up.
I have re-installed the game now and applied the patch without errors still the fonts are all screwed up with some letters bigger than others.
Malick has stated that he has no such issue, anyone else out there that has no font distortion after the new patch?
I believe this is not my fault, can anyone that has experimented with writing dialogs after the patch, confirm that he has the same problems?
As long as the problem occurs on some peoples' systems and on other peoples' systems it doesn't, how can i know what is the cause for this?
I appreciate any input on this.

[KeyCat]

I am afraid i can't fix the problems that have been introduced to TroopMon with the new patch.
charanos thats really bad news indeed! Without your great tool my scripting projects will take 5 times longer to realize at least  http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/sad_o.gif

The little I tested TroopMon 0.80 with 1.05 I saw no screwed fonts, only the item to start TroopMon in the menu was somewhat missplaced (no biggie).

After I heard you was working on an update I removed it but will put it back and check fonts etc again. I will let you know... There must be a solution to get your wonderfull tool working again!!!

/KC

[KeyCat]

Hi charanos,

Today I reinstalled TroopMon 0.8 and had a breif test and the only "issue" I seen so far is the somewhat screwed up select menu (see pic below).

http://keycat.no-ip.com/files/TM08_01.jpg

Otherwise fonts seems OK for me and so did the functionality (haven't had time to test everything with 1.05 yet). The green fonts in picture below is due to JPG-compressinon.

http://keycat.no-ip.com/files/TM08_02.jpg

How come you/some have screwed up fonts and is that + menu the only know issues since the 1.05 patch or are there others?

Really hope people will be able to use this great tool and I was probably a bit to low in my statement above. Without TroopMon scripting/mission making takes at least 10 times longer, it's that usefull!

Hope things can be sorted and just let me know if you wan't anything specific tested and I will do it and thanks for your work so far!

/KC

[charonos]

Hey Keycat,
i really appreciate your efforts.
The button placement in the pause menu was easy to fix.
Good to see that you don't seem to have any font distortion like this:
http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/phaetonos/Font2.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u249/phaetonos/Font1.jpg

The other big issue is that the placement of the waypoint markers gets affected by a combination of other addons and people of course have a variety of other addons installed usually.
So without any other addons except TroopMon installed it does not work properly and with the UN Marker addon it suddenly works, so at least i know where to look for. BTW that addon is a great addition to the game, but it causes lots of errors in the ArmA.rpt file.
On top of that the normal map screen gets screwed up after ending TroopMon, although i have not directly changed anything in that class.
What is needed now is more people confirming whether they have font distortions or not for me to evaluate how it will affect most users.

[KeyCat]

My tests above was without any other addons. Will continue to test it and let you know what/if I bump into anything else!

One question, is it possible to set the lightmarkes to a default OFF stage somewhere?



What is needed now is more people confirming whether they have font distortions or not for me to evaluate how it will affect most users.


Come on people lets help charanos to get this awesome tool sorted!

If you haven't tried it yet I highly recommend you to do so. TroopMon is a very usefull tool for all mission makers as well as scripters. And I dare to promise you that if you are serious about making missions etc. you will not regret 1 sec learning this tool. It may look a bit daunting at first but after you read thru the manual (or played around with it) you will notice that TroopMon is easy to use! And after you "seen the light" you will ask yourself how the hell you managed without it!

Give it a GO and lets help charanos fix it!

/KC

[KeyCat]

Good to see that you don't seem to have any font distortion
After taking a closer look it some of the fonts looks a bit wierd but it's no big thing as long as the functionality is there. Makes me wonder why BIS messed with the fonts in 1.05?

http://keycat.no-ip.com/files/TM08_03.jpg


Quote[/b] ]
On top of that the normal map screen gets screwed up after ending TroopMon, although i have not directly changed anything in that class.


Can confirm that. After using the map in TroopMon the normal map is all grayed out after exiting TroopMon...

http://keycat.no-ip.com/files/TM08_04.jpg

You probably already know this but I get this items listed in the RPT-file after running TroopMon, don't know if it was the same pre-1.05?

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">
Updating base class CA_Title_Back-&#62;CA_Back, by chn_troopmon&#92;config.cpp/RscDisplayInterrupt/controlsBackground/PausedTitleBack/
Cannot create non-ai vehicle CHN_CamTar,
[/QUOTE]

/KC

[KeyCat]

Charanos, don&#39;t intend to stress you but wonder if you made any progress on this great tool?

/KC

[charonos]

Well i don&#39;t know where to start.
I have tried out other fonts, same result.
Re-installed the patch, same result.
To see that you have the same problem makes me think.
I only had one guy confirming me that he did not suffer any font distortion. So either he was an exception and the error lies
in BIS patch or the error is dependant on people&#39;s system configurations. Either way, i don&#39;t know how to approach that.
No point in making an update as long as that problem persists.
To achieve the mouse control i have used a map control class, but
i have opened a new class and have not altered the ingame
map, so i&#39;m not sure why an inherited class would alter the base class?&#33;
That&#39;s why that map display is screwed up.
The RPT error is fixed now that i have adapted the pausedtitleback controls.

[KeyCat]

No point in making an update as long as that problem persists.
Would you consider releasing an interim version with the minor fixes you done so far post 1.05 patch? I mean, even a small fix is better than none fix at all http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/wink_o.gif

/KC

[KeyCat]

Charanos,

Any chance we will see an update for this great tool?

/KC

[rom_un]

Really great tool &#33;&#33;&#33; http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/notworthy.gif

The first time i used it, it thought i was ... god &#33;
The second time, i was playing a RTS game.

How do you use the commandline option ? I can&#39;t write command in the text box.
can someone help me ?

[Snake Man]

Someone reported that TroopMon causes slowdowns in mission, which occur even after its been shut down. I believe there is quite alot of global variables set with TroopMon+ as I think the savegame bug re-appeared while playing mission that didn&#39;t have it, but when using TroopMon+ it was back.

Dunno how many varibles could be squeezed out but it would be nice to get tweaked. But then again, this is intended debug tool, so one could argue that why bother.

In anycase, Charonos, any plans for an update? http://forums.bistudio.com/oldsmileys/smile_o.gif

[MattXR]

yeah alot of people like this..