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[SP Campaign] M.E.R.C.S. - mercenary expendable ruthless covert selfish

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M.E.R.C.S. - Mercenary Expendable Ruthless Covert Selfish


Version: 1.03

Overview
M.E.R.C.S. is a story-driven singleplayer campaign for Arma 3, revolving around the exploits of a private military company on Altis. You assume the role of Raif Salih, a Sudanese refugee and ex-soldier, coerced into fighting alongside a mysterious, mercenary organisation. From a first person view, you will strive to escape a world of violence for private gain, where nothing but greed is sacred.

In achieving your mission objectives, you are afforded complete freedom – there are few boundaries and every decision you make entails a consequence. Through a dynamic economic system, you can purchase or sell equipment, hire new recruits, or accept contracts to gain rewards and further your own, unique narrative. On the way, you must engage and interact with an assortment of different characters, each desperate to exploit you for their own ends. Whether you embrace or betray these powers is up to you...

Raif's Story

Born in Karthoum, Sudan, Raif Salih became an orphan at the early age of two. Growing up as one of the poorest people in one of the poorest countries on this planet he basically had no other option than to join the military - the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

After years of internecine conflict in East Africa, Ethiopian forces led a major offensive against their neighbours. Raif’s friends fell before the onslaught and the SAF were deadlocked in a war they could not win, despite their successful defence of Khartoum at the centre of the country.

Raif understood that even if the Ethiopians relented, there would be nothing left of what he had once called home. Taking what little he had, he deserted the SAF, slipped through enemy lines, and travelled for weeks on foot through the East Sahara desert.

Eventually, Raif reached Alexandria in Egypt and secured safe passage to Greece, where he believed he could begin again. Now, his only hope is that ‘Nikos’, the man that brokered his European dream, is as trustworthy as he appears...



Global Background Story

  • 2014 –Mounting violence in the Ukraine and violations of the nation’s sovereignty trigger what historians later called the ‘Second Cold War’ between Russia and the West.
  • 2014-2018 - Ongoing anti-Euro protests escalate and cause the collapse of the European Union.
  • 2015-2017 – First Altian War of Independence. Ended by the Greek military, which quickly suppressed separatists.
  • 2017 - The Islamic Republic of Iran, the People's Republic of China and other countries form the Canton-Protocol Strategic Alliance Treaty (CSAT) in Canton, China.
  • 2019-2026 – Second Altian War of Independence. Ended by EUROFORCE (est. 2023). Altis is now independent from Greece but remains part of the European Federation.
  • 2023 - Reunion of European states as European Federation (EF) in Munich, Germany. Establishment of a combined European military force (EUROFORCE).
  • 2024-2028 – Civil war in the Balkans, ended by EUROFORCE intervention. CSAT supported the Islamic movement with weapons, supplies and training.
  • 2031: CSAT forces initiate a devastating surprise-attack against the United States, already weakened by the economic crisis. Six atomic warheads followed by more than 500,000 troops bypass the defence shield and hit the American west coast. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle are inhabitable for years. European allies deny direct military help for fear of retaliatory nuclear strikes.
  • 2031-Present: Despite CSAT forces rapidly occupying the U.S., they were unable to hold the captured ground. Large parts of the American military, as well as ordinary citizens, went underground and formed a resistance. The EF manages to cut a deal with CSAT and brings in observers and financial and medical aid. Along with supply packages, weapons and ammunition for the resistance are smuggled into the country.
  • 2034: The European Federation recovers from its past and is on the verge of becoming a new superpower, alongside CSAT member states and the sealed-off Russian Federation. CSAT forces sweep throughout the whole of the Middle East, stopping short of seizing the Republic of Turkey. Both the European Federation and CSAT offer financial packages and membership, but also threaten Turkey with sanctions and embargoes.
  • 2035: The Republic of Turkey votes for CSAT membership. The European Federation declares trading embargoes and sanctions. CSAT forces launch joint, large-scale manoeuvres with Turkish forces in the Aegean Sea. Tensions grow daily until the non-aggression pact crumbles. EUROFORCE AA-Defences accidentally shoot down a CSAT reconnaissance jet above the island of Altis, Greece. CSAT General Reza, commander in chief of CSAT forces in the Aegean Sea, issues what was subsequently dubbed ‘an invasion on Altis’. EUROFORCE troops manage to push back the attacker but suffer heavy casualties. CSAT retreats stating that General Reza went rogue and issued the attack without official orders. They maintain that the non-aggression pact is still in force.
  • 2036: Third Altian War of Independence. Weakened by CSAT’s attack, EUROFORCE troops are not able to control the rioting population on Altis. Ultra-nationalists use the anger and poverty of the population to trigger an all out war between the Altis Armed Forces and EUROFORCE. European troops however, are ill-equipped and hastily retreat from the now independent Republic of Altis.
  • 2037: Ties between Altis and the EF slowly begin to stabilise but the country remains in a state of distress, as poverty, unemployment and corruption continue under the new Altian government. Failing to guarantee stability and safety, the AAF invite Private Military Contractors to deploy throughout the country.
    A new flashpoint is on the rise…



Features

  • Story-Driven Single-Player Campaign
  • First / Third Person Cutscenes
  • Infantry / Light Vehicle / Aircraft Gameplay
  • Large Variety of Mission Types
  • Decisions have Vast Impact on Story / Current Mission
  • Small Side Stories within a Mission(-set)
  • Custom Conversation System
  • Custom Shop System
  • Custom Textures
  • Custom Hud Enhancements
  • 35 Missions In Total (Hubs / Connecting Missions Included)
  • Mod Support for Several Weapon Packs

Supported Mods (All Mods Are Completely OPTIONAL)
The following mods are supported, use is completely optional. DO NOT start the campaign with mods, save and then continue later without using the exact same mods for obvious savegame issues. Any mod use at your own risk.

  • Toadie's SmallArms and Animations for Arma3
  • RH M4/M16 pack
  • RH PDW pack
  • (SMA) Specialist Military Arms
  • EricJ Weapons Pack (Seems like this mod is buggy, description texts are sometimes wrong and it causes missing image errors.)

How to Install
Non-Steam Campaign PBO Version: Campaigns dir ("...\steam\steamApps\common\Arma 3\Campaigns").
Non-Steam Addon Version: Copy the @MERCS folder to your Arma 3 dir ("...\steam\steamApps\common\Arma 3\") and launch it as addon with a launcher of your choice or start the game with the parameter "-mod=@MERCS".
Steam Addon Version: Subscribe to the steam workshop entry and launch it as addon with the BIS launcher.

Changelog

 

1.03 - 15.08.2015

  • FIXED: Liberty, Officer was refusing to get into the evac helicopter.
  • FIXED: Mod weapons with scope = 1 were still used in the shop and by the mercenaries.
  • CHANGED: EUROFORCE uniform is now the same as in the EUROFORCE stand-alone release.

1.02 - 19.04.2015

  • FIXED: Some spelling errors.
  • FIXED: Force Recon, mission would not finish due to AI bug.
  • FIXED: Added re-chambered Rahim and Zafir magazines to the shop.
  • CHANGED: Riot Control, changed win condition to "Negades seized by BLUFOR" instead of "all OPFOR killed".
  • CHANGED: Protection Money, moved waypoints of the HVI a bit more outside of the camps to prevent AI from stucking there.
  • ADDED: Helicopter insertion participants are now 10 seconds invincible after drop to prevent death from disembarking.
  • ADDED: Shop support for Marksmen DLC gear.
  • ADDED: Thanks to Bolo861's customised shop configs for CUP.

1.01 - 10.03.2015

  • FIXED: Brave New World, BIS functions were falsely enabling saving again.
  • FIXED: Home Sweet Home, Toilet Guy still had BI randomisation on him.
  • FIXED: Home Sweet Home, Leave-hub-trigger was wrongly configured causing units to disappear.
  • FIXED: Home Sweet Home, Coming back from a duel caused the freeroaming functionality to trigger.
  • FIXED: Meet And Greet, Finally managed to prevent the AI from attacking the empty quadbike.
  • FIXED: Sanctuary, It was possible to get more than one weapon from the buddy.
  • FIXED: Shop System, magazine selling prices were applied wrongly.
  • FIXED: Shop System, Titan Short had wrong origin set.
  • CHANGED: Home Sweet Home, Ambient helicopter powers up less often and for a shorter period of time.
  • CHANGED: Panzerfaust, Disabled ambient life scripts.
  • CHANGED: Sauerland Express, Added some more light at the beginning.
  • ADDED: Thanks to Bolo861's customised shop configs the following addons should be (partly) supported by the shop system: EMU (Elite Mercenary Unit), MAX H3 PACK, HLC mods, Massy weapons pack, MRT Accesories and Functions, SMA Weapons, SOCMOD, TFA Naval Special Warfare gear, Trixies' Weapon Packs, EricJ Weapons Pack, Ag MP9 pack, RH M4/PDW/Pistol pack, RHARD MK18, DarkGiver Sig SG55x Pack, C1987 MP-7 Pack, FHQ M4/Accesories Pack, Spectrobe G36 Pack, Genoma Helmets, Ov SA-58, Purple Benelli Super 90 Pack

1.00 - 18.01.2015

  • FIXED: Glass System wouldn't work after reload.
  • FIXED: Glass System could see through terrain.
  • FIXED: Home Sweet Home, Glass System was still active after returning to the hub from freeroaming.
  • FIXED: Meet And Greet, Some faction representatives opened fire on the player's quad bike.
  • FIXED: Helo insertions in the second half of the campaign didn't work because of Helicopter DLC changes.
  • FIXED: Ransom Demand, the thief should now stay in the car.
  • CHANGED: New textures for EUROFORCE units.
  • CHANGED: Brave New World, Disabled saving to avoid mission flow stuck on loading.
  • CHANGED: Diplomatic Incident, Lowered seizable trigger area for second mission objective.
  • CHANGED: Smash And Grab, Lowered to-clear trigger areas.
  • CHANGED: Hostage Down, hostage must now be alive and within 750 metres of the helicopter on extraction to be considered survived.
  • ADDED: Shop System, camo versions of the vanilla sniper rifles.
  • ADDED: Shop System, vanilla 3GL ammo (HE + Smoke).

0.94 Beta - MANW RC - 26.10.2014

  • FIXED: Minor changes and fixes.
  • FIXED: BI's randomsation scripts' leftovers.
  • FIXED: Riot Control, fleeing was still enabled for hostile units.
  • FIXED: Payback, script error on init.
  • FIXED: Case Of Defence, added an ugly teleport for the Buddy because of his pathfinding / stucking issues.
  • FIXED: Good Bye Altis, Buddy was not invincible.
  • FIXED: Panzerfaust, AAF officer was diving.
  • FIXED: Sanctuary, Meet And Greet, Case Of Defence, transport / support heli was still full of parachutes.
  • CHANGED: Very Important Pickup, player is now an engineer and can fix the car.
  • CHANGED: Enforced Cooperation, Doctor is now being added to player's squad.
  • CHANGED: Case Of Defence, due to AI waypoint issues (they get stuck...) the win ratio has been set up from 25% to 30% of the last wave.
  • CHANGED: Shop System, lowered the selling price for every weapon, magazine, item or vehicle from 1/2 to 1/5 of the buying price.
  • ADDED: Ransom Demand, two more vehicles.
  • ADDED: Good Bye Altis, one more enemy fireteam.

0.93 Beta - 21.10.2014

  • FIXED: Badass One, Finally nailed down the crash bug (hopefully).
  • FIXED: Randomisation scripts affected Nikos in some cases.
  • FIXED: Transport heli was still full of free stuff.
  • FIXED: Shop System, glasses were not listed.
  • CHANGED: Home Sweet Home, Raif is now an engineer to be able to fix vehicles.
  • CHANGED: Home Sweet Home, autoheal after returning to hub.

0.92 Beta 13.10.2014

  • FIXED: Home Sweet Home, there was still a full supply box open for exploit.
  • FIXED: BI's randomisation scripts still affected Raif in rare cases.
  • FIXED: Case Of Defence, one enemy squad was spawned at [0, 0, 0].
  • FIXED:Return On Investment, civil Raif still had NV-Goggles in some cases.
  • CHANGED: Minor fixes and additions.
  • CHANGED: Case Of Defence, due to AI waypoint issues (they get stuck...) the win ratio has been set up from 20% to 25% of the last wave.
  • ADDED: Toadie's SmallArms and Animations for Arma3, mod contents are now available in the shop when the mod is activated.
  • ADDED: TPW MODS: enhanced realism/immersion for Arma 3 SP, mod use should not interfere with scripted ambient life any more. Still breaking parts of the campaign.
  • ADDED: RH M4/M16 pack, weapons and magazines are now available in the shop when the mod is activated. No attachements due to poor documentation.
  • ADDED: RH PDW pack, mod contents are now available in the shop when the mod is activated.
  • ADDED: (SMA) Specialist Military Arms, mod contents are now available in the shop when the mod is activated.
  • ADDED: EricJ Weapons Pack, mod contents are now available in the shop when the mod is activated. Seems like this mod is buggy, description texts are sometimes wrong and it causes missing image errors.
  • ADDED: Home Sweet Home, persistent sidemission to clear the island of rogues.
  • ADDED: Rest And Recuperation, Buddy now tells the player to go on alone.

0.91 Beta 07.10.2014

  • FIXED: Glass System, using night / thermal vision scopes should not trigger the Glass night vision anymore.
  • FIXED: When inserting by armed car the gunner's place should now be occupied, provided the player took at least one teammate with him.
  • FIXED: Script errors due to missing support module both in Surfin' R.o.A. and Enforced Cooperation.
  • FIXED: Planes crashing on spawn in Badass One and Case Of Defence.
  • FIXED: "On Foot" insertion didn't work for Smash And Grab.
  • FIXED: Shop exploit, backpacks weren't removed on selling.
  • CHANGED: Diplomatic Incident, second camp should now be easier / faster to take.
  • CHANGED: Enforced Cooperation, it is now possible to operate undercover by wearing the Black Arrow Combat Uniform (BACU).
  • CHANGED: Turned down the "Glow" ppEffect a bit.
  • CHANGED: Meet And Greet, killing the contacts will now correctly result in cancelation of the task to talk to them.
  • ADDED: Hostage Down, avatar picture for hostage.
  • ADDED: Custom Laptop Textures
  • ADDED: Uncle Kostas, more details at the shooting range.
  • ADDED: Shop System, it's possible to buy or sell several magazines at once now.

0.9 Beta - 01.10.2014

  • ADDED: Advanced Shop System (Buying Vehicles and Camp Enhancements).
  • ADDED: Campaing finished! (Roughly)
  • ADDED: Lots of minor textures, rank emblems, details, texts...

0.55 Alpha - 14.09.2014

  • FIXED: No-pants-bug leftovers.
  • FIXED: Checkpoint Charlie, FIA Car Pathfinding Bug.
  • FIXED: Buddy had wrong face.
  • FIXED: Some custom uniform textures were messed up after Arma 3 1.28.
  • CHANGED: Raised Shop prices drastically.
  • CHANGED: Switched form Campaign.PBO to Addon format.
  • ADDED: Advanced Shop System (Selling Items).
  • ADDED: Lots of minor textures, rank emblems, details, texts...
  • ADDED: Several hints to familiarise the player with M.E.R.C.S. specific systems.
  • ADDED: More ppEffects changing based on current weather.
  • ADDED: TacPad button to turn ppEffects on/off permanently.
  • ADDED: Steam Workshop distribution!

0.54 Alpha - 18.06.2014

  • FIXED: HOTFIX, some uniforms were gone after patch 1.22 because BIS changed the addUniform command.
  • FIXED: Home Sweet Home, drove the devil out of the guy who was levitating under his car.
  • CHANGED: Rest and Recuperation, stuff stored in the car should be transfered to the hub box on mission completion.
  • ADDED: Custom promotion notifications.

0.53 Alpha - 10.06.2014

  • FIXED: Glass System, should now work properly on all interface sizes and resolutions.
  • FIXED: Glass System, Detail now ignores animals.
  • FIXED: Glass System, task marker positioning fixed.
  • FIXED: Glass System, various minor issues.
  • FIXED: Some typos.
  • FIXED: Sauerland Express, mission wouldn't end in some cases.
  • CHANGED: Glass System, approximation of life sign monitoring improved.
  • CHANGED: Mission rewards now partly rely on rank.
  • ADDED: New ranks as sub-system of the custom factions.
  • ADDED: Several custom textures / ambient stuff.
  • ADDED: M.E.R.C.S. PP-Effect prototyped in all missions.
  • ADDED: Three new contract missions. Players from versions 0.51 and 0.52 should be able to continue / revert from the last hub save.
  • ADDED: Second ending implemented.
  • ADDED: Transit mission to second stage of the campaign implemented.
  • ADDED: Use of some assets from the Arma 3 Karts DLC. Shouldn't be an issue if I got BIS' new DLC policy right.

0.52 Alpha - 21.05.2014

  • FIXED: Spawning team did not work.
  • FIXED: Description.ext error on campaigs loading.
  • FIXED: Some typos / spelling mistakes.
  • CHANGED: Set the conv system simple sentence box a bit higher. Hopefully this fixes the problem users with certain resolutions had.
  • CHANGED: New logo!
  • CHANGED: Helo pilot's sentences are now labeled with his name instead of "driver".
  • CHANGED: TacPad is now accessible via comm menu instead of action.
  • CHANGED: Raised some shop prices.
  • CHANGED: Home Sweet Home, decreased chance of getting the 4-five .45 on first visit.
  • CHANGED: Ransom Demand, more detailed helo guidance.
  • CHANGED: Ransom Demand, maximum distance between enemy car and player raised.
  • CHANGED: Very Important Pickup, cleared weapon and magazine cargo of AAF vehicles.
  • CHANGED: Very Important Pickup, some cars have lights on at night.
  • ADDED: Three new contract missions! Players who played v0.51 should be able to continue from the last hub mission.
  • ADDED: "Glass" - Optional advanced HUD system for the Tactical Glasses and Tactical Shades.
  • ADDED: Brave New World, choice added.

0.51 Alpha - 11.05.2014

  • FIXED: Reverting to ealier missions is now possible and should not cause any errors.
  • FIXED: Very Important Pickup - Car change had no consequences.
  • FIXED: Minor spelling mistakes.
  • FIXED: Buddy had no NVGs on night missions.
  • CHANGED: Switched from Profile Namespace to Campaign Namespace for making crucial variables persistent. First mission will clean garbage from ealier version. Restart of the whole campaign required.
  • CHANGED: Licensing changed to APL-SA
  • CHANGED: Raif's Story
  • CHANGED: Cleared CfgFunctions of unused third party works.
  • CHANGED: Buddy won't run out of ammo for his primary weapon.
  • CHANGED: Minor changes to the shop and rest systems.
  • ADDED: TacPad, providing mission info and wait as well as extraction options.
  • ADDED: Very Important Pickup - Armed Patrols
  • ADDED: Most cutscenes and briefings can be skipped now by pressing Space.

0.5 Alpha - 04.05.2014

  • Initial Release



Known Issues

  • Developer console is enabled. In case you encounter a game breaker you can always execute [] call IP_fnc_cheatEndMission; It will automatically determine and load the next logical mission.
  • The use of DevBranch or mods may impact playability, especially AI driving skills are fundamental to make some missions work. I recommend to run this campaign in stable branch! (Tested with Arma 3 v1.18)
  • Home Sweet Home: The ambient shooter at the range sometimes shoots the bystanders. This is caused by a messed up aiming AI which constantly drifts away from the assigned target.
  • Home Sweet Home: The gambler mentions BlackJack as possible gamble but it is not implemented yet.
  • Ransom Demand: The fleeing car might be crashing against something or the passengers disembark randomly and walk instead. I'm researching ways to rebuild this mission.
  • Checkpoint Charlie: The incoming cars sometimes crash into or stuck at the bar gate. If they can't continue they get deleted sometimes which breaks the mission flow.
  • Very Important Pickup: Performance might suffer under many ambient AI units.
  • Riot Control: Performance might suffer under many ambient AI units.
  • Panzerfaust: There's always one AI from the player's group stucking at the briefing desk. Sometimes he follows after a few regroup commands. In case he doesn't, step away from the table and type into the debug console: {_x setPos (getPos player)} forEach (units group player);
  • Panzerfaust: Other parts of the battle group go funny ways.
  • Glass System: Usage in an environment with lots of objects might affect performance. I recommend turning down the core functions first.



Development Roadmap - Scopes & Features

Alpha (RETIRED):

  • 1 Intro Mission
  • 1 Hub Mission
  • 5 Contract Missions
  • 1 Ending

Beta (RETIRED):

  • Campaign Completed
  • 1 Intro Mission
  • 3 Hub Missions
  • 22 Contract Missions
  • 8 Endings / 11 Variations
  • Advanced Shop System (Vehicles & Camp Enhancements)

Gold (RELEASED):

  • Voice Acting (CANCELED)
  • Mod Compability (ONGOING)
  • Generic Side Missions (OPTIONAL)



Contact
You can reach me on the BI-Forums: http://forums.bistudio.com/member.php?53386-IndeedPete
Or feel free to add me on steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/IndeedPete/

License
APL-SA.png
Content created by IndeedPete is published under the "Arma Public License Share Alike (APL-SA)". You are free to take or change anything you can use, just give me a mention in the credits.
All authors of third party content gave me permissions to use their works in the MANW Contest.

Credits & Thanks

  • Bohemia Interactive Studios for this great game!
  • aeroson for his get/set loadout and repetitive clean up scripts!
  • cobra4v320 for his HALO/parachuting scripts!
  • Kydoimos for cross-reading and improving some of the dialogues and texts!
  • mrflay for his explosion detector!
  • Shuko for his SHKPos script!
  • Surfer for his help regarding the awesome M.E.R.C.S. logo and way too many textures and images!
  • tpw for his ambient civilian script package!
  • And all the great people on the BI-Forums who helped out with answers and feedback to so many questions!

Download

Addon Version
Arma3.de v1.03
Dropbox v1.03
Steam Workshop v1.03

Campaign PBO Version
Arma3.de v1.03
Armaholic v1.03
Dropbox v1.03

MANW Contest Page
Vote & Support

Edited by IndeedPete

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You have permissions for all the scripts from their original creators?

Not saying you don't, but it's a good idea to document.

I'll be playing this asap.

Edited by L3TUC3

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All script(packages) are taken from "official" downloads here on the forums or Armaholic or freesound.org. They're not altered in functionality, sometimes I just wrote a "wrapper" or changed some paths to make them compatible with my CfgFunctions and directory structure. Since I took this stuff from the creator's releases I don't see any reason to not use them as long as I give credits. That's at least my understanding but I'm no lawyer so I might be wrong here. And the Arma license thing originates in the fact that I use stuff from their published data packages and the license flow chart said I have to publish it with this specific license.

If someone sees his content in my project and I forgot to mention it or were not allowed to use it this way then pelase give me a heads-up and I'll take it down / give credit immediately!

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Alright I got a chance to play, and I'm very impressed with what you've made so far.

You have a pretty stellar intro, a really detailed hub (it really feels alive) and some very slick additions like the mission/store computer. I really like your conversation system (with the rendertotexture talking heads, very smart!) and you've some pretty cleverly written missions and characters. I enjoyed what I played a lot thus far. You've succesfully allowed us (the players) to choose the missions from the hub, and even give the tools required (provided I've the money). It all just fits nicely in the world you created and makes great use of the sandbox nature of Arma 3. I feel BI themselves could take some cues on how to improve their own campaign as I thought they've made theirs too linear while the truly interesting freeform bits like the scouting missions and the hub were underutilized. I'm happy someone picked up on that.

I hope you'll make some voiceovers as that felt as one of the obvious thing missing to elevate it even higher. For the rest I only noticed a few misspellings, and no real major problems in my first playthrough.

I look forward to your progress. +1 support.

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That's a blast, thank you for that awesome feedback!

The hub and shop system were a piece of work, I can tell you. The little pic-in-pic effect was originally not my idea. dwringer released a similar system a while ago introducing this effect. Then I created my own system and worked the idea into it.

I plan on expanding the hub surrounding stuff more. Maybe having some bandits lurking in the villages and more random loot (have to write my own random loot spawner as I'm not happy with the published solutions so far.)

Oh, and there's still this story one of the mercs at the campfire told me once. Word says a bank robber, fleeing from the police, crashed his helo into the sea near the Stratis coast. The wreck was found but not the suitcase with around 1.000.000€ in it... ;)

As you can see in the Development Roadmap in the original post voice acting is flagged as optional. If I decide to do that, then once the editing part is done as little extra. I see your point though and thought of a Morrowind-like system: One-liners and all non-dialog conversations will get some voices and the longer texts in the big dialog window will stay silent.

Misspelling? Where?! I try to use consequently British English but as I'm not a native speaker I likely get some stuff wrong some time. Notepad++ checks for British English spelling but I don't know how reliable that is. Please let me know if you find something concrete so I can fix it.

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Hi IndeedPete,

Thanks for the PM and I wanted to let you know I'll be giving this a good test soon. I did play a bit earlier, but it won't work very well due to all the broken driving in the game.

I can't go back to stable because the thing I'm working on won't load on stable, so I'll wait until they get the WP's sorted out on DevB.

What I saw I liked though, nice PIP cameras on the subtitles. There's a little typo I saw in the text when you're in the boat at the beginning. It was something like "I have enough" when it should have been "I have had enough". Not to be pedantic but I thought you'd want to know :)

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Global Background Story

  • 2016-2017 - First Civil War in Ex-Yugoslavia. Triggered in Bosnia & Herzegovina the war soon spread throughout the entire Ex-Yugoslavia.
  • 2024-2028 - Second Civil War in Ex-Yugoslavia, ended by EUROFORCE intervention. CSAT supported the Bosniak movement with weapons, supplies and training.

Oh, I'd like to hear more about these ;)

As for the actual campaign, you have my vote and support.

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@Das Attorney: Yes, I tested on DevBranch this weekend and nearly got a heart attack! I had to switch back to stable, hence the recommendation to do so. Take your time, it won't run away. ;)

Thanks for the heads-up regarding typos / wrong stuff. I'm really into getting this right. I didn't know that you native speakers say "I have had enough" instead of "I have enough." But then again, Raif is no native speaker...

It works both ways in German:

"Ich habe genug." <- Present tense, roughly equals "I have enough."

"Ich hatte genug." <- Past tense.

"Ich habe genug gehabt." <- Perfect tense, roughly equals "I've had enough."

As to my experience all are used in the common language (at least around here in the north-west) but that might be different in English.

@barakokula31: Great, love to hear that, thank you! I guess you're talking about the Balkan conflicts? I needed some background conflict for the Croatian buddy who shares the name with a quite famous basketball player. :) Sorry to abuse your country for that purpose. Croatia is awesome, I've spent the last five months there! Beautiful country, nice people and the girls... Anyway, back to topic. Germany took a beating too in this background story. ;)

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@barakokula31: Great, love to hear that, thank you! I guess you're talking about the Balkan conflicts? I needed some background conflict for the Croatian buddy who shares the name with a quite famous basketball player. :) Sorry to abuse your country for that purpose. Croatia is awesome, I've spent the last five months there! Beautiful country, nice people and the girls... Anyway, back to topic. Germany took a beating too in this background story. ;)

I was joking when I said I'd like to hear more about it, but now you've got me interested! I haven't finished the whole campaign, so I don't really know the story about it that well (if there is any). A lot of people imagine a war in former Yugoslavia without actually knowing much about how it is here :rolleyes: I doubt a war is going to happen here soon, especially not in two or three years.

And I don't think Croatia minds abuse that much, it's already suffered quite a lot! ;)

But, this is offtopic, so I'll (try to) stop posting about it.

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I agree, at least Croatia is on a good way and I hope all Balkan states will slowly improve their situation. For example, I've been to Bosnia in the beginning of this year when they had some protests going on with burning houses/cars. There's still a lot to do regarding unemployment, poverty and ethnic tensions. Anyway, enough off-topic, what I saw from the Balkans was great and definitly worth visiting!

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UPDATE

Hi there, I'm happy to present you the first update. It comes with some major changes regarding the technical background, a few new features and a partly reworked intro. However, this update contains no new content. Also, because of the technical changes you have to restart the whole campaign once you've installed this update. Updated parts listed below.

Changelog

0.51 Alpha - 11.05.2013

  • FIXED: Reverting to ealier missions is now possible and should not cause any errors.
  • FIXED: Very Important Pickup - Car change had no consequences.
  • FIXED: Minor spelling mistakes.
  • FIXED: Buddy had no NVGs on night missions.
  • CHANGED: Switched from Profile Namespace to Campaign Namespace for making crucial variables persistent. First mission will clean garbage from ealier version. Restart of the whole campaign required.
  • CHANGED: Licensing changed to APL-SA
  • CHANGED: Raif's Story
  • CHANGED: Cleared CfgFunctions of unused third party works.
  • CHANGED: Buddy won't run out of ammo for his primary weapon.
  • CHANGED: Minor changes to the shop and rest systems.
  • ADDED: TacPad, providing mission info and wait as well as extraction options.
  • ADDED: Very Important Pickup - Armed Patrols
  • ADDED: Most cutscenes and briefings can be skipped now by pressing Space.

0.5 Alpha - 04.05.2013

  • Initial Release

Known Issues

  • This project uses TPW civilians. Players using the addon version will face problems. Officially, this campaign does not support any mods.
  • Ransom Demand: The fleeing car might be crashing against something or the passengers disembark randomly and walk instead. I'm researching ways to rebuild this mission.
  • Conversation System: With some resolutions the dialogs will interfere with the cinema border. I'm not sure yet how to solve this issue.

License

APL-SA.png

Content created by IndeedPete is published under the "Arma Public License Share Alike (APL-SA)". You are free to take or change anything you can use, just give me a mention in the credits.

All authors of third party content gave me permissions to use their works in the MANW Contest.

Download

Dropbox v0.51 ALPHA

I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to Vote & Support if you like what you saw so far! :)

Edited by IndeedPete

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UPDATE

Hi there, I'm happy to present you the first update. QUOTE]

I got so caught up by the setting and the story that after I had finished all availiable missions, I hooked up my ArmA with MCC, loaded the "intermezzo" level in the base and just started cooking up some basic tasks in the MCC editor myself.

Basically, you are building up on the most awesome aspect of ArmA 3 campaign - having an actual base where you come back after each mission, having an absolute freedom (sort of) in choosing when to begin the new mission and with what equipment.

And this, sir, is just pure gold.

I loved every moment so far (part of if is probably the fact that Ive just finished the last series of 24 a few weeks ago, getting ready for the new one, so the german guy with his phone was a nice little touch for me :D).

In terms of the story: I know this is ArmA, so basically the player immersion possibilities are limited, but since your system of conversations works so nicely, it would be great to work on it a little bit more in the beginning. You know, it all happened a little bit too fast and I can hardly imagine just accepting my new "job" that easily.

That said, it would at least be nice touch to somehow give the player a choice right after leaving the boat - you either accept right away (so problem solved, but I can imagine only few players would do that), or alternatively, there will be some option for creating a distraction, using it to attempt an escape (so you build up resistance in the player, but they will end up wounded in the base anyway, finally coming to a full understanding that they either do that, or die).

Plus, a bit of polish to dialogues and such (voices would be cool, but I can understand how complicated it is to do this right).

I mean, I love the way you did it, its just that it has even more potential in it - to be a truly gripping background story. And its these little bits and pieces that make a truly immersive/captivating atmosphere (if you have ever played the original Vietcong game, you would know what I am talking about - the radio conversations, inner dialog of the character...).

Anyways, awesome work. You have my votes and neverending support here and everywhere. I want to play this through to an end and see if I make a millionaire, a free man or just another rotting body in the mercenary battlefield.

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Wow guys, I'm truly honored by your appreciation! That's more than one simple man like me can take! :)

It's a great idea to have you implementing your own tasks or even missions some time! If you have questions on how to integrate them into the shop system feel free to ask. But I've just a had an idea! Maybe I should do another spin-off some time, a customisable hub with shop system, conv system etc. and a raw campaign shell for other creators to fill out? Like a campaign/hub framework? Please let me know what you think!

Yes, I loved 24 too. Nothing ever reached the twists in the first season. But I hope they finish the movie to give Jack Bauer and the whole concept the honorable death it deserves!

I'm working on the introduction. I want to make it more believeable but not too long, so I don't scare off "casual" players. The new skipping mechanics allow players to skip the talking, that's at least some progress on the casual side I guess.^^

Well, you can always try to run from the intro. ;) But yes, some choice at the beginning is a good idea, thanks!

Yes, Vietcong! Awesome game, I nearly shit my pants crawling through the VC tunnels. And then the damn radio didn't work. It was one of the most horrible and awesome game experiences in my youth. Next to Diablo II and Doom 3.^^ I still have this game and play it from time to time!

Anyway, I'm working on it as often as I can! Keep playing and throw in feedback - everything is appreciated!

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Two new shots of the recently finished 7th contract mission "Riot Control":

m02b_load_sourceeoftq.jpg m02b_overview_source2kdd0.jpg

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Good evening ladies and gentlemen!

Please allow me to present the new corporate design logo:

mercs_banner_512_256kp5kcx.jpg

All my appreciation and thanks go out to the fellow Armaholic called Surfer whose help and advise was insanely useful on this one as I am a total fail when it comes to image editing. Thank you, dankeschön!

---------- Post added at 11:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 PM ----------

Also happy to tell you that M.E.R.C.S. entered the social media world! Feel free to follow me on facebook or like my page on twitter. Or was it the other way round? :)

Edited by IndeedPete

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Just finished the raw version of the 8th contract mission "Panzerfaust"! Below are two new development snapshots introducing a new character - the grumpy looking bald guy on the left. Unfortunately, he's working for a rivalling merc band. Would you try to get in his way even if that means to compromise the joint operation to re-take the AAF tank depot captured by FIA "terrorists"?

m02c_load_source8quvn.jpg m02c_overview_sourcez2unc.jpg

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Another development update! *yay*

I want to show you on what (hopefully considered magic by historians in future times) I'm working on these days. With the coming update several fixes as well as (likely) some new Alpha content will be released.

Among the additions will be an enhanced HUD option. Inspired by playing Doln's Showcase (it's good, you should try it) and Google Glass I've decided to make up my own enhancement system using the Tactical Glasses / Tactical Shades available in the hub shop. If you're wearing the glasses you can activate the enhancements via TacPad (finally found some buttons to fill the empty space). Following a short boot process you'll be able to de/activate the three optional software packages "Core", "Status" and "Details".

"Core" involves unit / object tracking, "Status" gives feedback about the player's coordinates, heading, pulse, breathing and overall condition. Finally "Details" will gather additional information like name, faction, health, armament etc. about an object once you hover over it with the cursor. It's all just quickly prototyped and bears a lot of potential in my opinion. I have to do some more research about performance impact and additional functions like nightvision, thermal imaging, zoom, beauty and more. But the current state should already offer some vast advantages on the battlefield as well as new mission possibilities. Check out some screenshots I've made (because my current machine sucks too hard to make videos):

2014-05-19_00001myknj.jpg 2014-05-19_00002x6jsz.jpg 2014-05-19_00012jxjy0.jpg 2014-05-19_000144jjtw.jpg 2014-05-19_00019wjjs6.jpg 2014-05-19_00020hgkz3.jpg

Edited by IndeedPete

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Looks awesome! See, I told you you were a scripting legend!

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New update! *yay*

I've sorted out some minor and bigger errors, changed some stuff here and there and added some new content. Players who played v0.51 (the first update) should be able to continue their campaign from the last hub mission. However, players from v0.5 have to restart the whole campaign due to major technical changes in v0.51 - sorry guys! Three new contracts are available, one of them already slipped through in the last update - this was not intended!

But the biggest feature should be the "Glass" - a framework for utilising the Tactical Glasses and Tactical Shades. If you wear one of them you're able to activate a three-packages-based HUD enhancement system via TacPad (Radio-0-8-1) during a mission. A word of warning: This system is as Alpha as the rest and has some flaws as well as significant performance impact when dealing with large amounts of objects. Disabling some features might increase performance in certain situations. As said before the "Core" package will mark and track objects and units in your HUD and if activated, you can switch to NV/low light-mode by hitting "n". (Only works if you have no NVGoggles equipped.) "Status" shows some basic info about position, direction and health of the player and "Details" calculates some stuff regarding the current cursor target.

Changelog

0.52 Alpha - 21.05.2014

  • FIXED: Spawning team did not work.
  • FIXED: Description.ext error on campaigs loading.
  • FIXED: Some typos / spelling mistakes.
  • CHANGED: Set the conv system simple sentence box a bit higher. Hopefully this fixes the problem users with certain resolutions had.
  • CHANGED: New logo!
  • CHANGED: Helo pilot's sentences are now labeled with his name instead of "driver".
  • CHANGED: TacPad is now accessible via comm menu instead of action.
  • CHANGED: Raised some shop prices.
  • CHANGED: Home Sweet Home, decreased chance of getting the 4-five .45 on first visit.
  • CHANGED: Ransom Demand, more detailed helo guidance.
  • CHANGED: Ransom Demand, maximum distance between enemy car and player raised.
  • CHANGED: Very Important Pickup, cleared weapon and magazine cargo of AAF vehicles.
  • CHANGED: Very Important Pickup, some cars have lights on at night.
  • ADDED: Three new contract missions! Players who played v0.51 should be able to continue from the last hub mission.
  • ADDED: "Glass" - Optional advanced HUD system for the Tactical Glasses and Tactical Shades.
  • ADDED: Brave New World, choice added.

Known Issues

  • The use of DevBranch or mods may impact playability, especially AI driving skills are fundamental to make some missions work. I recommend to run this campaign in stable branch! (Tested with Arma 3 v1.18)
  • Developer console is enabled. In case you encounter a game breaker you can always execute ["Hub01", true, true] call IP_fnc_endMission; In a contract mission this is causing you to be transported back to the hub, with the problematic mission accomplished.
  • This campaign has not been uploaded to the steam workshop as there is no option to add campaigns yet.
  • This project uses TPW civilians. Players using the addon version will face problems. Officially, this campaign does not support any mods.
  • Home Sweet Home: The ambient shooter at the range sometimes shoots the bystanders. This is caused by a messed up aiming AI which constantly drifts away from the assigned target.
  • Home Sweet Home: The gambler mentions BlackJack as possible gamble but it is not implemented yet.
  • Ransom Demand: The fleeing car might be crashing against something or the passengers disembark randomly and walk instead. I'm researching ways to rebuild this mission.
  • Checkpoint Charlie: The incoming cars sometimes crash into or stuck at the bar gate. If they can't continue they get deleted sometimes which breaks the mission flow.
  • Very Important Pickup: Performance might suffer under many ambient AI units.
  • Riot Control: Performance might suffer under many ambient AI units.
  • Panzerfaust: There's always one AI from the player's group stucking at the briefing desk. Sometimes he follows after a few regroup commands. In case he doesn't step away from the table and type into the debug console: {_x setPos (getPos player)} forEach (units group player);
  • Panzerfaust: Other parts of the battle group go funny ways.
  • Glass System: Pulse and breathing values are unrealistic. Haven't found a good approximation yet.
  • Glass System: Usage in an environment with lots of objects might affect performance. I recommend turning down the core functions first.
  • Glass System: Task marker seems to "slide" up. It didn't do that in my test mission.

Credits & Thanks

  • Bohemia Interactive Studios for this great game!
  • aeroson for his get/set loadout and repetitive clean up scripts!
  • Genesis92x for his VCom AI!
  • mrflay for his explosion detector!
  • SHK for his SHKPos script!
  • Surfer for his help regarding the awesome M.E.R.C.S. logo!
  • tpw for his ambient civilian script package!
  • And all the great people on the BI-Forums who helped out with answers and feedback to so many questions!

Download

Dropbox v0.52 ALPHA

Don't forget to: Vote & Support

Have fun with the new update and I'm hoping for some criticism! ;)

Edited by IndeedPete

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Huge thanks to mizifih from the Armaholic forums who took a video of him playing the first contract mission. So, for those of you who are still uncertain if they should try M.E.R.C.S. I recommend watching it. I realise that there's not that much action and explosions around but it shows some basic prinicples and features of the first (tutorial) mission.

I find it amazing to see how others play my content and how they approach my missions. It's simply invaluable to a developer to actually see how users react to different situations. In a perfect world I had a bunch of testers I'd observe and research face-to-face to improve the quality of my content. Anyway, have fun with it!

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