Handsignals Command System Released!

[MrN]

Wow, just had a quick play around with the demo mission. Very different experience and very cool. I feel the Jungle calling...

Nice one.

[Crassus]

Wow! Great stuff, G.B.

I like how the squad will maintain its position relative to you, but not so strictly as the "old" way. I can back step and shift/strafe left or right and they'll remain in place; they move only when I move forward.

Some things I've found, a few you're probably already well aware of and some suggestions mixed in:

1) No sound for "Move out"
2) Is it the Team Leader that's highlighted with Target box? If so, it seems he's highlighted yet the first one to react to hand signals is the closest man to the player, not always the team leader?
3) RTO rushes with the squad. Shouldn't he be stuck like glue to the player, staying as near to the player as he does when marching?
4) "Adding some of the default OFP squad commands that were not yet included". Will that include setting the squad to "safe", use the tactical/alert carry? (I use Sanc's and Locke's anims...)
5) At least for the RTO, what if clicking "RTO" automatically ordered him to move to the player? Then would another order be issued.
6) Player hasn't moved check? If the player hasn't moved in 20-30 seconds, squad halts in place automatically.
7) "Get-In" from "Rally": I did a head count right before ordering them on the helo. When I did issue the order, they crawled to the helo. How about they stand automatically after receiving "get-in" order?
8) Tutorial:
a. The first time we landed near arty range, two fire teams ran off to the north. I think they were chasing the helo, as I think I gave too many "get-in" orders.
b. Not sure as to when the radio/arty portion of the Tute was complete. I used up all my fire missions, but no indication my period of instruction was completed.
9) HS_Template.Intro: Nothing major, but the init was called from the "hs" directory, but you'd left it in the mission's main directory.


I don't know what it is, but I'm not as cavalier with this "new" squad as I am with one using the default system. I guess you could say I "care" about them a bit more. It is a tougher fight with your system. Maybe it's my attack (I'm moving west to east, trying to clear out the outposts, then moving to Houdan. I hammer the second, inner outpost with arty as I hit the western one) but I've died every time, usually losing all but one to two of my Marines. (See what seven years in the Wing did to me!!!&#33)

[gunterlund]

Any chance of custom formations getting into this (I hope I didnt miss that earlier ). Would be nice to use marine based movement formations as well.

[Crassus]

Yeah, that is on his "to-do" list:

Quote[/b] ]-Add more formations

[StealthTiger]

High speed data transfer mirrors from Stealth-Net:

HSCS - Handsignals Command System inc. Demo Missions.


Enjoy!

[FL Cool J]

How about the compability with ECP 1.085 ?

[Sanctuary]

I just had a test with the tutorial mission and the less i can say is that it is a very nice system, i really like it, very immersive to command the squad like this.

Maybe adding a "Close" option to the dialog menu could be interesting instead of having to press Escape to close it.

The Sign/Shout stance is really well done too.
Congratulations on this piece of nice scripting.

[.pablo.]

yes!!!! i've been waiting for this for a long time...

[General Barron]

Ah, great feedback all. Thx x10.

Quote[/b] ]I'm volunteering for the UK English voice if you still require one

Quote[/b] ]Need UK voice actors? Im sure several members of RAAB would be willing to help you out.

Yes and yes. I'll be contacting you about this later.

Quote[/b] ]I have not read the readme yet but is this multiplayer compatible.

I'm afraid it is not MP compatible at this time. MP compatability is a major point on my 'todo' list, although I can forsee trouble getting the formations to work...

Quote[/b] ]Also what is the origin of the hand movement, US Marines?, Army, WWII German? etc. They used different techniques.

They are present-day USMC, although I've recieved emails from people in the US and Swedish armies saying that they use pretty much the same ones.

Quote[/b] ]looks amazing downloading this for sure may even use it in a mission but is it alright if i edit it sligtly so i can use some more advance instrusctions like set up a perimeter or covering fire ?
great work GB

Absolutely feel free to edit it if you can (although I didn't do the best job of commenting it). De-pbo the core addon, and inside you will find some help on what is what, and how to move the scripts into your mission folder.

Quote[/b] ]Any chance of custom formations getting into this (I hope I didnt miss that earlier ).

The formations are actually fully customizable by the mission editor. You can have up to 4, and I've included 2 by default. In the future I hope to add at least 1 more default. Check the editor's guide for details.

[QUOTE=[b]Quote[/b] ]How about the compability with ECP 1.085 ? /QUOTE]
I don't see any reasons why it wouldn't be compatable, although there are a few scripts which might 'double up' on the ECP ones. Next version I will put checks in to detect if the ECP is running, so that doesn't happen.

Maybe adding a "Close" option to the dialog menu could be interesting instead of having to press Escape to close it.

I had tried this as an afterthought, and it looked pretty bad. I'll try rearranging things again to see if I can make it work, though.

@Crassus

Lots of great suggestions!
1-whoops... didn't know about that
2-good point
3-I had considered this, but there are some orders where you would want him to react with the rest of the squad. So 'rush' would be the exception, which I don't think would work very well.
4-yes
5-I don't think so, although I'm planning on expanding the 'use radio' radius, and making the RTO come to you when the action is used.
6-might be a great idea... but then again, it might confuse people. I'll have to think about it.
7-good idea
8b-oh great.... I guess I threw some kind of last-minute bug into the tutorial mission. Did you get to call an ammo drop, or attack the town?
9-nope, that is a different init.sqs, which initializes the system .

Quote[/b] ]It is a tougher fight with your system. Maybe it's my attack (I'm moving west to east, trying to clear out the outposts, then moving to Houdan. I hammer the second, inner outpost with arty as I hit the western one) but I've died every time, usually losing all but one to two of my Marines. (See what seven years in the Wing did to me!!!&#33

Lol... you are correct, it is a tougher fight than normal.

Equal match in normal OFP: 1 player squad vs 5+ AI squads
Equal match here: 1 player squad vs ~2 AI squads or so

I have to admit I actually haven't finished the demo mission either , so it is likely too difficult. Poor editing practise, but I got really burnt-out on this.
My best strategy though is to pound the farmhouse with 2 arty barrages first, while my squad stays in the forest to its SW. Then I target a barrage on the villa, and start moving my squad west to east. Usually the arty takes care of everyone at the farmhouse, but the villa is fairly spread out and hard to get everyone with arty. And don't be afraid to plan ahead with some smoke screens in open areas that you will be rushing thru, since they can help quite a bit.
I think you have to move pretty quick after you start attacking though, because men from the town start coming up to help the outposts. Problem is, if you order the mech. infantry to attack the town too soon, they get slaughtered. So by the time I'm ready to assault the main base, my squad is at 1/2-3/4 strength, and my mech. support is all dead.

Here's a hint for everyone though: The demo mission is considerably easier on 'cadet mode'. (Less enemies, enemy doesn't have arty, you have more arty, etc)

[Pathy]

Ah, great feedback all. Thx x10.

Quote[/b] ]I'm volunteering for the UK English voice if you still require one ***

Quote[/b] ]Need UK voice actors? Im sure several members of RAAB would be willing to help you out.

Yes and yes. I'll be contacting you about this later.

Whenever your ready, go ahead. We'd be able to help you out on UK specific dialouge and military vocab too.