Mission making: Stalker type Arma2 OA set on JadeGroove 1.0

[Toad Squish]

The Idea :
I wanted a type of Co-Op/Semi Co-Op mission made, that had many of the Stalker elements in it.
Luckily, I found a mod/addon for DAP Stalker from Arma2 vanilla. It works in OA/CO just fine though. ( not on Armaholic, I google searched found external one called " Stalker Development Mod" , I even think there's a facebook group or page for.)
The reason I used that addon/mod specifically, it's the most "complete one" you can get for Arma2.
I'm sure the NightStalkers Mod is neat and all, but it's custom to Namalsk Crisis mission, and isn't a complete "stalker" set up. Also every Nightstalker NC download gives me an error saying it's missing nc_fractions.pbo ... I've asked for years for a fix, and nothing. I guess arma2 is to old now.

Anyways ... I got BORED with dayZ , no one really plays much stock vanilla arma2 anymore.
I figured the only way to have real multiplayer fun , is to make a mission and get a handful of dedicated players playing it together.
I am toying with the concept to add in playable units as Enemies for PvP in the mod too , just not sure atm.
The Important thing was to have a Co-Op thing.
There is or will be ... alot of AI enemies in the mission. At random times, random places ... random weaponry, random level of difficulty. Bandits AI will spawn and start patrolling for the players. Some AI spawn in certain places they need to be at.
Theres also Mutants AI ... Undead Stalker Zombies , the dreaded BloodSucker, and Mutant "Blind Dogs".
Also to make conditions worse ... there are Anomalies, and they WORK. Radiation , Fire, electrical, gravity, some other nasty things, even the Monolith ... all will practically insta-kill players an dAI that wander in them.
Anomalies are invisible death traps, but you get a detector ( works!) that beeps if getting close ... provided you aren't moving too fast , or in a vehicle. ( for now, I left out PSY Damage, and Surges. Surges seem buggy , kills off NPCS , and Jade Groove lacks places to get in thats "safe" from the storm.)
Radiation or RADs picked up from radiated areas ... will damage you , but there are Anti-Rad Meds you can take to aliviate that.
Wounds can be healed via med kits, and some special places like ultra-rare medical tents, and occasional places ambulances. ( Not tested to see if works though. )

Gear/weapons : This I am struggling with on what to include. For now, I've placed very "light" means of stuff to aquire ... Starting gear, isn't the best one can get. Sometimes AI will have different/better weapons to be gained, but ammo will be limited.
One thing that bugged the ♥♥♥♥ out of me was lack of flashlights, roadflares, and chemlights.
(It's a MilSim game, an dthe makers thought EVERYONE would use NVGs??? The Dummies!!! )
I might have a way to fix this ... I dunno yet, but for now Starting gear includes a basic G17 so a flashlight for darkness can be had.
But Resources are "limited" once things are gone , they are gone ( at least until mission/server reset.). Players will hav eto keep searching the map far and wide for resource cashes. Or face the Bandits/AI to scavange off the dead.

Now keep in mind here ... I am an AMATUER mission maker, and know very little scripting. What I've done so far, is a huge hurdle thats taken weeks of reserach to get running so far. I've gotten very far along, with very little to go on.
Kinda good for me, seeing how most the DAP_Stalker stuff is older than dirt, and there's almost no documentation on it.

Still there are things I'd like to do, but don't kno whow to ... yet.
Ideas desired :
-How to script in in game currency.
- How to make a Shop/Trader
-How to set Artifacts to be worth money, sell in a Trader somewhere.
- maybe include the ARP ( role play items addon ) if I can figure out how to script some useful stuff players can use, sell, trade ...ect.
- Figure out how to collect parts to repair vehicles ( kinda like DayZ did)
- Figure out a better night time lighting , NVGs/Thermals will NEVER be included for players. Night time is suposto be spooky/scary/limited vision. Still flares and chemlights woul dbe helpful.
( I tried using ACE and ACEX fo rthos ethings ... but I did not like them. so, gotta figure another way out. )
- try to include a GUI/UI that shows health, rad levels, and such ...
- try to eventually include some sort of "survival" stuff ... food, water, fire making, ect ... ( I tried using one I found on Armaholic , but using the stalker mod, it obliterates the GUI for that, so you don't know when you are thirsty or need to eat. )
- try to figure out a better "health" system ... I don't like basic vanillia Arma2 damage ... I'd like to have some wounding/bleeding like dayZ had.

Right now I'm only about 30% done with the mission. Still much work , and then testing to make sure things spawn right, in proper areas, works ... ect.
It will probably be Co-OP type of mission , players all on one side/faction ... but I -MIGHT- make it more "sandbox" , opening up player slots for different factions ...
Right now, all Players can be is Independant or " Neutral Stalkers" ... , and the only way I could get everything to work right was to set side EAST ( OPFOR) as hostile to Everyone. Duty Stalker faction ( AI ) is OPFOR ... so they Hate everyone now lol. ( Bastards are also Aim Bots from hell! )

There is always the possibility of using something like MCC ( Mission Control Center Addon) , where someone would be dynamically running the mission, but would also be acting as "Game Master" , possessing NPCs, providing more Role-Playing, more missions, ect ... I got MCC, but hadn't tried using it yet to see.

So, WHY did I use Jade Groove map?
Well, namalsk is neat , it's more closer to actual Stalker games ( which I have BTW) , but it's horribly non-optimized. Than means, it drops Frame rates even for those running great gaming PCs.
Jade Groove is a desert like ( reminds me of Australian Outback ) , but totally post-appoccy ... which I think fits Stalker theme just fine. It has sparse small towns, lots of abandoned looking "fortified" areas and some small communities that have fortifications ... like the long lost residents of such places, held out to the very end ...
Plus ... it's not a map where everyone an dthier dog is uber familiar with. Everyone knows Takistan and Chernarus , Panthera, NAPF , and Namalsk a bit to well.
I just wanted something ... Different.
JadeGroove is a "medium sized map" , not too big, not to small ... and for me at least, runs at a high frame rate my older computer can handle and be playable. Others with nice PCs will be blazing FPS for sure.

So what did all this mean?
I don't know ... I wanted to share my idea and what I was working on.
It means if you are still reading this, lol, you MIGHT be interested in the idea.

When it's more completed, I'll be putting the mission for download , and link all the mods for Alpha version of it for anyone and everyone. There's nothing in the mission I made, only borrowed content or got youtube instruction on ho wto do what little I've done so far.
But maybe ... it'll help generate a bit more interest back to Arma2 , and away from dayz mods wich I think everyone is grown tired of now.

With any measure of luck ... maybe some folks out there, MIGHT get interested enough to help flesh out what I got going so far. I don't kno whow to do everything , and I am an amateur after-all.

[Toad Squish]

Well ♥♥♥♥!
So editing my own mission ... I removed some test triggers, but they are still firing for some reason. grrr...
mispelled an anomaly script init ...
Got literally hundreds to edit now. *sigh*