Armed Assault and the Zombie mod . . . AAR.

[ElGuapo]

So, in another thread I mentioned a (new to me) mod for Armed Assault, the CZM (Crappy Zombie Mod) (http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=3330). I'm here to tell you, it's anything but.

(note that in this version, I think the "infected" event has been taken out, as it was causing tons and tons of lag while scripts run. I don't think this is a big loss as in most traditional zombie movies, people only become zombies/reanimate after they die . . . so that doesn't really affect the gameplay . . . as all NPCs still reanimate after they die).

After playing around with it a bit and figuring out how things work, I created and played my first mission tonight. It took about 2 minutes to set up and a half hour or so to play. It was bare, bare bones: A town off the coast had been completely overrun by about 150 zombies and a small team went in to take care of them (5 men including me as a sniper and an M113 APC).

It was HELLA fun. We rolled in and started laying waste to the zombies but of course, we started to run out of ammo. I told everyone to get into the APC we had brought along and was firing hundreds of .50 cal rounds into the crowds of undead. Then things started deteriorating. They surrounded the APC when, after we had knocked over some walls and trees trying to get out of there, we smashed into a house and had trouble backing out. They started clibing up over the sides and dragged the gunner out of his mount. (This I really couldn't believe, it was really cool . . . they don't have the animation for this but they do have the animation for the zombies crawling up on things and he popped out of the turret and did the dying animation and fell to the ground).

We finally got free and backed up. In the headlights I could see the zombies eating him and then, right before we left, he stood back up and started staggering toward us!

Finally the fuel gauge started to run out and I decided to park the APC overlooking the town up on a hill. The lights of the APC were shining down on the village, illuminating the horse coming toward us. I wasn't sure how many we killed so far but I estimated about 75. That left around 75 to kill, which doesn't seem like too much but when you start counting rounds and realize not every shot counts, it was a little dismaying.

I told the squad to get in line formation around me. They startedd opening up down the hill as I took solo shots with my sniper rifle. I tried to get as many headshots as possible .. but sniping's hard! Especially in a realistic milsim game like Arma.

The zombies started coming up the hill at us. It became worse and worse at it was now night and the beams from the APC were the only light around . . . outside that it was vauge shapes and movement. My troops started calling out "Ammo out!" and I head and saw them switching to their sidearms. Finally EVERYONE was out of ammo and the zombies kept coming.

I'll admit it. I paniced and went to teh back of the APC to reload. That's when I heard calls out that my men were going down. I finished rearming and raed back to the front of the APC. There were dozens of zombies there, some feasting. I started shooting wildly. Soon enough, my own men were coming towards me. One of them got a bit too close as I hesitated in shooting him and he swiped me. The front of my outfit stained with blood.

I gunned down as many as I could but they were coming in from all sides, albeit slowly. The problem was I was in an open hilltop now, with all sides exposed, and only the beams of the headlights showing me what was in front of me.

I got into the APC and drove down hill to the village. Finally it ran out of gas in the middle of the street. I reloaded and listened to the moans drifting through the night air. A zombie popped into view and I shot it in the head. Then another, and another, and another. I calmly dispatched them and tried to position myself so I wasn't exposed, back against a low wall.

Suddenly I was attack from behind and fell to the ground.

As the "Mission Failed" screen came up, the camera zoomed to an above view where I got to see my attacker eatingg my guts. In a final insult, I reanimated and started staggering around! Oh the humanity!
==============================
I highly recommend this mod. Next time I'm going to add some civilians and resupply crates to get to, and maybe eventually add some waypoints, objectives and such.

The ultimate mission, and this is totally doable in Arma (though I personally don't know how exactly), is to start off in an area with tons of zombies and have to fight your way out then survive in the country. Populate it with several civilian cars, military vehicles, supply dumps, etc. In the supply dumps you could, for instance, have hundred of undead military walking around (they have undead models for every model in the game). In the town have civilians. Have zombies EVERYWHERE, even some in the countryside, so you never know if it's safe.

The beauty of this is that in the editor, you can give any object: vehicles, ammo crates, zombies, other military, whatever a percentage chance to spawn in the mission as well as radius of where it spawns. So, for instance, you could give a dirtbike with a 1/2 tank of gas a 50% chance to be within 200m of the gas station in town. This would truly randomize your experience, as you'd never know what you'd get or where it'd be.

Finally we have a real zombie survival game!

[DoomMunky]

Holy SHIT this sounds awesome.

Also, Guapo, you're doing a real service to the Qt3 community. I just read the first several pages of the epic Xcom AAR and it's amazing. Good on ya.

[ElGuapo]

So I played another mission and it was pretty fun. I just downloaded FRAPS (any other suggestions on free capture software?) and I'll give it a go sometime this week.

I downloaded another mod that gives the game dozens more guns ... so what I have going now is ammo boxes in the beginning I get to peruse my weapons, pick one, then I use a satchel charge to blow them all up. The little mini mission I have (I haven't messed with actual objectives and in game waypoints yet) is a solo rescue mission. There are a variable amount of civilians around the village, from 3 to 5. There is also a 50% chance that a few cars will spawn in some places and a 50% chance that some ammo boxes will spawn, but the ammo boxes have 500m radius distance spawning, so it's a real search in an urban setting to find them.

Bascially, my "mission" for this little scenario is to find any survivors. If they are alive I "rescue" them by confirming they are alive ( I don't know how to make scripts to have them follow me yet). If they are infected, I put them out of their misery. Then I book it to a checkpoint outside of town up on a hill. I've done it 3 times now and it plays out differently each time.

One thing that's kind of a bug/feature is that armor/cars don't protect you from zombies. You can push them out of the way and go real fast around them, but if you get caught up in them they smash through the windows/reach through open portholes and kill you. Kind of annoying but I just roll with it and treat cars and things to get me around, not protection.

[Staff Sergeant]

Where is the epic Xcom AAR? The (SA) Let's Play Xcom sucked, and I want to read one of these.

[spiffy]

I'll have to pick this mod up! I only have the base game though .. you don't need Queen's Gambit? Also, are there scenarios ready to go, or do you have to mission edit?

[ElGuapo]

I have vanilla, so no, you don't need Queen's Gambit. I don't believe there are scenarios ready, but it takes about a minute after you load the editor to make one. the zombies really are plug and play.

There is a 255 group limit per side, so what I did was plop down about 10 individual zombies then make them a "group". Then I just selected them all and CNTL-C, CNTL-V them all over the place. That makes putting tons of zombies in a city quick and also makes them move in packs a bit.

Here's a pack of undead closing in on me. You can choose from about 100 different zombie types/skins/models but I just picked a few of them for now.

http://i36.tinypic.com/2ql62vp.jpg

[rezaf]

Where is the epic Xcom AAR? The (SA) Let's Play Xcom sucked, and I want to read one of these.

ElGuapo recently linked to it (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=32835) in the XCom on Steam thread.
_____
rezaf

[Calistas]

Super El Hotubo! I defo want to see the fraps.

Co-op play would be awesome-sauce, especially if you string a few scenarios together into some sort of briefing.

Hell, you could make a campaign and issue a half dozen scenarios to a selection of volunteers and depending on their results, make followon scenarios. Ahh.. gaming, I love ya!

This almost sounds like the Qt3 dream zombie apocalypse game..

Would it be possible to make some sort of safe stronghold you think? To sally-forth from to rescue fuel, ammo and people? That would be an amusing base for scenarios.

[schurem]

afaik the opflash editor is hugely amazingly powerful. yes you can make no-go zones for the npc's. yes you can make npc's join your group after contact. yes you can make stuff spawn or despawn on certain triggers. you can do everything! the sky (and your programming ability) is the limit!!! muahahaha!

[Calistas]

Jeez, I would love to tut-tuu with it, but I know I don't have the time of the Skilz0r. Go El Guapo, we'll live vicariously through your effort!

[ElGuapo]

Anyone want to buy me FRAPS? :)

Anyway, here is a 30 second video of some gameplay (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJwHVDV6Grk).

[Tim James]

Did you play this single player or with some buddies? I've always wondered if there was any redeeming quality to single-player, or if I can drop into multiplayer games kind of like TF2. It sounds like my kind if FPS sim, but I can't block off 2 hours a night to do a map.

[Moore]

So, in another thread I mentioned a (new to me) mod for Armed Assault, the CZM (Crappy Zombie Mod) (http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=3330). I'm here to tell you, it's anything but.

(note that in this version, I think the "infected" event has been taken out, as it was causing tons and tons of lag while scripts run. I don't think this is a big loss as in most traditional zombie movies, people only become zombies/reanimate after they die . . . so that doesn't really affect the gameplay . . . as all NPCs still reanimate after they die).

After playing around with it a bit and figuring out how things work, I created and played my first mission tonight. It took about 2 minutes to set up and a half hour or so to play. It was bare, bare bones: A town off the coast had been completely overrun by about 150 zombies and a small team went in to take care of them (5 men including me as a sniper and an M113 APC).

It was HELLA fun. We rolled in and started laying waste to the zombies but of course, we started to run out of ammo. I told everyone to get into the APC we had brought along and was firing hundreds of .50 cal rounds into the crowds of undead. Then things started deteriorating. They surrounded the APC when, after we had knocked over some walls and trees trying to get out of there, we smashed into a house and had trouble backing out. They started clibing up over the sides and dragged the gunner out of his mount. (This I really couldn't believe, it was really cool . . . they don't have the animation for this but they do have the animation for the zombies crawling up on things and he popped out of the turret and did the dying animation and fell to the ground).

We finally got free and backed up. In the headlights I could see the zombies eating him and then, right before we left, he stood back up and started staggering toward us!

Finally the fuel gauge started to run out and I decided to park the APC overlooking the town up on a hill. The lights of the APC were shining down on the village, illuminating the horse coming toward us. I wasn't sure how many we killed so far but I estimated about 75. That left around 75 to kill, which doesn't seem like too much but when you start counting rounds and realize not every shot counts, it was a little dismaying.

I told the squad to get in line formation around me. They startedd opening up down the hill as I took solo shots with my sniper rifle. I tried to get as many headshots as possible .. but sniping's hard! Especially in a realistic milsim game like Arma.

The zombies started coming up the hill at us. It became worse and worse at it was now night and the beams from the APC were the only light around . . . outside that it was vauge shapes and movement. My troops started calling out "Ammo out!" and I head and saw them switching to their sidearms. Finally EVERYONE was out of ammo and the zombies kept coming.

I'll admit it. I paniced and went to teh back of the APC to reload. That's when I heard calls out that my men were going down. I finished rearming and raed back to the front of the APC. There were dozens of zombies there, some feasting. I started shooting wildly. Soon enough, my own men were coming towards me. One of them got a bit too close as I hesitated in shooting him and he swiped me. The front of my outfit stained with blood.

I gunned down as many as I could but they were coming in from all sides, albeit slowly. The problem was I was in an open hilltop now, with all sides exposed, and only the beams of the headlights showing me what was in front of me.

I got into the APC and drove down hill to the village. Finally it ran out of gas in the middle of the street. I reloaded and listened to the moans drifting through the night air. A zombie popped into view and I shot it in the head. Then another, and another, and another. I calmly dispatched them and tried to position myself so I wasn't exposed, back against a low wall.

Suddenly I was attack from behind and fell to the ground.

As the "Mission Failed" screen came up, the camera zoomed to an above view where I got to see my attacker eatingg my guts. In a final insult, I reanimated and started staggering around! Oh the humanity!
==============================
I highly recommend this mod. Next time I'm going to add some civilians and resupply crates to get to, and maybe eventually add some waypoints, objectives and such.

The ultimate mission, and this is totally doable in Arma (though I personally don't know how exactly), is to start off in an area with tons of zombies and have to fight your way out then survive in the country. Populate it with several civilian cars, military vehicles, supply dumps, etc. In the supply dumps you could, for instance, have hundred of undead military walking around (they have undead models for every model in the game). In the town have civilians. Have zombies EVERYWHERE, even some in the countryside, so you never know if it's safe.

The beauty of this is that in the editor, you can give any object: vehicles, ammo crates, zombies, other military, whatever a percentage chance to spawn in the mission as well as radius of where it spawns. So, for instance, you could give a dirtbike with a 1/2 tank of gas a 50% chance to be within 200m of the gas station in town. This would truly randomize your experience, as you'd never know what you'd get or where it'd be.

Finally we have a real zombie survival game!


EMAIL YER MISSION FOR THE LAZY!

I got it working finally. Doesnt this work in MP? We should play.

[ElGuapo]

EMAIL YER MISSION FOR THE LAZY!

I got it working finally. Doesnt this work in MP? We should play.

It does work in MP, yes. There is no "mission" right now, other than to survive. But I can email you it. PM me your addy.

I'm actually home today if anyone wants to try this MP.

[Telefrog]

So, is ArmA any good as a vanilla game? Does it come with an editor?

I really liked Operation: Flashpoint, but the reviews I'm reading of ArmA aren't encouraging. There seemed to be a lot of bugs and framerate issues even on high end systms when it first shipped. Have the patches made that better?

[spiffy]

yes, and yes.

Not a polished story game, but if you like realistic military simulation with a robust mission editor, it's a good value for infantry, armor and helo combat..

another badass zombie Armed A vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22SYbw9ECoc&feature=related

[Telefrog]

yes, and yes.

Not a polished story game, but if you like realistic military simulation with a robust mission editor, it's a good value for infantry, armor and helo combat..

another badass zombie Armed A vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22SYbw9ECoc&feature=related

Thanks. As I said, I liked OpFlashPoint, so I'm very tempted to pick this up. However, I was a lot more tolerant of PC game bugginess back then because I had a lot more time for gaming, modding, and tweaking. That's not so true anymore. The reviews I'm reading from the initial version of ArmA sound like everyone was having a lot of issues.

Is it still a pretty buggy experience? Is it optimised well?

[ElGuapo]

Yeah, I'd say it's pretty stable and not buggy at all, really. You have to realize it's military simulator, so the graphics aren't all hot shit and the controls are kinda floaty and wonky. It's not a run and gun shooter and doesn't have that Call of Duty 4 polish. But what it does it does pretty well, and it accepts a hella lot of mods. The mission editor is top notch.

[DoomMunky]

Have any of y'all tried the Zombie Panic mod that's just about to get hosted on Steam? It's a team-based MP game, but I'm interested to see how it plays out in comparison to this.

[Jonathan Crane]

Have any of y'all tried the Zombie Panic mod that's just about to get hosted on Steam? It's a team-based MP game, but I'm interested to see how it plays out in comparison to this.

I think Cyranix might have played it the other night on the GWJ server. Perhaps he'll chime in. It certainly sounds cool.

[Mind Elemental]

Holy SHIT this sounds awesome.

Also, Guapo, you're doing a real service to the Qt3 community. I just read the first several pages of the epic Xcom AAR and it's amazing. Good on ya.

Seconded. What we need is for someone to kill two birds with one stone and do an XCom mod for this game! Alliance, resurrected...

[eliandi]

The fact that ElGuapo started his scenario with 5 soldiers and a M113 reminds me strongly of how so many games of the old RPG Twilight 2000 started. Just sub out the zombies with being behind Russian lines with limited gas and ammo and it all works. Man that takes me back...

How long did it take for you to create the scenario, or was it bundled in the zombie mod?

[Telefrog]

Well, I went ahead and ordered ArmA Gold. I watched a few YouTube vids of this mod in action and I'm convinced. I need a good zombie fix. All the Source ones I've tried have been cool, but relied completely on multiplayer participation to work.

[ARogan]

Picked up ArmA Gold from gamestop today ($40). Man ElGuapo that was a hell of a convincing OP there. I played enough operation flashpoint in my time so I think I know what I'm getting into. I've always planned to check out ArmA at some point but i guess it just slipped off my radar.

[Moore]

Have any of y'all tried the Zombie Panic mod that's just about to get hosted on Steam? It's a team-based MP game, but I'm interested to see how it plays out in comparison to this.

I went into that with doubts, but I like it. It doesnt have the scale of this, but it has polish, and playing as zombies.. well, kind of sucks ass, but it fits.

If my house wasnt wired so shittily I'd have a halloween lan with both of these and movies, but 90% of my wiring is form 1970. And I have friends coming in that dont game, so thats out.

[ElGuapo]

A pic from tonight's single player session . . . Dawn of The Dead!

http://i35.tinypic.com/w9795t.jpg

I fooled around for a few hours tonight and made a single player and multiplayer mission of sorts. To play it, you'll need the mod linked above (and I think the other script mod mentioned in the link).

Anyone know of a free host I can put the files on? They are both really tiny. I'll have to give the briefing/objectives here, since I don't know how to do that in game (there are no triggers or anything, I messed around with them but couldn't get them to work).

I estimate there are about 300 zombies to fight, spread around two towns and the countryside. Ammo caches, vehicles in various states of low fuel, civilians fleeing for their lives, all that fun stuff. I even threw in an opening scene of sorts right at the beginning to set the mood and show you what it looks like when a human gets eaten. :)

Let's get a game together this weekend! Note I have Vanilla Arma, not Gold. Not sure what the difference is.

[Calistas]

No image seen. And damn, it all sounds rather fun!

[Rward]

Awesome!
I'd like to join in some zombie goodness if my ping doesn't kill everything..
I'm busy grabbing the patches and hope to look into making a scenario.

[shift6]

Wow. I seriously wonder if Valve is at all concerned about "Left 4 Dead" in light of a bad-ass mod like this.

[DoomMunky]

Well, I found ArmA for Digital Download (http://www.atari.com/us/games/arma_gold/dvd_rom), but ack: $40 to play an (admittedly awesome sounding) mod? That's a bit steep right now, dammit!

Do mods work with the demo...?

/hope

Edit: Also there's a $30 non-Gold version at D2D (http://www.direct2drive.com/1/4000/product/Buy-ArmA:-Armed-Assault---Combat-Operations-Download) and also on Steam...

[Naeblis]

Have any of y'all tried the Zombie Panic mod that's just about to get hosted on Steam? It's a team-based MP game, but I'm interested to see how it plays out in comparison to this.

I tried both Zombie Master and Zombie Panic some months ago, and while ZP has clearly the graphical edge, in both characters and scenario, Zombie Master was more fun, with a clear gameplay of "us vs lots of zombies", most of them the classic slow type, trying to finish the level fighting as a team.

[Sarkus]

Screw zombies, I want to see an AAR from ElG using that Independence Day mod that's out for ArmA!

:-)

[Brakara]

To play it, you'll need the mod linked above (and I think the other script mod mentioned in the link).

What other script mod?

[Moore]

The one that the game tell syou is needed if you dont have it, it gives you the name extended something something

[ElGuapo]

Yeah, basically the mod linked above (CZM), to my knowledge, uses some in game assets and some custom scripts mod (mentioned on the page linked to) to do the zombie arm swing, chomping on freshly downed humans script, and the resurrection script. As in, after eating for a bit, the attacking zombie stands up and the dead guy reanimates (stands up and starts staggering around). It's pretty cool to watch, even when it's your dead body. You do notice, though, that they stagger around for a bit, stop, then stagger some more. The interesting thing about this is that the stagger makes it pretty hard to get a headshot, so sometimes it's best to wait for them to stop moving. Sometimes, alas, that's not an option.

Last night I had two pants crapping moments. I was coming up this sidewalk and spotted a half dozen zombies coming down the path at me. I line them up and start slowing picking them off with a zoomed in rifle. I'm hearing "grahhhs" and "rawrs" and chomping noises, but you can't always tell where they are coming from. When I'm finished killing them all I hear a really loud "RAWWWWR!" just as I turn to see another one had come up behind me. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Fire fire fire fire fire fire.

Another one was when I was near a church and saw this guy standing there. I'm not sure if he's human or zombie, as I have it set up that there are some random civilians that spawn, sometimes (percent chance to spawn) and in a random location. So I go up to him and he's looking at me. I'm thinking . . . "Are you ok man?". Then I notice there is blood on his arm. Just at that processes he goes "Hisssss!" and takes swipe at me. Ahhhhh! Mother-fucker!

In this scenario I also have a (very small) chance for some (very few, like 3 maybe on the whole map) actual badguys to spawn, as in armed opponents. I'm hoping this will lead to further tension, as you never know what the darkness holds.

eliandi, for your question, that first scenario took about 5 minutes, max to create, and they have a jump in option in the editor so you can play immediately.

It's really too bad I don't know scripts/triggers very well as it'd be fun to mess with some of that stuff . . . calling in a convoy for support, or a chopper extraction, or stuff like that.

As soon as I get home tonight I'll try hosting the missions somewhere, both the single and multiplayer version (the only diff being that in the MP version there are 4 spawn points/playable characters that you can turn on/off in a MP game as AI buddies).

Testing to see if this host works . . . an awesome little comic created for my X-COM AAR (http://www.mediafire.com/?wdqgtzntjnv).

[DoomMunky]

Dammit, I couldn't help it and just bought ArmA off D2D.

Zombie killing, coming up!

[Brakara]

Yeah, basically the mod linked above (CZM), to my knowledge, uses some in game assets and some custom scripts mod (mentioned on the page linked to)

But there's absolutely no mention of any "custom scripts mod" on that page. It only says "If additional addons are required for this file to be used you can find a link to them at the end of this page!", and follows up by providing some 30+ links.

But if Moore is right, and the game tells you what's missing when you try starting it, then I'm sure there will be no problems figuring it out. I just don't have the time to try it for myself before Sunday, and I'm just very sceptical of that "it will be up and running in a few minutes" statement (since I've previously only played the ArmA sp campaign).

[ARogan]

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=3330
so on the zombie mod page I see this at the top:
Required Addons: Extended eventhandlers (xeh) by Solus & Killswitch

A quick search on "extended eventhandlers" jumps me down to near the bottom:
Downloads / Addons / Miscellaneous / Extended eventhandlers (xeh) (http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=2605)

Extended eventhandlers has no pre-reqs so I'm guessing those are the two we need.

and some tips on installing:
http://www.armaholic.com/plug.php?e=faq&q=18

and you might need to patch your game first to the latest version which it seems to remove the disc check yeah!
http://www.armedassault.com/dwnl_update.html

I think that's it. I haven't tried any of this yet. Maybe I'll find time tonight to actually open my copy.

[Moore]

yup, the xeh thing is the extra one needed.

[DoomMunky]

Hey, Guapo, can you give a brief little tutorial on how to make a mission? I haven't the foggiest idea how to use the editor to place anything other than a single zombie at a time, and that's MURDER, time-wise.

EDIT: Okay, I found a few resources for editing, including a sweet tutorial HERE (http://www.ofpec.com/ed_depot/beginners/units.php). It includes this handy info:

A few hints: holding LMB and SHIFT on a unit allows you to change its azimut. You can use CTRL+C and CTRL+V to copy and paste units. This allows for faster placement - note that you have to select a unit before being able to copy him.

Using this info I created a Group, zombified them individually, and then pasted them all over the map. I suppose I could have changed the Groups likelihood of spawning and so on, and THEN pasted them everywhere, but there's a lot to learn...

[DoomMunky]

Alright, guys, let's start seeing those zombie missions....

Cause this is damn difficult. I can set up some serious zombie action, but setting it so you can actually 'rescue' the civilians is hard as hell, and involves setting up Triggers and Waypoints and stuff. ElGuapo's tactic of 'rescuing' them by finding them is probably the best solution for now.

I can't figure out how to make the civilians run along a waypoint, as they seem fairly undisciplined, lying down halfway along their route regardless of zombie presence. Come on, guys, it's raining out and there are zombies in your fishing village! Don't take a nap!

Hitting zombies with cars is unsatisfying, too, as they don't go flying, or even fall down.

[Brakara]

Extended eventhandlers has no pre-reqs so I'm guessing those are the two we need.

Ah, thanks. I probably should have noticed it, but the color scheme on that page makes my eyes bleed.

[Telefrog]

EDIT: Okay, I found a few resources for editing, including a sweet tutorial HERE (http://www.ofpec.com/ed_depot/beginners/units.php). It includes this handy info:

Using this info I created a Group, zombified them individually, and then pasted them all over the map. I suppose I could have changed the Groups likelihood of spawning and so on, and THEN pasted them everywhere, but there's a lot to learn...

Damn! That is exactly the kind of tutorial I needed. Thanks!

[ElGuapo]

A few things I've noticed about the zombies:

1) Cars, tanks, trucks, whatever, do not affect them. That is, you cannot run them over or crush them in your tank treads. They can also kill you through the car/tank! Yes, this sucks, but think of tanks/et. al as moving gun platforms. Imagine they reach through the porthole or windows or whatever. You can shoot zombies with big guns, but remember body shots only kill them if it's a direct hit . . . shooting near them and trying to make the blast kill them only works if it's close. Try to go for headshot with that 120mm! The best vehicle I've found, by far for zombie killing is the Shilka. That thing lays waste, and has an awesome spotlight to boot.

Not to say that a horde of zombies would overrun a well defended position or tank column. Put a tank group down and a bunch of zombies near them and see what happens.

2) Remember, you must go into the mission parameters and set RACS is friendly to Nobody in order to make the zombies attack everyone. Also, try not to use other "Independent" actors, like RACS soldiers on your map.

2) Civilians will lay down, run, etc. when their are perceived threats to them. You have to realize this game is primarily a milsim, so the civilian reaction to seeing a threat is to duck and cover. I dunno, roleplay this as shock and fear and panic.

3) A quick way to place zombies is to make a group. Go into units mode (F1). Double click the map. Select side "Independent". You'll see Zombies Slow and Zombies. The difference is that regular zombies move all herky jerky fast. I like slow zombies. Anyway, select whatever model you want from the list on the right, From Zombie 1 to Pilot to Anchorman, whatever. Exit to place him on the map. Select him and CNTL-C. CNTL-V. If you wish to give a variety of zombies, double click to select a new model. If you wish to speed this process up, then use the rubberband (like any RTS) to select both of the new models. CNTL-C, CNTL-V. Exponential zombies!

If you are creating a shitton of zombies, you'll hit the 255 groups per side limit. In this case (and for ease of placement) it might be easier to create a group and copy/paste that. In order to do this, take, I dunno, 10 or so zombies as created above. Go into Group mode (F2). Select one of the zombies and drag it to another one (ideally, one in the center of your group). Note you are not dragging him, you are dragging a blue line to the second zombie, linking them. This makes that first zombie a group follower of the second one. Keep dragging zombies/blue lines until you have a group. I usually make the group 10 or so (theoretically this means 2550 per map). Now, you can select all in this group (rubberband method) and copy/paste it around the map. Instant zombies, all grouped up nicely. The only drawback to this method, and it'd kind of a big one, is that the zombies will "battle chatter" amongst themselves, i.e. "Human spotted at 50 meters", "1 is down, taking command". You'll even see their lips move. If someone figures out how to disable this, I'd highly appreciate it.

[ElGuapo]

You know, why "release" this thing half assed? I'm going to work on some triggers tonight.

I'll upload it when it's ready.

[DoomMunky]

If you are creating a shitton of zombies, you'll hit the 255 groups per side limit. In this case (and for ease of placement) it might be easier to create a group and copy/paste that. In order to do this, take, I dunno, 10 or so zombies as created above. Go into Group mode (F2). Select one of the zombies and drag it to another one (ideally, one in the center of your group). Note you are not dragging him, you are dragging a blue line to the second zombie, linking them. This makes that first zombie a group follower of the second one. Keep dragging zombies/blue lines until you have a group. I usually make the group 10 or so (theoretically this means 2550 per map). Now, you can select all in this group (rubberband method) and copy/paste it around the map. Instant zombies, all grouped up nicely. The only drawback to this method, and it'd kind of a big one, is that the zombies will "battle chatter" amongst themselves, i.e. "Human spotted at 50 meters", "1 is down, taking command". You'll even see their lips move. If someone figures out how to disable this, I'd highly appreciate it.
Thanks for the tips, mang!

I ran into a little trouble on the larger island last night when placing tons of zombies. Even though I was under the 250 Group limit, the game seemed to run a hell of a lot slower than it did on the smaller island. I had a lot more zombies than in my game on the small island, and it seemed to get better when I removed half the zombies, but am I missing something?

Of course it stands to reason that the more zombies you have, the slower the game will run, but dammit, I've got a burly computer and want shambling hordes!

Is there a zombie sweet spot, or might it be a problem relating to the large map?

[ElGuapo]

I found that grouping them slows things down a bit as it processes the AI for the squad commands . . . so if you can live with less than 255 zombies in a village, you're better off not grouping them. I think the scenario I created started to bog down on my computer after a thousandish, so I started deleting them. This from the linked Editing Faq:

Skill- Determine AI skill level.
Note: the skill of a unit when inside a vehicle is the skill of the vehicle. If an AI soldier gets into a vehicle, it will use the skill of the vehicle while inside the vehicle.
Note: adjust the skill wisely, because it directly affects the performance of ArmA. Always remember to set the skill of "cosmetic" and "eye-candy" units to 0.

I also read that setting the rank to higher will give the units higher morale. I haven't really noticed zombies fleeing, but maybe the best zombie unit attributes are to set them all to Colonels, with skill set about 1/4 of the way up. They are supposed to be dumb, tough, no fear shambling dead, after all.

[DoomMunky]

I wonder if zombies need to be any rank other than Private... Dammit, everything requires more testing!

I'm really interested in figuring out how to set up a mission that involves finding civilians, getting them to follow you (which I'm not sure can be done), and taking them to an extraction point.

Another idea would be to have to kill a certain % of zombies, or kill zombies for a certain amount of time until either reinforcements or an escape craft shows up.

[Telefrog]

Are there any preset missions somewhere? I see a lot of YouTube videos of this mod in action. (Search for "ArmA Zombies" or "Armed Assault Zombies".) These people have to be making and posting their efforts somewhere, right?

[DoomMunky]

I briefly looked yesterday and didn't find anything right off the bat, but that doesn't mean they're not out there.

What could be cool is to take a pre-existing rescue or containment mission, and just replace all the enemy soldiers with zombies. It'd take some adjustment of the mission parameters, perhaps, but it may be a good shortcut, rather than learning all about how to use the editor...

[Peter Frazier]

I downloaded the 'Quarantine 2.5' mission (http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=2509) which sounded interesting. You start off in a safe area and have to make trips into the quarantine zone to save civilians, kill zombies and resupply a military base. It's like a persistent campaign in that you earn money to buy better weapons and vehicles with. It's a fast zombie mod, so be warned.
The beginning is a bit rough- you start off with $1000 and after a considerable jog to the shop you find out that most pistols begin at $1000. Armed with a crappy pistol and about 5 clips, you're expected to Rambo your way through the zone. Bugger that.
The next thing I did was check out a supply truck for the resupply mission. It had a .50 cal attached to it and suddenly the game was easy. I kill-dozered my way through the zone in the truck, setting the 50. cal to face backwards I'd drive over as many zombies as possible to get their attention. After a short distance I'd jump to the gun and wipe out the conga-line of zombies after me. Some of them would be pitifully crawling after me since I'd presume their legs were jellied from the crash. I got a nice little cash bonus for each one (I'd kill-dozer in areas where a zombie elimination mission was announced). Another good thing was that zombies couldn't attack you in the truck; so not only was a I good samaritan, I was an invulnerable, .50 cal spitting trucker from hell.
I had a few tricky moments- occasionally I'd find an ammo crate and have to get out and see what goodies were inside of it. Checking out these crates is a real bitch because it locks your view and the interface is clunky. All you can hear is a low groaning noise and you're panic clicking your way through the inventory trying to loot as much as possible before bolting back to the truck o' doom.
I eventually reached the military base in the evening. As I approached the main gate I was relieved to see a large amount of guards waiting for me. Well, I thought they were guards. The zombies had overrun the camp and were slowly overwhelming the defenders who did not have enough sense to shoot back. I watched 5 zombies follow a soldier around before swarming him. I wiped out the zombies who penetrated the perimeter and parked the truck, earning a nice $15000 and resetting the camp guards. Then the truck disappeared and I felt very lonely and vulnerable. I hurried over to the flag pole because that is where the mod maker thought would be the most intuitive place to use as a shop. I bought a G36 and ammo clips and noticed the zombie swarm now chewing up the .50 cal emplacements again because the soldiers were still too stupid to open fire. Given the option to single-handedly save the base or look after myself, I chose the Flashman route and ran back to another flag pole, bought a motor bike and high tailed it out of there. Riding through the scrub at night I saw the message 'The base has been overrun, you may not buy from there anymore' and patted the fuel tank of my bike, pleased that I'd gotten mine before they got theirs.
The mod is a nice find, Guapo.

[Calistas]

I really feel an itch to make a story-based campaign around this. But apathy wins.

[ElGuapo]

Wow, that Quarantine sounds cool.

One thing, Peter ... unlike lots of games, soldiers in this game actually have ammo counts. In fact, EVERYTHING in the game has ammo and fuel counts. So the soldiers may have just run out of ammo. It'd be nice to have them "take to the hills" in that scenario, but what can you do. Also, looks like that mod uses a different zombie mod, which may be great for that particular mod, but which alone I found not so good. I played with it and the CZM one is much better. But I'll def try it out now that there is a good scenario for it.

There is HUGE room for an awesome, all encompassing mod/scenario here. But like Calistas, I just don't have time.

Here is what I have so far.


Briefing:

It's Dawn of The Dead, and the undead have overrun two towns on the island. Airstrikes are ordered to wipe out the entire city, but first, the locals want the churches marked so that they aren't destroyed in the blast. HQ also wants an electrical tower marked so that it's not destroyed. In order to do this, spotlights need to be turned on in three locations (two churches and the tower). After accomplishing this you will proceed to a fortified position on the high ground held by an infantry team.

Objectives: Marked on your map.

Time: 4:00 AM. Night, with dawn in about 2 hours.

Weather: Clear, possible chance of rain later

Enemies: A ton of zombies. Small possibility of a few enemy soldiers scattered about. Though if they live, who knows if they will be turned?

Assets: At the start of the mission you are presented with several ammo crates. They are there just to include a variety of weapons if you like, and should be ignored afterward for game balance reasons. Basically if you "gear up" at a crate, just assume it's all used up afterward. Scattered around the countryside are various ammo crates and abandoned cars. Some are locked, some have very little gas left, etc. These both spawn pretty randomly so watch for them.

Secondary objective. There are several dozen civilians scattered around the towns and countryside. If you find them just go up to them and "rescue" them (just assume you've rescued them). If they've been turned though, beware!



Single Player Version. (http://www.mediafire.com/?5jmyydamynm)

Multi Player version (http://www.mediafire.com/?lkznwjnt31m). Just has 3 additional team members/playable positions.

(fixed links)

Install to Root Arma Dir\Missions for Single Player Missions, \MPMissions for MP missions.

So for me, that's c:\games\Arma\Missions

[DoomMunky]

Awesome! I can't wait play it!

But I feel like a bit of an idiot; where do I install downloaded missions?

(also, your link leads to a url with an extra " on the end of it.)

[spiffy]

hrmmmm .. I'll try installing all this over the weekend if I get time. I'd love to give multiplayer a shot. What are you using for voice chat?

[DoomMunky]

I'm running Version 1.08.5163, and when I run the mission it loads all the way then gives me this message:

"You cannot play/edit this mission; it is dependent on downloadable content that has been deleted.vilas_wpn"

Dammit!

[Peter Frazier]

I get the same message. I presume we need this (http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=612)

[DoomMunky]

Grr. I put that mod into my AddOns folder AND my Missions folder, and the mission still won't work. =(

[ElGuapo]

Damn! I thought I deleted all of those crates. I must have missed one.

Yeah it's this one:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=612

You should just be able to add it to addons and have it work.

I'm using 1.08.5163 as well.

[Peter Frazier]

I gave the mission a run through. The first light was easy- I ran around a corner and ran into a pile of zombies and was able to dispatch them with my pistol. I jumped into a car and then Carmageddoned my way to the second light and was able to get it on. Then it was a quick run up the hill for the third light- either the zombies were still shambling their way up to me or something had distracted them, because it was empty. I then dashed over to the lost squad. It was a bit strange because there was a news reporter and an umblemished, unarmed soldier in the middle of them. I thought that they were maybe lost or recently rescued. Either way, after a little while trying to see if I could do anything with them I gave up. The soldier then walked up to my back and took a bite out of me. Mission over. Damn those zombies and their ability to look normal. Next time, if they're not pointing a gun, they're taking a bullet.

[DoomMunky]

I played through the first part, too, and liked it a lot. Very creepy, and I managed to save the very first civilian! Yes!

Just now, playing it again to show my girlfriend, I saved him again, but then a zombie from off in the darkness lurched up after I left him, and when I turned back around the civvie was going down. Dammit.

There's ALSO an awesome zombie mission included with the mod. It's a folder called "CZMDemo2.Sara" that, when copied into your Missions folder, becomes a special mission involving antidote recovery and HORDES of zombies. It's got a pretty amazing opening scene, but unfortunately I haven't had a chance to play it past the first 10 minutes, which are basically all you want from a zombie mission in a game.

Now if anyone can tell me how to DEcompile the .pbo file into an editable mission file, I'll be very appreciative. I want to steal tricks and ideas from ElGuapo and the CZM mod, but you can't open completed mission files in the editor.

EDIT: Found it! Download this (http://www.ofpec.com/ed_depot/index.php?action=details&id=428&page=0&cat=xyz), run the cpbo program, then right click on any .pbo file, choose 'extract', then copy the resulting file (which ends in Sara) into your My Documents/Arma/Missions/ folder (NOT the game directory) and then you can edit them yourself.

GOD I love PC gaming!!

[russellmz00]

after a couple hours of downloading and installing i got quarantine booted up and it's pretty fun, although as mentioned earlier starting with just a pistol is annoying. better off with the 4x4 with the machine gun.

but how do you reload the 4x4's machine gun? what ammo do i need for it? i got a merc manning it but he says it's out of ammo.

has anyone made some more missions yet?

[eliandi]

OK, I got ARMA gold for about $15 from one of the Amazon sellers and installed it this weekend. I also installed the zombie mod. A couple of observations

1. The zombies are nigh invulnerable. It seemed like it took 20+ shots of 5.56 to drop one, esp since head-shots do not help. The sniper rifle was better, but still took 2-3 shots. Since shooting simply attracts more zombies, I started simply avoiding them and avoiding getting cornered.

2. I suck at the basic ARMA game. There must be a secret to seeing the enemy, because right now I keep getting wasted without ever seeing the bad guy.

[ElGuapo]

With the Quarantine mod (and Yomies zombie mod), yes they are really tough. With the CZM mod they will go down with one headshot, but their body is tough.

[scharmers]

There must be a secret to seeing the enemy, because right now I keep getting wasted without ever seeing the bad guy.

The ugly secret is that there is no secret. The AIs are idiot savant aimbots who can drill you 1.2km with one shot from a rusty ak47

[eliandi]

The ugly secret is that there is no secret. The AIs are idiot savant aimbots who can drill you 1.2km with one shot from a rusty ak47

Any tweaks or mods to tone this down?

[russellmz00]

The ugly secret is that there is no secret. The AIs are idiot savant aimbots who can drill you 1.2km with one shot from a rusty ak47

i was playing the convoy sniping mission in unmodded single player where you're on a watertower (btw, nice of them to make it so that's the place you have to go for the script trigger instead of any where non-obvious) and the ais were taking three of four hits to the arms, legs, and bodies and still wouldn't go down. it was really pissing me off since i was playing on regular, not vet. is there any way to check if a mod is affecting the game? or like mentioend above, toning it down?

btw, get a truck with a mounted machine gun, either the supply truck, the one in that little army base, or buy one. those things take out the zeds in three hits tops.

[Peter Frazier]

I was on the same sniping mission and gave up on the campaign because of it. The AI were more accurate with their AKs than I was with the sniper rifle.

[spiffy]

I think I would up putting AI on easy, or even modding their aim values down, don't remember which. Don't care if it's cheating or whatever, I feel you really do need some kind of advantage in a game as merciless as this one.

[CSL]

How exactly do you mod their values down? Even on easy that sniping mission has just been utterly shameful when it comes to me getting beat down by marksmen conscripts with AKs from a kilometer away.

[eliandi]

I found this via googlefu and implemented it last night. Now I stand somewhat of a chance. Precision is accuracy...skill is the speed of the AI. The OP increased the default skill to make them better in close-quarters combat. I did not.

"To make them not that accurate, so they cannot take you out with a single shot from miles away with an AK-74, you might want to edit the AI skill levels in your ARMAPROFILE file. Go to your profile (C:\Documents and Settings\User name\...\Your ArmA User name) and open the ARMAPROFILE text file and edit the next lines in 'class regular' and 'class veteran' under 'class Difficulties':

skillFriendly=1.0;
skillEnemy=1.0;
precisionFriendly=0.45;
precisionEnemy=0.45;

[ElGuapo]

Mod away, but no need to really. Go into options somewhere (I forget exactly .. somewhere in gameplay or the like). There is an Enemy/AI skill slider. I set mine down to about 66% of what it was and it made the battles much less frustrating.

[eliandi]

Not regarding the zombie mod, but I tried out the mission editor last night and found it as easy as ElGuapo made it out to be. In only a few minutes I'd created a Twilight 2000-like mission with a US M113 with a few riflemen (with limited ammo) meet up with a BMP and a bunch of crappily-trained AK47 troops. Only thing missing were the red stars on the turret. I liked how you could edit the mission, then jump into it and play it, then jump right back out into the editor.

[Telefrog]

Not regarding the zombie mod, but I tried out the mission editor last night and found it as easy as ElGuapo made it out to be. In only a few minutes I'd created a Twilight 2000-like mission with a US M113 with a few riflemen (with limited ammo) meet up with a BMP and a bunch of crappily-trained AK47 troops. Only thing missing were the red stars on the turret. I liked how you could edit the mission, then jump into it and play it, then jump right back out into the editor.

If there's one thing ArmA did right, it was make an awesomely easy editor to use. I've made a light skirmish in South Sahrini between Opfor and Bluefor. You're part of the recon group that comes in to deal with the separatist forces when a zombie outbreak occurs.

It's great to see choppers flying overhead and peppering ground forces with rocket fire as rooftop emplaced man-portable AA takes them out while sporadic gunfire echoes in the distance. After a few tense minutes of close-quarters engagment with this going on around you, the hellish groaning of the undead fill your ears and negative status reports from your men start rolling in on your comms. "1 is down!" "2 is injured!" "4 needs evac!" Can you get back to the HMMV in time?

http://i36.tinypic.com/2ykxkb7.jpg

[Jon_Danger]

One of my favorite gaming moments of all time was playing the Zombie mod for the original flashpoint game.

So much fun! Someone had created a mission for the game where you had to get from checkpoint A to B to C. It was a really cool mission. You were timed (as the evac helicopter would not wait forever) and the zombies got increasingly larger in number as the mission went on. At first we were running down the road in a diamond formation with someone checking front/back/left/right and we were sure the mod was broken because there were no zombies.

Then, every once in a while someone would call out that they saw a zombie, and we would stop and fire at him. We kept running down the road, and the zombie sightings became more and more numerous.

There were far too many, and we had far too little ammo. We noticed that there was a military base not too far away from the road. We took a detour and headed over there in hopes of finding an ammo cache.

We were in luck! The base was surrounded by fencing with the entrance guarded by a mounted 50 cal (or some sort of machine gun) Someone popped on the gun while the rest of us searched the base.

I went up into one of the larger structures to get a better look. Scouting with my Binoculars I could see some zombies off on the horizon shambling our way. I shouted to my team-mates that they were coming. They had found a cache of ammo for our near depleted rifles and an old transport vehicle.

Bbbbrraatttt!!! The 50 cal rang out, and we knew the zombies were close. One of my squadmates hopped in the driver's seat and positioned the truck ready to bust out the door. "Hop in!" he yelled. We all made our way down to the car, but while doing so I accidentally slipped off the stairs and fell 20 feet to the cold concrete below.

My legs were shattered. I began the slow army crawl towards the truck. I yelled out that I had broken my legs, and the truck began to back up towards me. I was able to hop in, but the few precious seconds we wasted to get me in the truck had given the hordes the time to catch up to us.

The man on the 50 cal was overwhelmed, and as he ran back towards us he was overtaken by a couple of fast moving zombies. Apparently they had made it in the back way somehow....

We should have checked the perimeter... this oversight cost a man his life, and my poor footing didn't help either. Without a moment to ponder the death of our beloved comrade we gunned the engine and screamed out the gate. Lee looked over to me and said... oh shit..

This truck is almost out of gas.

I pulled out the map and frantically looked for a gas station. We were in luck, because there was one on the road ahead. We made our way to the gas station seeing zombies every couple of minutes running behind our truck. Lee quickly pulled into the gas station, and we began re-fueling. I hopped out the back and kept an eye out for zombies. Things were quiet... too quiet.

Suddenly Bob cried out that there were some up ahead. The pump was feeding us gasoline at an agonizingly slow rate. I hobbled my way to the front of the truck and began picking off zombies... there were far too many. After a while, I decided to turn around to check our rear.

You know what they say.... "Ignorance is bliss" I wish I hadn't seen what I did, hundreds of zombies behind us, closing fast. It was the horde that had accosted us at the army depot. I shouted to my team-mates that we had some company, and we all decided that we would have enough gas to make it the rest of the way. Everyone hopped in the truck and we were on our way.

Laughing about our escape, someone asked Will a question.

Wait... where was Will? He had missed the train out of zombieville. (I think he was AFK for the refueling and we forgot to wait for him) Silence held group hostage as thoughts of our courageous comrade danced in our heads. He would never get back to his wife and baby girl.

Damn these zombies. Damn them all.

After a short trip through the countryside and the circumnavigation of a surely zombie infested town, we were headed to the extraction point with mere minutes remaining.

"Something is wrong" commented Lee... "We are out of gas" We are going to have to leg it.

This is something I could not do, but seeing as we had gotten away from the large horde of zombies, we all began moving to the extraction point at a slowed pace. Things were going well, and the helicopter pad was in sight.... as were a crowd of zombies heading down the road. Firing wildly into the group, several dropped. This caused the remaining live zombies to charge us. The helicopter would be landing soon, so we decided to go for broke and rush the compound. Unable to run, I continued to hobble as my comrades sprinted to the gates.

I took out some of the zombies heading towards my team-mates, but the rest of the horde overwhelmed me. I could still be heard shouting and firing my rifle even as the zombies were eating me alive.

Game over.

(My team-mates did get to the chopper and got airlifted out fine)

Such an awesome LAN party that was.

Anyone want to play some Arma zombie mod this weekend? I would totally be up for it.

[datter]

Holy. I hate zombies and this mod sounds awesome.

[Calistas]

Thought I'd bump this rather than mess up the ArmA2 thread. Did any of the mod makers ever make a more complete Zombie mod? The CZM looked fairly rough and ready.. though I'm no expert on how complete/complex ArmA mods tend to be.

[Calistas]

Oh, it's worth saying that I was going to post about this to the Arma-RPG forums, but they get twitchy when people talk about zombie mods; "Go play Resident Evil lol".

[Naeblis]

I searched "zombie" in armholic and lots of results came off. Some interesting ones:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=3330
http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=5523
http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=1628
http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=2833

[Calistas]

^ Yeah, I'd seen those. It goes to show there really isn't any comprehensive mod with chunky gameplay, missions, etc. Maybe something should be done about that by some folks with some skillz and .. stuff.

[Naeblis]

I would like a multiplyer game mode more focused in infantry pvp, instead of Coop. I am sick of coop, i want to play against smart humans. But not TDM or CTF, i would like a attack / defend mode where one team has to conquest a zone and the other has to defend it. The game would be played in "last stand", without respawns, until one team is totally dead, the attacker team get the objective or the time of the round runs out. One important point would be the starting point, it would be randomized (still inside of certain paramaters, like distance between teams).
Basically, i just described one of my favorite multiplayer experiences, the DTAS mode in Infiltration 2.9, an old mod for UT, pioneer in the "realistic fps" subgenre.

Perhaps instead of speaking so much i should learn scripting and make it for myself. :P