Oceanic Wolf Pack, Group, Graphics and More!

So, what is 'Oceanic Wolf Pack'?

In short... OWP is a PC gaming group/community.

To further explain... It was a general conversation between online gaming friends on multiple occasions that sparked the interest in forming our own group, we threw around ideas and did some brain-storming about wanting something better, more inviting, friendly and mature for our online gaming (mainly Milsim within the game Arma 3).

An then on February 29th 2020, 'Oceanic Wolf Pack' was officially established!

'Oceanic Wolf Pack' (Strength Logo)

I (soulkobk) behind-the-scenes, came up with the group name, and designed our logo without anyone else's knowledge... I thought, why not just create it and see where it takes us. With one of the founders nicknames being 'Wolvren' who was to lead the group and be a front man (wolf), I thought it was rather fitting to name the group 'Wolf Pack', 'Oceanic Wolf Pack' to be exact. The main logo was designed in a way that if we ever expanded the group to other locations of the world, we could do so with ease. Most of us reside in Oceania, but also have regular players from outside of this area.

We created our presence on Discord, set up the channels, roles, etc and had more discussions about the group and the direction we wanted to take it. Quite a few online friends that we played in-game with regularly also wanted to join after hearing about what we were doing, so they were invited in.

Not long after that, came our dedicated server... starting off as a spare PC one of the founders had (gavwiki), myself and gavwiki got together to set it up as dedicated server for the group to use to host gaming servers, and other services that we required. Once the server was set up ready to host, I got to creating/scripting all the files to automate the process of installing, updating, upgrading, launching, scheduling, etc... after some trial and error, we now have a 95% automated dedicated server. After a few months, the dedicated server was given a fairly hefty upgrade.

The services we currently run on the dedicated server are (may expand in the future)...

• Arma 3 Server, KP Liberation (OWP Edit)
  
• Arma 3 Server, OWP Training (Custom Training Ground For OWP)
• Arma 3 Server, Antistasi (OWP Edit)
• Arma 3 Server, Alive
• Arma 3 Server, OWP Special Operations
• Assetto Corsa, Nordschleife - Tourist (Car-Variety)
• Assetto Corsa, Bathurst (V8Supercars)
• Assetto Corsa, Silverstone (GT4)
• TeamSpeak3, Oceanic Wolf Pack TS3
  

All these services run 95% automated, from game updates, to mod updates, to server restarts. We do have to intervene when required due to 'Two Factor Authentication', but it's convenient enough in order to have that extra layer of security for the server and the group. Server O/S updates are also 100% automated and don't require any intervention.

The group is nearly 6 months old already... and has expanded quite a lot in the short time 'OWP' has been established. From word of mouth, to our servers showing up in the game server lists or other friends seeing or asking what servers they were playing on... many have joined us. In that time, we have played casually on our gaming servers and also ran special operations (within Arma 3) to which many have joined or wanted to be a part of.

We have expanded from the original 3 Founders (myself, gavwiki and Wolvren), and a few online gaming friends, to what we have today, which is 5 moderators and 30+ OWP Unit (Arma 3/Milsim) members.

We have also recently expanded in to 'Racing Simulation' on 'Assetto Corsa', which is extremely enjoyable to race around in cars and on tracks from over the world. From casual practicing, to qualifying and grid racing... it's been enjoyable thus far.

From humble beginning, to officially forming the group, to seeing what would follow... we have had nothing but support and great interest in the group from the Oceanic region... but also players from outside of this area, which has been a pleasant surprise. We have worked together using our different skill-sets in making the group run as smooth as possible (with some hiccups along the way), but for the most part, players seem to enjoy themselves.

Oceanic Wolf Pack WWW Page

We have also now created a online web presence (with big thanks to gavwiki), a creation from a collaboration between myself and gavwiki. It was initially created from a basic html/css template, and has expanded in to just-about custom everything. You can check it out at http://www.oceanicwolfpack.com, navigate via the top right menu (still a work-in-progress).

And on another note... Here is the 'Oceanic Wolf Pack' Unit logo (Milsim/Arma 3)...

'Oceanic Wolf Pack' (Milsim Division)

  And here is the 'Oceanic Wolf Pack' Racing Simulation logo (Motorsport Division)...

'Oceanic Wolf Pack' (Motorsport Division)

And you can check out a heap more OWP themed graphic here!

I'm sure 'OWP' will continue to gain interest, and also gain affiliates (there has already been interest), so let's see where this new journey takes us. It's a lot of work, but it's enjoyable, and I/we have already met a lot of new players with the same interests and expectations in mind.

And as our group slogan says...

OCEANICWOLFPACK

FOR THE STRENGTH OF THE
PACK IS THE WOLF...

AND THE STRENGTH OF THE
WOLF IS THE PACK.

 

Want to get involved in 'OWP' aka 'Oceanic Wolf Pack'?, start by joining our discord at http://discord.oceanicwolfpack.com. We have most of our information, scheduling, tutorials, etc on Discord, which will explain how to get yourself involved.

OWP DISCORD

P.S. If you join, have a read of the 'Code-Of-Conduct' to make sure you understand what we expect from our visitors (and members)... Thanks.

Until next time...

-soulkobk.

 

 

 

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My One And Only Post For 2019!

Hey all... So I haven't posted to my blog since 2018.

Why? I have been rather busy dealing with life, and kinda/sorta lost interest in keeping this blog updated with my goings-on.

From major life changes regarding family life and giving support where it was needed, to working as an on-site IT Support Engineer for two of Australia's largest ICT firms (contracted to different companies), and also stepping in as a Manager for a retail business and getting that business back-on-track (and succeeding) due to previous mismanagement, as well as doing freelance graphic design for a signage/print company part time... and throw in custom web design too (html and css with graphics)... and yup things were (still are) a little busy for me.

I am still around on the interwebs (mainly discord when online), and on my down-time still game, play Arma 3 MilSim on a weekly basis (try to) with two different groups... and for the most part am really enjoying it. Good team mates really make a difference with MilSim special operations.

I still script/code in Arma 3 too, and have pushed some of my new scripts/code to my github as well as a custom MilSim mission I created on the map of Takistan (Operation Enduring Freedom). I have only played it once with a group, and it took us 3 hours to complete... and every aspect of the mission was successfully completed (to my surprise). I have since created another MilSim mission on the map of Livonia (Operation Deception Rescue) and have played it once with a group. It flowed well but were a few glitches at the time (they are all now fixed), although I have since tweaked the mission with more elements and aspects for better game play. I will upload this to my github at some stage also (soon).

I also help out the groups I am associated with with script/code for Arma 3, as well as support others where I can. I still like to script/code Arma 3... I greatly enjoy all aspects of the game whether I am playing casually (I&A), or in a MilSim mission, or creating/scripting/coding... for me, it's still enjoyable (and addictive).

Outside of my family, work, online life... I try to get out and about as much as I can (provided my on-going health issues are minimal... it's very hard to deal with at times).

I own a high performance vehicle (Japanese) and go to car meets/cruises with the club(s) I associate with, I still own a high performance motorcycle (Japanese)... but will probably sell that soon due to my health issues, and My V8 ski boat needs to get back on the water for some well needed fun... being out on the water on warm/hot days is refreshing (fresh water, not sea water).

Soon I may be (probably will be) delving in to a proper server rack (networking) system/solution for my home, as I intend to run multiple servers for storage, hosting (and private game hosting), proper centralized networking with all the bells and whistles (switches, patches, firewall, etc etc)... which will also help me learn and develop more hands-on skills (both hardware and software) which will also help me progress with my ICT employer(s) and career as I will be able to deploy virtual servers, then load and learn the required software (both linux and windows environments) and security practices.

I think this post has been the most personal yet... but I am a rather private person, so don't expect much more :P

None the less, if you read all of this post, hello, and thanks... and see you around in 2020.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year... make 2020 a great year, and make it the start of great decade!

Goodbye 2019, Hello 2020.

Until next time...

-soul.

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Arma 3, Loot Spawn System (Building Position Manual)

After many requests over the years, and another one most recently, I have now decided to release my loot spawner for Arma 3. The code is old as it was coded back in 2015 whilst I was learning how to code for Arma 3, but it still functions as intended.

With releasing my loot spawner to the public, I am also releasing the loot 'building position manual' portion... what is BPM you ask? Let me explain...

My BPM (building position manual) functions/mission lets you place building positions manually for any building, so if a building model has none or very few building positions you are able to add them manually with ease.

In order to gather the building positions from a building model, walk up to a building and press 'G'. If the building has no manually placed positions, and you want to add some, walk exactly where you want one, and press 'F' to add it (a yellow arrow will appear). Repeat this wherever you would like an extra position, once happy with it, paste the clipboard contents in to the buildingPosManual.sqf config file, save the file, then re-press 'G' within Arma 3 EDEN, and it will show you that there is an existing config entry for that building, it will remark all the yellow arrows with red, and then mark all the same type of buildings on the map with green markers (so you don't go to the same one twice).

vanilla (green) and manual placed (yellow) building positions

config entry saved, vanilla (green) and manual placed (red)

all the same building models marked as green (has config entry already)

Want to also do building positions for 'ruins'? You can do that also... walk up to a building, press 'T' to destroy it, press 'G' to gather the building positions... if there is no config entry for manually placed positions, add them with 'F', paste the clipboard contents in to the config file (buildingPosManual.sqf), save, press 'G' again in Arma 3 EDEN... and repeat the process for another building.

gathering building positions of a building ruins (vanilla positions shown as green arrows)

after adding in manually placed positions (manual positions shown as yellow arrows)

after pasting and saving the config entry (buildingPosManual.sqf) and re-pressing 'G'

I have created this to make it MUCH easier to add in manual building positions to just-about-any building within Arma 3.

A config entry looks like...

_buildingPos_Land_Shop_02_V1_ruins_F = [[4.03613,-2.86426,-0.550273],[5.79248,-0.078125,-0.517672],[0.841797,4.18164,1.41129],[-3.61621,4.36719,3.29467],[-1.95508,4.28516,3.29019],[0.131836,2.4707,3.29724],[-1.25391,1.12305,3.29914],[-3.521,1.20898,3.29933],[-5.19238,0.385742,3.29933],[-5.28711,1.77637,3.29933],[-5.55273,-2.78809,-0.733989],[-3.47412,0.875977,-0.55027],[-3.44727,3.69922,-0.55027],[-1.07324,4.38965,-0.550275],[5.2793,4.00195,-0.0608864],[-0.0263672,-2.97363,-0.55028]];

So where can you use all these manually placed building positions via the config file? Well, included with the 'lootSpawnerBPM' files are the actual loot spawner script/function/code that I created back in 2015.

Once you have your configuration file exactly how you want it, you can then spawn the loot... and this is how to do so...

First up, locate and open the lootSpawnerConfig.sqf and configure it how you would like the loot spawner to behave. Once complete and saved, go back in to Arma 3 EDEN whilst in-game (SP or MP), open the debug console and paste in...

[position player,250] execVM "lootSpawner\lootSpawner.sqf";

...then execute the code.

This will make the loot spawner spawn loot around the position of the player at a radius of up to 250 meters (500 meter diameter). It will/can damage buildings, open doors on buildings (config entries), find ALL building positions (vanilla AND what is contained within the 'buildingPosManual.sqf' config file)... then calculate and spawn random loot at these positions.

This lootSpawnerBPM loot spawn code can be adapted for use in any mission you choose. Update the config entries for manual building positions, update the lootSpawnerConfig.sqf, place the directory structure within your own mission, and execute the script as you need. The scripts are very plug, execute and play... it's just up to you how you want them to function.

I hope I have explained well enough what the loot spawner BPM is about and how to use it, along with the actual loot spawner. Download it and check it out for yourself.

Where to get this code? You can check it out and download it on my github 

DISCLAIMER... This 'lootSpawnerBPM' code release will have very little to no support from me... so if you intend on using it and don't know a lot about Arma 3 scripting/coding/functioning, or how to place/configure/execute this code within your own mission... then I suggest you learn.

Until next time...

-soul.

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Arma 3 - RELOADED (An Invade & Annex PvE Clone)

Yup, that's right an 'Invade & Annex' clone (of sorts), but RELOADED!

Since June 2017 I have been creating my own version/take on the PvE Arma 3 mission which is similar to the basic I&A that is known in and around Arma 3.

Why? Well... after getting back in to Arma 3 earlier this year after a short break, I and a few friends started playing I&A... it was ok to begin with, but grew boring as it was the same thing over and over and over again, but at different locations on the map (of Tanoa).

The 'Area Of Operations' gets chosen, a 'HQ' task is spawned, a 'radio-tower' task is spawned, and a 'take over' task is spawned. Needless to say, I rather enjoyed the PvE aspect and the teamwork that others provided... but that's as far as it went. The game play was boring/mediocre at best... as we had to literally hunt down AI to kill, and some times didn't encounter any for twenty minutes or more.

After being frustrated with the I&A server(s) that I and friends played on, I thought 'how hard would it be to make my own... dynamic version', so I got to it. I planned out roughly how I wanted it all to piece together and have it be as dynamic as possible. Without knowing if I was actually capable of creating what I had in my mind, I proceeded anyway and jumped in the deep end (so-to-speak).

What makes my version different to the original I&A? Pretty much everything within the back-end.

The mission principals are very similar to I&A in what you are to achieve for each AO (attack and hold the Contingency Operating Base, secure sub tasks successfully, secure simple tasks successfully and such). Each sub task completed successfully will increase the capture progress meter as well as increase an AO multiplier. If tasks are failed, the progress meter and AO multiplier works in reverse. The AO multiplier is a per-unit/per-vehicle weight which either speeds up or slows down overall AO progress.

NATO base at Tanoa Air Field

The NATO base is at Tanoa Air Field (where players will respawn upon death), which hosts the player arsenal for custom loadouts, as well as NATO helicopters/planes, land/water vehicles and UAV/UGV. Each player slot is role specific, so players can group up (default U key) and attack the AO any way they choose. There are also specific helicopter and jet pilot roles for the transportation of units and objects, as well as armed air support.

I have designed and coded it all from scratch... by myself. I have coded, tested, fixed bugs, tested, played, etc, etc over and over since June 2017. I have since then got a few friends involved to help me test, as well as doing a small wave of invites over Discord... and even at a pre-alpha stage it was more enjoyable (their words) than what already exists within the Arma 3 I&A realms. I have tried to code in a very dynamic way, so that each and every AO is different (which it is).

Each AO position is randomly chosen on the map (no AO will spawn in the same or close position twice), and then a sub position from that is the final starting center point of the AO. It then randomly chooses what diameter the AO will be, along with the randomly chosen number of tasks (main/sub/simple) that will be within the AO. It then scans the AO terrain for bridges/forest/land/paths/railway/road/runway/shorelines/water and compiles positions based off of specific criteria within the configuration files (maximum land grade, min/max depth of water, etc). It then randomly chooses a position from those compiled terrain positions then randomly chooses a task to propagate for the terrain structure (water/land/forest/road/etc), it then randomly chooses a base composition to spawn for the given task, all whilst the positional scripts error check that tasks are not on top of each other. (I hope I explained that proper).

This method and structure of how each AO is presented and put together is extremely random and is unpredictable to what each AO will consist of each time... aka dynamic.

All the patrolling AI that spawn within the AO are created unequal, as each one will have their own skill levels, so it matches more to a PvP environment skill-set (as every player has their own skill-set), yet they are AI. I find this method more diverse than to set all AI at the exact same skill levels. The AI use a custom patrol script (third party, modified) which makes them act and react as any player would, eg use cover before shooting, move from cover to cover, peek around corners, give intel on other close by AI to your exact location, flank you when you least expect it, and call in heavy land/air vehicles for armored backup, if you (try to) run and hide, they WILL hunt you down!

This game mode I am creating is not suppose to be easy (which it certainly is not) as the amount of immersion makes you concentrate on your surroundings, and with the AI being more skilled (in balance to human players) it leads to more/proper teamwork within the NATO side (you'll have a hard time going solo!).

AI being redeployed by landed helicopter

The AI spawn and respawn systems are all custom and dynamically coded also, which has an effect on immersion. AI are re-delivered to the AO (and tasks) on foot (ground troop) by helicopter (paradrop/landing), by truck (chauffeured), by quad bike (self driven), by unarmed vehicles (self driven)... so there is always something to be aware of within the AO, as you (and your team) move around you will hear vehicles driving past, helicopters fly over, see paratroop jump out of said helicopters, hear distant explosions (self clean up of abandoned vehicles) as well as the shots and snaps of bullets as the AI hunt you down to attack and also defend their tasks. There are also enemy patrol vehicles that roam around the AO, from armed off-roads to quilins to tanks... their redeployment is all chosen and spawned in randomly, as well as the patrolling helicopters and armed jets that give intel on spotted enemy... so best keep out-of-sight when you hear them above.

The amount of tasks within the AO are also chosen randomly (fitting within the AO diameter) and each one will be different and have a different task roles applied. One task could be a 'secure' mission one AO, and then a 'destroy' mission the next. The task roles can be easily expanded upon, so any role can be created and inserted to the mission with ease... which may spark interest for mission builders to code their own task roles. At current (November 2017) the task roles that are functional are secure, destroy, repair and steal.

Simple Task Base Composition (destroy communication tower)

The base compositions that are used for tasks are all custom made either by myself or community contributors that were excited to help out with the mission creation (which has been greatly appreciated). The system to incorporate new base compositions in to the mission for use with tasks is extremely easy to achieve. Base compositions are created within the Arma 3 3DEN Editor on the VR environment map with [0,0,0] as the center point. A custom export script (included with the mission) is used to export to a script, which is then saved within the mission file structure in the corresponding base directory (land/water/road/etc), then the task configuration files are either added to or adjusted to allow the new base composition to spawn in (if randomly chosen).

It's really as simple as that... I created this mission with the intentions of having it easily expandable by literally anyone that chooses to (and yes I plan to release this mission to the public to host on their own servers).

The 'RELOADED' mission has come along extremely well, the systems that are in place for mission structure and (re)playability, spawning, de-spawning of AI and objects, timing and schedules, etc have all been quite the challenge to plan and actually code, but I am quite proud of what I have accomplished to this point (and also surprised that I was capable of actually doing it). I and fellow testers have had much fun playing and testing the mission, even at this early alpha stage.

We currently have a playable server on the West Coast of the USA which hosts the development 'RELOADED' mission. The current mission is still in 'alpha' stage (as of November 2017)... although it is 100% playable and re-playable currently. There are minimal bugs (and newly found bugs are always fixed promptly), but the main progress timing loop has not been coded as of yet so each AO is manually triggered and spawned via a laptop at the NATO base. Debug mode is also turned on so there is a LOT of system chat spam for system functioning and information as well as map marker spam whilst the AO spawn does all its calculations (visual terrain debug information).

Does this mission spark your interest and...

Are you interested in helping out (code/create)?

Would you like to alpha test (play/test/give feedback and suggestions)?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you are welcome to join our Discord community (blackSheep) at -> https://discord.gg/sEPK9Ta and have a read of the #details, #rules and other informative channels for the mission (as well as the blackSheep #about and #codeofconduct channels).

Here are some screen shots of in-game play (whilst in spectator mode)...

Click here for more screen shots!

I hope I've explained the mission I am/have created properly in this post... think Arma 3 I&A, but redone, more random, more dynamic, more immersive, more teamwork oriented and more enjoyable for all. It's not the same thing, different location over and over and over like the vanilla I&A (and most I&A servers around), it's how I envisioned and wanted I&A to be... but RELOADED, so I created (am still creating) what I have.

It's really hard to explain everything, to give users the big-picture on what this mission is... but in order to really know what the mission is about... is to actually play it.

TL:DR, I created an 'Invade & Annex' style mission (clone) within Arma 3 from scratch, which is a LOT more diverse/random/immersive/enjoyable/replayable/expandable. Want to know more? Join our Discord server and have a read about the mission, chat to others and actually play/test the mission yourself. -> https://discord.gg/sEPK9Ta

Got questions about it? Feel free to hit me up on Discord (the link is in this post).

I also posted about the mission over on the BI Studio forum which you can find here -> https://forums.bistudio.com/forums/topic/211716-wip-reloaded-an-ia-pve-clone/

-soul.

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Arma 3, 3DEN - Stratis Enhanced (Custom Compositions)

A while back I created a lot of building structures (compositions) within the Arma 3 map of 'Stratis' in order to 'enhance' the play-ability, so that there are more points of interest within game modes and missions.

After originally giving the building structures (towns/bases/etc) to a select few within the Arma realms, I have now decided to release them to the public (development scene) so that they can be used by anyone.

---

You can find the file(s) required to import the

Stratis Enhanced (Custom Compositions)

in to your own mission file here.

Please read the 'stratisEnhanced.txt' file for full instructions

on how to import any or all of them.

---

Below are some screen shots of what I have created within the Arma 3 'Stratis' map environment...

... each one of these compositions took a fair amount of planning and construction in order to achieve a 'Stratis' vanilla look and feel (as if they were created by BIS themselves). I hope many will find them of use within their own missions/creations.

If you find them of use... I'd be interested to check out what missions/modes they are used in... so send me a msg. :)

Until next time...

-soul.

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Arma 3 - Battle Royale CQC... And A Merry Christmas And Happy New Year!

Although I have not been overly active in posting blog updates, since my last blog post, I have still been doing my ArmA 3 scripting (mainly for A3Wasteland which you can find over on my GitHub account) and some graphic design (behind the scenes).

I have also ventured back to my ArmA 3 Last-Man-Standing 'roots'... sorta. What I mean is... last year in November/December 2015 I was a total newbie at ArmA 3 coding/scripting... and whilst the 'fall-out' with those over at 'Battle Royale', I managed to download the 'Battle Royale - Ghost Hotel' mission files, and have a nosey/dabble inside the code. After messing around with the code, changing it around, 'fixing' things, etc... I sort-of left it as-was back then and didn't touch it again until now (a year later).

What I have basically done is 'fixed', as well as enhanced the 'Battle Royale - Ghost Hotel' mission. I created multiple locations on the map of  Altis, so that every round was no longer at 'Ghost Hotel'. I totally re wrote the timing routine for the circle zones for proper structure and notifications. I totally re did the loot spawn system, so that it is less glitchy and quicker at dispersing loot each round. The loot table was also updated to use 'Vanilla' and the 'APEX' ArmA 3 assets.

All-in-all, my 'Battle Royale - Ghost Hotel' modification to 'Battle Royale - CQC' (Close Quarters Combat) was just for learning purposes on my part, as I was a total newbie at the time. The basic *BRGH code is very hit-n-miss (clunky)... so yeh... I did change a fair bit of it for use with **BRCQC.

 

Some screen shots of in-game **BRCQC below.

There is an "ArmA 3 **BRCQC" server online at the moment (I'm still ironing out bugs, but for the most part, it works great), so if you would like to test it out, search for "Battle Royale CQC" on the mission section or via game mode "Last Man Standing", and it should pop up, be sure to join with NO mods loaded... vanilla only! The rounds consist of 2 minutes of initial 'loot time', until the zoning starts and will consist of 6 zone shifts/shrinks every 4 minutes. Each round can last a minimum of 2 minutes and a maximum of 26 minutes, but players are free to join and wait in the spawn area whilst a round is currently in progress.

I have done a lot of enhancements/changes to the mission for use with **BRCQC. Give me feedback if you so please, report bugs, issues, whatever.

Again, this mission was/is for learning purposes for myself... it's similar (has the base structure of *BRGH, all credits to Lystic) to *BRGH, but now every round is a different location with different loot! Great learning for when my own 100% self-coded Last-Man-Standing mod comes to fruition.

*BRGH = Battle Royale - Ghost Hotel.

**BRCQC = Battle Royale - CQC (Close Quarters Combat).

Also, as it's getting real close to Christmas and 2017 isn't that far off either. I thought I would also say...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2017

Until next time...

-soul.

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