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Testing your coop mission Alpha testing - testing it yourself God Mode Debug statements Debug switches Move the starting spawn point Beta testing - testing with others Known Issues With Dedicated Servers

 

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Testing your coop mission

Alpha testing - testing it yourself

God Mode

To make it easier to test your maps, I suggest that you acrtivate God mode (you take no damage). To activate God mode, download this file (u_multiplayer.xml) and put it into C:\Program Files\UBISOFT\Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2\Local\English\units\beings (you may need to create the folders, \units\beings).

 

Be sure to remove/rename the file when you are playing with others and when you want to test the map as a "normal" player or you'll be rather unpopular!

 

It should look like this...

 

Debug statements

Put loads (and I mean loads) of ShowMessage statements in there.  You can use the following code to display a message in the console at the top of the game screen.  Very handy.

<element type = "ShowMessage" msg = "Activating patrol01"/>

 

Be sure to remove these debug statements before you release your mission to the public.

 

Debug switches

The below "switches" can be found in sb_templates\global\the sb_global.xml (inside the patch.bundle)

 

These can be activated in your mission.xml through the "SetGlobal" command to aid with debugging missions in GRAW2.

For example, the following two commands will activate "debug_qa" mode (super fast movement and unlimited ammo) and cause all locations on the map to show inside the game (very handy for seeing when things should trigger! The locations even appear to change to red when they are activated.

<element type = "SetGlobal" global= "debug_qa_mode" value = "true"/>         <element type = "SetGlobal" global= "show_locations" value = "true"/>

 

If you discover what more of the switches do, then please update the wiki below with a description of the switch's function.

        <!-- QA DEBUG STUF -->

        <var name="debug_qa_mode" type="boolean" default="false"/>         <!--Enables the debug_qa_move_speed and unlimited ammo-->

        <var name="debug_qa_move_speed" type="number" default="5"/>      

        <var name="show_collision_shape" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_moving" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_bodies" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_phantoms" type="boolean" default="false"/>

       <var name="show_cloths" type="boolean" default="false"/>

       <var name="show_fluids" type="boolean" default="false"/>

       <var name="show_fx" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_camera" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_camera_controller" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_water" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_collision_mover" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_unit_rotpos" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_world_listener" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_ai_steering" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_point_detector" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_sound" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_lights" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_links" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_ambient_cube_blend" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_bones" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_find" type="boolean" default="false" />

        <var name="show_raycast" type="boolean" default="false" />

        <var name="show_ballistics" type="boolean" default="false" />

        <var name="show_hud_windows" type="boolean" default="false" />

        <var name="post_processor" type="boolean" default="true" />

        <var name="show_hud" type="boolean" default="true" />    

        <var name="show_mini_physics" type="boolean" default="false" />

        <var name="show_occluders" type="boolean" default="false" />

        <var name="show_vehicles" type="boolean" default="false" />

        <var name="show_nps" type="boolean" default="false" />

        <var name="show_cps" type="boolean" default="false" />

        <var name="show_cps_radius" type="number" default="5000" />

        <var name="gui_atombatcher" type="boolean" default="true" />

        <var name="show_mp_zones" type="boolean" default="false" />

        <var name="show_model_locks" type="string" default=""/>

        <var name="show_effect_surface_volume" type="boolean" default="false"/>        

        <var name="show_stress_level" type="boolean" default="false"/>        

        <var name="show_locations" type="boolean" default="false"/>   <!--Shows locations on the map -->

        <var name="show_location" type="string" default=""/>

        <var name="show_detection" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_culling_volumes" type="boolean" default="false" />        

        <var name="show_beam" type="boolean" default="false"/>

        <var name="show_decals" type="boolean" default="false"/>

 

Move the starting spawn point

I often change the spawn point so that I do not need to run around the map from the "normal" spawn point.  You can do this by creating anothert location in the map editor where you want to spawn, say "loc_hill" and having the following code in your mission.xml. The first line of the code cancels the default spawn point of "coop_spawn" (if you are using multiple spawn points, you need to cancel the old ones before you can set a new one.

The second line sets the new spawn point as "loc_hill" (you can use whatever location you like).

You can then comment this code out when you want to spawn at the normal coop_spawn point, and uncomment it when you want to spawn at loc_hill.

<element type = "SetSpawnLocation" location = "coop_spawn" side = "1" set = "false"/>         <element type = "SetSpawnLocation" location = "loc_hill" side = "1" set = "true"/>

If you have a second PC, I strongly suggest you test your mission on this running a dedicated GRAW 2 server.

<insert Instructions for how to set up a dedicated graw2 server>

 

Beta testing - testing with others

Do not release a map "into the wild" (ie. for general use by others) until it has been beta tested by a select group.  I suggest you allow 1-2 weeks for this phase of testing.  Yes, it can be tough to wait, but it's much better to wait a week and release a quality item, than release earlt, and untested an then spend weeks trying to undo all the problems !!!

 

When you do create a mission for "closed" beta, make sure that you update the mission name in the world_info.xml with the beta version numbers (i use something like ...._v2.1 and ...._v2.2 etc.) so the guys who are testing know what beta version they are using. The game checks this name and will not allow a v2.1 to be played with a v2.2, but if you do not change the name, you can get all sorts of issues with people playing diff. versions and no one knowing!

ie... world_info.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <world_info name="urban_conflict_dav_v2.1" mission_time="day">

 

Bundle your new mission and have a select group of knowledgable players test it.  If you do not know any, then post a request on ghostrecon.net for beta testers,

Make sure it is tested as both a LAN game and from a dedicated (web) server as they do expose different behavious in maps.

This group must understand this is a closed beta and not make the map available to others. That means you should not load it to somewhere like filefront unprotected, as others, seeing the map in play on servers will go looking for it and download it! So, I highly recomend you share it from your own, secure file share with access control.  This is possible with filefront, and also from web file shares like smestorage.com.

I suggest you also have a message on the load page graphic (.dds) for the mission that states that it is a beta and not for release.

 

(also, make sure if you are testing with others using the bundle, you also run the bundle and you remove your custom level fro the C:\Program Files\UBISOFT\data folder and are also just running from the bundle in the custom_levels frolder.)

<more to go here>

 

Known Issues With Dedicated Servers

There are several issues that occur when playing on dedicated Web or LAN servers that may or may not occur during single player operations.  Try to avoid these developmental error when designing your mission to reduce server crashes and provide maximum compatibility if you plan to release to the online community.

• MK19 Mounted Grenade Launcher:  As soon as the MK19 tries to shoot, the player and\or server will crash with error "cant find member: enable_animations in type <Mounted GrenadeWeapon>"
• Resupply Mules:  If a player has an RPG Demo Kit and switches to another weapon kit via the resupply mule, most players will receive the "cant find member: setup_grenade_ammo in type" error and will crash the server.
• Ageia Physx Props:  Props and effects that begin with "xag_" can cause system crashes if a player does not have Physx compatible graphics card.  Also noted in the Humans section, stay away from AI Humans that begin with "ag_" as these have additional dynamic qualities used with the Physx cards which can cause additional lag.