Absolute Zero, by Welshmanizer.

Download Absolute Zero (8,528 KB)

(Updated May 21, 2003)

Mission maker Welshmanizer has slapped together an intensive, mainly infantry based, mission around the town of Vidlakov on Nogova's southern coast. I just can't beat this mission but I'm not going to give up.

It's the Russians against NATO, in typical OFP style. The Russians have barged into Vidlakov, mowing down everyone in their path. The locals didn't stand a chance. As a NATO squad commander, you'll be flown in from NATO's airbase on Nogova and will be para-dropped northwest of the town.

You'll have lots of help, including the ability to call in a grenade bombardment and some light armor support to soften things up for you before you take the plunge. Even if you succeed in clearing Vidlakov, be prepared for the Russians on the rebound.

The mission comes with a great intro and plenty of Welshmanizer's home-brewed music (hence the download file's large size). During the intro cutscene, you'll also be given a dynamic presentation of the battle plan on  OFP's mission map. The last time I saw this was in Dinger's Vietnam mission, Short Straight. I hope to see mission makers employing these techniques more often.

One strong word of advise. While you're in the mission briefing book, before starting the mission, click on the GEAR tab and give yourself and your squadmates a better weapons inventory. It'll be more fun that way.

There are other scripted goodies in this mission. Even dying is a treat - well - sort of.

All you need to play are OFP version 1.85 or greater and Kegetys' Editor Addon. An above average PC configuration is recommended to handle the amount of units incorporated in the mission. Read the README. Special features and hints worth knowing are described therein.

UPDATE: 2003/05/21 - Absolute Zero's mission maker, Welshmanizer, passed along to me the following information, detailing the background of work that went into developing the mission. It makes for quite an interesting read.

Thanks for choosing Absolute Zero as the Mission Of The Moment. Got some info for you on the mission.

I started making Absolute Zero in August 2002 - after playing OFP: Resistance and all its new content. The mission was finished no more than a couple of months later and I spent the subsequent months testing, and adding 'extras'. I also added new weapons and made use of the new commands when OFPR v1.85 was released. For example, the Event Handler function was useful (If one of your team mates rocket the first BMP, you'll see how I've used it). I wanted to try and incorporate everything OFP had to offer into my mission - from the Map Animation to the custom Fire Particles. I wanted to do this to basically show off both OFP and my mission skills as I am not planning to make any more OFP missions (until OFP2, of course). I also wanted to make a piece of entertainment - something to leave you feeling that the 30 minutes of playing was worth it - rather than just a mission. This is why I've used lots of custom music and voices and an amusing outro video. I also wanted to make it quite hard, so experienced players can get their teeth into it, but not annoying when you keep getting killed.

Anyway, as this mission had been tested and tweaked for months, the final edit was the beginning of December 2002 - hence the date of the PBO. Although I continued to test the mission until whenever I uploaded it (January 2003, I think), no more modifications were needed.

Finally, for your amusement, a quick list of the annoying problems I encountered while making Absolute Zero:

The best part of the whole thing was recording the voice-overs - see the outro if you don't know what I mean.

Regards,

Welshmanizer

My only hope is that Welshmanizer regrets his abstention and keeps on making missions right here and now.