Development Blog & Reveals

[Varanon 892]

BIS will give the community the "rights" to polish their ArmA 2 stuff to put it in the game....at least that is how I understand it. Just like what Saul and John Spartan did with their F/A 18.... they took an ArmA 2 plane, polished it up and then added some cool stuff to it. I can see someone immediately jumping on the A-10 and doing the same (even tho it is an old beast....probably be out of service by 2035).

Exactly.. Great news for the community, they can get all the Arma 2 assets and port them over to Arma 3.Will bring in contemporary armies, hopefully also a few modifications to the actual models so that you can use the baked-on uniforms as real equipment items, weapons with thier optics replaced by Amra 3 optics, and all that.

So how does it fit with your quote

Another nice touch is gonna be when BIS ports over all the ArmA 2 stuff. Things are looking up, gentlemen.

Because BIS is just putting their models on some website. The actual work is gain left to the modders.

Of course, you will probably say "Who cares", because you aren't a modder. You just expect others to do the work. And that is, quite frankly, an attitude that urinates me off. A lot of people blame ME of DEMANDING stuff from BIS (who I paid for the work), while at the same time EXPECTIGN the modders to do the work for you (which you haven't paid, actually).

It would help to keep things in perspective.

[rehtus777 10]

Because BIS is just putting their models on some website. The actual work is gain left to the modders.

Of course, you will probably say "Who cares", because you aren't a modder. You just expect others to do the work. And that is, quite frankly, an attitude that urinates me off. A lot of people blame ME of DEMANDING stuff from BIS (who I paid for the work), while at the same time EXPECTIGN the modders to do the work for you (which you haven't paid, actually).

It would help to keep things in perspective.

It seems when I read a lot of your posts, you seem very "cross".....you have somewhat of an attitude. Oh well, it's your life. What I meant by "Who Cares" is the following: Many people have been complaining that BIS is being lazy by not putting enough stuff into their game upon release date. When I pointed out that the modding community also has some wonderful stuff (like the F/A 18), then usually the typical response I get back is, "Why is BIS so lazy that they have to let the community do their work for them." I then say, "Who Cares".... if the modding community is willing to help out, then so be it. Also, someone posted on that F/A 18 thread and asked if there was a "Paypal" account to help them out. Same with kju with AllinArmA....he has a paypal account and asks for donations. Anyway......chill, dude.....life is too short.

[mistyronin 1181]

Hey lads, have you seen Aplion's HAF mod new jets? Screen

Another example of community modders excellence.

[rehtus777 10]

Hey lads, have you seen Aplion's HAF mod new jets? Screen

Another example of community modders excellence.

When is that gonna be released? They look really good.

[mistyronin 1181]

When is that gonna be released? They look really good.

It hasn't been announced yet, we should keep attention to the mod's post .

But its a clear example of great work, and I do think that BI should reward that "high quality" modders somehow. Maybe creating some kind of cheap community DLC with the best community works, which gains could be distributed among the authors.

Besides that, for what I've read some mods are now on standby due the lack of proper tools to work with Physix, so another point that BI should work on.

Edited September 19, 2013 by MistyRonin

[rehtus777 10]

It hasn't been announced yet, we should keep attention to the mod's post .

But its a clear example of great work, and I do think that BI should reward that "high quality" modders somehow. Maybe creating some kind of cheap community DLC with the best community works, which gains could be distributed among the authors.

Besides that, for what I've read some mods are now on standby due the lack of proper tools to work with Physix, so another point that BI should work on.

I'd have no problem with some type of store to buy some of these mod's. I'd pay $4 or $5 for a good mod package......or maybe.....$1.00 per plane or tank or vehicle. I've probably bought about $300 worth of apple apps over the years and none of them come close to the enjoyment I get out of the ArmA series. In order to help the modder's, I'd pay for their work if they charged me for it. It could end up being a great motivator for the modding community to make some really neat stuff (B2 bomber / stealth planes or tankers...etc). Of course, how would you stop the piracy?

[hikarum 1]

I'd have no problem with some type of store to buy some of these mod's. I'd pay $4 or $5 for a good mod package......or maybe.....$1.00 per plane or tank or vehicle.

As someone who helped develop A2:CO missions for my clan (The Art of Warfare), I'd say that this would be nearly impossible to properly implement with any degree of success (Short of forcing any & every mod uploaded to have a "lite" version that gets auto-patched into the game).

Moreover, that business model is counterproductive to the ArmA community as a whole.

I'd much more be for proper "expansions" ala OA, as they are actually less of an issue for us mission makers, as we can get some assurance that all of the clan members have them. (We had enough trouble with free mods that adding in pay ones would make it nearly impossible).

Edited September 19, 2013 by HikaruM
Grammar

[chortles 263]

The eurofighter not a dedicated CAS aircraft but it can certainly do CAS with its huge payload, only disadvantage compared to the A-10 is worse cannon and perhaps less durability/armor.

The M346 is a light attack/trainer jet, it's too similar to the L-159 and shouldn't be the main jet of NATO/CSAT. Then again, there aren't many dedicated CAS jets today, so if BIS insists on a pure CAS jet, the M346 would fit(although outmatched by every multirole fighter in all aspects.)

The interesting thing is that the M-346 was the only jet publicly reported as proposed for the LAAR/LAS contract (the latter being a switch away from "USAF light attack" to "equip the Afghan Air Force"), and all other entries were turboprop. Hell, there's an ongoing "Combat Dragon II" program (a "Limited Objective Experiment" about the effectiveness/utility of a small turboprop for "high end/special aviation") by USSOCOM and USCENTCOM, using of all things a pair of "OV-10G+" Broncos supposedly flown by naval aviators* and being OV-10D+'s that were used by the USMC, the BATF, the Department of State Air Wing, NASA and then the Combat Dragon II program, having been upgraded to the "G+" standard on for the Columbian Air Force.

I also notice that in both SITREP #00021 (where BI's own planned CAS aircraft were announced) and #00026 (where BI stated they were "undergoing texturing and LODing" before handoff to encoding, audio and animation departments) they were not called jets; they're just "the two CAS aircraft" in the latter, and "two Close Air Support fixed-wing beasts, one for both primary factions." Makes me wonder why DnA won't say "jet"... ;)

* And supposedly with WSOs from USMC F/A-18D's for the back-seaters.

[giorgygr 61]

Most people here are ready to pay for any bone thrown to them.(I really think i should have chose different job -as milking money from strangers-..)

For me personally there isn't any 'decent' name i can call the previously BI's DLC's.

IF i had spare money i would more gladly just donate them to BI (to show my endless love) ..than buy 5 units+2 vehicles+ 1 mini-mini map

all above named as "DLC"...as ARMA DLC

Want MY money from DLC's?

Expand the mechanics-community will build Miracles as always!

* my cat also builds assets..

[pathetic_berserker 4]

Just heard, some interesting stuff from Marek and positive to!

And then the key question: where would you like to see the Arma series go in the future?

Before we can write a new chapter in the series, I still see us working for a few years on Arma 3.

Sums up what I love most about BIS.

When I bought BF3 it felt like an expensive distraction. When I bought A3 it felt like an investment.

[Azzur33 1]

When I bought A3 it felt like an investment.

That's the realistic attitude.

Arma 3 is already a good game, and has a lot of entertainment value (I have been having some really good time with CQ battles for the last couple of days), and it certainly isn't going to get worse, just only better when the time passes on.

If someone really wants to disagree, please avoid expressions like "Stop defending", and give some of your own predictions of the future of A3.

[celery 8]

Side note: Also, I hate it when people say, "BIS should have made these planes before release, not some modder from the community." My answer....."Who Cares".

Lots of people care because the way addons have been handled in the game series, it's going to be a major hassle to get people to download an addon and then play missions that use it. If you make a mission with that F-18 and host an online session, nobody's going to join it for obvious reasons.

I personally hate it when people offer addons as panacea for everything lacking in the game. Incidentally, you rarely see the actual content creators of this community advocating such a mindset. How would you feel about it if the community was basically saying "don't worry about the missing planes, missions or campaign, rehtus777 and his friends will make some for free anyway"? It's a wonderful combination of giving BI's commercial game a free pass and taking your hard and free work for granted, isn't it?

Another nice touch is gonna be when BIS ports over all the ArmA 2 stuff. Things are looking up, gentlemen.

No, BI is outsourcing that to us "for free".

Edited September 20, 2013 by Celery

[gossamersolid 155]

"Originally, we had an idea that was similar to Take On Rearmed. Unfortunately, upgrading the Arma 2 massive content library to Arma 3 standards is beyond what we can do in reasonable time. So instead, what we are going to do will be similar to Arma 1: we are going to release the entire Arma 2 library to the community and allow them create any derivative work within Arma 3. More details will be announced very soon." - Marek Spanel

BIS will give the community the "rights" to polish their ArmA 2 stuff to put it in the game....at least that is how I understand it. Just like what Saul and John Spartan did with their F/A 18.... they took an ArmA 2 plane, polished it up and then added some cool stuff to it. I can see someone immediately jumping on the A-10 and doing the same (even tho it is an old beast....probably be out of service by 2035).

That's not BIS porting anything over. That's community members porting stuff over, huge difference.

[enex 11]

No, BI is outsourcing that to us "for free".

Note that on the other hand they don't have to make Mlod available.They are doing this because of us.

I mean it depends from standpoint: bitter person would say "they are making us work for free"

while someone else would say "thanks BI in a first place to release it at all"

Which one of those two is self entitled?Remember no one is making you work "for free".

[rehtus777 10]

Lots of people care because the way addons have been handled in the game series, it's going to be a major hassle to get people to download an addon and then play missions that use it. If you make a mission with that F-18 and host an online session, nobody's going to join it for obvious reasons.

I personally hate it when people offer addons as panacea for everything lacking in the game. Incidentally, you rarely see the actual content creators of this community advocating such a mindset. How would you feel about it if the community was basically saying "don't worry about the missing planes, missions or campaign, rehtus777 and his friends will make some for free anyway"? It's a wonderful combination of giving BI's commercial game a free pass and taking your hard and free work for granted, isn't it?

No, BI is outsourcing that to us "for free".

You need to read my previous post about the "Who Cares?" comment [#7152] I gave earlier after someone tried to call me on it. Also, I explain the "porting over of ArmA 2 stuff" and I quote the "Big Boss" himself . And how tough is it to go into the "Expansion" part of the game and add on a mod? It's easy as pie. Before you go into an MP server, find out which mods they have and then select it through the "Expansion" option.

---------- Post added at 11:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:43 AM ----------

That's not BIS porting anything over. That's community members porting stuff over, huge difference.

Yes, I wasn't clear enough on what I said. If you look at post #7150, you'll see that I explain the ArmA 2 port and give a Marek quote.

---------- Post added at 11:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:07 AM ----------

Note that on the other hand they don't have to make Mlod available.They are doing this because of us.

I mean it depends from standpoint: bitter person would say "they are making us work for free"

while someone else would say "thanks BI in a first place to release it at all"

Which one of those two is self entitled?Remember no one is making you work "for free".

+1 Agreed.

Edited September 20, 2013 by rehtus777

[gossamersolid 155]

It's easy as pie. Before you go into an MP server, find out which mods they have and then select it through the "Expansion" option.

Yes, for us it is. I have no problem doing this.

But 95% of the players won't and therefore you will have nobody or next to nobody joining you. We need some sort of addon downloader ingame so that when you join a server, it'll check if you have the downloads and then download them.

[rehtus777 10]

Yes, for us it is. I have no problem doing this.

But 95% of the players won't and therefore you will have nobody or next to nobody joining you. We need some sort of addon downloader ingame so that when you join a server, it'll check if you have the downloads and then download them.

I have to agree with you there. I'm not very impressed with the gamespy MP setup....it works, but there has to be something better. I thought they were developing something through Steam?

[Dwarden 1125]

I have to agree with you there. I'm not very impressed with the gamespy MP setup....it works, but there has to be something better. I thought they were developing something through Steam?

http://steamcommunity.com/app/107410/discussions/0/864979008696297289/

we will try soon to enable the STEAM server based browser to show Arma 3 servers ...

consider it as bonus to ingame or 3rd party browsers

no ETA, there're still some issues with that

we will simply for starter give you more choices, just no ETA when it's working enough

[-=seany=- 5]

Lots of people care because the way addons have been handled in the game series, it's going to be a major hassle to get people to download an addon and then play missions that use it. If you make a mission with that F-18 and host an online session, nobody's going to join it for obvious reasons.

I personally hate it when people offer addons as panacea for everything lacking in the game. Incidentally, you rarely see the actual content creators of this community advocating such a mindset. How would you feel about it if the community was basically saying "don't worry about the missing planes, missions or campaign, rehtus777 and his friends will make some for free anyway"? It's a wonderful combination of giving BI's commercial game a free pass and taking your hard and free work for granted, isn't it?

No, BI is outsourcing that to us "for free".

Yes, this bothers me too when I see people saying we can just use mods. For all of my Arrowhead and Arma2 play time I was using vanilla/default content in online missions. The only really popular mods that a lot of servers used where JSRS sound mod and Blastcore/WarFX visual mod. There where bugger all servers hosting missions with user made vehicles etc.

This is why I am so vocal about wanting the quality/and visual uniqueness (eg no copy & pasting of assets) of the existing content to be improved. This is the stuff I am going to be using Online for the next few years. I'd rather not be cringing every time I drive/shoot/use an BIS vehicle/asset for the next three years.

[bad benson 1733]

^+1 for the quote and the post itself.

the regular play time is spend without mods for a lot of people. this atmosphere of of trying to suppress criticism has to stop. we (and i mean the real community) all hate the morons who make threads to insult the devs and have no real point at all. but it seems that from a reflex towards these morons there's developing a mentality that is just unreasonable and ignoring the reality of actually playing and modding this game long term. it's a good thing when the main concerns that are important for the most people are brought up a lot. the feedback tracker is not the solution. that's what forums are for (always have been). it's not the same as making a clone thread about why you will leave the game and how incredibly bad it is.

don't confuse negativity for its own sake with trying to make valid criticism heard as much as possible. if you can't take it just move on or go fend off some trolls in the anti BI clone threads :p

[comp_uter15776 1]

And I feel like I'm repeating myself (my bad), but this is why I feel an autodownloader is important. Even if we eventually get this sea of mods used anyway (i.e. ACE/ACRE), people still don't have to worry about fracturing the community.

Gekon has assigned himself to the ticket linked in my sig though a couple of days ago, so hopefully he'll take these wishes onboard and process them...

[zukov 489]

;) hahahaha funny this thread BIS doesn't finish the game, but we think how good the a2's contents in game , if we lucky, on few years

[thx1137 10]

don't confuse negativity for its own sake with trying to make valid criticism heard as much as possible. if you can't take it just move on or go fend off some trolls in the anti BI clone threads :p

Absolutely, but the place for constructive criticism is in the feedback trackers. Sure they trawl these threads but anyone actually interested in the game will take the time to post issues and how to reproduce them there instead of constantly bitching in the forums. It gives the devs a way to see what issues are important to the community and the number of votes the issue has gives an idea of how common it is. In forums it is largely just noise.

I much prefer to see a message like "AI constantly crash or get stuck while driving in towns. Check out and vote at feedback issue: http://xxxx/xxx " then "Man the AI sucks when are the devs gunna wake up. Game xxxx does it better!". Especially when it is rather likely the poster has zero idea (from a technology perspective) how incomparable the game are. Even if they seems "comparable" to a non-developer. They way so may people say X is unrealistic worries me. They never say what military experience they had to know. Just playing lots of computer war games doesn't count as experience in my book...

Fortunately a lot of members do take the time to properly reports issues in the feedback tracker to actually improve the game.

[bad benson 1733]

i generally agree about unreasonable complaints and tone. all i'm saying is that some people react the same way to normal criticism like to trolls. and i disagree to only rely on the tracker. lots of criticism is about features that aren't there or badly implemented. and while several of the most wanted features are on the top of the list since alpha, there has been no move made so far to add or improve them. forums are exactly for what people use them for: voicing opinions. and it is totally appropriate to make a good case for features you want at any opportunity you can get.

that's why there is a feedbakc tracker and forums and not one place for both. if you can't accept other people's opinions voiced in a way that doesn't violate the rules of these forums i suggest not reading them. it's a deliberate choice to open every single one of the troll clone threads and counter bitch in there. no one HAS to do that. and my general observation is that it only fuels more trolling and pointless discussions about what people think is appropriate. this is a public forum with rules. if you think someone violates them, PM a moderator and let him do his job.

[thx1137 10]

...if you can't accept other people's opinions voiced in a way that doesn't violate the rules of these forums i suggest not reading them.

Exactly right. Though I do believe I said "prefer"... :-) On occasion all the same complaints just makes it harder to find messages that are more interesting (to me).

It is always the problem with forums. Sorting the wheat from the chaff plus the fact that my wheat maybe your chaff. Reddit helps with that respect but most of the interesting mod and development conversations don't make it there. so, as you say. I usually just bypass my chaff, but not always :-)