How to change Arma 3 branches between STABLE & DEVELOPMENT versions @STEAM client

[Dwarden 1125]

Does changing between stable & dev version over-write any of my settings like controls or options?

no .cfg and .profile files are located in Arma directorywithin your documents ...

[mrbenis 10]

Hi guys just switched back from DEV build to the stable build, will switching back at some future date require another giant download or is it just an .exe swap?

[grillob3 11]

Hi guys just switched back from DEV build to the stable build, will switching back at some future date require another giant download or is it just an .exe swap?

Either one! Almost every day there is an big or small update for DEV build!

[mrbenis 10]

I think I had better stick with the stable version then - my internet is very poor. Between unnecessarily switching between the versions these last 3 days, I managed to chew over 3gb of data. The communication of the requirements when switching is very poor. Simply stating that its easy to switch between the two versions doesn't really inform you of the fact you may end up needing to download 1gb every time.

[nomadd 66]

Is there any way to change the way switching is done between the stable and DEV build. As it is right now it is a pain to have to download so much every time I try and switch builds. I know things are different but the way it worked in ARMA2 was great. I could easily change between the stable and beta builds, plus could easily change to different beta builds. I miss having the beta folder and just needing to add/remove command in the launch to enable/disable beta. I would like to test/play the DEV build but just too much of a pain with STEAM constantly downloading every time.

[mrbenis 10]

ok I've been gone for a week and I come back to this

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j293/MrBenis/2013-07-25_00001_zps3b6dff6d.jpg (103 kB)

WTF I thought I SOLVED this problem

How the hell do I force steam to update me to the CORRECT version of this game? Why is gamespy such a shitty program, that's 20 years old and for some unknowable reason instead of using steams own matchmaking service they still use gamespy which I remember suffering through to play TUROK 2.

[Hud Dorph 22]

Haha Turok2 - brings some memories :)

I seem to remember somewhere in theese forums some DEV stating that

using steams serverbrowser at some time was not intirely impossible.

We can hope.....

Re your problem, i have that too but refreshing fixes it for me.

[robbie84 10]

I am downloading the development branch now. Will it overwrite current beta files or does it have it's own directory?

[Smurf 12]

Overwrite.

[robbie84 10]

Damn... I hope in the retail, they will make a "dev" or similar directory like for ArmA 2. Overwriting is kinda bad, even for fast downloaders. I'm just saying this because I would really love to visit the DEV branch often but if it overwrites my gamefiles everytime, it might get tedious :I

But what is there is there.

Thanks.

[bvrettski 10]

Can someone point us towards directions for getting the dev branch. Steam is requiring a beta code I think....or maybe I'm missing something becasue I dont see a beta listed separately.

[Dwarden 1125]

you don't need fill anything into that password field just change the drop down menu to dev branch and click ok

[focher 15]

Is there a method to keeping the stable release installed and also having the latest dev branch, with some option to run one or the other? Perhaps the dev branch could be part of the normal distribution and give us a shortcut / command line to run it instead of the stable release?

It's just that the current "one or the other" approach is so much less friendly to trying the dev branch than prior approaches.

[bravo17 1]

Is there a method to keeping the stable release installed and also having the latest dev branch, with some option to run one or the other? Perhaps the dev branch could be part of the normal distribution and give us a shortcut / command line to run it instead of the stable release?

It's just that the current "one or the other" approach is so much less friendly to trying the dev branch than prior approaches.

+1

It's really not possible to try the DEV version at the moment since the clan server is on stable.

[USAdystopia 10]

Not functional.

[iburnfurbies 10]

I used steam backups to downgrade.

[mamasan8 11]

Yeah, used to be better in OFP/Old Armas, we could choose which exe to launch and which version, stable or beta.

This going back and forth between stable and dev-version...aint gonna happen here.

[doveman 7]

There's got to be a way to make the swapping less painful.

I have my ArmA3 install on SSD (S:) but Steam on my HDD (D:), so what I've tried is having the Dev on the SSD and making a symbolic link from that to the Steam folder. Then to use the Stable, I delete the Symbolic Link and download the Stable and to swap back to the Dev build, rename the the folder to ArmA3-stable and recreate the Symbolic Link to the SSD containing the Dev build.

All sounds very sensible but whenever I swap between the two, Steam insists on downloading the entire thing again despite it already existing! I'm currently swapping back to Dev and it's downloading to "Downloading\107410". It has a addons folder and a Curator\Addons folder under that and I tried copying all the files from my Dev build addons folder to the 107410\Addons folder with Steam closed but it doesn't seem to have helped and it's still chugging along from where it was previously, 30%.

Anyone got any ideas how to make Steam recognise that we already have the damn thing and it just needs to install any updated files, not the whole shebang?

[lukio 18]

Damn... I hope in the retail, they will make a "dev" or similar directory like for ArmA 2. Overwriting is kinda bad, even for fast downloaders. I'm just saying this because I would really love to visit the DEV branch often but if it overwrites my gamefiles everytime, it might get tedious :I

But what is there is there.

Thanks.

If thee was only a way to have them both installed in parallel, this would make things much easier. I've tried creating a separate Steam directory on a different hard drive and downloaded version of the arma3.exe is 1.11.115.651 but somehow when I start it, it starts up Steam and the stable version is what I get, instead of the development branch. The only solution I can currently think of is solving it with a virtual pc. Is this really the only way?

Swapping between beta and normal in Steam every 2-3 days and having to download the whole shebang every time takes away lots of time (and bandwidth for those with limits) I do understand the usefulness of Steam for the workshop items, keeping every one up to date and also (perhaps later) addition of mods to workshop, but for handling two different versions the system Steam employs is quite a hassle imo. For ARMA 2 there were two different Steamp IDs (stable/beta) if I remember correctly.

If anyone has an idea how to do a separated install of both versions, feel free to post a how-to.

[tonygrunt 10]

@doveman and @Lukio, if you want to juggle game installations in steam you need also the appmanifest_XXXXXX.acf file for it. The file tells if the game installation is a beta or not (["betakey" "development"] for Arma 3 beta) and has the build info of the installation so steam can know what patch(file differences) must be downloaded to bring the game installation to the latest version.

If it's missing or not the right one, steam will do a file comparison with the latest served files and any file that isn't exactly the same will be deleted and steam will download it again.

Some appmanifest_XXXXXX.acf files contain absolute paths, so if you change paths you must update them (text editor or Verify Integrity of Game Cache) or you might have some unwanted side effects with the steam client or game.

After trying some different methods I finally settled on this.

Create a Steam Library only for Arma 3 (e.g. d:\Arma 3)

Inside this steam library install Arma 3, close steam and rename the parent SteamApps folder to SteamApps_stable.

Copy the SteamApps_stable to SteamApps, start steam change Arma 3 to development and let it patch.

Now when you want to change to stable A3 you close steam and any A3 related programs (PWS etc.), rename the SteamApps with the development A3 to SteamApps_beta and rename the SteamApps_stable to SteamApps. Start steam and you will have A3 stable and if there is any patch it will be downloaded. Repeat this to return to beta.

You can skip downloading A3 if you have an A3 installation (stable, beta or both) and its appmanifest_107410.acf.

Rinse repeat for DayZ SA.

[doveman 7]

Thanks TonyGrunt, I wasn't aware of this appmanifest file.

Your method sounds good so I'm going to use that. Stupid Steam still insists on downloading the entire 10GB again even after I deleted A3 from it, reinstalled it to the new path (d:\games\Arma3), closed Steam and copied my backed up Stable files to d:\games\Arma3\Steamapps\common\ArmA3 and when that didn't work, copied them to d:\games\Arma3\Steamapps\downloading\107410 as well.

It seems it just looks at the appmanifest file and if that doesn't say A3 is installed, it ignores the fact the files are all there. I only had the Dev appmanifest, so had to copy that to d:\games\Arma3\SteamApps but Steam basically just wiped it when it started reinstalling A3 so now it shows "BytesToDownload" and "BytesDownloaded". Anyway, at least once I've downloaded the Stable and Dev builds all over again, I shouldn't have to go through that again using your method.

[tonygrunt 10]

Thanks TonyGrunt, I wasn't aware of this appmanifest file.

Your method sounds good so I'm going to use that. Stupid Steam still insists on downloading the entire 10GB again even after I deleted A3 from it, reinstalled it to the new path (d:\games\Arma3), closed Steam and copied my backed up Stable files to d:\games\Arma3\Steamapps\common\ArmA3 and when that didn't work, copied them to d:\games\Arma3\Steamapps\downloading\107410 as well.

It seems it just looks at the appmanifest file and if that doesn't say A3 is installed, it ignores the fact the files are all there. I only had the Dev appmanifest, so had to copy that to d:\games\Arma3\SteamApps but Steam basically just wiped it when it started reinstalling A3 so now it shows "BytesToDownload" and "BytesDownloaded". Anyway, at least once I've downloaded the Stable and Dev builds all over again, I shouldn't have to go through that again using your method.

Never copy to downloading, whenever steam copies or creates files in that folder it creates state_xxxxxx_xxxxxx.patch files that keep track the status of the game files for what needs to be downloaded or patched. If you copy files there, steam won't check them and it will just corrupt your current state of downloading.

If you have a copy of a fully updated Arma 3 stable or Arma 3 Beta with their appmanifest file, the fastest way is to close steam, clone that folder, start steam and change its beta status (beta to stable or stable to beta). This will force an update of around 1 GB and you will have the 2 installations of Arma 3 to move around.

Also your steamapps folder for Arma 3 is wrong, you said "d:\games\Arma3\Steamapps\common\ArmA3" but it should be "d:\games\Arma3\Steamapps\common\ArmA 3", steam expects to find Arma 3 under an "\Arma 3" folder in "\common".

PS sometimes after discovering a game steam, might wrongfully show that it needs to download the full game (GBytes) but usually after downloading only a small portion (MBytes) it will finish.

Edited February 24, 2014 by TonyGrunt

[doveman 7]

Yeah, thanks. I noticed it was downloading to \Arma 3 and not the \Arma3 folder I'd created, so hardly surprising it didn't recognise the files were already installed!

Anyway, now I've got both Stable and Dev backed up, I should be sorted thanks.

[saetheer 9]

Hey,

Do anyone know of a way to swiftly change between Stable and Dev Build? I god crappy internet so it takes about 2h to download 1GB (Yes, OMG!)

In theory I want BIS to release another "game" in steam that is Dev Branched. However I see the work load this might bring.

anyway, anyone have some suggestions I can try?

[old_painless 183]

There is this - seems like a good method:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?149411-How-to-change-Arma-3-branches-between-STABLE-amp-DEVELOPMENT-versions-STEAM-client&p=2629204&viewfull=1#post2629204