Forward-porting ArmA 2 content to ArmA 3

[John Kozak 14]

Since BIS has shown their supportive official position regarding the content forward porting, I decided I'd share a little script will help to start the ball rolling.

Here are (teaser) screenshots of results I've got:

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882977693140902853/ECFB093152D0DE05D8E2EF6C9C872F7598CA1ABC/

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882977693153739264/AB249A5E050C6BFB14F1999482A6E13BAADCCC55/

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882977693153743274/29022581539D009B2CF2708263BAFC31E4C6FE10/

http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/882977693153740804/80CBD078A00DA324281D8E4BA5C7B0FAEA1D4EC0/

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882977693142912253/F252ABDE4DDB37B280BE147EED1FA9BC8368D2AA/

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882977693140902853/ECFB093152D0DE05D8E2EF6C9C872F7598CA1ABC/

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882977693142771149/7FB73AF293199A4CCF36F92935A740F1F029DA94/

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/882977693142879460/E67440B28EC5AEF0BFEAD3702D3AEEFCED714703/

The idea is based on

, but expanded and modernized. The script works with both Steam and non-Steam installs. What it does is basically copies some (not all - as some just to not work) files from existing A2/A2OA install into A3 Alpha. To save time and space, the copying is done via hardlinking - this does not require admin rights, but saves around 20Gb of HDD space and is nearly instant.

Prerequisites:

1.ArmA 2 and ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead installed on a same drive (i.e.: drive C:)

2.If you want to place your modfolders into Program Files folder - like C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\Common\ArmA 3\@A2Backport - admin rights are required

Instructions:

1. Write down the locations of the root folders of your games (ArmA 2, ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead, ArmA 3). Note on which drives the games are located. For the script to work correctly, ArmA 2 and ArmA 2 OA must be installed on the same drive (not necessarily in the same folder).

2. Open the downloaded file with a text editor

3. Put the game locations into corresponding variables (a2path, a2oapath, a3path)

4. Create 2 empty modfolders (@something) on the same drive as your ArmA 2/A2OA installation (in my example, everything is on drive D). Put them into variables a2targetpath and a2oatargetpath respectively

5. Launch the script. ArmA 3 will start with the new content. Voila!

>>DOWNLOAD<<

Disclaimer: This script is distributed as is and author claims no responsibility for any kind of damage (including legal, physical, economical or any other kind) which may result from its use.

Edited April 8, 2013 by DarkWanderer

[KeyCat 131]

Nice one and thanks for sharing! Save a few GB on cramped HDD's ;)

/KC

[Defunkt 431]

Nice one but strictly speaking I think...

:a2oa
if not exist "%a2path%\arma2.exe" (echo ArmA 2 OA content not found. Exiting.  & goto end)

...should be:

:a2oa
if not exist "%a2path%\arma2oa.exe" (echo ArmA 2 OA content not found. Exiting.  & goto end)

---------- Post added at 13:17 ---------- Previous post was at 13:07 ----------

Also you need to quote the rd/mkdir paths i.e.

if exist "%a2targetpath%\Addons" rd /S /Q "%a2targetpath%\Addons"
mkdir "%a2targetpath%\Addons"

if exist "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons" rd /S /Q "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons"
mkdir "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons"

[qbert 10]

Why is there a warning on this? This looks legit. Is it not safe or something? I'm confused.

[KeyCat 131]

Why is there a warning on this? This looks legit. Is it not safe or something? I'm confused.

Active Warning

Posted image > 100kb

/KC

[John Kozak 14]

Nice one but strictly speaking I think...

:a2oa
if not exist "%a2path%\arma2.exe" (echo ArmA 2 OA content not found. Exiting.  & goto end)

...should be:

:a2oa
if not exist "%a2path%\arma2oa.exe" (echo ArmA 2 OA content not found. Exiting.  & goto end)

Yes, you're right, there's an error here. Actually, it should be

:a2oa
if not exist "%a2oapath%\arma2oa.exe" (echo ArmA 2 OA content not found. Exiting.  & goto end)

- i.e. checking the OA executable at the OA location. Forgot to correct this string after copy-paste.

Also you need to quote the rd/mkdir paths i.e.

if exist "%a2targetpath%\Addons" rd /S /Q "%a2targetpath%\Addons"
mkdir "%a2targetpath%\Addons"

if exist "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons" rd /S /Q "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons"
mkdir "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons"

That's a good point. Thank you.

Script updated.

Why is there a warning on this? This looks legit. Is it not safe or something? I'm confused.

I've hotlinked an image more than 100kb :(

[sweez 10]

Cant play on takistan or chernarus... It says: You cannot play/edit this mission; it is dependent on downloadable content that has been deleted.cacharacters_e (this is when i try to play on takistan)

Any ideas why I cant play?

edit1:

This happens when I try to play on armory on the maps

edit2:

I fixed it for chernarus by moving characters and characters2 from arma 2 addons to arma 3 (i moved it into both the arma 2 and arma 2 oa addons folder). But takistan is still not working...

Edited March 26, 2013 by jimsam100234

[John Kozak 14]

Jimsam, just use my script, and it should work. Takistan works with it. Proof,

[Leaulux 2]

So with this script, the only content that we can bring over are the Islands?

[chrisb 196]

There are a few tutorials on youtube.

I've put a few islands over but none of them are running great at the mo, but then again I'm using the 'Dev' version so the regular updates will probably not work great with A2 islands.

I think I'll wait until its Beta, then get more over, may be more stable then..;)

[bobby budnick 0]

How do we setup the Arma 2 and Arma 2 OA content so that the Russian units are selectable? Takistani units seem to override the Russian ones in the editor menus right now.

edit: Now the Russian units are overriding the Takistani units.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Bobby Budnick

[sweez 10]

Well, have you tried the armory? Thats what im trying to do, but I keep getting the error.

I have used the script and all files have moved over and stuff, but it still wont work!

[John Kozak 14]

So with this script, the only content that we can bring over are the Islands?

Islands+Vehicles (air/cars/armor/...)/weapons. Everything is working to some extent, though there are some bugs of course.

The only note is that you need to put the vehicles as "empty" and move pilots inside by scripting - if you want AI vehicles.

[ebarstad 18]

Thanks for the script! I notice that it overrides the Arma 3 voices. What files do I remove to get the default voices back?

[SGT Fuller 856]

Does this method overide the smoke coming out of Fixed wing vehicles?

[Sbats 1]

Came across this issue, anyone know how to fix?

bin/config.bin\CfgWeapons/G36_C_SD_eotech/Burst/: Cannot find base class 'Burst'

[Flax 397]

Nice, one Dark. Beat me to it, I'm writing a program with some more options but not finished yet. I'll speak to you on TS later.

[NomadRomeo 10]

Came across this issue, anyone know how to fix?

bin/config.bin\CfgWeapons/G36_C_SD_eotech/Burst/: Cannot find base class 'Burst'

Same problem here.

[jblack9 10]

I love the idea of this script, but I'm having a hard time getting it to work. Everytime I run it, the dos script keeps saying access denied over and over again.

I've pasted my script below:

@echo off

setlocal

set a2path=C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2

set a2oapath=C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2

set a2targetpath=C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\@A2Backport

set a2oatargetpath=C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\@A2OBackport

set a3path=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3

:a2

if not exist "%a2path%\arma2.exe" (echo ArmA 2 content not found. Proceeding to ArmA 2

OA & goto a2oa)

echo Copying ArmA 2 content...

rd /S /Q "%a2targetpath%\Addons"

mkdir "%a2targetpath%\Addons"

dir /S /B "%a2path%\Addons\*" | find /V "anims" | find /V "editor" | find /V "missions"

| find /V "music" | find /V "ui" | find /V "water" | find /V "characters" >> %temp%

\files.txt

for /F "delims=," %%i in (%temp%\files.txt) do mklink /H "%a2targetpath%\Addons\%%~nxi"

"%%i"

del /Q %temp%\files.txt

:a2oa

if not exist "%a2oapath%\arma2oa.exe" (echo ArmA 2 OA content not found. Exiting. &

goto end)

echo Copying ArmA 2 OA content...

rd /S /Q "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons"

mkdir "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons"

dir /S /B "%a2oapath%\Expansion\Addons\*" | find /V "anims" | find /V "editor" | find

/V "missions" | find /V "music" | find /V "ui" | find /V "water" | find /V "characters"

>> %temp%\files.txt

for /F "delims=," %%i in (%temp%\files.txt) do mklink /H "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons\%

%~nxi" "%%i"

del /Q %temp%\files.txt

:end

echo Finished. Starting ArmA 3

cd /D %a3path%

arma3 -nosplash -mod="%a2targetpath%;%a2oatargetpath%"

endlocal

[Brain 12]

Hey,

I tried this, but Chernarus and Co. are not shown inside the editor menu.

My .bat with the code:

@echo off
setlocal

set a2path=C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2
set a2oapath=C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2
set a2targetpath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\@A2Backport
set a2oatargetpath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\@A2OABackport
set a3path=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3

:a2
if not exist "%a2path%\arma2.exe" (echo ArmA 2 content not found. Proceeding to ArmA 2 OA & goto a2oa)
echo Copying ArmA 2 content...

rd /S /Q "%a2targetpath%\Addons"
mkdir "%a2targetpath%\Addons"
dir /S /B "%a2path%\Addons\*" | find /V "anims" | find /V "editor" | find /V "missions" | find /V "music" | find /V "ui" | find /V "water" | find /V "characters" >> %temp%\files.txt
for /F "delims=," %%i in (%temp%\files.txt) do mklink /H "%a2targetpath%\Addons\%%~nxi" "%%i"
del /Q %temp%\files.txt

:a2oa
if not exist "%a2oapath%\arma2oa.exe" (echo ArmA 2 OA content not found. Exiting.  & goto end)
echo Copying ArmA 2 OA content...

rd /S /Q "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons"
mkdir "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons"
dir /S /B "%a2oapath%\Expansion\Addons\*" | find /V "anims" | find /V "editor" | find /V "missions" | find /V "music" | find /V "ui" | find /V "water" | find /V "characters" >> %temp%\files.txt
for /F "delims=," %%i in (%temp%\files.txt) do mklink /H "%a2oatargetpath%\Addons\%%~nxi" "%%i"
del /Q %temp%\files.txt

:end
echo Finished. Starting ArmA 3
cd /D %a3path%
arma3 -nosplash -mod="%a2targetpath%;%a2oatargetpath%"
endlocal

I run it as admin, it says that they create a fix shortcut to the .pbo's... still I can't see anything in my game. Tried it with arma3 -nosplash -mod="%@a2targetpath%;%@a2oatargetpath%" instead without the @s. Not working. I tried to have my @A2Backport, @A2OABackport either in my A2 folder or my A3 folder. I can't see why it's not working.

[KeyCat 131]

I love the idea of this script, but I'm having a hard time getting it to work. Everytime I run it, the dos script keeps saying access denied over and over again.

You need to use DOS 8.3 naming for assigning paths, i.e...

set a2path=C:\PROGRA~1\BOHEMI~1\ARMA2~1

...

/KC

[foffy 58]

I have a question with this script. Does this work at all for the two small ACR islands? I know they're encrypted pbo files, so you can't unpack them, but my efforts of manually bringing them over to ArmA III has made them unable to load or be recognized properly by the title.

[KeyCat 131]

I have a question with this script. Does this work at all for the two small ACR islands? I know they're encrypted pbo files, so you can't unpack them, but my efforts of manually bringing them over to ArmA III has made them unable to load or be recognized properly by the title.

Check out A2toA3 just released by SgtHunter. I haven't tested it yet but according to the info it can handle the A2 DLC's...

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=19999

/KC

[andersson 285]

I ported the islands myself but I didnt check whats needed to update the configs to make them truly A3 compatible, like Shakura San is doing (check discussion forum). What I experienced from my quick port was that I could see the ground during night. Twilight feeling in the middle of the darkest night. Noone else experienced that? Is the night ok with this port?

[.kju 3245]

DLCs wont work; only its lite versions.