Making editor in ArmA3 more accessible/functional.

[garbol87 10]

The thing whit the editor that always bothered me was that no matter how old the platform is, it's core is still the same. The thing I wan't to say that the editor from OFP from 2001 is not much diffrent then editor in 2013, to be honest it didn't change at all.

The only things that we are getting are either modules or diffrent commands to use to build our missions.

The thing that I was expecting from "Militray-sanbox" was that not much would need to be done outside of the editor.

For example would it be greate if we:

1. could edit unit loadout in the editor?

2. Make a briefing that actually worked not from modules (that sometimes work sometimes don't) but as a simple mission description tab rather then editing manually .sqf files?

3. When exporting the mission to multiplayer it would actually work whitout much tinkering or none at all?

4. Description.ext? Why it isn't actually built in the editor?

etc, etc.

It's 2013 and we are still stuck whit editor form 12 years ago.

It's kinda underwhelming, there is so much room for improvments yet little to none are made whit the editor it self.

What are your thoughts on the editor?

[heathy87 10]

first post on this forum.

I've only played around with it for a few hours but i can tell a lot of potential in the game rests with the editor, if it was made more user friendly it would probably be a massive boost to player reattainment. if players could much more easily whip up half decent missions without too much hassle you'll find more ppl using it.

I have been hitting the editor today actually, slowly gaining skill with it and trying to figure out what everything does, but it is quite daunting for a complete scrub. (i know how to make dynamic patrols and i've got the hang of placing objects, even setting up support artillery that you can call in is very easy to do, my next step i think will be learning how to create an objective or multiple objectives thankfully there are TONS of videos on how to use the editor)

Edited September 6, 2013 by heathy87

[RushHour 11]

Yea for your point 1. Being able to drag and drop gear for units would be so much simpler then having several lines of text in a init file.

[eymerich 11]

Totally agreed...

[[evo] dan 79]

Yea for your point 1. Being able to drag and drop gear for units would be so much simpler then having several lines of text in a init file.

Building on this, perhaps have the different types of kit on the left, and the normal inventory screen on the right for you to drag and drop in the editor, just as if you were in an ammobox.

[adanteh 58]

Here's my thoughts on what the editor needs

• Easy resizing of markers / triggers I want to be able to hold ctrl or alt and then drag my mouse to resize a marker, instead of manually adjusting a marker bit by bit till I get the right size
  
• Aligning of objects Adding items like wall and so automatically on a line so they all line up decently. Also turning things while holding both shift (for direction) and control to have it change direction in 45 degree intervals
  
• Creating multiple objects with certain options Be able to create a unit/vehicle in bulk, then get a dialog saying how much distance you want between each unit and the direction they should face. Also allow setting things like formation, rank and so
  
• 3D editor Freaking hell. Designing a cool looking scene is annoying as hell when you have to manually adjust everything. Worst thing about it? It's not like you can line-up stuff to the grey building blocks in the editor view either. Buildings are usually way smaller then that block
  
• More modules (And better descriptions). Things like briefing modules and so are nice and all, but they don't work all that great. It's unclear how most modules work either (Sync this to that, group this to that. What does it even do in the first place?) Also often you still need to do scripting besides the modules, which kind of defeats their purpose (Respawn module? Great, but where do I select which loadouts you have)
  

And ofcourse all the points mentioned in the first post!

Especially changing gear would be great. It's really quite annoying I have to look up the config names for every single little item I want to add.

[Wiki 1558]

1. could edit unit loadout in the editor?

2. Make a briefing that actually worked not from modules (that sometimes work sometimes don't) but as a simple mission description tab rather then editing manually .sqf files?

3. When exporting the mission to multiplayer it would actually work whitout much tinkering or none at all?

4. Description.ext? Why it isn't actually built in the editor?

etc, etc.

Agreed

[kylania 567]

You haven't learned to deal with any of this in twelve years? A wizard or two won't help if that's the case. :)

LEA, A2B, MP Editor, ArmAEdit. All these things are out there, maybe not for ArmA3 yet, but wizard based solutions for your concerns are available if not exactly what you want.

[RushHour 11]

A proper map that actually correlates to the real map would be nice. Instead of the thing we have now, a sort of satellite image of Altis (in-game of course) would be a much better representation as you would know exactly where you have placed your soldiers.

Proper scale on objects would be nice as well. sometimes they overlap, sometimes you need to put them far away from each other. All of this leads to a constant in and out of the game just to see if you have put something in the right place.

Being able to copy and paste many things, let´s say you have a wall and instead of putting out one by one all the time you can copy the wall you have made and paste it next to it, right now if you try and do that and then try and move it you will only move one of the newly pasted features even though all of them were selected.

[eymerich 11]

You haven't learned to deal with any of this in twelve years? A wizard or two won't help if that's the case. :)

LEA, A2B, MP Editor, ArmAEdit. All these things are out there, maybe not for ArmA3 yet, but wizard based solutions for your concerns are available if not exactly what you want.

infact...

this is a tutorial i watched about task assignment:

http://www.kylania.com/ex/?p=65

spent some time on it just to discover that i wasted my time 'cause Bis left a message in my mission saying: "Designer [...] this is obsolete use notification at this address http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Notification" which is quite difficult for me, cause no example is showed there...

In short: game is not approachable to everyone and I have probably wasted my money hoping Arma3 was less dependent by sqf., cpp, fsm and so on...

[fully 1]

infact...

this is a tutorial i watched about task assignment:

http://www.kylania.com/ex/?p=65

spent some time on it just to discover that i wasted my time 'cause Bis left a message in my mission saying: "Designer [...] this is obsolete use notification at this address http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Notification" which is quite difficult for me, cause no example is showed there...

In short: game is not approachable to everyone and I have probably wasted my money hoping Arma3 was less dependent by sqf., cpp, fsm and so on...

I thought the page title might of given it away "ArmA2/OA Scripts and Demos by kylania"

There are some great youtube ARMA 3 editor tutorials as well as on this forum =)

You can make some pretty cool mission(s) with out using sqf, cpp and fsm files. Just take the time and watch some tutorials =)

Try this link http://forums.bistudio.com/forumdisplay.php?162-ARMA-3-BETA-MISSION-EDITING-amp-SCRIPTING

[Gunter Severloh 3949]

I would want what I had posted here:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?149002-Make-multiple-units-playable-at-once-amp-other-editor-option-features&p=2326350#post2326350

Making multiple units playable at once.

[horrorview 10]

I'd be happy with directional arrows so you know which way an object is facing when you place it. Also, a "snap" feature (like in Photoshop) would be nice to have when aligning things like walls, buildings, etc. Other than that, I like the editor and think that, all things considered, it's fairly easy to whip together custom missions (and I'm still pretty new to it).

[Radioman 6]

Just having an in game scripting IDE would cut down development time like no other.

No more "do work, save, start the game, instantly get a syntax error, try again".

Just having the option to check syntax would be great.

[sektor 2]

Have you tried MCC Sandbox 3 - Dynamic mission creating tool for ArmA 3, it has lots of options, i'm only starting to familiarize with it so i can't tell you much, but it might be the thing you are looking for.

[adanteh 58]

I'd be happy with directional arrows so you know which way an object is facing when you place it. Also, a "snap" feature (like in Photoshop) would be nice to have when aligning things like walls, buildings, etc. Other than that, I like the editor and think that, all things considered, it's fairly easy to whip together custom missions (and I'm still pretty new to it).

The mission editor is great, but it's just that placing objects is still quite annoying. A snap feature would already be quite nice. The same goes for things like aligning, resizing and just drawing on the map or so (All the things you do in Photoshop). Adding quit a bit of objects with certain settings is not hard either, but it just annoying to do because you have to keep clicking on the same things. Then again, I guess you could just add all the objects and then with Notepad do a Search and Replace All thing.

[xendance 3]

I would want what I had posted here:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?149002-Make-multiple-units-playable-at-once-amp-other-editor-option-features&p=2326350#post2326350

Making multiple units playable at once.

Not just making them playable, editing any common setting for multiple units at the same time would be nice.

[adanteh 58]

The same goes for syncing. When I select multiple units it would be nice to either group or sync them to something else and they all get a nice group/sync to the thing I'm dragging towards.

[garbol87 10]

You haven't learned to deal with any of this in twelve years? A wizard or two won't help if that's the case. :)

LEA, A2B, MP Editor, ArmAEdit. All these things are out there, maybe not for ArmA3 yet, but wizard based solutions for your concerns are available if not exactly what you want.

That's the thing I'am talking about. Why do I need to resolve to 3rd party software when it could basiclly be built in the editor itself?