Community Upgrade Project

[.kju 3240]

Very good point Tinter. I have brought forward this notion to the involved people.

The main problems are its very few modelers participating so far, and limited progress/activity by those already in for various reasons.

I think most regular players would have expected a lot more progress so far,

however it is a lot of work and only few people do that kind of work.

[HJohnson 16]

Well, what do you need help with.

One of the groups I play with has ported/modified a lot from Arma 2.

What was left?

[AlexVestin 24]

I just have to say that it'd feel a lot easier to contribute if the general folder setup is sorted for all to see. Or does that not matter?

I can imagine every single pbo contributed looking a lot different from the last. Both in how the textures are oganized and how the configs look like.

What are the main requirements for something to be contributed? Should they be an already working pbo addon or should it just be the .p3d file cleaned up and ready for A3?

The most convinient way to do this imo would be to have people working together and accepting .p3d files that are sent to them, and then:

Someone looks through and quality checks the .p3d files.

Someone organizes the configs and sets it up for A3.

Someone sorts out all of the textures to be used.

Edited January 29, 2014 by AlexVestin

[KeyCat 131]

;2610190']Unless some modder figures that out suddenly' date=' we have to wait until BI provides us with documentation.[/quote']

Since lights do work wouldn't it be possible to somehow swap the old lampposts/lamps (reflectors) with similar from A3? I tried to dig into the reflectors sections in the config but realise how much I forgotten since I fiddled with it last :-/

If someone already knows how to do it (or figure it out) and it's tedious work I'm willing to lend a hand where/when I can to get the streetlights going again (send me a PM).

/KC

Edited January 31, 2014 by KeyCat

[luki 53]

Are you talking about some specific lamps or overall from arma2?

[Gudsawn 93]

.kju - do you have anyone currently working on porting the BAF DLC content? Our community is mainly UK based and we'd love to see some British vehicles in A3 - I'm sure some of our guys (including myself) would love to contribute to this project. What are the requirements to be able to participate in this effort? We have one guy who has some experience with modelling, and quite a few guys who have experience with configs, textures, creating addons etc.

Cheers,

J

[PuFu 4591]

.kju - do you have anyone currently working on porting the BAF DLC content? Our community is mainly UK based and we'd love to see some British vehicles in A3 - I'm sure some of our guys (including myself) would love to contribute to this project. What are the requirements to be able to participate in this effort? We have one guy who has some experience with modelling, and quite a few guys who have experience with configs, textures, creating addons etc.

Cheers,

J

one dev-heaven account, plus read this:

https://dev.withsix.com/projects/cup/wiki/Wiki

[steeo3 1]

Hi guys.

I'm not sure if anyone can help me with my situation or not.

Please click on the link and read my first post >http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?173440-Need-Helping-Porting-Chernarus-To-Arma-3

If anyone knows where I could get either help or someone who has already ported chernarus to give me permission to use it in my own gamemode please either p.m me on bi or add me on steam.

Thanks Guys,

Stephen

[perfectum 26]

Great that finally somebody that organizes abit more in the addon community.

[Gudsawn 93]

Here is a list of current Arma 2 ports that have been released for Arma 3, duplicates are included. This is just some I could find while browsing the forums.

Maps

- A3MP

Vehicles

- ArmA 2 US Helicopters Import to A3

- AC-130

- C-130J

- ArmA 2 C-130J and MV-22 Osprey Redux (part of CUP)

- F-35B Lightning II

- HAFM - ArmA 2 HMMWVs import

- Stand alone hmmwv (granQ)

- Preview release: Nimitz for Arma3

Units

- Suds Russians

- Kaelies' South Zagorian Army Mod (CDF + Takistanis)

- Middle East Irregulars

Weapons

- NATO SF and Russian Spetsnaz WEAPONS for A3

- Arma 3 US Weapons

- M136/AT-4 pack

- Carl Gustav/MAAWS from Arma 2

- Rpg-18

- Arma 2 Weapons Project

- @ASW Static Weapons (using A2 Samples, see 3rd reply)

Misc

- ASM - Arma Samples Mod

This stresses the need for the Community Upgrade Project. What are all these mod authors doing? Perhaps they have not heard of CUP? Whatever the reason it is quite worrying to see so many mods being released separately. To quote myself from another thread:

As much as I appreciate everyone putting their time and effort into porting weapons/vehicles into Arma 3, at the moment it's doing more harm for MP than good. With different variants of the same ports being released by different authors, weapons being released here and there, unit packs coming out separately for each faction, and vehicles being released all over the place - it's getting a bit chaotic.

From a server admin perspective, it's almost impossible to expect public players to have every A2 weapon/vehicle/unit installed separately instead of one single mod/DLC. I really don't understand whatever happened to the Community Upgrade Project, or at least the idea of it.

I really hope mod authors start collaborating together to release all Arma 2 assets as one big package/DLC (e.g. @A2_Assets). A3MP did it for maps and look how successful that has become.

Is there something I'm missing perhaps? Feel free to batter me round the back of the head if I am :p

Edited March 3, 2014 by GDSN

[chops 111]

What? If you have a problem with them, go and post in those threads. You're clogging up this one with nonsense.

Several of those projects have not been released - eg the Osprey and C-130, nor the static weapons.

Also neither the Nimitz, nor the Middle East Irregulars are Arma II ports.

[Gudsawn 93]

What? If you have a problem with them, go and post in those threads. You're clogging up this one with nonsense.

Several of those projects have not been released - eg the Osprey and C-130, nor the static weapons.

Also neither the Nimitz, nor the Middle East Irregulars are Arma II ports.

Nonsense? It's an entirely pro-CUP post and reinforces the fact that there is a strong need for it. I'm on your side buddy ;)

My mistake with the Nimitz, it was a port from Arma 2 of the Nimitz mod. I'm pretty sure Middle East Irregulars is an Arma 2 port though - check out this image for example. Looks identical to the vehicles/units/static weapons from Arma 2.

[SidanHeath 10]

Nonsense? It's an entirely pro-CUP post and reinforces the fact that there is a strong need for it. I'm on your side buddy ;)

My mistake with the Nimitz, it was a port from Arma 2 of the Nimitz mod. I'm pretty sure Middle East Irregulars is an Arma 2 port though - check out this image for example. Looks identical to the vehicles/units/static weapons from Arma 2.

The vehicles and static weaponry are ported for the addon, but weapons and uniforms are all used by the mod or its supporting mods.

[Gudsawn 93]

The vehicles and static weaponry are ported for the addon, but weapons and uniforms are all used by the mod or its supporting mods.

Ah well that's perfect then - those should definatley be part of CUP as well. Do you see what I'm trying to stress here?

I'm not trying to start a war or anything (really I'm not), but just imagine how much greater the community would benefit (especially newbies) if all Arma 2 assets could be installed through a one-click download. It would be so much easier for all of us. The easier mods are to access, the more likely people are going to have them. At the moment it just doesn't seem like people are taking this serious enough.

Is .kju still the lead for this project? Perhaps we could speak with these mod authors and try to get them involved with CUP? I'd be more than happy to help in some way, if needed.

Edited March 3, 2014 by GDSN

[zach72 1]

From what i understand from Kju, this project isn't to bring all the ports into one download (which would be awesome) but to pool knowledge for porting, sharing configs, textures, models etc to share common information among different mod makers.

[serjames 357]

In many ways the new AiA standalone from KJU coursehttp://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?174016-All-in-Arma-Standalone-(AiA-SA)-A1-A2-OA-content-in-A3 would be a huge step forward - however they're not of course full ports.

SJ

[R0adki11 3945]

Here is a list of current Arma 2 ports that have been released for Arma 3, duplicates are included. This is just some I could find while browsing the forums.

Maps

- A3MP

Vehicles

- ArmA 2 US Helicopters Import to A3

- AC-130

- C-130J

- ArmA 2 C-130J and MV-22 Osprey Redux (part of CUP)

- F-35B Lightning II

- HAFM - ArmA 2 HMMWVs import

- Stand alone hmmwv (granQ)

- Preview release: Nimitz for Arma3

Units

- Suds Russians

- Kaelies' South Zagorian Army Mod (CDF + Takistanis)

- Middle East Irregulars

Weapons

- NATO SF and Russian Spetsnaz WEAPONS for A3

- Arma 3 US Weapons

- M136/AT-4 pack

- Carl Gustav/MAAWS from Arma 2

- Rpg-18

- Arma 2 Weapons Project

- @ASW Static Weapons (using A2 Samples, see 3rd reply)

Misc

- ASM - Arma Samples Mod

This stresses the need for the Community Upgrade Project. What are all these mod authors doing? Perhaps they have not heard of CUP? Whatever the reason it is quite worrying to see so many mods being released separately. To quote myself from another thread:

Those authors are doing what they want, at the end of the day Addon Makers can chose to do what they want. Remember Addon Makers make content for free in their free time, we do it because we enjoy it. I myself will be bringing over my Nogovan Armed Forces Addons as when i find the time.

I can see CUP has the potential to be a great concept, and it would be great to have lots of Arma2 content brought over and ready to use. But the concept needs to be developed, managed and communicated within the community.

Edited March 3, 2014 by R0adki11

[chops 111]

Nonsense? It's an entirely pro-CUP post and reinforces the fact that there is a strong need for it. I'm on your side buddy ;)

I apologise GDSN, my post was rude and obnoxious. We are in heated agreement.

[Gudsawn 93]

Those authors are doing what they want, at the end of the day Addon Makers can chose to do what they want. Remember Addon Makers make content for free in their free time, we do it because we enjoy it. I myself will be bringing over my Nogovan Armed Forces Addons as when i find the time.

I can see CUP has the potential to be a great concept, and it would be great to have lots of Arma2 content brought over and ready to use. But the concept needs to be developed, managed and communicated within the community.

Please don't get me wrong, I entirely understand where you're coming from. I'm just afraid that some of those authors aren't being made aware of CUP and as a result are actually harming the community than assisting it. Believe me, I'm extremely grateful for everyone's hard work ;)

Btw, .kju released this just a few hours after my initial post:

All in Arma Standalone (AiA SA) - A1/A2/OA content in A3

You have no idea how happy I am to see that this exists - it has answered all of my prayers.

I apologise GDSN, my post was rude and obnoxious. We are in heated agreement.

No worries mate :)

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

The thing is, GDSN, is that CUP has the idea of modernizing all the A2/OA content up to A3 standards, and then providing it all open source for any mod that wants to use it. Compared to people like Alduric, who are just doing basic A2 to A3 conversions, and who are against sharing of source files (even though in some cases that breaks the BI license). Nobody *has* to do anything, but some people are going the more... irritating route with the BI source files, compared to CUP.

[serjames 357]

The thing is, GDSN, is that CUP has the idea of modernizing all the A2/OA content up to A3 standards, and then providing it all open source for any mod that wants to use it. Compared to people like Alduric, who are just doing basic A2 to A3 conversions, and who are against sharing of source files (even though in some cases that breaks the BI license). Nobody *has* to do anything, but some people are going the more... irritating route with the BI source files, compared to CUP.

I think you've got it in one; and have re-phrased exactly what GDSN is refering to. We're bloody grateful for all the hard work modders put into their mods, it gives mission builders like me the incentive to keep playing and adding lovely new Toys to shoot and blow up..

I'll settle for lots of mods... but would be OVERJOYED to see them combined and refined as part of CUP..

SJ

[instagoat 133]

Ultimately it would be kind of sad if CUP wouldn't work out, because the Community has always done excellent community standardization efforts previously. JAM, JAM2, XEH, stuff like that.

Fewer and better organized mods like these large platforms is something I prefer, because it makes the game much less cluttered and leads to much smaller rtf error files.

[EDcase 87]

It may have been said already... (sorry I haven't read all 122 posts)

But its worth stating again anyway.

The community of creative people making missions and mods has kept ARMA alive all these years and we appreciate your hard work and dedication.

Please use your time and effort wisely working together to make mods that don't conflict and overlap.

Similar and duplicate mods will fracture the player community.

Please support CUP

Edited March 7, 2014 by EDcase

[Varanon 892]

I'll settle for lots of mods... but would be OVERJOYED to see them combined and refined as part of CUP..

Lots of mods is really a bad idea, IMHO.

As a mission maker, I always try to stay away from using too many mods. Just look at some of the weapon mods that have been made based on the A2 content: People actually released mods with single weapons. When I make a mission, do I want to tell people to download @m4, @SMAW, @M249, @DMR, @M24, @G36, @m16 ? No, I would like to tell them to download @a2_weapons.

And it doesn't stop with the number of mods, but there will most likely also be duplicate efforts, like, people trying to port over M4s/M16s from Arma 2 only to find out that someone else already did that. Wasted time.

That's why an effort like CUP is necessary for this. Otherwise, we'll be swamped with A2 conversions that are badly done, rushed, sloppy, have vastly different quailities etc.

Look at A3MP: It still contains config entries for things that aren't even in A3MP, like vehicles and weapons. This will not only cause problems with the mod itself (loading singleplayer games doesn't work), but it will also create potential config file conflicts when using other mods.

Unfortunately, most people are rushing out projects like this just to be the first to release it.

[olds 15]

Varanon really said it best - I second and third what he says!

Like other open-source 'software', CUP allows mods to be improved and upgraded over time rather than dying due to their deficiencies. Nobody's release is perfect--particularly with these A2 ports--they all benefit from multiple eyes and incremental improvements.

[personal rant]

People need to get over themselves with the whole "not sharing" thing - if BIS had such a secretive and proprietary attitude toward their work we wouldn't be able to mod worth $#%! And they have the (legitimate) excuse of being a private business trying to make money!

[/personal rant]

Join CUP, the members are incredibly nice and helpful--your work will go smoother and you can still go out there and tell everyone what you did and get all the congratulations you deserve.