Why is this game having such a serious lack of user-created content?

[katipo66 94]

100% the helmets and the ridiculous looking skeletor suits under the uniforms, i actually like uniforms themselves.

Also some vehicles are not believable or convincing as military vehicles such as the ifrit with its lounge size front windscreen and Madrid with limited commander views but then one could harp on forever about those.

What i really like are FIA units and all the irregular aggressors and the return of the AK - different strokes :D

Look forward to when all those low tech vehicles make it ingame.

[bad benson 1733]

Look forward to when all those low tech vehicles make it ingame.

exactly my view. it's not so much about future vs m4/ak/humvee but more about stuff looking fucked up and used i think. i mean most stuff just looks like from an arms convention. i think a really battered ifrit with some gear on it (with physX anims) would do so much for the over all look and make it look more convicing. and the lack of real shitty old greek civ cars is sad. i really loved all those old school chernarus/takistan cars. they had character.

to me everything being clean and 100% factory condition totally ruins the illusion of being in a war. i know stuff is robust and all but there's not even noticable mud or dust on anything.

[roshnak 41]

That is a problem. It doesn't quite fit that everyone is driving brand new SUVs in an apparently war-torn country. I mean, the car I'm driving now is 20 years old. The military equipment could also definitely use some wear,

[Bee8190 10]

I agree the muddied vehicles with some gear on them like towing cables, extra cartridges, bags and whatnot would greatly improve the settings.

[pd3 25]

Good man :)

I hate 3rd person, regardless what people say it's always abused to look around corners or over obstacles.

As long as the AI has the superhuman ability to identify you through a small sliver between some branches that would normally just look like an obfuscated mess to a regular player, I can understand why people would use it.

[mistyronin 1181]

100% the helmets and the ridiculous looking skeletor suits under the uniforms, i actually like uniforms themselves.

Amen. At least BI should release one version of each CSAT uniform without the metalic / ceramic / whatever skeletor, and we could give them other helmets with configs.

[Rocksteady 10]

Also some vehicles are not believable or convincing as military vehicles such as the ifrit with its lounge size front windscreen

It's based on a real vehicle:

News Article

I agree with the sentiment that most things in the game aren't futuristic at all.

Still waiting for some old weaponry and vehicles. Civ Hunting rifle would be nice

[almanzo 144]

I can only speak for myself. I was working on an ARMA II campaign intended for my community, and I considered releasing it to the public as a single player/coop thing but abandonded it since my community jumped on the ARMA III wagon.

I would still love to make that campaign, if not only for the challange. I have the first couple of missions all ready in my head. Guerilla warfare against a brutal dicatorship kind of deal, with NATO air support inspired by the Libya war.

But the game lacks a few things to make it happen. An under powered, under equipped faction, believable civillians and especially civillian women. My characters are basicly locals who fights in order to provide better lives for their families and friends. Hell, I would very much like to have playable female characters too, but I guess that's not as high a priority. Female civillians though, is a must for my campaign. And I would need CAS airplanes for NATO, and alot of low tech weaponry like AKM's, hunting rifles, old pistols, maybe shot guns and so on. The AK family is the most common weapon in conflicts around the world, and I highly doubt that it will dissappair in the comming 20 - 30 years. I don't mind having CSAT as the main villain, even though it's not ideal. But they could work. But I need a proper guerilla faction.

And for me, releasing anything based on mods would only complicate things. I would actually release on workshop, but as the game is now, there is no concievable way of making this happen. The current guerilla faction feels generic, so does the civillians. I wouldn't dress like I was on vacation while there was a war going on in my back yard at least.

[Alwarren 2765]

As long as the AI has the superhuman ability to identify you through a small sliver between some branches that would normally just look like an obfuscated mess to a regular player, I can understand why people would use it.

Besides the fact that IMO third person completely destroys immersion, the AI cannot spot you through solid walls yet in 3rd person you can do that.

[eymerich 11]

Besides the fact that IMO third person completely destroys immersion, the AI cannot spot you through solid walls yet in 3rd person you can do that.

True. But no one force you to use 3rd person in such case. :)

IN any case, back to topic, I think that the main reason of so few add-on is the lack of documentation and the fact that creating an add-on is truly time consuming: add tthis to the fact that arma is aimed to a mature people (opposite of Cod), which have work and family.

If 2+2 = 4 then...

[seba1976 98]

The end result was easy to predict as soon as the futuristic setting was announced: In A3, everyone will need ACE. The motivation and know-how, needed by every new iteration of the RV engine, will grow exponentially, that's why there are no great content released so far, and the most capable group in the comunity are the ACE guys.

And ACE will be imposed on us, because they will have the better and probably only functional modern era military everything. I know that's not bad for the great mayority of players, but for me it's terrible. Mainly because I don't need even half of ACE, and because I'm a scripter, and ACE is heavy, and bad for the scripting environment, and you end up not being able to propperly debug what you do; other people decides what's best for you, and you don't have alternatives.

And let's face it, BIS had problably not much choice but going for the near-future setting they went, but almost everyone get more inmerse in real life simulations, and now that means addons, tons of addons to, basically, have the A3 engine rendering contemporary settings. And those addons, eventually unified under the ACE pack, will have to be loaded, and handled, and the engine will perform worse than vanilla, and add tons of new bugs, etc.

Now that I think about it, BIS could have just pretty well released a modern setting simulation, the new engine would have been enough. Just imagine A3 quality modern day military units. THAT would have been great. Even for ACE.

Sorry for bleak post, I still think we will see amazing things in A3, and nothing I said is so terrible to stop us from just enjoying the good parts of the whole story. To be more clear: I do enjoy A3.

My 2 cents. Cheers.

[PuFu 4591]

i don't even know where to start withr this post of yours. Initially i wanted to mention, in the same sentence, someone's mother and all the intimate bodyparts, but eventually i vented off...differently. I'll promise to be gentle being valentine's day and all...

The end result was easy to predict as soon as the futuristic setting was announced: In A3, everyone will need ACE. The motivation and know-how, needed by every new iteration of the RV engine, will grow exponentially, that's why there are no great content released so far, and the most capable group in the comunity are the ACE guys.

false.

1. ACE is, by definition, a group that creates features and not content. They rely heavily on other people's generated content. All former modeler members of ACE such as panda, scuba, kinghommer, and why not, myself, are busy with other projects, real life or left modding scene completely. So i really see not relation between ACE and the futuristic setting and environment A3 is made around. With A3, if ACE ever sees light of day (and i see not reason not to), more than ever, it will rely on other people content, and/or ported A2 content.

2. In A3, i (and opposed to you i will keep just myself in the list, not everyone else just because it gives you a false sense of security and weight) i don't feel the need for ACE. So false again.

3. Saying there is no great content released so far is such a big slap in face to everyone that uses their free time and share their results freely around this community. Great job lad, you should give yourself a big nice juicy prize.

And ACE will be imposed on us, because they will have the better and probably only functional modern era military everything. I know that's not bad for the great mayority of players, but for me it's terrible. Mainly because I don't need even half of ACE, and because I'm a scripter, and ACE is heavy, and bad for the scripting environment, and you end up not being able to propperly debug what you do; other people decides what's best for you, and you don't have alternatives.

I am trying to blame, for the overall incoherence of the quoted part, exclusively "the english", for having the indecency of being a language.

Let's me start by saying it is a fallacy once more: no one is imposing anything down your throat (not addons that is, the rest is none of my business). If for one reason or another you want to skip a freely provided addon, you can do just that happily.

And let's face it, BIS had problably not much choice but going for the near-future setting they went, but almost everyone get more inmerse in real life simulations, and now that means addons, tons of addons to, basically, have the A3 engine rendering contemporary settings. And those addons, eventually unified under the ACE pack, will have to be loaded, and handled, and the engine will perform worse than vanilla, and add tons of new bugs, etc.

What does this have anything to do with the subject at hand? My opinion: none.

Now that I think about it, BIS could have just pretty well released a modern setting simulation, the new engine would have been enough. Just imagine A3 quality modern day military units. THAT would have been great. Even for ACE.

Twice in a row: nothing to do with this particular subject.

Sorry for bleak post, I still think we will see amazing things in A3, and nothing I said is so terrible to stop us from just enjoying the good parts of the whole story. To be more clear: I do enjoy A3.

My 2 cents. Cheers.

being bleak is the last of its faults.

Wish you a fair tailwind!

[lugiahua 26]

I can only speak for myself. I was working on an ARMA II campaign intended for my community, and I considered releasing it to the public as a single player/coop thing but abandonded it since my community jumped on the ARMA III wagon.

I would still love to make that campaign, if not only for the challange. I have the first couple of missions all ready in my head. Guerilla warfare against a brutal dicatorship kind of deal, with NATO air support inspired by the Libya war.

But the game lacks a few things to make it happen. An under powered, under equipped faction, believable civillians and especially civillian women. My characters are basicly locals who fights in order to provide better lives for their families and friends. Hell, I would very much like to have playable female characters too, but I guess that's not as high a priority. Female civillians though, is a must for my campaign. And I would need CAS airplanes for NATO, and alot of low tech weaponry like AKM's, hunting rifles, old pistols, maybe shot guns and so on. The AK family is the most common weapon in conflicts around the world, and I highly doubt that it will dissappair in the comming 20 - 30 years. I don't mind having CSAT as the main villain, even though it's not ideal. But they could work. But I need a proper guerilla faction.

And for me, releasing anything based on mods would only complicate things. I would actually release on workshop, but as the game is now, there is no concievable way of making this happen. The current guerilla faction feels generic, so does the civillians. I wouldn't dress like I was on vacation while there was a war going on in my back yard at least.

I wonder if female models could be ported from Arma2? If they can figure out the different skeleton issue...

And yes, we need more types of firearms, mostly AK/AR and Civilian weapons, like shotguns, bolt hunting rifles, pistols. (At least CZ and Glock, maybe Browning HP as well)

FIA should have limited armor, like outdated or captured vehicles.

Edited February 14, 2014 by Lugiahua

[xx_fr0st-w0lf_xx 10]

The end result was easy to predict as soon as the futuristic setting was announced: In A3, everyone will need ACE. The motivation and know-how, needed by every new iteration of the RV engine, will grow exponentially, that's why there are no great content released so far, and the most capable group in the comunity are the ACE guys.

And ACE will be imposed on us, because they will have the better and probably only functional modern era military everything. I know that's not bad for the great mayority of players, but for me it's terrible. Mainly because I don't need even half of ACE, and because I'm a scripter, and ACE is heavy, and bad for the scripting environment, and you end up not being able to propperly debug what you do; other people decides what's best for you, and you don't have alternatives.

And let's face it, BIS had problably not much choice but going for the near-future setting they went, but almost everyone get more inmerse in real life simulations, and now that means addons, tons of addons to, basically, have the A3 engine rendering contemporary settings. And those addons, eventually unified under the ACE pack, will have to be loaded, and handled, and the engine will perform worse than vanilla, and add tons of new bugs, etc.

Now that I think about it, BIS could have just pretty well released a modern setting simulation, the new engine would have been enough. Just imagine A3 quality modern day military units. THAT would have been great. Even for ACE.

Sorry for bleak post, I still think we will see amazing things in A3, and nothing I said is so terrible to stop us from just enjoying the good parts of the whole story. To be more clear: I do enjoy A3.

My 2 cents. Cheers.

I really hope that BIS will create a standalone expansion back of A3 in contemporary times. This futuristic concept is *in my opinion* a horrible choice.

Fine some of this tech may exist but why would humvee's disappear from existence?

[seba1976 98]

I really hope that BIS will create a standalone expansion back of A3 in contemporary times. This futuristic concept is *in my opinion* a horrible choice.

I hope they will see that they would sell that just as easy as DayZ... But I really don't see that coming. They will probably add more factions that fit the time frame of the current setting of the game (meaning more near future extravaganza).

I wonder what will they come up with for A4... WWII is a no go, nam is a no go, cold war & middle east won't make it... So? Even BF failed with it's futuristic attemp. Maybe post apocaliptic world?

I think it's safe to assume that the modern era content is out of the table from the BIS side. They are obviously relying on the community for that. At this rate, they will be adding the missing content until the product's end of life.

[bigpickle 0]

My 2 cents:

Arma3 is just so buggy and incomplete, trying to make a mod is just down right painful.

[xx_fr0st-w0lf_xx 10]

I hope they will see that they would sell that just as easy as DayZ... But I really don't see that coming. They will probably add more factions that fit the time frame of the current setting of the game (meaning more near future extravaganza).

I wonder what will they come up with for A4... WWII is a no go, nam is a no go, cold war & middle east won't make it... So? Even BF failed with it's futuristic attemp. Maybe post apocaliptic world?

I think it's safe to assume that the modern era content is out of the table from the BIS side. They are obviously relying on the community for that. At this rate, they will be adding the missing content until the product's end of life.

Yea it kind of hurts. I would have liked if A3 had absolutely NO new content. Just a the current engine + all of A2's + AO content. They could have focused on missions for the rest of their life if that pleased them.

Jesus if they released all of A2 content in a 40$ dlc I would have bought 9 copies.

[roshnak 41]

I don't understand all this concern about release content in a thread asking about modding. You guys know the whole point of addons is to add new stuff to the game, right? Like, the fact that Arma 2 was about a modern day conflict in Eastern Europe didn't stop people from making a popular addon (actually, quite a few addons) about a zombie apocalypse. Or the CWR team from bringing the 1980s set OFP into the game. Or the two or three Vietnam addons. Or WWII addons.

How does Arma 3 being set in 2035 instead of having a "modern military" setting make people not want to make addons at all?

It always takes addon makers awhile to get up to speed with a new release, and this release in particular makes it more difficult to bring work from previous games forward. I happen to think this is a good thing; I'm tired of seeing the same models and textures reused over and over again.

[Ypulse 10]

one of the main thing is that modders are holding back their product, they dont want to release.

[Alwarren 2765]

one of the main thing is that modders are holding back their product, they dont want to release.

Err.... Why would they be doing this? What indication do you have for this?

[windies 11]

Err.... Why would they be doing this? What indication do you have for this?

Maybe he means because of the Make ArmA Not War contest?

[Alwarren 2765]

Maybe he means because of the Make ArmA Not War contest?

I don't think that there will be masses of modders participating, and considering how many mods get released, I don't think there is a lot of people "holding back" :)

[windies 11]

I don't think that there will be masses of modders participating, and considering how many mods get released, I don't think there is a lot of people "holding back" :)

I don't either, I just meant that would constitute a "indication".

[xx_fr0st-w0lf_xx 10]

I don't understand all this concern about release content in a thread asking about modding. You guys know the whole point of addons is to add new stuff to the game, right? Like, the fact that Arma 2 was about a modern day conflict in Eastern Europe didn't stop people from making a popular addon (actually, quite a few addons) about a zombie apocalypse. Or the CWR team from bringing the 1980s set OFP into the game. Or the two or three Vietnam addons. Or WWII addons.

How does Arma 3 being set in 2035 instead of having a "modern military" setting make people not want to make addons at all?

It always takes addon makers awhile to get up to speed with a new release, and this release in particular makes it more difficult to bring work from previous games forward. I happen to think this is a good thing; I'm tired of seeing the same models and textures reused over and over again.

The one possible reason is because A2/OA was comparable to real life scenarios and quite immersive. You can be watching the news about some troops in Afghanistan and feel the urge to hop on OA. Also contemporary military was and always will be the perfect base point for content. It can be created with out speculation and compared to real life equipment/vehicles easily.

Just to put things into perspective: how many mods for A2/OA focused on future warfare?

Not many. Why? Because people are not interested in that. If they were you would see plenty of mods for A2/OA about future warfare. However you are absolutely right, people made Vietnam, zombie and ww2 mods because people enjoyed that and it was interesting. Unlike future warfare.

Now we have a game who's entire focus is future warfare, and half the community is attempting to just bring contemporary military/A2 content back to A3 while the other half is trying it's best to use what little was given to create new addons.

[seba1976 98]

The one possible reason is because A2/OA was comparable to real life scenarios and quite immersive. You can be watching the news about some troops in Afghanistan and feel the urge to hop on OA. Also contemporary military was and always will be the perfect base point for content. It can be created with out speculation and compared to real life equipment/vehicles easily.

Just to put things into perspective: how many mods for A2/OA focused on future warfare?

Not many. Why? Because people are not interested in that. If they were you would see plenty of mods for A2/OA about future warfare. However you are absolutely right, people made Vietnam, zombie and ww2 mods because people enjoyed that and it was interesting. Unlike future warfare.

Now we have a game who's entire focus is future warfare, and half the community is attempting to just bring contemporary military/A2 content back to A3 while the other half is trying it's best to use what little was given to create new addons.

Spot on. Thanks for putting into a few words the whole problem.