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

[.kju 3239]

@ Scimitar and LSD_Timewarp82

Soon these will be replaced by the CUP weapon pack finally.

In regards to issues - fair enough.

However even basic reports with rpt and context (mission/situation) are a starting point.

[kuunmies 1]

Am I supposed to be using JSRS 1.5 with this? When it's activated all the sounds have huge echo...

[LSD_Timewarp82 21]

Yes you need the Arma2 JSRS

[scimitar 221]

I can't say that I've had the echo problem but I've wondered if there are any benefits/conflicts with using JSRS 1.5 (A2) alongside JSRS 2.2 (A3) when running AIASA with AIAHQ.

@kju - I'll see what I can do in the future about reporting errors. I just don't want to complicate things by posting errors that aren't AIASA/AIAHQ related.

***EDIT*** This is an edit to report an edit :). I edited my campaign overview post on the previous page to change the Ghost Recon: Podagorsk campaign to working. Either the latest AIASA update fixed the saved game crashing issue or changing my mod load order did. I'll try the other non-working campaigns again as time permits.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Scimitar

[qwertz 10]

Hey guys,

this project and my modding activities are at a crucial turning point and I'd like to

get your thoughts and suggestions on that topic.

Let me give you some context first, explain the current situation next and what may

come after finally - to give you the transparency and information to make a good judgement.

Vision

---

As a follow-up to CAA1 and TKOH-Rearmed, A3 Rearmed/All in Arma was meant to allow

seamless integration of content from previous titles to A3.

Goals

---

The main focus was on BI content (A1/A2/OA/TKOH)

Yet also to make community-made content available

This was meant to work with little to no changes on the existing content itself

Of course certain features from A3 would not be supported out-of-the-box that way

It was meant to be available with the alpha release of A3 or in stages thereafter

So in summary to both make lots of content available early on in the lifetime of A3

and to make sure all the endless of amount of work by community people would transition

over to the latest series quickly and on a very large scale.

History and background

---

Note: You can learn some more details on the following story from this post

in the "Opening up Arma 3 to paid user-made content" - How? thread.

The short version is that I planned to end my now almost ten years career in OFP-Arma

modding with a new game mode for A3. The goal was to simulate warfare in a persistent

24/7/365 scenario with a mix of elements from Planetside, DayZ and CTI among others

built upon gameplay, realism and community values, like open to mods, open source and cooperation.

On a smaller scale this was already done by the German community back in OFP known

since as realwar with various offsprings in the various Arma titles, yet focused

on an organized community with weekly/monthly sessions - my vision was to bring this

to the general public and to be able to play it at any moment.

As a project of such scale is a lot of effort, basically I tried to get BI interested,

failed and tried to cross-finance its development by working for BI and others.

In this thread's context: As a result I worked on A3 Rearmed for some time, which later

became All in Arma as community project when BI decided to change priorities.

Situation

---

Personal

--

Unfortunately both time-taking and income wise the different attempts to finance

the project have been underwhelming to say the least. One has to understand that

making a complex game mode is easily 3-6 months full time work.

I have been pushing this for way too long and justifiable.

Working part-time for Sickboy's company building Play withSIX for the last 6-9 months

has allowed me to prolong this state for some more time, but it has come to a point

where it is no longer feasible for me to continue like this.

While BI has allow me to ask for donations for All in Arma, this has utterly failed.

So far I have received for both AiA and IFA only 75€ (-5€ Paypal fees) in total

by six individuals in the last 8 months.

For context: That amount equals to 1-3 hours compensation for freelancer work

of that kind in Germany.. or as another reference a regular job has 20-25€/hour pay.

(A monthly salary is 3500-4000€ per month (before taxes) or 1.5 to 3 times as freelancer)

Been occupied with those other jobs resulted in having only limited time to work on Arma modding.

The time I had has gone mostly helping the Community Upgrade Project/people in general,

helping the team to improve Iron Front in Arma 3 and to publish its updates - yet almost

two and a half years later I was still not able to start the work on the game mode..

All in Arma

--

Essentially there has been very little progress since the A3 alpha release 1.5 years ago

for two main reasons:

1) Despite considerable support (top 30 in votes) BI was not willing or able to put resources

into fixing the old vehicle simulation and some issues like ponds or infinite terrain,

or extending their documentation efforts (more details).

As such All in Arma and other A2/OA community-made content is of limited use for A3.

To their credit they have released last fall the source data for A2+OA and thus allowing

the community to port and upgrade the content with the new A3 features.

Still it remains a lot of effort and not many people do it.

Finally some weeks ago they have also released some of their internal development tools

that help considerable in config work and tweaking PhysX for vehicles. This reduces effort

a good deal at least.

2) Several people have joined the Community Upgrade Project, while a few others have shared

their work with it. There is progress and some releases incoming. However you have to realize

it is a lot of work to port content to A3 - especially vehicles; and A2+OA is a lot of content/

data to cover. As such it takes a long time. In addition it is only a small team of active people.

As mentioned earlier this is where I have put most of my time by assisting their efforts;

aside from the work on Iron Front in Arma 3 and AiA HQ.

The All in Arma High Quality pack was meant as a bridge until content from CUP itself

becomes available. Unfortunately as the replacements are somewhat complex, the used mods

getting updated every once in a while and a large array of content to cover, it is also

a lot of work - even with the content mapping assistance I am getting thankfully from Hannibal.

There haven't been updates for a while as I simply wasn't able to make time/the time available

was spent on the above, as well as to avoid double work with using CUP assets anyway and

the overall effort for weapons and vehicles replacement being even higher.

In general aside from merging into ported/upgraded assets from CUP or doing replacements

there is simply not much I personally can do with my skill set to improve the overall playing

experience and quality of the content.

What is next

---

Now there are basically three options:

1) Someone else takes over - I am open to that and have been asking around a bit already.

However the complexity, scale and overall effort makes it not very likely to find someone

up for the challenge.

2) Members from CUP have suggested to try to get the funding for the new game mode from community people

that like my work at the site http://www.patreon.com, like dslyecxi has done successfully for his video projects.

Personally I am doubtful after the crushing failure with donations, yet maybe its about presentation

and promotion for the most part to get considerable more people to contribute.

I'd love to hear your thoughts about this and if you were ever to consider providing support

to modders in such way.

3) AiA goes into hibernation eventually going defunct by one of the next patches from BI

(unless someone else makes a third party fix).

Work list

---

Here is a brief overview of the things I would still like to do for AiA/that would make sense:

Standalone object pack for terrains to allow the download/use of single terrains (ie. just Chernarus) or a terrain only pack (a la A3MP)

Potentially further separating the all-in-one package to sub modules (ie. infantry only, vehicles only, weapons only)

Merge in all the improvements made by CUP once they become ready

Merge in improvements provided by other community members

Provide additional replacement configs for the AiA High Quality pack

Make all BI SP missions from A2+OA working (the campaigns are for someone else)

Make it possible to run OFP missions with AiA

Closing

---

For me All in Arma was one of the projects to help me finance the development

of the new game mode, yet it didn't work out at all so far.

For the community All in Arma could have had a huge impact even early on - sadly

it didn't happen as explained above.

That said it might still become a base to play non future era content and to make

use of the community-made content for A2/OA.

This largely depends if it will be continued to be maintained and merged with CUP

releases. Otherwise it will probably fade away sooner or later.

If I am gonna be part of that will largely depend on the success of people willing

to help me fund my modding projects one way or another.

Hi kju,

while I am largely retired from ArmA for quite a while now, I still remember the great work that you have put into AAS back in the ArmA 2 days, and seeing that you are still contibuting so massively to the community, I have signed up for patreon to give back at least a little.

I can totally understand your motives, and hope you can make it work for you - the ArmA community would lose a lot if you would have to move on...

Keep up the good great work !!! :clap:

PS: Seeing that AiA is such a popular project, if everyone who uses it would just give $1-2 per month, this would be a non-issue. Think about it! :)

[kuunmies 1]

Okay, got this set up in my dedi server and now when I try to load any mission it gives some "You cannot play/edit this mission; it is dependent on downloadable content that has been deleted. aia_misc_config" error. I tried many missions and latest was Escape Chernarus, that has no mods in to it, should be vanilla arma2 what it needs. I'm puzzled here again... :D

edit. aahh man I was so excited to get this running that I forgot to install missionselectioncrashinghotfix :)

So when using jsrs(1.5?) for arma2 do I also use the correct cba for it plus @cba_a3?

Edited September 14, 2014 by Kuunmies
got it working

[itrungchemxx 10]

can anyone play dayz singleplayer with this ??? plz tell me. i've tried many different vanilla dayz and variant from kodabar but i'm just stuck at some kind of fake lobby after loading the scenario (screenshot below)

http://i.imgur.com/3b722W2.jpg (151 kB)

Edited September 15, 2014 by itrungchemxx

[.kju 3239]

The 2014-09-07 update is out. :bounce3:

You are seeing correctly .. 7 days late. :(

This is mainly as it has become a full replacement - so delete the old version first!

Note: PWS handles everything itself correctly.

As such the data preparation and upload have taken way longer than planned. This is due to a mishap on my side.

However in return all textures now have A2 technology compression meaning slightly smaller size without quality impact.

I have automated the process even more and thanks to the Syncrify application have an easy and a working way to do

differential updates from my computer to the build and distribution server - aka it takes way less time most of the time.

In return the update got a few more unplanned additions during the midweek work from the delay.

Onto the content of the update:

This time with a more descriptive way - I hope.. feedback welcome.

PS: You still find the technical summary in the first post and a link to all details.

Did you spot the differences yet?

(details in the first post)

Big thanks to Pansyfaust for his excellent contributions!

You can find more sweet and shiny improvements coming soon to your home in his steam screenshot gallery.

Next in line is no other than SMD Sharani made by M1lkm8n, Bad Benson, and CiforDayZServer.

If you are not familiar with it yet, go check out the SMD Sharani release thread NOW!

Understand that this is the first step - the full integration of the new open building variants

will be completed with the next update. There are also some issues we are aware of.

However this means all community made terrains using these A1 buildings will get auto upgraded as well!

More videos available in their youtube channel and images in their gallery.

Fabio Chavez has contributed A3 style grass for Chernarus, has adjusted brightness of general terrain and Chernarus lighting,

has replaced the Chernarus midDetailTexture with the default A3 one [experimental] and has reduced the area of flare effect around sun by 50%.

He is eagerly waiting for your comments and feedback. :)

Final main topic to mention is better support for community made terrains.

There should be no more missing model/texture errors.

Also there might be a few more terrains without pondline bug! Please test again and report back.

Oh and let's not forget the randomly crouching issue solved at last!

You find a couple more smaller resolved issues listed in the first post.

Enjoy :bounce3:

PS: Don't miss out on the falling tree sound from OFP is back!

[neodammerung 8]

has the "almost everything will fall like a tree when you run into" bug been resolved or is it planned ?

[itrungchemxx 10]

can any one play dayz singleplayer using the this standalone version of the mod, plz help

[neodammerung 8]

has the "almost everything will fall like a tree when you run into" bug been resolved or is it planned ?

Ok downloaded, tested, it has been fixed, thank you !

EDIT : But please revert this :

Changed: Chernarus midDetailTexture to the default A3 one [experimental].

This is awful, it makes me want to puke, it's the reason I can't play without babe_midtex in A3, please don't bring it on A2 maps :(

[RSF TheCapulet 59]

Ok downloaded, tested, it has been fixed, thank you !

EDIT : But please revert this :

This is awful, it makes me want to puke, it's the reason I can't play without babe_midtex in A3, please don't bring it on A2 maps :(

But... doesn't this allow you to use babe_midtex now?

[neodammerung 8]

But... doesn't this allow you to use babe_midtex now?

nope, last AiA SA had great mid range texture like in A2, now with this update it has the ugly A3 one, babe_midtex didn't change anything before nor now, I guess it doesn't apply to anything other than Altis/Stratis, I don't know

[KingoftheSandbox 10]

There are engine sounds now for vehicles or did i hear wrong?

ups, just realized the the video is a2 lol

[-lordsoth- 15]

Can i confirm that for every update of AiA standalone I have to delete and re-download the entire 13gb mod??

[.kju 3239]

@ Kuunmies

Check out AiA HQ. (see sig)

@ Scimitar

You have to ask LordJarhead (the author) about running both JSRS version. :o

@ qwertz

Happy to see you still around. :bounce3:

Your contribution is very much appreciated! :eek:

PS: In general you are right, but with 1-2$ paypal/the fees take a very large percentage. :(

@ Kuunmies

Only CBA_A3 is needed.

Upload the rpt log file of both client and server, if the issue persists.

@ itrungchemxx

Sorry no idea - probably needs some scriting adjusted.

Try to locate a download for the zoombiemod port of DayZ mod to A3 and merge it with the SP version.

@ Neodammerung

almost everything will fall like a tree when you run into" bug

Please explain in more detail what you are about. :confused:

Thanks for the feedback on Chernarus midDetailTexture. It will be taken into account.

@ TheCapulet

Technically it doesnt work this way.

Bad Benson is assisting us however. :)

@ KingoftheSandbox

Unfortunately not no. Either BI has to fix the old vehicle simulation - which seems very unlikely to happen, :(

or each vehicle to be ported to use PhysX. This will take a long time unfortunately.

@ -lordsoth-

This time yes. In the future probably/hopefully not/just patches again. :o

[vagrantauthor 174]

Thank you kju and everyone else involved in making AiA happen. It's an incredible contribution to the community.

I'm receiving a few errors when loading A3 with AiA Standalone. Here's my most recent rpt log: arma3_2014-09-16_15-50-48.rpt

I'm fully open to the possibility that I'm doing something wrong. I just don't know yet what that is.

My thanks in advance for any assistance.

[jcae2798 132]

A crazy question.....is it possible to zip this into two folders, one for TP and the other for everything else? Reason I ask is i downloaded both to avoid issues with crashes and conflicts when i want to use maps only If not i am wondering if there is an easy list of what files i should separate myself for future releases.

Thanks!

[itrungchemxx 10]

dam. thanks for the tips but unfortunately both zoombie and deadnation are down and breaking point is in alpha and there is even no mission.pbo for lan hosting so i give up all hopes :(

[.kju 3239]

@ vagrantauthor

Your mod load order is wrong.

1) Don't use the internal mod launcher.

2) Don't load the A3 game folder as mod.

What happens is you first load A3\addons and then the mods.

@ JCae2798

Not sure if I get your question right. However it doesnt sound like possible.

Just load either AiA TP or AiA SA given what you need/want.

[andersson 285]

What he is asking if it's possible to have the units in one pack and the islands in another? The islands are already separated (thank you) but I agree it would be convenient to have all the units and compability in a separate download. That way we can play with only the islands and with the whole shabang without downloading the islands two times and have them in different modfolders. Today its SA or TP.

As I have TP and would like to play with SA I have to DL the islands one more time, instead of just DL the units. And even when I have DLd SA I would like to have the choice of only use the islands. Is that possible today without duplicates? I guess I/we can put the islands manually in another modfolder of our own choosing so it's not a big deal for me personally. But for many users it would be more convenient with splitting the two completely and maybe even easier for you to maintaine?

Just questions and no demands, if you understand what I'm trying to say :)

[il_padrino 1530]

Hi, since the last update, I noticed that all ArmA1 animations, which I have been using for my artwork, are now missing. Were they removed on purpose or by error ? If you removed them for good, that's a shame since those are some cool animations.

[.kju 3239]

@ andersson

Way too much effort and practically impossible to untangle.

AiA TP already contains some containers from weapons/vehicles/etc - just with reduced data.

So such will never happen. AiA TP was already a lot of effort and it is even more than actually

reasonable effort to maintain to the five different packs.

Just use PWS if the download amount is a problem or use the AiA TDP torrent to get just the AiA TP specific files,

to build it yourself along with the data from AiA SA.

@ il_padrino

Make yourself a simple addon with this config (rename the cfgPatches class and disable the block comment):

https://dev.withsix.com/projects/all-in-arma-data/repository/revisions/master/entry/data/DBE1/Models_DBE1_c/Anims/config.cpp

Edited September 17, 2014 by .kju [PvPscene]

[tyler2 10]

Hi Kju! Thank you for a great job! Will "AiA SA" (full version) in the program "Play withSiX"? I found it only Lite version.

[.kju 3239]

@ tyler2

You are welcome. :)

Not in the foreseeable future unfortunately. :(