New Possible Addon Need Community Feedback Before Starting Official Thread [BV]

[BlackViperGaming 3]

Please post below what you think the mod should be called

Please remember that not only will this mod be set in the current time period rather than the future but it will also be implementing other mods that enhance immersion and realism, it is not strickly time period based. Please take this into consideration when posting suggestions and name suggestions. :D

Hello everyone,

I currently have plans for an upcoming addon that I will be working on but seeing as my last project went up in flames I do not want to start or even get an official thread going before I know how the community is going to react to this. So please leave your feedback below and I will take everything into consideration.

Anyways ever since ArmA 3 was confirmed to be set in the near future I cringed a little bit. It made me take a step back and even consider if I was going to purchase the new game as ArmA 2 was still going strong for me. To me the ArmA franchise was all about everything from the big bang to this day. Nothing was every officially made by BI to be "futuristic". I realize that some will say that everything in ArmA 3 is actually IRL that is true but most of the things are not in actual service and are currently prototypes. There are reasons why we aren't using these things right now. So what I hope to achieve with this addon is to fix that entirely and with the addon change the setting from being near future to as it was in ArmA 2 so everything up until modern day.

I will start out by whipping out everything futuristic about ArmA 3, obviously none of the gameplay mechanics are futuristic but as far as the assets go. Every unit, vehicle, weapon, item, clothing, etc. that is not "real" will be removed via config, and everything that has a IRL counterpart will receive its IRL name.

Next I will keep the Generic 3 Factions but simply define them fuller.

Blufor:

US Army

US Navy

US Marine Corps

US Air Force

US Coast Guard

US Air National Guard

US National Guard

US Police Force (possibly specify further via citys, LAPD NYPD etc.)

US Secret Service

British Army

British Royal Navy

British Royal Marine Corps

British Royal Airforce

(possibly change British to UK)

Canadian Army

Canadian Royal Navy

Canadian Royal Air Force

(might shorten to CD)

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force

Japan Air Self-Defense Force

NATO

Australia etc. (basically many allied forces to the US)

Independant

UN(All countries will be seperate within UN, just can't bother to list them all)

Opfor

Russian Ground Forces

Russian Air Force

Russian Navy

Russian Airborn Troops

Russian Aerospace Defence Forces

Russian Strategic Missile Troops

(might shorten to RU)

Korean People's Army Ground Force

Korean People's Navy

Korean People's Air Force Strategic Rocket Forces

North Korean Special Operation Force

(etc. enemies of US and allied countries)

Civilians:

Civilians obviously.

I would also like to mention that I will be implementing some mods to combine with this to create a very realistic and immersive experience while also making arma 3 into the arma 2 time period without harming gameplay)

All factions would get their specific weaponry, vehicles, and such. Basically to totally rework how ArmA 3 plays out. Very high probability to include other mod authors within this, I already got some permissions to add specific addons to this addon. I think I got my basic point across so please let me know what you guys think and give me feedback weather or not I should go ahead and start this project or just leave as is because ArmA 3 does not need this. I appreciate you all for reading this far and I appreciate all the feedback I hope to recieve before going ahead with this ambitious project. If any questions arise please feel free to leave them below or send me a pm. Thanks

-Black Viper

Edited April 14, 2014 by BlackViperGaming
added naming contest

[Ckrauslo 12]

Just two things, will you create you're own models or just retexture?

Why japan is in opfor if it is a US ally since the 80's?

---------- Post added at 05:30 ---------- Previous post was at 05:28 ----------

Japan is actually considered to be one of US greatest ally currently in the world, (and they are one of the ones who help containing North Korea-"Word from a WO in US army stationed in South Korea _ WO Marcelo Bini)

[BlackViperGaming 3]

Just two things, will you create you're own models or just retexture?

Why japan is in opfor if it is a US ally since the 80's?

---------- Post added at 05:30 ---------- Previous post was at 05:28 ----------

Japan is actually considered to be one of US greatest ally currently in the world, (and they are one of the ones who help containing North Korea-"Word from a WO in US army stationed in South Korea _ WO Marcelo Bini)

I will most likely use current models out there and re texture them (with permission from original mod author of course) for each faction they belong in but for models not already created I will either model them or have someone model them. Im still very new to modeling and am learning. Oh and I fixed the Japan thing...didn't know. :D

[JRobin 16]

Ckrauslo is correct. Japan is currently an ally of the U.S.A.

And as for the structure of the factions...NATO is an alliance formed by the United States and European nations. So it'd be...odd to add NATO as an INDFOR group, when it is made up of the BLUFOR groups.

Also, unless you plan to include maps set in the United States (Which you very well might, I don't know yet. If you do, ignore this line.) I wouldn't include the US Police. Just my two cents.

All in all, this is a very ambitious project. If it takes off, I wish you the best of luck.

[Ckrauslo 12]

Ckrauslo is correct. Japan is currently an ally of the U.S.A.

And as for the structure of the factions...NATO is an alliance formed by the United States and European nations. So it'd be...odd to add NATO as an INDFOR group, when it is made up of the BLUFOR groups.

Also, unless you plan to include maps set in the United States (Which you very well might, I don't know yet. If you do, ignore this line.) I wouldn't include the US Police. Just my two cents.

All in all, this is a very ambitious project. If it takes off, I wish you the best of luck.

I agree with you, police would be a odd choice, but while i was stationed in Haiti, i did see some US police officers dressed with their uniforms but with UN helmets, and fire fighters, paramedics, they could be part of UN Aid workers, that would be a nice addition, Actual Aid workers instead of just UN military Peace Keepers, Black Viper i wish you the very best luck, and if may i suggest something, try to find Sudden in the armaholic forum, and ask his permission to retexture his East vs West soldier models, and ask help to solve the uniform clipping trough BI Arma 3 plate carriers and other vests, this way you could have a type of uniform most of the community want, with nice plate carriers from the actual game itself

[warlord554 2065]

Honestly I see a lot in this mod that has been done, in the making, or straight ported from A2. I think its great you want to get into a good project and that you want the community to enjoy it. That's awesome, however I would advise perhaps picking one area you'd like to expand on and go from there, something small but worthy of your hard work. Then go from there, you never know where you will end up ;) Modding can be extremely time consuming and exhausting, but its a lot of fun too. Perhaps an altis coast guard, or bring over some more A2 vehicles for your listed factions, or some 80's & 90's factions. Sounds cool and hasn't really been done, you get my drift. I'm like you, I can't stand the "futuristic" setting either, the community, including myself are well on the way of fixing this though. There are a lot of projects in the works. Not harping on you bud just giving some input. I'll support you either way and good luck :)

Edited April 12, 2014 by WarLord554

[PenguinInATuxedo 18]

What you propose is a LOT of work, even fleshing out one or two factions can take months.

Just be aware you don't bite off more then you can chew.

[nomisum 129]

yeah sounds a bit overambitious.

start small, release early and grow over time. like a startup. otherwise you might end up under the rock you were rolling up the mountain :D

Sent from mobile

[BlackViperGaming 3]

Ckrauslo is correct. Japan is currently an ally of the U.S.A.

And as for the structure of the factions...NATO is an alliance formed by the United States and European nations. So it'd be...odd to add NATO as an INDFOR group, when it is made up of the BLUFOR groups.

Also, unless you plan to include maps set in the United States (Which you very well might, I don't know yet. If you do, ignore this line.) I wouldn't include the US Police. Just my two cents.

All in all, this is a very ambitious project. If it takes off, I wish you the best of luck.

I completely derped on the IND part...would the UN be the IND groups? I think so but I'm not totally sure. And yes I do plan to include maps set in the US but that would definitely not be in the first release. *cough cough* Bainbridge Island rotated 90 degrees clockwise.(Been working on this for a while)

I agree with you, police would be a odd choice, but while i was stationed in Haiti, i did see some US police officers dressed with their uniforms but with UN helmets, and fire fighters, paramedics, they could be part of UN Aid workers, that would be a nice addition, Actual Aid workers instead of just UN military Peace Keepers, Black Viper i wish you the very best luck, and if may i suggest something, try to find Sudden in the armaholic forum, and ask his permission to retexture his East vs West soldier models, and ask help to solve the uniform clipping trough BI Arma 3 plate carriers and other vests, this way you could have a type of uniform most of the community want, with nice plate carriers from the actual game itself

I will most likely be adding the UN aid workers as well because I didn't really take IND into consideration when thinking of this in my head. And I will try to find Sudden and see if he can help.

Honestly I see a lot in this mod that has been done, in the making, or straight ported from A2. I think its great you want to get into a good project and that you want the community to enjoy it. That's awesome, however I would advise perhaps picking one area you'd like to expand on and go from there, something small but worthy of your hard work. Then go from there, you never know where you will end up ;) Modding can be extremely time consuming and exhausting, but its a lot of fun too. Perhaps an altis coast guard, or bring over some more A2 vehicles for your listed factions, or some 80's & 90's factions. Sounds cool and hasn't really been done, you get my drift. I'm like you, I can't stand the "futuristic" setting either, the community, including myself are well on the way of fixing this though. There are a lot of projects in the works. Not harping on you bud just giving some input. I'll support you either way and good luck :)

Many of the assets that have been ported over to ArmA 3 will be used in this mod, I have been sending PM's to several people doing those A2 ports to use them in the mod with their permission. (Konyo, RobertHammer, alexboy,etc) And gotten some very welcome responses. There is a addons for ArmA 2 that actually inspired me for this one, you might not remember because it was quite a niche but its the "80s, 90s, early 2000 US Military" http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?162768-US-Military-Mod-(80s-90s)&highlight=early+military I might see if I can contact the mod author and see if he is willing to share some assets as IMO they look really great.

What you propose is a LOT of work, even fleshing out one or two factions can take months.

Just be aware you don't bite off more then you can chew.

Don't worry about that, I plan to start the work off small then grow it into all the factions.

yeah sounds a bit overambitious.

start small, release early and grow over time. like a startup. otherwise you might end up under the rock you were rolling up the mountain :D

Sent from mobile

Exactly.

Edited April 12, 2014 by BlackViperGaming
wrong link

[Ckrauslo 12]

If you need tips on UN peace keeping units,or aid workers there are a lot of guys in the comunity who have been peace keepers, i defenitly wouldn't plaace the UN as Ind cause the UN leaders are in the US and EU... But i would place the UN as all of the sides, Bluefor, and opfor, ind is middle....why opfor? Russia has soldiers in peace keeping for UN, China do too, almost every country in the world has it, could be used for when you want to play a peace keeping mission as one of the opfor guys....well this case would make a lot of sense in the Ind, but you would have to place each type of soldier with the camo of every country you listed...hope my line of thinking makes sense

---------- Post added at 17:42 ---------- Previous post was at 17:39 ----------

Except for North korea they don't get along with anyone, and as you only have these two countries as opfor place russian units in UN peace keeping

[BlackViperGaming 3]

If you need tips on UN peace keeping units,or aid workers there are a lot of guys in the comunity who have been peace keepers, i defenitly wouldn't plaace the UN as Ind cause the UN leaders are in the US and EU... But i would place the UN as all of the sides, Bluefor, and opfor, ind is middle....why opfor? Russia has soldiers in peace keeping for UN, China do too, almost every country in the world has it, could be used for when you want to play a peace keeping mission as one of the opfor guys....well this case would make a lot of sense in the Ind, but you would have to place each type of soldier with the camo of every country you listed...hope my line of thinking makes sense

---------- Post added at 17:42 ---------- Previous post was at 17:39 ----------

Except for North korea they don't get along with anyone, and as you only have these two countries as opfor place russian units in UN peace keeping

Who would you place as IND? And I will probably comprise the UN as its seperate faction countries like UN Russian Peacekeepers, UN United States Peacekeepers etc, so it will be the mediators. And yes each would get its own camo, (plus blue UN helmet).

[Drongo69 117]

If you want to make an addon, make an addon. Nobody is stopping you.

You have a ridiculously huge list of factions to produce. It's not impossible, as demonstrated by hard-working chaps like Massi and AntoineFlemming, but I don't think you appreciate how much work goes in to producing a single faction. People will give you more credit if you release something, even a work in progress. Making posts in the Addons: Discussion section is much easier than making posts in the Addons: Complete section.

As for the 2035 setting, IMO BIS did not go anywhere near far enough with futuristic gear. No optic camo, no thermal shielding in uniforms, no disruptive energetic material or guided small-arms rounds, no exos, etc.

[jinzor 31]

In my personal opinion, I'd say go for something a bit more original than just adding more present day stuff to ArmA III, it's been talked about a lot and is already being worked on by Red Hammer Studios (RHS). If you want to make factions, why not make a faction nobody has ever thought of creating before?

At least with ArmA III's setting, modders have more creative freedom to create whatever they want without being constrained by the limitations of reality. For example, if somebody wanted, they could create some kind of near-futuristic African Union military and find a way to fit it into the lore of ArmA III (2035) if they wanted, sort of like what I'm doing at the moment with the European Union (I haven't updated the thread in 2 months, but I've been working on it on and off due to sudden university work that needed doing some times, like right now. So far I only have the vest, helmet models completed, now I'm finishing off the first weapon for them with the help of other modder's guidance. I knew it was never going to be easy to make a faction, I had experience working on BF2142 mods before ArmA III and trying to work on the art assets for that North American Coalition faction for 2142 - Northern Excursion was hard enough).

Edited June 8, 2015 by Jinzor

[chops 111]

If you really want to know what the community wants, I'll tell you. Fewer pointless threads about pipe-dreams.

Here's a retexturing tutorial thread, that's a good place to start. Perhaps retexture an A3 independent soldier into one of the 32 (yes I counted them) factions you plan to represent in your mod, then go from there.

If you actually put in some effort, people on these forums are incredibly helpful and patient with advice and assistance.

[vasmkd 12]

Good luck with this brilliant idea

I'm sure that list of content could be covered in no time :icon_rolleyes:

[gurdy 479]

What you propose is a LOT of work, even fleshing out one or two factions can take months.

Heck, I'd say it'd take closer to a couple of years to get two factions nearing completion!

I don't want to discourage you, but what you propose is nearly impossible--you couldn't even steal work and kitbash BIS models to get a finished product here. I also think it's strange that you dichotomize the factions like you do.. I know it's just a game, but I think it's in poor taste to relegate unnamed countries to "Australia, etc.", and non-NATO members to "enemies of US and allied countries". It may just be me, but I feel that if you can't even be bothered to name the subjects of your addon and treat the topics with individual respect, you probably don't have the capability to administer and complete a project of this scale. This post may be skirting on the edges of appropriateness, but I really, really encourage you to just focus on one thing that you have a passion for. A single thing. Once you understand the amount of blood, sweat, and tears needed to create even the most simple of addons, I think you'll want to reevaluate your list. :p

[BlackViperGaming 3]

Heck, I'd say it'd take closer to a couple of years to get two factions nearing completion!

I don't want to discourage you, but what you propose is nearly impossible--you couldn't even steal work and kitbash BIS models to get a finished product here. I also think it's strange that you dichotomize the factions like you do.. I know it's just a game, but I think it's in poor taste to relegate unnamed countries to "Australia, etc.", and non-NATO members to "enemies of US and allied countries". It may just be me, but I feel that if you can't even be bothered to name the subjects of your addon and treat the topics with individual respect, you probably don't have the capability to administer and complete a project of this scale. This post may be skirting on the edges of appropriateness, but I really, really encourage you to just focus on one thing that you have a passion for. A single thing. Once you understand the amount of blood, sweat, and tears needed to create even the most simple of addons, I think you'll want to reevaluate your list. :p

Thanks for the feedback, I do realize that this project is very ambitious and It will probably end up taking 6 months to a few years to complete. I am fully aware of this. Most of the assets will be reskins of current mods out there and I will be working alongside other addon makers to get some new models in game. This list is merely a end result that I want to achieve. First I will start out by say working on Blufor and US Army specifically and once I have that completed to my liking I will be moving on to the next branch, reusing assets from previous branches.

When you say "I think it's in poor taste to relegate unnamed countries to "Australia, etc.", and non-NATO members to "enemies of US and allied countries"." The only reason I put Australia, Etc. is because I didn't have the time to go through and literally list every single country. The list is simply a basic display of the base idea. If anyone else has a better way of dictating what blufor, opfor, & ind, by all means please let me know. Any help is much appreciated.

BTW I would like everyone who is willing to support this addon to please put a suggestion for a name. I currently have a few in mind but I want to see what the community can come up with.

---------- Post added at 13:06 ---------- Previous post was at 13:03 ----------

Good luck with this brilliant idea

I'm sure that list of content could be covered in no time :icon_rolleyes:

Please refrain from this kind of sarcasm, only helpful advice & or criticism is allowed here as this is "my thread". Please keep it free and clear of all offensive remarks, only helpful criticism.

[BlackViperGaming 3]

Original post now updated with current information. :)

[vasmkd 12]

Please refrain from this kind of sarcasm, only helpful advice & or criticism is allowed here as this is "my thread". Please keep it free and clear of all offensive remarks, only helpful criticism.

Not intended to be offensive at all, like a lot have said, way too much content and that is what will turn any modders off helping you out. I was just trying to state the obvious.

You would be better trying to make 1 or 2 factions 1st and then use this as an indicator of how long the others would take. And a project like this goes beyond the models and textures. Bug testing, sounds, scripts, configs etc etc

Probably taking 6 months to complete, id'e be looking at closer to 10 years and that's been generous x2 for all those factions, especially if its high quality.

Don't get me wrong but I think your been seriously over ambitious and getting interest will require ppl to see some WIP.

Also have u taken into account what the mod D/L size would be?

How many ppl you would need?

[BlackViperGaming 3]

Not intended to be offensive at all, like a lot have said, way too much content and that is what will turn any modders off helping you out. I was just trying to state the obvious.

You would be better trying to make 1 or 2 factions 1st and then use this as an indicator of how long the others would take. And a project like this goes beyond the models and textures. Bug testing, sounds, scripts, configs etc etc

Probably taking 6 months to complete, id'e be looking at closer to 10 years and that's been generous x2 for all those factions, especially if its high quality.

Don't get me wrong but I think your been seriously over ambitious and getting interest will require ppl to see some WIP.

Also have u taken into account what the mod D/L size would be?

How many ppl you would need?

Alright, but you gotta realize that it kind of came off offensive. Anyways I should have an official thread going with some WIP screenshot soon. I am not going to start an official thread without some WIP screenshots as it might give false hope. And Yes I have considered file size, it will be over a gigabyte for sure, maybe for along the lines of 5 once it is finished. But I will have different versions with and without some different options for content. (Ultra Realistic dl, gameplay oriented dl, etc) And I just need a few people to start off with and hopefully this will be able to grow into something wonderful.

[BlackViperGaming 3]

Please post Ideas for a Name/ Name Suggestions. I'm going to be starting the official thread soon but I need a name for this mod, I had a few in mind but I want to see what the community comes up with. :D

[corporal_lib[br] 396]

CoN - Clash of Nations ;)

[BlackViperGaming 3]

;2672202']CoN - Clash of Nations ;)

Nice, but It isn't really a clash...

[m1lkm8n 411]

Blackvipers Loads of Units :)

Or BLU for short

[BlackViperGaming 3]

Blackvipers Loads of Units :)

Or BLU for short

Not sure if your being serious or you are trying to be mean. TBH when I read that I read at first "BlackViper's Loads of Sh*t"...Not sure if you meant it this way or its just my really F*cked up mind...-_-, probably my really f*cked up mind.