The CSAT Modification Project (Release)

[PolyG 69]

@Lt. Mack I honestly don't know much of whats going on at the moment. I've been working full time and Evan's doing his education at Westpoint. So if I ever get a chance to sit down with him we can discuss further what we plan - But for now Its not Off the books, but not quite on. Its TheEvanCats mod after all :) I'm just the schmuck that he has working while he can't.

[theevancat 277]

Welcome to the Pacific.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[theevancat 277]

So obviously that last post was a tease. This is the real thing.

 

I'm back from my absence now that I've got my work and life under control. It's been a long year and a half and I've been struggling under the pressures of West Point cadet shenanigans, military training in the summer, and a nuclear engineering degree keeping me more than busy. I've also got family and girlfriend obligations to attend to before I can even think of sitting down for an hour and playing video games. However, with my increase in class at the academy comes new privileges: I have my gaming rig up and ready for future Arma and future work on the mod, so expect to see updates come in the future! For now, the focus comes on fixes and improvements to existing assets that honestly kind of look and handle like trash (the Keftar, for one.) But at the end of the day, releasing this update feels like I'm coming home again.

 

Merry Christmas, and here comes the new update!

 

A lot of work went into what's mostly a fixer-upper following a year's worth of pounding by updates. More importantly, it's a sign that I'm gonna continue developing for the mod. A lot went into the Eden editor that I had to figure out, as well as some changes to the game that broke some stuff like the hats and the vehicle proxy paths and whatnot. I'd like to give thanks to my buddy PolyG for keeping it under control during my absence, he did a lot to keep the mod running even through all of the big changes that BI have made in the game.

 

As for future updates, I want to do a comprehensive language fix for the mod... The Military Academy makes every cadet take a foreign language and, funnily enough, put me in the Persian language program. Now that I actually understand the alphabet and words and things like that, I want to take the time to properly Romanize the Persian language words that I picked to describe the assets. This might mess with some of the classnames, so consider this a warning order for mission makers! Also in the playbook is bringing the Apex assets to the Iranian side... the VTOL, fast-attack vehicle, and robot helicopter all are going to become incorporated into the arsenal. Further "professionalization" is in the books, like small little UI things that make the mod look slicker and more quality-focused. And, like I said, asset cleanup and beautification makes the existing models and textures look better. We're back in business.

 

Anyways, enough rambling. Here's the release. As always, let me know if there are problems:

 

Dropbox link:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9dsg7rysjmd650s/CSAT Modification Project v1.5.4.zip?dl=0

 

Changelog :

1.5.4 (12/25/16)
> Rose from the dead.
> Spread Christmas cheer to all on the nice list.
> Added black RPG-42s.
> Added unarmed and medical Marid APCs.
> Fixed Iranian flag texture on vests.
> Fixed retextures on headgear not showing up.
> Fixed ItemInfo.Scope error on startup.
> Fixed Keftar AFM: it should be faster and more agile as intended.
> Fixed various errors involving texture paths.
> Fixed texture errors on Abda turrets.
> Fixed damage proxy paths on the Abda.
> Updated factions to 3D editor category standards.
> Incorporated PolyG's bugfixes (listed below):
> Updated ballistic protection to updated standard.
> Updated Abda PhysX.
> Updated Abda PIP.

 

Edit: Here's the PWS link.

 

[R0adki11 3949]

Welcome back 

[Masnooper 42]

Good, I can help you with Persian language thing if you feel it's needed.

[Guest]

New version frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

The CSAT Modification Project v1.5.4

[Nichols 243]

Nice way to come back in style...I like the look of the whacky Iranian faction on Tanoa.

[Nicholas.Bell 11]

On 12/25/2016 at 4:51 PM, theevancat said:

West Point cadet shenanigans, military training in the summer, and a nuclear engineering degree keeping me more than busy. I've also got family and girlfriend

 

You are one incredible man to be even contemplating modding with all this on your plate.  Your superhuman efforts are much appreciated.  Terrific mod, easily my favorite.  Thanks!

[jacobs 165]

The CSAT uniform still has armor, is it by creator's design? Isn't it an AAF uniform (beautiful) retexture?

[theevancat 277]

On 12/28/2016 at 6:39 AM, jacobs said:

The CSAT uniform still has armor, is it by creator's design? Isn't it an AAF uniform (beautiful) retexture?

 

The CSAT uniform shouldn't have armor, since it's supposed to be straight fatigues. If it has armor it might stem from the fact that it takes properties from the standard OPFOR uniform, which obviously has the armor on it. I'll take a look into it, though.

[3p0x1 74]

Congrats on the release man, I feel your mod is mandatory for A3 and is implemented expertly.  Thanks a million for your time!

[Ghost_Warden 30]

Hi !

 

Do you plan on making uniforms for CSAT units without armor ? As I understand, you want to deactivate this horrible situation. I'd like this too for my mod, I deactivate each armor value to get back the punishing firefights we known on ArmA II. Way better than having to shoot four or six times on the same unit. I prefer the one shot one kill for hostiles, player and allies.

 

If you want to be able to disable the armor values for CSAT uniforms, here is how I do.

 

Just solved the mystery.

In fact, there isn't any armor defined for CSAT uniforms, the armor values are defined in the CfgVehicles for the Man classes belongs to OPFOR side.

 

For example :

 

class O_Soldier_base_F : SoldierEB {
		
		class HitPoints {
			class HitFace {
				armor = 1;
				material = -1;
				name = "face_hub";
				passThrough = 0.1;
				radius = 0.08;
				explosionShielding = 0.1;
				minimalHit = 0.01;
			};
			
			class HitNeck : HitFace {
				armor = 1;
				material = -1;
				name = "neck";
				passThrough = 0.1;
				radius = 0.1;
				explosionShielding = 0.5;
				minimalHit = 0.01;
			};
			
			class HitHead : HitNeck {
				armor = 1;
				material = -1;
				name = "head";
				passThrough = 0.1;
				radius = 0.2;
				explosionShielding = 0.5;
				minimalHit = 0.01;
				depends = "HitFace max HitNeck";
			};
			
			class HitPelvis {
				armor = 1;
				material = -1;
				name = "pelvis";
				passThrough = 0.1;
				radius = 0.2;
				explosionShielding = 1;
				visual = "injury_body";
				minimalHit = 0.01;
			};
			
			class HitAbdomen : HitPelvis {
				armor = 1;
				material = -1;
				name = "spine1";
				passThrough = 0.1;
				radius = 0.15;
				explosionShielding = 1;
				visual = "injury_body";
				minimalHit = 0.01;
			};
			
			class HitDiaphragm : HitAbdomen {
				armor = 1;
				material = -1;
				name = "spine2";
				passThrough = 0.1;
				radius = 0.15;
				explosionShielding = 6;
				visual = "injury_body";
				minimalHit = 0.01;
			};
			
			class HitChest : HitDiaphragm {
				armor = 1;
				material = -1;
				name = "spine3";
				passThrough = 0.1;
				radius = 0.15;
				explosionShielding = 6;
				visual = "injury_body";
				minimalHit = 0.01;
			};
			
			class HitBody : HitChest {
				armor = 1000;
				material = -1;
				name = "body";
				passThrough = 0.1;
				radius = 0.16;
				explosionShielding = 6;
				visual = "injury_body";
				minimalHit = 0.01;
				depends = "HitPelvis max HitAbdomen max HitDiaphragm max HitChest";
			};
			
			class HitArms {
				armor = 1;
				material = -1;
				name = "arms";
				passThrough = true;
				radius = 0.1;
				explosionShielding = 1;
				visual = "injury_hands";
				minimalHit = 0.01;
			};
			
			class HitHands : HitArms {
				armor = 1;
				material = -1;
				name = "hands";
				passThrough = true;
				radius = 0.1;
				explosionShielding = 1;
				visual = "injury_hands";
				minimalHit = 0.01;
				depends = "HitArms";
			};
			
			class HitLegs {
				armor = 2;
				material = -1;
				name = "legs";
				passThrough = 0.6;
				radius = 0.12;
				explosionShielding = 0.2;
				visual = "injury_legs";
				minimalHit = 0.01;
			};
		};
		armor = 2;
		armorStructural = 0.5;
		explosionShielding = 0.05;
	};

 

In fact, you must explore the "characters_f.pbo" to be able to find each OPFOR soldiers in the "CfgVehicles" with some armor values defined, then copy past it in your file and edit these values at your tastes or the same those I copy/paste above, I used the one in the CSAT Officer for all other CSAT units.

 

Like that, they all have the same armor value.

[theevancat 277]

7 hours ago, Ghost_Warden said:

Hi !

 

Do you plan on making uniforms for CSAT units without armor ? As I understand, you want to deactivate this horrible situation. I'd like this too for my mod, I deactivate each armor value to get back the punishing firefights we known on ArmA II. Way better than having to shoot four or six times on the same unit. I prefer the one shot one kill for hostiles, player and allies.

 

If you want to be able to disable the armor values for CSAT uniforms, here is how I do.

 

Just solved the mystery.

In fact, there isn't any armor defined for CSAT uniforms, the armor values are defined in the CfgVehicles for the Man classes belongs to OPFOR side.

 

For example :

-snip-

 

In fact, you must explore the "characters_f.pbo" to be able to find each OPFOR soldiers in the "CfgVehicles" with some armor values defined, then copy past it in your file and edit these values at your tastes or the same those I copy/paste above, I used the one in the CSAT Officer for all other CSAT units.

 

Like that, they all have the same armor value.

 

I have been looking into it and figured it was something to do with the CMP units inheriting from the regular CSAT folks. Thanks for the config, that certainly makes it easier for me to find stuff! It's definitely gonna be fixed in the next update.

[Ghost_Warden 30]

No problem, when we can help each other in a community, just do it haha !

 

I was a little skeptical while I see that uniforms don't have any armor values in the base config', and then, I just search in the Virtual Arsenal each uniforms whith armor values, then copy/paste them and explore the "characters_f.pbo", inside the "CfgVehicle" like it concerning the Man bases.

 

And then, I see that the characters defined to wear the uniforms with armor values in Virtual Arsenal have the armor values defined like the vests. So, I just try to copy/paste the classes and modify the armor values with the ones I find by default from the CSAT Officer (similar to each other one) and now, I can see that CSAT uniforms don't have any armor and I can shoot all CSAT unit in one shot, even with the P99, like any other NATO units.

 

So, in clear, even if you surely already understand what I've done (but my english is a little rusty haha), just explore the Virtual Arsenal, then copy/paste the classname of each uniform you want edit/reduce/delete armor value, then in the "characters_f.pbo", in the CfgVehicle, use the search function of your text editor (Notepad++ in my side) and you can find each character that defined to wear the uniform (the uniform classname is define in the config' of the character) then going down in the same classname, you can find the same part I have copy/paste.

 

And here it is ! Now, I'm absolutely sure to be clear, english is not my mother tongue so I prefer using this clear way to explain and be sure to be understandable.

 

EDIT :

 

I just finished the edition to make all the base CSAT units, including the CSAT Viper ones, without any armor value. The CSAT Viper too because I considering thet Viper units are Stealth Special Forces, and who say stealth sayt light, and who say light say no armor. If you want the file to avoid you some search and work, just ask me and I will send you the content.

[theevancat 277]

So far, here's a little bit of the work in progress:

 

CSAT leaders are being equipped with integrated GPS/tactical battlefield networked devices at the squad level and above. These are modeled after the current US Army "Nett Warrior" program to use something like a smartphone to combine together a few different tactical functions.

 

As of right now, the device is a wrist-mounted smartphone and smart glasses combo that does nothing but look cool.

 

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/183919649197759572/C00FD3381C85869AFFBD214A51578C372EB4C7F7/

 

In more mundane news, I'm going through and fixing some loadouts that got broken, like how missile specialists are way too over encumbered since the fatigue update and pilots have no bullets for their SMGs. The armor has also been fixed, thanks to Ghost!

[theevancat 277]

A couple of good notes:

 

This is the Ghatar Heavy Equipment Transporter at the earliest stages... Expect to see the Ghatar carrying a whole host of items like an MLRS unit, command posts, radar equipment, and other mission/flavor items. It also carries stuff. A lot of stuff.

 

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/180542744130832849/9624F956F495841FCD02BA364719D928D21586A4/

 

Stay tuned for more.

[Phantom Hawk 44]

Fantastic mod guys. just one thing jet pilots do not seem to have any helmet please fix this bug.

[theevancat 277]

On 2/26/2017 at 7:08 PM, Phantom Hawk said:

Fantastic mod guys. just one thing jet pilots do not seem to have any helmet please fix this bug.

 

I'll definitely take a look into this.

 

A current status report from me: I've been getting slammed with work once again and I've been so out of the game that the PhysX on the Ghatar has been just a real inconvenience. As much as I'd like to have it working, it never does. So I've been hung up on that and progressing very slowly.

 

All in all, the next big thing should be the Apex content, but I'm not sure if or when that'll come out for us to retexture and use. That way I can start crewing vehicles with CMP guys and hopefully have that NATO drone helicopter in Iranian colors.

 

Otherwise, keep the bug reports flowing in so I can tackle them.

[theevancat 277]

A little status report after this weekend:

 

Someone in NATO clicked on a phishing link or something, because CSAT might have stolen some schematics and started producing their own K22 Zanbur drone. This evens out the drone field for the Iranians.

 

 

It is also with great sadness that I report the death of the SCUD truck port. I found it to be too small to realistically do anything I wanted (carry a vehicle system like the American HET, be an MLRS/SAM platform, etc.) and too much of a giant pain in the ass to implement. I will continue the search for good, quality vehicles to add to the CSAT motor pool and fill the blanks (cough, cough, MLRS) that exist in the force.

[theevancat 277]

I'm more of an Air Assault guy myself, but I guess Airborne is pretty cool too.

 

 

The An-212M Ruk (the Persian spelling of the legendary Roc bird) can carry 50 troops or up to two vehicles. Stand by for a deployment to an airfield near you. Thanks to [Dust]Sabre for the models and permissions! He has a ton of other awesome work for the game, it's all cool stuff.

[wolfgarth 74]

Now nobody can say that the t-100 is a lie

 

 

[bars91 956]

T-100 is more of a glorified T-80U, but close 'nuff )))

[theevancat 277]

Alright, so I've been working on an update for a little bit but I'm away from my data (yay Army stuff) and will be until August. Of course, knowing me, I will then have a little bit of time with the data to fix stuff and try my very hardest to push something out.

 

At the end of August, I will be taking another break to go live in the country of Tajikistan for a few months (I'm actually a CSAT spy I'm studying Persian there.) Once again, I will be unavailable until December. I'm trying to work out something to see if the mod can be at least maintained during that period, in case an update comes out and breaks stuff.

 

As of right now, I'm not 100% content with the state of a lot of the assets and I just want to polish, polish, and polish some more... But if I did that, nothing would get done. Priorities for now are trying to get things up to speed with the newer updates, because I want to cling onto some hope for gameplay relevance. This means I have to fix some bugs that are bothering me, and probably try and update to Jets DLC standards. I hope you guys are understanding that, if you see a rough-looking transport plane flying around, I want to try and get to it eventually!

 

As always, let me know if there are any bugs. I keep a list and I try to hulksmash them, I promise. Thanks for all your support, folks, and keep fighting the NATO aggressors doing your good things!

[Nichols 243]

Hey @theevancat any idea on compatibility with ALiVE for this?

[jarrad96 1940]

I could rather easily make an ALiVE compatibility PBO for the mod and post it here, assuming it's all OK with OP?