Addon Bulder SitRep

[bigpickle 0]

On the tools side, there will be a new version of Addon Builder. Its primary new features are the ability to binarize data for both Arma 3 and older Arma games.

Addon builder has always been able to binarize. :confused:

I might be misunderstanding but why is this being plugged as a new feature?

[sakura_chan 9]

Also:

-New gui looks awful and is hard to read

-annoying "confirm overwrite" box with no keyboard shortcut, you have to click it

-completely redundant "its done derp" box, again with not even a keyboard shortcut to help, you have to click it.

They have effectively made it worse and tripled the clicks 10/10 would download again

[da12thMonkey 1943]

Addon builder has always been able to binarize.

I might be misunderstanding but why is this being plugged as a new feature?

My understanding of it is that the previous version of addonbuilder only compiles .pbo with binarised data files in the latest Arma 3 formats.

For example Arma 3's ODOL format (the binarised .p3d, compared to the unbinarised MLOD format) is different to Operation Arrowhead's, which in turn is different to Arma 2 etc. A2/OA cannot read an Arma 3 ODOL at all so you couldn't make that type of addon for Arma 2 (among others), using the new tool suite unless you use another program to compile the .pbo (use an old version of binPBO or something).

It seems they've added a feature whereby you can choose to compile data to the formats used by previous games in the series using the same tool, so that older games can have addons made with the new tools. Obviously this is if you make the addon to the standards of the old games, without trying to include new Arma 3 features that aren't supported by the old engine like PhysX LODs, unhide animations in the model.cfg etc. etc (though I guess those would just get ignored and discarded when binarising in the old formats).

I agreed with Sakura that the new UI isn't nice. And the fact that "list of files to copy directly" has been cleared again, is rather annoying (there were default entries to this when your freshly installed binPBO, would be nice if installing addonBuilder put at least the most basic ones like .paa in the list by default)

Edited May 29, 2014 by da12thMonkey

[m1lkm8n 410]

Then stop wasting time and posting about it.

Use proproject.

http://dev.withsix.com/projects/mikero-pbodll/files?sort=created_on%3Adesc%2Cfilename

[granQ 293]

What really annoys me is that it now takes two extra clicks compared to the old one.

Before:

*Click* Pack

Done

Now

*Click* Pack

*Click* Are you sure?

*Click* Done!

Done

If you pack an island once a day, its great... if you work mostly with addons and pack 4 times during one hour, it gets annoying..

[warlord554 2065]

The fact that we can pack multiple formats is awesome. Has been my number one reason to leave behind older Arma Modding, and stick with A3.

[gundy 10]

I cannot find the option to set the prefix any longer and PboPrefix.txt seems to be ignored as well. Any ideas?

[soul_assassin 1723]

+ commandline is completely broken

[james_manring 1]

Still no answer on Prefix? That is VERY important!

[soul_assassin 1723]

http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=19181

Still no idea when the hotfix will be published though :( awaiting very eagerly.

[james_manring 1]

I tried to get that tool that was suggested above working instead so I can actually do my mod work tonight, and it tells me it cannot detect Steam Tools though they are painfully obviously installed. I guess we are stuck waiting for BIS to release something new.

[m1lkm8n 410]

I tried to get that tool that was suggested above working instead so I can actually do my mod work tonight, and it tells me it cannot detect Steam Tools though they are painfully obviously installed. I guess we are stuck waiting for BIS to release something new.

Works fine here. Maybe try reinstalling the steam tools?

[roberthammer 582]

also it still checks every folder outside of addon folder , which is annoying as hell and slows things down

[warlord554 2065]

So guys I haven't updated my A3 tools to the new one yet. I'm seeing quite a few hassles regarding the new ones. So should I wait to update? Is there anything in the new ones that makes it worth it(new samples, etc)?

[roberthammer 582]

So guys I haven't updated my A3 tools to the new one yet. I'm seeing quite a few hassles regarding the new ones. So should I wait to update? Is there anything in the new ones that makes it worth it(new samples, etc)?

You have to decide :D - also check TECHREP changelog http://dev.arma3.com/

[Chairborne 2594]

How did you solve the prefix parameter issue?

By using:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3 Tools\AddonBuilder\AddonBuilder.exe" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\@cha_test\addons" -clear -prefix="cha\cha_lav25" -project="p:\cha\cha_lav25"

It keeps telling me the destination parameter is incorrect, if i remove the quotation marks it tells me there can only be one source and destination parameter (i'm assuming it doesn't like spaces between folder names).

How can i solve this?

I need the final path to be addons>cha>cha_lav25, right now it just skips the middle folder. :mad:

[.kju 3240]

try this instead:

"-prefix=cha\cha_lav25" "-project=p:\cha\cha_lav25"

or drop the quotest completely where not needed

[Chairborne 2594]

With the following:

P:\AddonBuilder\AddonBuilder.exe P:\Cha\Cha_Lav25 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\@cha_test\addons" -clear -prefix=cha\cha_lav25 -project=p:\cha\cha_lav25

And eventual variation on quotes' position keeps throwing me this error:

2014-07-05 07:36:05,967 [iNFO] - ==========================================================================
2014-07-05 07:36:05,974 [iNFO] - WELCOME TO ADDON BUILDER
2014-07-05 07:36:05,974 [iNFO] - ==========================================================================
2014-07-05 07:36:05,986 [ERROR] - Init Steam failed
Steam.SteamAPIInitializationException: Exception of type 'Steam.SteamAPIInitializationException' was thrown.
  at Steam.SteamHelper.Init()
  at AddonBuilder.Startup.Main(String[] args)

It happens even if remove all the parameters.

If i take away one of the first three paths it just says the destination directory is missing.

[saltatormortis 12]

dump question have you steam not running?

[Chairborne 2594]

No it was running.

edit: i rebooted the PC, apparently Steam lost connection without telling me.

Now it binarized the file and apparently it worked fine.

Thanks for the tip!

Now there's another problem, the list of files to include is too long to be accepted by the properties bar... :mad: :mad: :mad:

Edited July 5, 2014 by Chairborne

[soul_assassin 1723]

For some reason now every time packing through the commandline causes our alpha channels not to be transparent. All clear areas turn opaque black. Something to do with the project commandline?

"P:\rhsafrf\addons\rhs_2s3" "K:\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3\RHSAFRFDEV\addons" -clear -prefix=rhsafrf\addons\rhs_2s3 -project=P:\rhsafrf\addons\ -sign="K:\Development\RHSArmaPBOPacker\RHSArmaPBOPacker\bin\x86\Debug\Keys\rhsafrf.biprivatekey" -include="K:\Development\RHSArmaPBOPacker\RHSArmaPBOPacker\bin\x86\Debug\Files\excludes.txt"

[teacup 2]

I get black instead of transparency as well. I think it's binarization that's killing transparency. Packing/binarizing from GUI myself.

Edit: it may not be the tool though. I managed to binarize & pack my Su-22 without errors, and transparency was fine. When i try to binarize the ArmA2 An-2 which i'm trying to port over, i get an error in Binarize\bin\config.cpp. Binarization finishes, but transparency is lost. So chances are the model.cfg is somehow responsible for the error and loss of alpha. Or even the P3D.

Edited July 9, 2014 by teaCup

[teacup 2]

Wow, LOL. Sometimes AddonBuilder makes me want to cry.

I was trying to binarize and pack the ArmA2 Antonov An-2, to port it to ArmA3. And ran into a problem, or several:

- Error in config D:\SteamLIB\SteamApps\common\Arma 3 Tools\Binarize\bin\config.cpp popup.

- Binarization and packing continues past the above error, but the final PBO is not where it's supposed to be (this was easy, just had to copy from temp folder, known bug).

- When testing in game, all transparency is gone, lots of black instead.

Luckily, I had another addon handy that I knew was good, it binarized and packed a month ago without a hitch. Tried to pack that, and surprise, it worked. Something must be wrong with my An-2, right? Config, model config, model, materials, textures, folder structure - something. Started swapping things out, isolating the problem. Took me a day, but found it eventually - it was AddonBuilder: if the addon folder sits in the root of my D:\ drive (D:\TCP_A2_An2) then I get all the above problems. If I move the folder from the root (to say, D:\stuff\TCP_A2_An2) it binarizes and packs without a problem. Can someone confirm?

http://publicfiles.armedassault.info/teacup/AddonBuilder_NoAlpha.jpg (203 kB)

[m1lkm8n 410]

I can confirm you my friend need to give pboproject a try. Stop pulling your hair out with addonbuilder.

[Chairborne 2594]

Throw that piece of garbage in the trashcan, trust me.

It's no use going insane trying to make them work properly.

I opened at least 15 tickets in the feedback tracker, of which half were tools related and most are still unresolved or outright ignored.

I moved to pboproject as well last week and i sure don't miss Addon Builder.