I get the impression arma is not for people without scripting knowledge

[Maxzy 12]

I start my ARMA during OFP times. During that time, I don't know anything about scripting. I do everything in the editor. Not even the init line. I use waypoints and synchronize and triggers most of the time. Then I learn how to change default loadouts ([removeAllWeapons this] is my first script command). Only in ARMA 2 I started sqf scripting. And some sort of 'high level' scripting.

So my point is, enjoy the flexibility in the editor. Make some nice AI battle and play as a spectator. To be honest that is how I mostly play ARMA. pretend it to be a strategy game, put some soldiers here and there, and try to attack it with this amount of troops, go there, capture here... Its really like playing toy soldiers when I was a kid. In time, you'll get the hang of scripting...

When I read the topic's name and first message in it, this was exactly the text I was going to write in reply =). Some weird shit sometimes happens in internet =))). So I'd like to add something - I practically live in editor since OFP. And then I didn't know ABSOLUTELY nothing about scripting. But it didn't stop me from enjoing a game. As Mr_Centipede said - it was simple missions with simple tasks, like "here's your team of four - go kill that mechanized infantry group" and such. But now Arma 3's editor is SOOOO much bigger and better than what it was 13 years ago, that to say that peolpe without scripting knowledge have very limited features available to them, is not fair at very least. Things that took me hours to make in Arma 2's editor, now are made with two mouse clicks thanks to modules =)).

P.S. I still know jack shit about scripting =)). Usually, if some idea comes to my mind that requires scripting, I just go to Armaholic - it's almost 100% chance that someone already did everything you need =))).

---------- Post added at 11:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:02 PM ----------

Dan;2755095']^that' date=' + an easy way to create unit loadouts and import them in the editor.[/quote']

There's that thing, it's called Virtual Arsenal as far as I remember =)). It's built in the game. Its somewhere in menu. There's no easier way to create unit loadouts in the world. And impoting them in the editor takes one click of a mouse and pressing two keys on your keyboard - ctrl+V.

Edited August 17, 2014 by MAXZY
inner grammar nazi woke up =)

[[evo] dan 79]

well do you remember the first beta showcase? the units page had an equipment tab at the bottom... i guess they axed that good feature...

Exactly, and I don't know why they ditched it because it was an excellent idea.

Also why cant I use ctrl and drag to clone objects?

I remember someone creating a thread with all the suggestions in.

[Gunter Severloh 4064]

To me the best way is to learn by doing, trial and error with said references open, learn from others, I found imo the best way to learn is to open the scripts and look at them,

open the missions and look at them, make associations with codes, and things, implementing scripts you will learn things.

For example i learned how to implement various scripts at once and found something not working, and then i compared notes to a mission I had that had

the same features that worked and discovered the problem, now it works, I was like this is Awesome i was so excited!

To this day i still cant script or code from scratch and i been in this since release of OFP demo, not that I cant, im just to lazy, just not my thing i dont have

the patience for it, but i have other methods to get around to it. it also depends on what you want to do, best advice i can give is just open the files/missions up and look

at them and understand what they do, read threads here in the mission editing and scripting section and see what other's are talking about, try their scripts,

or codes and see what happens.

Arma is no game where u can just start and just jump in and play, on the one side you can, but for the best experience getting involved in the game externally with

files and such makes for a much more deeper and longer lasting experience, if this game series necer came about I'd probably be playing RO still or COD, or BF, or

something else, spending my money constantly, but OFP broke that as i know that whatever I may buy and I never buy

anything its rare that I can build or do the same thing in Arma.

[lawndartleo 109]

I rather think its is the other way around. While my scripting knowledge is minimal at best, among the friends I play with I am the only one who has really put in substantial effort into learning how to as we'll as implement pre made scripts. The end result is I probably spend more time dabbling in the editor while they play. They get plenty out of ArmA PLENTY. Most of them have zero interest in scripting, much less any mod use or implementation. We run a mod free server mainly because nobody want to deal with downloading, installing and maintains the latest version of @thenextbigthinginmods. I find this unfortunate because mods are where ArmA truly shines. Regardless, they get out of ArmA exactly what they want and happily come back for more. Those of us with the patience to implement that which even fewer of us produce in additional game content are far out numbered buy those who would rather just play.

[Maxzy 12]

Dan;2755191']

Also why cant I use ctrl and drag to clone objects?

It is done with ctrl+C/ctrl+V.

[twangydave 7]

I'm just putting the finishing touches to my first SP mission in the editor and I have zero knowledge of scripting.

I got Arma 2 for Day Z and didn't even know it had an editor. A long time after getting bored with Day Z, I decided to give Harvest Red a go and really enjoyed it. Despite a lot of things that I found frustrating, I felt Arma had something unique and special about it that reminded me of the early days of playing computer games when I'd disappear into a game world for days on end.

On this basis, I bought Arma 3 through Steam. This was my first intro to user missions and mods. I'd looked at stuff like that before but the instructions had always seemed a little complex so being able to click on 'Subscribe' was a easy way to get into the more complex side of Arma (Steam is good for something after all!).

Seeing all the user made content was a real eye opener and definitely inspired me to go looking at the editor. My first messings with the editor were quite exhilarating, I started placing units and waypoints and a few hours in, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I was pretty confident until I started to try to concoct a cohesive scenario with a flow and function to it. At that point I almost gave up (perhaps this is the wall you have hit?), everything I wanted to do seemed to be too complex and difficult and my google'd questions just threw up tons of info about scripts. I felt a bit foolish and naïve that I'd tried to take on a 'programming' task without any skill, knowledge or experience of that type of thing.

I walked away from it for a few days and then decided that I wasn't going to quit because, whatever the challenge, I was really enjoying the learning and the process. I realised that some time and effort was going to be required and application was necessary but I also realised there was a wealth of info to search on these forums and a great community who were willing to share.

Some aspects have not been easy such as briefing screens and triggering sounds but almost everything you could possibly need can be searched for and then copied and pasted or implemented. When it doesn't work and you have to fix it is then when you start to learn about how stuff works rather than just using other people's know how.

While I've rambled plenty:p I hope the point comes across that even a complete noob with no prior experience can put something out if you put in the work. OK, I'm at a very basic level and to get to the level of the really skilled guys will take a very long time as their stuff is effectively as good as the BI content. If you are happy to start small and gradually increase your skills there is tons you can do with the basic tools.

My first mission is nearly finished. It uses the basic game editor and some stuff I've read on these forums. I've got no scripting knowledge or tech skills or relevant experience so my mission won't be the best mission out there. But I'm happy with it as an enthusiastic amateur and it's been tons of fun doing. It's not quite ready for release yet but I have done a quick video of the first 10 minutes playtime:-

[haleks 8212]

Excellent post!

I can't believe how many people bought Arma3 after being introduced to the serie with the DayZ mod. ^^

I myself come from the same place and discovered modding & scripting along with DayZ (See my first work).

In the end it comes to how motivated you are : after a year or so, I felt confident enough to work on my own mod and ,while doin' so, keep learning new stuff every week.

To stay on topic : the OP is certainly right, Arma could be more user-friendly, but, on the other hand, I think it is the lack of pre-made solutions that pushed most of us to fiddle (and discover) with scripting & editing.

It seems to me that this is why Arma has such a gigantic modding community.

[galzohar 31]

Making content creation without scripting knowledge will be pretty impossible for BIS. There is just too much that you can do with this engine that you simply can't make it all accessible with simple to understand UI.

Some specific things can be made available (see ALiVE modules, or even BIS modules and simple triggers/waypoints), but it's still specific things. To create exactly what you want you're going to have to script it. Using a template like MCC also gives you access to quite a few useful scripts without any scripting knowledge.

But saying ArmA is not for people without scripting knowledge is silly. The game has plenty for you to do without having to create your own content. You're just 1 guy, there are so many others that do make content that you can play with 0 scripting knowledge. Sure, much of it is horrible, but there's quite a bit that is good. Also, if you can't script and don't like the missions you do find that were made by others, the least you can do is try provide feedback and/or bug reports to those who made the missions.

[Dieinthedark 10]

I agree with this post to a degree. It's definitely frustrating at first when you enter the editor and have grand ideas about what you want to do and realize you have no clue where to start. But with lots of googling and wiki/forum searching slowly things come together and it's a great feeling when you can get your ideas worked out. Especially with only little help and guidance. Obviously I'm a n00b on the forums but Arma is by far the most rewarding game I've ever played. I played Op Flashpoint Dragon Rising on 360 and while it was terribly unpolished I knew I wanted something like that. Arma was next on the list :)