noubernou 77 Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) Current Version: 2.1.0.763 Stable RC6 Latest Release Date: 03.21.15 Current TS3 Support: 3.0.16/3.0.11 ACRE2 The Advanced Combat Radio Environment INTRODUCTION Welcome to the ACRE2 Public Beta release! I hope you are as excited as I am to finally have this project out and in the wild! For those who are not familiar with ACRE from Arma 2 or the semi-public port of ACRE1 to Arma 3, ACRE is a full fledged communications suite for Arma, allowing realistic radio and voice communications through Teamspeak 3. The original ACRE released in the Summer of 2010 set the bar for communications in the Arma series and allowed what was once the tedious and long task of organizing Teamspeak or Ventrilo channels, with multiple whisper lists and no direct communications between groups, to be reduced to a natural implementation in a single Teamspeak channel. All players are able to speak with each other directly or use in game configurable radios to communicate at longer distances providing unparalleled immersion in the Arma series. ACRE2 takes what ACRE1 pioneered to a whole new level. With increased performance and stability ACRE2 provides and even more immersive communications experience for the Arma user. Direct voice communications has had a complete overhaul and introduced new features such as occlusion from the environment, including vehicles and buildings, as well as multi-channel audio, allowing voices to be heard from multiple sources. A new virtual language feature in the Babel System allows mission makers to designate "languages" to certain players, making those that do not speak the same language indecipherable. This presents a multitude of gaming scenarios including player translators (Babel allows multiple languages per-person) and enemy communications that are unable to be understood. The core feature of ACRE has always been radios though, and that has undergone major improvements in ACRE2 as well. A new, extremely powerful and modular distributed data system allows for a whole manner of new features to be simulated in a robust and reliable way, and powers the most realistic real time radio simulation released in either the civilian or military market. The new data system is designed to support large numbers of radios, in a JIP compatible and persistent world setup, as well as allowing for the future implementation of highly advanced features such as data event logging and radio replay ability. While the public beta only implements two functional radios at the moment the robust and well documented framework allows for rapid prototyping and easy implementation of new radio systems by ACRE as well as the community at large. The entire system is implemented in a way to maximize commonality with current Arma modding practices, going so far to even allow individual sounds of the radios to be modded by the community or any other feature. Of the two current radios implemented, the AN/PRC-148 is a highly detailed simulation of the real device, offering by the book use, and while still feature incomplete the radio is set to be expanded rapidly with advanced simulation features such as SINCGARS frequency hopping (as well as other ECCM modes) and COMSEC simulation. Further radios, including the well known AN/PRC-119 and AN/PRC-117, as well as a new MANPACK radio are queued for development in the short term. Radio broadcasts have also received an immersion boost. Handling of radio speakers (as in amplified speakers) are now natively implemented in the ACRE engine, allowing radios, including the AN/PRC-148 to emit received broadcasts to the game world and be heard by everyone around them. This includes radios attached to your person. The new custom multi-channel audio system also handles hearing both a person on radio and on direct speaking, removing confusing situations present in ACRE1 where a person next to you might not be audible if your radio volume was turned down, even though you were physically near them. But enough talking about ACRE2, lets get it in your hands! FEATURES LIST A short list of the critical new features in ACRE2. Real time voice occlusion for world objects, including buildings. Babel language system that allows you to implement virtual languages on other players. Multi-channel audio, allowing people on the radio to be heard locally as well. Radios with external speakers. A highly detailed AN/PRC-148 simulation (still a WIP implementing all features). Increased performance and stability. A highly customizable and documented framework for the creation of radios. A highly customizable and documented framework for implementing different game modes (persistent world, replays, logging, external data storage, external radio control). Customizable sound configs that allow traditional patching of sounds played in ACRE via Arma addons. Customizable radio presets, allowing groups to define radio presets in additional addons for mission makers to take advantage of (also see the F3 framework). Enhanced and easily configurable vehicle sound occlusion and intercoms. DOWNLOAD Traditional Download: http://acre.idi-systems.com/archive/acre2_2.1.0.763.zip ACRE2 is also available on Play with Six. REQUIREMENTS ACRE2 requires the latest version of Teamspeak 3 (currently 3.0.16) be installed (either 32bit or 64bit), as well as the Community Base Addons (CBA) for Arma 3, which is available on Play With Six or here: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?178224-CBA-Community-Base-Addons-ARMA-3 INSTALLATION Manual Installation If you are choosing a manual installation from the download link above please follow these short instructions for an easy installation. Download from the above link and extract the zip file to your hard drive. Open the extracted folder and open the Teamspeak/plugins folder. Copy the correct version of the plugin dll for your Teamspeak installation. Navigate to your Teamspeak installation and open the plugins folder. Paste the plugin into that folder, overwriting any current ACRE2 plugin. Return to the extracted folder and go to the Game folder. Copy the @ACRE2 folder. Navigate to your Arma 3 installation folder. Delete any current @ACRE2 folder and then paste in the @ACRE2 folder you copied from the extracted zip. Create a new shortcut or edit an existing one, and add @ACRE2 and @CBA_A3 to the -mod parameter, for a longer explanation see this tutorial: http://www.armaholic.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=20866 Launch Teamspeak 3 and enable the ACRE2 plugin in the Settings > Plugins window. Launch Arma 3 from the shortcut you created. Play With Six If you are installing from Play With Six then make sure both Teamspeak and Arma 3 are closed before running the installation. Once installation is complete launch Arma 3 through Play With Six and launch Teamspeak 3 and enable the ACRE2 plugin in the Settings > Plugins window. If the plugin is not available copy it from the @ACRE2 directory to your Teamspeak installation's plugin directory manually. CONTROLS Controls are now editable in Arma via the CBA addon keys configuration. You must be in a game to change your keys. The default controls are as follows: Radio PTT: Capslock Alternate PTT 1: Shift-Capslock Alternate PTT 2: Ctrl-Capslock Alternate PTT 3: Alt-Capslock Open/Close Radio: Alt-Ctrl-Capslock Cycle Radio: Alt-Shift-Capslock Cycle Babel Language: Left Windows Key Set Radio Left Ear: Ctrl-Shift Left Arrow Key Set Radio Right Ear: Ctrl-Shift Right Arrow Key Set Radio Both Ears: Ctrl-Shift Up Arrow Key ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION Mission Maker API: http://tracker.idi-systems.com/projects/acre2/wiki/Mission_API Babel API: http://tracker.idi-systems.com/projects/acre2/wiki/Babel Radio Framework API (advanced users): http://tracker.idi-systems.com/projects/acre2/wiki/API The wiki is still a work in progress and more information and tutorials will be added in the near future. WHERE TO PLAY As always, United Operations is the official ACRE community. You can find more information at http://www.unitedoperations.net/ on how to get their mod pack, access TS, and when game sessions occur. KNOWN ISSUES/LIMITATIONS/BUGS Since this is a beta there are some known issues and limitations that you can expect to run into. If you encounter a bug not found in this list please report them at the ACRE2 issue tracker here: http://tracker.idi-systems.com/projects/acre2/issues Limitation: Currently two available radios, AN/PRC-343 (ACRE_PRC343) and AN/PRC-148 (ACRE_PRC148). Additional radios will be added as the beta progresses, but due to their complexity/fidelity they are a lot more time intensive to implement than ACRE1. Limitation: No retransmission currently. Retrans is currently not implemented, it is a feature that will be available shortly though as it is something I consider critical. Limitation: When speaking on a radio and there is a radio nearby with its external speaker on you can not hear your own voice. This will be fixed in the future. Issue: Sometimes the plugin fails to initialize at game start/JIP but does not warn about a lack of connection to Teamspeak. Restarting the plugin in teamspeak tends to fix this. Issue: Sometimes PTT keys will fail to work when the game is maximized, but work when minimized. This seems to be a Teamspeak administration issue, running TS in admin mode fixes this. Issue: The plugin will sometimes hang on restarting it from the plugins menu in TS. This hang needs to be looked into, if you know how to make memory dumps please dump and post them on the issue tracker. Issue: Sometimes both Teamspeak and Arma 3 need to be run in administrator mode for connections to properly occur between them, this seems to mostly be an issue on Windows 8/8.1. If your dedicated server restricts the types of files clients can load, please follow this advice on how to prevent issues with ACRE2 where clients can not use their PTT key or hear radio squawks: Possible fix for dedicated servers:> Whitelist "ini" and "b64" in allowedLoadFileExtensions (server config) example: allowedLoadFileExtensions[] = {"ini","b64", ........... }; The following is NOT a issue, and is a FEATURE in ACRE2: When you are in game and ACRE is connected you will NOT be able to hear people that are not in the game as well. This is meant as a failsafe to any issues where someone might be having connectivity issues with ACRE and it is designed to minimize and reduce situations that can reduce immersion. BASIC RADIO USAGE Both radios included do not require an intense knowledge of their functionality for basic usage. AN/PRC-343 Open radio using the Open Radio keybind (default ctrl-alt-capslock). Channel: Change channels by clicking the left knob on the top of the radio. Volume: Change volume by clicking on the right knob on the top of the radio. AN/PRC-148 Open radio using the Open Radio keybind (default ctrl-alt-capslock). Channel: Change channels by clicking the center knob. The screen will display the channel number. Volume: Change volume by clicking the left knob. Holding the ctrl key on your keyboard while clicking volume down will eventually turn off the radio. Advanced usage on the current 148 implementation can be found in this video explanation by ToadBall here: A written tutorial will follow after more features are completed. DONATIONS With the kick off of the public beta for ACRE2 I am also starting a donation campaign through Patreon for ACRE as well as to support my ventures in other areas of the Arma community. I would truly and greatly appreciate any support you can give to myself and this project, as it is an intensive labor of love (and some literal blood, and yes, a lot of literal sweat too) that I really enjoy and I want to continue working on as much as possible in the future. You can donate monthly (prefered) or one time (just cancel after the first month). You can donate at the ACRE Patreon page located here: http://www.patreon.com/acre Thank you for your support! THANKS First and foremost I have to thank Jaynus for all his work that he contributed to ACRE over the years. Without Jay this project would have been just a pipe dream. He provided the motivation and initial technical knowledge to get ACRE off the ground and he was instrumental in it's early success. Without Jaynus the community would be worse off as a whole. As far as additional thanks here is a short and by no means complete list of those that have helped out in one way or another. All of the testers and their communities that have helped test ACRE2 and ACRE1 in the past. United Operations at http://www.unitedoperations.net/ for having me around and providing countless hours of testing and excuses to NOT work on ACRE. ;) Dslyecxi, for his motivation and encouragement, both for ACRE and myself. The entire CBA team for providing an amazing framework that has made addon development so much easier. The ACE team, sorry for being off in ACRE land for so long! Sickboy and the PwS crew for creating such a wonderful content distribution platform. Falcon, for all the maths. Impulse, for dealing with all the community stuff at UO. The rest of the Lovecave/Krause's Study @ UO for all your support and letting me have a place to vent about stupid $%@*. :D Mikero for his toolset that makes life easy. The Arma community on Skype, so much knowledge! My non-Arma friends who have put up with stuff they couldn't really care about. All the supporters on Reddit, Facebook, and other social media that have really gotten excited! Armyguy, for being in charge of absolutely NOTHING. Anyone else I forgot to mention, I didn't mean to forget you! Edited March 21, 2015 by NouberNou 2.1.0 RC6 release Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
p0laris 14 Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) GREAT WORK! Cant wait to give this a go!! Thank you for your hard work NouberNou! Edited August 22, 2014 by P0LARIS Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Impulse 9 10 Posted August 22, 2014 Congratulations on the release. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PenguinInATuxedo 18 Posted August 22, 2014 Praise be to NouberNou Our lord and bringer of radios! :yay: :yay: :yay: :yay: Is that enough dancing bananas? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
meat147 1 Posted August 22, 2014 (edited) wohu nice! Edited August 22, 2014 by meat147 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CameronMcDonald 146 Posted August 22, 2014 Iz da breakdown! Congrats on the release. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Whimsykiller 10 Posted August 22, 2014 Does this work well with Zeus? I know the bootleg port from A2 to 3 of ACRE didn't work with Zeus. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
badder 10 Posted August 22, 2014 Wow! There we go! Congrats on the release mate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
noubernou 77 Posted August 22, 2014 Does this work well with Zeus? I know the bootleg port from A2 to 3 of ACRE didn't work with Zeus. It kind of works with Zeus right now, but full Zeus support is still down the line aways. :) There is more complete future feature list/timeline on my donation page here: http://www.patreon.com/acre The features are not dependent on donations of course, but it gives a sense of the priority to their implementation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dragonblade117 10 Posted August 22, 2014 Alright. I know this just came out and all, but are you looking at underwater tranceivers like TFAR has? And can the two current radios be used in a long range capacity? THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS RELEASE!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kylejtown 1 Posted August 22, 2014 Awesome! Thank you for your hard work! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
noubernou 77 Posted August 22, 2014 Alright. I know this just came out and all, but are you looking at underwater tranceivers like TFAR has? And can the two current radios be used in a long range capacity? THANKS SO MUCH FOR THIS RELEASE!! The 148 has a good 10-12KM range at full power (the default channels are all at full 5W power). Underwater radios will be coming sooner or later, but I need to do research on specific radios. Also I just remembered you don't drown while trying to talk underwater in ACRE2 right now. I believe radios might work underwater right now as well (though they might not at all). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pellejones 1 Posted August 22, 2014 I love Ynou (Hahaha get it?? :D you... nou. . ynou ). Awesome work as always. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chairborne 2594 Posted August 22, 2014 Awesome!!! :rolleyes: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
evromalarkey 150 Posted August 22, 2014 Thank you Nou! You're the best! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Insnee 10 Posted August 22, 2014 Hmm. Capslock not working.. no keys are working Oo Plugin: Yes, connected: Yes Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lynx75 1 Posted August 22, 2014 Thank you for this awesome mod. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
meat147 1 Posted August 22, 2014 Hmm. Capslock not working.. no keys are working OoPlugin: Yes, connected: Yes Do you have copied the userconfig folder ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Insnee 10 Posted August 22, 2014 Do you have copied the userconfig folder ? Yes. http://i.gyazo.com/193e22b144bb59fc63882e84a840d2c4.png Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sanguinius51 11 Posted August 22, 2014 awww yeah, buddy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
