Adding mod weapons and clothing to missions.

[thefinn 3]

I have a pbo unpacker already.

However, what I am looking for is documentation... or a good tutorial.

What I'm after is documentation for adding in custom weapons to AI soldiers - I know how to do it - but I'd like to rip a couple of things out of another mod without the whole mod - I'd like to read up some documentation on pbo's how it all works and hangs together before I try.

The real problem:

For instance, I want to create a taliban style mission for friends in TOG to play on my computer (Just 4 of us or so) - so I might want some weapons from hlc (got that working), an RPG7 from that standalone mod, a dragunov from that mod and taliban clothing from CAF. However, CAF includes a lot of other things, so I just want the clothing and to not have to deal with the prerequisites of installing the whole thing with civilians etc...

Can I just take out the caf_ag_equip from the mod with its' key and add those into the addons folder of my mission ? Is there more to it ? Should I unpack it first then just copy the files and viola? etc..

Is there such a beast as this mythical documentation ?

Any help appreciated.

---------- Post added at 11:18 ---------- Previous post was at 11:17 ----------

Perhaps I should've more accurately called the thread "breaking apart mods to add pieces to missions". :)

[devilslayersbane 28]

Well, on a technical level, you can do that as long as you don't release it to anyone without permission. My suggestion would simply be to make a replacement config for the mods you wish to use (like reyhard did with CAF aggressors and RHS AFRF) and then ask the respective mod authors to release the if you desire to release it to the general public.

[thefinn 3]

So am after documentation for the config files ? :)

[devilslayersbane 28]

That's actually really easy to find. Many mods have documentation on their config classnames, and most people on here can help you with creating configs for characters. If you go to the arma 3 editing section, you see a forum on configs. That'd be the place I start.

[thefinn 3]

That's actually kinda interesting, I am not sure where that fits in. The tutes I've seen have all been about editing the soldier via the editor and just changing equipment in the init screen there. (I've been watching Jester814's channel)

This seems to supersede that?

Like for instance I got the PKM working on a soldier, however, the PKM came from hlc's packs and I know that pack is inclusive of whatever information is needed to just add the PKM to the game. So all the filenames are pointed at correctly.

My fear is by taking the pbo for taliban clothing out of the CAF pack, I will break this mechanic and even if it does know what taliban clothing I am asking for it won't know what files the item should point to or some other issue I'm not aware of yet.

Is this (the config) just a better way to make these soldiers overall ?

[devilslayersbane 28]

Essentially. What the config does is tell the game what weapons and equipment to put on the "man" class character that you have created (same goes for vehicles, but that's a bit more complex). Essentially, you won't have to mess with overriding the config in the base mods because your newly made config will do that for you. Now, for instance, I wouldn't suggest removing the pbo's that you don't need initially as that will return config errors. However, while creating a config takes quite a chunk of time and know how, it will inevitably make your life a lot easier because you don't have to use the init box for as much. In essence, it just keeps things cleaner looking and runs a bit faster. The more things that aren't pre-initialized (I use that term rather loosely) will make the mission initalize slower.

[thefinn 3]

Dude, awesome thanks for this. I have modded games (Skyrim) before, but was at a loss outside of the editor here to be honest.

[devilslayersbane 28]

Of course, friend! Happy editing!