My First Addon

[dreadedentity 278]

Hello,

I am trying to make my first addon, but I'm really not sure what's going on here. My addon is only supposed to be 2 scripts that I could then use preprocessFile to use them, like how iniDB does it. I thought there would be more simple tutorials just to show you the most basic things, but I couldn't find one, even on armaholics. How do I use BI Tools?

Thanks a lot guys

EDIT: clarified some wording

Edited November 15, 2014 by DreadedEntity

[warlord554 2065]

Care to be more specific?

[dreadedentity 278]

Sure, basically in my .pbo there would only be 2 scripts. How exactly can I make the pbo with them inside of it? I did manage to make an empty pbo with BI Tools, though, so I got that going for me.

[warlord554 2065]

well im not sure what you DO know how to do, but lets get a run down. (Ive never JUST pbo'd a script, but the same rule should apply) Although it may need a simple config in the pbo with it, not quite sure about that

- Create folder (what the pbo will be called)

- Place scripts inside

- Put folder onto P drive

- Open Addon Builder

- Browse for your folder and click OK

- Pack and enjoy :)

There is obviously a lot more to it then that, but you get the general idea

Hope this helps, like I said I'm not sure exactly what you know about the tools

[dreadedentity 278]

Thanks for your reply, it seems a lot simpler when you have some instructions laid out for you. I don't know anything about BI Tools, other than that's what you use to make addons in A3. One question about the P drive, however, how do I make/put the files into it? In BI Tools I see "Mount P: Drive" but when I click it, it doesn't do anything.

[austin_medic 109]

Thanks for your reply, it seems a lot simpler when you have some instructions laid out for you. I don't know anything about BI Tools, other than that's what you use to make addons in A3. One question about the P drive, however, how do I make/put the files into it? In BI Tools I see "Mount P: Drive" but when I click it, it doesn't do anything.

when you installed the tools it should've already created a parition on your hard drive for itself, which then it should've copied all its files into that drive so they'll work properly. Try running the BI Tools directly by going into the steam folder and double clicking on its executable, then try it (make sure you run as admin as well).

Edited November 15, 2014 by austin_medic

[dreadedentity 278]

Thanks for your answer, austin. Where can I find the BITools executable? I have navigated to "~\steam\SteamApps\Common", and even checked in the A3 folder, but I didn't see it

[austin_medic 109]

Thanks for your answer, austin. Where can I find the BITools executable? I have navigated to "~\steam\SteamApps\Common", and even checked in the A3 folder, but I didn't see it

Its not part of arma 3, its seperate, "Arma 3 Tools" has possibly caught your attention as I'm typing this.

[warlord554 2065]

No worries brother we all have been in your shoes at one point :)

there are several ways to setup your P drive, it needs to be "configured" first

Heres some info from the BI Tools DEV himself

http://tom4897.info/blog/2014/06/arma-3-tools-p-drive-devp/

Heres a video I found on setup (I haven't watched it so I hope its helpful)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txbnT_crZ4s

And my quick rundown

-Steam Library download Arma 3 Tools (will already be latest version)

- Install

- Make sure to click run atleast once through steam (provides your system critical system registry files needed to run), after that you can run directly from your tools folder if you want

- Bottom left of the Tools main dialog, you will see P: Drive (DevP), click that, it will setup your P drive

- Then click the Mount P Drive (which will just make it visible under Start Menu>Computer>*Your Drives* (Everytime you restart your computer you will just need to "Mount" once, it will stay configured correctly after the first time, and will save all your addons your working on that you leave on your P drive (its also a good idea to backup your WIP P drive folders because, well, you never know :))

After that it should work correctly. I may have missed something but if you have any troubles feel free to post here or PM me anytime and we'll get you sorted

[dreadedentity 278]

Sorry, I really don't see an "Arma 3 Tools" folder anywhere in "\SteamApps\", am I looking in the right folder?

Also, I'm wondering if I even need to make an addon for this, I just read in another post further down the forum that by using a backslash before the filepath will tell the game engine to start from the game's root directory. Theoretically, could I just make a folder called "@myAddon" in the game directory, throw "myScript.sqf" in it in plain text, and use preprocessFile "\@myAddon\myScript.sqf"?

[warlord554 2065]

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3 Tools

[dreadedentity 278]

Its not part of arma 3, its seperate, "Arma 3 Tools" has possibly caught your attention as I'm typing this.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3 Tools

I'm such a fool, I completely forgot that I installed Arma 3 Tools on my other hard drive. I found the .exe. I clicked on "P: Drive (DevP)" but it doesn't seem to do anything, the P drive doesn't get created

[warlord554 2065]

Id re download and place in the same folder as your Arma 3 game just make sure your tools are setup properly

[dreadedentity 278]

Id re download and place in the same folder as your Arma 3 game just make sure your tools are setup properly

Okay I'll give that a try

Also, I'm wondering if I even need to make an addon for this, I just read in another post further down the forum that by using a backslash before the filepath will tell the game engine to start from the game's root directory. Theoretically, could I just make a folder called "@myAddon" in the game directory, throw "myScript.sqf" in it in plain text, and use preprocessFile "\@myAddon\myScript.sqf"?

But can anyone confirm this? I'm just wondering if this is a possible alternative. I may not be much of an addon-guy. Even my computer, which is usually so obedient, is fighting me haha

[jshock 512]

Dread I just went through this process myself I can walk you through how I did it in TS at a later point :D.

[A.Cyprus 16]

Hello, as an added note:

I don't personally use BI Tools all the time, and when I'm doing lots of testing with regular edits, I use PBO Manager to wrap the file before launching the game. You can pbo your addon folder in one action via a right click shell menu in Windows so it's very fast and simple to use - especially when you need to pbo very frequently while deving.

However, I use Eliteness when packing the final release as for some reason my PBO Manager pbo's get rejected by dedi servers.