Joining Public Servers Running Mods/addons Isn't Rocket Science!

[infiltrator_2k 29]

I like to think I do things to make it easy for others to understand no matter what it is I do. So when a public server's description is "[uK] British Armed Forces" and describes the only '2' addons required to join (the clue's in the name and the other being essential for any addon/mod) it isn't blo*dy rocket science! Seriously, it's so irritating when you see so many players attempting to join your server only to be kicked for not having the right addons or running the wrong ones.

It really doesn't inspire confidence when players cannot understand something so simple. BIS' launcher is pretty much idiot proof (so we thought). It's like players need some kind of description field to read with an explanation and links :j: Overall it's pretty demoralising when there's people like myself who contribute so much of their free time and energy into Arma, whether it be creating content, mission making or hosting dedicated servers, yet players still cannot grasp something as simple as an understanding of how to join servers running addons/mods.

There are those of us who like contribute towards Arma, and then there are those who like to simply take what Arma and its community has to offer, yet they still can't do that properly FFS FPDR

[defk0n_NL 2]

Seems unreasonable to expect from people to know that the description "British Armed Forces" is about a mod. #BritishArmedForces or @BritishArmedForces is better

Who put spaces in their mod names lol.

[[evo] dan 79]

Seems unreasonable to expect from people to know that the description "British Armed Forces" is about a mod. #BritishArmedForces or @BritishArmedForces is better

Who put spaces in their mod names lol.

^this, there are multiple BAF mods out (if you include CUP), as well as units that describe themselves as the BAF.

[infiltrator_2k 29]

Seems unreasonable to expect from people to know that the description "British Armed Forces" is about a mod. #BritishArmedForces or @BritishArmedForces is better

Who put spaces in their mod names lol.

Dan;2931351']^this' date=' there are multiple BAF mods out (if you include CUP), as well as units that describe themselves as the BAF.[/quote']

I always add/edit the .cpp file to given an accurate description of the addon/mod and the version needed to eliminate compatibility issues. This information is naturally displayed in the 'Expansions' field for all to see. Couple this with the descriptive server name and it's a no-brainer what's required to join. Nothing else can be done.

[John Kozak 14]

I always add/edit the .cpp file to given an accurate description of the addon/mod and the version needed to eliminate compatibility issues. This information is naturally displayed in the 'Expansions' field for all to see. Couple this with the descriptive server name and it's a no-brainer what's required to join. Nothing else can be done.

Expansions running on server are not always used in the mission - and as pointed out above, "British Armed Forces" is kind of a generic

Edited May 4, 2015 by DarkWanderer

[zukster 10]

I just started playing 3 days ago and I can tell you this game is either the buggiest game or the mods are very hard to understand and get working. I still don't know which servers are mods and which aren't.

For example I started playing king of the hill. Is this a mod? It says it required @koh and @koth_settings yet I can join the game and play. Since I can join the server and don't have those mods does this mean it's not a mod? I guess that could be a poor example considering I'm getting config.bin errors with almost all king of the hill servers dropping my FPS to 10. But is that because I don't have the mod? Or just a bug? I've tried google to no end but everyone is talking about modding which I have never downloaded. It's near impossible to find any kind of help either considering you can't make your own threads here on the forums if your new which is the time your going to need the most help.

[funyun 12]

Considering ARMA revolves around mods, this is not the way it should work. The server should be telling the client what mods to be activated when they join, or directing them to download it. You should not be activating mods before you have even chosen what server/mod you want to play.

The life blood of this game, still requires wonky decade old implementation schemes.:(

[cosmic10r 2331]

Considering ARMA revolves around mods, this is not the way it should work. The server should be telling the client what mods to be activated when they join, or directing them to download it. You should not be activating mods before you have even chosen what server/mod you want to play.

The life blood of this game, still requires wonky decade old implementation schemes.:(

This really helps ...

Bottom right corner of the server select screen shows what mods each particular server is running

If its green your mod version matchs, if its red it does not.

So if you highlight a server and the listed mods are all green, good to go

Unfortunately with a ton of mods it will always require some knowledge from the end user...

Hopefully this helps a few people get online easier tho

[m1ndgames 10]

I run ACE, CBA and ASR_AI3 on my dedicated linux server, but the expansion box in the server browser is empty. Do i have to configure it serverside somehow?!

[fabio_chavez 103]

lack of propper metadata in server descriptions is clearly not the users fault, its flawed gamedesign.

So is the fact that you will not know exactly why you cant connect to a certain server or even automaticlly download the required data to join in the first place...

Quake 1 had those features in the 1990s... :v

[DarkDruid 96]

I run ACE, CBA and ASR_AI3 on my dedicated linux server, but the expansion box in the server browser is empty. Do i have to configure it serverside somehow?!

Hi, this should be automatic and shouldn't require any serverside configuration. The issue mentioned by you (an empty expansion box in the server browser) could be caused by server and client in the same LAN. Data for the expansion box are transferred via Steam and they can be unavailable when connected via LAN. Could you please check if the issue occurs even for computers which are not in the same LAN as your server? Thanks

[m1ndgames 10]

Oh okay, this could really be a reason because my client is in the same "lan" (i run openvpn on this box..)

[Gudsawn 93]

This really helps ...

Bottom right corner of the server select screen shows what mods each particular server is running

If its green your mod version matchs, if its red it does not.

So if you highlight a server and the listed mods are all green, good to go

Unfortunately with a ton of mods it will always require some knowledge from the end user...

Hopefully this helps a few people get online easier tho

In an ideal world, this is what I would like to see when you click "Join" on a server using addons:

Full res version

Would make joining servers much more seamless, especially for those that are newer to Arma and perhaps don't know what mod update clients like PlayWithSIX are (or even what mods are).

When you click "Install All" it would download and install/update all mods for that server, all within Arma 3.

Edited May 22, 2015 by MisterGoodson

[Jackal326 1181]

Full res version

Would make joining servers much more seamless, especially for those that are newer to Arma and perhaps don't know what mod update clients like PlayWithSIX are (or even what mods are).

When you click "Install All" it would download and install/update all mods for that server, all within Arma 3.

And where would the mods download from? The server itself? Good luck maintaining a public server for more than 5 minutes when multiple people connect simultaneously and lag the server to hell downloading several hundred MB's (or even several GB) of addons. Even in your pictured example, its still ~120mb of data which is still quite a drain on bandwidth and such.

[serjames 357]

Tbf all it needs is a proper link we can show to direct users to our repo link. Ultimately what's to stop steam doing this ?

[Gudsawn 93]

@Jackal The Steam Workshop for one. Failing that, I'd happily opt-in to pay a few £ per month for fast and seamless mod updates (just as with PlayWithSIX you can opt to pay for faster downloads).

Failing that, as Serjames said - even just a PlayWithSIX repository link/link to our website would be nice for newbies.

[Jackal326 1181]

I'm not one to pick arguments (no really, I'm not...stop laughing!), however there are several flaws in this whole idea.

Steam Workshop has many flaws in of itself, namely its often lamented license agreement by which authors are bound once their content is uploaded. Due to this, many authors (such as RHS and others) do not want their content on, near or even vaguely associated with Steam Workshop and frankly I don't blame them.

As to the "Just provide a PWS repro link", what happened to " those that are newer to Arma and perhaps don't know what mod update clients like PlayWithSIX are (or even what mods are)."? Not to mention the legal ramifications that BI may or may not be open to when providing links in their software to 3rd-party launchers/software that may leave them liable should downloads corrupt game data or other unforeseen incidents. This is perhaps over-reacting, and is perhaps my years of jaded private co-ops games showing through having washed my hands of the public MP scene in my OFP days. I simply feel that many people who are suggesting this as a possibility aren't really considering the implications and the manner in which it could/would/should be implemented and are simply seeing it as another bandwagon to jump on to drain BI's already limited resources. I'd much rather they concentrate on bug fixes than break MP by trying to crowbar in a feature that probably wouldn't work properly for the first six months...

[serjames 357]

jackal... the original premise of the post was a discussion about how frustrating it was for players to join modded servers. We seem to all agree about that? Some ideas were suggested and you're sitting there shootings down those ideas... :-)

Licensing is a perceived issue, but if modders actually read those licenses ( or took legal advice) you might be surprised that they're not actually as restrictive as reddit might popularly have everyone believe. I'm sure our resident legal beagle Alex can help there. Anyway I'm no legal expert and actually not a fan of the workshop, but it's being actively discussed in depth elsewhere.

My preference would be for a simple mission side config field where WE could load in a website link. Not BIS. That way we could guide newer players to our website, or at least a central "how to use mods" site.

Edited May 23, 2015 by serjames

[serjames 357]

Realistically, how resource intensive would that be ?

Bis could even open the interface to us to modify it for them... lol

[Jackal326 1181]

jackal... the original premise of the post was a discussion about how frustrating it was for players to join modded servers. We seem to all agree about that? Some ideas were suggested and you're sitting there shootings down those ideas... :-)

I'm not shooting them down entirely, I'm simply pointing out they're not as perfect as everyone things and bringing to light they would be much more work than people seem to think.

Licensing is a perceived issue, but if modders actually read those licenses ( or took legal advice) you might be surprised that they're not actually as restrictive as reddit might popularly have everyone believe. I'm sure our resident legal beagle Alex can help there. Anyway I'm no legal expert and actually not a fan of the workshop, but it's being actively discussed in depth elsewhere.

Perhaps you are right, however. other mod-makers and myself aren't likely to stake out IP rights on "perhaps".

My preference would be for a simple mission side config field where WE could load in a website link. Not BIS. That way we could guide newer players to our website, or at least a central "how to use mods" site.

If that is your preferred solution you can do that anyway. Not necessarily before they connect/join and get booted because they're too stupid to realise the server is running mods, but is there not the ability to server welcome messages and the like that pop-up in chat whilst you're connecting before you get booted for not running the correct addons?

Bis could even open the interface to us to modify it for them... lol

Yeah, I can't see that ending up being abused at all. :rolleyes:

[serjames 357]

LOL True I suppose.

Yeah Server welcome messages... hmm, we used to run them but I don't think they appear until AFTER join ?

Will check

[St. Jimmy 272]

Support for missions download from HTTP mirrors (primary) , FTP mirrors and STEAMWORKSHOP cloud:

http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=9111

This would be good for mods also like the ticket says.

Ticket by Dwarden