ACRE2 Stable Release

[noubernou 77]

Current Version: 2.1.0.811

Latest Release Date: 05.17.15

Current TS3 Support: 3.0.16/3.0.11

ACRE²

The Advanced Combat Radio Environment

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the ACRE2 Stable release! For those who are not familiar with ACRE from Arma 2 or the ACRE2 Beta which has been released for almost a year, 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.

FEATURES LIST

A short list of the features in ACRE2.

• Accurate simulations of AN/PRC-343, AN/PRC-77, AN/PRC-148, AN/PRC-117F, AN/PRC-152.
  
• 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.
  
• Highly detailed radio signal simulation.
  
• 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_2.1.0.811.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.

1. Download from the above link and extract the zip file to your hard drive.
   
2. Open the extracted folder and open the Teamspeak/plugins folder.
   
3. Copy the correct version of the plugin dll for your Teamspeak installation.
   
4. Navigate to your Teamspeak installation and open the plugins folder.
   
5. Paste the plugin into that folder, overwriting any current ACRE2 plugin.
   
6. Return to the extracted folder and go to the Game folder.
   
7. Copy the @ACRE2 folder.
   
8. Navigate to your Arma 3 installation folder.
   
9. Delete any current @ACRE2 folder and then paste in the @ACRE2 folder you copied from the extracted zip.
   
10. 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
    
11. Launch Teamspeak 3 and enable the ACRE2 plugin in the Settings > Plugins window.
    
12. 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
  
• Lower/Raise Headset, Mute/Unmute Spectators: Ctrl-Shift Down Arrow Key
  

ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION

Mission Maker API: http://acre.idi-systems.com/api/

Wiki: http://gitlab.idi-systems.com/idi-systems/acre2-public/wikis/home

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

If you encounter a bug not found in this list please report them at the ACRE2 issue tracker here: http://gitlab.idi-systems.com/idi-systems/acre2-public/issues

• 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.
  
• Limitation: On JIP or disconnect, the ArmA3 engine occasionally stutters for less than a second as data synchronizes with the new player. This is being slowly fixed by BI with their new network engine changes recently in 1.44
  
• Limitation: Some maps cause a modulation for voices on direct speaking when running quickly through buildings. Alternatives to correct this are being investigated
  

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.

The following is NOT a issue, and is a FEATURE in ACRE2: ACRE simulates half-duplex radio communications as the real radios in real life do, and this may take new users a while to get used to. Half-duplex communications means only a single person can transmit at the same time, on the same radio net. The API provides the ability for communities to switch to full duplex if they require it.

BASIC RADIO USAGE

Radio documentation can be found on our wiki.

Thank you for your support!

- Jaynus & Nou

THANKS

Special thanks to JP and Hatchet, who have both been great recent additions in contributing to ACRE.

• 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 us around and providing countless hours of testing and excuses to NOT work on ACRE. ;)
  
• Dslyecxi, for his motivation and encouragement, both for ACRE and ourselves.
  
• The entire CBA team for providing an amazing framework that has made addon development so much easier.
  
• 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 us have a place to vent about stupid $%@*. :D
  
• Mikero for his toolset that makes life easy.
  
• The Arma community on Skype, so much knowledge!
  
• All the supporters on Reddit, Facebook, and other social media that have really gotten excited!
  
• Armyguy, for being in charge of absolutely NOTHING.
  
• Bullhorn for extensive field testing with his community to determine what large communities used to other forms of communication need. Thanks!
  
• Toadball for all the documentation and videos.
  
• Tinfoilhate for extensive field testing of the mission frameworks and APIs
  
• Godhand and others for detailed real world experience and letting us pick his brain
  
• Anyone else we forgot to mention, we didn't mean to forget you!
  
• The F3 team for the extensive integration
  

[jaynus 10]

ACRE Volumes (Setup Volume Adjustment)

If you are experiencing low volumes or quiet players, please make sure to adjust your ACRE Volumes to comfortable levels for yourself. These volumes can be edited (and are saved) while in game and in real time, so you can get the exact volume you need for your setup.

TeamSpeak 3 Settings->Plugins->ACRE, select Settings.

Edited May 18, 2015 by jaynus

[bigpoppablunts 53]

Congrats on going to stable release guys. Good luck with the mods future.

[bullhorn 18]

Nice! :)

And guys, remember, if you don't like how direct speech sounds around buildings, you can change it with this command:

ACRE_TEST_OCCLUSION = false

Really liking the latest ST videos with ACRE2, especially the new ability to mute dead spectators for making cinematic videos, without having a bunch of dudes shouting and jousting.

Edited May 18, 2015 by BullHorn

[dixon13 15]

Nice work can't wait for my group to switch from TFAR to ACRE2 and now this with ACE3. It will be glorious. Thanks a lot guys.

[james2464 176]

Congratulations! Well done to all involved!

[dslyecxi 23]

Congrats on the release! I've been really enjoying our time with ACRE2 lately.

[snippers 36]

Congratulations ACRE2 team! We have been using ACRE2 since the initial alpha/beta public releases and If your reluctant to try ACRE2 because of your experience with previous versions; I'd urge you to try this release as this release is vastly superior to all prior released versions.

[dragonsyr 21]

Congratulations ACRE2 team....

[giallustio 770]

[Guest]

Stable release frontpaged on the Armaholic homepage.

Advanced Combat Radio Environment 2 v2.1.0.811



Community Base addons A3

[Chairborne 2594]

Yay! Good job, thank you! :bounce3:

[alduric 10]

FPS drops are fixed?

[nkey 35]

Congrats!

[thechaos 1]

Guys, what about TS3 mic disabling? I have a customized TS3 hotkey which disables/enables micphone when I press it - but it's not working with ACRE2 ingame. Because of this I sometimes scare other players with my coughing and sneezing :)

Any chance to fix this?

[Guest]

Congratulations on the stable release

[Fonzie 2]

Guys, what about TS3 mic disabling? I have a customized TS3 hotkey which disables/enables micphone when I press it - but it's not working with ACRE2 ingame. Because of this I sometimes scare other players with my coughing and sneezing :)

Any chance to fix this?

If your voice activation is already bothering people and you are already using a key to disable your mic, wouldn't it just make more sense to use push-to-talk?

[almanzo 144]

I have a tiny request to make, and it's something I noticed last friday.

I understand that people who are in vehicles can't hear people outside of vehicles. I guess this is a feature, however... There is one thing I would hope that could change in the future. People who are in gunner positions on vehicles with a mounted open gun, such as the HMWW and the technicals have their upper bodies outside of the vehicle, but are still not able to hear people around them and visa versa.

It would be nice to be able to speak to gunners in vehicles from the outside. This is quite handy while having a guy with binos outside of the vehicle guiding fire for the gunner for instance.

In order to make this work with third party vehicles, maybe make a variable that allows mod makers to define the gunner position to be outside of the vehicle. It would also be nice if one could have a variable that defined armor thickness or something, so that you could hear people talk from inside a vehicle when standing outside a car, but you couldn't hear people talk from within an APC due to the thickness of the armor.

[bullhorn 18]

There's actually a fix. Pbo to vehicle attenuation but I can't find it on my phone. It's somewhere on the forum though...

-edit: there it is:http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?191537-Sparfell-s-Workshop

It's a bug with vehicles not being set up properly, not ACRE2, AFAIK.

[jaynus 10]

FPS drops are fixed?

Yes; you will only notice any affect on FPS at the > 100 FPS range; and even then, its a 10-20FPS drop from say, 150 to 130. You will have no noticable FPS drop if your FPS is anywhere in the 20-100 range.

There's actually a fix. Pbo to vehicle attenuation but I can't find it on my phone. It's somewhere on the forum though...

-edit: there it is:http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?191537-Sparfell-s-Workshop

It's a bug with vehicles not being set up properly, not ACRE2, AFAIK.

This is also fixed in RHS in their upcoming release.

[MrSanchez 243]

So here's one thing I've been wondering, top of the page says ACRE2 supports ts3 3.0.11 (api 19?), is this true or some kind of error?

For the last half year all my group's members have been switching between ts3 3.0.16 and 3.0.13.1, having both installed, depending on whether we were playing arma 2 or arma 3 that night.

If ACRE2 supports 3.0.11, and afaik so does ACRE1, I'd have all my members switch to 3.0.11

I've asked this before on the public beta thread but my comment drowned in a pool of others at the time.

edit: Another question, is there a changelog available for this stable release compared to the last public beta?

Kind regards,

Sanchez

[Krieger26 15]

ive heard a rumor that ACRE will eventually be just an addon without requiring teamspeak to run. is this true?

[marcatore 20]

Congratulations for the stable version!

[cyruz 103]

So here's one thing I've been wondering, top of the page says ACRE2 supports ts3 3.0.11 (api 19?), is this true or some kind of error?

For the last half year all my group's members have been switching between ts3 3.0.16 and 3.0.13.1, having both installed, depending on whether we were playing arma 2 or arma 3 that night.

If ACRE2 supports 3.0.11, and afaik so does ACRE1, I'd have all my members switch to 3.0.11

I've asked this before on the public beta thread but my comment drowned in a pool of others at the time.

edit: Another question, is there a changelog available for this stable release compared to the last public beta?

Kind regards,

Sanchez

Off the top of my head there's a folder called extras\shacktac with the plugins for .11 TS, use those and you can maintain one version of TS.

[kklownboy 43]

Antennas?