VBS2/3 Discussion thread - the one and only

[ben_s 11]

For the Personal Edition (VTK)? Yes. It's not a $1k plus as some would have you believe.

Wolle, NZX, anybody else... I'm still waiting on my forum membership confirmation. Is BIA on vacation until after the New Year?

But the full military VTK, Fusion and Fires with all the added extras for the military. That would be a price and a half.

[DetCord 96]

closed till or after Jan 3 as stated in the newsletter.

Yeah, I just read that. Thanks for the update nontheless.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Is BIA on vacation until after the New Year?

Its Australia mate, nothing except the deptment stores are open between Christmas Eve and 2 days after New Years (2 days to allow for a big hangover) ;)

[BeerHunter 0]

Wondering if missions created in ArmA2 are playable in VBS2.

Reason .. my nieces husband is an instructor at CFB Gagetown and uses VBS2 as a teaching aid.

Would like to send him an evil little (simple..no scripting) mission.

Txs

[dm 9]

Wondering if missions created in ArmA2 are playable in VBS2.

ArmA2, no. Or you'd be incredibly lucky for it to work. Different engine generation and all that.

A no-addons mission from ArmA1 would probably work (no guarentees because of all the extra scripting that goes on in VBS2)

[ray243 11]

My military uses it, but which unit would I need to be to use it.

[noubernou 77]

If you're a private customer you can upgrade for free at any time.

However if you still have a YYMEA key you need to exchange it with a GYBBK one in order to patch to the actual version. The exchange is for free, you just need to contact support to start the exchange.

If you don't want to change the key you only can either run 1.23, or sign a support contract to get the patch for that key.

When you already have an GYBBK key, all you need to do is grabbing the downloadlinks from the support forums.

So 1.22 to 1.4 would be free, as long as you have the right dongle?

I need to talk to the powers that be... 1.22 is like... not even the same as 1.3+ in terms of SQF.

*edit*

Also how do you know which key you have? I have the little purple one with the red light and the code is like 5 digits.

---------- Post added at 03:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:05 AM ----------

AFAIK, you can use Steel Beast together with VBS2. I was unable to find the link where i read that though

Its something that Calytrix did to demonstrate DIS/HLA in VBS2.

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone actually using it for real with Steel Beasts though.

[W0lle 1050]

So 1.22 to 1.4 would be free, as long as you have the right dongle?

Correct. Alternatively you can keep the "wrong" one and sign a support contract.

Also how do you know which key you have? I have the little purple one with the red light and the code is like 5 digits.

The five digits are the code, in your case it's probably either YYMEA or GYBBK. If it's YYMEA you need to exchange the key to get free updates.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Well .... I got my quote, so now its decision time.

Part, but not all my decision hinges around how active the community of "personal" VBS2 users are.

Another part is the Moding community activity, again the personal stuff, not the commercial.

Because I obviously don't have access to the VBS forums, I can't guage the level of activity and the types of activity there.

My guess its no where as active as these forums, and not a huge amount of addons being exchanged. .... then again, the software does already have a lot already included!

Can anyone comment of the VBS2 community and moding activity?

PS: I saw a Type42 frigate picture, but didnt see it listed in the "Content" web site. Is it in 1.4?

[TRexian 0]

Gnat;1828779']

Can anyone comment of the VBS2 community and moding activity?

Gnat - perhaps this would be better by PM, but my own personal experience would be like this:

- there is a small VBS2 community, generally attached to Sim-HQ or TacticalGamer, IIRC

- the modding activity is VERY limited, and unless you have a commercial contract, there is little support (except upgrades - they do provide free upgrades which are nice)

That is my overall experience, from a few years ago. I would be very happy to discuss more specifics with you, but I think it might be most appropriate to do so privately.

T

[[aps]gnat 28]

Understand, thanks TRexian

[noubernou 77]

I use it for work... I had like "OMG" type stuff when I got it, but once you get past some of the cool stuff its just ArmA1 under the hood (for 90% of the game play).

On the other hand the big plus I can see is that the communities that DO play with it are much much more serious and tend to lean towards realism more than most groups in ArmA/ArmA2...

On the other hand, all possible negatives aside, I see videos like this and go "FUUUUUH AWESOME!"

OEQbjpw8gbs

[ray243 11]

Really interested in it, and would be really great if you guys made videos of it. There's very little videos on youtube, and you would really benefits in getting huge amount of views!

And pictures would be great also!

[noubernou 77]

Getting my 1.4 key soon... :D

[hetsar 10]

Just a quick question can I order a personal trial?

Or is it just for governments etc

[noubernou 77]

Looking at the slide show from ITSEC I see that 1.5 is bound to be awesome.

The stuff the US Army is funding to put in there for terrain is amazing sounding.

500x500 KM terrain

40Km view distance

Terrain streaming

Dynamic terrain grids!

Sounds very cool!

[DaveP 66]

Looking at the slide show from ITSEC I see that 1.5 is bound to be awesome.

The stuff the US Army is funding to put in there for terrain is amazing sounding.

500x500 KM terrain

40Km view distance

Terrain streaming

Dynamic terrain grids!

Sounds very cool!

Sounds bloody ridiculous, it's awesome to see what healthy investment can do to a project, especially when the trickle down is considered

I do have to wonder how optimised these elements can be however, when one of the usp's of the system is the compatibility with most mid spec pcs -perhaps it's a sign of a move towards more specialised simulation solutions, especially with competitor game development studios starting to look more seriously at the serious game market

Edited January 10, 2011 by DaveP

[ebud 18]

I gotta laugh when I read articles like this one

http://tsjonline.com/story.php?F=4995898

So by 2014 the Army wants to replace VBS2 with something that does everything VBS2 can do AS WELL AS a laundry list of features. Lol, this should be interesting to see who promises what and what is actually delivered. Another funny thing is that I know people working on contracts that will go out a few more years converting years and years of old simulator content to VBS2 usable content. So by the time it's all done it will be obsolete. Lots of companies are JUST getting into VBS2. Lol, I'm really glad I'm hopefully getting out of mil contracting. All you can do is laugh :)

[Defunkt 431]

So by 2014 the Army wants to replace VBS2 with something that does everything VBS2 can do AS WELL AS a laundry list of features. Lol, this should be interesting to see who promises what and what is actually delivered.

I guess the America's Army 3 team is probably at a loose end... :p

[noubernou 77]

I gotta laugh when I read articles like this one

http://tsjonline.com/story.php?F=4995898

So by 2014 the Army wants to replace VBS2 with something that does everything VBS2 can do AS WELL AS a laundry list of features. Lol, this should be interesting to see who promises what and what is actually delivered. Another funny thing is that I know people working on contracts that will go out a few more years converting years and years of old simulator content to VBS2 usable content. So by the time it's all done it will be obsolete. Lots of companies are JUST getting into VBS2. Lol, I'm really glad I'm hopefully getting out of mil contracting. All you can do is laugh :)

While the US is probably the largest customer of VBS2 on number of licenses, there is still a lot of countries that use it besides the US, including NATO signatories.

Knowing how often things get delayed or revised I'd not look at that 2014 date as anything solid to go by.

Also, all the things they complain about in there are rather superfluous when you think about what could be added to VBS2, including an easier terrain editor (nothing really stopping that besides a tool to do it) and medical training... Both of which we have seen significant achievements in the ArmA2 community for and could easily be expanded on and made more professional by companies willing to exploit those opportunities.

[ebud 18]

Knowing how often things get delayed or revised I'd not look at that 2014 date as anything solid to go by.

I know all about those deadlines and how they work, I'll be unemployed by Feb because of them, so trust me I know how they can be flexible or tight as a drum.

My point was, it's interesting to me that they like change for the sake of change. I'm also 100% positive that there are also a lot of politics and back scratching involved with this.

Edited January 10, 2011 by Ebud

[noubernou 77]

I know all about those deadlines and how they work, I'll be unemployed by Feb because of them, so trust me I know how they can be flexible or tight as a drum.

My point was, it's interesting to me that they like change for the sake of change. I'm also 100% positive that there are also a lot of politics and back scratching involved with this.

LOL yea... more than likely.

Having just got into the commercial side of this community I can say though that its a good place to start, whichever platform they move to I am confident we'll be viable on any of them. :)

At least it won't be boring! :D

Sucks you will be unemployed though. :(

[ebud 18]

LOL yea... more than likely.

Having just got into the commercial side of this community I can say though that its a good place to start, whichever platform they move to I am confident we'll be viable on any of them. :)

At least it won't be boring! :D

Sucks you will be unemployed though. :(

Yeah, it will suck but Orlando has a lot of opportunities in the sim market. Now if I had just been a scripter all these years instead of doing addons/terrains I'd be golden :) More than a few jobs out there for VBS2 scripting.

[noubernou 77]

Yeah, it will suck but Orlando has a lot of opportunities in the sim market. Now if I had just been a scripter all these years instead of doing addons/terrains I'd be golden :) More than a few jobs out there for VBS2 scripting.

Yea, Orlando seems to be the hot spot... :( Not a super fan of Florida though... :p Too use to the cold wet Pacific Northwest to go anywhere below Oregon for extended periods!

Good luck! :)

[ben_s 11]

I gotta laugh when I read articles like this one

http://tsjonline.com/story.php?F=4995898

So by 2014 the Army wants to replace VBS2 with something that does everything VBS2 can do AS WELL AS a laundry list of features. Lol, this should be interesting to see who promises what and what is actually delivered. Another funny thing is that I know people working on contracts that will go out a few more years converting years and years of old simulator content to VBS2 usable content. So by the time it's all done it will be obsolete. Lots of companies are JUST getting into VBS2. Lol, I'm really glad I'm hopefully getting out of mil contracting. All you can do is laugh :)

Yeah, By the time any "replacement" is announced, let alone released, BI will be giving out large scale updates that will pretty much make any replacement voided considering the military will be getting these updates for free, if I recall correctly that is. There really wont be much true competition.

But, no matter what happens. the sim market should rocket as the military picks up in the sim genre as well. Perhaps ArmA will then get some older VBS features that are outdated then. :)