Modify default classes and call vehicles in DUWS? (SP Only)

[lawman_actual 24]

Hello friends.

 

So I've been having a lot of fun playing the infamous Dynamic Universal War System (DUWS). 

I play exclusively singleplayer using this scenario, and there are a couple of things I would like to see if I can change/include:

 

 

1) Can I change the classes spawned when I recruit a new unit? (And what's the best way?)

 

I tend to enjoy customising my men so that they are well equipped and have different guns, uniforms and helmets etc.

At present, I do this by saving the loadout through the "ammobox/armoury" thing, loading it onto myself, dropping all my kit and having the soldier pick it all up again.

 

As you can imagine, for a squad of say 12 men, this gets pretty tedious.

 

So...as the title says, is there a way for these units being spawned in to automatically come with that loadout?

 

I'm wondering if this might be possible by creating a mod that alters the .cfg's for each soldier type....then at least I wouldn't have to actually mess with DUWS itself.

 

I have read the pinned post on creating .cgf's but I'm not sure how to combine this with modifying the defaults. 

Ideally I would want this as a 'conversion mod' that I could choose whether I load it or not when I startup Arma

 

 

 

2) Is it possible for me to add new functions while playing DUWS, independent of the scenario itself

 

For example, I have been working on an artillery and air-strike GUI.

Currently this is native to the mission I wrote it for, but if there's a way to make that feature available to another scenario as a plug-in or something that would be amazing.

 

Sure...it might not necessarily work with the DUWS command points system, but I only play single player so I'm only going to be cheating myself.

 

Also, say I download a mod for a new vehicle or whatever.

Is there a way or me to create a little plug-in that would let me call that vehicle and spawn it next to me - just to have some fun with?

 

At present, you can only request a pre-determined list of vehicles in DUWS.

 

 

 

With both these suggestions I'm wondering if I can create an independent module that might take the form of a GUI for example.

Although I am somewhat capable with writing scripts, I do not have any understanding of how to create plug-ins or mods or how they interact with the game, so i really appreciate some guidance on this.

[lawman_actual 24]

I'm going to have to figure this out on my own?  :cry2:

[Da_Hollander 2]

Hello Lawman_actual,

 

A lot of questions (not just two).. I'll try to answer a few of them as I am not a pro in scripting.

 

Unfortunately I cannot check the duws files at the moment so I'll try to describe it so it is easier for you to find out how to do these things.

 

1) Can I change the classes spawned when I recruit a new unit? (And what's the best way?)

Yes you can, you'll have to find out where the unit is drawn from. DUWS uses a GUI, if you select a unit and purchase it, it will check if you have enough cp, then executes a command or directs to a file that contains that unit and then removes the amount of cp it costs etc.

 

When you've found that unit you'll have to remove his gear, ammo and so on. After that you manually add the gear that you want him to carry (there are a lot of tutorials out there that show you how to do this). I'm sure googling for 'arma 3 ai custom gear' will lead you to the right direction.

 

Once you've done that, the unit should spawn with that gear once you purchase it.

 

I'm wondering if this might be possible by creating a mod that alters the .cfg's for each soldier type....then at least I wouldn't have to actually mess with DUWS itself.

Yes this is possible but will give you headache because last time I checked DUWS was not written in a very efficient way, making a .cgf file that allows you to add all soldiers and their gear will not be an easy task.

 

 

2) Is it possible for me to add new functions while playing DUWS, independent of the scenario itself

If I understand correctly, what you're asking is whether if it's possible to add functions that you can also use in other mission files? Yes and no. Requestiong something by e.g a radio will cost CP.. If you make it so that the file that contains all those requests draw their information from other files it should be possible.  You would  simply use the code in the file it draws its information from.. However, a different mission needs to 'know' that your script is there and there must be a way to add it to (for example) the radio request.

 

This is where the description.sqf comes in.. You will need to include the script to the mission (#include) and of course the init.sqf (to execute the script, default should be something like execvm "script.sqf"

 

 

At present, you can only request a pre-determined list of vehicles in DUWS.

You can add new vehicles to it, if I remember correctly there should be two files. One that contains the information for the GUI at the request menu. The other one contains information about the classname of the vehicle.

 

Good luck, hope this information can help you a bit.

 

-Da_Hollander

[Da_Hollander 2]

Also I can highly recommend using the MP version of DUWS.. If you use the MP version you'll have more config settings available and you will be able to die without ending the mission.

[lawman_actual 24]

Hi Hollander

Thank you for your very thorough reply!

I think I'm starting to understand this process a little bit now

 

I'm glad you understood my question about adding functions to scenarios, though I still could do with a little more clarification.

 

As an example, I have been working on an artillery/air-strike request GUI which is opened through the radio.

If I wanted that facility to be available in another mission that I make, I could copy each of the files into the new mission folder, but then if I found something I wanted to improve later on I'd have to update every file in every mission that uses it.

 

 

So I guess I was wondering if there was a way of centralising that process such as seems to be the case with this mod

If I understand this mod's claims correctly (I've not actually downloaded it so I can't be sure), the "Personal arsenal" system becomes available anywhere

So perhaps there is a way of 'packaging' the files required to define the GUI and execute scripts to call the strikes, and all that is required is a reference within the mission to say "use these files"?

 

I'm not sure if that makes sense...

 

 

 

Your Help Is much appreciated

[lawman_actual 24]

Oh, one more thing...

 

To change DUWS files should I be looking at the .pbo located at:

 

C:\Users\ME\Documents\Arma 3\Saved\steam\[sp%2fmp]dynamic%20universal%20war%20system.altis

 

 

I'm guessing you need some program to edit .pbo's?

[drwoood 10]

You can extract the pbo using a program called pbo manager. There should be a subdirectory called 'dialog'. Some of the files in there such as request.sqf, request_vehicle.sqf and so on are probably relevant.