Achilles

[JD Wang 352]

Hey man thank you so much for the continuous work you put in, but can I make one simple request.

Can you please stop renaming the mod with the version in the title? Everytime you do Steam treats it as an entirely new addon, so I now have 5 folders for this mod. I mean it's not a HUGE deal because it's only a small mod, but it does make things messy

[oOKexOo 237]

@JD Wang

Thank you for the report. I was not aware of that issue until recently. I created a new ticket.

Furthermore, I will remove the versioning from the title in the upcomming updates until BIS fixed it.

 

Edit: Regarding polls

The new poll did not work properly, but it should be fixed by now.

[DFeniX 0]

Hi, I'm having problems. >>>>erro please unload ares mod

And when it initiates weapon of error of lack of scripit

 

Has mod defined how I use@ares;@aresmodachillesexpansion;CBA;2 RHS;Addonsxxx

Has mod defined how I use

[Grezvany13 64]

Edit: Regarding polls

There will currently be no greek helmets in the module tree, but as I mentioned I want to make it optional in future (probably in version 0.0.6)

Result was 38:21

 

Why don't you have informative icons on the left side (just as vanilla modules) and use a DLC icon on the right side (just like with DLC/mod units)?

This way users can easily identify from which mod the module is coming from.

 

It does require a modified version of the old Ares method of adding modules to Zeus (by a script instead of simply using 'addCuratorAddons'), unless BIS adds this feature themselves.

 

To make this work:

1) Create a CfgMod entry for the mod (in addition to mod.cpp)

2) Add the 'logoSmall' variable to the CfgMod entry

3) Add the 'dlc' variable to the module class(es)

4) Use 'tvSetPictureRight' to add the icon to the right side of the list item

 

 

I currently have a working version for this in a mod which I'm working, among some other things which I feel missing in Zeus and AresAchilles; like configurable vision modes, subcategories for modules(!), show/hide Zeus watermark, etc.

I'll be happy to try to integrate this into AresAchilles (through a fork and PR's) or to let you use parts of the code (since I will release the code as open source), although I'm currently not able to work on it actively.

But let me know if you're interested!

[diehardfc 41]

Hi, I'm having problems. >>>>erro please unload ares mod

And when it initiates weapon of error of lack of scripit

 

Has mod defined how I use@ares;@aresmodachillesexpansion;CBA;2 RHS;Addonsxxx

You can unload or delete the @ares mod. You just need the Achilles Expansion by itself.

[diehardfc 41]

@ diehardfc

Vanilla AKs also don’t support rail attachments as far as I know.

Let me know about the current stage of the TFR compatibility.

I guess that the RHS guys maybe cheated a tiny bit when designing the configs for their AK-74s and AKMs. In the Arsenal, you can equip both with tactical lights. The AKMs used by the Bohemia Syndikat forces, on the other hand, will not accept any attachments, perhaps mirroring real AKs? I'm not familiar enough to say for sure. Does anyone know how other mods with AKs, like massi's Spetsnaz, handle this? On the upside, if I give the units tactical lights in Arsenal, your module turns them on!

 

I'm not 100% sure about the TFR test we performed. I upgraded to a version different from what was running on the server, so I don't know if it was valid test. I did go in an out of Remote Control numerous times, and didn't crash until a few hours into gameplay, so my gut tells me it's much better. I won't know for sure until we test again this weekend with both systems having the same version of TFR.

[oOKexOo 237]

@grezvany13

1) I like your suggestion. This might also be a solution to the issue that players getting kicked because of not owing Apex when Zeus places an Apex object by accident. In some cases it is really hard to distinguish Apex objects from non-Apex ones.

However, it does not solve the entire problem for the module tree. Some Zeus players that are used to Ares may miss the Greek helmet icons in front of the module categories. I still have to think about how to make it optional.

2) At least I thought about subcategories for modules, however the module tree seems to be hardcoded, so you would have to reimplement the module placing from scratch.

3) I’m quite open for new features in general. I think it is a good approach to have one add-on that unifies all new features for Zeus at the end.

 

@diehardfc

Glad to hear that the issue is partially solved. I still try to optimize the module loading in the upcomming updates anyway.

[Grezvany13 64]

1) I like your suggestion. This might also be a solution to the issue that players getting kicked because of not owing Apex when Zeus places an Apex object by accident. In some cases it is really hard to distinguish Apex objects from non-Apex ones.

However, it does not solve the entire problem for the module tree. Some Zeus players that are used to Ares may miss the Greek helmet icons in front of the module categories. I still have to think about how to make it optional.

 

With the CBA Settings API it's rather easy to create options and will just require some if-else statements in the code to execute the correct variation.

 

As for the DLC icons; this isn't supported by by A3 for modules, and does require manual generation of the module tree. But I think that no one will object if the modules have both the Achilles icon and an informative icon at the same time.

 

2) At least I thought about subcategories for modules, however the module tree seems to be hardcoded, so you would have to reimplement the module placing from scratch.

 

True; for some reason modules only work with sub-categories and the category variable is skipped completely. Although if you manually generate the module tree it is possible to have more depth (depending on the code). The code I currently have does work but still has some issues (eg. only supports known mods/modules, sometimes duplicate categories/subcategories, etc.). However, in combination with the DLC icons, it works like a charm ;)

Additionally to this I'm working on an implementation to register custom modules and/or add support to 3rd party mods without having them required in the mod.

 

3) I’m quite open for new features in general. I think it is a good approach to have one add-on that unifies all new features for Zeus at the end.

 

I completely agree on this. That's why I didn't want to build a new mod just to extend existing ones (which is a pain to do properly).

[jarrad96 1940]

On AK's- A while back I was digging through weapon classnames, and there is a Apex AKM that supports a flashlight barrel attachment, but it's not possible to get outside of a direct classname and the normal version of the AKM cannot have the flashlight attached. 

In real life the AKM can support attachments via a attachment point for a scope mount- You can see this on the RHS, NIA and CUP AK's when they have an optic mounted. I'm in no way an AK expert, but I have done some research on the Apex  AK and it appears to be an early model Izhmash of Russian or European manufacture, and has a model 1 spine stamped steel magazine, of post-1960's design- It has no proof/factory marks on the magazine so that's as accurate as I can get time-wise. 

 

On Massi's AK's, they do support attachments as well, even the older models where it would not be possible without some modifications to the front or a clamp type flashlight. 

[Grezvany13 64]

As for the DLC icons; this isn't supported by by A3 for modules, and does require manual generation of the module tree. But I think that no one will object if the modules have both the Achilles icon and an informative icon at the same time.

 

Here's an example of how it will look when implemented in AresAchilles, and only took about 20 new lines of code.

 

 

As you can see the default modules don't have an icon (since BI didn't include the dlc variable), and both the Ares and Achilles modules have their own icons.

[Royal Eagles 1]

Hello very useful addon more thank's for you job !!

And thx for you answer.

But sometimes on our dedicated server, we have a problem, we are two Zeus on our community, and when we make zeus together or not after x time, we can't add more units, and last night in game my zeus module disappear and i cani't access to the zeus. I don't know why ?

 

Sorry for language, French with bad english.

 

And more thx !!

 

Edit: Can you add Module to your mods : Copy/Paste units keeping the same equipment after having built it ?

[Zoryn 0]

Awesome mod, definitely a huge improvement on Ares!

What sold our unit's mission team on it was the addition of AI suppressing fire.  It's a beautiful sight.

 

Having said that, we are having an issue that I'm curious if anyone else is having, or just us.

We do Zeus-based missions for about 50 people, and have about 4 to 6 people in Zeus at any given time to pull the missions off.

Whenever we open Zeus for the first time after logging into the server while having Achilles loaded, Zeus takes anywhere from 10-40 seconds to load the first time.  Normally this wouldn't be a big deal for us, it is Arma after all, but during this loading the server locks up for everyone until whoever was going into Zeus finishes loading into it.  

After you've logged into Zeus once, this doesn't happen again unless you reconnect, which leads to some interesting issues if someone on the mission team has to reconnect and go back into Zeus.

 

Is anyone else seeing this? Or are we just special somehow?

 

Here's our modlist:

@69_Collection (Custom gear and smaller mods grouped together, can expand if nothing else stands out)

ace 3.8.1

CBA 3.1.2

CUP Complete (Maps + Core)

Project OPFOR

RHS:GREF
RHS:AFRF
RHS:USF
TFAR 0.9.12

Ace Extras 3.1.1

Achilles 0.0.4d

SMA 2.7.1

NAPF Island A3

 

We also have the following whitelisted, not all members use them:
JSRS4APEX
Mao Anims Sway Fix

ShackTac

ShackTac Group Indicators

Blastcore:Phoenix

Tao Folding Map

Head Range Plus

 

Any thoughts on the issue are greatly appreciated! :)

[john111 76]

If we can get the support requester in the list and make that working ,that will be a useful thing inside the mission,just adding what ever vehicle we wanted to use with zeus.

 

If that could be made to work with addons,we could make one bomb and one strafe the target,place them with zues,already in the mission ,placed with Editor.

thnx.

[oOKexOo 237]

@grezvany13

1) I did not know that CBA provide such a feature. Good to know.

2) I thought about iterating through the empty objects tree to display DLC icons (at least Apex). In contrast, I guess for the module tree it is fine if just Ares/Achilles modules are marked. As I see you already did.

3) Registration of custom modules was already implemented in Ares and still exists in the same way in Achilles.

 

Thank you for your effort. You can just propose a pull request, if you want to merge a completed feature/change to 0.0.5 branch.

 

@Royal Eagles

1) Maybe your issue is related to the hardcoded limit of groups per side. In order to test if that is the case, you can use the “suppressive fire†module, since this feature includes a group clean-up.

A group clean-up module in general would probably be useful in future.

2) Maybe you deleted the Zeus module by accident…

3) Use “Left Shift + Left Ctrl + C/V†for deep copy units.

 

@ Zoryn

The initialization of Achilles is a known issue at the moment. The initialization is done the way that it also works on vanilla Zeus Game Master maps, which would normally not be possible. Unfortunately, the implementation is quite nasty and I expect it leads to those long loading times you observe. I decided to release a modified community version of Achilles on Github to oppose that problem.

 

@ john1

Support requester is definitely planed, but is not scheduled for the upcoming update.

 

About Mars Editor

I just learned about an interesting project for ArmA 3 which may introduce an alternative to Zeus. The project is called Mars editor which basically looks like a real time Eden editor. Mars does not provide a stable framework at the moment, however I may consider to provide new features to Mars rather than Zeus if Mars proves to be superior to Zeus in future.

[diehardfc 41]

What sold our unit's mission team on it was the addition of AI suppressing fire.  It's a beautiful sight.

 

Is anyone else seeing this? Or are we just special somehow?

Any thoughts on the issue are greatly appreciated! :)

I agree about the suppressive fire. It's probably my favorite part of this mod. That, and the Instant Garrison and Patrol modules. And the Switch Sides. Okay, I like everything about it!

 

We're still puzzling through the slow load of Zeus, as well. We have 2-4 curators per game and a nearly identical mod list and number of players. No one has reported and I have not observed a "lock up" for non-curators when someone enters Zeus mode. There is definitely a long delay of about 15-25 seconds when entering the Zeus interface the first time. During this time, Task Force Radio disconnects, and there is a significant danger of Teamspeak or Arma crashing or, if you're unlucky like me, your computer locking up. Kex has graciously rewritten the Achilles code to try to account for this, and we'll be doing a formal test tonight. While this may solve the TFAR problem, I suspect that the long load into Zeus issue may be related to the number of mods being used and some sort of synchronization between client and server. I can't confirm it yet, but that's my guess. When I test missions on my local machine, the load time is reduced. Not lightning quick like when Zeus was first introduced, but definitely less than in multiplayer. Alternatively, it could be related to the number of objects and units in the mission. When testing locally, there are almost no objects, but our multiplayer missions can have lots of them. And while we used to do two servers with 20-30 players on each, we've lately taken to combining into one operation with 40-50 players, on average. That pushes up both the object and player counts, which may be factors. Not super helpful, but I wanted you to know you're not alone.

 

EDIT: Since Ares Achilles is not required to be on the server, I recommend removing it and just having it on the local systems of your curators.

[twakkie 57]

About Mars Editor

I just learned about an interesting project for ArmA 3 which may introduce an alternative to Zeus. The project is called Mars editor which basically looks like a real time Eden editor. Mars does not provide a stable framework at the moment, however I may consider to provide new features to Mars rather than Zeus if Mars proves to be superior to Zeus in future.

That mod looks amazing!!!! Just keep us in the loop of when you might decide to stop developing this mod.

Thanks man, as always great work so far.

[Royal Eagles 1]

Thx for your answer, i try this !

 

But the copy/paste with left ctrl c /v don't work when i change the unit equipment with arsenal in zeus mode.

 

Thx for your answer and your very good work !!!!

[flymaker 15]

Can you add ability to create HighCommand with Zeus?

I need to create a HC module and sinc with commander. Every time i need a new controled unit i sinc this with the HC.

Is that possible?

[diehardfc 41]

But the copy/paste with left ctrl c /v don't work when i change the unit equipment with arsenal in zeus mode.

The keyboard command is actually SHIFT + CTRL + C or V. Instead of just copying the unit's base config, as you'd get with CTRL + C, it copies any changes you made in the Arsenal and pastes them down as a new unit, provided you use SHIFT + CTRL + V.

[oOKexOo 237]

@diehardfc

I agree, it is hard to say where the problem comes from, but I’m sure that Achilles also contributes a lot to it.

 

@twakkie

I probably formulated it a bit too harsh.  I hardly want to abandon Achilles. Maybe it is also possible to integrate a feature for both frameworks. It will also depend on what the communities prefers in future. I don’t worry about that for now, since it will probably take quite a while for the development of Mars.

 

@ flymaker

The question is how easy it is to implement. I will have a look on it at the point I focus on supporting modules.

 

Community Edition

Here is my temporary solution for an init optimized Achilles. I would recommend to use this one if your community has troubles with the normal version atm.

 

Ares Achilles Expanison CED - Alpha 0.0.4d

 

This version won't work on vanilla Zeus maps properly.

I won't release this version on steam as it is only a temporary solution.

[silentghoust 132]

Couple of suggestions for future modules.

Add action module - Allows a interaction Add Action to a object, with a selection of icon, time it takes to complete action, ect. The action itself doesn't need a result, as Zues can handle the result. But it would be greate for creating defusal missions, arming, hacking computers, ect. Would work well with the Endgame datacenter which has a nice animation as well.

Door lock module - Stays on the field and locks whatever doors it's near. Measured in 1-10m and doors will automatically unlocked if deleted, or switched by zues.

Also, not a module. But giving a add-action to all captured units with the ability to "strip" them of their weapons would be nice. It's a pain to simulate securing POW's when the units take a bit for the join side to kick in.

[EviloverlordZurg 0]

A suggestion i have from experience is a convoy spawner module like the reinforcement module

[Grezvany13 64]

Couple of suggestions for future modules.

Add action module - Allows a interaction Add Action to a object, with a selection of icon, time it takes to complete action, ect. The action itself doesn't need a result, as Zues can handle the result. But it would be greate for creating defusal missions, arming, hacking computers, ect. Would work well with the Endgame datacenter which has a nice animation as well.

[...]

Also, not a module. But giving a add-action to all captured units with the ability to "strip" them of their weapons would be nice. It's a pain to simulate securing POW's when the units take a bit for the join side to kick in.

 

I think this would be a great addition, especially if it's dynamic enough to use it on "everything" (read: all Zeus object/units) and has the option to add custom scripts.

 

 

1) select the module

2) place module on object (unit/vehicle/item/etc.)

3) show GUI with settings (parameters of addAction function)

- title : text which will be shown to the player in the addAction menu

- action * : selectbox with predefined actions (eg. 'Complete Task', 'Add Intel', 'Switch On/Off', etc.) and an option for custom script

- script : textbox to add custom script

- arguments : arguments which can be used within the script (not sure if needed though)

- priority : a selectbox with FIRST (first item in list), NORMAL (somewhere in the middle) and LAST (always at the bottom of the list)

- showWindow : selectbox/checkbox with TRUE (default) and FALSE, will show the action in the middle of the screen

- hideOnUse : selectbox with TRUE (default) and FALSE, will "disable" the action when currently used

- trigger * : selectbox with condition which needs to be met before the action is available (eg. 'Is alive', 'Is dead', etc.) and an option for custom script

- condition : textbox to add custom script

- radius : maximum distance between player and object to see the action

- repeat * : selectbox/checkbox with TRUE and FALSE, on false it will remove the action after completion

 

* = custom settings which will prefill the parameters of the AddAction function

 

Of course the amount and types of predefined actions and conditions can (and should) be extended as much as possible, as long as they are stable and reuseable.

[Grezvany13 64]

As a result to your current poll (regarding map textures for Zeus), it is possible to switch from satalite to contour by default!

 

Simply press CTRL + T while having the 2D map opened (just like in the Eden editor).

 

 

So this is a feature which doesn't need to be included ;)

[diehardfc 41]

Community Edition

Here is my temporary solution for an init optimized Achilles. I would recommend to use this one if your community has troubles with the normal version atm.

 

Ares Achilles Expanison CED - Alpha 0.0.4d

So, this version seems to load very smoothly and swiftly on CUP terrains for me. I haven't tested in a 40 player environment with TFAR running, however, because it doesn't seem to work on some third party maps. Our current campaign is on Napf, and 0.0.4d won't activate. Any thoughts on why that might be? Version 0.0.4c works fine on Napf, however.