g.i. joe/cobra Fight for Freedom!

[Donnie_Plays 435]

Come on man. I'm supportive of this project but asking for money from people so they can watch you test this? You should let people test the assets if they are giving you money.

[scotg 204]

EDIT, for Simplified Clarity:

1. This mod will be free as long as it utilizes the Real Virtuosity engine and/or is connected to Arma 3, in the spirit of Arma modding. This should go without saying, but I feel like now it needs to be highlighted.
2. Viewing the videos and participating in live streaming demonstrations of the assets in production has thus far been free for viewers and followers, even though that is an entirely separate venture outside of the scope of the actual mod.

3. Donating is not a paywall, and is discussed in more detail on the appropriate sites - link given in my signature. The information about the tiered reward system given there may change, and will change according to that venture's needs.
4. This will be a fun mod for everyone, and you don't have to be a GI Joe fan already to enjoy using the assets I am creating. In that spirit, and in the good fun spirit of Arma 3, let's try to keep concerns about donations to private conversations or on the sites where donations are discussed.

 

On 4/28/2018 at 8:04 AM, jandrews said:

Hey. Nice to see its still alive. I would like to see this mod continue and do not mind offering some $$. Could you provide some timelines...

 

On 4/30/2018 at 8:18 AM, scotg said:

@jandrews Hi! Thanks for the good questions... As a Subscriber, the best thing you can do is to recruit other Subscribers. The focus of the Patreon is to generate interest... It doesn't pay for product at all, and it's important to distinguish this. ...More info can be found on the Patreon site.

These comments are very encouraging, but I have not and will not ask for donations for this mod on these forums. Please, let's avoid these kinds of conversations here, but I say again: let's talk about it in private or away from BI forums altogether. I can make the time.

This will be a fun mod!! As long as I am at it, I am dedicated to making it great!

---------------Original Post----------------------

On 6/7/2018 at 12:50 AM, Donnie_Plays said:

Come on man. I'm supportive of this project but asking for money from people so they can watch you test this? You should let people test the assets if they are giving you money.

A valid concern. I have been letting the tests run for free, btw. The challenge with letting other people test the assets, at this stage, is if someone decides they want to misuse them or go rogue I could not prevent that. If they wanted to present them as their own, then how would I stop that? I believe that people will do the right thing, but there's a risk of trusting a wolf in sheep's clothing. They are out there, and even I, someone who once looked up gullible in the dictionary, am not so naive to just hand my babies over to them. I have given thought to the idea a few times, though. Since you bring it up, if I decide to set up a system like what you suggest in the future, then A) the way I have things set up now must be the first step to getting there, B) it would hypothetically require a much larger donation tier than $2 (more like $200 per test), and C) it would also require them signing an NDA. With such a fuss, I'd rather get to a point where I can pay testers than ask them to pay me. That's usually how it's done, anyway.

...But don't be offended by me requesting donations on other sites. I have some favorite internet shows/clips I watch and wish I could donate to, but I can only donate to a few of them right now. I have a little bit of that luxury because I cut out my cable bill, so now it's only internet, Netflix, and occasionally HBO Go for my family. @Donnie_Plays, your support, kind words of encouragement, and all things like that are very much appreciated. I can't emphasize that enough, and you have personally made me smile and drive on many times just by your awesome comments! Many others like you have done the same for me, and that includes on this forum as well as others. It's enough to make me happy, but it doesn't make my wife happy. LOL. This is a good mod, and me making extra, viewable showings of the progress, at anything more than a screenshot level of quality, is going the extra miles. I'm accepting donations (on other sites), but please, please, feel free to keep watching if you can't or won't give. As long as people like it and want to watch it, that is my top priority. It does me no good to have it sit there unwatched. My Patreon has tiers set up , but I have yet to enforce the paywall. My live streams have been free so far.

So WHY am I even taking donations, when a lot of other mods are not? Before you read on, please close your eyes and open your heart, and know that I am not complaining - at all - but this is all just an effort to present my perspective, and possibly help you understand. I want to be in agreement, and I have already been on that side of the fence, where you are standing. Now open your eyes and read on :-) (You can laugh at me, because I know how ridiculous that statements is in text, lol!) Now, look closely at the good mods, and you'll see that the ones offering my level of content (or better) have something else going for them. Take, for example, RHS, whose content is phenomenal! They are a cooperative, global group of individuals that are already mostly making their money elsewhere. They are so dedicated to the team effort and the cause that they can overlook the financial loss when they put mods out. I have been struggling to find people that can be dedicated to my mod, even though you and I know in our hearts that it's going to be a fantastic game for everyone! If I sweeten the pot by offering to pay aspiring developers, which requires getting money from somewhere, then maybe people will give it a shot to come work on it. The few people that have asked to be a part of the team in the last nine months since I announced the mod have done zero. I don't hold it against them, but this mod cannot survive on that, and they cannot survive as developers on giving me free work.

 

Let's look at another angle: Many mods don't have such a great team and still offer free content. Well, what are they offering? Mostly, they have acquired their models from somewhere - either they have paid someone a small fee to use it because it's available to buy,  and it's being bought and used in other games or 3D applications, OR they have found some free models out there. What they most likely didn't do is create unique content from scratch, which is what I'm doing. The unique content mods are the ones that suffer, because people don't want to donate to it when other mods are putting out Abrams, Tigers, F/A-18s, A-10s, ACUs, and AKs without donations. Largely distributed content like this is all over the place, and it's a dime a dozen. Look at DDAM's Danish Forces mod, though. It's a great mod with original, unique content; he even has the real life experience serving in the Danish Army to back up its authenticity! The mod is kind of semi-released and not near what he wanted to accomplish, because he couldn't find people to work on it - because he couldn't pay them - because he (as far as I know) never asked for donations.

Did I mention that my content is created from scratch? It's also very unique in that there are no real sources for this material!! It's unbelievably challenging to make an A-10 into a VTOL, for example! That's probably why nobody has done it to such a dedicated degree. My models are also not available in any other outlet; I don't have any of them on turbosquid or the like. Since this is all original work, I don't have any problems taking donations made from showing them off, and then re-purposing that to help in the development of the mod. It's for the benefit of the community in large. The thing that finally pushed me into taking donations was actually my followers, who watched the videos or saw the renders. I got a few posts and PMs through various outlets like YouTube and deviantArt where fans of this project have actually asked me where to find my Patreon page, but I didn't have one and never even thought about one at that point!! But WOW! What an encouragement, right?! So, I obliged.

I think perhaps you are looking at my position as if I'm holding the project hostage, but I'm only looking for ways to push it along and financially benefit the good people who are its future developers. The reality is that money is needed for that, unfortunately.  Furthermore, I haven't even withheld anything from non-donators apart from some minor updates and posts. I have lost a donator already, (probably) because he feels like he is not getting anything more than the general public. So in his mind, why pay for the extra if it's not extra? Thankfully, I have donators who get it. They pledged up before there even was a reward system, and when I tell them they are eligible for rewards they are like, "It's all cool. Just keep making the mod!" One guy donated such a gracious amount that I created a reward tier for him, but he said it wasn't necessary. He had already decided he wanted to give what he did, simply on the concept of the mod, and he never looked at the rewards tiers in the first place. I'm not expecting people like these to come out of the blue, but I'm simply letting it be known that when they do fall from the sky they have a soft, welcoming place to land. Listen, if it bothers you so much, then I implore you not to donate, please! I would rather have your presence than your money, but I also want you to bring your friends along for the ride. Let's hope they enjoy it even more than we do!

[ravendk 25]

This is not a flinging contest, so please refer from trying to kill this mod befor it even released. 

Let the team do its thing, it will be free no one can legaly take money for content, its that easy.

...On a personal note. I really wanted to support this mod with content and and what skills i had left. But turns out that im all burned out, like some other modmakes i now have limited time left. I really want to finaly see some propper G.I. Joe stuff in a arma game... ive been arround since 2001 and ive seen it all.
The way the community is rotting away with rumors and accusations, its sad, its really sad.

Support with positive input please.

[Donnie_Plays 435]

It's all good guys. I am really into this project. My comments were just that. A comment. I must have misunderstood what was being suggested in comments. I was under the impression you had to give money to get to watch the testing process. If I was wrong, I apologize.

[scotg 204]

All good, DP. You weren't way, way off. It was considered for a brief moment, but then it turns out that the more important thing is to get people interested in the project. When It becomes a bigger ordeal, then perhaps the strategy will change, but it would have to be worth people's time and that other thing that time equals.

[scotg 204]

We're about overdue for some pics. Here are some new ones:

Warhawk (via Splendid Cam)

 

Diamondback VTOL (Splendid Cam). Can your A-10 do this?


Group of Vehicles


Vehicles Featured in Videos


Skorpion/LM002 Comparison


Puma vs. Skorpion

[jandrews 116]

they all look great. thanks for the update. I visit you other site every wk or so. great helmets by the way. You do great modeling. hopefully this will be ready sooner then later. 

[scotg 204]

@jandrews Thanks! I hope I can release it sooner, too. I really hope to get in contact with some talented script editors who can put some polish on how these things operate - their configs. As an artist it takes me significantly longer to switch over to config mode and try to make things work.

[scotg 204]

I've been running into some problems with configs lately. I tried to get my Hellwing (aka Firebat) running more smoothly. It seemed like a simple task, but I cannot get over some big hurdles at the moment. Check out this post for the latest on that:
 

Meanwhile, here's some information about another vehicle I'm kind of stuck on (pics at the link):
https://www.patreon.com/posts/20933363

[Donnie_Plays 435]

I was watching the YouTube stream the other night. Everything looks great man. I have been toying around with making a GI Joe mission for Arma 3 just using a few mods that already exist and mixing the combo of uniforms, etc. Nothing too fancy yet. Just have been trying different styles for classic Joe characters.

[scotg 204]

@Donnie_Plays Yeah, you can fairly imitate GI Joe characters with some vanilla A3 assets. Snake Eyes and Beachhead just need the balaclava and some chest gear, but give SE some goggles. Plop a beret on a dark skin soldier's head, and you've got Stalker. Put some aviator sunglasses on a helicopter pilot with his helmet, and it's how Wild Bill should be dressed for flight. Many other combinations can create some decent stand-ins for other Joes and Cobras as well.

[scotg 204]

Alpha Release expected soon. Info here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21916890

[jandrews 116]

50 minutes ago, scotg said:

Alpha Release expected soon. Info here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/21916890

 

Glad to hear this. I would agree with you. Get the mod out there and they will come. Kinda like that old baseball movie. IF you build it THEY will COME!

 

I doubt there will be many who DO NOT WANT TO TRY OUT THIS MOD!

1. it will bring viewers / followers / donators / helpers. Its what this community does.

 

And thanks for this news. I am the type that I need to see, try, break and everything else that goes along with new mods to then INVEST! GOD SPEED! x 100% :)

[scotg 204]

55 minutes ago, blanca12 said:

This is fantastic. Will You consider adding versions with vanilla Arma 3 M134 Minigun and/or .50 cal M2 MG on the roof?

Some vehicle assets will have my M2 models on the roof, some will have other NATO, WP, or GC weapons attached, and some will have hybrids and customs (which is what BIS did with A3 assets). I have to rely on A3 vanilla for environments, structures, and most of the gear for now, including weapons. Most early action figure file cards specified real-life weapons in their specialties, but they also had some fictional stuff. IF we (me and my team-to-be) get to make weapons, they will largely be real life weapons like M2s (already made), M16s, AKs, Vz61 Skorpions (already made), and so on. Even though there are mods which already have these weapons, the ultimate idea is to be compatible with other mods, but to rely on them as little as possible. It's a mixed bag, but the concept here is to create something that looks like action figures, but with realism.

[scotg 204]

This thread is relevant this mod:

 

[scotg 204]

Some small personal goals:
Get eleven more views by the end of October 9, to reach 1K views for the AWE Striker video.

 

Get one hundred seventeen more views by October 20, to reach 1k for the HISS video.

 

[section 20 458]

Gave you a shout out on twitter mate. loving the vehicles  

Twitter @stupidcaveman

[scotg 204]

On 10/8/2018 at 1:43 PM, scotg said:

Get eleven more views by the end of October 9, to reach 1K views for the AWE Striker video.

Thanks everyone for helping me reach this!

 

 

On 10/8/2018 at 1:43 PM, scotg said:

Get one hundred seventeen more views by October 20, to reach 1k for the HISS video.

Almost there! One week away, and only 94 views to go.

[scotg 204]

While developing this mod, I've come across many challenging hurdles to its success. As an individual with no team support, I don't have a clue about making extra scripts to fully shine the project, so maybe I can ask for certain features to become available. There are "feature request" posts all over the forums, but I wonder if those are in the right places. I figure since my requests will most likely help this mod the most, then here is the best place to present them. Maybe it's that these things exist but that I simply cannot find them, or maybe they don't exist. I'm not asking for new assets that can incorporate these features; I'm just asking for new config parameters that enable mod developers to use them. The reason we make mods is to provide something unique, but I run into a lot of roadblocks which force my (somewhat) unique-looking objects, like vehicles, to work the same as any other vanilla A3 asset. The following is a list of features that I see a need for in this mod.

- Pilot turrets. The ability to control a turret with freelook and/or TrackIR. I have quite a few one-man flying vehicles with weapons on turrets. They are model assets I have made, but they cannot function properly as the game is. While I strongly support team play and solidarity, I believe it is not the right of the developers to prohibit full control pilot turrets all together. Such restrictions belong in their game, not in my mod. These turrets should be capable of integrating any necessary visual aids, huds, targeting, and such things.

- Commander controls of auxiliary vehicle functions. This includes being able to turn on/off lights and engines, opening hatches, activating radars, and so on. While these tasks are usually delegated to other crewmen, they should still be available for example to a one-man tankette commander.

- More VTOL parameters - VTOLs have come a long way, but in some cases they are more of a challenge to fly. This is great if your VTOL assets are strictly hard-to-fly machines; it surely enhances the realism. Mine should not be as hard, so it diminishes the fun factor. This is a sub-list of VTOL parameters that would make my planes more fun to fly:

• VTOL minimal hover engine power - set a minimal percentage of the engine during hover mode to prevent losing too much thrust to recover.
• VTOL hover throttle - while in hover mode, this would act like a throttle on a car, pushing the plane forward. It would have a direct influence on any tilt-engine animations, and can be analog controlled (e.g.: the trigger buttons on a gamepad). The more it's pressed, the more of the thrust is transferred to forward motion. The point here is to avoid relying on airframe tilting (like helicopters) to move forward while hovering.
• VTOL reverse hover throttle - if applicable, allow airbrake to double as reverse flight during hover. Just like in a car, it needs weaker values. Most fictional VTOLs won't even use this, but it's better to have it for unforeseen applications. Might be useful if someone uses these VTOL parameters to make a ground hovercraft (essentially a plane that cannot takeoff).
• VTOL hover throttle coefficient - define the balance of vertical thrust vs. horizontal thrust for throttle. The config editor person can specify how slowly or quickly the thrust is transferred, to either prevent or enhance altitude loss during transfer, respectively.
• Disable manual VTOL - 0 for enabled, 1 for disabled, -1 for using strictly manual/disabling auto vectoring
• Set manual VTOL increments - set how many ticks it takes to cover the complete range of VTOL positions for manual VTOL mode. Affects flight and visual.
• Somehow allow for VTOLs with a dedicated throttle engine, which would greatly reduce altitude loss while throttling forward. Lifting engines will not be redirected to provide forward (or backward) movement.

- Severely subdue the character animations. The vanilla A3 soldiers are military characters with no military bearing.

- Attach the 1st person view to the character's head, and enable view-pilot headgear that should be seen.

- Enable an official method of ground vehicle towing - vehicle tow vehicle and vehicle tow trailer. The towing line length should be adjustable, to allow for tow cables or tow hooks and hitches.

Incidentally, I can only see how these potential parameters would help Arma 3 and mod developers. I see no downsides, should BI decide to make these a reality.

[uscg pilot 12 37]

to be honest most if not all of the features you have described i have seen in on other mods here and there so they do exsist im sure of it 

like most helos have a manual fire feature where the pilot takes over the main cannon on the front and i have seen some tanks mods where the commander has full control of the doors and extra features. unfortunately im not any good at config work otherwise id be more then happy to lend a hand 

[scotg 204]

43 minutes ago, uscg pilot 12 said:

to be honest most if not all of the features you have described i have seen in on other mods here and there so they do exsist im sure of it

Thanks for your input!
To be honest (but why wouldn't we be?), I think you may not have read that list thoroughly, but I could be wrong. Some of these features are part of other mods via advanced script. The problem isn't that they can't be done; the problem is that it takes some very special skills apart from inputting regular config parameters, which I have little knowledge of. Mods with these features have special people who can focus on writing code to make the game engine do things it's capable of doing, but not necessarily prepped for. I don't have such a luxury:

10 hours ago, scotg said:

As an individual with no team support, I don't have a clue about making extra scripts to fully shine the project...

...therefore...

10 hours ago, scotg said:

I'm just asking for new config parameters

All I'm asking is for BI devs to consider making it easier on mods that lack the advanced personnel who can script these things, like this mod, with configurable parameters. This means all that's needed from the mod developer to make these things happen are values, strings, and arrays. Maybe there's an information gap about the difference between scripts and configs, and what's worse is that people often say "configs" when they are really talking about full, additional scripts.

Getting back to your responses:

44 minutes ago, uscg pilot 12 said:

most helos have a manual fire feature where the pilot takes over the main cannon on the front

There is a stand alone Apache mod, by Nodunnit and Franze, that does this, and the Apache in the RHS mods does this, too. In both mods the scripting is very complex, and there are parts that most likely pertain specifically to that helicopter. I wouldn't begin to know where to start separating it to understand how to use the parts I need for all my small aircraft. Other than that, it's easy to give the pilot access to the fire button.
 

48 minutes ago, uscg pilot 12 said:

i have seen some tanks mods where the commander has full control of the doors and extra features.

In this case, though, the more important issues are the lights and engine for one-man tanks. It's rather simple to make a one-man tank, such as my M4920 Varmint (inspired by the GI Joe Armadillo) with the parameter hasDriver = -1; (meaning that the commander assumes control of the vehicle's movement). The commander can drive the chassis, control the turret, and fire the weapons. I'm sure it might not take much config work to operate any doors extra than the hatch, but the commander does not have control of the engine and lights. These tasks should be automatically passed on to the commander when hasDriver is negative one.
 

1 hour ago, uscg pilot 12 said:

most if not all of the features

Forgive me if my next response seems nit-picky; it's not my intention to rub anyone the wrong way. I know for a fact that none of the VTOL parameters exist, and those cover more than half my list. I have been on discord talking to other mod makers who have more experience in certain areas, and they have confirmed that redirecting thrust using a trigger button would take extensive scripting. There is a mod that reduces character fidgeting, but there isn't one that makes the player camera attached to the head, AFAIK. The towing mods only work with tow cables, from what I can tell. The creators of Advanced Towing also have Advanced Trains... If only they could hitch up a trailer like a train car. These are great mods, but the towed wheels don't roll. I don't even think the train engine wheels roll. In advanced towing, sometimes the towed vehicles move jerky - a lag like the RV engine is trying to keep up with its location. This is why I'm asking for an official towing system. As I see it, if the talented people at BIS can do such a fine job with slingloading, then towing should be comparable, but I'll admit that I don't fully understand the complexities of implementing it.
 

1 hour ago, uscg pilot 12 said:

unfortunately im not any good at config work otherwise id be more then happy to lend a hand

I'm afraid it would take much more than simple config work, my friend, but I do appreciate your gung-ho spirit (no pun intended)!

All this might seem like a lot to ask, but I'm just asking - that's all. It's not a demand or rebuke or anything negative. BI devs probably won't see this anyway, and even if they do see it and think it's all a great idea, they are probably already inundated with other tasks. I only present these requests in case BI finds them too good to bypass, but I am doing so in my own mod discussion thread so as not to be annoying.

[jandrews 116]

I hope you get the assistance you seek.  Hate to see this get derailed.  Good luck.  And for the love of God, somebody help this guy already.

[scotg 204]

LOL. Bless you, @jandrews!

I do have morale boosters, such as yourself and others in this thread, patreons, and YT followers. It's a very modest sized group, but I'm grateful for these people. They enjoy discussing the mod with me and seeing the progress of what I'm doing.

I'm still forging forward. I don't expect Fight For Freedom's Alpha Release to be pretty and tidy. There'll be many things that are incomplete, but the main objective for Alpha is to get it to the mainstream audience. I will probably get a lot of garbage responses about how it sucks because things are broken, and how I should have completed it before releasing, but hopefully a few more people will be interested in joining a mod they can check out themselves.

[scotg 204]

In case anyone is wondering why I care so much about towing in Arma 3, well, I have assets that will benefit greatly from it. I also feel like the players will benefit immensely from a better towing system.

Here is a treated render of one of my trailers:


This was an early work of art, before the decision was made to change the mod name. Rather than GI Joe, it is now a 61st Joint Task Force (61JTF) asset. I haven't devised an alternative name for it, yet.

As twin guns on a trailer, it's a stationary defense platform that can be relocated to fortify other team assets where it is more needed. In the game, the ability to move assets like this would provide tactical dynamics that greatly enrich user experience.

In addition to this, the 61JTF will have a towed heavy LASER* platform and a HAWK missile trailer. Vibora, the faction replacing Cobra, will have some towed assets as well: a trailer similar to the ASP and a towed version of the Skorpion missiles. Both factions will possibly have some wrecked asset recovery trailers and some relocatable comms trailers.

*Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation - this would be a heavy piece of military hardware, not a common rifle that soldiers could carry. The limited use of this weapon would be a true homage to the uniqueness of GI Joe without stepping too deep into Sci-Fant or Sci-Fi like Star Wars and Star Trek.

[scotg 204]

Fight for Freedom! Alpha Release is now available on Steam!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1566817695

 

Just a little reminder that this is Alpha, meaning there is a lot of work that still needs to be done before it is even plotting the path to completion. That being said, get out there and have fun with it!