[RELEASED] Northern Fronts - Scandinavia in WW2

[sokolonko 159]

 

Northern Fronts devteam in cooperation with FWW2 is proud to announce development of Northern Fronts mod for Arma 3. The mod will add armies fighting in Scandinavia during World War two, including:

• Finnish Army [1939 - 1945] - Winter War, Continuation War and Lapland War,
• Royal Norwegian Army and Navy [1940] - Invasion of Norway,
• Norwegian Ressistance fighters [1940 - 1945] - Occupied Norway,
• Red Army [1939 - 1940] - Winter War,
• Danish Army [1940] - Invasion of Denmark,
• Foreign volounteers - fighting in Finland and Norway

About: Mod is going to include realistic representations of weaponry, equipment and vehicles used by all the forces listed above, allowing the community to create great scenarios taking place in cold, northern countreis. The development started in November 2017 and with increasing support from community, FWW2 team and Finnish community modders it was possible to create huge variety of assets with custom models, textures, animations and sounds. After first succesfull beta-test we are happy to announce the mod to the public. It is important to note that Northern Fronts is aiming to be a standalone mod, it doesn't use any dependencies, although it includes ACE compatibility. We do realise that players will be using other mods just to have oposing faction for forces included in Northern Fronts, but we don't want to force usage of any mods. It is also worth noting that Northern Fronts team stands strongly against ripping the assets from other mods or games without their permission and will take seriously any violation of team's rights to the created content.

Development: Although our aim is to include all the listed factions in A3, we had to start somewhere and set up a list of priorities.The decision has been made to start with Finnish Army in Continuation/Lapland War and currently the mod includes most of infantry weaponry used by Finnish forces in that period. Further development will include both small and big updates:

• Big updates will consist of bunch of fresh assets, altough won't be frequent. Those assets might be an introduction of new army, a pack of weapons an uniforms, or some vehicles.
• Small updates will be thematical and limited to small ammount of assets, yet more frequent than the big ones: example can be a Sissi/Jaeger update which will include pieces of equipment unique for light infantry or scout units, such as long-range radio, explosives or bicycles. Those updates will always be focused around a theme, making each of them something unique and giving possibilities for new scenarios to be created.

Status and contact: Currently, mod is in 0.1 Release! Here are the links:
Steam workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1507586063
ACE compat: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1507963938&tscn=1536513102
Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wtbI6buGrieRcIANuezzQxhrdUJH2pHi

 

To get in touch with us or take a closer look at development, feel invited to our Discord: https://discord<dot>gg/fZd5Kkg . Please contact our community manager: Griffiths with any questions or cooperation propositions, also feel free to post in any of the coresponding text channels. 

Content (will be kept up-to-date, doesn't include WIP assets):

 

Finnland:

• Infantry weapons:
  • Kp/31 "Suomi"
  • Mosin M39 "Ukko-Pekka"
  • Mosin M91
  • Lahti Saloranta LS26
  • Lahti L35
  • Panzerfaust 30
  • Panzerfaust 30 Klein

• Static weapons:
  • Lahti L39
  • Maxim
• Explosives:
  • Kasapanos improvised satchel charges
  • 2kg, 3kg, 4kg throwable satchel charges
  • Molotov coctail
  • Variety of Finnish-made grenades
• Uniforms and gear (note that all assets listed in this section come in great variety - from infatry to cavalry and artilery variants of caps, from private to lieutnant insignias, from clean to soaked in mud uniforms)
  • M36 Uniform
  • M36 Summer Tunic
  • Hungarian M38 Helmet
  • Czechoslovak M34 Helmet
  • Finnish/Swedish M37/M40 Helmet
  • Austrian-German M17 Helmet
  • Italian M33 helmet
  • German M35 helmet
  • Field cap "Verikauha"
  • Fur cap "Turkislakki"
  • Officer side cap "Suikka"
  • Sleeve insignias for all of the units fighting in Finnish Army (literally all of them)
  • 1.st Armoured Division variants of caps and uniforms
  • Belts with officer, rifleman, assault and universal variants, including iconic pukko knives
  • Gasmask bag
  • Breadbag
  • Sipulisäkki backpack
  • Map bag

 

Credits (by the date of joining the team):

- Sokolonko - head dev, models, textures, configs, management, ruining beta-tests
- Caselius - textures, historical information, multiplying mod size by adding termendious ammounts of Variety™

- Brave Sir Charge - models, public relations, FF cooperation, memes

- h- - FWW2 cooperation, all custom audio effects, re-scripting the whole engine
- Anddy - terrain, models, historical information, making beta-tests for Sokolonko to ruin
- Troska - models, textures, ArmaFinland cooperation, actually working on the assets
- Ashton - models, textures, pushing forward something (at last!) not Finnish

 

Special thanks:

- Jellonavesa - for kp31, m39 and l35 models
- IFA3 team for helping me start with modding, thanks Kju, El Tyranos and GSTAVO,

- KJ, HorribleGoat, Rob (Eggbeast), X3KJ and many others for helping out with anny issues reported on ArmA 3 discord,
- Muzeum Uzbrojenia w Poznaniu - Polish museum that invited us to record their WW2 weapons with some top-noch equipment. Really huge respect for those guys,
- My friends that borrowed me their recording equipment for the recordings without asking for anything,
- Forgotten Fronts - for cooperation on overlaping assets and supplying our discord with memes,
- ArmaFinland - for helping us with beta-tests and providing both server and players,

- Saucco for ls26 sounds,
- CSA38 - for creating great source of refrence photos and helping out with configs,
- Yle Arkisto - Finnish weapons sound reffrences and samples,
- http://etulinja.net/ - for great support in historical information,

- Justin N. & Renner from FF for M35 helmet model and Panzerfaust decals,
- Michael Cecconet (RedRogueXIII) - plenty of high-poly weapon models donated to our devteam (that are yet to be revealed!),
- Steelexia from FWW2 - Maxim model,
- Basher - helping with unit configs,
- Temppa - creating great terrain on which the promo shots were taken,
- Griff - For being our Community Manager!

Sound credits:
- soundslikewillem (freesound.org) - molotov && improvised kasapanos fuse sound. License CC BY-NC 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/legalcode), file name:Fuse.wav, edits: low-cut EQ - slight cuts - normalized to 98%

- 160033 (freesound.org) - Liquid In Square Glass Bottle.wav. Licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ ) Edits: Cut to several parts, low-cut EQ
- plingativator (freesound.org) - munition_shells.wav. Licensed under Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) Edits: Cut to several parts, low-cut EQ
- OwlStorm (freesound.org) - blanket movement sounds. Licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
- crescendo (freesound.org) - match.wav. Licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
- brianhanson2nd (freesound.org) - loading clip. Licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Most of all thanks to all men and women for the service in defence of their homeland during those dark times.

 

 

FAQ
Where do I report bugs or share my suggestions?

We use our discord server as main way of communication with the community: https://discord.gg/UdQyUxr

 

Will there be more terrain in the mod?

Unfortunatelly, we don't have any map creator active in our devteam, therefore I can't asure you if there will be any further maps added. If you are terrain designer and would like to cooperate with us, we will be more than happy to share some custom terrain assets.

 

I feel like this mod really needs a scenario, will you make one?

Our goal was to create a standalone mod (not depending on any other WW2 mod) and we only have one faction, therefore it's not possible to create any missions scince we don't have anybody to be the opposing side. Given how much people are asking for a scenario, we will consider making a NF preview mission/mission pack that will have dependencies on IFA3 and will be released separately on Workshop. This might be released with our next update if we decide to shift development towards it. Bear in mind that the community is full of great mission makers that will be more than happy to publish scenarios using NF, so we would probably be better off working on new assets :)
 

I want to help with development, but I don't know anything about 3d modelling or texturing, how can I be of any use?

Easiest way: go to our discord and tell the developers what you think about the mod, give some feedback or just throw some nice words. Remember that each time you tell developer he is doing a great job, he works 0,005% faster.
The other way: learn modding, now it's best time to start. 3d modelling is suprisingly easy and with some tutoring you will have really nice results quickly. Your assets will be used in mod, with your name listed amongst the other devs (you can show it to your friends and family so they will ask you some uncomfortable questions). You can also try and make some weapon sounds, animations, textures, anything that you feel like doing, the community is full of people willing to share their knowledge, and Northern Fronts developers are more than happy to help you. Remember it has to be fun to you though, after all we make it for free and for our own satisfaction. Make sure to catch up with Sokolonko on our Discord if you feel like modding might be something fun for you, he will guide you through the grim and dangerous lands of Arma 3 modding.

 

When will the Norwegians be added?

First assets are being worked on already (eg. Krag Jorgensen), yet the development will shift more to them after the release. We've also recieved a lot of asset for Norwegian forces from Ashton, so the development went forward quite much.

 

When will Swedes and Danes be added?

Well, we focus more on Finnish and Norwegian theatres, so you shouldn't expect Swedes and Danes in their full glory too soon. Although Swedish (and other) volounteers fought during Winter War and we are willing to add those volounteer forces when we release more Winter War - themed units, so basic Swedish equipment should be expected shortly after or with Winter War update. Other important point is that weapons and equipment used by Norwegians and Danes are overlaping so making progress in Norwegian faction also brings us closer to releasing the Danes.

 

When will the Red Army be added?

It still needs a lot of time, first you should expect some russian equipmend used by Finnish soldiers, then we thought about Winter War update with both Red Army and some more Finnish winter assets. It is subject to change though.

 

Tanks and planes when?

When ready! Good thing is that we are cooperating with FWW2 team and tank models such as T26 and BT-5 were donated by them. Don't expect many vehicles on first release though, it is very complicated job to get them working properly.

I'm a single girl attracted to Arma 3 modders, can I invite any of you guys for coffe?
Jokes on you, we are all single girls!

 

Changelogs:

 

Features (version 0.1):

Spoiler

Uniforms:

• ADDED: [FIN] M36 Uniform (Artillery, Infantry, Jaegers & Armored Division)
• ADDED: [FIN] M36 Summer Tunic (Artillery, Infantry, Jaegers & Armored Division)

 

Weapons:

• ADDED: [FIN] Kp/31 "Suomi"
• ADDED: [FIN] Mosin M39 "Ukko-Pekka"
• ADDED: [FIN] Mosin M91
• ADDED: [FIN] Lahti Saloranta LS26
• ADDED: [FIN] Lahti L35 ADDED: [FIN] Panzerfaust 30
• ADDED: [FIN] Panzerfaust 30 Klein

 

Static weapons:

• ADDED: [FIN] Lahti L39 20mm
• ADDED: [FIN] Maxim M/09-21

 

Explosives:

• ADDED: [FIN] Molotov Cocktail
• ADDED: [FIN] Kasapanos 2kg
• ADDED: [FIN] Kasapanos 3kg
• ADDED: [FIN] Kasapanos 3,5kg (improvised)
• ADDED: [FIN] Kasapanos 4kg
• ADDED: [FIN] Kasapanos 6kg (improvised)
• ADDED: [FIN] M32 Grenade
• ADDED: [FIN] M32 Mortar Grenade
• ADDED: [FIN] M43 Sirpalekranaatti

 

Backpacks:

• ADDED: [FIN] Gasmask Bag
• ADDED: [FIN] Breadbag
• ADDED: [FIN] Map Bag
• ADDED: [FIN] Sipulisäkki Backpack

 

Vests:

• ADDED: [FIN] Rifleman Belt (3 variants)
• ADDED: [FIN] SMG/Assault Belt (2 variants)
• ADDED: [FIN] Officer Belt
• ADDED: [FIN] M22 Belt
• ADDED: [FIN] M30 Belt

 

Headgear:

• ADDED: [FIN] Hungarian M38 Helmet
• ADDED: [FIN] Austrian – German M16/17/18 Helmet
• ADDED: [FIN] Finnish M40 / Swedish M37 Helmet
• ADDED: [FIN] German M35 Helmet
• ADDED: [FIN] Czech M34 Helmet
• ADDED: [FIN] Italian M33 Helmet
• ADDED: [FIN] Finnish M36 "Verikauha" Field Cap
• ADDED: [FIN] Finnish M39 "Suikka"
• ADDED: [FIN] Finnish M39 "Turkislakki" Fur Hat

 

Misc:

• ADDED: Editor module: "World FX" -> Breath Fog
• ADDED: Editor module: "World FX" -> Rain FX
• ADDED: Editor module: "World FX" -> Insect Swarm
• ADDED: Bolt Action & Casing Eject framework
• ADDED: Magazine cross-pack (available if running ACE) - enables re-packing ammunition between different weapons using the same ammunition
• ADDED: ~60 wartime unit insignias of Finnish units
• ADDED: Custom animations for all new weapons
• ADDED: Custom sounds for all new weapons (mixed with samples of WW2 equipment recorded by the devs in Muzeum Uzbrojenia w Poznaniu)

Media:
https://imgur.com/a/hAkF41c

 

[Vvalerie2 48]

This. This has been longed for since Arma3 release. With that planned unit list the only thing I regret is A3 not having female models so Lotta Svärd auxiliaries could also be included. But even without, this is one of the best mod announcements ever!

[yevgeni89 163]

I've been dying for more variety in the world war 2 scene, this is great !

[Justin N. 108]

Looks amazing! 

[Undeceived 392]

Yes, at last! Looks great, good job so far and good luck!

 

 

 

And I loved the humor in the announcement post. 

[Pansarskytte 34]

I hope Sweden will be added in the future .. or at least Swedish volunteers.

Whatever, really looking forward to this mod! 

[Caselius 94]

12 minutes ago, Pansarskytte said:

I hope Sweden will be added in the future .. or at least Swedish volunteers.

Whatever, really looking forward to this mod! 

 

Swedish volunteers are definitely in the pipeline. 

 

There is some Swedish gear in already which was used by the Finns such as the M37 helmet, more on the way.

[.kju 3244]

Most impressive what you guys have managed to evolve this project into - best of success and good stamina! Arma is hell 

[Sgt Potter 54]

Wow, I cannot wait for this,Great job.

[Peter S 33]

Looks pretty cool, can't wait to see how the Norwegians eventually turn out!

[mistyronin 1181]

That's a great idea.

 

If you need reference pics for the Finnish side I've a good amount taken in different museums (Mikkeli, Helsinki, Parola, etc.). 

[sokolonko 159]

@mistyronin Hey mate, thank you for your support. You can join our discord where we'll request any reffrence materials if any are needed :)

[petrtlach 1375]

Good work

[sokolonko 159]

Hello Northern Fronts fans!

I'd like to share some of our progress with you this weekend. We've busy developing assets for our next beta-test, keep in touch with us on our Discord to find out more about how to be a part of the testing!

 

The charges come in great variety, including both factory-made 2,3 and 4kg variants, as well ass some improvised ones, up to 6kg.

 

 

[yevgeni89 163]

As far as lend lease material sent to Finland and how much will be covered, I know Italy Sent quite a few carcano's and some nations sent other things like planes, or more small arms. 

[sokolonko 159]

We are willing to cover the great variety of equipment used by Finnish Army, but at the same time we must keep the priority focused. This means we will be adding the most used assets quicker, with the less commonly used ones to follow, also depending on the work required to implement such assets. For example: we've already implemented a wide variety of helmets, including the Italian one, but it would require much more effort to include each piece of armament issued by other countries. We consider it more appealing to community to create a Swedish Mauser or a Mosin variant instead of Carcano, based on how commonly was a rifle used. Vehicles and planes are even longer story, so those will be somewhat limited, scince we would probably have Arma 4  before we even manage to get all the planes Finns used in game :D Nontheless we are aiming for adding as many assets as possible and make sure to have this great variety of assets that is so crucial for Finnish forces in WW2  :)

Long story short: everything will be added, in time (if Arma 4 doesn't come out first) :)

[JeckZeRippa 13]

Interesting Mod! When my great grandfather served in the Wehrmacht he was also stationed in Norway. I only know that he was wounded there because of a explosion and he was doing some stuff with the pioneers (mom said "building bunkers; He was something like a architect in the civilian life so he was put for something similar in the war") Also he hated fish the most time in his life, because they were eating this stuff in norway all the time :D.  I got a lot of old documents and photos from the war period, but only one  from norway; its a blurry and overexposed photo in snow. Some soldiers standing on a bridge (silhouette) and the not readable notices on the back.

 

Good luck and have fun with this project! I really love it!

 

ps: If someone could read the sütterlin stuff, would be nice :B

 

 

Edited May 30, 2018 by JeckZeRippa
added pic

[Caselius 94]

Hello,

 

Here is our first preview of the mod showcasing the features and sounds related to the Finnish Forces. Done in Finnish Wartime fashion which suits the day (Flag Day of the Finnish Defence Forces).

All content aside from the vehicles and vanilla assets are from the mod: more detailed credits in the end of the video.

 

The video showcases rain effects, breath fog, insect swarm, molotovs, kasapanos satchel charges and weapon sounds.

You can also see Finnish summer uniforms and some of the basic weaponry.

 

 

[tbartels 12]

@JeckZeRippa Looks like this bridge, matches the writing on the back of the photo.

https://www.google.no/maps/@69.0197122,18.8979,3a,75y,212.15h,73.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5fuFAAkEDzUczEDRCcv-Zw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[sokolonko 159]

Hello @everyone, the NF team is extremely happy to announce Asset Update #2! This update features upgrades of assets we showed you last update as well as some brand new works for our existing Finnish Faction! The team would love for you to join us in watching the Live stream by the devs on this coming Friday, 10th of August. Below you can find both screenshots and the details of the live stream event. 
Event on twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/events/5ugvrHo6QK-J3x7BfG8REg
Screenshots:











Thanks for supporting us, make sure to join us on the beta-testing stream!
Have a good one!

[sokolonko 159]

Hello Northern Fronts fans!
Today's announcement is a special one, Northern Fronts will be released on Steam Workshop! The devs have spent hours analysing the planet movement and we've finally came to a conclusion when will be the right time for our mod will be released. This day is close, but it would be too simple if we'd just tell you the date. Instead, we've carefully hidden the release date in the following screenshot. The person who guesses the release date correct first will get a SPECIAL DISCORD RANK on our discord server. Good luck, keep an eye out for more content updates!

[Undeceived 392]

Hmmm, I give up.  Spent an hour analyzing the picture, no dice. Noticed the 8 guys that could represent DDMMYYYY in some form; noticed the pic name (8bit.png), converted it to 8 bit; looked at it from all angles ---- nothing. 

 

But I love this kind of riddles!

 

Anyway - looking forward to the release, whenever it will be.

[sokolonko 159]

The riddle is being solved by plenty of community members on our Discord, still no success :D

[sokolonko 159]

The riddle has been solved by Ringwraith Rick, he gets a special rank on our discord and eternal fame in the community, congratulations!

Here's the solution:
1. The name of the picture is 8bit, that suggests that the solution is somewhat hidden via 8bit number, read here for more: http://artsites.ucsc.edu/ems/music/equipment/computers/bits_bytes/bits_bytes.html

2. There are 8 soldiers in the picture, you can connect it with the first hint

3. 6 of them are standing, 2 of them are sitting, if you give each soldier a binary value: 1 for standing and 0 for sitting, you will get: 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0
4. This number converted to decimal is 252
5. 252th day of the year is 09.09, which is our release date!


Once again, congratulations to Ringwraith Rick and Holz for suggesting the solution. Big thank you for everyone participating, hope you had as much fun as we did creating this riddle!

[sokolonko 159]

The time has come. Northern Fronts are released on Steam Workshop and available to download via BiForums!
Steam workshop links: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1507586063
ACE compat: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1507963938&tscn=1536513102

I'd like to thank all devs for their work and the whole community that supports us, it's a pleasure to work with you all :)