Arma 3 Creator DLC: Global Mobilization - Cold War Germany

[PuFu 4600]

23 hours ago, froggyluv said:

 

 Must be a personality thing but I also enjoy Tank interiors and would consider them crucial if I were paying for a DLC/MajorMod. To me its no different than wanting a cockpit to a plane -it gives a sense of individuality and more of a "you are there" feeling then some sort of open slot which only reminds me of being face up in a Hospital MRI machine. 1st thing I do when getting in any new vehicle in Arma is ALT-Look around - then its "allright, game on"

 

23 hours ago, Beagle said:

....interiors are simply the current ArmA III standard. We were left under the impression that GM would fit with that current standard.

And while, just like most mod developers have agreed already with the fact that it would be ideal to have tanks DLC, it comes with a few problems, especially if you compare it with A3 tanks that are all made up, and so it is their interiors

a. references - there isn't a single thing that is harder to come by in terms of proper images than of tank interiors, especially the current generation models (even if you have 1st hand access to them, there are cases where you aren't allowed to get in them or take pictures). Even if you can get to take pictures yourself, it's gonna be a pain to do due to the really small interior space, and camera aperture, focus distances, framing etc. That is not the same for aircraft where you also have glass panels all around the cockpit
b. modelling - it is very time consuming and convoluted, also in relation to point a. , especially considering the gameplay value of it which is minimal. For all intents and purposes, one can make a great tank interior with some pain, it's gonna take 4 times as much time as creating a new vehicle from scratch, all done with a suppressed gag reflex mind you. 
 

Is it worth it? Not sure, i for one would have to price it quite higher = the current content in the released CDLC with the 2 tank interiors would be 30EU instead of 20EU if i were to put a sell price on it.

EDIT - there is also the point of quantity vs quality. Some are bothered that apparently there isn't enough content, some that there isn't enough quality. You can't actually have then both for the same amount of cash btw

[dead kennedy 124]

Is there any kind of guide or a wikia about GM's features?

 

For example, how to use a Siren module (gm_moduleSiren), how to turn the 

searchlight by scripting commands e t. c.

[1602tommi 0]

Quote

 

Hi! Was there a bridgelaying vehicle planned to Global mobilization when it was "just a mod"? Not in the plans anymore?

[NikkoJT 58]

3 hours ago, 1602tommi said:

Hi! Was there a bridgelaying vehicle planned to Global mobilization when it was "just a mod"? Not in the plans anymore?

 

The devs have said that the bridgelayer is something they want to add, but weren't able to get in for release due to engine limitations. It still needs some work.

[maxl30 81]

4 hours ago, PuFu said:

 

And while, just like most mod developers have agreed already with the fact that it would be ideal to have tanks DLC, it comes with a few problems, especially if you compare it with A3 tanks that are all made up, and so it is their interiors

a. references - there isn't a single thing that is harder to come by in terms of proper images than of tank interiors, especially the current generation models (even if you have 1st hand access to them, there are cases where you aren't allowed to get in them or take pictures). Even if you can get to take pictures yourself, it's gonna be a pain to do due to the really small interior space, and camera aperture, focus distances, framing etc. That is not the same for aircraft where you also have glass panels all around the cockpit
b. modelling - it is very time consuming and convoluted, also in relation to point a. , especially considering the gameplay value of it which is minimal. For all intents and purposes, one can make a great tank interior with some pain, it's gonna take 4 times as much time as creating a new vehicle from scratch, all done with a suppressed gag reflex mind you. 
 

Is it worth it? Not sure, i for one would have to price it quite higher = the current content in the released CDLC with the 2 tank interiors would be 30EU instead of 20EU if i were to put a sell price on it.

EDIT - there is also the point of quantity vs quality. Some are bothered that apparently there isn't enough content, some that there isn't enough quality. You can't actually have then both for the same amount of cash btw

 

I personaly dont need tank ineriors, really the A3 tank interiors are cool but not realistic, so i dont need them, i need working police beacons with siren and more equipment, vehicles for the NVA and the civilians, GM didnt need tank interiors, it is without tank interiors also a great DLC with more potential then the basic A3 game ever had.

[Tankbuster 1746]

I always think "I don't need a tank interior" until I find myself driving one with that letterbox screen.

[gossamersolid 155]

Great job on the release guys!

I've been enjoying the campaign so far (only on mission 2 because I'm terrible at the game).

My only critcisms are that the peep hole sights on the Uzi (or MP2, I forget what it's called ingame) and basically unusable. I'm well aware that this is what they look like in real-life, but in real-life our eye sight allows the peep hole design to work. In video games, on the other hand, it just makes them very frustrating to use.

Keep up the good work!

[Electricleash 133]

Hmmm... In the same way the G3 family of weapons are are also somewhat frustrating when it comes to target acquisition.

Likely too late now but some sort of subtle opacity dithering around the outer edges of the rear iron site might have been a way to mitigate it.

 

[gossamersolid 155]

27 minutes ago, Electricleash said:

Hmmm... In the same way the G3 family of weapons are are also somewhat frustrating when it comes to target acquisition.

Likely too late now but some sort of subtle opacity dithering around the outer edges of the rear iron site might have been a way to mitigate it.

 

Yeah the G3 does have a similar problem (let's be honest, a lot of guns in ArmA and mods in general have this issue). I know the devs of Rising Storm 2 had brought it up before and actually made the peep holes unrealistically larger as to make them more useful from a gameplay perspective.

At least the G3 can be zeroed to 100m which has a much more open sight.

[ArYxRayx 2]

The Bicycle flips other Vehicles or makes them fly. Any chance to fix this? would like to use them.

[kerozen 187]

Do you guys have any kind of roadmap you can share about future updates and such?

 

 

[EO 11275]

7 hours ago, dead kennedy said:

Is there any kind of guide or a wikia about GM's features?

 

For example, how to use a Siren module (gm_moduleSiren), how to turn the 

searchlight by scripting commands e t. c.

 

Check the function viewer > moduleSiren 

 

[badanov 116]

The terrain is great, but it has some major problems. At the moment only the east half or the west of half of the terrain are playable

 

1) There are no 100 meter grids on the terrain.  Not an insurmountable problem, but still.  This is actually a big problem because spawned AI won;t move to a programmed destination without the 100 meter grid.  Pretty much hoses my scenarios.

 

2) The fence can be destroyed with a massive heavy artillery barrage. But the concrete, dunno what you call it near the fence, can be, but light infantry refuses to cross. Wheeled vehicles will not cross, but tracked vehicles can.

Edited May 3, 2019 by badanov
Discovered a new problem with terrain

[Beagle 684]

More strange findings.

Despite the lack of night vision except the commander PERI in the leopard 1, I found Standard ArmA III TI as a 3rd zoom stage in some variants.

Thats even more strange.

TI for the Leopard 1 was not available until the A5 upgrade starting in 1986.

Al version that we have in DLC should be using cathode ray tube based active IR with a decent passive capability and an analogue range finder. (input of target size and using a frame till target fits in = range to target)

 

NV for commander PERI was even the way to go, but in the real tank, commander has full Gun and turret control from his station.

Especially in MP (today) this lead to big confusion.

The manual reload function for the main gun is a bit strange.

O.K. you can choose another ammo type that way.

 

 

[maxl30 81]

Ok, i am now done with the campaign, and i musst say i like it, special the tank missions and the last inf 😄

You make really great work, thank you very much !

[tpw 2315]

For a while I've refused to buy A3 content DLC since BIS refuses to fix the myriad of core gameplay and performance issues with the game. For some reason I decided to lift my embargo and buy the GM DLC to see if the A3 Creator idea was worth pursuing - despite some really savage reviews about the high price and supposedly amateurish content and campaign. 

 

As someone who hasn't played a single campaign since A2, and really only cares about the environmental assets available to create an immersive believable world in the A3 sandbox, I have to say I'm stunned at how good the Weferlingen maps are. To be honest I would have been pretty pissed off if these maps had been recycled A2/A3 assets with a handful of new stuff like most mods. Instead we get terrains where most (all?) of the assets are new, just like official DLC. Beautiful enterable period and location specific destructible buildings. Proper western European trees and vegetation. Proper western European environmental sounds. Authentic props and furniture (even the manhole covers clunk when stepped on). Believable geography, proper fresh water rivers, and a gorgeous satmap. All designed to work with A3 lighting, and all running at a comparable performance level to official content.

 

Is the DLC expensive - yes. But considering that it's 20GB of original assets, I think it is actually good value. There's a lot of raw material for modders to build on.

Is the DLC bug free and totally consistent quality - no. Is any BIS content? 

Does the DLC fix any of the core failings of A3 - no. But maybe BIS will use some of their cut to work towards a better A4.

 

Congratulations on an amazing (if imperfect release). I'm confident that the GM devs can address some of the reasonably raised issues, and that GM will be a really solid product in a reasonable time frame.

 

PS Any chance of removing the rain sounds when it snows on Winter Weferlingen?

[ataribaby 54]

6 hours ago, Beagle said:

NV for commander PERI was even the way to go, but in the real tank, commander has full Gun and turret control from his station.

Especially in MP (today) this lead to big confusion.

The manual reload function for the main gun is a bit strange.

O.K. you can choose another ammo type that way.

 

 

 

Yeah ARMA 3 tanks missing Gunner Override for Commander. It is so so with AI gunner and pretty bad with human gunner as he will constantly throw your commander's peri off. We solved it by agreeing human gunner will not move and scan for targets unless human commander tell him to do or command fire.

 

Steel Beasts have this Gunner Override for Commander palm switch nicely implemented. I wish we have same override in Arma 3 Tanks that will work for AI and human gunners.

 

Manual reload is actually improvement - You can load HEAT instead do not need unload automatically loaded round first as before. As you wrote it is quite useful.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Continuing my feedback from earlier regarding the campaign in particular:

Spoiler

I've now finished it and felt it wasn't particularly interesting. What started off as a revival of the old OFP campaigns with a certain atmosphere to it quickly degraded into a series of your everyday user-made mission. The design was built around the basic Arma mechanics and most (if not all?) scenarios went something like: go there, kill everyone, go somewhere else, kill everyone, end. Which isn't bad in and of itself. It's what Arma was built for after all. However, the campaign was lacking atmosphere, mission variety, and a story to connect everything and keep me motivated. It was never explained what actually happened there. Based on the clues I got it was basically a miniature OFP in that some unknown Colonel just randomly attacked Western Germany. It's a bit of a shame but the entire gravity of the situation - remember, it's Germans separated by an involuntary border battling other Germans  - wasn't really conveyed in any way. A huge potential unused.

While the music was fitting and the voice acting ranged from okay to hillariously terrible, what bothered me the most about the lack of immersion were the totally empty locations. In a world where Eden exists and the Laws of War campaign heavily leverages environmental storytelling to its advance, this OFP-style emptyness isn't good enough anymore. Not a single civilian was seen or let alone interacted with in my entire playthrough, cutscenes aside. Just an empty map with the occasional enemy encounter. Hell, not even weather effects or different daytimes had been utilised.

 

Anyway, it might be worth a playthrough if you can stick up with the horrendous AI commanding / spotting mechanics. But I don't think I will replay it any time soon. The campaign probably wasn't a priority which is fine from a developer's perspective.

 

We've also played a couple CO-OP missions last night which are okay but nothing to write home about. Still, we had fun. Even if it was for all the wrong reasons (tanks skyrocketing, random deaths, AI issues, the usual...).

 

As for the DLC in general:

The models and textures look nice overall. Certainly not worse than the vanilla units but also not as good as some of the RHS content or the VSM gear. The guns sound nice an meaty, especially the MG3 is becoming my new favourite. In terms of quantity I think it's okay. We've got no special forces or disctinct recon units. There's also no Greenfor / Resistance faction even if it's hinted at in one of the CO-OP missions. But that's fine for me. A bit odd are the decisions to portray the Danish forces (why? to show off the Flecktarn maybe?) and the fact that we've got AA tanks but no air assets to use them on. Tank interiors aren't really a problem for me even if they are now state of the art when it comes to Arma.

The terrain is huge and probably quite realistic. And good for tank fights or use of air assets. Unfortunately, there's little variety and most places I've been to kind of look the same. Aside from the border area, I haven't encountered any particularly interesting location so far. From my very personal viewpoint, it suffers the same problem Chernarus suffered: lack of military encampments and installations. Even if unrealistic, I'd like to have seen some bases, trenches, and fortifications ready to use for mission developers.

 

All in all it's a decent start for the Creators' DLCs and I hope the team continues to add to this one (even if it's in form of successive DLCs). Whether or not it's worth 20€ (or 18€ on launch day) I think largely depends on your focus and interest in that scenario. To use the map and assets in your own missions, yeah sure, go for it. But if you're more interested some playable content, I'd wait for the sales or even pass on this one.

[EO 11275]

8 hours ago, tpw said:

PS Any chance of removing the rain sounds when it snows on Winter Weferlingen?

 

No rain sounds on my end.....anyone else?

[tpw 2315]

5 hours ago, EO said:

 

No rain sounds on my end.....anyone else?

Aaargh, you're right. Was one of my mods. 

[flv*venom* 83]

Congrats on the release!

I actually learned about this DLC a few hours before it was released, yet I was on board once I read, it featured a BW campaign. That's something I dreamed about for the longest time. And while I must admit, that the mission design could use some more love, I still very much enjoy the campaign.

One thing I hope to see happen now is that more Cold War stuff gets released and that a standardization is implemented. I freakin' hate that every mod always reinvents the wheel instead of the community agreeing on a common ground. Maybe this DLC could lay the foundation for it...But I get off topic and too hopefull, i know. One thing I would like to see in the future, and this is actually semi serious, is the implementation of proper east german accents 😄 (Sorry if anyone feels offended, but the NVA just isn't the NVA without sächsisch or thüringisch).

 

 

 

[Beagle 684]

1 hour ago, flv*venom* said:

Congrats on the release!

I actually learned about this DLC a few hours before it was released, yet I was on board once I read, it featured a BW campaign. That's something I dreamed about for the longest time. And while I must admit, that the mission design could use some more love, I still very much enjoy the campaign.

One thing I hope to see happen now is that more Cold War stuff gets released and that a standardization is implemented. I freakin' hate that every mod always reinvents the wheel instead of the community agreeing on a common ground. Maybe this DLC could lay the foundation for it...But I get off topic and too hopefull, i know. One thing I would like to see in the future, and this is actually semi serious, is the implementation of proper east german accents 😄 (Sorry if anyone feels offended, but the NVA just isn't the NVA without sächsisch or thüringisch).

 

 

 

I felt the same about the voice acting. Albeit in most regions near the border there was not much of a different dialect. The people in Eisenach or Gotha spoke in the same way as the people in Eschwege or Kassel back then in 1989... to my surprise, we all though the "sächsisch" that my math teacher in 1987 spoke, who had fled in1985 from Leipzig, was the norm. The Lingo in the DLC also seems very BW centric.

[maxl30 81]

I recocnize that there arent any police signs for buildings, can you add for each side some ?

[LoneGunner1974 0]

Texts and radio messages are in german. How can I change language to english?

[mondkalb 1087]

@maxl30 I have added it to our list of things. It's easy to do so I think there's a good chance for it. 🙂
 
@LoneGunner1974  The audio is in German, subtitles are available in English and German currently.