Where can I find mission files?

[kupcho 19]

I'd like to know if the original mission files (the ones that BI included in the game) are accessible to be viewed in the editor.

And if so, where can I find them.

I'm an older dude and I know very little about computer language or scripting.

I come here to the forums to learn things, but most of the answers I get come from folks that know a LOT more than I do and too often they also include scripts that rely on mods n such and are not very helpful to me.

Sort of like me (I've played guitar for over 50 years) trying to show a novice guitarist how to play Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), by running through it in real time and then expecting them to pick up on it right away and play it on an acoustic guitar too (good luck with that).

I have put together a few (very) simple missions before, but I'd like to learn more about the scripts used in the game.

And I'm hoping that by looking over the original missions, being as basic as they can be, would help me a lot when I'm trying to figure out how they do certain things.

Any help would be appreciated.

[kupcho 19]

Please also understand that I access the game through steam.

I assume that that will probably change the directory where I find them.

[7erra 629]

Here are a few steps to do so:

1. Find your Arma installation path:
   1. Open Steam
   2. Go to your Library
   3. Right click "Arma 3"
   4. Select "Properties..."
   5. On the left select "Local Files"
   6. Clicking "Browse..." will open the Arma 3 game folder
2. Find the mission folder:
   1. Most of the base game's missions (no DLCs, expansions) can be found in the "Addons" folder
   2. Some missions are part of a DLC and have their own folder which is also in the game folder, eg "AoW" for the Art of War DLC, "Curator" for Zeus missions, etc.
   3. As an example I will continue with the missions_f_epa.pbo from "Arma 3\Addons"
3. Access the pbo:
   1. To open and unpack a pbo you will need a separate program. I for one use this one: https://github.com/SteezCram/PboViewer/releases
   2. Download the latest version of pboviewer-gui-windows.zip
   3. Unpack the folder somewhere you will find it later
   4. Double click the "PboViewer.exe"
   5. Windows might give a warning, you can overwrite it with "More Info" and "Run anyway" (in this case it is safe as you can literally view the source code on GitHub)
   6. From the PboViewer GUI select "Open PBO"
   7. Go into your Addons folder
   8. Select the pbo you want to unpack, eg. missions_f_epa.pbo
   9. Now you can unpack the pbo by clicking the green box with an up-arrow
   10. Find your missions folder. There are two possible locations: a) My Documents\Arma 3\missions or b) My Documents\Arma 3 - Other Profiles\YourProfileName\missions
   11. Unpack the pbo here
4. Open in 3den:
   1. Start 3den
   2. Open the missions folder (CTRL+O or top left)
   3. Now you can navigate the unpacked pbo as part of your own missions. All missions end on the worldname, for example "missions_f_epa\Campaign\Missions\A_hub01.Stratis" is located on Stratis and appears as "A_hub01" in the list of missions

[kupcho 19]

Thank you 7erra.

Very helpful.

I appreciate the full and clear instructions (not to mention the quick reply).

Looking forward to learning something usefull.

...and terrorizing my buddies when they play my missions.

[beno_83au 1362]

It still might end up being a step leaning curve if you're looking to reverse engineer or learn from them, really depends on what you're trying to achieve. To borrow from your metaphor, learn the chords and start with "Happy Birthday" 😁 then work up from there. Just keep it simple. Took me a while to start figuring this business out. But never be afraid to ask. 

[kupcho 19]

No problem there beno_83au.

Being one of the older generation (I'm in my 60's), and whether I want to or not...I take things slow naturally.

I just needed to see how the guys that wrote the game take care of business without all the mods n stuff.

I've done some light scripting before, using things I found here, on youtube, etc... and can generally hold my own for a lot of what I'd like to achieve.

But some of the more complicated stuff still baffles me.

I haven't actually written anything for quite awhile, but after getting the Global Mobilization DLC and playing the Death Match scenario it got me interested in doing more again.

A LONG time ago, I hosted what I called the PIGSTY for my Friday Night Fights with friends in the old Delta Force games.

And one of my things that people seemed to enjoy there, were what I called my "Arena" series of maps.

Small, enclosed areas where folks got together just to shoot anything that moved.

They were short, fast moving games that the new DM map reminded me of.

And I was hoping to (at least this time) adopt the scripts that ran that map into a new batch of Arena maps.

In all truth, what I could do (at least at this time), is take the entire script from that mission and simply change the areas where the battles are fought.

But I'm not so much interested in the changing of outfits or upgrading the weapons, just running a straight forward Deathmatch/Team Deathmatch server.

But I can take care of the minutia later.

I learn more from having a working script where I can see what happens when I remove small pieces.

If it continues to work...cool. If not...back to square one; time to try something different.

Learning by my failures y'know.

So now I'm searching for where the DLC missions are hidden so I can look into that specific mission.

Any idea where I can find these?

[kupcho 19]

Crap. Never mind.

I found them (the Global Mobilization files) in the GM folder.

Unfortunately, BI chose to release these files as EBO files.

And they aren't openable (?) using these tools.

I suppose that I'll work on something else for now.

But thanks for the help folks.

[Gunter Severloh 3948]

45 minutes ago, kupcho said:

So now I'm searching for where the DLC missions are hidden so I can look into that specific mission.

Any idea where I can find these?

AOW - Art of War

C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\AoW\Addons

File ----> missions_f_aow.pbo

 

Contact DLC

C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\Contact\Addons

C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\Enoch\Addons

File ---->  missions_f_enoch.ebo

 

Apex DLC

C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\Expansion\Addons

File ---->  missions_f_exp.pbo

 

Helicopters DLC

C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\Heli\Addons

File ---->  missions_f_heli.pbo

 

Jets DLC

C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\Jets\Addons

File ----> missions_f_jets.pbo

 

Karts DLC

C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\Kart\Addons

File ----> missions_f_kart.pbo

 

Marksman DLC

C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\Mark\Addons

File ----> missions_f_mark.pbo

 

Orange - Laws of War

H:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\Orange\Addons

File ----> missions_f_orange.pbo

 

Tacops DLC

C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\Tacops\Addons

File ----> missions_f_tacops.ebo

 

Tanks DLC

C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Arma 3\Tank\Addons

File ----> missions_f_tank.pbo

 

[kupcho 19]

Thanks Gunter.

That's the info I was looking for.

But I'll still have to wait for someone to write an "ebo viewer" before I can look into the files I was trying to see.

Tomorrows another day.

 

[7erra 629]

ebo is the encrypted version of a pbo, so it is not meant to be accessible

[pierremgi 4738]

And really? What are you supposed to "learn", opening BI pbo which are full of split functions referring to sub-functions...?

The copy/paste never works without true learning, just because there are too many inter-dependency between scripts (sqf,fsm), variable/function definitions (cpp, hpp), and sometimes models (p3d) textures (paa) and so on. 

Cherry on the cake, if you have no skill about MP scripting, start with tutos!

You'll find here some good tutos on this forum, once you know what you want to do.

 

[beno_83au 1362]

Delta Force was great. But like the others said, the GM is locked behind encryption until BI or the CDLC creators decide to open it up for all to see. In the mean time though maybe this will help:

I wanted a quick deathmatch a little while back so went and made one. It does requires a couple of mods, but nothing crazy. And at most, the scripts will only reference modded items, like weapons, so that stuff is easily interchangeable.