ArmA Watch

[Certa 0]

http://armawatch.net/forum

Hi all!

After some hesitation I believe this belongs in the Multiplayer Section, with the History of OFP Watch, but in some way it also belongs in the Addon section.

Finally I bought the English Euro ArmA, got a graphics card that can actually handle it.. I have not yet finished the campaign but I like the game. I get the good old OFP feeling and I suspect I will stick to it for some year to come, especially knowing what a great community this is!

For those who don’t know, I wrote the OFP Watch utility that included multi and single -player launcher, automatic addon download (for servers running my addon server), general addon manager and several other features.

For the last few months I have had countless of inquiries for an ArmA Watch utility with addon download.

I know there are at least a few launchers and server query tools out there and there are probably more to come. However, so far, as I heard, there is no automatic addon download utility out there, perhaps someone is developing one, how can I know.

I have only a few rough drafts of what a ArmA Watch would be but these are the current points I would try to go with:

• Open Source

• Multiple server monitoring

• Simple addon download

• LZMA/RAR compression.

• No need of an addon server

• Com interface addon download and/or community standard (ok, it’s a wish)

• Complete documentation

Open Source

The reasons are many, quality control, easy for people to customize, multiple developers. For me it’s good because others can improve and develop the utility when I don’t have the time. I think Open Source speaks for itself.

Multiple server monitoring

This pretty much brings us to the UI which is still not set. I imagine a split view system with servers, players and server info in different sections. Here there is space for a lot of features like ‘join the first server with 8 players’ and a lot more. I’m not really a UI guy so there is plenty of room for developer interaction here.

Simple addon download

I’m thinking simple as in ‘simple’, primitive compared to OFP Watch but easy to use and easy to set up. OFP Watch had some very extensive script options and features. There were always server admins with special needs and that created more and more features. Even I can’t understand my own OFP Watch source code sometimes. ArmA Watch would have a more straight forward download/update to a server specific mod folder approach. This will remove some of the smartness of OFP Watch but improve general usability and maintenance.

LZMA/RAR compression

A lot of people wanted more than ZIP support from OFP Watch, especially people with slow connections. I agree, RAR or 7z can squeeze down an addon a lot better than ZIP. With the new approach I’m thinking about, I’d like a format that can be extracted from a HTTP (or perhaps a FTP) -server directly in a way the player/client don’t have to download the entire package before extraction of a single PBO .I’m still looking in to this (help is appreciated) but in worst case it will yield a separate package compression utility with good compression but a format not supported by general tools.

No need of an addon server

One of the hassles with OFP Watch Auto-Addon was the need of an addon server for the automatic addon support. The addon server did provide the player/client with information OFP could not in itself, even the simple timer of how long the current game had gone. However, most of this information can be rerouted via other means. I have one/two ideas of how to implement most of this without any additional server installations. It can be done via the server name/description and/or via a central but open ArmA Watch server. If the server name contains a URL, all the server admin will have to do is to point to the addon packages via a HTML tag on their main page...at least that’s my idea.

The rest would be done via HTTP/FTP protocol, decompression and local installation.

Com interface addon download and/or community standard

As described above, the addon, detection, checking and installation standard should be open. A free COM interface for Windows developers could come in handy...no priority, on demand.

Complete documentation

The way OFP Watch grew with features it was impossible for me to keep up with documentation. In the end I had a general manual on the website, technical documentation in the readme’s and I send emails with further instructions to those it might concern. No more of that... ArmA Watch should be documented from day one and kept up to date with every revision. Wiki documentation if needed.

Summary

I’m looking for inputs, suggestions, partners, cheers, buuhs or discouragements. At the moment of writing I’m not 100% sure I’m going to go ahead writing an ArmA Watch. I don’t mind setting up this project on my own if needed, but input and partners are welcome. I’m pretty much open for anything. Also, if a similar project is already going on, let me know and I might support/join it instead.

Message me for contact. I disabled my old OFP email (spam attacks) so it doesn’t work.

John/Certa

[[aps]gnat 28]

*Cheer*

Great to hear John.

I'm sure its obvious to all why you got hit with so many requests for an ArmA-Watch ..... your tool ruled supreme because it made it much much simpler for noobs and experts to connect to a server. And server admins didnt have to be brainiacs.

Our OGN Server lasted as long as it did in part because of this.

Couple of early suggestions .... sure I'll have more.

- Look for the same CRC checked addon outside the servers own mod directly. Just copy it instead of downloading again.

- ArmAW regularly generates a html files showing all current addons, directories and sizes. Easy for players to check.

Not sure if I can contribute much else. But I am the author of the PBOManager;

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....=44343;

Cheers and good luck

[-OGN-DarkPhantom 0]

Good to see we have'nt lost you John,

Our OGN server used OFPwatch day and night it was like the heartbeat of the server and as Gnat said the server lasted a long game time due to your program.

OGN ArmA personnel will support you as much as we can if you need us for anything.

Please contacts us at anytime.

[Auss 208]

Great to see u have the bug again Certa!!, your OFP Tool was used by the OGN community here is Aus and we miss not having the same tool for ArmA. We will certainly love to help you any way we can.

[Leopard2 0]

I was hoping you would update your tool to function with ArmA. I know Karrillion had an auto addon server running which helped A LOT. He constantly added stuff to RTS3.

I like the idea to start a new open source project and I'd love to help. Work and family are priority, though. I know my way around C++, Win32 API, MFC, and such... So, let me know if I can be of assistance. I bet I could recruit some more support at Radishville.

Good to have you back and good luck!

[Certa 0]

Thanks for the input!

Leopard2, good you mentioned it, because I forgot. Yes, the main source base will be C++/Win32/MFC with Visual Studio 2005. Later, perhaps someone wants to convert the MFC use to the more slim ATL/WFC.

I'll try to separate UI, system specific code and core functionality so the core and system parts can be translated and compiled using any compiler or system.

[Wgates 0]

Eeeyooooo!, you know for me, I couldn't help but get a warm, fuzzy feeling inside whenever I heard Certa's better half exclaim, "Creating."

Thanks for the effort & hence the memories!

ArmA Watch ehhh? Possible to see the sides players are on & JIP the side of your choice as you simultaneously enter the game server? Okay, all I could think of at the moment... unless you can load out w/ an M136 and silenced M14 w/ mortars & under barrel 12 gauge also... not to mention anti-tunnel vision view... hmmm, I have to lay off the medz....

-PD

[Monkwarrior 0]

Great news for us newbees !

I'm rather limited in my time right now so I won't be of much help for coding nor GUI design, sry.

I do have a suggestion.

It would be very nice if some sort of buddy/friends system could be part of this. Many times I wonder if and where my mates are playing.

GL with your design and kudos for being it open-source.

Monk.

[aussie dave 0]

It would be very nice if some sort of buddy/friends system could be part of this. Many times I wonder if and where my mates are playing.

Qtracker has a buddy system:

Qtracker

[Certa 0]

Some updates for you. And some change in plans.

Initially I'm not going to write an UI application with server list, player list, server monitoring, game launching and all that. I'm going to focus on completing the core parts of the addon download/installation and wrap them into some API/COM interface and release it under LGPL or similar.

I'd love to hook up with some existing ArmA query project or some developers who want write a query/launcher and incorporate addon download into their app. Since I’m going to use LGPL (or similar) you don’t have to release your parts as open source.

Core components progress:

I have the download format and addon query format figured out. I'm right now writing the tools to create the file format server admins can use to distribute addons.

As I mentioned earlier, no extra server software will be required. All you need is an ArmA Server, dedicated or non-dedicated, any web page or FTP site. The web/FTP doesn't have to be on the same IP or server.

Further you need to do is to put a URL in the server name, something ArmA Watch can recognize and a lot of people already got this for other reasons. There can be several options here, something to fit most needs and limitations.

The addon files will be distributed in something I call the "ArmA Watch Image". It's one file containing header, file index with SHA1 hashes and file data compressed with LZMA (the main 7zip compression formula). I'm also going to add support for password encryption in case you have a password protected ArmA Server and want to keep your addons very secret.

The image is designed so it can be accessed randomly over an internet connection. Even if the image contains 100 files and is 1GB of compressed data, only the needed files will be downloaded and extracted.

The actual installation of mod folders and caching of addons is still a work in progress.

John/Certa

[Certa 0]

I've put up a new webpage and forum for this project:

http://armawatch.net/forum

Nice moderators, unlimited posts and no search before ask complaints.

Please join, non developers welcome too.

John/Certa

[jerryhopper 286]

Quote[/b] ]

Hopelessly under construction.

doesnt sound hopefull... and might look like u need some help.

nice url though....

but besides that, the ArmA: Protocol handler is already out there....

due to problems at armamods.net, my site got closed.

stay tuned this weekend, as im relaunching it.

Serverlist, BuddyList, Url Handler protocol, server graphs, bannerexchange and squad tracker....

(did i forget to mention Sahrani Radio, my ArmA radiostation?)

anyways - im into 'sharing info' - so contact me if you want to discuss something... we could help eachother...

cheers!

[Certa 0]

Quote[/b] ]

Hopelessly under construction.

doesnt sound hopefull... and might look like u need some help.

nice url though....

but besides that, the ArmA: Protocol handler is already out there....

due to problems at armamods.net, my site got closed.

stay tuned this weekend, as im relaunching it.

Serverlist, BuddyList, Url Handler protocol, server graphs, bannerexchange and squad tracker....

(did i forget to mention Sahrani Radio, my ArmA radiostation?)

anyways - im into 'sharing info'  - so contact me if you want to discuss something... we could help eachother...

cheers!

Awesome!

It's a bummer your site is down atm. I'd love to check out your tools.

Do you need automatic addon download for your tool? -That's what I focus on.

(I sent you a msg, not sure it came through so I posted this)

John/Certa

[Shins 0]

Any update on this project? It sounds superb.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Certa's up to plenty at http://forum.armawatch.net/

[buliwyf 4]

...would be nice to hear some news...

[pmd 0]

...would be nice to hear some news...

same here...

is this project even being worked on still? i clicked on the link to the website and it kept on saying it was down. then the entire time i tried to get on the forums (past few weeks) it's never appeared

[Sc@tterbrain 0]

...would be nice to hear some news...

I hope so. If it takes sacraficing a cat to get Certa or ANYONE to make a OFPWatch style tool...

...here kitty-kitty

[.kju 3244]

what is the problem/reason that one cant use ofpwatch for ArmA files?

[shiner 0]

Website has been down for quite some time now.. almost ready to call this project DOA. We may need to lobby BIS to support this feature in ArmA2.

[BLSmith2112 0]

HOLY CRAP IS CERTA. I missed you.

---------------------

You deserve front page news on the major websites, newspapers, podcasts, and news media. Cheers! - Good luck to you.

Heeeeere's Johnny, w00t he's back!

[binkster 0]

HOLY CRAP IS CERTA. I missed you.  

---------------------

You deserve front page news on the major websites, newspapers, podcasts, and news media. Cheers! - Good luck to you.

Heeeeere's Johnny, w00t he's back!

That was Certa 6months ago... Read dates too.. people digging up old post..

[BLSmith2112 0]

I hate people who toy with me... DONT DIG UP OLD POSTS PLZ!