where is the OFP addon diversity?

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Hi,

I am currently investing a hell lot of time into creating a real 45 minute movie that doesnt simply do the "soldier running in slow motion" tricks but rather tells a real story with a real plot and characters. Unfortunately my ideas are a little restricted by the addons that are currenty available. When checking armedassault.info I regularly find new addons being released, which is great and shows the community is still willing to participate. But then again I find out, that there is a new sound mod, a new ArmA Launcher and maybe a new reskin and units of a national army, but thats about it.

I fully understand and respect that addon makers work on projects they enjoy most and they got every right to do so.

And I am also aware that criticising means being highly ignorant about the work that some people put into addons.

But then again I believe diversity is everything. OFP wasnt a game, it was a whole world on its own. There were no limitations to creativity, there was no idea that couldnt be put into practice. If you had a crazy mission idea, you simply had to surf for adequate addons and download them. But now I have the impression people focus too much on addons for simple Multiplayer missions, which usually means military units. Where are the unorthodox addons that resemble those that were made for OFP? Where are the extra buildings? the civillian ships, units and vehicules? Where are the addons that make ArmA so different for every other multiplayer game out there?

Have you ever tried to give life to a city with only military units being available? It wont work, it will feel just as sterile as Battlefield2. Maybe you will be able to create a challenging mission, but not one that tells a real story, makes him laugh or identifies himself with the character he plays.

So please dont understand this as criticism, I am the last to complain about work and diligence that is being put into Armed Assault. But dear addon makers, rest assured, even if you only create a combine harvester, there are people who download and use it, and not just for a couple of seconds.

If I would have more time on my hand I would definetly try to contribute a bit more, but unfortunately I am not able to do so. I put all my money into a new startup and by that of course risk my future career, so my free time is very limited. If you want to do some of us "more silent" players a favour go crazy with your addon ideas and we will definetly appreciate it! Thanks for your attention!

[W0lle 1052]

Are you are aware that there are no tools available yet to the community so they can make gazillions of addons?

Without the proper tools it's hard (not impossible) to create new addons except, like you said, mostly reskins of existing units.

Also OFP had 6 years time to get the amount of addons available right now, ArmA is out since just half a year now and still not available around the world.

Quote[/b] ]Have you ever tried to give life to a city with only military units being available?

There are at least 22 different male civilians available plus 17 different civilian vehicles. Not enough? Well ok the poor man lost once again all their girls ... but that's another story.

[raedor 8]

People tend to think that they can't make addons (beside retexes) w/o tools. Only some brave have been releasing other things than retexes: GranQ and some others as well as Mapfact...

[Jezz 0]

i think there are a number of reasons,

1: Is that offical tools for arma are not yet out so newcomers to the scene would have to do a bit of looking about to discover that its possible to use many of the old ofp ones

2: At the moment alot of the addon makers are old hands from ofp who are normally affilated with team, generally with a military bent.

3: Also most of the odder addons tend to be made by newcomers but addon making compared to ofp is now signifcantly harder. Making it harder for someone just starting.

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

Dont be too strict with me. I tried to stress the fact that I dont want to complain rather then to assure addon makers that there are people out there who are very interested in unorthodox addons.

If the tools are missing then this of course is a reason I must accept. But then again some might already now think of a project they intend to start once being provided with the necessary software. And I want to assure them that crazy addons  dont necessarily imply to become unpopular addons.

@Jezz, thanks for the insight!   Unfortunately the conclusion that can be drawn from your points dont hint at a very bright future for ArmA! I hope creativity in ArmA wont only be restricted to fully proffesional addon makers. It would be a such a shame!

[Col. Faulkner 0]

Well, I for one am completely confident that we'll ultimately

see the same astonishing variety of addons in ArmA as we

saw in OFP; running the entire gamut from the sublime to the

frankly ridiculous. I think maybe you're just being a bit

impatient (as am I, I have to admit).

[sparky 0]

@Albert Schweizer.

I agree with you, community addons were in fact a whole new world inside OFP, but you have to be patient mostly cause ArmA is a new experience to search 1st and then develope, a few of us (addonmakers) are working on addons, most of the mod-teams are waiting for the tools. Although i agree 100% with raedor. the only thing that we can't do is BINARIZE our materials in rvmat format, and put the cfg model and skeleton in the p3d. therefore the most handy tool for me now will be the new binarize program, as for the O3  i expect nothing more, A 3D PROGRAM IS ALWAYS A 3D PROGRAM, i only wish of an exporter for 3ds max, or even better, UVW unwrapping fuctionality embedded. And offcourse a few sample models would be great (basically for characters). And off course there is and the island thing, in which i understand that BIS has made quite a lot of changes so we can't work wrp format with current tools.

But if you search you'll see that vehicles/airplanes/helicopters etc, and off course buildings are appliable and can be 100% compatible to ArmA with NO new tool at all.

You also have to think that OFP community was also blessed by the work of some teams which produced some really good OFP modding tools long before BIS released its own (Remember WRPEdit, WRPtool, and a bunch of other.....) so we're trying to do our best to create what we're able to create and have it 100% compatible with ArmA.

so, wait a bit more, I bet in a few months you'll have what you're expecting.

thanks.

[dm 9]

Is it not a bit much to be expecting as diverse a range of addons as OFP for a game which has only been out for 6 months (even only ~2 months in a "general" European sense)?

OFP has had 6 years to reach the state it is at now, so it seems a bit unreasonable to expect a game which is 1/12th the age (even 1/36th if you consider the 505 as the "main" release, and EVEN yet to mature in terms of tools) to have the same diversity of addons available.

[VXR 9]

Deadmeat is right..

In the first 2 to 6 months OFP was out you could only find retextures of vehicles and units etc. Diversity of addons needs time. Once the tools are out along with the tutorials addons will pop-up till you can't say the word "addon" anymore.

[BraTTy 0]

Game hasn't been released in the US yet either

And to currently edit models, one would need Operation Flashpoint installed to use O2.

New users may have never tried OFP

[Heatseeker 0]

I hope addon makers will prioritise usefull content that people can and will actually use in their missions. I also hope to see less individual releases and more combined initiatives (packs) so that the addon scene becomes more MP/mission friendly.

You could make the coolest/perfect looking harvester with animated parts and all and if i needed something to put in a farm in some mission i would still use the BIS tractor.. its just not worth the dependency.

In the later stages of the OPF addon scenario addons were being used for 85% combat photography and 15% fooling around in the editor, you want specific addons just to record a movie ?

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

I hope addon makers will prioritise usefull content that people can and will actually use in their missions. I also hope to see less individual releases and more combined initiatives (packs) so that the addon scene becomes more MP/mission friendly.

You could make the coolest/perfect looking harvester with animated parts and all and if i needed something to put in a farm in some mission i would still use the BIS tractor.. its just not worth the dependency.

In the later stages of the OPF addon scenario addons were being used for 85% combat photography and 15% fooling around in the editor, you want specific addons just to record a movie ?

No! I thought my message was pretty clear. I hope for diversity, for the good "mix" of addons, and the the harvester was obviously just an overinterpreted example.

Quote[/b] ]In the later stages of the OPF addon scenario addons were being used for 85% combat photography and 15% fooling around in the editor

And what exactly would be wrong with that? The amount of addons for Multiplayer is limited anyway for the sake of comfort. So the population of custom addons available will always be much higher than the one that can be found in missions online.

Quote[/b] ]you want specific addons just to record a movie ?

Well I am using addons for a movie. Whats wrong with that?  As I said it is silly to believe every addon should be made for and will be used regularly in Multiplayer. That's wish-thinking. Besides, I believe that many people including me often download addons just to try them out in the editor. I dont get the multiplayer arrogance?

Quote[/b] ] prioritise usefull content

I would replace the term "usefull" with "popular". And thats exactly what this thread is about and I tried to explain my point of view what makes addons "usefull" and "popular" -> diversity.

[mcnools 62]

like people have already said, I'm sure there will be a huge diversety of addons eventually, Ofp's addon community didn't get really big until Resistance was released, I'm with you on this one though, I want lots of different stuff for missions, I mostly just make missions for myself anyway.

[BraTTy 0]

Your hurting my mojo....pacific addons are not really popular

[Heatseeker 0]

I believe that many people including me often download addons just to try them out in the editor. I dont get the multiplayer arrogance?

Its not MP arrogance Albert, its having people's work being put into more use, mp or sp missions, doesnt matter.

Quote[/b] ]

I would replace the term "usefull" with "popular". And thats exactly what this thread is about and I tried to explain my point of view what makes addons "usefull" and "popular" -> diversity.

Diversity alone doesnt make addons popular if you ask me, but thats not the point. I think a popular addon is one that people will want to make and play missions with.

Quote[/b] ]

But then again I find out, that there is a new sound mod, a new ArmA Launcher and maybe a new reskin and units of a national army, but thats about it.

People are limited with what they can because the tools arent out yet, even so a sound mod and game launcher while not being playable or very photographic are still very usefull to play the game.

Good luck with the movie .

[VXR 9]

If addonmakers are able to release a pack of missions along with their addons (co-op) etc. with a great realistic touch to it for example, or set up a kind of mission design contest that would result in some great missions.

[Sugsilla 0]

I also hope to see less individual releases and more combined initiatives (packs) so that the addon scene becomes more MP/mission friendly.

I must so totally agree. It sure was fun to make mission around some nice gatged, but that really was pain to manage those addons even with small group like five friends to play. That’s main reason why I liked big addon packs lets say like FDF mod. There was nice amount of stuff to play a round. Of course getting that peace of addon will take a time but after you have downloadet it you don’t need to start that addon issue between the missions if someone has forgotten or some other reason don’t have just that one small peace.

But also I like to see plenty of nice addons to come. And I also like those addons just for atmosphere, but those tend to end corner of the hard disk if they aren’t good or easy enough to use. And those I like to see even bigger blocks to be a easy to use.