How do mods work? (New to ARMA)

[madtkboy 0]

So, like I said, I'm new to ARMA. I've played many great mods from the Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2 games, and in all those cases mods were activated ingame and had alot more than say one tank or weapon or one simple function like sound changes and they worked online only when multiple clients had the same mod.

Here in ARMA, I'm sifting through the mods list and I realize that many mods are basically simply weapon addons, and sometimes only one new weapon is in the addon.

Will I be able to play these mods online? How does ARMA addons work? I'm very enthusiastic about trying all the great content i'm seeing but I'm just so confused. Please enlighten an ARMA newbie on how these addons and mods work in single and multiplay.

Oh and while you're at it, suggest some good realism enhancement mods that are played online by sizable amounts of players please =)

[Shadow NX 1]

Never seen a single weapon labelled as Mod for ArmA or OFP

Single files are only Addons or so called Packs, for ArmA there are atm only a few mods that either alter some sounds or replace units with reskins cause its hard to make new ArmA content without the official tools.

One Mod that already uses some new unit is the XAM mod but its not availeable in english yet, it at least has different tank huds and custom made russian soldiers.

A Addon or Mod can only be used online if others ( and the server ) have installed it aswell.

If you use some mod that others dont have you may get kicked automaticly, however some addon in your addon folder doesnt affect this, a mod that alters stuff in the game however will trigger that kick thing.

Same thing if you make some mission with some addon and you wanna play with your mates, if they dont have a addon that you used they either get kicked or will get lots of errors.

And now i think i confused more than help so if anythign is unclear feel free to ask

[JdB 151]

Never seen a single weapon labelled as Mod for ArmA or OFP

Single files are only Addons or so called Packs, for ArmA there are atm only a few mods that either alter some sounds or replace units with reskins cause its hard to make new ArmA content without the official tools.

I have, it's mostly the new people that make these kinds of mistakes.

Addon: A new (set of) soldier, vehicle, weapon etc.

Addonpack: A pack containing several different addons.

Mod: Alot of different addons and/or configtweaks that change many aspects of the game, and often includes a campaign or set of missions.

Mapmaker: Creates islands.

Missionmaker: Creates missions that take place on an “islandâ€.

[vipermaul 246]

We really need a new Wikki to explain the differences between Addons and Mods and how you can convert some Addons to Mods including some of the dangers of Addons etc.

And I mean the details of how mods are installed in directories, launched, activated, deactivated. Advantages and disadvantages of such. Etc.

When I was the newest newbie I searched high and low and I was amazed how hard it was to learn what I just mentioned above.

It might be out there already but I don't remember seeing it back then.

[vipermaul 246]

For those that are curious how to install an ADDON as a MOD or simply wants to know the difference between the two.

Here is a pretty good explanation I recently found.

How to install and launch addons OR mods

And here is my current TIP about addons.

"I never install addons as addons. I always install them as a MOD. This way I can turn them off when I want to install a BIS patch.'

I have seen many people have problems installing a BIS patch because of a 3rd-Party Addon. And its hard to remember which addon files you need to remove. You usually end of having to reinstall from scratch just to get the BIS patch to install correctly.

I hope what Shadow, JdB and I have said here helps some people understand some things about Addons and MODs

-ViperMaul