31st MEU Desert / Woodland Marpat Skins

[jdhaines 0]

Hey guys, I thought that I would let everyone in the Arma community know that the 31st MEU realism unit has joined the crowd as far as addons.  This is the first real addon that we have released and will probably be the only for awhile.  

We have tried to make these as realistic as possible.  They have been poured over and tested by the guys in our unit, including both active and ex. marines.  They should have accurate loadouts, as well as names.  As always, a few items can't be perfect due to game/model limitations.

Addon: 31st MEU Desert / Woodland Marpats

Website: http://www.31stMEU.us

Images:

Woodland Image

Desert Image

Download Mirrors

Mirror1

Combat-Prison (German)

Armaholic

Installation:  

1) Download the File

2) There will be two zip folders. 1 is the replacements, 1 is the skins (check the name if you are confused.

3) Put BOTH of the large files (skin folder) into your addons folder. (Or a modfolder if you prefer)

4) Next, put ONLY ONE of the small files (replacement folder) into your addons folder. (or modfolder) This is where you decide what skins you want to use to replace the stock Army ACUs.

5) Verify. 3 .pbo files total.

Additional Sweetness:

1) Put both skin .pbo files (big ones) in your permanent addon folder

2) Put the woodland replacement pack in a woodland marpat modfolder and load it into your arma launcher.

3) Do the same thing for the desert replacement .pbo file.

4) Now you can switch between the replacements when you load the game. You can even do stuff like put in all your desert vehicle and weapon replacement packs into your desert modfolder so you can switch the entire look and feel of the game between desert and woodland. As I said... sweetness.

Credits:

Headcrusha & CSL: For their replacement style.  Very simple and very effective.  Thanks guys.

 

Johnny from Johnny's Marines: Not for help or texture use, but for releasing marpats to hold us over until we got ours done.  These are not being released because we don't like his, but because we wanted our own and wanted them a certain way.

HepCat: Same reason as Johnny above.

Armaholic: For always being the best site for addons.  They are lightning quick with updating, and are always extremely fast on updating broken links.  Overall, a very well done addon site, and a great member of the community.

Ebud: For his badass sewing patterns showing how to cut the textures. The vests are from that sewing pack with a slight color fix.

Version:

1...Hopefully the last.  I hate doing multiple revisions, and we've been waiting on this release for awhile.  We'll see though.  Maybe another after the tools come out for model editing.

Use Agreement:

You can release these in any mission pack, addon pack, or whatever you want, I only ask that you both give the 31stMEU credit and put the http://www.31stMEU.us website along with the credit.

[McGhee 0]

Awsome work guys, these addons will be very useful! Keep

'em coming!

[IronTiger 0]

Awesome Job guys !!!

[G_H_Play_AKA_BOSS 0]

Sweet work guys, i realy love them & they look smart.

[manzilla 1]

You guys rock. Great job! Now there's a novel concept.... release a fantastic troop addon AND a replacement file. I love it. Thanks a ton for doing that. I'm gonna use them right now.

[USMC NEEDER 0]

Wow excellent work!! i cant believe this!! thank you so much!

[ArmaVidz 0]

Those look amazingly done. ~gj and thanks!

[CameronMcDonald 146]

Look good, but some normal map work might be needed to hide those pesky MOLLE strip outlines.

[Rocco 0]

did u use the old model or the new one?

[Shashman 0]

Look pretty good, but what's the difference between these and Johnny's Marines, which are widely used and have been out for a long time?

[jdhaines 0]

**New Mirror

Thanks for the props guys.  

@Manzilla: Thats what I thought.

@Cameron McDonald: Good idea, I didn't look into working with normal maps at all with these.  I'll look into it, and if I can get enough of an increase in visual quality, I'll work on it and release another version down the road.  A guy in our unit found one tiny issue already, and it will bother me I'm sure.  

@Shashman: I'm not going to put down Johnny's work at all, or anyone's for that matter.  I will say that there are some major differences if you stand them right next to each other.  We tried to make the textures, and pack colors as realistic as possible.  All pictures, videos, and comments on the woodland marpat units showed a pretty even split between woodland camo vests and desert colored, so there are some units that have each.  Also, the loadouts and names are as realistic as possible.  Have a look at these and Johnny's and decide for yourself which to use for your purposes.  

Also, as I said above, these are not meant because his weren't good enough, they are released because we made them for us to use, and thought that we would release them to everyone, in case someone wanted them.  If you like Johnny's better, or have already made missions with his and don't want to switch, by all means, use his.

[dslyecxi 23]

The texturing of the MARPAT itself looks good, but the woodland Interceptor look terrible by comparison. The colors are too bright and strong on it (and generally a bit off), and the MOLLE webbing is not green as it should be.

Compare your version to this:

http://www.usmc.mil/marinel...._05.jpg

I never once had an Interceptor or Flak in the Corps that had a camo pattern as strong and bright as the version used in this addon.

Aside from that, though, the MARPAT itself looks good.

[jdhaines 0]

@Dslyecxi:

Image 1,Image 2,Image 3,Image 4 (Site is forbidden, can only grab google's thumbnail)

I have seen pictures of marpat gear with both dark khaki colored straps as well as green.  Whether the molle packs come in only green, I don't know.  None of our ex or active marines said anything about it. I might have guessed Mr. Marine himself would have something to say about these.  You needed to make sure to reassure everyone in the community that you are, in fact, an ex-marine.  Believe me, we got it.  Thanks for the tip. If I re-release I'll perhaps fix the straps and edit the coloring a little, but if they don't hold up to the "Shack Tactical Quality Standards," I recommend you don't use them.

[nephilim 0]

you might want to retex those vests to MTV´s instead of IBA´s

us marine corps is issuing them atm.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/03/national/main2149267.shtml

http://www.uscav.com/prodinfo/images%5C31487.jpg

http://marpat.ru/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/spartan.jpg

http://www.defensereview.com/stories....ll).jpg

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/xml....419.JPG

http://www.usmc.mil/marinel....low.jpg

http://www.usmc.mil/marinel....low.jpg

cheers

[dslyecxi 23]

Quote[/b] ]Image 1,Image 2,Image 3,Image 4 (Site is forbidden, can only grab google's thumbnail)

You just linked four things that aren't Interceptor vests.

Quote[/b] ]I have seen pictures of marpat gear with both dark khaki colored straps as well as green.

Again, we're talking specifically about Interceptor vests here. That's an important distinction.

Quote[/b] ]I might have guessed Mr. Marine himself would have something to say about these. You needed to make sure to reassure everyone in the community that you are, in fact, an ex-marine. Believe me, we got it.

Hey, let's make things personal! Whee! Wonderful attitude to adopt. I suppose I should have expected it though, eh, considering the source?

Quote[/b] ]but if they don't hold up to the "Shack Tactical Quality Standards," I recommend you don't use them.

Wasn't really planning on using them to begin with, to be perfectly honest, but considering that you're claiming them as accurate it seemed like pointing out an inaccuracy would be useful to you. Instead I guess you took it as some personal insult and reacted accordingly.

[lennard 447]

Hi jdhaines,

Aren't those woodland vests originally made by ebud?

[jdhaines 0]

Oh shit... I don't think so. It came from the sewing patterns released early during Arma's release.  Then I reworked the colors and such a little.  I'll message him and have him check.  If they are, then I'll change them.  I'll feel like shit if they were, that would have been twice that he got jipped on the credit.  Thanks for the tip.  

@nephilim

Thanks for the info.

[jdhaines 0]

You are correct Lennard. They are his from those sewing patterns. I didn't even realize it. I've had that file so long that I didn't think about it. I'm waiting to hear what he wants me to do. I'll change them if he wants, but either way I'm adding him to the credits. Those sewing patterns are a huge help.

[Thomas Ryan 0]

Again with the flaming!

@jdhaines: Awesome addon, mate. Probably the best USMC addon for ArmA at the moment.

   Please though, I feel that Dslyecxi was only trying to help, and your response seems to have hinted you thought he was trying to insult your work. I doubt he meant that. Just take his opinion into consideration.

@Dslyecxi: As much as I respect you, and your knowledge on subjects like this, sometimes your posts can come across as aggressive. Plus, when you make words such as "terrible" bolded, it makes it look as if no one could have done a worse job than what he did.

   I understand and respect that you're an ex-US Marine, but try to make sure that you don't make your posts out to be insulting instead of helpful.

Anyways, jdhaines, I love your addon. Haven't noticed any real problems with it. Excellent work!

[jdhaines 0]

You hit the nail on the head. Helping is one thing... Handing out information that might be beneficial to the project. He did some of that, and I said thanked him for it. Nephilim gave me some good advice.

But...

I really have no patience for him and almost knew that some sort of cocky comment was on the way. That is why I made it personal.

I like them, but I'm pissed at myself for not crediting ebuds on his sewing patterns. They are good, and I'm sure lots of people have used them at one point or another for their reskins. Guess trying to make it right is all I can do.

[ebud 18]

Yeah the vests were in the sewing patterns. Those were never meant to be used "as is" only to be used as reference. Since you need to rework them anyway I guess it's no big deal now.

Nice addon BTW.

[Rocco 0]

why does the replacing pbo replace all units instead of the SF units only?

[jdhaines 0]

Its not designed to replace only the SF guys. Its designed to replace all guys. Thats the way I designed it. It would be easy to go in a modify it to replace only the SF guys.

[spm1138 0]

I am confused. You've got a guy who has apparently used the RL item having his advice ignored in favour of someone who most definitely hasn't

I am not seeing what was so bad about Dslyecxi's first post either. He did emphasise what he liked about the addon.

[jdhaines 0]

I didn't ignore his post. The informative side of it was fine. It was all the other stuff that he included that wasn't needed. I will most likely fix the straps, and adjust the colors on the vests. Also, once the mod tools are out, I may fix the vest according to the post above his. I'd like the camelbaks to be OD instead of black. I also don't like the marpat camelbak on the sniper. A couple packs are still a little dark for my liking, and I'll most likely increase the number of woodland packs in relation to the black colored packs. Finally, I'm not sure who you are referring to as far as taking "someones" advice who hasn't used it. I want these to be realistic, and I'll constantly work toward that goal. We'll see where that takes us. But, I'm not in the addon buisness. I'm in the realism unit / playing for fun buisness. These help the realism for our unit, and thats the reason I put them out. Not to be coy, but if you don't enjoy them, feel free to use Johnny's Marines or another skin pack.