Editor suggestions

[stuntboy 0]

Hi...Just some small suggestions:

Suggestion:

Placing icons on different layers where you are able to hide/show/lock certain layers to make map clearer and more manageable. ie... Objects on one layer, individual sides waypoints on another, Opfor units on another, Blufor units on another....etc... Or user definable layers.

Benefit:

Some missions can start to look very cluttered very quickly. Layers would help with the workflow

Suggestion:

A scrollable init line/condition/on activation line, with the option to start a new line and a view window of three or four lines.

Benefit:

Make those long pieces of code less stressful

Stuntboy

[dr_eyeball 16]

Problem

Repeated ArmA start-ups when working on a particular project/mission in the editor.

Suggested solution

Provide Startup Parameters to:

- load the editor (eg: "-editor" param), or

- load a particular mission into the editor (eg: "-mission=MyCTI.Sara" param)

Benefit

Bypassing unnecessary heavily repeated editor start-up steps.

[.kju 3245]

@Dr_Eyeball

It is possible to some part already:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">D:\Games\ArmA\arma.exe -nosplash -world=empty -init=playMission["","test.SLX_DesertIsland"]

(test.SLX_DesertIsland.pbo to be present in ArmA\missions folder)

Of course this is only starting a pbo mission, NOT an editor

mission. Not sure if thats possible somehow..

With UI modification, it might be possible to start ArmA directly

in the editor.

Of course the overall idea is going much further and is very very

welcome!

So just as a hint about the current possibilities.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Stuntboy has suggested layers, and I concur. But I'll take it a step further and wish for filters.

Suggestion:

View filters maybe with submenu to further select what is to be displayed (and selectable; currently we can select and move markers even if turned off).

Implementation:

In a top menu, have switches (or dropdowns if one could have sublevels, maybe layers as suggested) with these options:

Terrains (terrain, texture, sub-ekvidistance, roads, trees, buildings, etc)

West Units (land, sea, air, ammo, support etc)East Units (land, sea, air, ammo, support etc)Independent Units (land, sea, air, ammo, support etc)

Empty Units (land, sea, air, ammo, support etc)

Triggers (Present, not present, switches, etc)

Gain:

Obviously, a very decluttered editor when editing large missions.

I also agree with most suggestions up until now.

[dr_eyeball 16]

Hopefully ArmA:2 is still looking for editor ideas...

Problem

It's difficult to identify the purpose of editor object icons. i.e. the icons used to represent editor placed buildings, empty vehicles and objects.

Often I will place related items around the map which all have a common purpose. Eg: 10 car bombs, 10 respawn vehicles, 10 hostage buildings, 10 regular buildings, etc.

By default, all of these objects use a brownish/yellowish icon colour and many use the [?] question mark box icon.

Suggested solution

Provide new mission.sqm "editor" class properties to help manage these groups of objects. I would suggest:

<ul>[*]a custom icon

[*]icon colour

[*]layer name - if the editor introduces layers, it would filter the visible objects by layer name.

They would only get used by the editor (not the running mission) and would provide new visual properties for every item or object placed in the mission. They would be totally optional and would not exist by default.

Suggested additional editor properties:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"> editorIcon="CAR1";

editorIconColor="ORANGE";

editorLayer="respawn vehicles";

Sample mission.sqm extract showing additional editor properties:

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"> class Item27

{

position[]={9569.316406,219.780060,8793.646484};

azimut=391.968292;

id=42;

side="EMPTY";

vehicle="car_sedan";

skill=0.600000;

text="respawn_vehicle1_3";

init="nul=[this] execVM ""Mission\Respawn\InitRespawnVehicle.sqf"";";

editorIcon="CAR1";

editorIconColor="ORANGE";

editorLayer="respawn vehicles";

};

Benefit

Better display and editing of related objects and their purpose. It should be fairly simple to implement.

[Jack-UK 0]

Suggestion

Ability to host an MP edit session which allows multiple people to

work on the same map at the same time.

What would we gain from implementing

Increased productivity. Time.

+111111111!

I'd LOVE to have that feature, would be great.

[rick rawlings 2]

Suggestion:

A GUI drop down window for any placable unit to select loadout.

Implementation:

A window pops up for each placed unit to select loadout and status. For people, you would be able to select equipment just like on the gear tab in a mission from drop down menus for each class, in addition to stuff like health and skill and morale; for vehicles, you can specify exact quantities of fuel and ammo, as well as occupants ( each with their own loadouts) and for ammo crates you could specify exactly what is in each one, again with drop down menus. For static structures you could specify ammo or amount of "medicine" for field hospitals, for example. Underneath each window would be a "DEFAULT" key which gives you the loadout you get now.

Benefit:

Less scripting and fussing over every unit, cleaner and clearer init fields. Much time-saving for the hunt-and-peck crowd (me, you don't want to know how long it took to type this post!