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Add On Compilation for more Realism and Immersion

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* update news and postscriptum: see current latest post

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First of all helo.

As one of the most fanatic OFP players in the world....)still playing it regularly)... I was the first in line when arma was being released.

After instaling it and trying it for I while I was so disapointed that it could not be described by words....gave it 'bout 2-3 hours of main campaign and never played it again.

Now after two years I am ready to try again. Was going to start a thread with a questions like what should i install to make it as better as possible (as OFP as possible) and found this great thread.

Now that you realize that i am a newbie at arma i am going to ask a couple of newbie questions . smile_o.gif

1. So I create a folder in my ARMA game directory called @General and in that folder I create another one called AddOns folder....(same with replacements) ?

2. In game shortcut in put both folder names or just the one I want to use.......this is what I mean:

....like this

"...\Armed Assault\beta\arma.exe" -nosplash -profiles=Profiles -mod=DBE1;beta;@General;@Replacements

.....or like this

"...\Armed Assault\beta\arma.exe" -nosplash -profiles=Profiles -mod=DBE1;beta;@General

......+

"...\Armed Assault\beta\arma.exe" -nosplash -profiles=Profiles -mod=DBE1;beta;@Replacements

3. What does it mean that an AddOn is SIGNED or NOT SIGNED ? I mean what is the defference between the two ?

4. Seeing as I have pretty decent comp. except my graphic card...6800... (damn those things cost a bunch) I am wondering how much will those graphic AddOns kill my enjoyment of the game ?

As it is I can play it just fine now.

5. I presume that some of these AddOns are in conflict with each other is the ORDER of installing them like it is written or it doesnt matter which one I install first, second....last ?

6. About this ECS thingy....I am playing no multiplayer games whatsoever coz i am still on 56k connection (yes it still exists) so I am wondering. Is ECS something that affects only on line games or should I install it for SP campaigns and missions ?

This is all from me for now.....I am sure there will be more questions later on smile_o.gif...please bear with me and [/b]thanks in advance.

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Hello there,

OFP, yeah, those were the days!

Surely, your disappointment with ArmA can absolutely be understood. ArmA still doesn't yet reach its full potential and - if I may say so - in some parts OFP is still superior (talk about overall atmosphere).

But, on the other hand, ArmA has some stunning features that OFP just lacks. The new aiming system is pure brilliance and so are the animations and sound system (mind you, not the original sound templates, hehe).

Believe me, I'm far from being a fanboy. In fact every once a week or so my mate and I go ranting about the whole thing and threaten to uninstall it - till we get hooked on yet another coop mission. It's a very ambivalent game - it offers the greatest and - because you can see how much potential it has - also the most frustrating gaming experiences within minutes.

As for your problems, the whole thing is relatively easy, if you are already familiar with OFP's system of mod folders.

Let's follow your description:

1.: Exactly, that's how you do it

2.: Indeed! Also note, that the loading order is defined here. As Westerners we have it easy to understand this: Add on folders in defined in startup will be read and loaded from left to right. That automatically means that redundant / duplicate add ons will be overwritten by their partners found further to the right. (see 5.)

3.: Signed addons have additional "key" files (used be both server and client) that guarantee an unmodified, intact addon file. This makes cheating in multiplayer significantly more difficult. It's of no belonging if you only play single player (get a proper connection, by the way, you don't know what you're missing :) )

4.: See here (4th post).

5.: Loading order (see 3.)

6.: Definitely get ECS! For singleplayer in particular! Don't get the guide's limited version though, get the latest version on their page!

You may have noticed I included links to the BIKI so the gentle reader can refer to detailed explanations regarding several technical terms and items on in the list. I suggest you take a look at it if you have any more questions - I'm off to bed :-)

Hope that could help you out a bit - enjoy Armed Assault, it's a great game once you learned how to deal with all the downsides

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Wow.....

Thanks a lot for all the help....gonna go to uni. now and download all the stuff and try it on later this evening.

Once again thanks for the great response.

.......oh and just one more question:

I have 1.08 instaled, so now i only need 1.12b or I have to get 1.09 - 1.11 - 1.12?

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I have 1.08 instaled, so now i only need 1.12b or I have to get 1.09 - 1.11 - 1.12?

You should only need 1.12b smile_o.gif

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D if you understand german, and i guess so, (as no cognitive being in the universe would accept the torment of playing on a german public CS server) this could be very helpfull in learning html:

http://de.selfhtml.org/

i'm afraid, that there's no english version of this guide however.

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Ja, ich spreche deutsch!

Thanks for the tip, sdoc - In fact, as I previously wrote (see page 15 of this thread, last post) this is indeed the page where I took the templates from. It's a great resource!

Agreed on CS - had to laugh when I read your statement. So true! :)

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OK just did all this addons and tryed to run it.

First of all, is it just me or is the game even harder now ? I mean although I did change the AI settings (like it says) in my profile AI soliders still need no more than 2 shoots to kill me from decent distance.

One more thing that bothers me is the inertion (sp) of the aim. It fells like its very hard to quickly aim and kill the enemy when I am fighting with my mouse to keep the aim on the enemy....and of course by that time I am allready dead coz AI are not havnig these kind of problems.

ABOUT ECS

What do I need exactlly?

I instaled ECS Client version 10150 and on top of that i've put tweaked ECS_Core.pbo that you said I should be using.

I see that there is a patch 10151 out. Should I use this one?

"Tweak the .hpp files" ......it says in the first post. Do I have to do this or can I just leave it as it is?

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Are you positive you went through the whole list? With the ai dispersion upgrade by SIX this shouldn't happen, for instance - if anything the ai should miss a bit too often for my taste, especially on closer range but that can be tweaked, too.

The game is harder insofar, as AI acts a lot more dynamical and you are forced into tactical advances and maneuvers. In the vanilla game the ai was just plain unfair (= "cheating") to make up for thei obvious intellectual... erh.. deficits (others might call it "total absence of..").

As for ECS - well... as already stated just go for the proper ECS version if you're in for SP only anyways and disregard this thread's excursion.

Take the time to actually read the stuff provided in the links should they attract your interest.

I can't pre-chew complex topics for you, I'm afraid. This is a rough guide not a detailed manual. ;-)

Updated the thread:

* update news and postscriptum: see current latest post

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First of all thanks for all the help.

I have sucesfully instaled almost everything, but am still having issues with two things.

1. Durg's "Vegetation Fix".......I have extracted it in @general folder like it says, but when I try to run the .bat file I dont get any plants.pbo addon. Nothing happens. When i click it, for a second a little DOS like window appears and thats about it huh.gif??

2. gmJamez' "Sight Adjustment (Windage + Elevation)".......when starting the mission I allways get something like:

- rangecard_list.txt file missing at @GMJ_SightAdjustment_0.4 beta folder.

....now I have tried extracting the folder contents in game directory rather than in @General folder, but am now not sure where to add @GMJ_SightAdjustment_0.4 in order of loading.

"...\Armed Assault\beta\arma.exe" -nosplash -profiles=Profiles -mod=DBE1;beta;@ECS;@General;@Replacements

...where should I put it so that it doesnt mess with something else ?

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www2:

1)

- Place the @DurgsVegetationFix folder into "C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA\"

- Run the Durgs_Vegetation_Fix.bat located in "@DurgsVegetationFix\tools\" and wait for the process to finish (its the DOS like window, you'll see text running inside).

- After it finishes (the DOS window will close), go to "@DurgsVegetationFix\addons\", take the plants.pbo and move it to @General folder.

It should work now smile_o.gif

2)

Are you sure you also moved all the files named "rangecard_something.txt" to the same folder where you have the GMJ_SightAdjustment.pbo?

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Thanks, Cole :)

quick addition to rangecards:

range card configuration

The range cards are stored within the mod's directory. Unfortunately I can't determine the mod's directory or read the files by using relative paths, so the mod assumes that the range card files are found here "your ArmA directory\@GMJ_SightAdjustment\Addons". If you want to store them somewhere else, change the following line within SightAdjustmentConfig.h:

#define GMJ_SA_RANGECARDPATH "@GMJ_SightAdjustment\Addons"

..., so if you are using them in "@General/AddOns", make sure you modify the file accordingly - I made the changes here.

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Thanks guys....gonna try it when I come home.

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For those who are seriously bothered with the AI aiming accuracy and don't would like to increase the dispersion values via scripts (In order to keep the performance hit rather low) but instead use a friendly-cpu way, then it exists a simple method to figure out this via the \dta\bin.pbo.

1 - Once you have created your own MOD Folder with all the addons you would like to put inside, create a 'dta' folder within your personnal MOD folder.

2 - Copy the default 'BIN' .pbo located inside \ArmA\Dta\ (or BETA) to your 'MOD folder'\Dta\.

3 - Unpbo Bin.pbo and unrap the 'Config.bin' by keeping .hpp/.cpp file compact (To get only 1 config)/ once this is done, delete the 'config.bin' and only keep the 'config.cpp' file.

4 - Now, open this 'config.cpp' with a text editor and find the following 'class'

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

You will notice some lines just after located between { and }; :

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

{

aimingAccuracy[] = ...

...

general[] = ...

};

5 - Now Copy the lines bellow and replace the whole class cfgAISkill with them

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

class CfgAISkill {

aimingAccuracy[] = {0, 0, 0.3, 0.3};

aimingShake[] = {0, 0, 1, 1};

aimingSpeed[] = {0, 0.5, 1, 1};

endurance[] = {0, 0, 1, 1};

spotDistance[] = {0, 1.4, 2, 1.6};

spotTime[] = {0, 1.4, 2, 1.6};

courage[] = {0, 0, 1, 1};

reloadSpeed[] = {0, 0, 1, 1};

commanding[] = {0, 0, 1, 1};

general[] = {0, 0, 1, 1};

};

I don't want to claim these values as being the most realistic but they overall, increase the firefights immersion by making combat last longer, as it is hard like hell to hit anything in real life due to countless of factors you will never see in any game.

Regards,

TB

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Ha, that's very interesting! Thanks for the info, TB! :)

Also, it's good to see someone supports the "hitting something in real life is actually pretty damn hard" side of arguments - it's hard enough on the shooting range, but as a soldier with all the additional factors (physical and mental condition, environment, weather, you name it...) it must be insane.

I'll try to tinker with the CfgAISkill settings when I find the time - cheers!

* update news and postscriptum: see current latest post

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voting for SLX to be added to the mod list! it's verily AWESOME lol!

it gives the AI so much new tricks you be surprised again and again and again and again and again.......

last time i played, after kicking some ass, my AI squad leader found a car parking in town, so he ordered my squad mate to get in and told me to drive them around for a mop up operation. then bravo squad got some heat at the enemy's base, so then my squad leader ordered me to drive him to the enemy's base so he can kick some ass... AGAIN!

also once i was rescued by an enemy AI after his comrade ambushed me, he draged me into a building then proceeded to patch me up and take me as his POW wow_o.gif

all this is done dynamicly in the Sanitizing Operation Mission (stock ArmA mission)

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SLX will naturally and most definitely be added to the list - as soon as:

- I find the time to properly and thoroughly test the whole thing with all of its hundreds of features (SLX is easily the most comprehensive addons for ArmA, it's truly impressive how much work was spent on it)

- Proper implementation (currently it overlaps with several of the list's files, such as matteffects, dmsmoke, SIX tracers, possibly more; some of the more complex SLX features should definitely be optional, such as the dragging of ammo crates, the smoke trails on projectiles and some more minor issues that won't come to my mind right now)

- The dedicated server is working properly

This doesn't at all mean this mod is bad* - it just doesn't have the right grade of compatibility (the complexity of SLX is stunning, I am surprised solus managed to implement it so very well)

It just doesn't yet fit in the list yet as there are too many issues as for the moment :-)

*mind you, this compilation doesn't say anything about the quality of unlisted addons.

There are a lot of mostly brilliant files out there not occurring here. We're trying to keep the focus on actively gameplay-changing mods. I hope I can spend the weekend trying to figure out a way to implement SLX somehow (If changes to the addons are due, we will have to discuss this with solus first, anyway, and he's currently absent)

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* update news and postscriptum: see current latest post

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NP - glad to help. that page is looking pretty cool there BTW. nice work!

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Isn't Grenade Fix redundant because it seems to be included in Realistic Designation already ?

Thanks.

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It is indeed, another thing i forgot to mention...

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Aye, you are right!

I'm going to remove the second entry in this case.

Thanks for the info, mate! :-)

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I suggest this replacement for the west SF, they look better than the ebud pack.

US SF

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Great, I love these! They fit perfectly to Cameron McDonald's 1st Infantry Division.

Personally, I'm currently using Fidelis Marines and Fidelis OPFOR.

The soldier replacement section is in dire need of an update, but I'm currently not finding the time to do it. I'll be away from my gaming computer and quite busy till around Wednesday. I hope to give the list a new update by the end of next week at the very latest.

Thanks for the post!

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