A.C.E. Advanced Combat Environment Mod 2

[sickboy 13]

Latest News:

• Updater Suite - Public Presentation
  
• Public Beta 1 Scheduled for Week of 7 December
  
• http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1504744&postcount=1647
  
• http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1505020&postcount=1673
  
• http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1505077&postcount=1679
  
• http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1505302&postcount=1701
  
• http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1505451&postcount=1728
  
• http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1505461&postcount=1731
  

Features

• ACE Features
  
• ACEX Features
  
• CBA
  

Videos

Youtube Channel

• HuntIR:
  
  
• Tac-50:
  
  
• Features 1:
  
  
• Features 2:
  
  
• Features 3:
  
  

Screenshots

Air refueling:

M107 Muzzleblast:

Firing an RPG-7 from prone position:

Goggle/Headgear sys.:

Weapon resting:

*OLD* Early Announcement

The mod is still in design phase and our plans will hopefully be revealed soon!

Created this thread for ppl to discuss our Mod for ArmA 2, so that the ArmA 1 thread remains clear of that

Our ACE2 project space at dev-heaven.net will also be opened for the public in a few weeks. For now the ACE1 tracker is used for public feature requests and feedback.

Edited December 6, 2009 by Sickboy

[Commando84 0]

Hope the enemy won't be coming back from dead all the time and shoot me in the back, besides its a crazy amount of ammo needed when enemies sometimes need to be killed twice :D

[sickboy 13]

Hope the enemy won't be coming back from dead all the time and shoot me in the back, besides its a crazy amount of ammo needed when enemies sometimes need to be killed twice :D

Hehe, wounding system is one of the core elements we want to do better this time around.

Hopefully we can build upon the systems that are already in A2; IMO they aren't that bad, just require some bugfixing at the very least :D

[icebreakr 3156]

Playing A1/A2 without your MOD is simply not an option for me and my squad. So we'll make sure to observe the progress and maybe throw in couple of hints/ideas. Kudos to the team!

[*tcf*jackal 10]

The ACE mod was more than just a simple lick of paint for many in the community. It breathed new life into ArmA and I know for a fact that it helped convert doubters to the ArmA way of life. You guys should all be given medals (or maybe shares in BIS)!

Delighted to see that your superb work will continue with what seems to be an excellent platform in ArmAII. Im sure ArmAII plus ACE2 will become THE defacto military simulation experience!

Im no coder, but if there is anything I can do to help please let me know!

[sickboy 13]

The ACE mod was more than just a simple lick of paint for many in the community. It breathed new life into ArmA and I know for a fact that it helped convert doubters to the ArmA way of life. You guys should all be given medals (or maybe shares in BIS)!

Delighted to see that your superb work will continue with what seems to be an excellent platform in ArmAII. Im sure ArmAII plus ACE2 will become THE defacto military simulation experience!

Im no coder, but if there is anything I can do to help please let me know!

Thanks for your kind words! We hope to live up to everyone's expectations :)

One of the complaints surrounding ACE1 was the End-User Documentation, or rather the lack of.

This has improved some over the last months, but it's far from ideal.

Anyone who wishes to help out in that regard, is very welcome.

(Anyone willing to contribute otherwise, is too, of course ;))

[mr.g-c 6]

Hope the enemy won't be coming back from dead all the time and shoot me in the back, besides its a crazy amount of ammo needed when enemies sometimes need to be killed twice :D

Not to start a ridiculous discussion here (again) but the ACE Wounding System was more Realistic than you maybe think!

In RL People DO NOT (always) die from a Bullet-wound instantly like in Vanilla Arma and Arma2 - they die from blood-loss in the most cases if no first aid is available.

Also ACE did calculated the ballistic Vest of Certain units-classes which slows down bullets in the worst case and thus results in lower damage values, etc.

Trust me we had much discussion about it ACE-Internal and a lot of Info from ballistic experts, books about war injuries, etc was posted and evaluated.

I just can tell you for instance that my Grandfather was shot into his lung during the WW2 and he survived!

In Brazil-Slums or in Gangwars in USA, people sometimes survive with more than 15 bulletshots, etc...

When you believe "One Shot = Dead" than you believe in pure Hollywood dramatist.

Fact is ACE made it much much much more realistic than Arma1 ever was - of course one had to get used to it when he was playing normal Arma1 before, but thats life.

The only thing it was missing (but it was AFAIK in development) was that shot AI suffers more from bulletwounds/bleeding and not stand up again like nothing happens and returning to killer machines again.

[Commando84 0]

I dunno it just became a pain to play arma with some of the features of Ace for me at least :D

But thats also my crappy computer lagged down alot in 'em bigger scenarios also.

I'll give the Ace mod a second try when i get a new computer for Arma 2 :)

I didnt take the time to dive into readme's and stuff about Ace mod but are there anyways to switch on, off some of the features in the Ace configs btw? Sort of like in the old Ecp mod for ofp?

[MachineMadness 0]

I dont know if this is possible, but can you please for love of ArmA2, release ACE mod in modular form.

[metsapeikkoo 10]

Nay, I don't really like that idea. Mods and servers are allready causing quite a hassle in ArmA, but now a submods too? (Well, specially if server doesn't allow user to have any extra addons.)

Suggestion(Old´ish):

Do the end-user documentation this time.

And I hope that your porting from ArmA 1 to ArmA 2 goes rather smoothly.

[sickboy 13]

There were also complaints about compatbility issues caused by ACE, however after requesting ppl's views / facts / opinions, nothing has been received yet.

http://dev-heaven.net/projects/ace-mod/boards/show/40

I dont know if this is possible, but can you please for love of ArmA2, release ACE mod in modular form.

Yes. Because of the redesign of the mod for A2, we have this possibility.

We will try to serve both, all-in-one lovers, and people who would like to use just parts (Neither is exclusive to eachother)

Besides that, we are thinking about which systems we could morph into common / more neutral addons, that can be released also seperately from the Mod, to serve not just the ACE users but anyone wanting to make use of the systems.

This entails particularly network and eventhandling etc frameworks.

Suggestion(Old´ish):

Do the end-user documentation this time.

Please feel free to join our team.

Documentation will mostly need to come from new team-members that focus on that area, as it's hard enough to Develop a mod of this size, despite larger developer numbers :)

Edited June 3, 2009 by Sickboy

[sparks50 0]

Easily the most anticipated A2 mod, looking forward to it. I hope to see it one "standard form" again, ACE was really a life saver for Arma MP, because it only had one module and therefore could be adapted by many without a lot of hoops to jump through.

Edited June 3, 2009 by sparks50

[sidhellfire 0]

In RL People DO NOT (always) die from a Bullet-wound instantly like in Vanilla Arma and Arma2 - they die from blood-loss in the most cases if no first aid is available.

But they do not return to fight also.

Also ACE did calculated the ballistic Vest of Certain units-classes which slows down bullets in the worst case and thus results in lower damage values, etc.

ACE also fails to deliver correct ballistics (bullet speed) in many occasions.

I just can tell you for instance that my Grandfather was shot into his lung during the WW2 and he survived!

Because he wasn't fighting after being shot. He received medical treatment instead.

In Brazil-Slums or in Gangwars in USA, people sometimes survive with more than 15 bulletshots, etc...

When you believe "One Shot = Dead" than you believe in pure Hollywood dramatist.

Lol, since you heard about guy who took few hits, and is still alive, and did not hear about hundreds thousand soldiers that died after one shot, you assume that everyone will survive just one shot?

Listen. People return wounded from war area, because they are evacuated. ACE fails in evacuation dramatically, thus allowing wounded to instantly return to fight. Persuade me that it's not all the way wrong.

Fact is ACE made it much much much more realistic than Arma1 ever was - of course one had to get used to it when he was playing normal Arma1 before, but thats life.

Neither ACE is realistic in wound system, neither in armour characteristics, and muzzle velocity. The only thing that ace delivers, are movement improvements, and simulation of weapon systems (plus additional effects).

ACE become a mash up of the protagonist WGL mod with some cinematic "Black Hawk Down" action that was needed by semi-realistic coop squads.

[mr.g-c 6]

But they do not return to fight also.

Because he wasn't fighting after being shot. He received medical treatment instead.

.

.

.

Lol, since you heard about guy who took few hits, and is still alive, and did not hear about hundreds thousand soldiers that died after one shot, you assume that everyone will survive just one shot?

Listen. People return wounded from war area, because they are evacuated. ACE fails in evacuation dramatically, thus allowing wounded to instantly return to fight. Persuade me that it's not all the way wrong.

I don't heard about ONE guy, i hard it dozends of times and furthermore i read a bit into this field of military wounds. IIRC there is a rate of 8-9 to 1 from wounded to killed. Also during the last bigger wars, Artillery and Bombs are far more responsible for kills than simple bullets and thats a fact if i recall it correctly.

Again there was much much discussion (with provabale facts) about the wounding ACE-Internal.

But you are right that ACE missed something to simulate the "after-shot" effects and prevent AI from getting up again and continue their terminator-like behavior... :p

ACE also fails to deliver correct ballistics (bullet speed) in many occasions.

.

.

.

Neither ACE is realistic in wound system, neither in armour characteristics, and muzzle velocity. The only thing that ace delivers, are movement improvements, and simulation of weapon systems (plus additional effects).

ACE become a mash up of the protagonist WGL mod with some cinematic "Black Hawk Down" action that was needed by semi-realistic coop squads.

You miss the point here, nothing can be 100% realistic, but ACE got far more realistic than Arma1 and thats the point you can argue as much as you want about it.

About your claims that muzzle velocities, ballistic etc were wrong - You are wrong!

Ballsitics are taken 1:1 from ballistic charts and they have been made by NonWonerDog.

[sparks50 0]

The wounding systems is good in the realistic sense that people can survive, and this also enhances gameplay and teamwork. Whats not so good though, is how the AI can be shot more than twice and then suddenly jump up and fight like nothing happened. It sort of breaks immersion a bit, and I expect ACE to do something about it in the future.

[icebreakr 3156]

This could be fixed that when he "comes back to life" he's damage to the legs is set, so that he can only crawl.

[sparks50 0]

I like that idea! Perhaps with a touch of randomness too, so in rare occasions he will still walk etc.

[maddogx 13]

The wounding systems is good in the realistic sense that people can survive, and this also enhances gameplay and teamwork. Whats not so good though, is how the AI can be shot more than twice and then suddenly jump up and fight like nothing happened. It sort of breaks immersion a bit, and I expect ACE to do something about it in the future.

The main problem here was that it is very difficult to effecively limit the AIs actions (or the players for that matter) without drastic measures. You can lock them in an animation of course (as was done in some parts), but that can get pretty annoying and lots of people complained. It was mainly down to limitations in the ArmA engine. There were several other problems, such as the action menu being available while unconcious, that didn't have easy solutions due to the way the ArmA engine works, but that's not a topic for here and now. (In case you're wondering how I know all this, I was the guy who completely re-invented the ACE wounding system before getting burned out and leaving it half finished :(. Direct any insults to my PM box.)

Now in Arma2 the advanced wounding stuff is already pretty nice. If you are critically wounded, you can still crawl around very slowly but you have very shaky aim. Also you can't reload your weapon, so you can only squeeze off the last rounds in your magazine. This is a much better starting point I think. We already have proper dragging and even carrying animations now, so the bugs related to those should be a thing of the past.

This could be fixed that when he "comes back to life" he's damage to the legs is set, so that he can only crawl.

That was never possible in ArmA. You can only set general damage, but not to specific parts. Yet another limitation we had to work with.

[TiGGa 0]

And with the attachto script command, you can script your own dragging script. It is a pity, that you can't get the wounded into a medevac vehicle with the first aid module.

[OverDawg 10]

Isnt the whole point of ACE that it's NOT modular? Just one mod to rule them all? With features implemented that are supported by a vast majority of the community? Making things modular in MP will only advantage/disadvantage players and will only stand to divide an already relatively small community. If for instance ACE makes shooting after running more realistic by making it harder, I don't want another player to be able to turn that feature off. If ACE incorporates new smoke effects that are more persistent, I don't want another player to turn that off so he can see more than I can. Also, would we find a 100 different types of ACE running on different servers? Don't make it modular I say, keep it simple, keep it clean.

[Lester 0]

Fact is ACE made it much much much more realistic than Arma1 ever was - of course one had to get used to it when he was playing normal Arma1 before, but thats life.

*cough* if you mean the instantchange from primary to secondary weapon you should have a view in the real world.

So don't lean yourself to much out of the 'real' window, you could be falling and hurt very real. :p

The ACE-Mod have some very nice features and make a lot things better than ArmA, but on some points it's differ from the reality in some points more than ArmA, thats a fact you can't rationalise away !

So come back on earth ! :D

PS:

Not a Game that is mostly real would be played, it's a balance on a knife's edge between realism an playability ! ;)

[welcome to hell 23]

I love the mod, would like to help when i have free time from working on Age of Chivalry :P

I have some C#, C++ coding experiance, also i can do PHP, MSQL scripts!

Some examples of my work:

C++ tic tac toe game!

http://rapidshare.com/files/240349720/TicTacToe.exe.html

http://www.haulingballs.x10hosting.com/ (Our paintball team website +forum)

[NoRailgunner 0]

Is ACE2 going to have a nice & userfriendly option menu?

Will there be "ACE2 only" addons or will it be bit more open eg. Abrams as standalone pack? Thinking of a "bridge/jumper tool" where player or serveradmin can choose between Arma2 default and ACE2 or any other gameplay setup.

Will ACE2 AI be more relieable (eg AI corpsman should support woundeds - no John Wayne heroics)?

What about little tutorial missions were players can get familiar with ACE2 features?

[sparks50 0]

Isnt the whole point of ACE that it's NOT modular? Just one mod to rule them all? With features implemented that are supported by a vast majority of the community? Making things modular in MP will only advantage/disadvantage players and will only stand to divide an already relatively small community. If for instance ACE makes shooting after running more realistic by making it harder, I don't want another player to be able to turn that feature off. If ACE incorporates new smoke effects that are more persistent, I don't want another player to turn that off so he can see more than I can. Also, would we find a 100 different types of ACE running on different servers? Don't make it modular I say, keep it simple, keep it clean.

Indeed.

[twisted 128]

Indeed.

qutoe from overdawg = Isnt the whole point of ACE that it's NOT modular?

i agree.

anyway arma2 has a shitload of great ideas - many of which have perhaps 'inspiration' from ACE great mod.

so that means ACE2 would have a higher bar - really looking forward to seeing what madly impressive innovations the ACE team bring here!