A.C.E. Advanced Combat Environment Mod 2

[Fisgas 10]

Something that might be nice for ACE 2 is slightly better publicity... I don't mean in terms of advertising the mod, since everyone who wants it knows what it is already, but in terms of download sites and web presence. When I first got into ArmA1 and saw ACE mentioned I googled around a lot, but finding the proper place to get it from and keep it updated took a lot of searching and asking around - I wasn't very deep into the community. There seems to be an official-ish ACE site at ace.usmc-warriors.org, but it also looks dead and lacks any download links or mentions of ACE 2. When I had to update to 1.19 I also had to search around until I found I could download it from Armaholic (though at the time their file was corrupt).

It might just have been bad searching on my part, but it seemed to me I had to trawl obscure parts of the community to find the files. It was pretty late into ArmA's lifespan, though, just a few months before A2 - the original game sat on my shelf for a long time before I finally found decent servers and ACE.

Also, better documentation would be a plus, but I suppose the team is already swamped in feature requests and basic functionality, so it gets sidelined. I learned of a lot of ACE features through reading long infodumps in wikis and forum threads from people who figured out things - a lot of stuff probably didn't get used because people couldn't find anything on it.

Here you go, the ACE webpage: http://dev-heaven.net/projects/show/ace-mod

The info on ACE 2 is a but outdadted, but the rest of the ACE 1 stuff is all there.

Cumprimentos!

[Evil_Echo 11]

Something that might be nice for ACE 2 is slightly better publicity... I don't mean in terms of advertising the mod, since everyone who wants it knows what it is already, but in terms of download sites and web presence....

Funny you mention that. There is a serious effort going on now to improve our public relations image.

Also, better documentation would be a plus, but I suppose the team is already swamped in feature requests and basic functionality, so it gets sidelined. I learned of a lot of ACE features through reading long infodumps in wikis and forum threads from people who figured out things - a lot of stuff probably didn't get used because people couldn't find anything on it.

Totally agree. It was our fault for that, always more interesting to write code than write documentation. And not every coder is good at writing. PuFu and I did some work on getting the BI wiki entries to be better in the last couple of months before ArmA2 came out. Expect better documentation in ACE2 from day 0 and hold us to that promise. You folks are great supporters of our work and deserve the best info we can get you.

Do let me know what areas you thought were thin in ACE, so I can try to do better for you in ACE2. Details help a lot here.

[sparks50 0]

Thats good to hear, less explaining we players have to do :p

[tractorking 10]

Hey guys havent used ACE before but sounds very cool. Might have to reinstall A1 and give it a whirl.

I went through threads and probably missed it but when can we expect an initial release for A2. I wanna be exhausted too.

[seba1976 98]

Do let me know what areas you thought were thin in ACE, so I can try to do better for you in ACE2. Details help a lot here.

Alright. Two things I remember well: I had to struggle a lot to get the rucksucks implemented due to lack of documentation. And the behaviour of the wounding system in single player was, AFAIK, never fully explained (so much so that no one answered my question in the last pages of the ACE thread - no hurt feelings here but since you asked ).

Great news you're taking care of that area this time. It will pay off at the end. About the coders unwilling/unable to write docs... it's true, maybe you should recruit people to do just documentation :j:.

[PuFu 4598]

Something that might be nice for ACE 2 is slightly better publicity... I don't mean in terms of advertising the mod, since everyone who wants it knows what it is already, but in terms of download sites and web presence. When I first got into ArmA1 and saw ACE mentioned I googled around a lot, but finding the proper place to get it from and keep it updated took a lot of searching and asking around - I wasn't very deep into the community. There seems to be an official-ish ACE site at ace.usmc-warriors.org, but it also looks dead and lacks any download links or mentions of ACE 2. When I had to update to 1.19 I also had to search around until I found I could download it from Armaholic (though at the time their file was corrupt).

Download sites, that is something that the community needs to help us out with as well. Main reason for having fewer mirrors than we wanted was the size of it, and the amounts of ppl (bandwidth used server side) that were downloading the MOD. As Sickboy said, updating the mod will be done in a different way this time, although i would expect mirrors to be provided as well...

It might just have been bad searching on my part, but it seemed to me I had to trawl obscure parts of the community to find the files. It was pretty late into ArmA's lifespan, though, just a few months before A2 - the original game sat on my shelf for a long time before I finally found decent servers and ACE.

You probably haven't searched in the right places...somehow.

ACE official website moved to Dev-Heaven.net shortly after the initial public release. There should be all the links and information needed http://dev-heaven.net/projects/show/ace-mod

Also, we have a page on the BIS wiki, with links to feature list, download mirror (although not sure how many are still up atm) etc. Expect a similar pages for ACE2:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ACE

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ACE_Features

Also, better documentation would be a plus, but I suppose the team is already swamped in feature requests and basic functionality, so it gets sidelined. I learned of a lot of ACE features through reading long infodumps in wikis and forum threads from people who figured out things - a lot of stuff probably didn't get used because people couldn't find anything on it.

As Echo said it, yes, there will better documentation for ACE2 from day one.

I went through threads and probably missed it but when can we expect an initial release for A2. I wanna be exhausted too.

When it is done...

[Trauma.au 10]

Download sites, that is something that the community needs to help us out with as well. Main reason for having fewer mirrors than we wanted was the size of it, and the amounts of ppl (bandwidth used server side) that were downloading the MOD. As Sickboy said, updating the mod will be done in a different way this time, although i would expect mirrors to be provided as well...

I know of 3 fast mirrors for Aus/NZ;

AusGamers

GamingSA

Games On Net (Internode)

Pretty sure users can request file mirrors on all. So at least the Oceanic region will be covered.

Edited September 17, 2009 by Trauma.au

[PuFu 4598]

I know of 3 fast mirrors for Aus/NZ;

AusGamers

GamingSA

Games On Net (Internode)

Pretty sure users can request file mirrors on all. So at least the Oceanic region will be covered.

Ppll like yourself can always updated the wiki page with the mirrors. I was not aware of those (minus gamingsa one) for instance, and i can't really check all the websites out there to see who has it.

Edited September 17, 2009 by PuFu

[Uncle Imshi 10]

Have you chaps any plans to include a 60mm Mortar?

[cctoide 0]

Do let me know what areas you thought were thin in ACE, so I can try to do better for you in ACE2. Details help a lot here.

Okay, I'll give you a bit that, while not "thin", was pretty puzzling to me when I was figuring out ACE for the first time.

I don't know if the "ACE Features" page on the BI wiki is meant for end-users, but I read it a lot back then, and it contains useful information. I respect the work put into it and the information it contains, but the formatting is a bit weird, and I remember trying to decipher the part under the "Rucksack System" heading more than once.

I don't know if it's meant to be more of an explanation of how the code behind the ruck system itself works, because at the time it didn't seem very relevant to using the rucks ingame. It explains stuff in terms of "pack dummy magazines" and "end use magazines", and how using the inventory creates and destroys them, but I never got much out of the explanation there, though I was able to figure it out easily ingame.

Further down the page there's some text about an update to the ruck system, and code samples, so I guess this part was created with a more technical purpose in mind, which would be okay as I have done some programming before, but it quickly becomes a mess of acronyms. In particular, it starts out with "Pack dummy magazines (PDM) to represent stored end use magazines (EUM) in a 1:1 ratio" but never explains exactly what they are.

This is perhaps a long-winded way of saying that I found that section confusing, but on the whole the Features page is useful. For ACE2, however, a small PDF booklet or website would be nice; I might even work on something like that provided I have the time when it comes out.

Edit: An "ACE2 guide" might face one problem, though: if you're going the modular way, it means some widely-used modules that add functionality might not fall under a base-package guide. It's hardly a huge problem, but it would be something to take into account. For the most part, though, I feel making such a guide would be mostly a matter of writing the copy; everyone more or less grasps the basics after a few rounds with ACE, assuming you're playing with people who're willing to teach the newbies. An official "gospel" would just help solidify understanding of the mod and avoid guesswork and superstitions caused by not knowing how things actually work.

Edited September 17, 2009 by cctoide

[seba1976 98]

guesswork and superstitions caused by not knowing how things actually work.

For a simulation, sometimes it's better that way ;).

[cctoide 0]

A fair point, maybe punching and kicking malfunctioning electronic equipment should be added as a feature! :p

[Evil_Echo 11]

The feedback on confusing terms is noted. Thanks Cctoide!

[Snacky 0]

I haven't had a chance to read through this entire thread yet and I will when I get the chance, but I wanted to make a quick comment.

I belong to a small squad of guys that play in a private server doing mostly coop stuff. The ACE mod was one of those mods that completely turned ARMA in a whole new game and in my opinion finally made ARMA what it should have been out fo the box.

That being said it doesn't matter how good the mod is if you don't have good missions to run. Currently we enjoy Domination, but if mission makers don't include some of the new features that ACE provides then you never see the full potential of the mod.

Would there be a possibility that the ACE people could get together with mission makers like Xeno, author of Domination, and put something together like an ACE version of Dom that really showcases what ACE has to offer?

If this ARMA2 version of ACE is half as good as the original then I'm sure we are going to have many sleepless nights ahead. Can't wait! lol

[scubaman3D 0]

The feature this week is HuntIR. Its another carryover system from ACE but for those who haven't seen it in operation, I have included a "technical sheet" :p below and also a movie (video capture and pictures compliments of tpM)

Youtube:

Direct link:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/3197/huntirdatasheet.jpg

[Alex72 1]

Yay, time to go hunt'n again! :)

Very useful gear that one. The ACE mod opens up so huge possibilities for mission makers with all the neat hardware. Supa' dupa.

[SaBrE_UK 0]

Looking great! Never did get round to working out how to use in in ACE1.

[scubaman3D 0]

Looking great! Never did get round to working out how to use in in ACE1.

Its real simple. Just equip yourself with a GL, a HuntIR round, and a hand held monitor. Shoot the round up in the air and use the monitor in the player actions menu to connect to the camera.

[Smurf 12]

Nice...

will be an OPFOR counterpart or just for the BLUFOR?

[Inkompetent 0]

I don't think that there is any equivalent round for the GP-25/30 launcher, so I'd assume it's only for 40x46mm launchers like the M203, M32 MGL, and alike.

[scubaman3D 0]

...I'd assume it's only for 40x46mm launchers like the M203, M32 MGL, and alike.

You'd be correct. :)

[PTV-Jobo 820]

I was wondering if in the future of ACE2, if it can be workable to allow more rucks to be integrated in? Like different styles so that instead of having it pre-attached to a model and then having the ACE ruck poking through the model's ruck, there will be away of using a different style.

I hope you can understand what I'm trying to ask, because at this point I think I've managed to confuse the hell out of myself in mid-thought/type...:icon_ohmygod:

[dxfan01 10]

they did it in the first arma

[Fisgas 10]

Exactly, no ACE models had backpacks on them, so the backpacks looked perfect after you picked them up.

[PTV-Jobo 820]

Right, the ACE models didn't have any, but what I'm saying is if other models being used alongside ACE did. Or you know what, no actually what I'm asking if there will be a way if a modeler created a new ruck, for it to be use-able or if it would have to be submitted to the ACE team to add in future patches.