Basic editing FAQ

[tophe 69]

Since a lot of new mission makers are finding their way to the forum I thought I'd make a thread where we can post some of the most FAQ by beginners.

To keep the same questions from being asked in too many threads.

Essential links:

OFPEC.com - The editing center. It has been around since the days of Flashpoint. A good amount of resources there.

BIS Wiki. BIS own wiki. Always look here first. Amongst other gems you'll find a Scripting Command Ref

FAQ:

First up, a question I've seen in about 10 different threads the last week.

Where do I put scripts to use them into my mission?

First you must save the mission as a User Mission in the editor.

Then you'll find a folder with your mission's name in:

\My Documents\ArmA 2\Missions\

That's where all the files you want in your mission should go.

If you have made a new profile in Arma 2 the path might look like this:

\My Documents\ArmA Other Profiles\YourProfileName\Missions\

How do I enable respawn in my mission?

First you must put a text document called description.ext in your mission folder. You can edit it with notepad or any similar text editor.

In this file you write:

respawn = RespawnType;

respawnDelay = DelayInSeconds;

The different types of respawn are:

0 or "NONE" No respawn

1 or "BIRD" Respawn as a crow

2 or "INSTANT" Respawn just where you died.

3 or "BASE" Respawn in base. (Requires a marker named respawn_west, respawn_east, respawn_guerrila or respawn_civilian)

4 or "GROUP" Respawn in your group (if there's no AI left, you'll become a crow).

5 or "SIDE" Respawn into an AI unit on your side (if there's no AI left, you'll become a crow)

For example, this will have the player respawn where he died after 10 seconds:

respawn = 2;

respawnDelay = 10;

More info on respawn and description.ex there:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Description.ext#Respawn...

How do I put stuff on the LHD (the big ships)?

In the init field of the unit, just add:

this setPosASL [getPos this select 0, getPos this select 1, 15.9]

Other threads on various subjects:

Briefing

Maybe some moderator could make this a sticky?

Edited October 4, 2009 by Tophe
added stuff

[Steve Rickers 10]

Interesting and here is a bump

[bhaz 0]

Should put up links to the Biki, ofpec.com and some of the main threads, like the threads for the different modules etc.

[tophe 69]

absolutely.. Show me the main threads and I'll edit them in.

[tophe 69]

Added a couple of links

[tophe 69]

Added briefing thread.

[Herbal Influence 10]

Thanx Tophe - these topics above answered the very basic questions I had indeed since 2001!

[tophe 69]

Oh, you found the thread.. I think there are better threads with answers like this.

This one never really took off, it seems.

[Herbal Influence 10]

No thread is better than the one, who answered two basic, old questions I had. ;-)

And sure I would like you to continue this for the start was that promissing.

There are hundreds of noobs that have indeed big problems to find the right answers + questions.

Your style here was "intuitive" - sure something that can be derived from your musical ablities ;-)

[Bon 12]

Good idea. Should become a sticky.

Here some questions coming up very often and are answered in less than 2 posts:

How to place Stuff on the LHD

4 targets to act trigger

Edited September 25, 2009 by Bon

[JDog 11]

definitely need some touching-on with the 4x/week heli-extract question

[dontknowhow 33]

I just saw this thread. Being one of the noobs having a lot of problems, I really appreciate the intention.

I would like to ask two things:

1) when you post a link, can you tell in your post what the link is about? That would speed the search up, otherwise I have to look at all links

2) anything you can post about game logics? They seem to be the big unanswered question of ArmA editing

[Herbal Influence 10]

German speaking nervous editors-in-wait possibly find answers here:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=86369

[fro 10]

Hey guys, I am trying to create a description.ext document for a mission I have been working on. I am wanting to use the respawn funtion to send you back to base in about 10 seconds after death. I opened Notepad and wrote in:

respawn = 3;

respawnDelay = 10;

I have absolutly no luck... I try standing myself infront of a russian firing squad and blowing myself up, but it never works. I have put the respawn markers on the map and named them appropriatly and I have even tried respawns 1, 2, 3, and 4. It sounds like I should just be able to put this code in, save it to the mission file, refresh the mission editor, and preview it. However, that is not working for me.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

Are you playing the mission in SP or MP? It makes all the difference.

[fro 10]

Its single player. I don't really know how to make multi player missions. I have been trying to figure out how to do that as well.

[tophe 69]

fro... You need to export the mission to Multiplayer. Respawn doesn't work in the editor, only on MP.

[fro 10]

Thanks, I will try that out!

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

Not to burst your bubble, but there is already a sticky on this exact thing.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=89257

There is also this.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=78089

[kylania 568]

Not to burst your bubble, but there is already a sticky on this exact thing

This post pre-dates both of your links. :p

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

How the hell did I miss that.

[jc984 1]

Toph,

I am having trouble with your vehicle respawn script and this halo script i am working on.

Here is the thread: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?145097-Help-Request-Halo-jump-Vehicle-respawn-help-request

I am adding a addaction to the vehicle init to add halo jumping option to the vehicle. but when it respawns it no longer is present. and when I do what you suggested in the vehicle.sqf, to add the next init in ""m the halo jump options doesnt work at all or even show up as an otpinos. So i am thinking i am doing it wrong or maybe its just not setup correctly. Any advice would be appreciated.

Note: I made a new thread before i saw this one in the comments and sorry to bring up a older thread, hopefully Toph is still around lol.