Mission name standard

[celery 8]

--- Mission name standard ---

This sticky is for everyone who is making multiplayer missions and I ask you to read and follow the standard for the convenience of the whole multiplayer community.

The mission name matters because missions are listed in alphabetical order on a server. There are hundreds of missions out there and many servers have a huge amount of them so keeping things tidy helps everyone pick the mission they want to play with less trouble. The mission name is written in the editor in the same window where you set the weather and time conditions.

Here is an example of your everyday mission name following the standard:

CO 06 Kill the AI

The name specifies these parts:

game type

maximum number of players

mission name

Below is a more complicated name, showing more pieces of information should the need arise:

FDF CTF@ 24 Flag Rambos v1 beta

The name specifies these parts:

mod tag

game type

addon tag

maximum number of players

mission name

version of the mission

PLEASE NOTE: Mission names are written exactly like in the examples, underscores for spaces and (only) lower case are not used. The mission name is only a piece of data inside the file and it doesn't give any trouble to upper case and space allergic systems that try to open them. Read about filenames near the end of this post.

-- Specific intructions for naming your mission begin here --

--- Mods, leagues and squads ---

If the mission requires a mod (not individual addons), it should be stated at the start of the mission name to tell the players that the mod should be loaded if they wish to play the mission. It should be written first to make it easier to either browse or skip the mod missions depending on if you can or want to play them or not.

An example of a mod mission name:

ACE CO 30 Domination

Leagues and tournaments need a tag to tell their missions apart from public ones. If the league or tournament uses addons, the tag should be placed like a mod tag at the beginning of the name. If the league's missions are also meant for addon-free public play, the tag should be placed after the game type for easier browsing.

Two examples of league mission names:

ECL C&H 34 Metal Rain

CTF -Gc- 50 CAYO V1-06beta

A squad or mission making team tag can also be used. In that case the tag can be either after the game type or after the mission name. If you're only making a single mission and not a series of missions of the same game type, it's best to leave the tag after the mission name for easier alphabetical browsing. A tag after the game type serves to list all missions of the same series together.

Two examples of squad mission names:

CTF [MCY] 60 DOUBLE BLOW v03

DM 10 VODKA! [MCY] v1.10

--- The addon (@) tag ---

The @ sign helps the server admin and joining players to see that they must have the unofficial addons the mission requires to play (not included in the vanilla game, expansions or patches). If the mission is made for a mod, a mod tag will suffice to tell everyone that they must have the mod. However if the mission uses an addon that the mentioned mod doesn't include, the @ sign becomes necessary again. The tag is attached to the end of the game type with no spaces.

If you want to specify which addon is needed, you can mention the addon's name next to the mission name.

Mission using an unofficial addon:

A&D@ 16 Addon Wars v666

Mission using the FDF mod:

FDF CO 08 Russian Hell

Mission using the FDF mod and an addon not included in the mod:

FDF TDM@ 12 Wanzer Fight v2

Mission converted to use an addon:

DM@ 10 VODKA! (Sergei's M4 pack)

--- Player amount ---

The two digits before the mission name give away the maximum amount of people who can play the mission. Spectator slots should be left out of the count so players won't be confused when they don't get to play in the actual game afterall. The number always has to be written with two digits unless the mission actually has 100 slots or more. If the amount is lower than 10, a zero is written as the first digit so that the alphanumeric order is not confused.

--- Game types ---

The following abbreviations are used:

CO - Cooperative (only AI opponents)

DM - Deathmatch

TDM - Team Deathmatch

C&H - Capture and Hold

SC - Sector Control

AAS - Advance & Secure

CTF - Capture the Flag

RCTF - Reverse Capture the Flag

Combi - Combination of C&H and CTF

C&K - Capture and Kill

CTI - Conquer the Island

A&D - Attack & Defend

Obj - Objective (Co-op style mission with PvP element)

RC - Race

FF - Flag Fight

TFF - Team Flag Fight

E&E - Escape & Evade

VIP - VIP Protection/Assassination

RTS - Real Time Strategy

RPG - Role Playing Game

Misc - Miscellaneous (unique concept not fitting in any category)

If there are game types that aren't listed here, don't be shy to mention.

--- Version ---

A version number is completely optional but highly recommended to better recognize possible different versions of the mission at first glance. The format of version numbering is free as long as it's consistent with other versions of your missions to make it easy to see which one is a more recent version.

--- Filenames ---

Although the mission name is the most visible part in Armed Assault, you should not forget about the significance of the filename. When managing missions on a server, the missions show with only their filenames in the ftp program and that's why it's smart to extend the naming format there. There are some differences, though.

1. Use underscores (_) in place of spaces ( )

2. Don't use periods

If you have a period (.) in the name of your mission, leave it out. If the version number uses a period, replace it with a hyphen (-) in the filename.

Examples of filenames:

ctf_gc_50_everon_v1-06beta2.Chernarus.pbo

dm_16_vanilla_v1-03b.utes.pbo

--- Ending words ---

This standard's purpose is to make everyone's browsing easier and faster both as server admins and as players joining a game. Selfish naming policies such as adding special characters or brackets at the beginning of the name to make your mission show at the beginning of the list only disrupts the system so I ask you to have the willpower and discipline to follow the standard, no matter how special you think your mission is. The standard is open for changes as long as it contributes to its purpose or if there is a mistake somewhere in the current edition of this post.

Edited November 6, 2009 by Celery

[docrings 10]

Please also name the included text file the same as the mission... that way we can have a matching properly named text file in the missions folders to refer to at any time. (Instead of having to manually rename EACH included "readme.txt")

e.g.

Best_Mission_Ever.pbo

Best_Mission_Ever.txt (the readme file)

Thanks!

Everyone keep up the good work!

[white angel 0]

the old one :)

--> here

Edited August 30, 2009 by white angel

[boytitanium 10]

I use abbr. AFB attack full boat

[76 0]

I use a slight variation on Celerys one...

I believe this is a little neater...

(BB code broken, link kinda useless...)

http://forums.ogn.com.au/showthread.php?t=64423

Edited September 3, 2010 by 76

[celery 8]

I believe this is a little neater...

Allow me to disagree. That format strains the eyes, and the filename matching thing you talked about in another thread is moot because this standard applies to filenames as well. If you know either the mission or file name, you can't miss the other.

[76 0]

er... sorry Celery, that didn't sound the same when I typed it :S

I understand and respect your point of view, I meant no disrespect.

:)

[mosh 0]

Both ways do a good job of organizing the mess... why some people (mission makers) don't spend an extra minute or two to do this themselves is beyond me.

But anyways, I swayed back to Celery's ideas after trying both methods for awhile. His method just has less characters to read.

[cross 1]

With the release of OA there is a need for missions to be tagged with A2/OA/CO

A2 - A2 Units/Objects Only

OA - Arrowhead Units/Objects Only

CO - Combined Operations Both A2+OA Units/Objects.

I suggest it goes into the beginning

CO CTF24 ACE@ Valli Orava v1.9.615

OA Co30 Wild Squirrel v1.3.615

Cross

[bhaz 0]

CO - Combined Operations Both A2+OA Units/Objects.

CO is already used for cooperative, that's gonna cause some confusion.

[celery 8]

Vanilla A2 players won't be able to play on a 1.52 server and almost everyone gets the expansion anyway. Also, Co30 or CTF24 aren't used by this naming standard.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Actually I think those A2/OA/CO should only exist as filters with the multiplayer server list. And then not as a dropdown list but as radio buttons as more and more DLCs starts to arrive. We can't put everything in the filename, as pretty soon you'll find yourself having saved the mission with an incomplete path because the directory name is too long. For mission makers, we need to have filenames matching the path. Don't know if this problem exists anymore, but I know I ran into it for Dominatrix for Arma1.

Please correct me if I'm wrong though. How many characters can a mission path have?

I've tested now, and 30 seems to work at least. Didn't bother with more.

Edited July 6, 2010 by CarlGustaffa

[shuko 59]

Indeed, browser and mission selection screens should be redone. Description.ext should be utilized more.

[Buzz_Fledderjohn 0]

So many mission designers don't use the naming standard... only about 60% maybe. If you're creating a mission, please take the 5 seconds it takes to name your mission, .pbo and .zip correctly. You will prevent a lot of frustration from server admins and there will be a higher chance that your mission actually gets played.

Why is this important, you might ask...? Well, when you're in the mission select screen it is very important for the admin to know how many players the mission supports. If a squad of 10 guys wants to play a mission, the server admin takes a look at the tag and instantly knows whether a mission is suitable or not. If a mission doesn't have the tag at all, you give the server admin no choice but to either ignore your mission or start the mission to see how many slots it has (only to find out that it's a mission for only 3 people and having to retype #missions).

CO12 Mission Name v1.0, it's really not that difficult. Or CO@12 Mission Name if it uses addons. And of course co12_MissionName_v1.0.zip.

Read the first post, everybody.

Also, please don't name your readme-file Readme.txt. Thanks.

Edited August 8, 2010 by Buzz_Fledderjohn

[Zipper5 74]

Also, please don't name your readme-file Readme.txt. Thanks.

Uh... Okay. What should we call it instead? :confused:

[celery 8]

CO12 Mission Name v1.0

According to the standard there's a space between CO and 12.

Uh... Okay. What should we call it instead? :confused:

filename_readme.txt if at all possible. Some people like to save the readmes and similarly named ones overwrite each other.

[Lonestar 11]

Maybe we should use the standards introduced in Arrowhead?

COOP

CTI

DM

...

According to the standard there's a space between CO and 12.

Yes but most of the mission makers use co12, co24 etc

I have a question: why version numbering standard is v1-0 and not v1.0? Is there a particular reason why period is not used?

Edited August 20, 2010 by Lonestar

[76 0]

I use when renaming missions... over 1200 community made (no unofficial addons) missions renamed using this standard.

-= Mission Naming Standard =-

"This sticky is for everyone who is making multiplayer missions and I ask you to read and follow the standard for the convenience of the whole multiplayer community.

The mission name matters because missions are listed in alphabetical order on a server. There are hundreds of missions out there and many servers have a huge amount of them so keeping things tidy helps everyone pick the mission they want to play with less trouble. The mission name is written in the editor in the same window where you set the weather and time conditions." ~ Celery (BI Forums)

-Breifing Names-

Below is the basic standard for naming missions in the ‘Briefing’ window in the editor.

NOTE: This is the name that shows up in your in-game browser and GameSpy

[CO25] Enemy Of My Enemy

[AAS100] Cheeseburger Hill

The name specifies these parts:

game type

maximum number of players

mission name

Below are mission names with more detailed, showing more pieces of information should the need arise:

Examples of clan's tags:

[CTF16] SBS Banana Polana v4.0

[DM12] FightClub v1x

[CO35] Hunt Waldo 2 v2.1

Example of a particular game type:

[CTI32] crCTI Warfare v0.8

Examples of mixed game types:

[VIP-TVT32] NZA The Gauntlet v2.0

[VIP-PVP05] Sniper

The name specifies these parts:

game type

maximum number of players

clan tag/genre specific/(Game Versions)

mission name

version of the mission

Game Versions abbreviations as follows if you choose to use them:

A2 - ArmA 2

OA - Operation Arrowhead

AO – Combined Operations (ArmA 2 and Operation Arrowhead)

Most important is the game type and maximum number of players, I enclose these two most important bit of mission information in square brackets... [AAS100] or use AAS100, this is what makes the standard work... and of course a mission name.

-File Names-

Standard for file names (file created when saving missions in the editor)

Similar naming of file and briefing names would be helpful. This is for admins and neat freaks who like order amongst their 500+ missions.

Briefing Name: [CTI32] crCTI Warfare v0.8

File Name: [CTI32]crCTI_Warfare_v08

Briefing Name: [CO10] Cipher v1.41

File Name: [CO10]Cipher_v1-41

Briefing Name: [CO35] Hunt Waldo 2 v2.1

File Name: [CO35]HuntWaldo2_v2-1

NOTE: Use underscores ( _ ) for spaces and dashes ( - ) for fullstops with File Names.

fullstops, spaces, commas and other random characters will be replaced with characters like '%20%' when saving so don't use them.

-Game Type Abbreviations-

AAD - Attack and Defend

AAS - Advance and Secure

C&H - Capture and Hold

C&K - Capture and Kill

COMBI - Combination of C&H and CTF

CTF - Capture the Flag

CTI - Capture the Island (this includes Warfare)

CO - Cooperative (only AI opponents)

DM - Death Match

E&E - Escape & Evasion

FF - Flag Fight

KOTH - King of the Hill

MISC - Miscellaneous (unique concept not fitting in any category)

OBJ - Objective (Co-op style mission with PvP element)

RC - Race

RPG - Role Playing Game

RTS - Real Time Strategy

SC - Sector Control

TDM - Team Death Match

TFF - Team Flag Fight

TvT - Team vs Team

VIP - VIP Protection/Assassination

--------------------------------------------------------

What this standard is based on...

Celery's Mission Name Standard

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=82816

Edited September 3, 2010 by 76

[Jack_Ryan_ 10]

The brackets are a waste of characters when the title area is limited in gamespy, for instance. co25 is more sensible. :)

[Lonestar 11]

Since patch 1.54 and the revised MP UI, the mission names read easily both in mission selection screen and server browser.

[76 0]

The brackets are a waste of characters when the title area is limited in gamespy, for instance. co25 is more sensible. :)

below...

Since patch 1.54 and the revised MP UI, the mission names read easily both in mission selection screen and server browser.

Considering this is the most important part of a mission name and it equates to 2 characters I don't see its a problem... I do state you can use the other method 'CO25, AAS100'.

Remember this is for server admins more than anyone else.. its about some conformity... a standard for easier mission selection with a large list on a busy server full of inpatient noobs ;)

[Lonestar 11]

Why is this thread not stickied anymore?

[celery 8]

Why is this thread not stickied anymore?

Because despite years of being stickied, nobody uses the standard. In the browser there isn't a single mission aside from the BIS ones that uses it.