Consolidated mission editor improvements (within the realm of one patch)

[JackandBlood 10]

The fact that ARMA 2's editor is almost identical to ARMA 1's editor was intially seen (to me at least) as a good thing, I wouldn't have to learn anything new. But, as time went on it has become apparent that the lack of progress in the mission editor is not a good thing. It points to the notion that BIS is relying on the same UNPAID modding community to provide the basic tools for making a mission as in ARMA 1. Its says something very unsavory about what BIS' thinks of customers. That "we'll charge retail and make half a game then let the unpaid enthusiasts make the other half".

The broken campaign, and BIS very PR guy making videos highlighting the editor, its obvious they want people to make their own game. That's fine, I love the notion of making my own missions, of the freedom that entails. But by NOW they should have provided the essential tools for doing such. (if you're emphasizing the consumer to make the game from your base content, at the very least you should provide adequate tools to do so.)

Now down to brass tacks. I've listed some of the things I've read people want from the editor (and I've even narrowed it down to things that could to implemented in one simple patch. There should be nothing here of complexity that is unreasonable in the realm of one patch):

1. Mission briefings. Now in ARMA 2 Briefings have many more sub-sections (tasks, briefings, notes, situation, chat log, execution, etc.) than ARMA 1. BIS should NOT be relying on the guy behind ARMA Edit (God bless him) to go "Oh boy I get to do more coding pro-bono". BIS, Include a way to make proper briefings IN EDITOR. Don't have someone do your job for free.

2. Loadout. You already have the damn gear screen and all implemented. Give us a way to determine specific loadouts for ALL units (Player, Playable, non-player) in the editor. This is just common sense, your preset units are not cutting it. (Just cuz I got the DMR doesn't mean I don't want some AT ability) We need to be able to loadout our squad. Hell by now (3 iterations of the game) we should be able to loadout any unit, including giving storage to certain vehicles (say an empty APC placed for player usage). And such a simple act should NOT require the casual player to delve into scripting.

3. Sound. I've been preaching this in another thread. There's a ton of sound assets to be used, Even just the "Right on boys!" placed properly at an insertion trigger could add intensity to the mood (watch their own trailer). You NEED to label your sound assets at the VERY LEAST, or as I've suggested, allow them to be played from the editor. The music assets for this game are far superior to ARMA 1 (my favorites: Warpath, tracks 12-18, Organ Works, Indian Summer, Cold Winds, Manhattan) I wouldnt have known what to use without the mind numbing 30 waypoint mission i made just to sample the music. And I ain't making a 150 waypoint sound sampler...

Note, i'm not asking for precision placement of units (eg placing snipers at hold positions at specific interior positions and such, even though by now that should be a feature), or anything ambitious at all. Nothing here points to a "new" 3D interface for editing. I'm asking for BIS to take responsibility, and stop leeching off the unpaid community for tools and assets. Tools selfless community members made for ARMA 1, should at the very least come stock with the next version. (Again 3rd iteration, countless patches and input from the community. Not to mention hard work by guys donating their time for free to make the ARMA series what it is now.) BIS get a clue and improve your editor, or please start paying the people who are writing the software that YOU KNOW is contributing to keeping your company and your product afloat.

Honestly I'm finding it hard to get the motivation to make a solid, atmospheric and immersive SP mission for ARMA 2. Why should I? When ARMA 1 has all the tools, NONE made by the developer who gets paid, but by the community who does not.

If you have anything to add to this list of things BIS should add to the mission editor go ahead. Remember though, who we're dealing with, so make your suggestions realistic...

Excuse me "Should HAVE added to the mission editor and need to redeem themselves on..."

Edited September 11, 2009 by JackandBlood
Brought it back to a more civil tongue

[nmdanny 22]

i agree that there should be more options , like creating and saving groups, aka doing some soldiers and changing their loadout and saving them to be a group like infantry squad etc

things like changing gear/loadout of units(like vehicle cargo)

and double clicking a group to give them all one command like in cargo, instead double clicking each unit

and for modules there should be interfaces for things like for artillery

[maddogx 13]

1. Mission briefings. BIS, Include a way to make proper briefings IN EDITOR.

2. Loadout. We need to be able to loadout our squad (in editor).

3. Sound. You NEED to label your sound assets at the VERY LEAST, or as I've suggested, allow them to be played from the editor.

^^ Three very good suggestions.

[.kju 3245]

I never quite understand why BI isn't extending one of their major assets. Really sad to see.

[Flash Thunder 10]

Totally agree, made a complaint how the editor doesn't have hardly any presets and is abscent of any loadout screens/tabs this should be easy to add to the interface.

[JackandBlood 10]

well I wanted to consolidate suggestions into one thread, but only ones that could be realistically implemented in a short time span (well the time span of one patch). Kinda turned into a rant as I started to realize for ARMA 1 the tools I used for making briefings/individual unit loadouts/even a nice rudimentary 3D editor were all made by modders, not the developers. So all those patches for ARMA 1 (up to 1.16 now i think) were to fix problems, all the new content and tools that for me truly made the ARMA 1 experience were done free, no payment, by some truly charitable folks. Thats fine, BIS was just getting back in after Codemasters jumped, and I understand they are a small, niche based studio and product. But then ARMA 2 is released, and sure the graphics are better and that whole new clusterflick of a gamemode (Warfare+High Command), but they just left the editor as is, just a straight dump the same coding back in. I suspect the authors of ARMA 1 editing tools aren't so keen on going back to doing BIS' work for them again. And without those tools (from BIS or from the modders) the community as a whole suffers.

[bhaz 0]

While I think that none of these things are really that hard to learn and remember, a simple user interface within the game would be a huge improvement.

While we're at it, why not a small notepad-like interface for editing scripts in-game? A simple dialog with a huge text entry area, with direct access to the F1 Comref and a save / load button would be more than helpful.

[sic-disaster 311]

Agreed, we need more info and stuff to do in the editor, especially briefings etc so you can test them right away instead of write briefing, save mission to spmission folder, test, doesnt work, rewrite briefing, save again, test mission etc...

A list of working scripts for the most commonly used stuff like objectives ticking off etc in-game would be great for new users as well.

I've made a few missions now and have been messing around with OFP and ArmA editor in the past, but it isn't untill ArmA 2 when i found out how to really handle objectives or other stuff.

[bhaz 0]

Another thing, when renaming a mission (version numbers etc), none of your scripts get copied to the new folder. Real pain.

[Jex =TE= 0]

Amen to this - the editor really does need some imrpovements.