Getting started editing weapon stuff

[Eagle7421 10]

I am new to Arma2 modding and I need basic information that I have somehow completely missed. How do I make a .PBO file into something readable? Or whatever files are needed to make it so I can edit the config files (which I am assuming are part of the pbo because I don't see tham anywhere).

[Fuzzy Bandit 10]

Download, install and use the De-PBO tool located here.

[[frl]myke 14]

Maybe some more basic infos about the pbo file format:

in general, you can see it as ArmA 2-exclusive archieve format like .zip or .rar. A pbo usually contains all relevant data like 3D models, textures, material files and also config files.

As you are interested in weapons stuff, follow the names in the addons folder to find what is related to weapons. I'm not sitting on my ArmA 2 PC but i guess to remember that there is a weapons.pbo and a weapons2.pbo. In there you'll find almost all weapons which are used ingame, also vehicle weapons.

[Eagle7421 10]

Thank you Myke. I get the pbo structure now. Fuzzy: I have the De-PBO thing but if I click on view nothing happens for any of the files.

[Fuzzy Bandit 10]

You have to Open the .PBO file, and then all the files inside the .PBO archive will show in the window. You can then use the Extract All option to put them somewhere you want to edit them.

[Eagle7421 10]

ok I extracted them all to a folder. What program do I use to edit the config.bin files?

Thanks for all your help so far.

[JakeWed 10]

You Should Get Unrap (http://www.kegetys.net/dl.php/tools06062009.zip) and PsPad (http://www.pspad.com/), Unrap the File, then open it with PsPad, after Editing Use PboView (http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=1434) to Pack the Folder (also can be used to extract)

[Chumba 10]

I use Eliteness to unpack .pbo files - ie. you copy the pbo to a folder of your choice such as "Arma2 Editing" then open Eliteness and navigate to that folder and in the small window at the lower left of the Eliteness screen you'll see the .pbo file - double click on that and a box opens asking if you want to extract it - select yes and away you go.

To unpack .bin files I use a program called unrap.exe (google for it) which will unpack the .bin to a .cpp which you can open and edit with notepad - unrap seems to extract the special characters properly (ie. the bracket thingies) which is a BIG thing. Eliteness is supposed to have an unrap function but I can't get that to work for some reason - so like I say, I use unRap.exe separately.

You don't have to worry about making edited .cpp back into .bin as the game will happily read .cpp (I delete or rename the original .bin before re pbo-ing).

To make the folder back into a .pbo I again use Eliteness - ie. select the folder to pbo and press the "create a pbo" button.

The tricky thing is selecting the CORRECT folder - ie. say I unpack "missions.pbo" - then I end up with missions/ca/missions with the working subfolders,data and files etc. in the SECOND missions folder. To repack it to a working .pbo with Eliteness you need to select that second missions folder as it contains a "header" which will cause Eliteness to pack it again as "missions/ca/missions" - ie. I end up with missions.pbo but within that is the proper folders / files structure. If you select the FIRST missions folder the packed .pbo will contain missions/ca/missions/ca/missions and of course not work.

Also: the other type of config you can edit in the unpacked .pbo's are .sqf files - to open them, right click them and there will be an "Edit" option.

Edited May 22, 2010 by Chumba
Additional info.