ARMA 2: CO (how to combine ARMA 2 into ARMA 2:OA and use together)

[xcorps 10]

the problem for mods lays in simple issue and that's unlucky character @ and long paths to expansion

so fix goes here...

this works nearly perfectly (some servers might show as red ? but most of them is joinable)

for A2:CO on STEAM

either add params at end of the line

or add params to the "set launch options" like

for beta A2:CO

where as %1 you pass e.g.

all mods dirs must be present in the A2:OA main directory

no more stuck

Would someone be kind enough to deencrypt this to simple, easy-to-follow step by step instructions?

[Burawura 10]

So what happens when we run out of space in our launch options for startup parameters? Currently my launch options for OA are:

-window -nosplash -nofilepatching -showscripterrors "-mod=C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2;C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2 operation arrowhead\EXPANSION;ca;@ACE;@ACEX;@ACEX_SM;@CBA;@RTE;@SIX;@sthud"

If I want to use any other mods, I cannot, because if I try to enter anything else it gets truncated. There is a finite amount of space for startup parameters in both steam launch options window and in shortcut target box.

If anyone knows a way around this, please let me know, thanks.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Burawura

[MJK-Ranger 0]

@xcorps and Burawura

Take a look here, maybe this can help you out:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=73554&page=65

If you still have problems, just ask :)

[Burawura 10]

@MJK-Ranger you're going to have to be abit more specific than that...if you're talking about editing _runA2CO.cmd then technically yeah that would work but that's way too complicated for most people...plus all that registry stuff might screw mine up cause I never had trouble with the way my games are registered. _runA2CO.cmd doesn't work for me anyway, the game hangs on startup.

Edited July 14, 2010 by Burawura

[MJK-Ranger 0]

@MJK-Ranger you're going to have to be abit more specific than that...if you're talking about editing _runA2CO.cmd then technically yeah that would work but that's way too complicated for most people...plus all that registry stuff might screw mine up cause I never had trouble with the way my games are registered.

Hi.

The registry stuff will not screw up your registry. It will only search and find your install path for ArmA 2 and ArmA 2 OA.

I know editing the _runA2CO.cmd can be a little bit mess. But in one of my examples you see how i added arma2 addons to be run in Combined Operations.

But yes... i know could be complicated for some users.

But there is two Arma2 Launchers that work OK with arma2, arma2 OA and arma2 CO in this forum.

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=81060

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=89731

make sure you download the newest :)

[Burawura 10]

I edited this line of _runA2CO.cmd

"%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;EXPANSION;ca"

to read

"%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-window -nosplash -nofilepatching -showscripterrors -mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;EXPANSION;ca;@ACE;@ACEX;@ACEX_SM;@CBA;@RTE;@SIX;@sthud;@FDF_Podagorsk;@FRAN_quesh_kibrul;@Kulima"

and it still hangs on the steam screen "Preparing to launch..."

Edited July 14, 2010 by Burawura

[MJK-Ranger 0]

I edited this line of _runA2CO.cmd

"%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;EXPANSION;ca"

to read

"%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-window -nosplash -nofilepatching -showscripterrors -mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;EXPANSION;ca;@ACE;@ACEX;@ACEX_SM@CBA;@RTE;@SIX;@sthud;@FDF_Podagorsk;@FRAN_quesh_kibrul;@Kulima"

and it still hangs on the steam screen "Preparing to launch..."

Hi.

Should be like this:

"%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-window" "-nosplash" "-nofilepatching" "-showscripterrors" "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;[color="Sienna"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@ACE;[/color][color="DarkOliveGreen"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@ACEX;[/color][color="DarkGreen"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@ACEX_SM;[/color][color="DarkSlateBlue"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@CBA;[/color][color="DarkOrange"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@RTE;[/color][color="YellowGreen"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@SIX;[/color][color="Magenta"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@sthud;[/color][color="Blue"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@FDF_Podagorsk;[/color][color="Red"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@FRAN_quesh_kibrul;[/color][color="DeepSkyBlue"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@Kulima;[/color]EXPANSION;ca"

If you add mods like you did, Combined Operations will only search for mods in it's own directory(ArmA II: Operations Arrowhead root folder).

So if you want to use mods in Combined Operations(ArmA 2 + ArmA 2:Operation Arrowhead = Combined Operations), mods from your ArmA2 then you have to specify full path, that's way i use %_ARMA2PATH%\@YOUR_ARMA2_ MOD;

Edited July 14, 2010 by MJK-Ranger

[hexey 10]

After OA apparaently have been updated by Steam I'm unable to launch my game again as it removed the mods I had told it to run with inside _runA2CO

After trying to re-add the mods I get a cmd window pop up, and close instantly and I see a Steam window saying "Preparing to launch Operation Arrowhead" or something like that. (I have both A2 and OA on Steam)

My "runs" line is as following:

"%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;%_ARMA2PATH%\@Random;%_ARMA2PATH%\@UKF;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACE;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACEX;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACEX_SM;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@CBA;EXPANSION;ca;"

What ahve I done wrong?

Edited July 14, 2010 by HeXeY

[MJK-Ranger 0]

After OA apparaently have been updated by Steam I'm unable to launch my game again as it removed the mods I had told it to run with inside _runA2CO

After trying to re-add the mods I get a cmd window pop up, and close instantly and I see a Steam window saying "Preparing to launch Operation Arrowhead" or something like that. (I have both A2 and OA on Steam)

My "runs" line is as following:

"%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;%_ARMA2PATH%\@Random;%_ARMA2PATH%\@UKF;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACE;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACEX;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACEX_SM;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@CBA;EXPANSION;ca;"

What ahve I done wrong?

Hi.

First, remove ; after ca in your runs.

Your runs should look like this:

"%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;%_ARMA2PATH%\@Random;%_ARMA2PATH%\@UKF;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACE;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACEX;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACEX_SM;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@CBA;EXPANSION;ca"

Yes.. Steam update screw up your modified cmd file, but u can make a copy of your cmd file and name it something else and use that one to start ArmA2:CO

I see you are running ACE for Operation Arrowhead? Is that one a final release or just a beta, if your ACE is for OA, then you need the right CBA for OA too.. The new CBA_v0-5-1 for OA.

Edited July 14, 2010 by MJK-Ranger

[S-M 10]

Hmm, although mine worked with the cmd file and i could access all content, i was not so sure that it was installed properly.

In my Arma 2 game folder, i had another "Bohemia" folder, inside that was a further "Arrowhead" folder, which then had the game inside.

I have just uninstalled OA, and this time i have set the installer to point to a slightly different place, so inside my Arma2 game folder, i should have a new folder for Arrowhead, is that the "correct" way to do it?

For what it is worth, both my copy's of my games are retail DVD, not sure why it created a new BI folder inside my Arma2 game folder, like i said, i could access all content, but it did not feel "right"

Especially when somebody said that running the file will give you a proper Combined operations shortcut? and i have never seen one of them so far :/

---------- Post added at 11:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 PM ----------

Meh, it appears to have made no difference at all, never made a proper Combined Ops shortcut (not sure what i was expecting, maybe a nice logo`d thing to click :D ), and it all works exactly the same as before, so i created a shortcut to the cmd file, copied that to the desktop and renamed it Combined Operations.

Click my new shortcut and it launches OA with A2 listed in the expansions menu and all missions available.

[Dwarden 1125]

So what happens when we run out of space in our launch options for startup parameters? Currently my launch options for OA are:

-window -nosplash -nofilepatching -showscripterrors "-mod=C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2;C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2 operation arrowhead\EXPANSION;ca;@ACE;@ACEX;@ACEX_SM;@CBA;@RTE;@SIX;@sthud"

If I want to use any other mods, I cannot, because if I try to enter anything else it gets truncated. There is a finite amount of space for startup parameters in both steam launch options window and in shortcut target box.

If anyone knows a way around this, please let me know, thanks.

please check the updated .cmd file

as you can see you don't need the longpath\Expansion part so that saves you some needed space

---------- Post added at 00:36 ---------- Previous post was at 00:34 ----------

for everyone else i suggest create junction symlink to mods and use short name instead of using long full paths to each mod

[hexey 10]

Yes.. Steam update screw up your modified cmd file, but u can make a copy of your cmd file and name it something else and use that one to start ArmA2:CO

I see you are running ACE for Operation Arrowhead? Is that one a final release or just a beta, if your ACE is for OA, then you need the right CBA for OA too.. The new CBA_v0-5-1 for OA.

Thanks a lot :)

The ACE I have is downloaded via Addon Sync and is for OA, so I believe the CBA that came with it is the newest version :p

It also came with a CBA_OA for use with OA alone, and not CO

[Arnatious 10]

Hey Dwarden, I'm trying to run, from steam, CO with mods and beta patch. To make the load lighter I just replaced OA's exe with the beta patches and merged the extensions folders, and now, when running it, it refuses to show my mods, as it did before. The mod in question, though of little signifigance, is an AC130 mod, @LDL. I placed it in both arma 2 folder and OA folder, yet on startup the mod still does not appear. I then used the manual method to patch A2 over to OA, adding -mod=@LDL to the shortcut on startup and still, no dice, the mod didn't load into the game. I tried using the port mod over manually, since the ac130 is cross compatible, once again no dice. Not urgent, the script works fine, it just cuts down on realism slightly, firing HEAT instead of actual 105s. I'll be fine waiting until the Steam patch.

Edit:In game manager refuses to work, but the manual integration with -mod works now. Had an error in launch options.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Arnatious
Solution Found

[hairway 10]

Thanks for the steam update. Fixed all my combined ops problems. All my mods load. Happy.

[papoose244 10]

I have the dvd version of both in what order do I need to install things to get combined arms?

[Dwarden 1125]

use the non steam CO batch

also that applies only if you have them each in separated directory

if you installed them into single directory you dont need these batches

[Punisher5555 0]

Hi.

First, remove ; after ca in your runs.

Your runs should look like this:

"%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;%_ARMA2PATH%\@Random;%_ARMA2PATH%\@UKF;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACE;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACEX;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@ACEX_SM;%_ARMA2OAPATH%\@CBA;EXPANSION;ca"

Yes.. Steam update screw up your modified cmd file, but u can make a copy of your cmd file and name it something else and use that one to start ArmA2:CO

I see you are running ACE for Operation Arrowhead? Is that one a final release or just a beta, if your ACE is for OA, then you need the right CBA for OA too.. The new CBA_v0-5-1 for OA.

What about adding in the beta's?

[papoose244 10]

use the non steam CO batch

also that applies only if you have them each in separated directory

if you installed them into single directory you dont need these batches

ok thank you should i install arma 2 with patch 1.7 then OA with its patches?

[Dwarden 1125]

ok thank you should i install arma 2 with patch 1.7 then OA with its patches?

that should work fine, the DVD OA has 1.06 and it should ignore (or be optionally cancelable) if you have newer version of A2

it will offer you ability to install/integrate with A2

[MJK-Ranger 0]

What about adding in the beta's?

Hi.

Well, you should make a backup of your original _runA2CO.cmd if you are running steam and name it _runA2CO_beta.cmd

Then you have to edit _runA2CO_beta.cmd and find the line :runs

The line below may look like this:

"%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;EXPANSION;ca"

Replace it with:

call "%_ARMA2OAPATH%\Expansion\beta\ARMA2OA.exe" "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;EXPANSION;ca" "-mod=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion" -nosplash

If you want to add ArmA2 mods, then it may look like this(this one work for me):

call "%_ARMA2OAPATH%\Expansion\beta\ARMA2OA.exe" "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;[color="Blue"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@CBA;[/color]EXPANSION;ca" "-mod=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion" -nosplash

To start _runA2CO_beta.cmd, just simple double click on it or make a shortcut to your desktop.

And also remember that the Steam Overlay are gone if you use beta patch.

Workaround is to copy ..\arma 2 operation arrowhead\Expansion\beta\ ??????? <----- all file here over to ..\arma 2 operation arrowhead\ and overwrite the files. But you need to turnoff the auto update in Steam for OA. If not, it will start downloading all the package again, 7GB +

Edited July 15, 2010 by MJK-Ranger

[papoose244 10]

that should work fine, the DVD OA has 1.06 and it should ignore (or be optionally cancelable) if you have newer version of A2

it will offer you ability to install/integrate with A2

Thank you very much:)

[Punisher5555 0]

Thank you!!!!

Hi.

Well, you should make a backup of your original _runA2CO.cmd if you are running steam and name it _runA2CO_beta.cmd

Then you have to edit _runA2CO_beta.cmd and find the line :runs

The line below may look like this:

"%_STEAMPATH%\steam.exe" -applaunch 33930 "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;EXPANSION;ca"

Replace it with:

call "%_ARMA2OAPATH%\Expansion\beta\ARMA2OA.exe" "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;EXPANSION;ca" "-mod=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion" -nosplash

If you want to add ArmA2 mods, then it may look like this(this one work for me):

call "%_ARMA2OAPATH%\Expansion\beta\ARMA2OA.exe" "-mod=%_ARMA2PATH%;[color="Blue"]%_ARMA2PATH%\@CBA;[/color]EXPANSION;ca" "-mod=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion" -nosplash

To start _runA2CO_beta.cmd, just simple double click on it or make a shortcut to your desktop.

And also remember that the Steam Overlay are gone if you use beta patch.

Workaround is to copy ..\arma 2 operation arrowhead\Expansion\beta\ ??????? <----- all file here over to ..\arma 2 operation arrowhead\ and overwrite the files. But you need to turnoff the auto update in Steam for OA. If not, it will start downloading all the package again, 7GB +

[bono_lv 10]

Ok, I need help.

I have Steam version.

Also I have to run Arma trough Ati Try Tools game profiles to force V-sync off. With V-sync game on my system is unplayable.

So... How I can run Arma:CO with forced V-sync off? ATT allows to use only .exe files for profiles. :S

I wish there would be -vsyncoff switch for Arma games so I could get rid off that ATT. Less problems with mods too.

[antonov124 10]

Hi, i have steam version of both Arma2 and OA.

I need help to launch both games with my mods, is this possible?

I have already launched the games combined, but my mods doesnt show up in the editor.

Please help.

[sailindawg 0]

Hi, i have steam version of both Arma2 and OA.

I need help to launch both games with my mods, is this possible?

I have already launched the games combined, but my mods doesnt show up in the editor.

Please help.

I have ARMA II & OA, both on Steam. To run mods, I right click the icon for the game in the Steam library and select properties. The first tab shows a button called launch prpoerties or something similar. Click it and add the mod commands. It's like adding the mod commands to the target line, except the file executable location is not listed.