Arma 3 via Proton on Linux?

[Arma 3 via Proton on Linux?]

Hi.

 

Disclaimer for moderators: I don't know why I can only create topic under "Arma 3 - DLC". Be free to move It to somewhere else (unless It would be trash ;))

 

There's an experimental port available for Linux users. Unfortunately incomplete and only with 32 bit binaries. Not long ago new Steam Play with Proton platform came up. It made a major part of games playable on Linux. Is there any chance to make it possible to install Windows version of Arma 3 on native Linux Steam client via Proton? It seems that this port made It impossible ;(

[Athena - An ARMA 2nd Screen Application]

Just wanted to provide an update: the map import functionality is ready for use. I'm sure once I release this upcoming version, you'll find something that could use improvement or is (hopefully not) completely broken but I just wanted to let you know that that part is ready.

So, I've been playing with the AiA TP lately and one of the maps is Zargabad. Via the export topography 'cheat' (http://killzonekid.com/arma-scripting-tutorials-how-to-export-topography/), I was able to have Zargabad exported, converted to a PNG and then imported into Athena in less than 15 minutes. As far as the topography export method goes, a key thing to remember is that terrain exported via this method does not include the location names (city names), hill numbers, icons (windmill, buoy, tower, etc.) and other various data that would be available on the ingame/editor maps. For the current Altis and Stratis maps, I took screenshots of the maps in the editor and stitched them together. It took hours and hours per map to get it pixel perfect so keep that in mind. The fortunate thing I guess is that if someone creates a good copy of any particular map is that they 'can' share it with others for them to import into their Athena installs. If you use the terrain export method, keep in mind that the exported image (after converting to PNG) is NOT pixel perfect. For example, Zargabad is 8192*8192. The exported image came out to something like 8193x8195. I had to use Paint.net to trim the image to get an image that matched the ingame 8192*8192 space. Again, this is something that, if the images are shared, only has to be done once but I wanted to make you aware of it in case you export terrain for maps that I haven't and as a side note, I will be making my clipped export images available for download from athenamod.com as I make them.

Also, I had previously mentioned that the image size limit is around 14k*14k. That is incorrect. That was a limitation imposed on a single object in .Net due to the way it manages memory. It is possible to use a larger image as the 'source' for the import. One thing to keep in mind though is that even though I'm breaking the image up in to 100 pieces, that depending on how much of the map is viewable via Athena via your zoom level, that will dictate how much or how little memory is used. If you load my Altis image and zoom all the way out, it will, fully zoomed out on a 1920x1200 monitor, take up around 450MB of memory on average. If you're constantly panning, forcing it to load in and out chunks, it will take up more so, yes, high res images are supported but balance that against your desired memory usage. Another thing to keep in mind is oversized images are essentially useless. In order to maintain accuracy, Athena will scale the images to match the map dimensions. So if you have a 50k*50k source image for Zargabad, that 50k*50k image is going to get resized, on the fly, to fit a 8192*8192 surface. You'll simply be eating up CPU cycles by causing Athena to scale the chunked images on the fly as they're loaded, unloaded and then reloaded.

So the process for importing a map is such: You go to File->Import Map. You specify the map name (it should match the ingame map name), the source image and the map dimensions. It'll then carve up the source image (it preserves the original) and stores the chunks in My Docs\Athena\Maps\Map Name. Once that's done, you can call up the map manually or if Athena is in 'start' mode, it will pull up the map as soon as you start a mission that takes place on that map. At this time, there isn't any logic to handle multiple instances of the same imported map so don't go importing Zargabad a billion times. If you dislike the current Zargabad map and want to re-import, delete the My Docs\Athena\Maps\Zargabad folder and then import Zargabad again. On my PC, w/ a 1TB 850 EVO SSD, Zargabad imported in less than a minute.

An interesting thought that I had after realizing the difference between the ingame map and the exported map images is that there's now a possibility to have a seriously customized map image. What I mean by that is, and I can't fully realize a situation in which this would be desirable (but that's why you're here), is that imagine you are in command of a large op and you have several subordinate PL's, SL's and TL's under your command and you've somehow persuaded all of them to buy a 2nd monitor (everyone should have a 2nd monitor anyway - its so much more efficient) and run Athena. The "BIG OP" is coming up and as part of your large ultra serious super involved plan, you break up sections of an area into various zones named Whiskey, Xray, Bus and Barley (Sorry, I don't know the right names). You could theoretically export the game map, mark it up in Paint.net, Photoshop or whatever image editing software you like, place different colored highlights over sections of the map to denote the various zones, and then distribute that map to your subordinates for them to import into Athena. Yes, a lot of that, actually, all of that can be done in the game editor which is why I'm struggling to justify a reason but it's just a bit of an example to somehow spur the imagination.

In that same vein, I'd also like to say that Athena's primary goal is to take whatever is in the ingame map and copy it to a 2nd screen interface. We're not 'there' yet and that is always going to be a work in progress but I'm also not going to limit Athena to what's 'only' in the ingame map. My overall goal for Athena is to allow you to define markers in Athena and have them propagate back into the game and to eventually allow Athena to Athena data sharing. What I mean by that is ... I have a Surface Pro 3. That SP3 has a pen which I can use to ink. What I really want is to 'ink' the map and share my 'on the fly' notes with other players running Athena in the same mission. To literally draw a proposed plan on the game map and share that. To me, that would be awesome even for my own use but if Athena proves popular, I think it'll be a killer feature (for those users that can actually use it).

Anyways, I'm going to implement the 6 digit grid stuff on the mouse cursor and the target unit and I'll release the next version.

Thanks,

Bus

 

 

@skruis: could you send the map you made for Zargabad?