Snake Man

I used ArmA BinPBO to binarize the PMC Apache addon which works OK in ArmA 2.

Some of you who have been digging around the ArmA 2 files have found out that the campaign is located in the addons\missions.pbo ... err pbo. Inside the missions.pbo there is directory "campaign" and in this dir you have the usual campaign as you've seen many times in OFP and ArmA (1). The $PBOPREFIX$ says the missions.pbo is at ca\missions namespace\dir. So now I'm thinking, I believe the old method of putting a campaign in "myCampaign.pbo" and placing it to armaroot\campaigns\ directory (or campaigns\ in mod dir) still works... what is the real difference of these two methods, which one "should" be used and so on? Would it be easier for users out there to download a mission or campaign and put it into addons dir as those millions of addons available, does it take brainiac to understand that normal campaign file need to be put in campaigns\ directory? Also, do the "missions.pbo" need the config.cpp to be detected by ArmA 2, or does it read any pbo contents automatically? I'm asking because I honestly don't know, I'm scratching my head here which method to use :)

I'm bit cautious as the topic says clearly "any desert map in ArmA 2" but user in first post does ask pretty much just how certain terrains look in ArmA 2 compared to ArmA. However, if anyone wants to experience real large desert terrain with large cities, check out the PMC ArmA 2 WRP Demo, more details can be found on the linked topic and online manual.

I decided on the multiplayer evening event that as VTE features those (cant remember) 30 or so music tracks, there is no need to add custom music to MP missions of excessive sizes, so therefore I wont be adding your missions as they are way way too large. If you squeeze the sound files to decent sizes (less than lets say a megabyte), then I can add them in. This is ArmA (1) area, its inappropriate to discuss other games here... :D

What tutorials have you read?

Hmm you had p3d in the pbo which was not binarized and that gave you the CfgModels/Default.sections error?

What is SOM? WHat is SecOps? I mean the words really, apparently SOM is said to be random mission generator... but S O and M ... not compute here. Please help me out?

Thank you for making a VTE mission, much appreciated. While I get some time from ArmA 2 frenzy, I'll definitely test this out.

I'm still sort of hoping this could be fixed in a upcoming patches. On the other hand... if it would have been simple fix, why wouldn't it be already included? On the other hand too, where do we get to use this feature? Well there is the all known AC-130, then the Vietnam era plane with multiple turrets, then few WW2 multiple turret bombers. I mean... in a way, I can understand BIS evaluating this feature and the work to put for it and decide that we don't add plane turret code just for "4 planes" worth. I mean yes its killing me that VTE cant have AC-130 and the other gunship planes, but... there are many other features/bugs which I feel much better Suma and the gang working on. In a nutshell; I still wish they would add this on a patch :)

PMC cmp1 (unnamed campaign) v0.3 May 27th, 2009. Command Engine X (CEX) campaign with 28 straight forward combat missions. You have several infantry squads, special forces, tanks and helicopters as well as artillery in your disposal. It is up to you to command your troops into victory. Please read the online manual at PMC addons/mods manuals: PMC Cmp1. Changelog --- fixes v0.3 - added proper "timeline" date / time to all missions and cutscenes. - added onloadintro, onloadmission description entrys for all missions. - 04-27: added opfor special forces (especas). - 04-27: added opfor snipers. - 04-28: added empty ah6, mh6 and uh60 plus helo pads for them. - 19: added helo pads for our helos. - 19: does not end, fixed (I hope). - 15: resupply repair truck? added. - 15: ammo boxes? added. - 15: ending trigger, check. looks fine? - 09: mission ended before all objectives were ticked in briefing, fixed. - 03: wont end, fixed (I hope). Visit PMC Tactical for additional details. Download v0.3 - 150kb.

As seen on the ingame screenshot, yes we played the first one. I can't recall much problems. Sorry I haven't had time to add them yet, will try to get there quickly. Please remind me if day(s) go by without them appearing there. Thanks, added to PMC Tactical server.

I actually already opened text file for campaign design for ArmA 2... :) But in reality, I don't have computer to run ArmA 2 and no prospects of getting one, so I (you guys?) might be out of luck with PMC campaign to ArmA 2 for a long long time :( I don't know if Sahrani will be ported into ArmA 2, but most definitely if it will be, PMC First Fight will be too.

The campaign is named "PMC Cmp1" so its really unnamed. "Cmp1" is not a name :) Could the great minds in these forums come up with good campaign names for me as I would like to "finalize" this campaign by giving it a real name and then release a new version with fixes and improvements. Any suggestions for a campaign name would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Good work. Of course, I'll catch up with you on your server, we'll go through them all so I can leech them into my MPMissionsCache dir. Yes I added your M67v. No.

I tried to read this topic but after 5-6 pages of nonsense (to me, related to my question) I stopped. I have problem that I cant afford to buy normal/good ArmA 2 computer, so I need to stick with something that barely runs it that I can start to mod it. Its said that you need dual core CPU and GPU with Shader Model 3 with 256mb RAM. What would be the bare minimum hardware (brand, model etc) with those specs today?

I'm really happy how the PMC Search and Rescue 1 mission turned out, very very simple yet tons of fun and still a challenge. There is few features I need to add to it, like user selectable viewdistance, disable map/radio from the downed pilot so we/he cant "cheat"... oh and perhaps try to make PvP version out of it, dunno though how to balance it, so that the NVA/VC has any chance of finding the pilot. If we cant spot the burning wreckage easily with fast movers, how would you imagine finding it by foot/car :) The NVA Assault mission was bit broken, CAS console didn't work and the respawn location was overrun by enemies. Right now both of those issues are fixed... CAS console works with VTE aircrafts (including B52 carpet bombing which is insane) and respawn location is moved far back, if the base is overrun. Therefore the mission changes a bit if enemies get through as players now must proceed from couple of hundred meters out back to the center of the base. There is also random chance of some pauses on the enemy waves, so it doesnt feel so overwhelming systematical assault. Nothing more unnerving than waiting for the next wave to begin. As for the multiplayer event in Saturday May 23rd, I'm hoping to get few more "quick" and large player friendly missions done. I think in such big event (if its going to be big, who knows) there is not much room for 6 hour SEAL team six man mission... we need "instant" action with tens of playable slots available. This does not mean that the evening will be filled with quake missions, oh dear God never... but I definitely wont be forcing people to play one mission for several hours especially if there is people trying to join and there is only like less than ten player slots. Personally I really looking forward to see the landing zone assault mission (PMC Defend LZ) when its fully manned with human players, nothing like having 4 hueys come to the LZ and 4 x 9 men jumping out of them to fight the NVA/VC forces :)

horror1 will you be updating your longest day in nam mission before Saturday May 23rd? Perhaps you could drop in the VTE chat at IRC or we could talk in MP sidechats as usual heh, I'd want to have the best mission coverage for the event as possible. Anyone else reading this, if you have missions, new ones, ported ones, under work ones, tests... you name it, please let us know, even if your mission is not complete we definitely could give a test run for it. I'm so looking forward to next weekend now.

Read the FAQ in our online manual.

Thanks for creating the mission, can't wait for the additional parts. I have added it to PMC Tactical server now. BTW what parts of the queens gambit requirement come, is there any chance you could do plain vanilla ArmA version (for example we don't have QG in our server and I cant even remember the last time I ran ArmA with it)?

As I have stated on the alpha "features" there is no shadows, I have tried to remove all shadows from all models (LODNoShadow = 1) as there is no ShadowVolume LODs. So what ever you see, is some leftovers which I overlooked (except soldiers have the default BIS shadow). Copy that, I'll look into it.Strange as I though I fixed these already. Hmm I'll look into this. I really don't remember removing anything though. Good to hear. We played the mission last night on PMC Tactical server, it was great. It was great because there was the anticipation of battle, first time to play that mission for me so every meter I proceeded on the terrain was in scare of some VC lurking nearby. After some unnamed person *cough* crashed our Huey, we had to walk long way between targets, that was great experience, however I wouldn't want to do that twice since there was no contact but it was great indeed.I hope the units you added aren't that excessive that you end up with it being slaughter where you constantly revive team mates. I think on the big terrain picture you should add like 2-4 men patrols on large random waypoint radius ranges, then few guard waypoint squads (full 9 men or more) to cover a larger area, like, patrol would make contact with you which would then call the "sleeping" guard group to engage you if you are staying too long time in the contact position. etc. Anyways I'd hate to see the current mission turn into lagging slug fest, right now the atmosphere and anticipation of battle is awesome. I can't wait to test the new version. Please let me know when its ready. PMC Tactical server runs linux 1.14Your server is latest win 1.16 Wonder if the latest version is so "hot" in the MP community, that people just don't want to join much on 1.14 servers anymore? I have no changed the name to start with vietnam in capital letters, our group name comes after that. We'll see if that makes any difference :) Well I can guarantee those were never in VTE and would not be. Perhaps in cut and tweaked versions, but never in that size.

I have the backbone working, but it needs all kinds of "mission stuff" to make it enjoyable. I guess its more like proof of concept now. Basically its insertion, extraction, target placement with briefing markers and triggers, then the whole campaign save variable stuff etc. But its not really anything playable yet. Yes I plan to complete the units to the OFP level regarding gear and textures. Same goes to all other units.I would be very pleased if some modeler would join in and help me on this, as its going to take me quite some time to accomplish it alone. Like I said above, they will be updated to the OFP VTE v0.4 level which Ebud did his masterpiece work. Its all about how many objects are stacked together, not how many there are in a terrain.I have made absolutely slowdown/lag free 25km terrain with 1.3 MILLION objects, however on other trial terrains only few thousand objects causes huge slowdown. Its a known bug for the 50m jungle blocks. ArmA engine wont align them to ground properly like OFP did. That would be PMC server :) I'm cautiously looking into converting the 4WVR single texture terrains into "native" ArmA 8WVR satellite texture terrains. Dont hold your breath though, it might never happen.I do have Ia Drang as the mentioned native terrain already, but the satellite texture in my configuration looks like pure crap, the scale is way way off, you're flying in 400m altitude and it looks like youre nap of the earth at 4m altitude. Not good. Sure it needs tweak, work and trials, but haven't got there yet. Well luckily you're no authority so it does not really matter what you say.There has been no official word if there will be more VTE releases for ArmA (1) and there is no word when we go into ArmA 2. So anything anyone is saying at this point is pure speculation quess work. Its now fixed. I also did my own warfare port for VTE, its semi ok at the moment except that many US soldiers spawn without rifles. Will have to work on that. I was just thinking about this last night when I flew AH1, I have no problems seeing out from the cockpits. Maybe its my settings (low settings) that cause it, dunno? Yep I wrote this bug down and it will be fixed for next release. Damn I thought I fixed all of these. Will have to recheck again. There is no shadows in ANY models, so if they are displaced or not doesn't matter, just turn off shadows when playing VTE, for now. Hmm can you identify this grass please? Known bug, been trying to figure it out for a long time now. No luck so far. PMC Tactical VTE server has no password for now, by miracle there hasn't been a flood of joe users who have no idea what mod we are using. So password is not used for now. Right now the name isPMC Tactical, Vietnam: The Exeperience (VTE) alpha Server description, you mean the welcome message?Right now our welcome message says where to download the addons, but yeah it only lists the forum root, user have to search for them. I think if we add a topic name, nobody in their right mind can remember that difficult/long link. I don't recall removing any sounds, can you be more specific? Yep thats they are called (test version use at own risk) heh. Downloaded and placed on PMC Tactical server, will have to try it tonight :) Good video niQ, thanks for creating and posting that.If you have more, please let us know. BTW would anyone care to record some multiplayer mission video, I would love to see VTE in MP action? If anyone can help us to build mission repository PHP code/web page, please let us know. I'm going to setup a temporary mission repo but naturally it would be a lot of manual work to update it and nobody could upload missions on the fly. So please if any php/web guru is there bored, code us a file-send mission repository system, would be very much appreciated by many people :)

Yeah I'd hate to post negative feedback especially as I didn't do too much research on this one except looking all the pbo's and trying ingame. But... this terrain need a lot work on the objects, drop the buggy wrongly modeled objects and you instantly improve the rest of the terrain. Several bad configs, unbinarized models, wrong texture naming, wrong file naming (in Russian), weird config dirs in the terrain pbo, non working cutscene dir, addon naming, arma.rpt just filled with errors across the board... the list goes on.

Technically we were never there (BIS forum), even though we did 5 releases already ;) OFP campaigns hmm... like... what? I don't understand... You want to play like CWR 1985 in Malden but using VTE units? Thank you very much, appreciated. To me, this release has kicked off way way too low key, I mean perhaps I should completely rewrite the release announcement as this version is miles away from the old ones, the amount of fixes and performance improvements is just amazing.I mean if I'd paste the changelog here direct, nobody would have interest to read it through completely, its that long. Just checked, there is 1194 lines in the changelog, yes one thousand one hundred ninety four... now that is bunch of fixes :D I really hope to get some multiplayer time on Vietnam again, so hopefully we meet in the server. To me its enough if the addon won't give errors in game, it works and its high performance... we can tweak the nuts and bolts on the artistic side later (when we get texture artist for example HEHE).Of course there are some items in VTE which doesn't work properly, but if they work at least some degree, again sufficient for me, for now.

Just wanted to point out how its done right and told you the method how to change/fix it. If you think that will break your addon, then I can't think of anything to say.

I noticed you guys are not using model.cfg, its something you really should do. All it takes is to cut paste the cfgSkeletons and cfgModels into the model.cfg file. Otherwise filewise the addon looks like solid work. Good job. If only I had time to test them ingame :)