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I have a simple question. When you say "pre-Arma 3 maps" is that a reference to just A1 and A2 maps that haven't been ported (such as FDF Podagorsk) to A3 or is it in reference to all maps that were originally created before A3 was released but have since been ported (such as those from CUP or IFA3)?

Thanks for the response. Since posting that message, I've figured out how to port HWS scenarios to other maps following the instructions provided by Rydgier in the HWS thread. As long as the procedure is the same for the NR6 version it shouldn't be a problem to port that as well.

I occasionally get the "no forces available" error but it seems to be something related to badly configured faction mods rather than HWS.

Lately I've been using TPW Mods while playing Hetman War Stories scenarios. I've occasionally grabbed a parked civilian truck spawned by TPW to use as transport for my squad but the trucks often (almost always!) despawn within a couple of hundred meters of where I took them from. When this happens, I'm either dropped where the despawn took place or teleported to the south-west corner of the map. The fate of my squad varies when this happens. I've had them just disappear and I've had them be just fine or killed or wounded. Is this intentional (the despawning) and are there any adjustments I can make to my hpp file to stop this from happening? I was thinking that it might be a problem with the scenario because I recall the despawning (but not the teleporting) vehicles happening before in a few missions (can't recall which ones but I think they were all dynamic missions, as is HWS) that I've played but I've only experienced TPW spawned vehicles despawning while playing HWS scenarios. I've also asked Rydgier (the creator of HWS) if he has any idea of what could be causing the issue but haven't heard back from him just yet. Any help or insight on the issue would be much appreciated.

That sound reasonable. Transport is the only one that I would really like to see but it's not that big of a deal. Do you use TPW Mods by any chance? If you could look into and possibly resolve the issue that makes the spawned vehicles de-spawn and do the teleporting to the lower left corner of the map, that would solve a lot of the transport problems as it would be fairly simple to grab a parked truck from the nearest village. Thanks again.

Thanks for the new wip, Rydgier. Choosing multiple factions for each side seems to work quite well with the extra column. I haven't had a chance to play a mission through to completion yet with wip6 but it was very cool to be able to spend some time with Cold War US Army and German Bundeswehr troops in the field together fighting against the Soviet Army and the East German NVA. I look forward to spending a bit more time with the mission sometime in the next few days. There is one thing that I'd like to as about though. Would it be too difficult to add in some support options such as requesting transport or mortar/artillery barrages and possibly even some CAS? Transport (heli or wheeled) would be the most useful to me as sometimes I get tasks that are quite a long ways off on foot. I've tried commandeering civilian vehicles spawned by TPW mods but when I do, for some reason they often disappear as I drive them or teleport me to the south-west corner of the map for some reason. I'm not a big fan of Altis as I've played on the map way too much and I really just don't like the drab look of semi-arid terrains (I hate arid terrains even more!), so I took a look at the instructions in the first post of this thread and ported wip6 to Livonia. That will bring my enthusiasm for the mission way up as I think it's a very good terrain for Cold War scenarios. I was actually quite surprised at how easy it was to port the mission following the instructions (considering I have zero experience with the editor!) but I'm completely in the dark as to how to pull off a port using an older map such as those in the IFA3 map pack as the extra step required really left me scratching my head in confusion. I'll get to that later though as there are quite a few more recent maps that I like so I'll port the mission to some of those as different wip versions are released. Thanks again for all your hard work.

Thanks for the response. The issue seems to have resolved itself though. It may have just been a glitch caused by a mod or A3 itself not loading properly or perhaps something else. After a computer restart and reload of A3, everything seems to work fine now.

Pretty much all weapons with aperture sights in A3 suffer to one degree or another. The G3 in GM is similarly hard to use and the L1A1/FN FAL in pretty much all the British forces mods suffers as well. Some of the M16 based weapons seem to fare a bit better though as the aperture is often depicted as being larger, which is correct considering how close the human eye actually is to the rear sight on those weapons when a proper sight pictured is acquired. Personally, when I use one of the weapons with sight picture problems in game, I make it a priority to acquire an enemy weapon (usually an AK) without those limitations.

I never could get WIP2 to load after the factions setup screen because it would hang and never finish loading. WIP3 loads just fine but I have issues with corrupt game saves. Some of them work just fine but others load to a black screen. That's with GM, all of RHS and 3CB Factions loaded. Custom faction mods are my primary reason for playing HWS so I really have no desire to play without them. On the positive side, the gameplay I've experienced so far playing as late Cold War US Army against the Soviet Army has been fairly epic. From the side of a hill I watched a massive battle take place in the distance. Very cool!

Thanks for all the hard work. This release is much appreciated!

Any HWS ports with this version of Hetman other than the one on the workshop? Particularly for Livonia or other temperate terrains? If not, is it possible to de-pbo an existing scenario and replace the files (which ones?) and then re-pbo the scenario files and have it work properly? Thanks.

An LWP inspired mod is currently in the works. Check out the Ludowe Wojsko Inflanty (Livonian People's Army) mod on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lwimod

I have no idea about Alive but the following mod will sort the units into separate winter and summer factions. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1749842400 My biggest issue with HWS when using GM (and a number of other faction mods) is the way that certain vehicles are spawned. For some reason way too many AA armored vehicles are spawned.

Thanks for the quick response.

Very nice looking mod. I just downloaded it but won't have a chance to try it out for a few more days. I'm curious to know if the mod contains different factions sorted by eras? I'm hoping that it does because if they're equipped appropriately, I'd like to use the 1990 (or so) forces as a JNA Cold War faction in Hetman War Stories scenarios. If there are no era specific factions, I hope you will consider adding them in the future. Thanks.

I haven't played Hetman with Big Boss so I'm interested to see how that works out. I hope you're able to get everything working in a fun and exciting as well as reasonably performing way. Perhaps ZBE Caching will be the way to go. I used to use it on occasion for missions with lots of units and assets in them such as DUWS but I haven't used it in a long time. IIRC I experienced some units un-caching within visible range and that's one of the reasons why I stopped using it. I now have a better computer than I did back then so that's another reason I stopped using it. Hopefully most of the issues I recall have been fixed by now. As for choosing roles, I know that we can do so using the "Team" menu while on the map screen but if possible and not too difficult to add, it would be nice to choose a unit directly on the map and then switch to whatever position is desired within that squad. It's not really a big deal though as switching is possible. Usually when I do a random switch, I have the map screen open anyway so that I can see where on the map the unit I've switched to is. If I don't like the location I keep switching until I find something I like. I was just thinking that it might be a a little simpler for those that want to play as a specific type of combatant such as an infantryman, a tanker or helicopter pilot and to be easily able to switch to a unit near the front lines but it's not a big deal and I would much prefer that you concentrate your modding energies on making the new Big Boss HWS version smoothly playable rather than worry about non-essential features such as menu or map driven unit switching. Just consider it a fanciful suggestion that would be nice to have at some point if it's not too difficult or time consuming to implement. BTW, thanks for all that you've done for the community. I've really been enjoying HWS for the last few months when I got the desire to start playing using Cold War units. 🙂

I really like the sound of that and I hope it works out because I love the idea of being able to play a single HWS mission that plays out more like a whole map CTI campaign rather than a series of individual battles. I'm guessing that the end results will be pretty much the same as playing the current release in campaign mode but I really like the idea of consistency and persistence that a whole map campaign can offer. I want to be able to continue pursuing a beaten enemy before he can rest and refit for the next battle. I also like the idea of being on the opposite side of that and trying to break contact with an overwhelming enemy force so that I can take care of those same things and get back into the fray. Hopefully you will also consider an option to choose a role rather than working our way through the current method of changing roles until we find a unit we want to play as. Generally I just want to play as infantry (squad leader or not depending on how I feel at the moment) somewhere near the front line so that I see as much action as possible.

For $20-25 it would be easily worth it to me. Just like I found GM to be well worth it despite what the naysayers had to say about it. With GM, 3CB Factions, CSLA and some more mods that are in the works, we could soon be in Cold War heaven. I for one am definitely ready to go back to the 80s! I truly wish that the OFP/Arma series had never left the era. IMO there were simply so many "what if" scenarios and conflicts to explore from the time period that it's a real shame that we ended up in 2035. And now we have friggin aliens too! What the hell is BIS thinking? Don't get me wrong, the Livonia terrain is a masterpiece but I've never touched the Contact campaign and doubt that I ever will. The terrain on the other hand is practically ideal for Cold War scenarios so it was mostly worth the purchase price as well. Bring on CSLA!

@evrik. Thanks for addressing my bug report on Discord. I'm looking forward to the hotfix. 🙂

I'm experiencing a problem using the new factions when playing Hetman War Stories scenarios. The US Cold War factions only show up under the East (Opfor) side when choosing factions. The USSR factions are also on the East side as would be expected. This means that I can't play US vs USSR in HWS scenarios. Also, if I choose the US forces as a faction (playable or as the enemy side) I can't get any of the HWS scenarios that I've tried (Livonia, Weferlingen and Leskovets) to initialize after I hit the "Tell Me a Story" button to start the mission. I always get a message saying that initialization failed, no forces to use. I tried with only the necessary mods that 3CBF requires along with the map/GM files for Weferlingen and Leskovets. When choosing either of the USSR factions as Opfor and a faction other than US forces as Blufor, everything loads just fine and the mission is playable. Other than that, everything looks great so far.

I'd like to report a possible bug. While playing HWS recently I decided to recruit some nearby units to replace some of the losses in my squad. I was playing West Germany vs East Germany using GM assets so all the nearby units had German names. I went through the list and recruited all the names that were shown (about 5) and after I ordered the new squad members to regroup, I noticed that one of them was an East German soldier with full uniform, weapon and kit. I wondered if it was some kind of anomaly, so the next time I was near a group of enemy soldiers I did it again and recruited every one of them to my side. Is it supposed to be possible to enlist enemies? I'm fine with being able to enlist civilians because I can always arm them and find them proper clothing but it seems a bit odd to be able to enlist enemies. I exited ARMA and reloaded with just CBA and AIOSP enabled and went in the editor to see if I could do it again and rule out any bugs caused by other mods or the mission I was playing. I loaded Altis and then placed a BLUFOR rifleman and an OPFOR survivor (unarmed) and hit the play button and sure enough I was able to recruit the enemy soldier to my side. Is this intentional or a bug? Just curious.

Thanks for the reply. That's exactly the kind of answer I was hoping for. I actually kind of like the idea of breaking the morale system and seeing how a mission plays out. If it doesn't work out well, it's as simple as lowering the values and trying again until I find what "feels right". Searching for the enemy leader to break a stalemate actually kind of appeals to me as well. Thanks again.

Glad to hear. Now if some of those HWS ports on Steam would just get updated! To be honest, I hadn't given it much thought beyond tweaking whatever values already exist, such as the morale changes already mentioned. I don't want to have to hunt down the last enemy on the map to end the mission but perhaps something along the lines of an option to continue chasing a retreating enemy to further deplete their forces or continuing to hold out after the commander has decided to surrender or withdraw from the battlefield would be welcome. I certainly understand if such a thing is beyond the scope of HWS though. DUWS allows the mission to be changed to another map simply by changing the name of the mission pbo file to include the name of the terrain that the user wishes to use. I don't recall the exact wording that had to be used when changing the file name but it was something as simple as changing the mission file name from "DUWS.Altis.pbo" to "DUWS.Namalsk.pbo" and the mission would launch using whatever new map had been chosen through the name change. It might sound a bit confusing and I have now idea how it works but it was really simple and actually very elegant. I can see that something like that might not work with HWS but as I said, the community would probably quickly fill that need by releasing ports to other maps so that isn't that big of a deal. Really, I'm just thinking how awesome it would be to have a fully dynamic whole map campaign with the ability to choose our own factions. DUWS came close but there was no multi-faction support without making a new port and adding everything manually and the AI command was a bit lacking. I do remember something dynamic with A2 but I think it was more of a dynamic battle/skirmish generator rather than a campaign. I don't believe that a complex and easily configurable dynamic campaign would alleviate the need (or desire) for scripted missions and campaigns but it would add a lot in the way of replayability and there's no reason why such a system couldn't be configured by BIS to work in SP or MP. Also the simulation aspect of being able to role play small to large scale military operations with very little necessary in the way of setup would be very welcome. Thanks for the info. From the suggested values I've seen here and elsewhere, I'm guessing that somewhere between 4 and 10 would be most appropriate. I tried it with 7.5 and it seemed to work fairly well with the enemy eventually surrendering after about an hour or so of gameplay. Would a value around 25 be too high or make much in the way of a difference? Like I said earlier, I don't want to have to hunt the entire map for a single soldier or even a squad but if there's a large group out there and the commander has an idea of where they are, I wouldn't mind pushing on until most of them are eliminated. Thanks for that info as well. I'll give it a try next time I play. You're welcome and thanks very much for what you've provided for the community. I intend to enjoy HWS for quite a bit more time to come.

First off let me say that HWS is awesome. I've experienced some of the best A3 SP virtual combat ever while playing these missions. I primarily play on European maps such as Weferlingen, Livonia and a few others while using Cold War assets such as Global Mobilization and the Cold Conflict mod. GM is great but I've experienced something that is a bit off-putting when using those assets. The Shilka and Gepard AA vehicles tend to get fielded and used like tanks. Even though I'm also using the LEN Cold War aircraft mod, I would like to know if it's possible to exclude those AA vehicles from being used through the advanced options dialog box? I've looked through the HAL manual and while I see some things that refer to AA vehicles and anti-air infantry, I can't seem to figure out if there is a way to exclude them from making an appearance. I would also like to know if there's something that could be added there to prolong the combat just a bit more? HWS is great but battles that sometimes end in the middle of a fierce firefight are a bit of a letdown. Being able to set my own victory or defeat conditions would be great even if it's not particularly realistic. Any help with any of that would be greatly appreciated. My ideal dynamic campaign scenario would be a combination of HWS and DUWS. I would like to see a system with the AI leadership capabilities and multi-faction support of HWS with the multi-terrain and whole map dynamic campaign features of DUWS. While such a combination might make the multi-terrain feature hard or even impossible to implement, the community would probably create ported versions in a fairly short time period. That's not really a request but more along the lines of personal musings and suggestions should anyone be considering something along those lines. I've been playing dynamic campaigns sine A1 and I've often wished that BIS would build such a system into the base games. That way, anytime a new forces mod is released, it could simply be dropped into the dynamic campaign/mission generator and could be used immediately without the need to create your own mission/campaign or wait for someone else to do it. ***EDITED*** I took another look through this thread and read through some Steam comments and I seem to have found the answers to most of my questions. Apparently specific vehicles can't be excluded due to the way that assets are loaded (unless there's some way around that that I'm not aware of) but I'm wondering if a whole class of vehicles (such as all AA vehicles) regardless of faction can be excluded? I also read that altering the morale values can make the battles last longer. I tried inputting the following into the advanced dialog box and the battle seemed to last a fair bit longer than usual: RydHQ_MoraleConst = 4; RydHQB_MoraleConst = 4; My understanding is that the higher the values are, either the higher morale remains no matter the attrition rate or the less importance the AI leader places on morale. I'm not sure which is correct (or if either is) but if the outcome is about the same, it doesn't really matter. Or does it matter when playing with campaign mode on? I'm aware that there is a hard limit of 75% losses before a side capitulates but I'm curious as to just how high those values can go before they break something or get dismissed? Any further input strings to prolong battles would be welcome as well. Also, is there a way to copy and paste text into the dialog box? Inputting that text (plus any other variables I might try) by hand is a bit time consuming. Thanks.

I'm curious to know if it would be possible (or even feasible?) to create a sort of AI vision cone? The human vision cone is about 120 degrees. So if a grenade lands 60 degrees to the left or right of center, could something be coded in such a way that the AI would be considered to have "seen" the grenade and react appropriately? Things like wall corners (if a grenade lands just around the corner of a building that the AI couldn't possibly see) and such would need to be considered if possible but IMO that would be better than the AI being able to see a grenade no matter where it lands within a 25m radius. It would also be nice to be able to tweak the distance out that the AI can "see" the grenade as I think 25m is perhaps just a bit too much. I would be more comfortable with the AI being able to see a grenade no matter where it lands if I could tweak the distance to 15m or so.