Spooner

When you get multiple 3d decals close together it would look bad as they have no way of interacting. They obviously also look a bit naff since they cannot deform the underlying terrain, but they are better than nothing. Deanosbeano and I did some exploratory work in implementing free terrain deformation in Arma1 recently. We found that 10m cell deformation looked terrible for anything we wanted to do. 5m cell deformation looks good enough though, though the smaller the cells the better. This smaller cell size makes a massive difference to be believability of deformations... I agree with Dyslexi that as far as craters go, unless you are using heavy ordinance, the deformation is irrelevant and definitely not worth the effort. However, although this sort of bombardment doesn't occur directly in many missions, I think there are also lots of missions where this sort of bombardment might have happened in the past. Think of all the times people fight in bombed out cities, even if the bombs aren't falling while they are fighting. Same with earthworks...even if you aren't making them in the mission, no reason they couldn't have been dug the day before!

Vipermaul, it is mainly to support the new SPON Map, but it also has a lot of things that may make my life easier for other projects. Most of the work has been laying around on my hard drive for ages, but I am terrible at that last push from "done" to "tested" and then on to "released" :(

Oops, yes, I know what the issue is and the problem is that in the addon version that is provided in ACE, the debug log is disabled, and that version is run rather than the one in the mission, so it ignores your wish to enable debugging in the mission itself. You can get around this by manually enabling the log with: _debugOnServer = true; // Perform server debugging (actually broken at the moment, but no harm in enabling it). _useActionForDebugLog = true; // To add a universal action to open the log, rather than using key-press to open it. [_debugOnServer, _useActionForDebugLog] call SPON_initDebugLog; This problem will be resolved by v0.6.0 which is currently being worked on.

Thanks for that and nice that you provide a link to make things simple! I've kept the link I use small, but good to have the options of banner or link.

SPON CrewNotify v0.1.0 Quite a simple system, but solves the problem of not having a clue who gets in or out of your vehicle. Receive text notifications whenever another player enters or leaves your vehicle. * Available as mission-script or client-side addon. * Requires SPON Core and XEH (latter only if using addon version). * Online Manual * Report bug or make suggestion Downloads * Armaholic * OFPEC * ArmedAssault.info

SPON Recognise v0.4.0 SPON Recognise v0.4.0 Anyone playing the game properly will have friend (& foe) tags off since they are very gamey, however, there needs to be some way to recognise your comrades without telepathy! Allows players who have friendly tags turned off to manually recognise their allies (infantry, corpses and vehicle crews) when they are very close. * Available as mission-script or client-side addon. * Requires SPON Core and XEH (latter only if using addon version). * Online Manual * Report bug or make suggestion Downloads * Armaholic * OFPEC * ArmedAssault.info Features   * Press TEAMSWITCH (which defaults to "T" key) to activate recognition for whatever you are looking at (based on weapon direction if you are using a hand-weapon, but centre of screen if unarmed or in a vehicle).   * When used as a client-side addon (that is, without it being configured from inside the mission), infantry are recognised up to 40m, vehicle crews to 2m, corpses (all sides) to 3m.   * Option for which types of people can be recognised: own group, own side, allies, friendly or everyone   * Option to recognise infantry at a specific distance.   * Option to recognise corpses at a specific distance.   * Option to recognise vehicle crews at a specific distance.   * Option to recognise all corpses at a specific distance, regardless of whether they could have been recognised when alive (think: dogtags). <a href="http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard311/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=70;t=74601" target="_blank"> </a>

Thanks! Added your mirror.

Regarding the limitation with string-length manageable by format[/b], you can avoid this by using + and str. <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"> compile format ["frog%1 = fish", _value]; compile ("frog" + (str _value) + " = fish"); (That trivial example would never overload strings, but you know what I mean). Sadly, the issue with call compile is that you no longer get debug messages with file/line number, which is a major loss. Although the code seems trivial, someone will provide bad data to it and break it soon enough! Nevertheless, a very interesting exploration of shoe-horning computer science into SQF (which is a sort of computer mysticism ).

SPON Recognise v0.4.0 released * Online Manual * Report bug or make suggestion Downloads * OFPEC * ArmAholic

Thanks for the interest! Remember that DynamicTerrain is an early WIP and the current videos are tech demonstrations rather than indicative of the final product. I don't think that the MP issues are as bad as you think. You only need to sync changes in terrain and move some objects when appropriate. Maybe not appropriate for 100 player servers, but possible, I think, on normal usage (and remember that in most missions, there aren't bombs going off and players digging holes continually! Static objects would still be static rather than becoming full physics object, but they'd be manually positioned to follow changes in the underlying terrain. Yes, you could have full physics everywhere to make everything work perfectly, which would kill any current machine, but gaming is full of compromises (i.e. should we have waited for 3D games until real-time raytracing was available?) The video intentionally doesn't show off how static objects are affected because that isn't implemented yet, due to the difficulties involved in working out how they should be affected (they just stay in position). Physics objects are pushed up and down by the terrain as it moves, as long as it doesn't move too fast, so that isn't such a problem. Remember that the videos are just for WIP tests, so you should think about what they do show, rather than what they don't show. @ericM We will be using 5m terrain grid for DynamicTerrain (the videos mainly show 10m grids so far, which is the same as Sahrani uses). We think 5m is the best compromise of performance and visual effect and can create reasonable deformations. 10m grid is fine for overall terrain shaping, but it definitely doesn't create anything useful for trenches or reasonably sized craters.

Although I'm in favour of this, have you considered using ArmAlib to do this as a community side (tiny missions that are downloaded normally from the server, but that downloads the mission-specific files from an external source, be that HTTP or database)? Certainly not happening for ArmA before A2 at the very least, so this might be a better option, though getting the average user to use something like Armalib is harder than getting them to predownload the mission, in all likelyhood.

Roller v0.1.1 Roller is a community made software developed by Spooner to convert and process OFP and ArmA island files. Its primary purpose is to convert OFP islands to ArmA for the ACE Island Pack, but it can also do some processing that could be useful to people making new ArmA islands. Formats that can be imported   * 4WVR WRP (OFP unbinarized)   * 8WVR WRP (ArmA unbinarized) Formats that can be exported   * 8WVR WRP (ArmA unbinarized)   * XYZ height data (text file), suitable for import into Visitor 3   * Object data list (text file), suitable for import into Visitor 3   * Mask texture (PNG) Additional features   * Generate satellite mask texture (customizable coloring based on terrain point height, definition of forest and urban areas, customizable texture size)   * Replace forest block with customizable single objects (type, density, relative frequency)   * Replace single objects with optional offset (1:n and n:1)   * Reduce cell size for more height data points (useful if you want to add bumps), or increase cell size for less detail   * Make terrain bumpy   * Raise/lower sea level   * Generate list of unique objects present in source file   * Replace textures (1:n and n:1)   * Set terrain point height at the edges (to avoid endless repeated terrain)   * Processing summary Links Released at Dev Heaven   * Download (9MB 7z)   * Full documentation   * Known bugs   * Report bugs and suggest features   * Roadmap Please directly request bug fixes and suggest features at the new Dev Heaven site. We won't ignore posts in other forums, but you'd help us a lot (i.e. helping us get more done!) by wandering over to Dev Heaven, which is a great place to both develop and host your ArmA work! Mirrors * OFPEC (zip) * Armaholic (7z) * ArmedAssault.info (7z) Credits - The Roller team   * Project manager: kju   * Ruby developer: Spooner   * Configuration: the-f   * Testing: kju, the-f & looz   * Roller image: Pufu - Externals   * Windows executable built with rubyscript2exe by Erik Veenstra.   * OFP to ArmA object mappings based on work by Snake Man and others.   * Details of 4WVR and 8WVR file formats documented on the Biki by Mikero, Snake Man, Sy & T_D.

New screenshots of the special tools available in SPON Map v0.6.0 Measuring tool - Ruler line dragged with the mouse Coordinate tool - scale Coordinate tool - grid Coordinate tool - keypad

SPON Map v0.6.0 Measuring tool - Ruler line dragged with the mouse Coordinate tool - scale Coordinate tool - grid Coordinate tool - keypad SPON Map v0.3.0 @ YouTube (Unofficial video; thanks to Woolridge!) - Released: 2009-01-15 - Install size: 404k (mission version) or 495k (addon version) - (mission script version) 100% scripts with no addon dependencies - (addon version) Requires XEH (1.9 or higher), but this is included in the release. - Requires: ArmA 1.14 (or higher) and SPON Core (v0.5.3 or higher) - See attached README.html for full details Downloads OFPEC (primary) ArmAholic (mirror) Overview Map that allows players to make freehand drawings, as well as place markers in a more manageable/intuitive way. The choice of exactly who to send this information to is extended from the "vanilla" ArmA options. Requires that the SPON Core be installed in the mission (v0.5.3 or higher). Both SPON Map and SPON Core are available in two versions: One is a client-side addon and the other is mission-script-based, which does not require any addons to be installed on client or server. Both require ArmA 1.14 or higher. Features   * Alternate map dialog is opened and closed via pressing <vehicle-turbo>-<show-map> (LSHIFT+M by default).   * 11 modes of operation are available (Select radio button or press CTRL F1-F11):      o Measure mode:         + By holding down the mouse button and dragging it, measure the distance and azimuth of the line traced.      o Query mode:         + By hovering over an existing line/marker, drawn by anyone, you can see information about it:            # When it was originally sent.            # Who originally placed the item.            # What target individual or group it was originally sent to.            # For markers only, you can see its full descriptive name (for lines, rectangles and ellipses it just tells you that it is a "Drawing" ;P).      o Grid mode: Overlays for measuring accurate grid references:         + Scale - right-angle of measuring scales (makes more sense when you see it)         + 10x10 Grid         + Keypad, showing 9 sub-sectors      o Marker mode (Place icons):         + Pick marker from combo-box which includes icons (no more using up/down to find a specific marker from a list of dozens or hundreds that are installed!).         + Marker icons can be filtered by typing in a search string pattern.         + When placing markers, drag the mouse to make them larger or smaller (50-150% of default marker size). Hold ALT while dragging to rotate the marker.         + Choose from six standard colours (black, white, green, red, yellow, blue) or use the default colour for the specific marker.         + Any marker can be tagged as urgent by prepending "!" to its message (e.g. "! BFO Tank"), which will give anyone who receives it an automatic IM notification, including its map coordinates.         + If you receive an unrecognised marker, you are told, via chat, the class name of the marker and who actually sent it (in "vanilla" ArmA, you get an intrusive modal dialog with just the marker class name). Since the unrecognised marker cannot be displayed, you will see a question-mark marker placed on the map in the requested position with the requested colour.      o Pencil mode: Drawing freehand lines.      o Pen mode: Drawing straight lines.      o Ellipse mode: Drawing ellipses (frames, not filled). Hold LSHIFT to draw a circle, ALT to rotate.      o Rectangle mode: Drawing rectangles (frames, not filled). Hold LSHIFT to draw a square, ALT to rotate.      o IM Mode: Send text messages to other players.      o Log mode: See a complete chronological list of markers and drawings received and sent, any of which can be centred or deleted. In this mode, you can also click on any marker or drawing on the map to find it in the log.      o Notepad mode: A dynamic notepad, which can have pages added, modified and removed at any time.         + SPON Map automatically adds GMJ SightAdjustment rangecards to the SPON Map notepad.   * Target information to a variety of player groupings or "channels" (Select radio button or press F1-12):      o Self (for personal notes; the only mode available in single-player).      o Tell (any specific allied player, except oneself).      o Direct (all nearby people).      o Vehicle (any allied vehicle with players in it).      o Group (any allied group containing players, including own if there are other players in it).      o Side.      o Alliance (own side and any configured as being allied to it; this will only be available if an alliance is defined in the mission).      o Friendly (alliance + civilians).      o Global.      o Command - All allied group leaders.      o Medical - All allied medics.      o Channels - User-defined channels, currently only created by mission-based function calls. They only reach across an alliance. Each has a unique name (string) and everyone subscribed to that channel will get messages directed at it.   * Choose from six semi-transparent colours (black, red, green, blue, yellow or white). Alternatively, when placing marker icons, automatically use the configured default colour for that particular marker.   * Player can delete a marker/line by pressing "delete" key while hovering over it.   * Can either replace the standard map entirely or co-exist with it. Limitations   *  You can still place map markers by double-clicking on the default ArmA map, including the map you see in the briefing. These markers cannot be queried or deleted on the SPON map nor can SPON Map markers/drawings be deleted on the default map.   * Although the compass points in the direction that the player was looking when the map was opened (like vanilla compass), player will stop freelooking as soon as the SPON Map is opened, so will not be looking in the same direction when he exits the map.   * It is not possible to move or drive while looking at the SPON map (Consider this a realism feature though!).   * Can't exit the map when in Marker or IM modes (since 'M' is used to type in messages in those modes). [Workaround: Change mode first or use ESCAPE key].   * When deleting/selecting/querying lines, they are only found when the mouse is at the centre of a straight section. Compatibility   *  Mission types:      o SP and SP teamswitch: Yes, but a bit pointless.      o MP Teamswitch: Mostly (specifically, Medical channel assumes you don't change to and from being a medic, but Map does remember your "real" name even if you change characters in-game).      o MP: Yes.      o MP JIP: Yes, but you don't get updated with already placed markers, but then, that is no worse than vanilla ArmA behaviour ;P.   * Addons and Scripts:      o Not compatible with any other script or addon that detects key-presses (unless it uses SPON Core or Shole DEH key-press handler, of course).      o Fails if SPON Map v0.5.x is run as an addon at the same time as SPON Map v0.6.x is run from the mission. If v0.6.x is run from addon and mission, then the addon version will always be the one run (and run correctly).   * Missions:      o Warfare:         + "View Map" action is not visible when on foot (i.e. only available in a vehicle). [Mission deletes constant actions rather that storing them in a variable!]         + SPON key-handling disabled by the mission, so can't open SPON map that way.         + No specific targets appear in tell/group or vehicle [No idea why].      o Evolution: OK.      o Others: Probably OK.   * Maps (the things that could fail on a map that SPON Map isn't compatible with, would be corrupted Grid mode and/or bad GPS coordinates given; otherwise it would work fine):      o Sahrani, South Sahrani (saralite), Rahmadi: OK.      o Isla Barbuda, Avgani: OK.      o Maps with 6-digit GPS: OK.      o Others: Probably OK, but please tell me if you find one that isn't! Known Issues   *  When using "tell", "group", "vehicle" or "Channels" comms modes, the list of possible targets is only updated when the mode is selected or re-selected (Workaround: just re-select "Tell"/"Group"/"Vehicle"/"Channels" to update the list if it is out of date).   * Sometimes in "tell", "group" or "vehicle", certain valid targets will not appear in the list of options. [i suspect this is a problem with SPON Core, rather than in SPON Map as such].   * With a lot of things drawn on the screen, FPS can really take a hit when in query mode, regardless of computing power (This seems erratic and often a low spec computer works fine with a lot of things drawn on the map, so is more likely a bug than a limitation of the design).   * Centring map on a drawing (line, circle, etc) moves the map to the start of the line, or an arbitrary position on a rectangle or square, not to its actual centre. Plans   *  Add decent MP-friendly radio system (which allows for a menu hierarchy as well as allowing multiple scripts to add radio options without them being incompatible, as would be the case now if two people tried to use the ALPHA radio channel at once).   * Add an "eraser mode", so you don't have to press delete key.   * Optimise data transfer to reduce network traffic.   * Allow existing map markers to be dragged around the screen.   * Enable the player to send IMs without switching to the Map screen by allowing them to open small IM dialog in normal game screen.   * Allow players to create new custom channels in-game (currently channels are added only via functions). Probably implemented by adding /join and /leave commands in the IM entry line.   * Add config options to allow mission-maker to decide which of the 11 mode and 12 locality communication types should be enabled.   * Add first/previous/next/last page links at the bottom of the notepad.   * Add a way to serialise/export a placed marker, or other drawing, into SQF script, so that it can be pre-placed in a mission.   * Optional support for JIP updating, assuming server is also running SPON Map (so that you see all current markers when you join or rejoin!).   * Allow map marker text to be shown or hidden, to allow more text to be used without it filling up the map. Either allowing it to be switchable from hidden to shown globally, or only "pop-up" when hovering over the marker [suggested by Dyson].   * Automatic kick/ban for people who use the interface to draw rude things ;P Credits   * Compass/protractor image adapted from original BIS compass textures.   * Several icons adapted from original BIS icons and markers.   * Testing by Loki's Nightmare, The Regiment of Grenadier Guards [RGG] squad, 6thSense clan and the ATOW and IC-ArmA tournaments (as well as several individuals).   * Thanks to everyone at BIS and OFPEC forums for testing, feedback and suggestions.   * Small amount of code adapted from GMJ SightAdjustment addon, in order to integrate GMJ range-cards (used without permission, but author seems to have left the community some time ago).   * Demo mission and addon pbo files created with cpbo by Keygetys.   * Thanks to Solus for allowing me to include the XEH addon in the release (and, of course, for making the great addon in the first place!) Change Log v0.6.0 (all those from v0.6.0RC1 to v0.6.0RC7; too many to list!). (See readme.html for full details of changes before current version). <a href="http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard311/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=70;t=74601" target="_blank"> </a>

That isn't something I'd considered. I'm not sure of how this might be done, but I suppose it might be possible to paste the old textures into a big image in areas based on which texture they had originally. I've ticketed it anyway as a potential feature. kyu and the-f can give me some wisdom on whether this would work (you'd not believe it, but I never played OFP).

Updated to v0.1.1 * FIXED: Executable version fails to run [Reported by T_D] Sorry again for this silly mistake...I need to give this up and become a goatherd or something easier :P

Added Armaholic and ArmedAssault.info mirrors. Thanks fellas! I'm quite happy to have you both, and anyone else, host the files, as long as you link back to the Dev Heaven project. Thanks again to Sickboy and kju for setting up Dev Heaven; really made this collaboration possible! Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback. I do hope that it helps you out in your island conversion and creation. @Snakeman: Sorry, I forgot to credit you for your original work in mapping OFP->ArmA objects which was what we based our conversion files on. I'll sort that out ASAP. T_D has reported that the Roller executable doesn't actually work! This is because I am an idiot (directly running the source works fine, but since you need to install the Ruby interpreter for that, we suppose most people will be wanting to use the executable version). Expect v0.1.1 very, very soon. Sorry!

Damn Excel! Sorry for getting shirty earlier, but you can see why you appeared to be being particularly dense (and we have all fallen foul of M$ before now, so...);P SPON Map already has a GPS in it, which actually has a couple of extra features that the regular GPS doesn't have. No, it isn't possible to put the "regular" notepad or radio into the map. You have to use the normal map for that (though you can get the radio, when not looking at a dialog, by pressing 0-0-1, etc). However, there is a new feature in SPON Map that allows you to add, remove or update pages of text into the SPON Map notepad (although the BIS notepad has limited dynamic features, it is very limiting). Look in the readme for details of how to configure this. Of course, this is only useful if you are making the mission with SPON Map in mind, rather than if you want to use SPON Map as a client-side addon, available in all missions.

Your uploaded version looks like this: I hope you can see that that isn't actually anything like what I told you to do.

Why have you spammed extra quotes onto the SPON Map stringtable? I am using the standard, though alternative, format for my stringtable (putting quotes around all the strings, which I feel looks clearer and also allows commas inside the strings), but BAS are not using this. Either format is valid, but using mine doesn't mean you should just spray quotes around. Please return to my last post and look at the example again.

Two options: 1) You trim down the BAS F to only have English language: <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"> LANGUAGE,English STR_f_ConditionsSelector_Title,Conditions: STR_f_ConditionsSelector_Option21,Early Morning | Clear STR_f_ConditionsSelector_Option22,Early Morning | Overcast STR_f_ConditionsSelector_Option23,Early Morning | Storm STR_f_ConditionsSelector_Option24,Early Morning | Light Fog STR_f_ConditionsSelector_Option25,Early Morning | Heavy Fog // A lot more basf stuff here... #include "SPON\Map\stringtable.csv" 2) You use the BAS-F file as it is, but pad out SPON\Map\stringtable.csv to the same number of languages as BAS F. <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"> // Colour menu items. STR_SPON_MAP_COLOUR_DEFAULT, "Use default colour","Use default colour","Use default colour","Use default colour","Use default colour","Use default colour","Use default colour" STR_SPON_MAP_COLOUR_BLACK, "Black","Black","Black","Black","Black","Black","Black" STR_SPON_MAP_COLOUR_RED, "Red","Red","Red","Red","Red","Red","Red" STR_SPON_MAP_COLOUR_GREEN, "Green","Green","Green","Green","Green","Green","Green" // etc... The former is perhaps easier to do, but the latter means that non-English players won't have to see English text. Incidentally, I hope you are remembering to re-save the mission each time you alter the stringtables, since ArmA only reads them in when the mission is saved or loaded.

SPON Core v0.5.3 - Released: 2008-11-04 - Install size: 114k (mission scripts) / 183k (addon version) - (mission version) 100% scripts with no addon dependencies - (addon version) Requires XEH (1.9 or higher), but this is included in the release. - Requires ArmA 1.09 or higher - See attached README.html for full details Download OFPEC ArmAholic (mirror) ePrison.de (mirror) SPON@YouTube SPON releases SPON Core is required by: - SPON Attachments v0.3.0 (Attach/detatch ACOG and other accessories to weapons in-game). - SPON HoloMap v0.3.0 (3D holographic representation of the game world) - SPON Map v0.6.0 (Freehand drawing and improved marker placement interface) - SPON Money v0.1.2 (Shopping and banking) - SPON Radar v0.1.0 ("Old-school" long-range radar with a sweeping beam revealing "blips") - SPON Rangefinder v0.3.0 (Shows range, azimuth and elevation overlayed on the SOFLAM view) - SPON RearView v0.2.1 (Rear-view mirrors for most vanilla and QG vehicles). - SPON Recognise v0.3.0 (Recognise friends standing next to you, even if friendly tags are off). - SPON Scuba v0.1.0 (Underwater swimming and demolitions) - SPON Status v0.3.0 (Informational display clearly showing order-of-battle, group members and vehicle crew). - SPON VBIED v0.2.0 (Place car-bombs on vehicles). Other scripts of mine that don't need SPON Core, but that include debugging messages that can be seen if SPON Core debug-log is used: - SPON Kits v0.1.1 (Standardised equipment kits). - SPON_deathMesssages v0.2.1 (Configurable death messages to replace the default ones). My functions (no dependency on SPON Core or use of debugging): - SPON_deepEquals v0.2.0 (Compare nested arrays for equivalency). - SPON_directionName v0.1.1 (Convert numeric vector or direction into name, e.g. [1, 1, 0] => "North-East") - SPON_getWeaponType v0.1.0 (Find out the general type of a weapon, based on its name, e.g. "M9" => "PISTOL"). - SPON_formatNumber v0.1.0 (Proper number formatting, e.g. 1234.567, to two decimal places with 1000s seperators => "1,234.57") - SPON LOS v0.1.0 (Calculating line of sight) - SPON_viewVector v0.1.1 (direction the player's screen is "looking", rather than body or weapon facings) My scripts used by third parties: - SPON Sensor - Vehicles detected by radar appear on everyone's map (Included in PRACS Beriev Be-32k addon). Overview Core components required by most of the other SPON script packs (the README for each package will say whether it actually requires SPON Core and what minimum version is required). Many of the features provided here might be of use in creating your own mission scripts. SPON Core is avilable in two versions. One is an addon and the other is mission-script-based which does not require any addons to be installed on client or server. It requires ArmA 1.09 or higher. Features - Standard * Provides common features used by other SPON components, such as SPON VBIED, SPON Recognise and SPON Map. * User event handling: Any player or server can broadcast local or global events. Those that have previously registered for the event will have their code run (Used very similarly to standard ArmA events). * Broadcasting object variables with SPON_publicObjectVariable. * Key event handling: Allows de-coupled key event handlers to be set up (normally a new key event handler deletes any existing handler). * Some global variables (read-only) to complement the built-in "isServer". * SPON_formatTime function is available: Formats an elapsed time, in seconds, as 0:00:00 or 0:00:00.000, which is appropriate for formatting elapsed time ("time" command), but not time of day. - Optional * Debug log: o Makes a permanent record of all debug messages, viewable in a window, thus not cluttering up the chat window with debug messages. o Allows the client to view all debug messages that have been generated on the client or the server at any time (JIP clients can only see server messages generated after they joined)! * Automatic monitoring of in-game men and vehicles: o Lists of player, men and vehicle objects in the mission are kept updated. o SPON events are published whenever any of these is found on the server for the first time and when a player is first or last found on the server. These events can be used to perform init actions on the objects, without the need of addons (Although init might be slightly delayed after the object has been created). Limitations Compatibility * Addons and Scripts: o If SPON mission-script is used with SPON addon, only the addon version will be run (so ensure your addons are up to date). o (Mission-version only) If SPON Core debug log is used with keys, rather than action to open the map, it is not compatible with any other script or addon that detects key-presses (unless it uses SPON Core or Shole's DEH key-press handlers, of course). Known bugs * Variables updated with SPON_publicObjectVariable are not automatically updated for JIP players (though JIP players will get any new values sent after they have joined). * Debug message logging on dedicated servers is currently broken. Plans * Ensure that SPON_players_* arrays are synchronised across all machines and updated immediately on join/leave in progress by another player. * Allow registering global event names, so that they can be published using less bandwidth. * Expand USAGE section in README.txt, to make the systems more usable by third parties Credits * *Provide a common set of scripts to minimise the repetition of scripts within the other SPON components. * To provide a strong base for anyone developing SP, and especially MP, missions. * Consistent GUI across all SPON GUI-based components. Font/colour schema can be chosen from a selection of standard schema. * Avoid addons, in favour of scripting, as far as possible. Addon version and 100% mission-scripts versions are available! Change Log v0.5.3 - Fixed * Using the debug log can reset the value of nil. * Adding multiple key event handlers to one key will cause only the first to be run [Reported by i0n0s]. * SPON_isMP is incorrectly set to true in SP missions (unless you are playing from the SP editor without saving the mission). (See readme.html for full details of changes before current version). ???

The SPON Core inside ACE is exactly the same as the one released separately, so it can be used in exactly the same way. Thus when you play ACE, there is no difference to having SPON Core and SPON Rangefinder loaded normally. Your situation depends on what exact combination of addons and mission scripts you have running: * SPON Core addon or mission script: OK. * SPON Core addon + any SPON component addons: OK. * SPON Core mission script + any SPON component mission scripts: OK. * SPON Core, or any SPON component, running as both addon and mission script at the same time: OK (Addon takes precedence, but will still be configured by the settings meant to affect the mission). * SPON Core mission script + any SPON component addons: Not OK (SPON component addons always require SPON Core addon). * SPON Core addon + any SPON non-GUI component mission scripts (does not have a ui directory, such as SPON Scuba or HoloMap): OK * SPON Core addon + any SPON GUI-based component mission scripts (i.e. has a ui directory, such as SPON Map or Recognise): OK, but needs a workaround. The workaround is to just to add a small part of Core to your mission (25k, so a lot smaller than whole of SPON Core): * Place a "Game Logics\SPON\SPON Core: Requre" logic object in the mission editor, to ensure that it can't be played without having the SPON Core addon loaded. * Include the SPON\Core\ui folder (just hpp files), leaving out all the scripts and other bits of SPON Core. * At the top of the description.ext: <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">#include "SPON\Core\ui\core.hpp" Remember that you can just leave SPON Core mission scripts in your mission and you have no problems at all (all you are doing is wasting some space). This is the simplest option and does not require that the mission be played with SPON Core addon, so is the one I recommend really. Sorry that this issue is relatively complicated, but you have to remember that virtually no other ArmA modder releases addons and script versions of the same items, let alone ones that are so cross-compatible and simple to use

Ah, one other issue that could be causing this is if your stringtable has more options than just English, but you are not playing the game in English. You see, there is a problem with mission stringtables, in that you can only ever have one of them and if an entry is missing, then the game assumes it is a blank string. In OFP, it always defaulted to the first value if values were missing, which would make this a non-issue! Thus, if you have: <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">LANGUAGE, English, French, Czech STR_MANDO_FISH, fish, poisson, ryba // #include will just put all the values from my stringtable // into the main stringtable, so it is effectively as though // it was one big file. STR_SPON_MAP_FROG, frog If this is the case, you need to add extra values, even if you just repeat the English version, into your SPON\Map\stringtable.csv file so that it has exactly the same number of values in it as you have in your main stringtable: <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"> STR_SPON_MAP_FROG, frog, frog, frog Using the addon version, it will always give you the English version of the text, regardless. Hope that catches it...

All of the text on the Map UI is from the <table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE"> #include "SPON\Map\stringtable.csv" in the stringtable.csv file. Hmm! Core only provides the text for the Core error and debug windows that you probably haven't seen, so not having the Core CSV shouldn't matter (and anyway, this text would be available from the addon anyway). *shrugs for now* Regarding needing to disable the BIS map to get the map to work, I think that was a bug in ACE 1.00 (which, ironically, I was responsible for!), causing that. ACE 1.01 fixes the issue that I am thinking of, but if you are already using that version, I'm not at all sure why you would need to run that line of code (disabling the BIS map) to enable the SPON Map. Well, the other option is that you've not got the vehicleturbo key set up for LSHIFT (which is just the default you get if you haven't modified your ArmA keys). SPON Map is set up to run with whatever you've set as vehicleturbo + openmap keys, rather than particular keys (I suspect you are aware of this, but I'm clutching at straws here).