madmatt

Awesome mod! This really does allow for amazing fun. One thing I noticed in latest version though was that when using the MCC Console and controlling a UAV Predator or AC-130, it seemed like I wasn't always getting the weapon explosion effects. I finally discovered what was causing this. It's related to the setting for Overall and Object view Distances. It would seem that even though the MCC Console is showing events that could be occurring across the island, certain details like explosions are only rendered within the games Maximum Draw Distance which is centered on the player, not the MCC Console object viewed. So, in my case, my draw distance was set to 3000 meters so when I fired weapons on the AC-130, I often (when the AC-130 was across the island engaging targets far away) did not see any explosion or particle effects. Vehicles would just switch to their "dead" model and buildings would not collapse but immediately change to their destroyed state. However, when I used the AC-130 relatively close to my player, i did get these effects. On a hunch I went into video options and raised my draw distance to maximum and then I was able to see the missing explosions and effects when the AC-130 spawned further away, although my framerate dropped to single digits. I am not sure it's possible, but it would be great if when controlling UAV's and the AC-130, that the view distance could take this into consideration. Might be hard as I imagine you are using a variant of the new PiP feature to display the MCC Console actvity onscreen but since the background for the player is still rendered behind the console its still basing draw distance on that point, regardless of whats being show (far off on other side of island) on the MCC Console panel. Hope that makes sense and thanks for all your hard work! Madmatt

I use this in tandem with FA Stance and really like it. I know of the reason stated above to only display it in 1st person view but can you perhaps add the option to show it in 3rd person view as well? That's pretty much the only reason I also run FA Stance as that will display in 1st and 3rd person views which I find helpful. Thank you! Madmatt

DMarkwick, I installed it the same as I had it in Arma 2 but I did not try to add the Arma 3 trees to the array. I am seeing the smoke effects and fire animations (and sound) but it does not look like the fire spreads although I haven't tested that function specifically. I do see a pretty sizeable frame hit with it enabled although I still need to tweak my overall settings so that might not be the mods issues. Madmatt

Any special/different install requirements for ARMA 3 as opposed to how to it worked in ARMA 2? Will be trying this out as soon as I get home from work tonight. Madmatt

In all my years of playing the various iterations of OFP and Arma, this is hands down my favorite mod. I have had endless fun just making up A-10 strafing run missions and sitting back and watching those gorgeous pillars of smoke fill up the sky. I know, I need a new hobby. :) Anyway, just starting to get my feet wet with Arma 3 and while that game boosts some impressive new effects and graphics (including smoke affected by rotor wash) the smoke from burning vehicles and buildings is a little anemic. Any chance this mod could be made to work in Arma 3? I suppose I could pop it in as-is and see what happens but somehow I don't think it would be that easy. Thanks for any advice on converting this mod and to JTD specifically, my thanks for making an amazing mod that has, for me at least, truly been a classic. Madmatt

Yeah, that's actually a good point as I am noticing that its FAR harder to play the campaign with mods installed then without. Obviously some of that is due to the new tougher AI schemes and that's fine but it has resulted in some odd outcomes as well. Okay, it's not a big deal to disable mods for the campaign but I would still like to see the ability to bring up the GL3 config panel at will as opposed to the current implementation which has it appear every time a mission is loaded. Madmatt

Hey guys, I think I found another small bug with GL3. It occurs when playing some of the stock campaigns. As you know, as you play though the campaign missions you are presented with the Overview map that allows you to choose your next mission. What happens is that GL3 interprets the loading of that overview screen as a mission load and throws up its opening configuration panel. Before you can click the GL3 START MISSION button, the game itself returns to the mission overview screen and even though you can pick your next campaign mission you wan't to play, you can't ever start it because the GL3 config panel is still running in the background (you can see it if you click the Escape button). I also noticed that if you escape out of the Campaign Mission Overview, then click on the GL3 panel's Start Mission link, you are then brought into some sort of default mission (looks like it uses the training map). What I did to get around this is SAVE at that point, and then reload the mission and this allows me to actually begin the mission itself. Kind of a pain in the butt to have to do this and of course not at all obvious. So, it looks like that GL3 config panel is messing up things with the campaign. This leads me to my next question/comment. Would it be possible to make that GL3 config panel be accessible from the PAUSE menu (like ECS's config settings are)? I like the ability to choose my GL3 settings from inside the game but once I click on the Start Mission button I see no way to bring that panel back up. Its also a bit annoying to have to click that button EVERY time i play a new mission. Having the option to bring it up at will while playing instead of forcing it to appear at the mission beginning would seem to fix both the problem with the campaigns as well as give it some much functionality. Thanks! Madmatt

Hello everyone! Hi everyone! Over the past week or so I have gotten back into ARMA and have been amazed at all the incredible mods now available. I am running ACE as my primary mod, along with the HiFi sound set and that works fine. I also really like some of the AI enhancements included in ECS (along with the ambient sounds) but I am curious about the two separate wounding/bleeding systems. It now seems as if when I get wounded the two systems seem to overlap on one another. The ECS system will usually allow me to perform First Aid and stop the bleeding but sometimes it seems as if the ACE system superceeds and my guy will still succumb to shock or pain. It *seems* as if they work in tandem with each other, but I am not sure this is how it supposed to work. Are many people running ECS and ACE together anymore? I used the Mod guide posted on this forum and both systems are initializing and seem to be fine, but I wanted to see if anyone had another experience with these mods running aside each other. Now, to muddle things up a little more I am interested in adding the GL3 1.4 mod as well. Again, it looks as if there is some feature overlap and I was looking for possible guidance with anyone running a similar config. One last question, the documentation for many of the mods really seem to assume a lot of familarity with the games scripting and editing and its never really clear if when I play the stock missions or campaigns if I will I get all the moded AI effects. I certainly see graphic and sound differences (and the wounding system and UI changes), but it's hard to really determine if the enemy AI is really acting much different in those older missions. Do i need to somehow update them to support the mods that add new AI behavior or are these mods basically plug-play? I know I am asking a lot but I am really enjoying AMRA all over again (and excited about ARMA 2) and was hoping for some guidance from those that have been doing the mod shuffle for years. Thanks! Madmatt

Yeah, sorry about that. If it makes it any easier, you could refer to me as "Madmatt from Battlefront" maybe? Actually I am glad you posted here as I have a question about your JTD Smoke Effects Mod. When run all by itself, I notice the new smoke effects and grenade explosion and the added HIDE functionality, however when I combine JTD with any other mods (like ACE+ECS), I seem to loose the new grenade smoke graphic effects but the HIDE command is still there. How can I retain the smoke graphics when run with other mods? Is the load order important? I have tried disabling various features in ECS but it seems that when JTD runs alongside any other mod, the other mods enhanced effects take priority. I am running the new XEH extenders although I wasn't really positive on how to load them. I have included them both in their own unique mod folder (and called it in my -Mod" string as well as embed them into JTD's own Addon folder. I notice that there are a variety of different XEH entenders floating around though. I think i have the latest, which is 1.93 but are there customized extenders meant for specific mods? Madmatt

Hi there Maddmatt! Well, I have been known as "Madmatt" for well over 20 years. Although I am new to this community, I am much more well known for my work in the gaming industry with Battlefront.com and games like Combat Mission and Theatre of War (among dozens of other games published over the last decade or so...). I try and keep a low profile when I post on other forums, but I am first and foremost a gamer and when I find a sim that grabs my attention, I do what I can to promote and enjoy it, regardless of who makes it! Madmatt

I actually noticed the weird numbering of those sections but wasn't sure if it was supposed to be that way or not. I made the edits and the Camp feature is now disabled. Thanks for your help! Madmatt

Okay, looks like I got ACE+ECS+GL3 all working very well now but I have noticed one little thing with GL3 (v1.4). For some reason, even though its disabled in the GL3_Local.sqf file, the CAMP option continues to appear on my HUD and I can still seem to build camps. Here is how I configured the sqf file: GL3_Local set [24, False]; Any idea why that function can't seem to be disabled? By the way, i have been testing this mod cocktail of mine with the original Sanitizing Operation Mission and it plays so much differently now. Most times the A.I. calls back the Mi-17 that passes overhead at the beginning of the mission (I assume it was put in for ambiance originally) and it lands, the pilot gets out and begins to engage as well. I did increase the threshold values for the AI to call in support but apparently they are still getting a little skittish and seem to call that bird back almost every time. Either way, firefights seem much more interesting now. I just hope someone can help me out with the CREATE CAMP issue as I really don't like that feature and was hoping I could remove it as the docs seemed to indicate. Thanks! Madmatt

Hi everyone! Over the past week or so I have gotten back into ARMA and have been amazed at all the incredible mods now available. With a lot of work I have been able to get ECS working in tandem with ACE along with the latest HiFi sound mod. I experimented a little with GL3 (v1.3) and now that 1.4 is out I would like to know if it will work okay with ECS? I know that it's stated that is compatible with ACE, but what about ECS? I was also looking at implementing the JTD Smoke mod as well, will I have any problems with that? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! Madmatt