mr. bravo

It is finally time for us to start showing off what we're working on for the upcoming Arma3. Although things didn't go quite as planned with our previous version in Arma2, this time we have the advantage of working on things before the game is fully released. So first off I'd like to thank BIS for giving us all the opportunity to play and work with the Alpha, while also supporting the modding-community in this early stage with various tools and tips! So for Arma3 we're conveniently jumping up to version 3, which marks another big change in our content as a project. We have decided not to make this a simple port from Arma2, but instead just picking a few things that we're especially pleased with to convert for Arma3. Base demand here is that our content fits the splendid aesthetics of Arma3 as well as possible. And more than that, we want the functionality and detail of VBS, which is a big reason to why we're attempting to create a lot of content on our own. For anyone who doesn't know Swedish Army Mod from before, well, the name speaks for itself :P Here's our previous release-thread for Arma2, and a list of what we accomplished. Official members of the team; Tobe aka Mr. Bravo - Project leader, 3d-artist, texturer, character rigging. Stiltman - Coder, implementor, animator. Nordin - Coder, scripter, implementor, animator. Zsalheden - 3d-artist, texturer. Matte54 - Webmaster, 3d-renderer. Anyways, I will keep this introduction short for now. We're kicking off our news by introducing something new, along with a wall of text and lots of highres pictures, at least once every second week. Hopefully more often. It's kind of a dev-blog, where we can talk a lot more about what we're doing and why. A lot funnier to make and read than just posting random renders/screenshots ;) Minor updates will then follow presented content to keep you up-to-date with the progress. The full dev-blogs and highres pictures are posted on our own forums over at www.samstudios.se and will not be posted anywhere else because of various forum restrictions and more work for us. Eventhough we use a Swedish domain, all our news are still written in english. That's also where you'll find the latest news about the mod, but we'll try to keep this thread updated as well. So, our first piece of news for SAM3 is about RG32M "Galten". This is a lowpoly model that has been shown around here before, but in a much earlier stage. Now it's been revived, reworked, and has reached the stage of uv-mapping. If you're interested, here is a link to the full post with info and renders in 1920x1080. I you're not so interested, then here are are a few downscaled renders as a taste;

1. Not worked on atm. 2. Might do some fictional reskin at some point, but not worked on atm as priority is all put on our own content. 3. Is planned for more backpacks soon. 4. Half-done, but put on ice until some other things are done first. 5. Is almost half-done, will be added to RG32 when base-model is more completed. 6. Was half-done at some point, but original author is gone now so it has to be remade. Not sure when, but is on our todo-list along with Mono12 nightvision. 7. Will be fixed for next release. 8. Is ingame and contributed by PuFu, but we currently don't have permission to release it through Workshop, so we'll see how that is solved. 9. KSP88 (M2) is partly finished and is being implemented for RG32 atm, hoping to have it done for next release. GRK M/41 is half-done but will likely not make it for next release. GRSP 40mm is planned but not worked on yet, same for static weapons/variants in general. Our focus for the next release is fixes, updated content, optimizations, popular requests, and adding a lot of new content that for whatever reason has been half-finished for a long time. So you might wonder why some minor stuff gets added while more cool stuff are put on ice, and that is simply because we're cleaning out our library of wip-content, starting off with the quick stuff. RG32 is also obviously a big focus right now, but will still be in a "beta"-stage with some stuff missing and no proper pilot-lods. We have big plans for this baby, so there's a lot of pieces that needs to fit together. As for deadline, we don't do that anymore. It's done when it's done, which is impossible for us to estimate due to variating amounts of sparetime, motivation, the occasional large patches from BIS that often require more changes and testing of our content to work properly, and of course ensuring compatibility with a number of other popular mods. But we're getting there! We've promised to share more progress again soon though, and should start with that later this week. It's mainly done on our Facebook-page nowadays, as our own site and server is down due to some technical issues and low activity.

Beautiful! Finally a proper archipelago for boats to be of use :D And that jungle looked a lot thicker than I expected. Personally I think this will be very refreshing to the series. And of course, DX12, brilliant! Looking much forward to further news about the content that we can expect.

Internally, yes. But all depends on how much time we find to work on things, so it tends to change a lot, and therefore we don't share it officially anymore in order to avoid disappointing people. I can however say that our next patch (0.1.1) won't have any new content, just fixes, polish and further support for other popular mods like ACE and Alive, just to ensure that our base is solid and that we don't leave anything half-finished. Following that one however should be 0.2.0, which will have quite some new content. Can't say exactly what yet, but your request of a rail on the MG3 is noted ;) That's how things look right now anyway. Fingers crossed for a rainy Swedish summer :p

Thanks! I believe that the rules here only allow english to be spoken in public threads/discussions, so let's not upset the moderators :) The fuze-functionality on our CG does not require any module and worked perfectly fine in multiplayer when we released it. We did however experience problems with it during our latest OP last week, as in the fuze-functionality not showing up in the scroll-menu at all. We haven't had time to investigate this further yet, but it might be because of incompatibility with ACE3 or the latest version of CBA, which seems to have caused problems for other mods as well. What mods are you using along with SAM, CBA and ASDG Joint Rails? And what versions? Anyways, hopefully we'll have time to take a closer look at this later this week, and should have a better answer about it by then :) Also, while I'm posting here I could just as well throw in some WIP from our facebook-page, showing off some highpoly assets and a first look at our RG32M ingame. Click links for full resolution! https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5066808/Screenshots/samface.jpg https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5066808/Screenshots/galtsneak.jpg

Well I'm not making any promises about it :P The reason to why we have KSP94/MG3 in Sweden is because they are mounted on our tanks (Leo2), and as far as I've heard it's just the crew of those vehicles that are trained to use that gun on foot in case they would have to dismount with one, and probably to increase their understanding of it in general. So this gun is actually meant to complete the Strv122/Leo2 that Zsalheden is working on. Anyways, such guns always have an assistant to carry ammunition, barrels and act as a spotter. You don't see much as a gunner because of all the smoke anyway, so the assistant is indeed very important to be effective. Even our KSP58b/M240 was only recently modified with a rail (KSP58b2), likely because of demands from our forces in Afghanistan, but doesn't seem to be that common back home yet. But we'll see. I understand it's a problem to be dependent on an assistant in Arma for people playing alone or in small groups, so we might do an exception. We've been pretty spoiled with rails and accessories in Arma3 though :P Personally I've grown pretty tired of all that tacticool-stuff and have started to enjoy the good old iron-sights again hehe.

Thank you everyone and especially Armaholic and SIX for hosting! Thanks! There are special units available, currently mostly just defined with some more accessories and Helmet 100. More proper variants of soldiers will be coming when we have new proper models for it, as these are just placeholders. Swedish Army Mod has been around since 2010 actually, back in Arma2. This is just the first official version for Arma3 :) I assume the other project you are thinking of is SFP. Some of us have been working on that project in the past, but we decided to do our own thing (For various reasons I'm not going to bring up here again). Sweden don't have rails on their KSP94/MG3 as far as we know, and it's actually rarely used on foot. So it will not be part of this mod. It's completely up to Zsalheden who made the model if it could be released as standalone. Just a note however, it should work to just use the sam_core.pbo and sam_ksp94.pbo of our mod, if you don't want the rest ;) Same goes for most other weapon-systems as well. It's supposed to work like that anyway, but I don't believe it's been tested for a while, so I'm not making any promises. RG32M is in the workings and will be one of the first vehicles we'll release. Impossible to say when though, but it will be there soon enough :)

Hey guys, I have a question for BIS, and would also like to hear what others think about it as well. Seeing the Addon-category finally open on the MANW-site, it kind of feels like the real kick-off in this category is right now. Sure we've still had like 6 months to work on our projects, and the ability to post it here on the forums instead of the site. But somehow this forum is not the same thing, and the lack of a proper MANW-presentation (Or updates about when it would be possible), visible competition, and "supporters", has been quite hurting on the morale these last couple of months (Activity on various projects/teams). It is after all quite a lot of peoples spare time that goes into this kind of work, which in the long run cant be justified just with a prize that may or may not be won at the end of the year. The real driving factor, and a huge part of the fun, is presenting/following the progress of developing, fighting the competition, getting feedback, and seeing that supporter-counter ticking more and more as you post more updates and put more time into your project. That's the experience many of us really want and expected much earlier, which we can see in the other categories that have been open for some time now. And I'm not saying this because that's just how I feel, but because it has been discussed quite a bit outside of this forum amongst a number of modders lately that are or have been planning on participating in this category. I'm just throwing out the question here! So to the point, what I keep hearing, and what I personally wonder as well, is if the deadline for at least the Addon category could possibly be pushed another month or two? (November/December). This partly due to the late possibility to present your project on the MANW-site (2 months later than expected), but also for the sake of having a proper and exciting competition that we can all enjoy as much as we've enjoyed the progress seen in other categories so far. I believe that this would make the contest in this category a lot more fun for everyone, and hopefully much more of an experience rather than just a hunt for the ultimate prize. It would also give new participants a greater possibility to finish their projects in time, giving others the chance to catch up from after their vacations, and in the end just more for the mod-community. Because let's be honest, the PR for this contest hasn't been very active since the announcement, which is just crazy considering the prizes :p I expected more on that part. Presentation is apparently part of what the judges will look at in the end as well, so that makes this even more important to get right. Throw in your thoughts on the subject, if this sounds fair or not. A word or two from BIS would be much appreciated. I can't say that I expect the deadline to change, but one has to at least ask, right? :) Also, an exact date would be much appreciated to know sooner rather than later. Because I know at least I will have to take a couple of days off from work for final touches on things before packing it up and sending it in! Can't do that within less than a month, and that's probably not just me. Cheers!

I don't understand what you mean by me not being able to have a conversation that doesn't go my way? Where did that come from? I've just been answering questions, and trying to correct any misunderstandings. The thread was supposed to be about peoples thoughts around a slightly pushed deadline for the sake of having a better contest, not criticizing me personally or whatever intentions you might think I have. I don't know if you're just trolling me or if my english just isn't good enough for you to understand what I mean. 1. I believe I have. If you don't agree with it, that's totally fine. You can just say so instead of butchering every word I say which really isn't necessary. 2. Well who knows? Why not worth asking? I rather give it a shot than making assumptions like that. It wasn't exactly a demand, but just a simple question. This place is so damn angry though, I don't even know why I keep coming back here sometimes. I thought you were one of the few good guys around here, but apparently you cant keep a mature discussion even if you say you want one yourself anymore. I'm not saying you have to agree with what I'm saying, but you really don't have to end every answer with an offending attitude, as if you're trying to impress someone. You certainly haven't tried to reply in a "mature and decent manner" at all. Anyways, I'm not answering any more personal criticism here since it is off topic, and I'm not explaining the topic again as I really don't know how I could do that in any other way. Feel free to keep posting what you think about it though, whether you agree or not and/or why, and some official word from BIS would still be nice as well since they have been good at answering other threads around here :)

Well, everything else about the contest so far have been delayed :p Why they would even start/announce the contest before they even have a fully working site for it, the possibility to sign up, and working Steam Workshop support for the game beats me. If it was to look professional in that sense then the whole thing should've been pushed at least 6 months before the announcement to begin with. And again, I'm not really asking for a pushed deadline because some projects might need more time for development, but for the sake of having a more fun contest, and being able to use the tools provided by BIS for presenting our projects as intended. Because according to the information available on the site, they are partly judging projects on their presentation, which at least I interpret as the presentation we create on either the MANW-site or Steam Workshop. Ultimately a fun way for us to use the various flashy tools BIS has provided for A3 where we can create professionally looking videos and screenshots, or whatever. And also, of course, a way for the community to follow and support the various projects that choose not to develop in the dark. Well, first of all, the presentation I put quite some time on doing for the site back in May (When the Addon category was supposed to open) wouldn't have been a waste of time and effort, which I now will have to sacrifice a few more days of sparetime on creating again instead of working on things I originally planned for. But I'm not really talking about advantages/disadvantages here, but still about presentation, communication and just the ability use the tools that were intended to be used for the contest. And yes, we have always had the possibility to simply create a thread here on the forum instead, but as I mentioned it is not quite the same thing due to the functionality and spotlight that the site offers. The forum would however of course still be a good complement to the original presentation. Not sure how I could say it any more clearer. But okay, I guess there are some people around that aren't affected by hype, but not anyone I know about though :p I guess you could compare it to ups and downs in your workflow. When things are going good, you're on fire and just tends to work nonstop until your eyes bleed, which often leads to faster progress than anticipated/planned. When things go bad, you might get hung up on details or having to take a break to clear your mind, or whatever, which ultimately tends to slow down your project. Or, maybe you're not affected by that either? :p In practically all projects I've been working on this is kind of how external hype affects my project as well. It's those moments when you might think; "I should go to work now, but ah screw it, I'll just sit here and put another half hour into this and then take the car instead", or "I should go visit my grandmothers birthday today, but ah screw it, I'll sit here and put a few more hours into this and congratulate her on the phone instead with some coughing and snoring sounds". That's progress you're not really planning for, but which hype can lead to, for some people at least. I don't know if I understand that question right. The site is where the competition takes place, where we fight for spotlight and supporters, and where we link early releases if we want. That's a huge part of the fun in the contest for many, and usually how it is done in other contests, and also the whole point of the site obviously. But sure, if you don't enjoy that part you can stay silent if you want, and just focus on the prize instead of what's happening around you. See answer above. We dont even know the exact date yet man (Unless I've missed something). If one has planned his 9 months of development to be done on the 1st of October, would it be absurd and shocking if the deadline turned out to be on the 31st? :p Well then you would be a very sensitive person, and probably a bit crazy for having such a crazy plan to begin with. Planning and workflow rarely goes as intended, especially not over such a long time. More ideas will pop up, you will learn more tricks and techniques, BIS opens more possibilities with the game and releases more/better tools, you realize/find unexpected engine limitations, etc. I can't imagine that anyones project is still the exact same on paper as it was 7 months ago, and in the end this often leads to various compromises in order to still meet the deadline. I really doubt anyone would complain about another month or two, even if they have something more or less finished to send in on October the 1st. More like a bad call by me to trust an expected date from BIS. I was probably a bit too enthusiastic about the news at that time and wanted to be amongst the first presented projects in the Addon-category on the site. Lesson learned. And about the hype, I believe I've already answered that. It seems like we're not in this for all the same reasons. It's kind of like I prefer to enjoy the football-game while you're satisfied enough by checking the end scores on your phone, if you know what I mean :cheers: But don't get me wrong, I still respect that. To bring a good example to the thread, I recommend you to check out the -contest that recently ended for the upcoming game Star Citizen. That's a great example of how to involve everyone and keep it interesting for months. Still not exactly what I expected in this contest though, but just an example. That's a pretty good reason too actually, but still not the kind of reason to why I'm asking for a new deadline here (I'm not explaining this again). If the site doesn't mean anything to you, then fine, good luck and have fun. But it is still there for a reason, and considering its existence and various other announcements and adding by BIS lately, I believe their intentions was most definitely to have something of a public competition/race/whatever. The whole thing was probably just announced way too early before everything was in place and available. Otherwise the site would indeed be pointless, and the contest would be the most boring one ever. The reason to why I haven't presented my project yet, is because it hasn't been properly possible until last week. And last weeks opening of the Addon Category was completely unexpected, to my knowledge at least, so there isn't much of an up-to-date presentation prepared, and I've been unable to work on this until tomorrow. And I know I'm not alone in this matter. I haven't been working in secrecy though, as I've shared some progress (title-less) on various social sites, but not this one (For reasons I'd rather not bring up in this thread). TLDR; Shame on you! Read it, or read my first post again, because this thread doesn't need more off topic. I am NOT saying the deadline should be pushed because I or anyone else need more time to work on our projects. It's about giving the Addon category a chance of becoming a better and more exiting contest/experience due to the late possibility of creating presentations on the MANW-site.

e Exactly the kind of response I expected to pop up here sooner or later, and probably the reason why more people doesn't even dare to join the discussion :raisebrow: (You know who you are) You didn't understand what I said though. I'm not really complaining about anything, I'm just politely asking if there's any chance that BIS might consider extending the Addon deadline in order to have a more interesting competition on the MANW-site, and what other participants think of it. Something of a compensation for the 2 month delay on their site, which is a pretty big part of the contest. But you're criticizing me and my project that I really haven't spoken a word of? That's off topic and unnecessary. What I meant with "low morale" was that even if work has been done ever since last christmas, it hasn't been as fun as expected due to us not being able to use the site until now, not necessarily referring to lazyness and not getting anything done at all (Which of course might still be the case for some). Of course this affects you and your mates performance even if you're working on the project every day. If you're hyped about it you naturally work much more efficiently. But sure you can be all serious-faced about how you think it is all about the money, but I don't agree with that. I like a good competition, even if I don't win anything. I see this in the other categories, which makes me a bit jelous since there is still 0 entries in the Addon category. I'm afraid that we might not have enough time to reach that level of competitiveness with the current deadline. And as I mentioned, I know I'm not the only one thinking this, which is why I felt that this thread had to be created. Also, I don't believe that a later deadline would screw anyone that started working on their projects early. I'd rather consider it a bonus to be able to spend some extra time on fine-tuning and a bigger presentation for more hype. Personally I actually spent days on content for a flashy presentation back in May, but since the site didn't open until now (Without notice) it is all now outdated and a complete waste of time. I'm not mad about it though, but I still have to find the time to re-do this again, hopefully later this week Oh the work I could've done with my models and textures during that time instead! :p

Those god damn birds do tend to sound very constant just like that, especially out in the fields and forests where it's demonstrated in the video. As much as I hate trying to sleep to this IRL every morning (I work nights :p ), it's still a very cool ambient sound to hear on an island like this in Arma. Any scandinavian should feel right as home :D It blends perfectly with the sound outside of my window right now. But then I guess it's also a question of whether it's a bit overwhelming or distracting in a game compared to reality. We'll see! Would be nice to hear it at normal speed as well later on.

Once again, awesome progress! Not sure if I missed it in your comments in the videos, but are you planning to add any custom buildings to match the environment as well? Or is the current mixture of Chernarus/Altis-buildings to stay?

Splendid!

Wooh, Bornholm, it's finally coming to Arma :D I've been waiting for someone to attempt this for a long time! God damn tease video, but oh well we'll get to see more whenever it is ready for it I suppose :) Keep it up!

Cool to see this still going :D T3-style missions in A3 would be so damn awesome. Hope to see it released some day!

Very nice as usual. Looking much forward to Gripen :D

Great news! Love your work :)

Lovely work you're doing here man :D These vehicles are a must have for bigger operations. Keep it up!

Love your dedication in this project LJ! It really makes a completely new game :D Will test the crap out of this next week, but I see you're already getting busy with patches. Much appreciated work anyway!

That's a completely new model :) All of our vehicles are being made from scratch, otherwise they wont be able to function as we want them to ingame. They are a bit more complex than usual Arma vehicle models, which is one of the reasons to why they take more time to make. But I'm afraid I have to say that things will change a bit for this project though, mainly due to us planning on participating in the "Make Arma Not War" contest next year instead. SAM will not be our contribution, but something alike that we own completely. We're still discussing and planning about this though, so more information about what the hell we're up to will be presented within a month or two :)

Very cool! Scandinavian environments are always great to see :D Bornholm later on is just too awesome to even imagine.

Sounds great! Especially the part about also upgrading the assets to A3-ish standards, so it's not just a port. That's a lot of work, but should definitely be worth it in the end :) All the luck to you guys!

Sure you can add any mod you want to use into one and same @/userconfig-folders for easier use, and pack it to a single file and host it for your buds. That's how most clans/groups do it since forever. Just be careful not to host it like this publicly since some authors wont approve that. Private use only. Personally I don't use PW6 as I think it just makes it all more of a hassle than simple manual download, especially when you have to keep track of matching versions of mods and trashfiles. I recommend the old fashioned way for full control.

Because there is no such desire. SFP is more of an open community project for anyone interested to join in, while SAM is being made by a more or less closed team with our own goals and demands regarding content quality and functionality. The only thing we have in common is "Swedish stuff", but other than that we are completely different projects for different players.