BCA Cat Toaster

Of course people have different thoughts about "realism". Advance and Secure is just a game-mode. If you want to play without respawn, you can do that, the options are there. But obviously there is no real interest doing it. Another thing I noticed is, that many people are still under the impression of their AAS-Experience in ArmA they had in 2008 and 2009. Beta and Alpha-Stuff. They simply ignore one or even two years of development and over 400 revision changes since the last eight months. There are more than 100 different missions today offering all type of variety one could think of and one third of them are pure infantry fun. Of course I can understand that people don´t like it. I don´t like any other existing game-mode in ArmA2 than AAS. That´s not the point. No matter which MP-Mode, to be successful certain standards are required some people need to agree with. In ArmA2, if one doesn´t like something he simply changes it and goes on its own. At the end the community has more different game-modes than players. Another thing is accessibility. I´m not an OFP-Veteran. The whole Addon-System is a complete pain coming from another century. There are so many great Addons (and even more completely useless...) but to use them in MP is almost impossible. Authors use the same key for all different versions of an Addon and even for different one. A Server can host Island X V 4.2 and players using four different earliers version can join and see all different things. What´s that? 2010, Anyone? Is one really wondering why people prefer paying five bucks for two new Maps in CoD9 before they even consider getting a free ArmA-Addon working after trying half an hour and nothing works? I am not! I´m not saying that YAST and Six-Updater aren´t great Tools but they are REALLY far from being simple solutions used by normal players. That´s not a problem specific for one game-mode or one area. And I just want normal players. They should start the game, hop on our servers and enjoy playing if that´s what they want. Can´t we even agree on that single point as the Community? Without the need to spent hours and hours to get addional Tools and Addons runnning. I´m not saying that ArmA2 should be turned into that casual crap like CoD and Betafield but the one thing it should adopt is the accessability for people that just want to play! That´s why we decided to take the best Addon-Content worth it, resign it for consistency and provide it with a simple installer one can use who never played a BI-Title ever before. I believe that´s the only way to increase player numbers. Improve Accessability, Usability and establish Standards. Well, or business as usual, every two people playing their own game-mode. But that´s none of my business. Either you´re with us or against us one US-Diplomat once said. ;-)

Maybe it´s because Australians don´t know that AAS even exists? http://ausarma.org/ Someone should tell them!

Initial Post updated: "AAS-Advance and Secure" Addon-Package V1.1 Today I´m a little bit proud to say that using certain Addons for ArmA2 especially in combination with the Advance and Secure game-mode has never been easier as with this release of version 1.1. Of course the Community has to agree yet and I´m looking forward to the feedback we´ll hopefully receive. The AAS-Advance and Secure Addon-Package V1.1 contains for the first time all Missions, Addons and Keys that are needed to play/host AAS today in one simple to use Installation package supporting numerous languages: Contents: - LittleBirds 2.2 by Cyborg11 - Panthera 2.61 by IceBreakr - Isla Duala 1.6 by IceBreakr - Community Base Addons 0.4.0 by Sickboy, Dr_Eyeball, killswitch - Namalsk 1.02 by Sumrak - Quesh Kibrul 2.0 by floosy - Everon 2.9b by SgtAce - More than 100 Missions Other Changes: - New Feature using 3rd Person-View on vehicles only - New Feature makes it possible to use Aircraft-Carrier as Base or Objective - New AI-Features (Aircraft Collision Avoidance System and AI Throwing Smoke by Victor Farbau) - New Missions (more than 20) utilizing the Worlds Quesh Kibrul, Namalsk and Everon - New AAS-Server-Key will change in every new version to ensure consistency in MP-Environments - Several Bugfixes Download Mirrors: Mirror #1 AAS-Addon-Packager 1.1 Installer (855MB) - woofiles.com Mirror #2 AAS-Addon-Packager 1.1 Installer (855MB) - basecamp-allstars.de Mirror #3 AAS-Addon-Packager 1.1 Installer (855MB) - advanceandsecure.com Mirror #4 AAS-Addon-Packager 1.1 Installer (855MB) - slingfile.com Step-by-Step Installation Guide Let us know what you´re thinking!

I guess the biggest problem is the lack of Players in ArmA2 and what it is worth having a Bazillion great Addons that no one plays? It seems all these Addons are part of the problem turning players off. Last weekend I was on an event that uses the great Panthera-Addon by Icebreakr. About 40 Players, having FOUR different versions of the same Addon running (2.31, 2.5, 2.6 and 2.61 that was released just that day) on the Clients while the Server was running on 2.6. That was a real mess with people spawning in water, running below the ground from other perspectives just because all these different versions are signed with the same server key so this could happen. The usability of this game, especially if it comes to - no doubt awesome - Addons is a drama not to mention how to install and make them running in MP-Environments. Even if there are great and mighty tools, there are still way to complex for the average user. So I guess we´ll have to limit ourselves here on using the whole one bazillion Addons available by just picking a few ones that are really worth it and that get used by the AAS-Missions, at least for Server-Side Addons. Those Addons will be re-packed and re-signed with every further release of the AAS-Addon-Package to avoid situations described above in the future.

no, not yet. AAS-ProMode will do and as Project Reality is coming to ArmA2 as well we´ve yet to see what that brings. We are currently working on providing an easy access to AAS and ArmA2 for players that are completely new to this game and ACE2 does not fit in that concept yet, with all the ongoing changes and progress that is being made. For now we need a more static environment that does not change once a week to reach that: 1. Easy Access to get AAS up and running 2. Easy Access to the AAS-game-mode itself 3. Easy Mission-Design with no scripting knowledge required 4. Updates released every two or three months, that adds new Worlds and Missions. Our soon to be released AAS-Installer will be a major step in that direction.

While preparing AAS V1.1 we formed up the "AAS-Network" with our partners during the last few weeks and started a new Website and Forums at www.advanceandsecure.com covering all the latest changes and activities like the start of the AGW-Tournament this weekend or the Clanbase-AAS-League and a lot of facts and help as well. If you´re interested in AAS, this is the place to check out!

Honestly this is the only and first place I see people complaining about grass. It´s not really an AAS issue by the way, its the Hosts decision. Not even Tournaments like AGW and their members have problems with grass after two complete seasons. Personally I´ve no problem with grass, as it works the same for everyone, so I can´t see what the problem is. If it works the same for all players I can deal with it, I try to hide myself behind real objects like trees, rocks, wreckages and not in the plain grass areas. Without the clutter ArmA2 looks like crap. I never thougt a second that removing grass would be an option for me, it´s not and never. ´ I really wonder how much energy some people can waste on a topic like "grass". Maybe some should start smoking it to get a bit more relaxed. ;-)

Nice job!

Here´s the latest description about Rulesets. AI-Support gets disabled with the ninth player joining, but that can be set to four or six as well. There´s no restriction about who can use a certain vehicle.

I think, the biggest problem of Arma2 is its biggest strength at the same time: You can modify everything! Because of that, every single player in the world thinks that "this is good, BUT I want to change it here and there to suit my personal needs, otherwise I´m not gonna play it" and that´s what people do all the time. This leads to total inconsistency in ArmA2-MP-Gaming everywhere. I´ll just take AAS as an example because its a good one I´m familiar with but I´m sure that works with other modes as well: 1. 80% of all ArmA2-Interested PvP-Players don´t even know that the AAS-Mode even exists. 2. Those who know have to make their choice if they want to play "AAS-Core", which already offers five different Rulesets for different gaming-needs to choose from. Than we have "PvPScene-AAS" which is way more feature-packed to the maximum but only supports up to 20 players and there´s a SBS-Mac-Script-Pack-AAS. And I know of even more missions not based on these three mentioned bases that call themselves AAS... all these have different key-controls, different HUDs, different features, different game-mechanics...how attractive is that as a first impression for a normal player who does not even know that there are several different AAS-Implementations? Who is interestend in trying them all before making a choice? 3. 10% are saying "it must be p0rn-hardcore-realistic ACE2-PR-Stuff, otherwise I´m not touching it" 4. The lack of an game-integrated Mod-Distribution-System or just a better informational system. People just get cryptic messages that they can´t join a server because they don´t have a required Addon installed and never come back. They need to find a website and the desired addon, they need to know how to install it or what Yoma is and how that works and so on... Is it possible that Server-side-required Addons contain a XML-File that describes where to get an Addon if a player joins? I know that people who play since the OFP-Days don´t see that as a problem, but please wake up. 11 years passed and that system has not seen any major improvements in all that time? I can´t change it, I´m a part of it. But do I really have to wonder why people don´t want to play "my favorite mode" under these circumstandes? No, of course not! Choice is good, too much choice leads to confusion. ArmA2 is total confusion even for average players. You can spent hours in ArmA2 without playing a minute just learning which Mods and Addons are out there (and that´s part of the fun in ArmA2!). I love ArmA2 and I hate it at the same time because it misses a lot of potential players out there, who want to click on a server, join and play without the need to know what "Yoma" is and how all this stuff works behind the scenes. That could improve sales without the need to make it "battlefieldish"!

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- Added more detailed information about the AAS-Game-Mode in the initial post - Added Class-Description in the initial post @Nuggetz Try the following Addons also, they work great with the AI-Mode: - Zeus -> http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=8250 - VFAI (makes AI taking equipment from dead mates/throws Smokes) -> http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=6844 - ASR Grenadier Fix for the AI -> http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=8618 All these work Server-Only as well and we´ve them running on our AAS#1 (so you can check it out without donwloading!) but you need to install them locally if you want play around with this alone.

These Panthera-Missions do (should) not require the Little-Bird Addons as far as I remember: - "The New World" - "Berkabut Valley" - "Panthera Capital" - "Black Rock Coast", - "Battle at Lake Bled" - "Liquid Delta" and some more... From the initial post here:

Awesome, just great! Latest AAS seems to work as well without any problems in a short test. Thanks IceBreakr, there will be one more AAS-Mission featuring the new area until next week for sure!

By default the AI is organized in 12 groups of 2 Units (24 Units each side) like on this screen: Only one group is really "marked" for defense. Another thing you can try is to increase the number of groups while you make them just one unit each group Of course, you´re right, that´s why I said try smaller maps where the distances between the objectives are just 100m. Reducing the AI-Numbers might also help, because on a small Map with 48 AI-Units it´s normal that they don´t get far.

I´ve seen the AI taking objectives several times but it depends a lot on the individual map layout. If the flags are inside buildings or hard to reach because there´s a lot of decorational stuff in its way, the AI has serious problems, confirmed. "Kill Hill" on Utes for example does not work good with AI. I suggest using smaller Chernarus-Maps for the AI-Mode that are more "open". Maybe try "Beachhead" or "Battle for Krasnostav", some I´ve tested with AI. Also you´ve to keep an eye on the following settings if you want to focus on AI-Gameplay: 1. What did you set up in your ArmAProfile (Server or Local-PC if you play local LAN-game)? This is what we are using: skillFriendly=1; skillEnemy=1; precisionFriendly=1; precisionEnemy=0.85; There´s also an "UltraAI" Switch, never tried that one. ;-) 2. AAS-AI-Integration is based on UPSMon, which is already a smart solution and it was extended with what was needed to make the AI play AAS. In addition you can run the "Zeus-Addon" (works server-only btw) which is running on our Server#1 as well. That makes the AI even smarter. If your PC is the Server because you want to play it locally in LAN you can use it as well. 3. What Ruleset do you use? Perhaps you should try "Classic", that requires being within 10m for the "takeover", while all other Rulesets require being within 5m in range of the flag (if "blinking"). So Classic makes it easier for the AI to get in range for capping. 4. Within the Mission-Parameters, you can enable "AI Aggressive Mode" to speed up the initial firefight and also the "AI Debug Mode". With that you can track the AI movement on the Map, so you get an idea what they are doing at least. So, yes, AI-Mode is a bit tricky at times and most Missions weren´t originally designed with AI in mind but if you play around with everything mentioned you should be able to find some challenging setups. However, "User-Controlled AI" isn´t planned yet. The Links should work again, the Forum-Database was down.

Thank you Dimitri again, you brought me to something I completely forgot about! Go and get this -> http://www.basecamp-allstars.de/ArmA2/AAS-Final-r526-Commented.7z It´s the fully commented un-pbo´ed version of AAS, that should help everyone understanding the code a lot better!

You´re welcome Dimitri! ;-) You´re free to do everything with the code. Here´s some additional info from CoolBox from the init.sqf: So if your choice is the "papier mache tree" please take a photo and post it here! :-)) Seriously, all I would ask for is that you use different version-information (in globalDefines) in case you´re touching the AAS-Core-Scripts dramatically (everything that´s not mission.sqm, initSAAS.sqf and mapname.hpp) and of course it would be great if you can inform us what great things are you doing. If you just want to add a new island, other vehicles and weapons without touching game-mechanics, you can leave it as it.

@Dimitri You´re right, it´s not posted here because it´s completely outdated and I had no time updating it yet. You caught me not making my homework completely. ;-) I´ll try give you an update here: With V1.0 the predefined Classes/Kits-Loadouts are identical in Public/Hardcore/BCA and with just slight changes in ArmA2.ru, they were way more different before. Arma2.ru features very slow healing speed compared with the others. In Classic everyone can revive, which makes the Medic obsolete and you can pick up every weapon on both sides if you do manual loadouts at the armory. Some kind of unlimited "Arcade-Style". All other Rulesets only offer side-specifig weaponry. BCA and Public are almost identical, just slightly reduced Heal-/Revive-/Cap-Range (5m instead of 10m) and proportional Capping-Speed enabled according to player numbers in BCA and disabled custom loadouts as we think the predefined Kits are good enough. Hardcore features also the lower heal-/Revive-/Cap-Ranges, addtional friendly tags are only shown up to 60m distance (up to 1000m in all other Rulesets) and the HUD is limited as well (no Minimap!). Spawn Protection only lasts 8s compared with 10s in the other Rulesets and Class-Change is set locked for 60s after making a change while the others have just 30s or no Class-Lock (Classic). The AGW-Ruleset was used in a Tournament in their Campaign 2 and is a bit special. You´ve to find out yourself. I suggest Public is the best to start with and based on this you can decide if you want it less restrictive (Classic) or just slightly more hardcoreness (BCA/ArmA2.ru) or maximum hardcoreness (Hardcore). @stk2008 Honestly I still don´t know what prevents AAS from working with ACE2, has one tried it once? I know CEAL had running an AAS Server with ACE2 and there was almost no activity. If there is so much public demand for AAS with ACE2 I don´t get why no one can tell us what the problem is. There are several AAS-PvP-Servers up, on ours AI gets automatically disabled as soon as there are more than eight human players on the server, which is the default-Setting for the AI-Enabled-Packages supplied in the Final-Release. I just want to say that - if AI is present on a Server - it does NOT mean it will be around all the time, it´s just meant to keep the players entertained while on low numbers until more players join. Playing 1vs1 for half an hour is not that funny. If a round starts with nine players you don´t see any AI at all. Thanks for your Feedback guys, keep posting your thoughts!

The "Issue" you´re talking about still is part of the fundamental AAS-Game-Concept but that got improved by bringing in its original Spawn-Delay. If there´s heavy fighting going on a player that gets shot in his "to defend objective" is out of the game for 20s if he I wants to join at the front again (cumulating "Spawn-Delay-" and "Spawn-Queue-Timers" each 10s). However this can be bypassed by using medics. In order to prevent your enemy from spawning in that objective you have to outnumber them in their own perimeter. This is possible without a single shot (but decreasing enemy numbers by shooting them helps a lot). That is essential, don´t expect any changes here in AAS-Core. It´s a major part of AAS that you get near and finally into a perimeter as a team without being seen until the very last moment being covered by a sniper or LAV/Tank/Air-Support. In case you still don´t like that, take a look at PvPScene-AAS mentioned in the initial post, that features a slightly different AAS and an additional Attack and Defend-Mode that might be closer to what you´re a looking for.

Updated the initial post: - Added latest Changes at "What to expect from 1.0" Section - Added latest release notes - Added addtional YouTube-Version of the AAS-Release-Trailer - Added License Terms - Added Download-Links for AAS 1.0 Complete-Package Well, that´s it. Have fun and Happy Easter!

Added a link that gives a complete tactical overview over the 69 AAS-Missions we´ll have in the final release. There´s also a final preview event tomorrow (Thursday) starting around 8pm CET at our regular BCA Gaming Night.

Hey IceBreakr, can´t wait. ;-) In case you need any help testing it feel free to PM me. With 21 AAS-Panthera-Missions today, a big Tournament (AGW) that wants to use them soon and AAS-Final being not far away as well I´ve all possible interest in a working Panthera-Release. :)

You can toggle thru AAS-HUD-Display-Modes by pressing CTRL+H while playing. At least you´ll see the objectives in the upper right while everything else is disabled. However most of the information makes sense and you get used to it. You can also increase/decrease the size of HUD-Elements within the grahpics-options for example. That video shows the "Full-AAS-HUD" in "Minimum-Size" (which is what I use) at 2:08 and "Normal-Size" (for improved visibility/readibility in that Video but way too big) at 0:37 for example. Kill- and Server-Messages are optional at Server-Side as well.

The official AAS-Release-Trailer: Stream from Vimeo Download 720p HQ-Version, WMV