JackandBlood

Haven't got a chance to try 1.05, what with all the goodness happening this holiday season, but I briefly read through the readme. So there are no new additions to the editor to make creating more complex single player missions easier? No unit loadout tool or briefing tool or some such? This is the mod communities' responsibility, not the people getting paid?

Nooooooooo... He was joking or or ummm... He is not to be considered an example of humanity! Give me the gun... thank you. All will be ok. :D I think I may have expressed this notion before, but it bears repeating. If they port to the 360 it'll be excellent for all parties. BIS will have to do some serious re-tooling of their engine for it to past mustard on that platform. And I believe those improvements and their new source of income from console sales will be applied to the PC version so that all will benefit. As for the PS3, well mutliplatforms are getting better and better on that platform. And Uncharted 2 was amazing, so I suspect despite the foreign architecture, Sony must have made great progress in their tool-kits for developers. It could happen.

This has probably been discussed, but i searched and found nothing. Who likes floating zone, who doesnt. If you like it, at what setting, etc.

Just wondering if its still Armaholic. Especially when it comes to custom single player scenarios/missions/campaigns, would like to know if they have a good screening process for quality. Also I'm a bit concerned about the lack of imported assets (small arms, vehicles, etc.) from Arma 1. I get the feeling that the mod community which practically carried BIS to make Arma 1 the amazingly comprehensive game it is today, is not so keen on having to redo their pro-bono work.

Thanks, i'm familiar with the structure of these message boards. I was thinking more along the lines of a resource for playtested and quality controlled content. Roger that Armaholic it is then. Any recommendations for a solid campaign? Mostly want squad level (no high command) infantry emphasis. Thanks.

bumpity

Theres a ton of useful or humorous effects in the trigger/waypoint area, many of them not labeled. Also there's some 30ish music tracks. Would be great to be able to play the sound from the trigger/waypoint menu to see what you can use for your mission.

Yes but also note that you must drop your own gear, otherwise the fantastic game mechanics will auto-sell whatever weapon in your slot

cocaine is a helluva drug

The fact that ARMA 2's editor is almost identical to ARMA 1's editor was intially seen (to me at least) as a good thing, I wouldn't have to learn anything new. But, as time went on it has become apparent that the lack of progress in the mission editor is not a good thing. It points to the notion that BIS is relying on the same UNPAID modding community to provide the basic tools for making a mission as in ARMA 1. Its says something very unsavory about what BIS' thinks of customers. That "we'll charge retail and make half a game then let the unpaid enthusiasts make the other half". The broken campaign, and BIS very PR guy making videos highlighting the editor, its obvious they want people to make their own game. That's fine, I love the notion of making my own missions, of the freedom that entails. But by NOW they should have provided the essential tools for doing such. (if you're emphasizing the consumer to make the game from your base content, at the very least you should provide adequate tools to do so.) Now down to brass tacks. I've listed some of the things I've read people want from the editor (and I've even narrowed it down to things that could to implemented in one simple patch. There should be nothing here of complexity that is unreasonable in the realm of one patch): 1. Mission briefings. Now in ARMA 2 Briefings have many more sub-sections (tasks, briefings, notes, situation, chat log, execution, etc.) than ARMA 1. BIS should NOT be relying on the guy behind ARMA Edit (God bless him) to go "Oh boy I get to do more coding pro-bono". BIS, Include a way to make proper briefings IN EDITOR. Don't have someone do your job for free. 2. Loadout. You already have the damn gear screen and all implemented. Give us a way to determine specific loadouts for ALL units (Player, Playable, non-player) in the editor. This is just common sense, your preset units are not cutting it. (Just cuz I got the DMR doesn't mean I don't want some AT ability) We need to be able to loadout our squad. Hell by now (3 iterations of the game) we should be able to loadout any unit, including giving storage to certain vehicles (say an empty APC placed for player usage). And such a simple act should NOT require the casual player to delve into scripting. 3. Sound. I've been preaching this in another thread. There's a ton of sound assets to be used, Even just the "Right on boys!" placed properly at an insertion trigger could add intensity to the mood (watch their own trailer). You NEED to label your sound assets at the VERY LEAST, or as I've suggested, allow them to be played from the editor. The music assets for this game are far superior to ARMA 1 (my favorites: Warpath, tracks 12-18, Organ Works, Indian Summer, Cold Winds, Manhattan) I wouldnt have known what to use without the mind numbing 30 waypoint mission i made just to sample the music. And I ain't making a 150 waypoint sound sampler... Note, i'm not asking for precision placement of units (eg placing snipers at hold positions at specific interior positions and such, even though by now that should be a feature), or anything ambitious at all. Nothing here points to a "new" 3D interface for editing. I'm asking for BIS to take responsibility, and stop leeching off the unpaid community for tools and assets. Tools selfless community members made for ARMA 1, should at the very least come stock with the next version. (Again 3rd iteration, countless patches and input from the community. Not to mention hard work by guys donating their time for free to make the ARMA series what it is now.) BIS get a clue and improve your editor, or please start paying the people who are writing the software that YOU KNOW is contributing to keeping your company and your product afloat. Honestly I'm finding it hard to get the motivation to make a solid, atmospheric and immersive SP mission for ARMA 2. Why should I? When ARMA 1 has all the tools, NONE made by the developer who gets paid, but by the community who does not. If you have anything to add to this list of things BIS should add to the mission editor go ahead. Remember though, who we're dealing with, so make your suggestions realistic... Excuse me "Should HAVE added to the mission editor and need to redeem themselves on..."

I'd imagine if VBS 2 truly simulates the infantry experience, most of your combat encounters may have you empty a few clips, maybe hit one enemy, then call in support (CAS, artillery, Spooky gunships at night) then pull out or occupy the support-destroyed positions. Very little opportunity to enjoy the gunplay and actually shoot people. Would get stale pretty quick.

Sounds like they were exacting torture on you "Keep him alive so I can hurt him more"

I think I watched a documentary on snipers on the History channel, as I remember it the Ghillie suit is only as good as how well the sniper is able to make it for that particular terrain that he will or anticipates will be operating from. So I agree with most of these suggestions. Ghillie suits in all flavors of ARMA 2's terrain, and a use function for Ghillied soldiers to take some time (i'd say 15 seconds) to change to the local flavor. Course it could be much simplier than that, ppl could simply be cheating. That's why I don't play adversary MP modes for games with questionable anti-cheat devices.

Well maybe not Osama, make up some of his high ranking generals. Would be a little odd for a player to take out Osama, then the afterparty, when IRL we dunno whats up with him. (could be alive and kicking, Could have been died of wounds, senior officials zip everyone's mouth). If you're going to put famous people put Soulja Boy, Usher, Jay-lo, those sorts. You know ppl you can stomach on occassion, but every one in awhile... POP.

"See what that man said over there? Bad PC Bad!"

well I wanted to consolidate suggestions into one thread, but only ones that could be realistically implemented in a short time span (well the time span of one patch). Kinda turned into a rant as I started to realize for ARMA 1 the tools I used for making briefings/individual unit loadouts/even a nice rudimentary 3D editor were all made by modders, not the developers. So all those patches for ARMA 1 (up to 1.16 now i think) were to fix problems, all the new content and tools that for me truly made the ARMA 1 experience were done free, no payment, by some truly charitable folks. Thats fine, BIS was just getting back in after Codemasters jumped, and I understand they are a small, niche based studio and product. But then ARMA 2 is released, and sure the graphics are better and that whole new clusterflick of a gamemode (Warfare+High Command), but they just left the editor as is, just a straight dump the same coding back in. I suspect the authors of ARMA 1 editing tools aren't so keen on going back to doing BIS' work for them again. And without those tools (from BIS or from the modders) the community as a whole suffers.

I like the soundtrack in this game too. As much as I like my own music selection, vocals tend to not go with this sort of game. The tracks in ARMA 2 are very good, but there are 30 of them and mission makers arent going to utilize them if they cant sample them first. Not to mention the guesstimated 200 unlabeled sound assets...

Spits.

Direct hit SMAW dual purpose on a tight groups enemy squad... it may have been orgasm...

I see. Probably the last thing i'll allowed to post here. Just gave a summary of my editor/whole franchise grievances. Constructive criticism with some anger and vodka, This should go well...

HAHA Yes! I was dumb-struck the first time I made a mission in which I was CO and I heard from some jackass AI private a very disrespectful "MOVE!" order. Incidentally a friend who has no interest in the game or things military at all, (he was just hanging out, reading some magazines) was like "Um can he talk to you like that?". :eek:

So then i'll be making a 30 waypoint (one for each song) testing mission where I just listen to the music then take notes on what fits what mood then... Splendid.

well you have to manually take the stuff from the boxes them "gear" to the LAV-25 and dump it in, then repeat. Not fun, but if you really want to drive an arsenal around its an option.

yup and if you have the patience, park your vehicle (I suggest taking the LAV-25) next to said ammo boxes, and fill'er up. You'll never have to touch Warsaw Pact gear again.

Yep the ole throw your shit on the ground (cuz when you buy it'll automatically sell your stuff to fill the slot), buy, then drop, then command your subordinate to pickup the ordinance you want him to have, then pick up your own shit. All just to give razor 2 some AT capability (or whatever it is you were aimming for). Was this mission even playtested at all? F this im making my own mission, one where I get to shoot people and have fun.