nikeleye

Good work getting these all in-game! I'm currently testing the Tornado GR4 for my milsim group, which looks great and sounds amazing watching it from the ground, but I cannot get it to use the LGBs on player lased targets. Using ALiVE Combat Support to control it through taxi, take-off and landing is fine but it just orbits when I tell it to attack laser targets. Is this a bug you're aware of and if so do you plan on fixing it? Cheers, Nikeleye

Fantastic add-on and really builds on the L85 and L129's authentic feel in our missions. Can't wait to see what else is in store.

Great concept, the default faction is at best annoying and at worst immersion breaking. Can I just advocate also removing the NVGs from the units during the day somehow, all soldiers running about with them permanently looks ridiculous (not to mention unrealistic to the extreme).

Don't get lulled into a sense that all milsim groups are the same. VCB is one of the oldest milsim groups in the ArmA community, we have a command structure based on a RL unit and we train RL drills. That said, we don't call each other by rank, we don't have a code of conduct, we don't practice or do things on missions JUST for the sake of realism. Our rank structure is purely out of necessity - one bloke to run each squad/section of guys, another bloke to control all three of them and a sgt that goes around the platoon enforcing grooming standards. Our training is all from guys that do it in real life that we adapt to make us better at the game, while maintaining a sense of realism. I can definately see the OP's point of view in that I'm never going to call a 17 year old on the internet 'Sir' or 'Corporal', line up against a wall and be told to not speak unless spoken to or have to pass a virtual marksmanship test just to play a game with a sense of realism. That's taking all the stuff that makes it unenjoyable IRL and adding it to a game that I play for fun.

Hey Slatts, Beautiful looking model there. Any chance this might be made compatible with INKO disposable?

Hi Kiory, Great work on the zeroing correction - the accuracy now gives a similar feeling as the UKF L85s for ArmA2. Only issue I would raise is that now you've added add-on optics (FHQ & Ianskys) into the vanilla config anyone without those add-ons running has errors each time the weapon is loaded in a mission. I've seen other weapon mods such as R3F do optional configs to resolve this, I wonder if maybe that's an idea here (or indeed if ASDG will resolve this)?

Hi Alwarren, Really liking your pack - good mix of stuff. Only question I have is about the ACOG, IRL the ones most often used on ARs and certainly all of the ones on L85s over here have a x4 magnification, however the ones in your pack are x8 (roughly, from my iffy maths on the Kamino Range!). Is this intentional to make them more similar to the 'jumbo' ACOG with x6 magnification found for example on the L129A1 or to do with the many published issues with optics in A3, and either way would you consider a change/fix at all? Cheers for the pack, getting some good use out of them in VCB and apart from that one issue they're going down pretty well! ;)

Happy New Year! 2012 was a pretty fantastic time for VOLCBAT with some truly epic campaigns, an ever growing and stable member base and the finding of considerable mod and mission making talent within the ranks. It seems to have been a great year for the community at large as well with modifications and missions being released at an unprecedented level of quality. VCB is looking to build upon this success as we go into 2013, and here's a look at what we've been up to since the last update and what lies ahead for us. Operations Since the last update in October, VCB has completed three full scale campaigns and several mini deployments around the armaverse. Starting off with Operation LEGIT, created by one of our most imaginative mission makers, Gilson, 1st Battalion 'The Volunteer Commandos' deployed with little notice to the Malabango archipelago amid a military coup on the island nation of Dingor. 3 Platoon was mainly utilised in a 6-stage campaign effort to raid enemy resources, support assets and C3I, as well as staging a hostage rescue effort and a large convoy ambush. 3Pl's efforts were deemed a complete success when the leader of the enemy council was reported as fleeing to the South East Asia region, his forces completely collapsing in his wake. Almost immediately following that, 1st Bn was redeployed to the seemingly endless conflict in the Chernarus region to assist government forces in destroying elements of a well organised, well equipped guerrilla insurgency. Deploying in the newly issued RIDGBACK Protected Patrol Vehicles along with Jackal MWMIK fire support platforms, ACoy moved from the centre of the AO southwards clearing towns fortified by the enemy in a very 'bread and butter' campaign that saw very heavy, regular contact dealt with. Attempting to enjoy some R&R after mopping up the last of the known enemy, 1VCB was once again stood to as reports came in of neighbouring Chellorussia inserting peacekeeping troops to the country only to meet a rejuvenated guerrilla force, this time equipped from an unknown source and willing to use truly asymmetric tactics. Utilising their Commando skillbase, 3Pl raided an outlying island to use as a forming up point to secure a beach head back onto the mainland. Having given themselves a way in, they moved to eliminate the local enemy commander and rescue the Chellorussian President, a mission with mixed results. Things took a turn for the worse after that as NATO, ever cautious to risk further assets, could not recover 3 Pl and they were left to high tail it out of the AO being relentlessly pursued by three different factions on their way out. Managing to extricate themselves at the last minute, VCB returned to the fleet sombre at the deteriorating situation in the country but with renewed confidence that their training could get them out of the worst of situations. Q0VDUuRlsjI Rebasing, Training & Leadership Almost with the coming of the New Year came a new base for 1st Battalion, previously being local to the British Army's Copehill Down Village AUC training ground, the battalion has now moved to the locale of CENTA, the British Forces training area in the Celle region of Germany. With extensive facilities for all types of training, VCB has continued its ongoing cycle wherever possible in between major deployments. Recent training has focused on platoon-sized attacks, ambush and anti-ambush drills and a back-to-basics night with a full platoon redux of Phase One Training amongst other 'bolt-on' courses for new recruits. In the same vein of keeping everything fresh, due to vacancies arising within the rank structure Scotia and Lorcan have moved up to the rank of Lance Corporal and taken on the 2IC role for 1 and 2 Sections, respectively. Both have demonstrated immense energy and maturity in their previous roles as Senior Riflemen and they are both now making their presence felt as they deliver top notch section drills and admin. Congratulations to both of them. Joints Ops, PR & In-house Development As well as VCBs regular mission nights we are now working with Zulu Alpha, the premier ArmA outfit from South Africa, on a force-on-force counter-insurgency campaign dubbed Operation ALICE. Despite mixed results from VCBs perspective from the first mission (one of VCB's NCOs got captured and interrogated), we all look forward to the next iteration and learning lessons from the previous outings. Also working towards our outside image a new website is in the works which will bring the first contact many potential recruits have with VCB up to modern standards. There has been a real wealth of talent on show from VCB lately too, with Legion moving towards a public release of the FPII/NP Aerospace MASTIFF PPV, the first British version of the Cougar 6x6 to be announced, Tupolov of MSO fame creating an amazing modification to the Advanced Combat Radio Environment add-on to introduce the full range of modern British 'Bowman' radio equipment, at the same time as working with Highhead, Gunny and Friznit also of VCB with the rest of the Multi-Session Operations team on the recently released, highly acclaimed 4.5 edition. VCB are lucky enough to be testing the recent Headless Client tool with MSO which has vastly improved performance and playability. Looking Forward As we move into the New Year, 1st Bn VCB are ready to deploy on our first campaign of 2013, Operation NOSTALGIA. Returning to the classic environment of Everon (well known from OFP) we're looking forward to getting back into it after the seasonal festivities. We've also just updated our modpack with some fresh changes to unit configs, weapon balancing and medical equipment, as well as adding in the fantastic new Reshmaan Province map. If you're interested in taking part in some of the best milsim in the ArmA community without any of the usual nonsense that comes attached, why not check out our Recruitment Pack .PDF which is a great read for anyone looking to find out more, and if you like what you see, head on over to our Recruitment Forum.

Autumn 2012 Update In the three months since the last update, The Volunteer Commandos have continued their legacy as one of the forerunners of British Milsim in the Armed Assault community. Campaigns have including overturning a military coup in the mid-Atlantic, battling an insurgency in Afghanistan, dealing with rogue military elements in Takistan and even participating in a joint operation with another military simulation group a continent away. Operation RAVENOUS Commencing at the end of August, 1st Battalion 'The Volunteer Commandos' deployed to Sangin Province, Afghanistan to join ISAF's latest effort to drive the Taliban from the area and re-establish goodwill with the local community - codenamed Operation RAVENOUS. Over a long and arduous month deployed right on the FLET (front line, enemy troops), A Company 1VCB were tasked with hunting down the Taliban, protecting supply routes and assisting the local forces in counter-insurgency taskings. Seemingly annoyed at the success ACoy was achieving, the Taliban called in reinforcements from all the neighbouring provinces and amassed a large counter-attack aimed at taking VCB out of the fight. Thanks to superior ISTAR assets, ACoy saw the attack coming and planned an intricate defensive mission posting small groups of soldiers at forward bases and falling back into defilade in sequence, using pre-briefed fire from 105mm light artillery and precision munitions provided by ISAF aircraft to destroy the Taliban force in detail. 1st Battalion were relieved by The Rifles after the operation and can record Operation RAVENOUS as a full success. Operation EDINBURGH Commencing in between deployments 1VCB were attached to a multi-national force also comprising of Zulu Alpha, an elite military organisation from South Africa, to tackle a large paramilitary narcotics group operating on Lingor Island in the mid-Atlantic, under an operation named EDINBURGH. Using their amphibious assault speciality, the joint force put in a large raid on the main towns held by the mercenaries and seized a massive haul of contraband, as well as eliminating the tasked HVT known to be the head of the group. Showing their ability to work with a similar highly-trained foreign military, 1VCB can add Operation EDINBURGH to their honours. Operation TUPHEAD Shortly after returning to their home barracks following Operation RAVENOUS, 1st Battalion were put on alert due to an emerging situation in the Middle East. Recent unrest in the Islamic world had led to a large part of the Takistan Regular Army splintering off and commencing hostile actions against friendly ISAF forces. This situation essentially granted the Takiban insurgency led by Hussein Bin Jezreddi free reign in the area. 1VCB was deployed within the week to try and combat the situation. Initially meeting little resistance as GREENFOR and OPFOR clashed with each other, VCB pushed further into enemy territory to gain dominance over the ground, even going so far as to establish a patrol base right in an area valued for its supply routes and local mines by both enemy factions. 1VCB remains in the area conducting probing attacks despite the recent intelligence received about hostilities spiking in the Dingor region. 3 'Morton' Platoon Training In between and during all of its campaigns, VOLCBAT regularly conducts section- and platoon-level training. Recently we've gone in depth into Advanced Urban Combat, the refined art of operating in urban and close-quarters combat situations. Additional topics such as Support Weapons, Helicopter Landing Drills and Vehicle-borne Skills are covered in 30 to 40 minute 'bolt-on' packages run alongside combat operations. VOLCBAT Recruitment VOLCBAT are, as always, looking for like-minded members of the ArmA community new and old to join our ranks. If you'd like to know more about VOLCBAT please head on over to our recruitment forum (click me) to find out more. And now, for something completely different... IaH88TCTHQw

Pucara! Great aircraft, would love to see that as part of this for ArmA 2. Following with interest!

Experience a game crash. Probably. :cool:

June 2012 Update Over the past month the Volunteer Commandos have been as busy as ever. With one of the most ambitious campaigns to date going on, regular training and everything in between the Volunteer Commando Battalion are continuing to exploit every opportunity in Armed Assault 2 to maintain our reputation as one of the best milsim units out there. Deployment After concluding their previous tour on the island of Lingor last month, A Company, 1st Battalion was preparing for some much needed home leave when the news came down to stand ready for immediate deployment to eastern Germany in response to sudden and unprovoked Russian hostilities. 1st Bn VCB now forms part of the NATO Task Force sent to contain the enemy, along with elements of the USMC (24th Marine Expeditionary Unit) and the Bundeswehr (Mechanised Infantry Bn 371) - operating under Operation BURGLAR ALARM. The first part of the campaign consisted of holding back the advanced Russian heavy armour and mech forces around the towns of WALLE and OFFEN. In tandem with joint RAF and USAF fixed-wing close air support A Coy valiantly held the line long enough for a supply route to be established and more reinforcements to arrive. This has been followed by raids on enemy supply depots and logistics targets, and as of last week 1st Bn have been tasked with pushing the enemy back from the town of BERGEN in an effort to regain momentum and start re-establishing pre-war borders. Thus far an initial attack by 3 Platoon was thwarted by the enemy turning its powerful mechanised AAA assets towards the infantry, inflicting very heavy casualties on the British troops. A local press piece about the events leading to Operation BURGLAR ALARM Re-assignment to 3 Commando Brigade Shortly before deploying to the Celle region, 1st Bn VCB went through a largely administrative change that now brings it directly under the command structure of 3 Commando Brigade of the Royal Marines. Now part of the unified Naval Service of the UK's Armed Forces, 1st Bn VCB are designated as a true amphibious warfare unit and this will be reflected in future operations and training. Like the other infantry elements of the RM, 1VCB will maintain it's light role proficiency, as well as keeping the air mobile and armoured infantry sub-roles. Rising political and military tensions following the recent economic instability in the Aegean region may decide the nature of the training environment in the near future. A member of 3 Platoon, A Company on patrol 3 Platoon Training Regimen As ever VCB is keen to keep our members at the top of their game and able to demonstrate very high "skills and drills" for all our missions. The training session held this month covered Advanced Urban Combat, Convoy Drills and Ambush Training. With a significant amount of 3 Platoon in attendance, bods were split into their designated sections as the course matter was explained, demonstrated and then they were tasked with going over this themselves led by their Section NCOs. The live fire element of the convoy training was a particular highlight, as was the Platoon HQ taking on the enemies role for a simulated ambush. A convoy of MWMIKs and TUMs during a 3 Platoon training exercise Multi-Session Operations VCB are incredibly lucky to have several of the development team of the very popular 'MSO' mission for ArmA 2 within the ranks. We've just seen the value of this with MSO being tested with a Persistent Database system (probably familiar to most as a similar system is used by the "DayZ" mod), which is taking ArmA 2 gameplay to a whole new level with tremendous server performance increases as the bulk of the load is taken on by the clients - who now will have their own profile hosted on a website logging any of their in-game statistics or accomplishments as required. We're looking forward to continued testing in-house and seeing just what can be achieved with this new found technology. Members of 1 Section, 3 Platoon rehearsing their Advanced Urban Combat drills Recruitment VOLCBAT are, as always, looking for like-minded members of the ArmA community new and old to join our ranks. If you'd like to know more about VOLCBAT please head on over to our recruitment forum (click me) to find out more.

Just getting from ArmA 2's movement animations to those seen in the recent media coverage is a huge milestone, and it's hardly our position to tell you to do the equivalent of another entire set Smookie. :D Reducing some of the advanced peeking/leaning stances depending on the AI's skill slider sounds like a really simple immersion booster, just so it's a bit less jarring when you see the lesser trained enemies/allies moving around under contact. Obviously mods will address stuff like additional animations post-launch I'm sure, just as your animations pack for ArmA 2 did. Thanks for all the hard work thus far!

I'm in a different crowd - it looks like Smookie has solved the clunkiness and user unfriendly nature of moving your virtual self about on his/her two feet, but the issue I have is that now everyone is going to move around like a Navy SEAL. I appreciate there's a lot of SF types in the campaign/storyline but ArmA has always been about large battles involving normal frontline infantry. It's going to be a bit immersion breaking to see militiaman no. 453 with an AK doing tactical movement the same as everyone else. Is that addressed in some way? If not, a simple-ish option may be to limit the variety of movement anims the lower the AI skill is set to in the editor.

So exactly what Six Updater does, but on a much simpler basis? Doesn't solve the issue that's under discussion, that joining a MP server in ArmA is a pain in the rear because of the varying mods used. What's being seeked is some solution that simplifies the process of starting ArmA (or a launcher), selecting a server you want to join, downloading the mods required automatically (or very easily) and then playing on the server with just the correct mods selected.