anthropoid

I think I've got CoWarMod 'minimal' adjusted just about exactly how I like: 70% of all the features, but leaving out stuff that makes the game even harder. That is something I do not yet need ;) Thanks again for all your help and guidance Gunter! You are an awesome ArmA modder.

Thanks Mark. Here is something I haven't seen before: I'm right next to white dots, looking straight at a door to a civvie structure, 3m in front of me, but the "Search House" option is not appearing from right-click.

Thanks Gunter. Removed all ZEU and SLX items and gonna reset USMC snipers (which I like to play) to be slightly better than the best in the inf_stealth_recognition. Learning a lot from your mod, and your frequent posts, FAQs, tutorials, etc. ADDIT: Hey man, it wasn't clear to me from the Feature Details list on your website, which components influence the movement speeds? I can see how the reduced movement speeds, and slower transitions between postures are probably more realistic. But I've grown fond of the vanilla speeds, at least for now.

Thanks for clarifying Markb50K. Yep, sounds like it is a limit to the vanilla code and following the cautiously limited use of the HC function is the best policy. Just out of curiousity, is that "someone completely rewrites the AI subroutines they do when you create a new group" something that could be done by a user/modder or something that is in inacessible 'hard coded' aspects of the game? If it is in fact moddable by a player, that sounds to me like a rather juicy long-term goal to get me into AI programming. :icon_mrgreen: Of course, that will first require that I understand how the AI behaves, which is an excellent excuse to play the game more!

Nope CPBO doesn't seem to work for me. Suspect it might be a Win 7 issue.

Two Questions 1. Where are the folders and files for the stock Singleplayer missions (e.g., Trial By Fire, Freedom Fighters, Bear Rising, etc.)? C:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\Missions I have a bunch of folders in there, but they are all for the missions that I DLed. Only other item in that directory is a readme.txt that says "Singleplayer missions" 2. Related to my ignorance of directory structure for the files for this game, my second question: I have the following C:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\Missions\WarfareV2_070Lite installed. With the A2WarMod installed on my "ArmA2 Launcher by Kegetys" the Chernarus map runs fine via the Singleplayer interface. But when I try to load any of the other maps (e.g., Everon) that are listed in the 2nd menu for the Benny Warfare mod, I get an error message saying that a "sap_" file has been deleted. I have DLed and unzipped the Everon scenario and have C:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\AddOns\@SAP\addons and @SAP installed in my launcher. and there are a total of eight files in there (i) sap_everon; (ii) sap_everon.pbo.SAP.bisign; (iii) sap_everon_config.pbo; (iv) sap_everon_config.pbo.SAP.bisign; (v) sap_objects.pbo; (vi) sap_objects.pbo.SAP.bisign; (vii) sap_plants.pbo; (viii) sap_plants.pbo.SAP.bisign But I have no idea where to put them to get the mod to recognize that they are available to run? Oh how I wish for the days of Windows XP . . . or maybe this is not actually a problem with the weird Windows 7 hidden/protected files features??

Yeah, I'm gonna have to modify it a bit to suit my skill level for now. Fricking brutal AI with this mod!

Sorry if there is a FAQ or previous thread that specifically addresses these questions. I looked and apart from general threads on addons I couldn't find anything that specifically addresses my questions I'm downloading RH pistols and SMG packs. http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=12800 http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=13788 I'm familiar with how to install "add-ons" to the game and then enable expansions in the Operation Arrowhead main game window. Couple questions: 1. Is there anything special I need to do to get new weapons packs working, in particular working with a particular mission I play (e.g., Lost)? If I just add the downloaded files as directed, will randomly generated ammo and weapons crates populate with some of these weapons? Will they show up in the Armory? 2. Any suggestions on other handgun weapons packs? Mainly I wanted to have more compact submachineguns and machine pistol options, weapons that realistically should be able to be carried in the "handgun" inventory slot for a soldier.

Cool. Thanks guys. I learned a bit more about how ArmA code works today!

Orcinus: thanks a ton for that support call link!

I love this already and I haven't even DLed it yet . . . now back to play Freedom Fighters the proper way!!

Ah, so "ammo boxes" mean that there is an item populated in the game that will have those specific weapons and ammos in it eh? And that will be true for ANY map that has any random spawn ammo crates? Mostly here I'm just curious about how resources in the game self-populate, not specifically in those packs. Say for example, I were to create a "Klingon Disruptors" pack with "ammo boxes," then anyone who installed that addon could get those weapons and ammos to auto-populate anywhere in a given map that there was a random spawn weapon crate?

You the man Gunter. I suspect that you just answered my question about dedicated servers too!

Wow, playing the Lost mission with this mod running seems a LOT harder. Five times now I've got capped doing stuff that I've done for many hours of play prior to installing this mod. Evidently I need to play more cautiously now ;)

Having played just a bit to get a feel for the mod, I have to say: AWESOME! Not sure I'll ever be able to play without many of these features again. Though some of them I definitely want to turn off (e.g., I actually LIKED the larger and more obstructive plant life on Chernarus landscape). Going through the list of features with descriptions from your website, I can see pretty clearly what I want to 'turn off.' So I've created a little folder "Removed from Installed CoWarMod," that is a sub-folder in my "C:\ArmA2 DLs" folder. So far I've moved eight sets of .pbo and .bisign files OUT of the installed directory and into this storage directory (where I'm pretty sure the app will not find them). For example, I've removed and all the other gdtmod_ items that deal with fauna. Couple questions: 1. Is this the proper way to 'turn off' elements of the mod, i.e., by just removing these items from C:\ArmA2 DLs\CoWarMod\Removed from Installed\@CoWarMod\addons 2. Is there any other steps (such as deleting callout references to these items in a config file or something) that need to be followed to get it to work? 3. Best place/way to see for sure what version of the mod I'm running? Not sure what the deal was with the handsigns. I coulda swore that my toon was doing some handsigns last night that delayed his raising his weapon up to face, but just fiddling a bit today with this mod playing Advancing Power and Lost I am not seeing it now. I DLed from the current Armaholic page http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=14699 So I would guess I have the latest version, 1.1 ADDIT: One more question that I forgot 4. What is? What is "clutter" in game terms? I can definitely see how, for large scale PVP play, the various processor reducing aspects of the mod are of massive use. But I rarely ever have seen any performance issues on my rig and playing singleplayer, which is at this point all I do (till I learn the game better). So for me, reducing the detail in the game view and map are not so appealing at this stage. 5. Would it be fairly straightforward to keep_some_ but not all of the features from: Specifically: Looking at the fact that there is just one .pbo item for this mod, I'm guessing it would NOT be particularly straightforward or easy to selective disable parts of it? Actually ONE more question! 6. Does the mod include any machine pistols or compact submachineguns that will fit into the handgun slot in the soldier inventory window? Would love it if, instead of that rusty M1911 buffalo-shooter, my M-107 sniper could instead carry a nice modern MAC-11, MP5K, or Steyr TMP or some such

Simple question about the effect of this mod in singleplayer missions: I would guess that the enhancements to AI behavior from this mod (and the full suite of your mods in CoWarMod) would apply to both friendly teammates and enemy AI. However, do these enhancements somehow give an advantage to enemy AI? I'm finding that I'm getting my ass capped a lot and my AI teammates don't seem to be quite as effective as they were before and no changes to difficulty settings. Granted this is just with a few startups with this mod running.

My observation about learning programming at this point: you pick a particular topic and start delving in, say for example installing an app to extract a .pbo. Then you realize that understanding that topic leads you inevitably to face your woeful ignorance of a larger topic, e.g., the "unassociate" function with .suffix file types in Windows . . . which then leads you to inquire about an even larger topic (e.g., basic Windows OS issues) . . . and on and on. I can see why a degree in computer science is handy :o

Thanks Katipo66. Yeah I tried that, set the battlefield to maximum length. That is also what I suspected would effect the spawn areas. Maybe I need to try it with a much larger battlefield radius; With the smallest battefield radius (400m) the AI just bumrush the show and the maximum battlefield length is only about 800m. Making the battlefield radius ~2km might make it possible to expand the length of the battlefield more thus causing the East/West spawns to be farther apart. While we're on the topic: any idea what the "player starting position width" does? I guess if you've got a large force making the starting area wider will space them out in their initial spawn? Also, I'm guessing that the width of the battlefield figures into the calculations for the "rush to win." For example, I set my battlefield center on a village and then put the two starting bases at polar ends of an axis drawn along the towns central road. I would guess that if I make the battlefield only slightly wider than the village, the AI will fight to control the village and not so much swarm the whole area? Very neat tool. Now I just need to get competent enough with the damn game engine that I don't get capped instantaneously ;)

Thank you so much for your response Rydygier, that is very informative. I received a response to one of the threads where I inquired about this last night and the fellow suggested setting HC Groups to "Hold Fire" which supposedly helps with them not pursuing enemies across the map. Also, it seems that the HC Command features in "Lost" are from the "High Command Extensions" mod by DomZ. I've inquired with him to see if he may have any ideas. http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?123232-High-Command-Extensions I just wanted to add, since you are obviously knowledgeable about the AI in this game: learning more about AI programming is one of my mid-term career goals. I figure that the ArmAverse might be a good venue for me to learn by doing. At present I am frustratingly inept at editing, modding, and even just getting simple things like CPBO to work to extract .pbo files so that I can (as a simple start) change the time-limit on the Freedom Fighters mission so that you have a week or more to finish it instead of 3 hours :p My other problem is: I'm still rather bad at the game, and until I can play it competently forging into modding/editing is going to be a 'part-time' activity as I simply learn to play the game more effectively.

I'm a bit perplexed by the spawning positions in this mission. The initial configuration window says that "Initial bases just determine facing directions" but my initial spawn and ammo crate always seems to be in the general area of the Base for my side. I'm not a particularly skilled ArmA player so I'm really just trying to learn a bit using this mission, but I cannot see to find the 'most forgiving' settings so that the enemy spawns a sufficient distance that I can actually get my soldiers recruited and setup and ready for the battle. I've tried setting the enemy base, far far away with only 1 enemy group, no 'auxilliary enemy units' teleport (and all other support options off) and the battle field set to very large size -> I'm still getting enemies spawning in the immediate vicinity of my spawn and capping me and my squad before I can even get my soldiers fully recruited much less oriented and deployed how I want. Seems like a great mission, but . . . ah well. If I can't figure it out, guess I'll just play some other mission :)

Just to add to your request: me too! As someone with a lot of experience in various other game communities, the Armaverse is a wonderful but rather bewildering place. The fact that you can pretty effectively simulate small unit and even up to very small battalion sized combined arms engagements and even _campaigns_ is rather stunningly exciting coming from a long history of more turn-based strategic war games. The ArmA community is obviously very mature, intelligent, friendly, expert, and keen to help. There is a shit ton of stuff to read. But I too have found my efforts to learn more and delve more deeply to be thwarted by a few points: 1. There is a long history of evolving iterations of the Arma game series. Any given resource may be useful only for a specific iteration in the series history. For example, I see that the BIS Wiki on servers doesn't seem to make reference to the arma2oaserver.exe which seems to have been developed to simplify the process of setting up a server. A second example of this: the CPBO application, which was recommended to me as a tool to extract PBOs, and get familiar with the various files involved in setting up the 'finishing touches' on missions (tasks, etc.) seems to have been last updated prior to CO (or at least the download link I find on Armaholic). When I try to use the application to extract PBOs for the simple learning purpose of changing the parameters of the Freedom Fighters mission so that it has no time-limit, the app doesn't work. Could it be it doesn't work with ArmA2? Doesn't work with Win 7? Maybe I just installed it wrong? 2. Because the game community is quite 'advanced' both in terms of how long the game series has been evolving and how long the community has existed, a LOT of the help that exists presumes much more than a complete beginner's level of understanding. For example, I have read about setting up a dediciated server in various threads here on the forums and the BIS wiki. But I still don't really understand the most basic issues such as: what "setting up a server" means, nor what it is really useful for, etc. very basic types of issues that veteran players will fully comprehend but beginners who are told "To get Benny Warfare Edition to work for singleplayer play you need to setup a dedicated server" don't have a clue.

Thanks fredkatz, I'll try the "Hold Fire" thingy and see if that helps. I SOOOOOO want to play this mod completely through. I've put a lot of time into figuring out the HC features and if only some of the apparent glitches with it were not so frustrating, I know I could play this mod for literally weeks.

Thanks Gunter! Actually, that is weird cause it seems like the version I have installed _does_ have handsignals. When I give commands to my AI my toon does some hand signally gestures . . . ADDIT: and just to clarify, what I wanted to do was turn the hand gestures OFF. Maybe I have downloaded an older version *sigh* . . . but then it is weird that I cannot find those files ?? For the other issue with the ARD and how to config it; will read through your post above, thanks :) BTW, I love several of the features that I see included in this mod so far! (fires, more durable structures, slower personnel movement, etc.) Ahh, cool on the ARD config change. Looks simple :) Will give it a shot.

Gunter your tutorials are the best! Moreover, they are recent so I can be confident that you know what you are talking about and your info takes account of recent updates to the Armaverse (namely the ArmA2CO.exe). Couple questions: that arise from reading your tutorial above: 1. If all I want to do is setup my own "dedicated server" to be able to effectively play the Benny Warfare Edition singleplayer and have it work properly (evidently problems with units not respawning is somehow solved by playing the game via a dedicated server) do I have to pay for server space or something?? I can launch the arma2oaserver.exe and get the window entitled ArmA2 OA Console version 1.59 : port 2302 - Socket With the following text But to be honest I don't really know what this means? Is my machine now acting as a server? I noticed when I ran this .exe a while ago that some guy "connected to my server" briefly, but then logged out. Evidently this creates a server that is then listed in some master list of servers somewhere and other players can select it and log in?? I think a lot of you guys have been playing this stuff for so long, and are so incredibly expert at it, that you don't remember that some of these most BASIC details are inscrutable to us beginners. I certainly have an idea what a server is in general: a machine that serves clients, and typically refers to a machine that is dedicated to be a host for a particular function, whether via LAN or internet connection to other machines. But the term "server" has myriad meanings and uses in Information Technology, and it is not entirely clear how the term is being used in the context of ArmA2 OA "dedicated server." Okay, so I don't know what the hell I have running with this ArmA2 OA Console version thing that is visible on my desktop . . . which is actually a little bit nervewracking because I had to say "Okay let it run" via my security software . . . My next very, VERY basic question addresses (and I have read the BIS wikis) is this: http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Multiplayer_Server_Commands#HowTo When I select the aforementioned Console, and press the / key nothing happens.

Hey Gunter, I have a couple questions 1. I cannot find sam_handsignals.pbo OR sam_handsignals.pbo.SAM.bisign I've searched both the folder into which I DLed and extracted the mod, and also my entire ArmA2 directory to no avail. Any advice on where I might look to find those items? 2. Not sure what you call the popup command thing on the right side. Brilliant idea, but what do you do about using your F1 key for selecting Groups or Soldiers in slot #1? If there is a way to unbind that UI to some other key great :) Having scratched the surface with your compilation, I just have to say: Wow! This is like thesis quality and quantity of work man! Good job!