Is modding in ArmA3 essentially the same as 2?
Yup. Grab CBA and whatever mods you want and just put the usual syntax into the Steam command line launch option parser.
e.g. "-mod=@CBA_A3;@sthud;"
are there already Arma III mods?
Tonnes
oh balls - any must haves?
A lot of players really like TaoModularRealism. It adds bipod stabilization and the ability to rest your firearm against a hard surface such as a windosill, fence, rock, or tree for better accuracy. It also adds a fold-out map that you can look at while still keeping most of your view on the main in-game screen rather than having to jump to a new map screen. These are great features. It also adds some stuff that I personally don't really care such as replacing the 3D scopes with the 2D ones from ArmA II.
ShackTac's Fireteam HUD is great for multiplayer as it gives you a compass on your HUD that shows the position of your squadmates relative to you.
There are some medic revive scripts that allow for progressive wounding and bleed outs. It makes MP a bit more fun as you don't always get killed outright from small arms fire and grenades. If a medic can get to you before you bleed out, they can revive you so you aren't sitting out the rest of the mission. It's currently broken as of the latest patch though.
I've been checking out some of the sound mods, namely Speed of Sound and JSRS. I really like the new weapons sounds in Speed of Sound but the modder also added a really annoying persistent howling desert wind noise. If he'd remove that, this mod would be awesome. I'm not sure about JSRS yet. The sounds are very loud and do a great job of making you feel like you're in a battle, but there's something not quite right about it that I can't really identify. Too much reverb maybe?
Anyway, here's a vid taken from one of our play sessions last week. Unfortunately it was taken from the POV of one of the medics and they tend to hang back and stay in cover until called upon so you don't get to see much of the action. However, it does show off the mods I was mentioning. You can see the ShackTac fireteam compass at the bottom middle of the screen. I think he's using the Speed of Sound mod and the medic revice script mod is also in use. (doesn't help this poor medic though...)
Does anyone play with a regular group? I finally picked up ARMA 3 and have had some fun on multiplayer but I'd like to find a regular place to play and learn.
Come join the SimHQ servers. We play Iron Front on Saturdays starting at 1 pm PST/ 4 pm EST. We play ArmA III on Sundays starting at 12 pm PST/ 3 pm EST and we also play on Monday evenings starting at 4 pm PST/ 7 pm EST. Sessions usually last 2-3 hours and are mostly co-op missions designed by the SimHQ members. We also do some casual PvP to break things up between co-op missions. Turn outs for ArmA are usually 6-12 on Sundays and 10-20+ on Mondays.
I'm going to have to make time to join - monday may be best for me - just had 5 mins with the training missions - looks great
I could probably do the Monday evening game. Are the SimHQ folks newbie friendly?
Yes they are. On Mondays we usually start the session with some ad hoc play until everyone shows up. You'll quickly get a feel for how things play out and how to use the comms system during this time. It's very casual so feel free to ask questions and the guys will be more than happy to walk you through any issues you might have.
is there one this monday?
Yes, there is. Warm up (domination mode) starts at about 7pm EST. Missions kick off about 30-45 minutes later.
I was more referring to mod creation itself. I created some cool sandbox missions with ArmA2.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on December 30, 2013, 10:39:24 AM
Yes, there is. Warm up (domination mode) starts at about 7pm EST. Missions kick off about 30-45 minutes later.
midnight here - should be able to make that - is it just vanilla or do i need anything from the sim hq guys?
Vanilla version of ArmA III and a Teamspeak account. They also prefer it if you have a SimHQ account and use your SimHQ name in-game. Helps them to keep out griefers.
all done from the iron front days - see you there
had a great time - they really are a bunch of friendly guys - i accidentally nominated myself UAV pilot and then blew it up - not a word of derision, that i fully deserved, always willing to help and advise
forgot to take some screenies but ARMA III was definitely a wise purchase - i hope to be in the editor soon and joining the guys on a more regular basis
I don't know if it was because I just came off night shifts but I was having a hell of a rough time. Just mass confusion and death for me in each mission.
The night one was great despite losing connection and dropping out
I was totally lost on the one in the fields with the church and farm
And once I'd blown up the uav in the naval yard I quite enjoyed that
But yeah, a certain amount of map familiarity comes into play
Is it weird getting used to using TrackIR in ARMA2 & 3?
Nope. I find it very natural. You may need to create a profile and expand the deadzones to prevent your POV from moving when you're trying to aim though.
I missed last night on SimHQ, forgot all about it. I've been playing on the 7th Cav's sever though and its pretty fun.
Here's a vid of a rather painful mission from last night's session.
Our leader's assault plan took us through a textbook example of a kill zone and...well....the result can be seen here.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on December 31, 2013, 01:56:36 PM
Here's a vid of a rather painful mission from last night's session.
Our leader's assault plan took us through a textbook example of a kill zone and...well....the result can be seen here.
You guys are getting shot every step of the way.
If anyone is interested, it looks like SimHQ is going to host a session on New Year's Day, 11am PST / 2pm EST / 7pm UK.
I might make that.... cool - you signing up?
Yes. Feeling a little too post-celebratory to do much else other than state at a screen right now.
sorry for blowing everybody up!
LOL! It was a lovely fireball.
Don't worry about it. When the game first came out and the devs had changed the "G" key assignment from the "gear" screen in ArmA2 to the "throw grenade" button in ArmA3, it caused all sorts of casualties. We've all blown one another up at least once.
but maybe not the entire squad!
Sure, a lot of people died but the most important thing to remember in all of this is that none of those people were me.
I really hope they fix the AI body armour script soon though. It's getting beyond ridiculous.
i kept hearing reference to that from the guys - is it too powerful or not present? im at the stage of shooting till they fall down - havent really noticed how long it takes
It's too powerful as of the last patch. Right now it takes 6+ shots from a 6.5mm round to drop a guy. 5.56mm can take half a magazine or more.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on January 01, 2014, 06:16:46 PM
It's too powerful as of the last patch. Right now it takes 6+ shots from a 6.5mm round to drop a guy. 5.56mm can take half a magazine or more.
I have the same experience. >:(
Supposedly fixed in the dev version and will hopefully be dealt with once the BIS team return from holidays.