Able to find what you need? Newbie oriented question.

[TJ72]

This thread is to determine the impression that the Arma2 modding community gives to new users of Arma2. Many long time users and others are aware that the game is greatly enhanced by user content. But many others also understand that there can be signifigant "overhead" to set up and use this user content. My focus is how the newcomers to this game feel about handling and using this user content as far as:

Ease of installation and use?

Compatibility with other content? (Conflicts or errors when combining different mods?)

Satisfaction with user content that was implemented successfuly into the users gaming experience?

So the title is apt. Are you (newbies?) happy with the user content of Arma2 to enhance the game? Are you willing to try user content if the default game is lacking somehow? When you go to use the user stuff, how do you look for it? How easy is it to set up and use (did you have to make some genius level guesses to make a mod work or were all instructions available?)
Finally, how satisfied were you with the user content once you had it implemented into your installation of the game?

The posts can be descriptive of user experiences, the target audience are new users to the game so veterans please respect that and hold back if the thread gets too "noob" for you.
I have started a poll to hopefully gain a good barometer of the new user experience of Arma2 and continue the thread from there. I may edit this first thread as time goes on or if I dont get enough responses.

So new users if you have something to say about your Arma2 enhanced with user content experience, this is your thread to speak out. I only ask that the tone of the thread be kept respectful so that the result of this discussion can be seen without the clutter of distractions like flames and OT comments.

[Mr Burns]

Able to find what you need?

Have you ever tried finding Mods for IL2 or Silent Hunter series?
With at least those two games i´ve gotten overwhelmed by either a shitload of acronyms that make no sense for the unknowing, dozens of pages with content of variying quality and quantity, and even more so multiple Mod Compilations with either no or poor description texts and/or compatibility issues. It regulary went right up to the point that i just forfeit any further efforts finding what i´ve searched for in the first place.

Conclusion: Not being involved from the start, no knowledge about recommendable forums & fanpages, must have mods, installing procedure, etc.

Being a newb in almost any modable game is zhe suxx!

[De_little_Bubi]

waiting for ACE2 after that i will make my vote.

[Colt45_GTO]

the option i need isn't listed.

some of the mods available have installation apps (they come in .exe form)
some dont. for all those that do then yes they are easily installed but seriously how many shortcuts can one have for one game? is there a way to consolidate all the mods into one game and play all the different content at once?

those that are not executional the install instructions aint so clear. and very arkward to work round even for someone with mod install abilities like me.

so option...

yes i have found mods i want, unable to figure out how to make them run at the same time.

[Jockson]

the option i need isn't listed.

some of the mods available have installation apps (they come in .exe form)
some dont. for all those that do then yes they are easily installed but seriously how many shortcuts can one have for one game? is there a way to consolidate all the mods into one game and play all the different content at once?

those that are not executional the install instructions aint so clear. and very arkward to work round even for someone with mod install abilities like me.

so option...

yes i have found mods i want, unable to figure out how to make them run at the same time.

Just learn to use modfolders, there's many tutorials on that. Or to make it even easier use an ARMA launcher. That way you can simply select which mods you want to use at startup.

[fantsu]

I have found everything I need, but the technical help/support forum should be cleaned from useless posts/rants and all the tricks that you might try to get better FPS should be in one post only. Big collection, one part for ATI and one for Nvidia, one for XP users and one for Vista/7 users or something.
They are all messed up.
Search function is quite useless unless you can use telepathy to quess all the magic words to find the things you are looking for. Usually using just 3 or 5 words still give you hundreds of posts and only 1 percent of these might actually give you some answers.

[Thirdup]

I love the mod community here. Some amazing work and dedication.

I do still wish more mods were uploaded/downloaded/extracted in the standardized format.

Sometime you download a mod and it's a .pbo file.
Sometimes it's a folder: Modname>.pbo file
Sometimes it's : Modname>Addons>.pbo file
Sometimes it's: Modname>@Modname>Addons>.pbo

But I have to agree with Mr Burns. I've encountered many games over the years that were a lot worse to deal with in regards to mods.

ACE made things quite simple for delivery and installation of their kit for A1 (truely idiot-proof).

I know Yoma is currently doing some wonderous things with AddonSync (still likely a bit complex for the average user).

Hopefully someday we'll have the option to simply click on a game server we wish to play automatically get sync'ed with of all the mods needed....with one click....no fuss. We have only been asking for that for the past eight years now.

Until then, it can be a complete pain to sort thru at times (for new users and vet players alike).......

[zwobot]

Being a newb in almost any modable game is zhe suxx!

I agree. But it is kind of a nice feeling when the various pieces of the puzzle come together to form a big picture

[Johan S]

Why should new users start looking for mods and start messing with the game right away? They should play the campaign and missions, have fun in the armory, spend some time on the forums learning.

After some months with that you will be pretty knowledgeable of the game and available mods and user content and should not have any problems installing and using them.

[[RIP] Luhgnut]

depends if it's a mission or a mod. Everything get's compiled into a .pbo in the end. What's contained inside the .pbo is the kicker.

Rule of thumb. When you're doing something in the editor and do a normal "SAVE" it goes into your /documents/arma2/missions/<nameofmission> - folder. It's not crushed into a .pbo at that point. It's all the scripts and mission parameters (WITHOUT any required addons.) Most mission builders build with a clean arma2 (meaning they didn't add mods) unless they change the island etc. Then they will tell you either in a readme or on a forum etc, what mods it uses. If it's a MOD and not a mission. I put them in a @<modname> folder. Inside that folder is a subfolder called "Addons". When you launch a mod, it looks into the Addons folder and includes it into the game.

When you SAVE AS SINGLE PLAYER OR MULTIPLAYER mission. It crushes everything in your /documents/arma2/missions/<mission name> folder into a .pbo AND MOVES IT into your /arma2/Missions or /arma2/MPMissions for distribution or play. (Think of it as compiling.) Now it's transportable. Email it, post it, whatever.

If it's exported as a multiplayer map, by doing a "save export" in the editor it get's auto placed (is that a real word? is now.) into your /arma2/MPMissions folder. (You can't edit it.)
If it's single player, it goes into /arma2/Missions - folder.

The originals stay in your /documents/arma2/missions folder "un-compiled" and only used in the editor.

So... to review:
missions = your personal documents/arma2/ folder. (not compiled and editable) playable only in editor preview. (don't do a nub thing and copy a .pbo into your /documents/arma2/missions folder. No .pbo's should be in there.

Missions = \arma2\Missions (single player compiled. editable only when extracting the .pbo with a tool. Don't mess with those yet. That's much later.) (Actually played in the game)
MPMissions = \arma2\MPMissions (Multiplayer) (Same as above)

MODS (content mods, models, sound etc....) goes in /arma2/@modfoldername/Addons
(pay close attention to how it was unzipped. If someone just gives you a file like. mysuckymod.pbo it would really go in.
/arma2/@mysuckymod/Addons/mysuckymod.pbo

GET A ARMA2 LAUNCHER. DON'T bother with the mod folders way. The launchers will build the command line and launch it. I'm lazy. All of them are good. AddonSync is good for multiplayer joining. Watch the video's to learn to set it up.

Hope that helps.