Alpha modding, what help will we get?

So I'm very excited for the Alpha and very happy we are allowed to make mods. What I'm asking is will we see sample models or any tutorials on how to take advantage of new features like customizing weapons/soldiers or physx, or hands moving with the steering wheel and every vehicle modders wet dream, RTT?

<3, Slatts

Mr. fluttershy would like to know as well. The point "Modding" can be spanned really really wide in consideration of Arma 2, or really really small.... please do not make it small BI.

I can't wait to see what you guys make and come up with!! Partly why I love pc, mods mods mods

So I'm very excited for the Alpha and very happy we are allowed to make mods. What I'm asking is will we see sample models or any tutorials on how to take advantage of new features like customizing weapons/soldiers or physx, or hands moving with the steering wheel and every vehicle modders wet dream, RTT?

<3, Slatts

It has been said in the past that the attachments on weapons are proxies. I would guess that you slap a proxy on instead of a sight, and that the config contains some extra entries that classify the type/name/etc of the attachment point.

It will be exiting to snoop around with the config browser :)

Not sure how much accessibility we will have. Especially with the Soldiers and Characters.

Not sure how much accessibility we will have. Especially with the Soldiers and Characters.

Yep. Plus BIS didn't release any a2/oa standard vehicle or building (or full documentation) in 3+ years. So I'm carefully optimistic at the best.

Since Modding is advertised directly on the sales page I'd expect a little more than just "modding capability" though.

i presume RTT hand on wheel animation or IK etc will be like TOH and theres already a well documented sample model for that

so it will remain to be seen about Phys x example and any texture changes .

Yep. Plus BIS didn't release any a2/oa standard vehicle or building (or full documentation) in 3+ years. So I'm carefully optimistic at the best.

Since Modding is advertised directly on the sales page I'd expect a little more than just "modding capability" though.

Fully agreed.

Fingers crossed we get something :)

As if they would give away the modding tools for the Alpha! I doubt that seeing how they desperately trying to get money from 3 different Alpha packages. :confused:

Until now the tools were only released after the game release, often months later. And somehow I guess it will be the same here too, maybe even after some DLCs were sold. Community addons eventually reduce the amount of DLCs which is not wanted. In worst case they charge us with 30 Euros for the tools. Impossible this is not.

I'm not expecting a whole tool-set until after the full release. What I would want for the Alpha however is at least a working PBO unpacker, mainly so I can inspect the new crazy sharp textures and materials to see how they have been improved, so that I can adjust my own work to the new standards. Configs are always of interest as well.

I'm not expecting a whole tool-set until after the full release. What I would want for the Alpha however is at least a working PBO unpacker, mainly so I can inspect the new crazy sharp textures and materials to see how they have been improved, so that I can adjust my own work to the new standards. Configs are always of interest as well.

There still isn't much about the tools. I HIGHLY doubt we will get them during the Alpha like you said. We probably will be able to use our current pbo viewer / de-pbo programs to unpack the pbos (hopefully) if not you can always use Eliteness (or at least try it, it seems to always work).

Dev said they will try to have documentation to help people to use their current tools to creat content for the time being, but there is a lots of "if" in it.

I expect the pbos to be fully locked just like the DLC ones. That would mean we can not suit ourself anymore, so I hope we actually get "support" in modding.

Also I want to remind you of this BIS article in which Maruk stated:

Similarly' date=' as with Arma 1 content, we are going to release Arma 2 content in source form to make it easy to create and distribute various user based addons for our games based on it.[/quote']

Also I want to remind you of this BIS article in which Maruk stated:

Well that article was writen almost two years ago, at that time steam wasn't involved in arma 3 like they are now, i really fear that they say: "well things have changed and we wont support modding like we have done on other arma games." But i still doubt they will do that ;)

Not sure how much accessibility we will have. Especially with the Soldiers and Characters.

Custom hand anims for weapons will probably also be quite different from now, especially for reloading. Magazines can't just vanish anymore. So yeah, I hope they do release some sample models or there's going to be lot of unnecessary detective work.

As if they would give away the modding tools for the Alpha! I doubt that seeing how they desperately trying to get money from 3 different Alpha packages. :confused:

Until now the tools were only released after the game release, often months later. And somehow I guess it will be the same here too, maybe even after some DLCs were sold. Community addons eventually reduce the amount of DLCs which is not wanted. In worst case they charge us with 30 Euros for the tools. Impossible this is not.

Tools came well weeeeell before any DLC was hinted at (BAF etc.) And when BAF and PMC came along you still had mod teams making those factions. Modding was in full swing, Yet they still sold well. Plus if they charged us for tools it wouldn't just be shooting themselves in the foot..be almost like taking a chunk from your brain.

But this is Arma 3 and the Alpha were modding is "encouraged", So DnA, while you're here ;)

No they will not be locked like A2 DLCs, but the EULA does apply :)

That's nice. Any news on some sample contents released, of course less generous than the ARmA1 but more close to the OFP sample models release, as a modder support ? Reverse engineenring based on sample models is still the best way to help modders.

as long as there are just additions to what we have feature-wise i think the old tools will work. if not i'm sure we'll get an updated version.

what we really need are proper animation/weighting tools or at least plugins for common 3rd party tools like Maya. i can't stress enough how the lack of proper tools to create totally new characters has to be eliminated. look at arma 2 custom units. there's barely anything that's not using arma 1 sample models or jo's old SF stuff. the need to weight models in oxygen is just not cool! it really has to change.

some key features that are really needed are.

- weighting/skinning in 3rd party applications (Maya/3dsMax plugins and a full skeleton in Maya/3dsMax)

- export plugins for animations from Maya/3dsMax

why we can't just get what BI is using is beyond me. i refuse to believe that anyone at BI is using what they provided us with. it's really horrible.

i'm really praying for this since it would be a game changer. but i'm not expecting anything. i absolutely get that they don't want to release all their models in editable format. but not giving us proper tools to make our own quality stuff after all this time? :mad:

another sensible topic is visitor 3. since there's already a better version available for money i wouldn't expect anything ground breaking in this department. maybe it would be good to release the source code of visitor 3 to enable the community to improve it. there are already a lot of tools that can be used alongside it but it's still a pain to make big terrains with lots objects.

some key features that are really needed are.

- road smoothing (faster and more effective)

- road placement (faster and more effective)

- mass object placement (like forests)

- proper terrain manipulation (brushes are needed instead of the weird stuff we have now)

well anyways. i think if they want to advertise with modding support than they have to step it up. just having something isn't enough. and in most cases we just need proper plugins for 3rd party stuff.

Edit: i know i kind of missed the topic but this is something that makes me go. sorry :o. i spend a lot of time with the above stuff and compared to other engines i worked with the limits of making content for arma are really the tools not the engine itself like some people sometimes say.

No they will not be locked like A2 DLCs, but the EULA does apply :)

Great to hear!

That's great but i wonder if ArmA 3 supports colour specular maps and also if they updated shaders to read better baked normal maps

I'm more interested in map making! Want to get my hands on anything so I can start. :D

I'm more interested in map making! Want to get my hands on anything so I can start. :D

From all the information we have if you purchase the alpha you will be able to have access to the full mission editor.

From all the information we have if you purchase the alpha you will be able to have access to the full mission editor.

Does the full mission editor include tools to create your own islands? For example if I wanted to remake Chernarus (as an example) could I do that on ARMA, or would I need to use different software?