Magnum50

Never been into making or designing my own missions for any game, heck...hardly have time to play them as much as I would like as is...


But with Armed Assault, I have too many ideas, and too many goals, so want to learn the basics first of mission designing, not the tactical aspect, I'm pretty well hearsed on that but mainly the know how of using the editor...


Is there any document or guide out there for getting started with the mission editor, kind of like a tutorial lesson or something?


I would like to get the basics down first, to make simple missions to go along with my tactical briefs... basically infantry squad level at first, 9 players...2 teams of 4 plus the squad leader calling the shots... then will move up to adding support forces etc ect... Then learn the advance stuff later as I "grow".

__________________
Magnum
www.gettacticaldammit.com

Chappie

Mag,

if you check out www.ofpec.com they have alot of info. on mission making. Most if not all of it is for OFP...but it applies to ArmA as well. They have tutorials there too.

Plus the guys in the forums are friendly and will help with your questions.

Good luck,

Chappie

__________________


"I am the prettiest african-american, vietnamese..cong..person." -SugarNCamo 3/22/06'

Chappie

here's a link for some basic OFP tutorials that are relevant to Arma.
http://www.ofpec.com/ed_depot/tutes.php

have at it!!!

Chappie

__________________


"I am the prettiest african-american, vietnamese..cong..person." -SugarNCamo 3/22/06'

Magnum50

Thx... use to visit that site alot years ago... thought it went under, glad to see it's back and thx.

__________________
Magnum
www.gettacticaldammit.com

Shiner

Some of those tutorials are very nice. I would also suggest getting a pbo extractor from the "tools" section. You can use this to extract any mission from the pbo into a folder. Place the folder into "My Documents/Arma Other Profiles/User/Missions/" and then you can open the mission in the editor to see what makes it tick.

__________________

TheBigC

The biggest thing to remember in ArmA versus OFP is that there is soo much more that is script oriented, in my opinion. The above mentioned links gives you some ideas to decompile missions that are currently made. What I have found works is to unpack a mission and go though it with a fine tooth comb. By doing this you can see what tons of people have done before you as for creating missions. You also get to see how things really “tick” If you would like I would be more than glad to send you some of my missions to get ideas on how to do certain things.


But there are a couple files that you have to become familiar with so you can make a missions:

mission.sqm This is the main file that translates in text placement of units, triggers and markers that you created graphically in the editor.

briefing.html This is exactly what it says. This is the briefing screen (in html format) that says what the objectives are and any notes. This is a locally made file you have to do outside the editor.

description.ext This is a file that tell the server the parameters for the mission (max players etc) It also tells how to deal with respawn, intros and outros to run.

init.sqs This is a little script that tells you how the parameters are set for variable time/weather are given at the main lobby menu

*.ogg Is usually a music file that is converted to something ArmA recognizes

*.sqs/sqf These are all the sexy scripts that enhance the mission. They range from camera view options, enhanced AI actions, Air strikes, Artillery, etc. You can use other people work, the creators normally encourage it as long as you give them credit.


Once you have all the above files in place, you than normally can either “pack” them or have the editor do it if they are stored in the proper folder. It will create a *.pbo file that is the end creation for playing on the server.


A simple mission can be done fairly quickly, but once your imagination takes over it will take a while. Plus if you are like the rest of us, we want the perfect mission to be produced, that takes time to get everything translated from your head to the actual mission that is playable.

__________________

The Meek shall inherit the earth..... after we're through with it!

The Wounded Warrior Project, help support my friends

TheBigC

Here some good links to start with:

BI Wiki- mission editing

Chris' Script editor and simple interface editor for briefings and other required files

OFP Mission development Enviroment. This compresses/decompresses files and allows you to edit all files.

That is pretty much all you need as far as downloads to make a smoking mission...

__________________

The Meek shall inherit the earth..... after we're through with it!

The Wounded Warrior Project, help support my friends