SITREP #00233

SITREP #00233
FROM: High Command
TO: Arma 3 Users
INFO: Creator DLC, Global Mobilization, 1.92 Update
PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

We've got a pretty stacked SITREP for you today, in which we'll discuss Arma 3 Creator DLC, take a brief look at its first entry: Global Mobilization - Cold War Germany, and talk about Arma 3's upcoming 1.92 update. 

INTELLIGENCE

Let's start with the most exciting bit of Arma 3 news from the past week: Arma 3 Creator DLC - which we previously also referred to as third-party DLC. This is a new initiative that we first mentioned on our forums as part of our pitch invitation. Since then, a lot has happened behind-the-scenes; forming a task force, reviewing and selecting pitches, figuring out the best workflows, preparing the necessary paperwork, providing legal assistance, and lots and lots of coordination with our development partners. We've come a long way, and together with its developer Vertexmacht, we're incredibly excited to now roll out the first Creator DLC in the form of Global Mobilization - Cold War Germany. As many of you may be curious to learn more about Creator DLC, we've shared a dedicated blog post last week, in which we describe the concept and explain where we stand now. For more information, we also recommend you to check out the Arma 3 Creator DLC webpage and read through our answers to some of your most Frequently Asked Questions. So far, your support for this initiative has truly been heartwarming for both us and the Creator DLC developers, and we're also grateful for the feedback on things that we need to explain better or look into again. All things considered, it looks like this is going to be a good and fun way of bringing more quality content to the Arma 3 platform, while making it possible for professional outside talent to earn a reward, and enabling ourselves to invest more into Arma's long-term future.  

So, to kick things off, the first Creator DLC will be Global Mobilization - Cold War Germany, which will already be deployed this Monday on April 29 (note: expect it to become available on Steam in the evening hours European time). This DLC will take you to Germany during the 1980s with the 419 km2 Weferlingen Terrain, which is available in both sunny summer and snowy winter versions. It also introduces 42 new vehicles and vehicle variants, 21 new weapons including variants, and a good collection of new character assets. Besides in the Arma 3 sandbox itself, you'll be able to use many of these assets in the DLC's 10-mission singleplayer campaign and 17 co-operative/competitive multiplayer scenarios. Be sure to check out its store page on Steam and the Bohemia Store for more information and screenshots!

As you might already know by now, the Global Mobilization Creator DLC was created by a two-man external development team consisting of Julian Sänger and Lars Transfeld (perhaps better known as Mondkalb and GalComT on our forums). To get to know these tier-one creators a little better, we've decided to bring back our Report In! developer interview series. Go to our website to read the special Report In! Vertexmacht and learn more about these passionate game makers, how they went about the development of this Creator DLC, and to get some of their tips on how to make the most of your own projects!

Before we move onto the next topic of this report (update 1.92), we'd still like to address one of the main concerns people have raised, which relates to Creator DLC being optional to install. A primary reason for this is to keep Arma 3’s base game installation size somewhat reasonable, also for those who do not own or have an interest in particular Creator DLC. However, it does also mean that players who do not own certain Creator DLC cannot join multiplayer servers or play content that makes use of that DLC’s assets (e.g. its terrain or weapons and vehicles). In response to your feedback, we're currently investigating one last potential work-around together with the Vertexmacht team. However, we also want to be careful not to give out any false hope, since this might very well prove not to be a viable option. If it does turn out to be feasible, we should already make clear that it would be unlikely for this to be available for Global Mobilization's release on Monday April 29 (or, again, if at all).

Just to give some more insights into this, we're well aware that the optional installation and the multiplayer split between owners and non-owners it causes is not ideal and we recognize the limitations. After all, this topic has been a driving force behind Arma 3's original DLC strategy to date. Hence we completely understand that it might even be a deal-breaker for some of you running or participating in large multiplayer community groups. It's a trade-off that we had to accept so that installation size doesn't become a barrier to playing the Arma 3 base game for those with limited storage space and slower Internet speeds/data restrictions. This will become even more relevant in the future, which looks to bring even more official and Creator DLC with individual data sizes of potentially tens of GBs.

Besides Arma 3's default installation size, there are also other complicating factors and considerations. For example, having Creator DLC data separate from the base game enables us and the developers to do quicker updates if needed, while these would otherwise be far more complicated to do and delayed as a result. Furthermore, some future DLC might adjust core functionality or require their own scripted functionality (as a Total Conversion) that cannot be supported throughout the platform, plus we have to anticipate that cross-compatibility among future Creator DLC cannot always be guaranteed. Then there are some difficulties related to how ownership is handled on Steam and how our regular Content Licensing system is applied to in-game assets. Also, while this is perhaps a bit more of an arbitrary issue, you can imagine that the content, theme, setting, and visuals of particular Creator DLC might clash with that of regular Arma 3 and/or other Creator DLC. Lastly, as an organisation, we need to consider not only the here and now, but also look into the long-term future and consider whether we'll be able to carry the weight of all the potential maintenance - which, with something as complex as Arma with all of its variables, can quickly take up a lot of our resources.

All in all, we hope this explanation at least helps shed a bit more light on the matter. We very much appreciate how many of you have tried to suggest alternative solutions, even though they may not be possible in practice or may not be feasible given the complexity, infrastructure, available resources, increased overhead, and/or other considerations. Of course, if there will be any update on this, we will make sure to share it with you as soon as possible.

OPERATIONS

Some time ago, we deployed Arma 3's 1.90 update, which re-introduced important multiplayer security improvements and updates to the Warlords MP mode. We added 3 new scenarios, better support for modding, and a big amount of fixes. The multiplayer security improvements, which we originally tried to implement in Arma 3's 1.86 update, have certainly been no easy beast to tame. Various communities still experienced more issues with these improvements, and after some extended testing with several groups we hope to have identified and addressed the bigger issues in follow-up hotfixes. These also contained more diagnostic information for admins to more accurately identify potential configuration or data troubles. Please check this forums thread for a list of further tips. For details you can find the full change logs of the first and second hotfix in the form of the usual SPOTREPs.

We are now getting very close to releasing Arma 3's 1.92 update, so let's take a look at what's included. First up, we've implemented some changes to the Arma 3 Launcher in preparation of the release of our first Creator DLC. Specifically, we've added a DLC tab that makes it possible to load or unload 'optional DLC'. This means you can keep optional DLC data installed on your PC, but still run the game without having them enabled, which especially in the case of a Total Conversion is something that you might want to do. The Launcher does allow users to enable multiple optional DLC, but compatibility is not guaranteed. To complete the new DLC section, we've also listed the traditional 'default DLC' here as an overview. Default DLC is always installed, so you cannot actually disable it.

In a prior update we already introduced technology to support so-called magazine proxies (dynamic weapon magazines). This allows you to load different types of magazines into compatible weapons visually, whereas in the past they were 'baked' into the weapon model. Prior to the 1.92 update this feature was not yet applied to our vanilla weapons, although some mod teams have made good use of it already. In the upcoming 1.92 update however, most vanilla weapons will support this. A simple example is being able to load different color MX magazines into each MX class weapon. There is a small draw-back to this change, but we believe it's overcome by the gameplay flexibility provided. Some character / vehicle / container loadouts have had to be changed with the new magazine classes (e.g. NATO Pacific and Syndikat). If a scenario or scripted system was manipulating those loadouts by script and using class names, that may not work as intended anymore.

Especially recently, we've received quite a few reports regarding the misbehavior of certain players on our official servers, and specifically our Warlords servers. Understandably, this makes it hard for people to enjoy their multiplayer experience. Unfortunately, the solution to this is not as simple as increasing the number of server administrators. We've been working on modest improvements to the server-side votekick system. While some of these may feature in 1.92, a lot of these changes are still experimental. It is possible further improvements will be tested via the special Profiling Branch for server admins. So, while we cannot provide any specifics on when more improvements would be deployed, it is something we're aware of and are looking into.

The RC-Branch for this update has been open for a little while. Here you're able to help us test the main features of the 1.92 update (Creator DLC is not included). The latest additions to the Arma 3 Launcher, magazine proxies, and more, is available for testing. We'd appreciate all the last-minute assistance we can get with testing this update. If you'd like to assist us, make sure you check this post, and join the RC-Branch by using Steam access code: Arma3Update192RC. 

Last discussed in our roadmap update late last year, plenty of you have asked us for a status report on the codename "Old Man" project, which was planned as a free bonus singleplayer scenario for Arma 3 Apex owners and born out of a small internal passion / R&D project. Unfortunately we still cannot offer you concrete information. Many exciting changes are happening within Bohemia and our games, and we constantly have to adjust who can do what, where, and when. This, combined with the complexity of open world scenario design, has meant that we've not yet hit our goals for "Old Man". It's currently yet to be decided how we want to move forward with it, and when we can share more about it, we definitely will.

LOGISTICS

The one and only Ondřej Kužel is the latest Arma 3 development team member featured in the #MeetTheBohemians interview series. In the article, Ondrej talks about life, game development, and what it means to be an Associate Project Lead on a day-to-day basis. It's well worth a read if you're curious about what it's like to work in game development, and in particular, what it's like at Bohemia Interactive!