SITREP #00048

reported by Joris-Jan van 't Land on March 18, 2014

FROM: Project Lead
TO: Arma 3 Users
INFO: 'Win' release, Terrain Builder, Object IDs
PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Thursday is the day we will finally deliver the complete "The East Wind" campaign. We made the commitment to bring you three episodes, and we're glad to now make good on that. Combined, we think the episodes produce for a worthy singleplayer experience. Don't forget to explore beyond the primary objectives. There are side objectives that expand on the goings-on, e.g. when patrolling away from your camps.

And there's lots more in the 1.14 "Win" update:

  • To-199 Neophron CSAT CAS jet
  • A-164 Wipeout NATO CAS jet
  • Tempest CSAT heavy truck with variants (transport, fuel, repair, ammo, etc.)
  • Altis Points Of Interest: Ghost Hotel compound and Stadium
  • 13 new music tracks in the Soundtrack Bonus folder for (Digital) Deluxe Edition owners

We hope you'll enjoy experimenting with the sandbox content and playing through the full campaign! Our team is now turning its gaze back onto Arma 3 Zeus, prepping it for release in the coming weeks.

INTELLIGENCE

Terrain modders will be glad to hear we can finally release our terrain tool, which we've renamed Terrain Builder (formerly Visitor). This is the version we use internally for the most part. As it's not yet fully tested outside of our office environment, there may be issues with this initial release. It should however be a big step forward for creating custom terrains.

One significant change this version of TB brings with it is the introduction of static object IDs. Until now these IDs would often get regenerated when we updated Stratis and Altis. With this change, any placed object should retain its ID forever. We would still recommend not relying on these IDs in your scenarios or scripts, but realize some advanced applications cannot be handled differently. The environments included with the 1.14 update are using this technology already.

At the same time, we're renaming Oxygen to Object Builder, making the Arma 3 Tools suite more consistent. One more addition, based on popular demand, is the P-drive. This simple batch file should create a virtual drive with all necessary components for Buldozer viewer in Object Builder. Later we would like to make setting up the viewer more straightforward.

Achievement Unlocked! Yes, we've added 5 Steam Achievements to Arma 3. They are all campaign-related and basically give you bragging rights for completing the episodes. Don't worry about us adding a lot of typical shooter achievements. We don't think many of these fit the style of Arma (e.g. Kill 50 enemies using headshots!). There are other types of achievements which we do believe can work, such as those rewarding the use of the editor and Steam Workshop. We are also taking into account the results of a survey we ran about achievements and other online services a long time ago.

OPERATIONS

There are many more changes to Altis than the new keypoint locations! There is a set of new objects to enrich the immersion, as well as lots of fixed Feedback Tracker issues. Environment Lead Martin Pezlar gives us the run-down in a new OPREP.

LOGISTICS

Designer Karel Mořický and programmer Filip Sádovský continue to wrap up their work on the initial Zeus release. Recently, they have changed the (mouse) control scheme to follow the industry standard for Real-Time Strategy. This was also needed to allow for context-sensitive waypoint placement on objects for example. Some of the controls can be mapped in the options, and you may need to reset or remap them if you've tried Zeus previously. Their most-recent work is less visible: it was time to prepare the content for translation.