As we have seen just this week, there are several new Mods that look very interesting. It would be great to give them a try. Of course the problem then is, which ones, when, who decides, do we have any missions that use the features of the Mod, how is the Mod added to Arma 3, etc.

There is a blizzard of Mods on Armaholic now, I'd suggest that now is a good time to setup a process, so that quality Mods can be suggested to the SimHQ group for use in the Sunday and Monday games. That way they could be examined before adopting them to ensure they are reasonably free of serious bugs and deliver whats promised. If they pass, everyone could be advised in advance, so Mission makers could change missions or create new ones. An implementation date could be announced and instructions on getting and installing the Mod could be published in advance, etc.

I volunteer to do the Admin work on this, posts, etc, if thats needed. I don't know who would evaluate the mods, there are lots of people here with a good knowledge of Arma 3 and Mods. But I do see that an organized process is needed soon for adopting Mods. Whats everybody think ?

Prof: In terms of testing and implementing mods my 2 cents would be:

Suggest ArmA3 Sync for people who start to use mods (esp the new guys); you can create groups such as SimHQ Mod test with the addons we want to look at:

ArmA3 Sync

Suggest interesting client side mods people might like: i.e. sounds mods like JSRS (JSRS Link) or Speed of Sound (Speed of Sound Link)

In terms of testing mods for the normal SimHQ ArmA3 use; especially Military Mondays I think that Serious Sundays would be a good testing venue as there are less people and most of the Serious Sunday crowd are pretty up to speed on the mods that are out there and which ones are quality.

Mods which might add value to use IMHO would be:
-RH M4 (RH M4)
-F/A-18 Mod (F/A-18 Link)
-ArmA2 Map Pack Recently ported (Ported Map Pack) *Fridge has a Torrent link to this in another thread which is a quicker download

Other possibles which are quite good quality:
-French weapon pack (R3F)
-MK18 weapon Pack MK18 Weapon Pack
Sabres USMC and US Army Unit retextures: USMC and US Army US Army

what we did with SHQ One was take suggestions by the regular players (either day) then throw in a couple of "admin favs", the admins (me,ads,tao) would then test them localy and if they were bug free/looked good enough/worked for us, they'd be put on a list. From that list we'd seek permission from the author to have them included in either an all-in-one download or separate file hosted on the SHQ servers (so we all have the same version if they update it).


There has been a couple of good mods come out, and i've been looking at all of em, just need to put em together. I can tell you now though that if its "work in progress" (so its got 1 gun at the mo, but theres gonna be 12 added soon etc) it wont be considered.

Also we've done it so people can run just about any client side mod they want so long as it isn't cheating etc etc

And dont worry about testing/leg work. I did that for the last SHQ One and have no issues in doing it all again

I agree with you prof that we should be looking at mods to enhance our game play (I know there are certainly a few that I have been playing with).

The simple fact of the matter is that most of these mods are still very much a work in progress and as a result are not ready to be used by us yet. Take RH M4 pack or the Canadian forces mod: Both of them have some great features now but things like sound and especially recoil are not yet up to a standard that is useful. The other issue is that with the state of most of the mods now we would need to update any mod pack we use about once every month just to keep up with the updates.

Its only been a few months since the game release. Give some time for the modding community to create their content and get it all polished up. When that happens meatsheld better be ready for the onslaught of testing

I see four different types of mods:

1: Units - Mods that add units or reskins of units. eg: the Canadian Forces Mod, The F/A-18, Nimitz, etc.
2: Terrain - Mods that add new locations. eg: Arma 3 Map Pack, etc.
3: Gameplay - May not be the best named category but this would include anything that modifies how the game operations. Eg: AI mods, Medic mods, etc.
4: Mission - Mods that aid mission designers. Eg: ALiVE etc.

Units and Terrain should be a relatively simple matter of waiting until they become stable and testing that they work together. Gameplay may be a bit more complex as changing the Arma 3 systems means communicating the new systems to users and changing how they use them. Mission mods may have to be included earlier than the others, even during Alpha/Beta as mission designers need feedback on how those missions using those mods work (I'm thinking here of the ALiVE mod, specifically).

Sounds and client site mods (ie: mods that can exist on the client side as aesthetic choices of the users) are different.

I am surprised at the amount of stuff out there so quickly after the release of Arma 3. It is quite impressive and it would be a shame not to take advantage. Of course, it might also be a shame if we bury ourselves too :-)

Prof, you are right. Several packages are shaping up well and could be worthwhile. Meatsheild overviews the testing/review process we've used in the past, and will probably use again. And as ever, input from players is valued. I like to have extra intel on whether something maybe useful, or broken, or problematic.

I tend to be a stick in the mud, wanting to wait for a very polished final release, with minimum update hoop-jumping, before asking players to commit to an addon. I also have really enjoyed the version stability of the SimHQ hosted addons over the past few years in Arma2. More than a few times I have been told by occasional players that the simplicity of the system lets them get back into multiplayer action with ease.

There are a couple of these addons that I need to check in with again, see how they are progressing.

I would love some small arms+optics mods. I think the biggest problem will be compatibility. I'm not sure if these mods use different values for 5.56mm, but the 5.56mm currently in the game probably isn't as effective as it should be. Also, previous weapons packs have had compatibility problems with the stock optics.

It doesn't help when BIS buffs body armour to make even 6.5mm useless.

Yeah, it makes me kinda miss Arma2 actually.



The Jedi Master

It's good to see this topic being discussed; and I'll just reiterate what everyone so far has said. For me, Mods are what make Arma...well, Arma.

That being said I do believe that we need to keep it simple (as we have in the past). New terrains/units are always a welcomed addition, and don't add side-effect like instability/FPS issues.

Leaving client-side mods up to the user works well as we're pretty much strictly a co-op group, and everyone has their own personal taste

Hopefully BIS will work out the quirks with the AI/armor (and other issues); so mods aren't pretty much required just to give us a chance lol

Ok i've checked out my little list and heres what i've come up with a couple that i'd really like to see,

China's PLA = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=19913

I'm thinking of Opfor only for these guys, they use retextured opfor stuff but it looks far more "real" than the digi bugs of the CSAT. And more beliveable to boot!

F18 = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=22594

Cos blowing stuff up with a plane is just fun and it'll add air support to missions.

Now for some "oooo me likey!" mods which are pretty much just infantry and are WIP still:

R3F French Weapons Pack = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=20128
Polish Armed Forces Mod = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=22864 (really nice! inf are fully useable)
Russians = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=18836 (really nice AKs, but limited use really)

I'm personaly not to sure on the RH or FHQ stuff, it just seems rushed and unpolished. Yes i know i'm prolly being picky, but if its not up to at least stock standards or really usefull, then its put aside.

Here's another one that deserves a look. It's porting over many of the better vehicles and guns from Arma 2 : http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?169068-ASM-Arma-Samples-Mod . I get the feeling it's not really ready yet, but at some point I think we would all love to have the vehicles, guns and maps from Arma 2 again.

RobertHammer has stated that his recoils are final for the M4s (and personally I find them to be pretty realistic, but I know this isn't the thread for that). Historically, he hasn't had any interest in changing the sounds from what he's originally released (I've asked multiple times), so for the most part, his addon is as complete as it will be (except maybe the MK12 bipod).

If it's not desired because of the above reasons, I get it, but saying it's not desired because it's incomplete is probably isn't true.



With the release of the Universal Rail system, a lot of the attachments and optics move around pretty well now. I'm also a big fan of RobertHammer's MK262 round that's in his M4 pack. It's a much more useful 5.56 round than the vanilla.

Well being able to swap the accessories around is one thing, but there were problems with external ballistics when you took a stock optic and put it on a RH 5.56mm weapon. The BDCs simply don't work.

I'm not sure if the 6.5mm and 7.62mm have the same ballistics because the MXs and EBR both seem to work with the optics included. Even GREENFOR's 5.56mm weapons line up.

I really liked the RH M4 package. If I had a short list of possible SimHQ addons, right now it would be #1.

What I have been concerned about is whether the released Arma2 model community addon materials may come along later that could offer better function/integration/etc. with Arma3. Once you commit to an addon and build a library of missions that support it, there's nothing worse (IMO) than going back and rebuilding the library due to a later change.

I think that's a really good point. I know my inclination is to want to try something, but that really does mean adopt it, not really just trying it, because you have to have the missions that support the mod and everyone else needs the mod just to try it. So every Mod that we adopt needs to be thought about, carefully for the above reason.

I think the best start for us is, at the very least, getting the ported arma 2 maps when the full release comes out. With those alone we can make a whole host of new missions.

Also, I know that its gameplay effect is not that huge but the Nimitz would be nice to have:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=23049


I propose that we should stick all these mods that we are interested in on a list. That way we can keep track of it all.

I'd started to make a list, I was going to ask tomorrow at the IF session if I should post it. Probably is a good idea.

My updated list:-

CBA = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=18767
Russians = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=18836
China's PLA = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=19913
Polish = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=22864
RH m4/m16 = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=23277
R3F weapons pacl = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=20128
F/A-18 = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=22594
A3MP = http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=23863

My thinking=

Russians + PLA for someone new to shoot at, and the the russian camo just fits right into chern. I'm also sick of looking at the stupid CSAT uniform/camo
Polish units for the desert camo for takistan/zargabad. Its also really well done all round.
RH m4/m16 pack, beacuse the new update (which i missed) makes the recoil way better (last time i tried em they didnt have any!)
R3F weapons pack, for the m249/AT4/m107 and i'm sure we could find a use for the HK416/HK417
F/A-18, for air support


The only thing that bugs me with the above list, is A3MP, whilst the maps are fully playable, CBA leaves a nice little black rectangle which can be distracting, and the lights dont work at night .. but if people are fine with those little bugs then it can be included.

Also tyco, i know you want the carrier, but i dont think we've ever really use it

So what do people think of that? suggestions??

Other than as a helicopter/airplane origin/destination, no :-)

I gotta' say, the idea of beginning a mission from the deck of a carrier sounds pretty cool. Even if there's was nothing to it beyond that. =)