T2K Arma II Mod Planning

[vihkr]

From the other thread on the possible game title...

This thread is for ideas and planning of what the Arma II mod for T2000 would look like. We'd need to spec out the gameplay, the add-ons we use, and the original mission from T2000 we'd base the mission on.

I suggested Arma II Operation Arrowhead as it's cheap and easy for modding. Arma 3 would look better but the mods are not as mature yet (for the types of things we'd need to do) and performance may be an issue for potential players with slower computers. If I'm off-base here, convince me and we'll go Arma 3.

Which mission do we use from the original books and Challenge?

List of add-ons, mods, scripts, etc. is here: http://www.armaholic.com/list.php?c=arma2_oa_files

Let's start a list of the must-have add-ons and scripts.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

I don't recall if it was around for ARMA II but the canteen mod for ARMA III would be a good add-on to combat fatigue and if you could get rid of the zombies from the Day Z mod, you'd have a decent basis for a more survival flavoured game.

[vihkr]

Thanks Stainless, that one looks good. There are some other fatigue and "survival" related mods I was looking at as well. In fact, I'm starting to lean heavily in the Arma 3 direction due to the dearth of suitable add-ons for that version. I think my initial assessment to go with A2 was incorrect.

In addition, if I'm actually going to commit the time to doing this, I think it would make sense to target the latest version.

With regards to versions, i saw this thread http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=529 and I believe v1 T2K is the winner so I'll be proceeding with appropriate units for that alternate history timeline.

Summary to date:

• Arma 3 Platform
• T2K v1 timeline
• Canteen and other survival elements mods
• First mission will be co-op adaptation of Escape From Kalisz
• Can use Bystrica and Bukovina maps for Eastern Euro flavour
• Polish, Soviet, US, British and German units (incl. vehicles) from Cold War Rearmed and/or CUP
• Marauders from guerillas, hunters and farmers in CUP
• Civilians, predators and game animals from CUP

[StainlessSteelCynic]

ARMA III definitely has more available for it in terms of special mods e.g. the canteen mod but also things like weapon sight swaying (something that annoys the hell out of me in most FPS games because it's usually vastly out of proportion to reality), weapon sight zoom (something else I find particularly annoying in FPS games is the crappy way that they implement using iron sights, the sights are typically too damned big for the sight picture and obscure the target, ARMA has usually been far better for this but the iron sights are often so small you can't see if you're actually on target!)

Plus they have all the other bits & pieces like firing from vehicles, towing vehicles and so on. That and the modding community is probably more active for ARMA III than it is for II, just look at the workshop on Steam, new mods are still being posted even as I type this!

[Silent Hunter UK]

Definitely some of the Cold War mods will be needed. I already have ARMA II but would have to buy ARMA III, so I'd prefer the former.

[vihkr]

Originally Posted by Silent Hunter UK

Definitely some of the Cold War mods will be needed. I already have ARMA II but would have to buy ARMA III, so I'd prefer the former.

I've done a thorough look at the mods available for ARMA 3 and ARMA II. The thing is that ARMA 3 was designed specifically to move away from the usual NATO vs. Russia story and portray a war in the future, circa 2030. There are few, if any mods for Cold War. Sure you can re-purpose the ARMA II content from Cold War to ARMA 3 (the CUP series of mods), but then you get a newer engine with 7 year-old models and textures and it ends up looking like ARMA II, anyway. Creating custom mods with skins and the like is SUPER time consuming.

The newer RHS http://www.rhsmods.org/ mods for ARMA 3 bring some of the Cold War equipment in high-res and concentrate on Modern Russian and American forces, but leave out a lot of the interesting things, like bandits and the like. There are also no complete mod packs for all the other nationalities likely to be fighting, like Cold War Polish, West Germans, etc.

These guys finally released the magnum opus of Cold War mods, but it was for ARMA II: http://cwr2.arma2.fr/ They state quite clearly that they will never port to ARMA 3. However, it's really wild, the detail they put into. Every imaginable vehicle, unit and weapon, minus a few that no-one's really going to miss.

There is also a differential in the types of gameplay mods for both systems. I've tested a bunch and the ARMA 3 mods for the types of features we'd need for post-apoc gaming, and it's generally superior to ARMA II.

Porting bits of DayZ is not an option, really, due to the hive system.

So, go with ARMA II and concentrate on the story and enjoy a full suite of units for Cold War already in place? But suffer the older gameplay and graphics?

Or, go with ARMA 3 and try to cobble together the skins and units, but enjoy superior graphics, gameplay and mods?

I thought I had made a decision, but with more research, I've reached an impasse.