FROM: Tools Commissar

TO: Arma 3 Modders

MATERIEL CATEGORY: Tools

CIRCUMSTANCES: Update 0.88 (Samples, Binarize, FSM Editor)

SIZE: ~446 MB

STATUS

Even though there were fewer Dev-Branch updates, this release is major and will impact almost all of you. A short note before going through the changes: it is planned to process the reported issues with Terrrain Builder, Object Builder and Buldozer, but because these are complex applications, it will require additional investigations and time.

The new version of Binarize should fix a few reported issues. We hope to provide a more detailed change log later.

Students of the school of modding will be happy to find major new Samples. The art department has prepared some templates to enable you to create your own skins of the Marksmen weapons. These templates are stored in Samples_F\MarksmenDLC_Textures, as 7z archives*. Please, be aware that the uncompressed data weighs in at around 1 GB. The sources are sorted by weapon and each weapon has as many PSDs as texture sources. Speaking of modding, we believe it's in the interest of modders to make sure their mod is presented well, with all relevant information. We have prepared a sample of Mod Presentation, including readme and other text information. Said sources are obviously available at Arma 3 Tools\Samples, but you can also consult the packed and published version in the Steam Workshop. Finally, the sample of Character has been buffed with further documentation, and new property buoyancy has been introduced to all samples of vehicles.

Some weeks ago, FSM Editor was reintroduced to the tools suite. Now, it's actively under development. It has received a new search feature, which allows for full-text search in the FSM file. You can use it both in the node titles or the node code. This tool's page on the Community Wiki has been updated to include the shortcut list.

Next up is Publisher; it received a few improvements. Most remarkable are the detection of corrupted mods (just after the upload process) and from now onwards, the logs are stored in the default log directory (Arma 3 Tools\Logs). A small change that may impact a lot of entries: the "Addon" tag has been removed from Publisher and the Steam Layer.

With the previous main branch update (0.86), the prototype interface for ImageToPAA was introduced. This is now the default interface. Support for TGA files has been implemented and it's now able to perform a few checks across the file list to be processed. The old version of the interface is still available in the ImageToPAA directory as imageToPaaGUI_legacy.exe, until the next stable update (0.90).

In closing, we'd like to thank you again for your feedback, which is very important to us. Even if we don't always have the time to reply to all of you, we read and process your reports. Feel free to share feedback on our official channels: Feedback Tracker & the forums.

* To limit the impact on slower connections and decrease the download time, we are considering changing the distribution method of the samples.

CHANGELOG

Samples Added: Sample of mod presentation (a packed version of this sample can be found in the Workshop) Added: PSD sources to create skins of the Marksmen weapons (packed into 7z archives, see Arma 3 Tools\Samples_F\MarksmenDLC_Textures) Added: Explanation of camouflage added to the Character sample Added: buoyancy property to the models

FSM Editor Added: Search toolbar for full-text search Fixed: The hints were not displayed properly in the status bar

Binarize New version

Publisher Added: Now detects if a freshly published item is corrupt Added: Validation of the length of text in bytes for the Name, Description and Change notes fields Changed: The logs are now stored in Arma 3 Tools\Logs with the other log files Removed: Tag and pre-made picture for "Addon" from Publisher and the Steam Layer

Game Updater Changed: Improved Steam communication Changed: Method to store user information Tweaked: Base code reworked a little

FuturaToP Added: Support for Karts and Helicopters DLCs data Fixed: False positive error 6 when the A3 directory was not present in the destination directory Removed: Usage of lock file

Arma3GU (part of Game Updater) Changed: Base code improved Changed: Now uses .NET 4.5.1 Framework (instead of 4.0) Changed: General aspect of the interface

ImageToPaa Added: Extended support for the Targa (.TGA) file format (preview and file information) Added: The size of the preview, in the form "Details", can be changed Added: The preview dialog can be closed by pressing 'C' Added: Logger (log is stored in Arma 3 Tools\Logs) Added: Ability to check some basics on the file list to process Changed: The interface prototype has been promoted to be the default interface Changed: The old interface has been renamed to ImageToPAAGUI_Legacy.exe Changed: The background color of the preview has been changed from grey to lime green Fixed: Minor issues in the interface

CfgConvert Changed: Better error report

WaveToWss Changed: The frequency value cannot be set to any value higher than 44.1 Khz

Steam configuration Added: FSM Editor entry Changed: Incremented version to reflect the current stage (0.88) Removed: "Uninstall directive" to prevent potential crashes during the verification of data (from Steam)



NOTES