FROM: Tools Commissar

TO: Arma 3 Modders

MATERIEL CATEGORY: Tools

CIRCUMSTANCES: Update 0.94 (Terrain Processor, Samples, Game Updater, Addon Builder)

SIZE: ~6 MB / ~1.5 GB

STATUS

In SITREP #00118, we shared our plans to separate the Samples from the Tools. These changes have now gone live. The Samples library keeps growing! Since some people want to access either just the samples or the tools, they're now available via a new Steam application: Arma 3 Samples. Arma 3 owners will find it directly in their Steam library (Filter: Tools), whereas others will need to first subscribe (for free) through the Steam store. One of the most important points to notice is that the samples will be removed very soon from the development branch of the tools (first half of September), and then from the main branch with the next update. Everything you need to know is written up in this forums topic.

An upcoming related change is the removal of the licensed data packages from Arma 3 Tools (they were in a gigantic dedicated branch). If you are using this branch, we highly recommend you to move its contents to another location (to avoid having to re-download). Obviously, the packages will still be available from our website.

Terrain Processor is the newcomer in the tools family. This is an application for making mass changes and additions to Arma terrains edited in Terrain Builder. It focuses primarily on fast object population of areal or linear topologies. In brief, this tool can be used to add thousands of objects to an existing Arma terrain project, based on geographic data. The outputs of Terrain Processor need to be imported to Terrain Builder. It was created in order to allow Arma developers to use some geographic data to quickly prototype terrains and automate some (otherwise tedious) tasks, e.g. placing several hundreds of thousands of trees in a forest. When set up correctly, the existing modules may help terrain designers to save plenty of work time by populating terrains with forests, linear vegetation or other randomly placed objects, by leveling terrain under roads, or by adding small randomization to the terrain mesh. Terrain Processor does not replace manual work and 'artistic fine tuning', but it may serve terrain designers as a tool for the rapid creation of a solid basis for their manual editing. You can find more information in this topic, in the documentation or in the demo project included in the samples (Arma 3 Samples\Tools\Terrain_Processor).

Game Updater, the tool used to install and maintain multiple branches at the same time, received an interesting update. Provided you configured it properly with the appropriate access code, Game Updater is now able to install and maintain the RC (Release Candidate) and Legacy branches. The first is available a short time before an update of the main branch and allows you to test your mods and scenarios with the upcoming update. The latter allows you to compare what changed from an update to another and verify potential issues.

Next up is some information about how your mods are packed. As you may already know, File Bank has the possibility to exclude files and directories (e.g. sources, technical notes, etc.) through an exclusion file which contains patterns of what is to be excluded. Prior to this update, Addon Builder was using the default exclusion file from File Bank. From now on, Addon Builder will let you define a custom exclusion file from the Options form. Note that this feature is not yet available while using the command-line mode but it should appear soon in the development branch.

As per usual, the above report is just a high light on the major points of this update. The most curious of you will find all changes in the change log, which now contains two categories: Tools and Samples. In case you would like to share your feedback or report an issue, the forums and Feedback Tracker are at your disposal.

CHANGELOG

TOOLS:

SAMPLES:

Addons Added: Content from Arma 3 Tools

Art Added: Content from Arma 3 Tools

Content Licensing Added: Content from Arma 3 Tools

Programming Added: Content from Arma 3 Tools

Scenario Design Added: Content from Arma 3 Tools

Tools Added: Demo project for Terrain Processor



NOTES