First and foremost, before I get into the updates that are coming up to AFAR and other projects, my Blue Yeti microphone died last week. Because of that, no streams or videos are planned to be posted this week. However, a whole set of brand new high quality recording equipment is coming in later this week. Once received, I'll be back to streaming Arma code around 12am CST (UTC -06:00). A few quick easy tutorial videos will come also. (HandleRating, ArsenalClosed, forEach, different types of EventHandlers, etc.)



I had been focusing on other projects for a while now, but have started making AFAR a primary focus again to push out version 0.99; the version which rewrites everything to work with OnEachFrame eventhandlers. It'll also introduce more functionality, quality of life changes, much needed fixes, and even some memory leak fixes. (Many non-private local variables)

All of the code is being cleaned up to negate memory leaks and improve functionality of what the code is trying to achieve, such as replacing the "r_f" global variable with an object variable to allow the deleteAt command to properly clear out the array of radio noise. (DeleteAt does not work well on global variables)

Obviously, the focus will be to fix all major issues introduced with the new rewrite, clean it up, and then post the released update. There's no ETA, since I'm always wrong, but "soon" is my estimation -- maybe a few weeks. If that release goes smoothly, I will promptly start on the long awaited addon version. (Scripted version will always be supported as well)


To those of you who've watched the streams live or recorded playbacks in the Streams playlist on my channel, you've already seen the progress made on the inventory system, hunting, new usable items added, introduction of AI settlement spawning for up to 4 different factions, server & player caching, and more.

It's also obvious everything is pretty rough around the edges. Although everything works, there are bugs and the code is messy. The goal is to simply have all the features I want in this project included and working to some degree -- polishing will come later. I already know of a few massive optimizations I can do, but they'll have to wait. Right now, I am just determined to add functional features that aren't totally broken. The inventory system, so far, has been the most difficult one to write, but it's finally working -- to some extent -- as I had envisioned it. Like I said, it's buggy, ugly, and incomplete. But, we're getting there!

It started out as just a fun challenge to code a totally addon-free zombie survival sandbox in Arma, as well as a learning experience on how to develop AI, cache data on a server for persistent progression, explore Arma's weird inventory UI and expand on it in an intuitive way, and whatever else I could enjoy out of this mess. Again, you can observe the headaches I go through figuring this all out on my live streams. A proper overview video will be created once it's all done, but we all know how quick I am at completing projects...



Originally, this thread on my ArmaPhronk Steam group profile was just something I used for quick reference for an easy block of code, a snippet or important information, or a link(s) to a helpful resource(s). Recently, I've started adding more blocks of code that you guys may also find useful, such as replacing placed VR blocks with bunkers or arrows with vegetation. There's a lot more than that on there and if you're an aspiring mission maker/scripter, you'll definitely benefit from checking it out.


REMINDER: Streams and videos will continue April 11 or 12 around 12am CST (UTC -06:00).

Addon-Free Arma Radio

AFAR had been using displayEventHandlers since the beginning -- it was used to detect "KeyDown" and "KeyUp" events but was limited to a single display, per eventHandler added, and the actions only worked while within those specified displays. For a long time, the code suffered from these limitations which prevented players from talking while using interfaces, Zeus, and so on.

Those issues have now been fixed. After putting off the rewrite of all scripts to use stackedEventHandlers with "OnEachFrame", I finally took the time to get it done. It actually wasn't nearly as complex as I thought it'd be and I'm already almost done rewriting everything. Obviously, there are some bugs as a result, but they're all minor and they'll be fixed by the time I release the update. Best estimated release time I can give is sometime in February.

The upcoming release will include some QoL improvements, fixes, and mouse-button support. The update afterwards (Version 1.00) will be the one everyone wants... the addon version.

A3Z

"A3Z" (The addon-free Arma 3 zombie mission) has made a ton of progress with caching, the AI code, and various fixes, but I'm currently stuck on coding the inventory system. Mix that with my disappointment with finding out how slow agents are (They take a long time to execute commands) it impacted my motivation, so now I'm focused on pumping out code on the other projects. I haven't given, just taking time off this project to avoid getting burnt out.

Insurgency

One of the most frequent questions I get is whether there is any progress on my insurgency mission. Takistan Insurgency is still using super out-dated code, but my Altis Insurgency mission can be played on the public server I run. Just search for [Task Force Ronin] and you should find it.

YouTube Live Streams

If you're into watching Arma scripting streams, you can catch me live on YouTube in the evenings -- no specific schedule or structure to what I work on, still working on all of that. For those who missed me when I was live, you can access previous broadcasts in my Playlists on my YouTube channel. Feel free to join me sometime, ask questions & chat or just sit back and enjoy.

I recently went on a two-week long vacation from work. Everything is still shutdown across the world, so figured I'd spend the time catching up on all of my Arma 3 projects...

Addon-Free Arma Radio

I'll start with some disappointing news, but with an angle to lighten the blow. No progress has been made on redesigning or rewriting AFAR... yet. Initially, I intended to get to work on this project and complete the redesign and rewrite. However, it turned out to be more complicated than I thought and I have to go back to the drawing board. Instead, I spent my time working on several other projects extensively. The good news for the radio script is that I did some basic tests of what I'd like to achieve and had some success which bodes well with the plan to rewrite AFAR using OnEachFrame eventHandlers instead of Display eventHandlers. To add onto the good news, I've received plenty of requests -- including from the group I'm with -- to include the Direct channel as an option to cycle to, so I have added it to the To Do List for the next update!

Phronk's Furniture

No one noticed, but there are a couple houses in Livonia that have furniture layout scripted for them but aren't being called in the current released version, so I fixed those and have added more. I plan on some kind of release in November, most likely. If you visited my YouTube streams while I was on vacation before I unlisted them, you'd have seen that I implemented a new loot spawning system into my furniture script. Don't worry -- it's optional and is easy to disable. It will be in the next update. Why did I add it? Lets get into that now...


{Working title}

A3Z

A3Z - The Addon-Free Arma 3 Zombie Survival Mission! Now, I know what you're thinking... "Why in the hell create yet another zombie survival game mode? And without addons?! BORING!"

Personally, I just love creating vanilla-friendly content. It's a fun challenge and helps grab the interest of new players to join without any hassle of additional mod setup (Client-side mods like JSRS, Enhanced Soundscape, Blastcore Murr Edition, and others are still welcomed since they don't effect anyone else though). Everything is written from scratch by me. From the saved progression, spawning & caching of zombies (Plus their custom FSM), the intuitive inventory system, and everything else you can think of, it's all vanilla, meaning that even if you join the mission without any mods, you'll get in just fine and be ready to play with everyone else the way it was intended to be played. No need for 50gb mod sets or complicated lobby parameters. It's plug & play! More details on how this is all accomplished will be covered in a video and maybe in a later announcement.

Here's a list of features the mission will feature:

• Does not require mods or DLC - Although it does use non-required DLC content such as weapons, ammo, equipment, and vehicles. Just buy the damn DLC Bundle ya cheap f^cks.
  
  
• @Max_Zombies Compatibility - Not feelin' the vanilla civilian "zombies" I coded in? You can optionally run @Max_Zombies to automatically replace all of the civilians with actual zombie models & animations to further enhance your immersion, it's only about 150mb.
  
  
• Client-Hosted & Dedicated Server Friendly - Everything works as intended in a multiplayer environment.
  
  
• All the Other Features You Expect Out of This - Hunger/Thirst, dynamic loot spawning, bleeding, setup a tent to store cached items, hunting, helicopter crashes & wrecks, and much more.
  
  
• Physically Placed Loot - Instead of spawning loot on floors of each buildingPos of each house, you will find lootable items on shelves, racks, tables, counters, in wrecked/abandoned vehicles, and later will also include more interactions to loot things such as opening refrigerators to find good quality food & water.
  
  
• Physically Equipped Tools - Some tools are just too big to put into a backpack. Whether that be a gas can, car parts, or a crowbar, you'll be able to at least equip it into your hands or stow the item on your back -- if able. If you remember my ancient melee weapons script, it's a vast expansion of that project which is now being integrated into A3Z.
  
  
• Other AI Out in the World - You are not alone. There are other AI who roam around seeking loot, shelter, and simulated objectives. They may be desperate enough to shoot first and loot after. But there are others who may see use in you to offer or request help, give tasks, and even invite you to their camp to provide resupply and more.
  
  
• Each Player Has a Unique Goal - Everyone starts their journey alone and with their own set goals and skills. You can accomplish these goals together with friends, alone (To an extent), or not at all. This will require teamwork, as other players may possess certain skills necessary to help you achieve your ultimate goal. While you may intend to kill everyone you come across, there will be a sort of "karma" system that will even the odds against such threats, making it more of a dangerous act to continue doing and very difficult to come back from.
  
  
• "Un-Phronkified" code with comments! - This is designed for players to use as a template for their own zombie missions or to learn from. (With the proper original credit, of course)
  
  
• And so much more... - There are plenty of other features already implemented, but we'll go over those in more detail another time.

So what's the release date? While the full vision and scope of the mission will not be met anytime soon, it will be playable in November. As long as there are no major issues, I intend on releasing it open-sourced sometime then. Keep a close eye out.

Other Projects

A ♥♥♥♥ ton of progress was made with my insurgency-style mission but still has a long way to go. Most of the effort went into fixing bugs and improving/expanding on civilian and base ambiance, as well as just general immersion and ambient improvements. This is a passion project I've been working on for many years and the work still continues... it'll be worth the wait for those who enjoy actual MilSim style missions with a lot of heart put into it.

Short and sweet announcement, I move out of this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with 300kb DL / 10kb UL internet in late May. I'll actually be able to upload videos and maybe even Stream again. ArmaPhronk isn't dead, it's just nearly impossible to release anything with such horrible internet.

Also I think I've finally identified and fixed a bug in Phronk's Furniture that would prevent furniture from spawning after a certain amount of time. I think this was the fact it is now based on a WaitUntil loop which, according to the wiki, loops 10,000 times. After 10,000 cycles it stops. Now the code just respawns the script after the 10,000 cycles are done. I still feel like Phronk's Furniture can use more optimizations to ease the bottlenecking of the scheduler, but it has come a long way regardless, so I'll just release an update next month most likely and see how it goes.

I don't think people read these aside for checking if I'm alive, so here we go!

About two weeks ago, I released a hotfix update v0.96a for AFAR[forums.bohemia.net]. This resolves a few potentially game breaking bugs and the next update will contain some nice fixes, changes, and additions too.

For the first time in the 4 years I've been working on this project, somneone reported that the radio UI is not aligned with the buttons properly. I've been spending countless hours on trying to fix it and the issue seems to be rooted in the fact that it's a 2D interface (Buttons and text) having difficulty being placed proportionally with the 3D radio object. This is because I have no idea how to balance the Z axis and scale values to fit the buttons or vice versa. So what's the fix? Technically, it is doable. But, I'm not a math guy. The workaround will be to simply replace the 3D radio with a 2D radio image. I'll most likely go with a picture of a AN/PRC-148 or AN/PRC-152.

It has been pointed out that the Arma radio UI looks retarded anyway, since the buttons are on the battery. Not my fault, but it's a way BI can make it not look like an actual THALES or HARRIS radio.

Does this mean I will make the radio into something more realistic? Yes and no. I'd like to improve on immersion/realism (Voice clipping, clicking buttons to navigate radio menus/options, terrain interference, etc.) and am even considering writing an option to hear players only on the channel you're cycled to, which would be more realistic infantry-wise and help unf^ck VOIP comms. These changes and additions may come sooner than later and I'd like to know what people think. I do not really want to add crazy depth to AFAR -- I intentionally want to keep it somewhat "gamey" so it is still intuitive for new players. Keep an eye out for the development change-log for the upcoming update.


SOON... An update is in the works and close. The "modding" tools for Arma are super sh!tty and almost intolerable to use, so bare with me. The script is working fine and as intended, otherwise. Works well in singleplayer, MP, and dedicated. There is an FPS difference, but no one has complained about it yet. I'm still optimizing, but there aren't any notable fixes that need to be done. I'd like to add more furniture layouts, but it's super tedious and right now I need to just focus on releasing an update. Full transparency though, the radio script is currently my primary priority. Phronk's Furniture is my secondary priority and will likely move onto my mission project afterwards.

My Steam profile is now private, so it'll always show me offline unless you're a friend. Unless you're a known scripter or modder, I'll probably decline your friend invites unless you contact me some other way first. Just an FYI.