Mission Making Basics in Orden



This is a simple guide to explain some of the basics in mission editing in ArmA, specifically, how we do it in Orden, this is not an advanced guide and will only cover some of the basics that you need to get started, and in the end, what we expect as well as some musts. We hope to see you making great missions for our unit. Also on how to properly time the mission, look here: The Mission (Preparing, Briefing, Planning)

Naming the Mission
When making a mission in ArmA 3 it is important to understand that naming the actual mission is something that needs to be taken mind to, naming your mission is not the same as naming your scenario, the mission name is what the server uses to load the mission, the scenario name is what the player sees when loading in. When saving your mission you should follow a basic set of guidelines: Here's an example of what it'd look like:
 * Don't use spacebars they mess up the string.
 * Don't use special characters, the only exception being '-' and '_' when naming your mission and you need a space inbetween words use _



Attributes
In the attributes tab you will find the general settings the mission will follow when running, this includes respawn times, how the server will handle respawns, etc. if you're a bit more experienced with editing you should know that the init.sqf and the description.ext overwrite some of the settings within this tab.

General
Within the general tab you will find a couple of empty fields which can be filled in at your discretion, the basic ones are : A fully filled screen looks like this:
 * Presentation Title (this is what the players see in the lobby/while loading as the name)
 * Overview Picture (an custom image for the loading screen. Only supports .paa files) (Optional)
 * Text (a custom text players see on the loading screen)

Some important notes about the general tab: - Keep DLC to none, and make sure you didn't check off the Require DLC mark. - States - we don't force Advanced Flight Model in the unit, make sure it's not checked under the States tab, the rest is up to you. - Misc - you can change whether INDFOR is friendly to BLUFOR or OPFOR or none, Civilians are always aligned to INDFOR. - Intro Text - just a nice touch, to showcase some details about the mission when you join. - Other - there are many other things here that you can use, research them yourself and feel free to use them in the mission.

Environment
The environment tab dedicates the static aspects of the weather and date, static as in it will be like that for the entire mission, there are dynamic modules that can be used to create random weather.

Settings in this tab are completely up to the Mission Maker, but make sure you set them up accordingly, they can have a great impact on the mission.

Multiplayer
The multiplayer tab dedicates how the server will identify the mission as well as telling it what it needs to do when a player dies. Bear in mind that if you use a description.ext file it will overwrite most of the settings set here, nonetheless the respawn tab NEEDS to be filled out. There you can set how the server will handle players dying, if you use a custom respawn location set that as such, if you will use multiple respawn locations or plan on using them make sure that select respawn position is enabled.

A fully filled out one looks like this:

Some important notes about the multiplayer tab: - Respawn Rulesets can break the game, be careful on which ones you use. Don't use both spectators, tickets will be subtracted automatically, no need to lower them manually. - Always set a respawn delay, both for vehicles and players, this delay needs to be greater than 5 seconds at the very least, to allow the server to process and avoid instant-respawns on point of death. - Respawn tickets should be set, if you don't want them still set them to a high number like '999'. - We use ACE, the revive system in ArmA will only glitch the game out, don't use it.

Performance
The performance tab primarily has garbage collectors, we suggest enabling the one for corpses at the very least to avoid bad performances in your mission, especially if your mission is one of a larger scale.

Addon Options
This is what dedicates the rules the mission follows, majority of the settings are overridden by the server, as we are enforcing the standard of the unit, however there are many mission dependant settings that you can still edit, depending on what kind of playstyle or type of mission you want, you can get the settings from the #information channel on the Discord. Here are the mission settings that are up to you: It is the responsibility of the Mission Maker to know what each one of these Addon Settings does, if you don't know, ask the other Mission Makers in Discord.
 * ACE Artillery
 * Artillery Computer Disabled (For Vehicles) - Default: No
 * Allow Mk6 Computer (For Mortars) - Default: No
 * Allow Mk6 Compass (For Mortars) - Default: No
 * Use Ammunition Handling (For Mortars) - Default: No
 * ACE Crew Served Weapons
 * Advanced Assembly - Default: No
 * Save Extra Ammo - Default: Yes
 * ACE Map
 * BFT Enable - Default: No
 * Interval - Default: 1.0
 * Show Player Names - Default: No
 * Hide AI Groups - Default: No
 * ACE Respawn
 * Save Gear? - Default: Yes
 * Remove Bodies? - Default: Yes
 * ACE Zeus
 * Add Objects to Curator - Default: Yes
 * ACEX Field Rations (All)
 * ACEX Fortify
 * Achillies Available Factions (All - Recommended to enable the ones you use, to save Zeus loading time, and organization)
 * Achillies Available Modules (All)
 * Achillies Curator Vision Modes (All)
 * ACRE 2
 * Full Duplex Radios - Default: No
 * ACRE 2 Zeus (All)
 * Boxloader
 * Bulldozing Options (All)
 * Chemical Warfare
 * Faction Gear - All except Vanilla A3 Factions and Orden Factions
 * VS Static Line (All)

Respawn Positions
There are 2 methods of creating respawn positions, via module or via marker. The module can be found when pressing F5 on your keyboard and then typing respawn in the search bar it will come up as respawn positions and on its own is very self explanatory.

We also have the respawn marker this one is a bit more complicated to set up however it is more reliable than the module, to find the marker press F6 on your keyboard and type empty in the search bar ( you can use any marker you want however the empty marker is invisible when alive) then place it down somewhere on the map where you want players to be able to respawn. Double click the marker and a set of boxes show up of this the following are important:

Marker:
 * Init Variable name (this is what decides what the marker does, in this case we want it to be a respawn marker as such the marker needs to be named as followed: Respawn_west / Respawn position for side West Respawn_east / Respawn position for side East Respawn_guerrila / Respawn position for side Independent Respawn_civilian / Respawn position for side Civilian If you want to use more than 1 respawn position you can add up by doing it as such: Respawn_west / Respawn_west_1 / Respawn_west_2 etc. )
 * Text ( this box dedicates the name that will be used when a player is in the respawn screen, this is what he sees)

Exporting Mission (Automatic)
After you’ve finished making your mission you obviously want to have it on the server to do so you'll have to export it as an .pbo file, to do so go to the scenario tab → export as multiplayer scenario. This will export the mission file to: (your arma 3 installation directory )/MPMissions. Grab this file and send it to one of the staff to put it on the server.

However, you can only do this if you don't use any clientside mods, and even then it's not the safest option.

Exporting Mission (Manual - Preferred)
This is how to do it manually, sometimes the server loads your missions without slots or just blatantly refuses to load your missions, this can be because of a number of factors but most likely because you used an asset that isn't installed on the server (and even if it is it sometimes just gay and won't load anyway). To solve this issue you take the following steps:
 * Load your mission in the editor → Save as → below it has a button that states “Save Binarized” it needs to be UNTICKED.
 * In windows go to the missions folder and open the mission.sqf then proceed to delete all entries in addons and addonsmatadata it should look like this:
 * addons[]= { };
 * class AddonsMetaData {
 * class List {};
 * };
 * After you've done that you need to manually pack the mission using a PBO packer. If you change anything in the editor or resave the mission you will need to do this process again

Client-Side Mods for Mission Editing
You can use any client-side mods that can help you edit missions, as long as you're not violating community rules when you are in a session with the unit, especially if you're playing your own mission.

One recommendation that we have for you is 3DEN Enhanced, it can be found on the Steam Workshop.

Some Basic Scripts for the Mission to Work
For blacklisting some of the basic cheating mods, arsenals or mods that are harmful to your mission, add this to your Init.sqf:

if(isClass(configFile>>"CfgPatches">>"PA_arsenal"))then{ endMission "END2";}; if(isClass(configFile>>"CfgPatches">>"AF4_VGA"))then{ endMission "END2";}; if(isClass(configFile>>"CfgPatches">>"AF4_ACEArsenal"))then{ endMission "END2";}; if(isClass(configFile>>"CfgPatches">>"NSS_AC_Code"))then{ endMission "END2";}; if(isClass(configFile>>"CfgPatches">>"VVS_Menu"))then{ endMission "END2";}; if(isClass(configFile>>"CfgPatches">>"bullet_cases"))then{ endMission "END2";}; if(isClass(configFile>>"CfgPatches">>"CBRN_Data"))then{ endMission "END2";}; if(isClass(configFile>>"CfgPatches">>"XLA_arsenal_side"))then{ endMission "END2";}; if(isClass(configFile>>"CfgPatches">>"KA_VAA"))then{ endMission "END2";}; if(isClass(configFile>>"CfgPatches">>"KA_VAA_functions"))then{ endMission "END2";};

If you want your players to spawn in, and not immidiately get sent ot the respawn screen, put this in your description.ext 'respawnOnStart = -1;', without the quatations.

Orden Mission Making Rules and Notes
In order to avoid having broken missions, or missions that fall below the standard of the unit, all mission makers must follow some basic rules, and alongside them there are a few notes here as well:
 * You can create your mission as one-life, two-life, infinite-life, just make sure to warn people in your mission description on #operations-and-events
 * Your mission must be tested before playtime, if you scheduled it, it means it'll happen unless there are unforeseen circumstances (Steam Breaking, Server Issues, Personal Reasons). Make sure your missions are working and ready.
 * You must make sure Advanced Flight Model IS NOT FORCED on your mission, especially if players will be piloting helicopters.
 * You can use DLC Equipment, Assets, Buildings and Vehicles, BUT YOU CAN NOT USE DLC MAPS.
 * Make sure YOU ARE NOT forcing any DLCs, in your General Attributes tab.