Being New to modding in the Arma series I'm finding the generally massive amount of fragmentation and script spaghetti difficult to get the hang of, I'm so used to using tools like Guerilla or Assembly for Halo that Arma feels 20 years behind. I'm currently tring to port 3 sided Mountain Warfare CTI form Arma 2 OA to Arma 3 and have had to look through multiple PBOs for the required files and scripts just for that one mission.
Windows 10, non specific.
Having the ability to set the game install locations for supported Arma titles and have a list in a portion of the window on the left with PBO files found in the install folders with the folder names as headders in a collapsible menu.
For example:
[+] Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead
---[+] Common (PBO location)
---[+] Expansion
------[+] Addons (PBO location)
[+] Arma 3
---[+] Addons (PBO location)
---[+] Expansion
------[+] Addons (PBO location)
---[+] GM
------[+] Addons (PBO location)
Just to sweeten the layout even more be able to locate a referenced addon or file with one click, for example this line in config.cpp from the warfare2.pbo of Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead
class CfgPatches
{
class Warfare2
{
units[] = {};
weapons[] = {};
requiredAddons[] = {"CA_Missions_SecOps"};
requiredVersion = 0.1;
};
};
Having a small window that mentions required addons and a Goto button next to it that should take you directly to the referenced PBO exactly like Assembly does for Tag files in the Halo engine would be an absolute gamechanger.
See here a referenced Tag in the Assembly with a Goto button at the arrow.
After clicking the button a new tab opens up with the referenced file contents!
After scrolling to the bottom of the tag we find another tag that is referenced and another button to lead us.
Another new tab and all the data for it
A future idea but probably way beyond the scope of this tool and possibly not even possible for Arma. Halo tag files in Assembly are modified using plugins which give you an easy to use UI to quickly modify all common variables of a tag file and directly reference them.
For example a Light tag plugin will be different to a Weapon tag plugin but a Weapon tag can reference a Light tag as the light will be emitted during a firing effect
Here is a shader_model tag plugin for Assembly
The way I'm thinking about this whole thing is have the PBO files act sort of like .map files from the Halo engine and have the ability to use a full GUI system to quickly add, modify and reference files just like you would using Guerilla (the original development tool for the Halo engine) then turn it into a single PBO file ready to go in the arma engine without painstakingly finding and typing out loads of code to make things work. Probably wishful thinking but you'll never know if it's possible if you don't ask 🤷♂️
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