HL2.net Arma 2 Ace 2 Information Videos

Bahh, Lingor always gives me problems. Now when I try to join the game it says that .ibr_lingor has been deleted.
 
So what mods (besides Ace 2) and whatever else do I need to have to play with you guys?
 
Well besides ACE and ACRE, you'll likely need Lingor Island: http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=10792

You need that and the required addons for it linked in the bottom.

I'll assume you know how to install addons because I don't have the time to explain atm.
 
Viper's Idiot's Guide to Installing ACRE

 
This guide assumes you have Ace 2 and Teamspeak 3 Beta 36 already installed. To install those, consult elsewhere.

First and foremost: make sure Arma 2 and TS3 are not running! THIS IS CRUCIAL.

-----

Download the installer version of ACRE, from here: http://dev-heaven.net/attachments/download/9341/ACRE_V1.1.0.234.exe

Run the installer in Administrator mode. You will be prompted to start it, just like every other installer ever. It should autodetect your Arma 2 directory, like so:
20110107193244advancedc.png


(Note to Steam users: Make sure it is installing to the Operation Arrowhead directory, not the Arma 2 one like mine.)


Click next, and let it do its thing. Once installed, you'll need to check to see that all the files are installed.

First you will see two new folders in your Arma 2 directory: @acre and @JayArma2Lib.
20110107193440capture.png



You will also find a file in your root Arma 2 directory, called dsound.dll.
DOUBLE CHECK FOR THIS. THIS FILE IS OFTEN SKIPPED OVER BUT IT IS WHAT CONNECTS TS3 TO JAYARMA2LIB.
20110107193518capture.png



Thirdly, you will find a new folder in your Arma2/userconfig folder called acre. There are two .hpp key files in it. You do not have to modify them, but they tell Arma 2 what keys ACRE is using so they are crucial.
20110107193714capture.png



Next, if you go into your Arma2/@acre folder, you'll find a folder called plugin. In this folder are two files, one called acre.dll and the other acre_x64.dll. One of these is necessary for your ACRE's Teamspeak 3 functionality.
20110107193808capture.png



If you are running x86 Windows, you'll want acre.dll. If you're running x64, then you'll want acre_x64.dll. Drag the appropriate file into your Teamspeak3/plugins folder, like so:
20110107193906capture.png



Next, you'll need to change your Arma 2 shortcut (again, for the 50th time). You'll be adding new mods called @acre and @JayArma2Lib. Make sure they come in AFTER @CBA AND BEFORE EVERYTHING ELSE. Also make sure that @acre and @JayArma2Lib are spelt EXACTLY LIKE THEIR FOLDERS ARE IN YOUR ROOT ARMA2. Here's what mine looks like:

"D:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2\arma2OA.exe" -mod=@CBA;@JayArma2Lib;@acre;@ACE;@ACEX;@ACEX_SM;@ACEX_PLA;@ACEX_RU;@ACEX_USNAVY -nosplash -world=empty



DOUBLE CHECK THIS. 90% OF THE TIME PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE THEIR SHORTCUT SET UP CORRECTLY.


Now, when you run Arma 2 using this shortcut, you will receive this message:
20110107194033jayarma2l.png



This is normal. Hit OK. You will then be prompted thus:
20110107194100jayarma2l.png



Click yes. A command prompt will appear, and you will receive this message:
20110107194121dgamesste.png



The game will start up as usual. The first thing you can check, to see if the mods have loaded, is the main menu. It should say ACRE1.1.0.234 in the bottom left. @JayArma2Lib and @acre should be listed after @CBA in the top right. So far, so good:
arma2oa2011010720092805.jpg



You should be able to start a local multiplayer game on any map with no errors. Once you've spawned, press Control-Shift-X, and you should see this:
arma2oa2011010719442773.jpg



That is the blank radio, which indicates the @acre addon is actually working! You'll notice that at the top right it says you're not running Teamspeak.

Run Teamspeak 3 as you normally would. I suggest you run it in Administrator mode, but only if you have been encountering problems. Connect to a server. Go to Settings -> Plugins. You should see the ACRE plugin, and it should be checked, like this:
20110107200300capture.png



That's it for TS3! Now if you go back in game and restart the server, the warning will have disappeared.
arma2oa2011010720063813.jpg



Finally, by default ACRE uses Capslock for its radio key. Arma 2 by default uses Capslock for VON. You will need to fix that. Go into Options -> Controls, and scroll down to Voice Over Net. Double click on it, select the key, and click Delete. Do the same thing for Push to Talk. By the end it should look like this:
arma2oa2011010720074957.png



One more thing: make sure your Teamspeak 3 Push to Talk key is something other than Capslock, or you'll transmit local voice and radio at the same time. And we don't want that.

Congratulations, a winner is you! Now keep the chatter to a minimum, boys.
 
I would like to make a clarification that you should ALWAYS run it in administrator mode. I was trying to test my fraps with acre this morning and the problem was that I didn't have it in administrator mode. The way I could tell it wasn't working just by myself was that I wasn't getting the personal squawk on my radio transmissions.

Good guide viper. Thanks for making it.
 
Nice work on the guide Viper; hopefully we can avoid the slew of troubles we had in last night's testing.

I happened upon a radio communications procedure guide made by TacticalGamer, and decided it had some good stuff in it that would help us be more effective and organized.

I made an abridged version because there were a lot of parts that we don't need to worry about in our games:

http://pixelatomy.com/stuff/RPGNEW.htm

Please read through this, especially the part about what a transmission is composed of (2. Components of All Radio Transmissions). I want the radios reserved for proper communication so that we aren't all talking over each-other with useless or improper transmissions where nobody knows who is talking to who or what is going on.

Don't worry about memorizing every single term/keyword, and I'll be taking care of assigning callsigns for the most part.

The way we're going to use our radios will be as follows:

We'll have 2 fireteams of basic infantry, each team composed of (preferably) a medic, machinegunner, and a leader with a backpack radio (long range).

These 2 fireteams will be able to operate separately because each will have a leader, and they (the leaders) can communicate with eachother even if they are far away because of the backpack radios.

Every member of the fireteam will have the handheld short range radio for communications amongst themselves. Each fireteam will be tuned to a different channel, to avoid hearing info they don't need to hear. If a member of fireteam 2 spots something that fireteam 1 needs to be notified of, he will tell his fireteam leader and in turn the leader will use his backpack radio to communicate this to fireteam leader 1.

Any air support, artillery operators, or anything else that is waiting at base or offsite will be using the backpack radios. This way the fireteam leaders can call in support or communicate as necessary.
 
The leader needs to be responsible for operating TWO radios. So you'll have to get that set up. Oftentimes a squad will have members that need to advance ahead or be obscured in some other fashion. Don't deny it, even if it doesn't happen in real life, it happens for us since we're just a bunch of casual gamers. If you're out of shouting distance, you won't be able to communicate with your other squad mates, so the squad needs their personal radios and then the leader needs his backpack radio.
 
That's what I said... EVERYONE will have a handheld radio. Yes, the fireteam leader has 2 radios. He can listen to both at the same time.
 
Could uh... someone guide me on how to install six updater too :(
 
Are we really going to have callsigns? Like, Alpha 2 or something? Seems unnecessary beyond the nerdism, which I think goes through the roof with it. I mean, We all already have code names in our forum aliases. "Who is Bravo 3 again?" "Tim" "Who is Tim?" "Dinnesch" "Oh, right"

I mean, I'm all for more organization than we have now, and think its a good idea to split into multiple teams since we have so many people now, but things like new callsigns, saying "over" after everything, thats getting to a level of nerdliness thats a bit out of my comfort zone.
 
You're not thinking this through enough, Krynn.

You won't need to remember who is who. All you need to remember is your own ID. This system is actually requiring LESS to remember. With this, you won't need to remember which person is a machinegunner, or which is a medic. We'll have it set up so the medic is always 2, and the machinegunner is always 3. This makes more sense because when you want to ask for someone specific, you're going to be choosing the person based on their role. Like if you want a medic to heal you, you ask for 2, or even just 'medic'. You won't be saying "who is medic again? badhat?"

Besides, this is really only important for the fireteam leaders. Our fireteams will be operating in a much more organized fashion because they'll have their own channels to talk on, and the direct communication encourages sticking together. We're not going to have as much lone wolf stuff going on as before, where everyone is going wherever they want and etc. All you need to do as a fireteam member is follow your leader's orders.

When you're using direct communication, you can call people by whatever name you want. You'll pick up soon enough who is what number within your own fireteam anyway. There's only going to be the leader and 1 or 2 other members max. You have no reason to know who is what number in the other fireteam. You won't be in radio comms with them, and you'll only need to know what their role is, which is given by their number.

We're not just saying 'over' for the fun of it, Krynn. We're working with distorted radios here, and in a chaotic environment where things will get messy. You don't need to say 'over' every time if you don't want to, most of the time it is understood that your message is finished.

I think you're focusing too much on the specifics here and not seeing the overall point of why we're using this and how things are going to be working differently than the unorganized mess we've been doing.

Also don't call me a nerd when you paint tabletop ww2 figurines.
 
Are we really going to have callsigns? Like, Alpha 2 or something? Seems unnecessary beyond the nerdism, which I think goes through the roof with it. I mean, We all already have code names in our forum aliases. "Who is Bravo 3 again?" "Tim" "Who is Tim?" "Dinnesch" "Oh, right"

I mean, I'm all for more organization than we have now, and think its a good idea to split into multiple teams since we have so many people now, but things like new callsigns, saying "over" after everything, thats getting to a level of nerdliness thats a bit out of my comfort zone.

I agree... but vegeta has his power cap on.

I think it's pointless to have completely irrelevant call signs for a casual gaming group like us. We can still keep the realistic radio communication elements without having to be as ****ing dull as the military is with their call signs. We're individuals playing for fun with each other. It can stand to be more casual than shack tactical or tactical gamer.

If viper and vegeta are the leaders with radios on their backpacks... then why can't they communicate... "Viper, this is Vegeta, over". And when doing fireteam radio communications why can't I go "Vegeta, this is Raziaar"... Why do I have to do "Warrior 1, this is Warrior 2."

It's stupid for our purposes.
 
Also don't call me a nerd when you paint tabletop ww2 figurines.

Saw that coming a mile away. As if playing a very simplified game with hand-painted models (which is obligatory, because they don't come pre-painted) is the same as pretending you're an actual soldier and going all "Solid copy Warrior 1, We're Oscar Mike to your location, out!"

I just don't see how callsigns and military lingo is required to organize us. Once we're split into smaller sections, we're not going to be talking over one another nearly as often. I don't see myself saying "Warrior 2 this is Warrior 3, I need healing." I see myself saying "Sliver, heal me when you get a chance." So as long as we're not going to get an argument over that, where I have to do my usual complete denial in the face of logical rebuttals thing you and I always do, then there's no issue here.

Also, what time were we going to play today?
 
I'm not really liking the idea of any of this but I'm willing to try it a couple times. Thanks for the guide viper, very much appreciated.
 
I know you guys aren't, but I'm still bummed and probably will always be about the idea of splitting out into separate fireteams that are operated essentially like squads instead of how fireteams really operate.

Fireteams stick relatively close together... the way you guys want to do it, our fireteams are basically operating not as fireteams, but as separate squads. Completely different units trying to accomplish the same goals.

Plus there's the fact that while playing if sliver and dinnesch and viper are in one fireteam... I'll basically never hear any of them during the entirety of the play session unless the rare chance that we come together. Was sliver even playing? Oh I dunno... never heard him or saw him except at base. Didn't know if he had fun, didn't know if he did some heroic things because I can never hear him speak or anything.

Our radio comms were never messy and disorganized until you guys decided it would be great to split up into two fireteams(but really squads).
 
I was just talking about this more with sliver and milly in steamchat.

I'm fine with you guys referring to eachother by our normal names. There's really no reason you shouldn't be able to. If you guys can remember which person is a medic, that's fine by me. BUT, the least you could do is remember your own number, in case I use it to address you. I may not remember who is the medic and so I would like to be able to say 2. If everyone remembers their own number (don't ****ing tell me this is too hard), the medic will hear me and know he's being addressed.

One thing I want to make clear is that I am NOT trying to turn this into roleplaying. I'm only trying to adapt a more efficient communication system to fit what we're doing. I will not be doing anything just because the military does it.
You don't have to use military lingo like crazy or say over. If it's not necessary, then it's not necessary. I'm not going to force arbitrary usage when there's no real point.

Me and viper will likely be the fireteam leaders, and we're really the only ones who will be using the radio(s) often.

When you guys do use the radio, at the very least I'd like you to start a transmission by saying the name of the person you are talking to, and then "this is <your name>" This is not arbitrary military roleplaying shit. This is done to keep things non-confusing. As a fireteam member you'll probably only be addressing the medic or your leader via radio, and when you're using the radio it will mean you're not close by (for whatever reason) And due to radio distortion and such, I want it to be clear who is talking to who, so there's no room for mistake not recognizing a voice due to the distortion.


If viper and vegeta are the leaders with radios on their backpacks... then why can't they communicate... "Viper, this is Vegeta, over". And when doing fireteam radio communications why can't I go "Vegeta, this is Raziaar"... Why do I have to do "Warrior 1, this is Warrior 2."
I'll concede to this, I guess there really isn't a point in assigning call signs or numbers. I was inclined to do it because I personally like it, but I don't want to force everyone to do it just for roleplaying purposes.
 
I'm iffy about it too, but willing to give it a try (assuming we can get it working for everyone). As for being disorganised, we were, but just that one time as I remember it. That was basically the only game where we had 8+ people playing and there was a lot going on at once, so things were bound to get hectic, but it calmed down relatively quickly and the separate squads quickly became pointless. I think it's a good idea to split into squads in certain circumstances, but playing like that constantly doesn't seem appealing to me, especially when it's just 2-3 man squads.

As for callsigns, I'm not really seeing the benefit. The logic behind it seems to be that it makes it easier for a fireteam leader to identify a medic or machine gunner or whatever, but... just say medic or MG. I think as long as we're trying to stick closer together (which the direct comms will encourage, as you said), we should make it our business to know who the medic is, at least. Identifying them by number only confuses things further when other people might not know who you're referring to immediately. Not to mention a lot of organisation is dependant on knowing not only who someone is but where they are in relation to you, which is much easier to keep track of by name.

But hey, I guess we'll see what works when we play.

Edit: Welp just ignore the callsign stuff I guess. :>
 
Vegeta: Soldier, Soldier 1 Alpha Pilot do you copy? What's your location? Over.

Krynn: Uh, yes.. uh Delta 5 Gunner, we're in ah... 47 clicks north west.... of the center hot zone, ov-

ZT: *cough* um I'm in the building with the tower next to the five trees, do you guys know where the guns are?

Vegeta:





 
I know you guys aren't, but I'm still bummed and probably will always be about the idea of splitting out into separate fireteams that are operated essentially like squads instead of how fireteams really operate.

Fireteams stick relatively close together... the way you guys want to do it, our fireteams are basically operating not as fireteams, but as separate squads. Completely different units trying to accomplish the same goals.

Plus there's the fact that while playing if sliver and dinnesch and viper are in one fireteam... I'll basically never hear any of them during the entirety of the play session unless the rare chance that we come together. Was sliver even playing? Oh I dunno... never heard him or saw him except at base. Didn't know if he had fun, didn't know if he did some heroic things because I can never hear him speak or anything.

Our radio comms were never messy and disorganized until you guys decided it would be great to split up into two fireteams(but really squads).

So I guess I'm the only one who feels this way huh?

Also, that is excellent ZT.
 
Let's make fun of vegeta by exaggerating the things he said even after he said we didn't have to use callsigns or military lingo.

I specifically said when I first posted the manual that you didn't have to follow the things to a T. It was only a reference that I thought was useful (and interesting to read).
 
So I guess I'm the only one who feels this way huh?

No, I also don't like splitting into teams...best part of playing with you guys is the chatter that accompanies and the funny antics that ensue.
 
No, I also don't like splitting into teams...best part of playing with you guys is the chatter that accompanies and the funny antics that ensue.

Yes. Exactly. It's a social event. If it wasn't for the social aspect with fellow HL2.netters I would simply play on a completely different server.
 
It's not just a social event for me. There are communities that I'd like to be a part of to play in a serious and organized manner, but they require much more time dedication and I don't feel like getting acquainted to an entirely new community.

I wanted to get HL2.netters in on Arma 2 so we could have our own community of players that didn't require people to attend weekly training sessions or whatnot. But I still wanted the game to be played as a military simulator. Wanting to split into teams was borne out of necessity. Having 8 people in one tight group shooting in the same direction results in many people not getting to really do anything, because the other people who are closer to the enemy kill them first. This is usually why our games in Dom end up with almost everybody doing their own thing and being separated. This is a bit too much disorganization for me. There's no teamwork and tactics, it's just people looking around for things to shoot or shit to blow up on their own. And this is always how it ends up.

This is why I wanted to split into 2 organized teams each with a leader. It's much easier for the leader to handle 3 or so members of his own, to coordinate them and stick together. All this coordination requires a lot of talking and mixing both team's talking into the same channel leads to confusion.

I get that you will feel like you're not playing with everyone. But I don't think you should let this feeling turn you off of the idea without even trying it first. I feel like it might be kind of fun to meet back up after a battle and tell stories or whatever.
 
It's not just a social event for me. There are communities that I'd like to be a part of to play in a serious and organized manner, but they require much more time dedication and I don't feel like getting acquainted to an entirely new community.

I wanted to get HL2.netters in on Arma 2 so we could have our own community of players that didn't require people to attend weekly training sessions or whatnot. But I still wanted the game to be played as a military simulator.

Oh bullshit. Me and you started this years ago just you and me and we did it for the social fun of playing with a friend. Viper came along later and it was still for the same reason. And then all the others after him. Unless I'm mistaken.

From what I get out of your post, you basically want all that hardcore milsim stuff that you see at shack tactical and tactical gamer but you don't have the time and you don't want to get acquainted with a whole new community so we're just the next step down the chain?

We're playing it as a military simulator. We're not large enough to go beyond the scope of a single squad really so I don't see why we're having to break it out into two squads. You're trying to stretch out the experience so it conforms exactly to more populated and organized gameplay with what we have, which is just a group of casuals who enjoy playing the game together.
 
Oh bullshit. Me and you started this years ago just you and me and we did it for the social fun of playing with a friend. Viper came along later and it was still for the same reason.
We did it for the social fun because that's all we could do. Not only that, but I had no idea of the potential for organized and tactical play that this game had back then.

From what I get out of your post, you basically want all that hardcore milsim stuff that you see at shack tactical and tactical gamer but you don't have the time and you don't want to get acquainted with a whole new community so we're just the next step down the chain?
Yes Raz, I view you all as my plan B and you'll never be as fun to play with as them. Give me a break.

We're playing it as a military simulator. We're not large enough to go beyond the scope of a single squad really so I don't see why we're having to break it out into two squads. You're trying to stretch out the experience so it conforms exactly to more populated and organized gameplay with what we have, which is just a group of casuals who enjoy playing the game together.
We are large enough for two fireteams, and you're right in that fireteams do stay relatively close to eachother. I've tried operating like this before, but it always ends up with people branching off. Not having a lot of people is not a reason to be unorganized. You're right, we SHOULD be sticking together all as one, with 2 fireteams used maneuvers such as bounding movement (one team moves while the other covers) and I wish we could operate like this, but so far we have failed to do so. If ACRE is successful in forcing us to stick together and play more as an organized group, then I'd be a happy camper.

TL;DR: We'll try playing with 1 radio channel and everyone being nearby, operating with 2 fireteams that will only be separated (in sight but out of ear shot) some of the time, for tactical purposes.
 
I'm fine with trying this, but kinda expect the radio/realistic speak to get boring/exhausting after some sessions to be honest.
I don't really see Arma 2 as an accurate military sim, more as a co-op shooter with a lot of realistic/social aspects, so personally wouldn't do it purely for the sake of realism.

As some might have noticed, spoken English is not exactly my strongest point, so when asking questions/getting told something I might not always follow the rules correctly.

Oh, and I'll change my name back to Dinnesch to avoid further confusion.(it defaulted to my Windows username 'Tim')


Well, I'd say let's just give it a shot and judge after having played a proper game with ACRE.
 
Dinnesch, if you do change your name in game to Dinnesch, be sure to change it in the Ace configuration file so that your earplugs and eyeglasses and masks and stuff work just as before.
 
Dinnesch, if you do change your name in game to Dinnesch, be sure to change it in the Ace configuration file so that your earplugs and eyeglasses and masks and stuff work just as before.

This thread got pretty hilarious. ZT made me lol, and Raz suggesting hl2.net is Vegeta's fallback community made me laugh some more.

Anyways, there are a lot of good points on both ends. I'm with Vegeta in his argument that things usually just end up with everybody doing their own thing (I'M LOOKING AT YOU VIPER) and people can sometimes get left out of the action. Smaller teams will help keep everybody involved, without a doubt I think. However, I agree with Raz and Sliver that breaking comms up will lose some of the enjoyability in playing with friends, since it practically eliminates interaction with them.

We should use this system for the next few games, finding the best way to work it so as to minimize the cons of its use. If its unacceptable and we risk losing players we should drop it. I also think people should keep in mind that we obviously don't need to use it for every game. If we just want to play a Dom game the same way we've been doing it, we can. Maybe we'll find that this is useful for specific missions, and that we prefer not using it in Domination, or something. The only way to tell is to try it.
 
Hopefully not on steam, or Vegeta is going to go blow up an elementary school or something.
 
Ok so I have lingor, it's requirements, ace, acre, and teamspeak working. When's the next time you guys plan on playing?

Is any one of you guys available to jump onto a server before then to get me up to speed and make sure I got everything straightened out, so I'm not wasting too much of everyone's time when you all get together?

Also, how's that TrackIR 5 working out for you Raziaar? I just bought one yesterday and it'll be delivered sometime next week. Besides Arma 2, I have a couple flight sims I can use it on.
 
After today's session of trying out ACRE, we've decided to ditch it. So we'll continue using Mumble as our default voip.
 
Everyone sounds a lot better to me in mumble. Especially you ZT and Viper.
 
I haven't had time to download this yet but I shall. I am really intrigued, I like teamwork / simulation stuff (I even played some realism in Day of Defeat 1.3 but got fed up with all the bullshit that accompanies it).

Also, wtf vegeta, you yell at me for like 2 pages when I buy it on Steam but Glenn doesn't even get a raised eyebrow or an arrogant huff? I see how it is.
 
It was cheaper for him, and plus after you got it on Steam and I got my rage out, it was sort of the last straw and I don't really care anymore. And I was kind of preoccupied with the ACRE discussions and trying to get everyone set up.
 
Rest assured though, you're both horrible people and should die painfully.

:3
 
Ok so I have lingor, it's requirements, ace, acre, and teamspeak working. When's the next time you guys plan on playing?

Is any one of you guys available to jump onto a server before then to get me up to speed and make sure I got everything straightened out, so I'm not wasting too much of everyone's time when you all get together?

Also, how's that TrackIR 5 working out for you Raziaar? I just bought one yesterday and it'll be delivered sometime next week. Besides Arma 2, I have a couple flight sims I can use it on.

You bought it without even playing? Geez. Well hopefully you like Arma 2 or at least can use it for your flight sims like you mention.

That being said, it's working out alright. I'm still not used to it. Part of my problem is my inferior seat with my new desk arrangement. My desk is too high and my seat is too low and so I'm in an incredibly uncomfortable position and I tend to move around a lot as a result and so I get disoriented with it quickly.
 
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