Excellent series pAx. In two hours I went from never having written a line of script to (slowly) being able to pick through a BIS function and suss out what's going on. Still a long way to go to being comfortable and capable but here's feedback that I hope is useful; This is one of the few video tutorials I've found that bothers to start from the start. Most stuff out there presumes an existing knowledge. Your series is super helpful for those that don't write code for a living and this is their first exposure. Thanks for putting it together and I look forward to future installments.
Thanks for the kind words. That's exactly why I thought this video series would be valuable. I try to remember what it was like from the beginning and the little resources there is for the absolute beginners. Alot of videos people try to show off what they know, i guess im trying to show off what I can teach. Make sure you fully understand the first couple videos cause things start getting more advanced quickly. If you get hung up or have any question, feel free to ask!
I've learned more in the first 5 min from this guy then the hole programming 101 I took in college. My instructor only taught by "do as I do copy me". He is explaining everything and why they do what they do. I'm going to be glued to this. May watch these a few times to really get the most of it.
I used to play, and create levels for a game back in the 90s called Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2. It had scripting - they were referred to as "cogs". It controlled elevators doors, etc... This is very similar.
I'm just getting into modding, trying to learn. Especially using Arma, like PUBG. Does anyone have any advice as to where I can find more info on how to turn Arma mods into games?
This is a really usefull tutorial! Thankyou for giving me a little bit of help. This is so hard to understand for me haha, but this video actually really helped!
Thanks for the great intro, I've been putting together mission scripts like Dr Frankenstein... Chopped up bits from other scripts barely held together. I'm looking forward to learning how all these scripts work rather than just how to MAKE them work.
Just wanted to thank you for this series that I am beginning here. Amazing the level of both complexity and flexibility the player has for both creation and game-play in ARMA-3. I was disappointed in 2 things: First, the BIstudio WIKI has all the script commands but most all of them have NO description/explanation and the Armaholic Forum seems like the activity has really lessened. So, I hope ARMA stays alive and well and can only imagine what an ARMA-4 will bring. Anyway coming from a total Noob, thanks again for all your efforts and this great video series...
5:41 - When you realize he typed "You are walking *too* fast" wrong. REEEE Good tutorial though, I've been interested in ArmA 3 scripting for a while now and I want to understand it and learn to do it. Plus it helps me to understand different kind of coding. I already know javascript, html and css from school which is actually pretty helpful. I know this tutorial is fairly old by now but, good job!
looks like a great tutorial mate, Imma start learning ASL from your videos after I finish my python course. and if anyone is wondering what is python used for. It's mostly used for servers, Web apps and databases. but there many more things you can do with it, I've seen some people create robots with em', it's great and simple! :D
Wow thanks man! Finally I can write "Hello World" programs in ArmA, which I OBVIOUSLY haven't done 10.000 times before in VB/JS/C++!!! :D Jokes aside, nice tutorial for ArmA scripting. Really helped me adapt to ArmA scripting logic!
There is no casting in SQF. This is a built in function that converts the argument given, in this case a interger and converts the data held in the variable to a string and returns the string but you are right that it does not change the variable itself.
Great video, top of the youtube search results for arma 3 scripting! Coming from Arma 2 Scripting (DayZ Epoch ayyy) wanted to look at how SQF may have changed in A3... One thing i noticed- when talking about Magic variables and engine commands ( around 7:55) you mentioned that you cannot define the variables _x and _this. ( as they are used in calls and forEachs and counts etc). From my usage, _x does work as a standalone variable outside of its general purposes (tested when getting x y z coords from a position player) _this also works outside of its purposes too. Sorry for the boring comment but i thought i would let you know :D
I have accurately never tried to assign a value to a magic variable. Im not sure why you would want to, unless maybe error handling, but that is interesting and some good knowledge. thank you.
aha yeah i used to for representing player worldspace: _x = _this select 0; _y = _this select 1; _Z = _this select 2; I also used it for a dynamicText function using _x (and _y, not magic but its the example :D) for the positions on screen for the text
Really good vid! But I can't help but notice quite a few errors. For example 'you can add a variable after your variable name' when talking about _myHint2. Good overall tough ;)
Thank you! I am working through video no. 5 atm and you have helped me a ton today already! I whish i had found your videos when i started making missions a few months back. Will get twitter and follow you. Awesome work and thanks for the quick reply. All the best!
just a quick question, after ive saved an editor and created the init file, tried the exact same thing you did but when i go into the SP or MP mode of my eden stuff it just hovers in the sky and i dont know how to make myself a player on the ground like you have
he switches between the script and the VR. how does it work? when I open a saved mission in the editor (or it's eden), the ini.sqf is not displayed either.
Greets Paxton, I'm following along comfortably and I can test scripts by running the mission from Eden Editor, but I notice you have something called "Model Viewer" running to test yours; you didn't explain how to get set up for scripting like this. Could you please? Cheers
i thought i mentioned that in one of them. All I am doing is running in windowed mode. Model Viewer maybe because I use bulldozer from time to time, or BIS just has that as the title.. who knows... but you can do this in the parameters in the arma 3 launcher. Thanks for watching my videos. I'm working on one right now but am having trouble staying on subject so it may have to wait until another day!
Hello, mr. Paxton, could you answer some of my questions, please? I'd like to learn scripting for Arma 3 and I do have some programming knowledge, but I'm not experienced with the game language, the game itself new for me too. So I'll start: 1) Can I define type of variable before writing the name of that variable? Example (C#): int Counter = 0; string TextHint = "Test"; I hope we can, because I start to get a nightmare JavaScript flashbacks... Same question goes for arrays too 2) Is it a prerogative to start a name your own variables with underscore? I dont understand it, all that "x" and "_x" made me confused that some of the names could be already defined and used, could you give more information please? 3) This video was recorded in 2015, now it's 2017, does Arma 3 Editor got built-in Script editor? I dont have problems with writing code outside of the game, but it'd be better if I could do it all in one place. I watched only this first lession, I'll later proceed watching others videos and prepare next questions! Thank you in advance and sorry for bad english (not native).
1. You can't declare types. 2)underscore makes variable local to the current scope, no underscore makes the variable global to the current namespace, by default is called missionNamespace 3) no built in text editor, i believe someone made a mod for that, but i dont know if it is any good. Run arma in windowed mode. that will help. and finally Welcome to Arma you have a long and fun journey ahead of you!.
Thank you very much for your answer! You're making good videos, mr. Paxton, my only issue was that sound of your voice in the video is quite low. Anyway, thank you!
How do i make a pvp mode based on rounds? When dying you do not respawn untill one of the teams is eliminated. Basically a generic pvp based rounds mode like cs go the last of us Factions survival mode Ghost recon wildlands and etc. I found a function named "respawnRounds" but i have no idea how to use it.
Hey I know this is an old video but i'm hoping you respond. How are you getting contextual hints in IntelliJ? (for example autocomplete options when you start to declare an element with _ and colored strings, integers, etc) is is a public library?
Some hints come from just previous typed words and a sqf plug in. Later I switched to vs code editor which was far better. Intellij was a bit over kill while vs code was more lightweight and faster
@@DevTeamPaxton thanks, something must be wrong with my install because autocomplete only works if manually summon it and syntax highlighting doesn't work. Might just move to VS I'm familiar with it anyway.
+OGLemons Thanks, sorry i havent posted anymore recently. Just been busy with game development . Hopefully in the next few weeks i can get back to this. I barely scratched the surface on what I wanted to get in to
Hey pAx i just started to watch these scripting videos and this is my first one. I am not really a pro at this game but i wonder how do you open that model viewer thingy you got over there?
i just have the game in windowed mode.. nothing special. Object viewer is what they have the window title set for when viewing models with bulldozer. Just some mod tools
Hi Paxton. My question is how do you view your Arma 3 Map lige that, and how do i get that program. i see that its called Model Viewer, but i cant find it anywhere. Thanks and good video :)
in the Arma 3 launcher. go to parameters, All Parameter, then under basic settings there is a force windowed mode. There is other ways but this should do for you, unless you are starting arma 3 differently
Nice vid i have a question i hope you answer it fast i am facing a problem because the cos "civilian occupation system" is not working if i edit it to the ingame editor and preview it it keep saying cosinit.sqf not found how to fix it?
I'm assuming cosinit.sqf is started by the dedicated server and not local. You should test missions how they'll be run. If it's setup for a dedicated be server test it on a dedicated server. And you probably have two mission folders. One saved by the editor with just the sqm file and no other files in it.
On the early Arma 3 it would have been more like a float because the engine was 32bit. Now that it is 64bit I'm not sure if it has been updated with the engine or not. It's been awhile since I've been able to script. You can check by seeing how many decimal digits you can get it to return. If only 7, then it's 32bit, being a float.
Just started using Admin debug console on Arma 3 Official servers. Video is helping alot so far, but I don't understand how to make the command actually execute. I type the command into the chat box, and I have 3 options for global, local, and server. Do I have to press something for the command to execute?
yes, click which one you want to execute the script on. local would be on your client only, server is server only and global is on server and every client
I'm just getting into modding, trying to learn. Especially using Arma, like PUBG. Does anyone have any advice as to where I can find more info on how to turn Arma mods into games?
Learn Unreal Engine for game creation. If you want your own standalone game you'd be wasting your time learning arma modding. You'll have your hands full with UE4, there is alot to learn but start simple.
So I use rhs for my paradrop but my plane never go to the waypoint. Instead it lands at another airfield or just flees from enemy and guns. I put it on careless but it still runs. Please help. I'll even show what mods I use please help..
@@billu5297 looking at their scripts. There is nothing handle. You're going to need to find a work around. The way point works fine. Maybe find a safe location to drop troops?
I have a question so do I went to my computers files searched init.sqf and then opened the mission with notepad first is that right and when I'm done with the script do I just save it as read only or something
"C:\Users\(YOURPROFILE>\Documents\Arma 3\missions" or "C:\Users\(YOURPROFILE>\Documents\Arma 3\mpmissions" in one of these folders should be your mission. the folder will end with ".altis", ".stratis".... depending on map it is. Inside the folder will be the mission.sqm this file is what is edited in the In-game editor. For adding your own scripts you can put the files in the folder. You can edit with any text editor you choose, it does not need to be read only. Just make sure you save it as "All Files". so the extension remains correct. ei .sqf, .sqm, or .ext or .hpp
What do you mean it didn't work? Any text editor will work. Just make sure you save it as "All Files" with '.sqf' as the file extension. if you save it as a '.txt' it wont work with any text editor
Alot of people have told me they have learned a lot from this series. It isnt as structured as I wanted it to be, do to the fact that i'm limited on time. I aim to help you understand scripting and rather than teach a HOW TO i specific things. If you are new to scripting follow the videos in order. Sorry about the poor audio. Im going to fix that one day. and try and catch me when i do live streams cause i will answer questions and script things for people they request.
the latest stream i did shows you setting up your own dedicated server, connecting it to a database and also a side bonus of being able to host a website from your own PC. Some of the earlier videos have some commands that are out dated but still work fine, later i believe i go over what changed. If you have any question feel free to ask. I answer all questions i get
Dev, Let me ask you a questions. Let's be honest. The reason why arma3 goes to futuristic is because call of duty and crysis3 goes to futuristic. Call of duty goes to futuristic because crysis(1 to3) made a lot of money with futuristic. That is why Bohemia starts to turn the military simulation game to be a future unrealistic counter strike game to make more money. Is that true? Tell me and be honest.
Window used when importing models but even when just putting Arma in windowed mode it shows that title at top. Probably has been fixed by now. It was probably just on oversight by Bohemia
@@DevTeamPaxton When I change my init.sqf file to all files it still says it's type is just a text document. So when I load up the editor nothing happens. What could I be doing wrong?
@@masonsmith3381 if it was already saved as a text document, when you change it to all files you may need to delete the .txt it automatically added to the end of the file name
@@DevTeamPaxton Figured out the issue, just add to add a couple after .sqf and it made it a sqf. Great guide, and happy to see you responding to peoples questions
Question. How is the dev environment set up? how does the saved init.sqf file load up in the game? and it looks like you use object viewer. How do I get to use that? Thanks!
i dont know what you mean by dev enviroment. Im just running Arma in windowed mode. The game will load init.sqf itself along as it is in your mission folder.
Well made, I have no prior coding/scripting knowledge and you broke everything down and made it very clear what each things does. I wrote up a few descriptions next to the lines of code, if you could check them out that would be great. Just want them to be correct as I don't want to confuse myself. Code here: pastebin.com/VtZQgtPJ
looks as though you are understanding. A couple things I would word different to be more technical. In the first array where you have an array named _myArray. I wouldnt say it "calls" the array. It is a variable that holds the data for the array. In line 6 you said the array holds multiple commands such as _myHint, _myHint2... these are not commands. They are a variables of the type "String". Think of variables as addresses for certain data in memory.
Yeah, did some digging around on some forums and read a few other tutorials. Ready to give up when I noticed I'd missed a single ";".... lets just say I wasn't the happiest of people.
@@DevTeamPaxton maybe it is too late. But i wonder. Can you make pvp match based on rounds(respawns disabled. When one of the teams is eliminated the round ends. Like GR wars). I found a function "respawnRounds" which may do the job but i don't know how to use it.
@@tigerboom9030 you could use a trigger that covers the playing area that ends the mission once no players from one side is present. Depending on if you wanted to restart server at that point or just begin again would determine how you script the condition
@@DevTeamPaxton Hey i dont know where to put the script. I put it in (C:/Documents/Arma 3/ missions/MYMISSION) but it doesnt work. Any idea why? Edit: Yes its an sqf file btw
