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ACEREP #00004

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Our newest version of ACE3 has been released just a couple of hours ago. And we’re happy that we can deliver this version full of improvements and changes for you to enjoy. ACE3 3.5.0 is probably the version with the most code changes since our start in January 2015.

This time, though of course adding new features, we were focused on improving performance, maturing the code and refining ways to achieve certain goals. And we believe this turned out great.

Since 3.4.0 and over the course of the winter holidays we’ve released two patches. Version 3.4.1 and 3.4.2 which brought a few fixes and added new features. We hope that your holidays were splendid and that you were able to enjoy them in the midst of your families and loved ones.

The last few weeks CBA has seen a big overhaul of its ”Extended Event Handlers“ (XEH) aimed to simplify and removing legacy code. If you don’t know what “Extended Event Handlers” are: it’s a powerful and flexible system that allows us to hook into the actions performed by units, such as firing, getting damaged or opening the inventory. The new rewrite of ”XEH“ allows us to increase performance across the board by only using those event handlers that are needed based upon your in game settings. For more information about CBA head over to their github page or have a look at the XEH documentation.

The intercept project's logo.

You may have already seen it on reddit that our Nou started a new pet project which could change the way how mods are developed for Arma 3. At the moment modders have to use the SQF scripting language to develop their mods. The culprit with a scripting language running on top of a game engine is the time it takes to convert the script commands to the native language that is used inside the engine. And time is a valuable good in game engines. ”Intercept“ as the project is called aims to significantly decrease the time it takes for the commands to reach the underlaying engine. The way it does it is by hooking into the game engine itself and calling the scripting commands on the engine level thus circumventing the SQF interpreter. It’s a very interesting project and we will share more information about it and how it might be used in ACE3 in the future. If you want the technical details about ”Intercept“ make sure to visit: http://intercept.github.io/. The intercept project can be found on github: https://github.com/intercept/intercept

The New Things

Now that Arma 3’s Eden update is live and we all have access to the glorious 3D editor, it’s time for ACE3 to use the modding capabilities of EDEN. We recently started to implement settings that were previously restricted to modules to the attributes of units. Examples would be assigning units as medics and EOD’s or vehicles and buildings as repair or medical facilities. This process only has started and we’ve encountered some quirks while implementing the new attributes. In the future there will surely be more things we can incorporate into the EDEN editor directly.

With 1.56 the new Server Browser got introduced which allows automatically downloading missing mods from the Steam Workshop. In order to do so, server admins have to add a special file (meta.cpp) to each mod folder containing the steam workshop ID of the mod. In 3.5.0 we’ve already included it for your convenience. Special thanks to @jiripolasekcom. We appreciate the first commit by a Bohemia Dev to ACE3.

For defending a position or holding a certain point on the map you already have a variety of different objects in the game like sandbag walls and Hesco barriers. In one of the last updates we’ve increased the amount of defensive structures by including freely positionable sandbags. But sometimes a few sandbags are not enough and probably leave you with the need for a bit more cover. With 3.5.0 you’ll be able to equip your trusty “entrenching tool” and start digging trenches. Already prepared for weapon resting and deployment the ACE3 trenches will be a valuable addition when defending a position or preparing an ambush.

As part of our ongoing effort to improve ACE3 we’ve gone through the whole code (again) and optimized it, used new scripting commands, rewrote it and made it more solid. We’ve seen a lot of improvements in existing modules e.g. FCS, Overheating, Hearing, Grenades, Medical, Refueling, Backblast and Explosives. For example AI are now more vulnerable to the blinding and deafening effect of the M84 flash bang.

And something a lot of you people were waiting for - we finally have it: “Fast Roping” in ACE3. Thanks to baermitumlaut and a lot of tests this nice feature has been carried over from AGM, refined, optimized and made better in all ways. It even comes with a custom FRIES (Fast Rope Insertion Extraction System) that gets attached to helicopters and allows for safe Fast Roping. All properly configured helicopters will support Fast Roping and attaching FRIES. This means that at the moment only vanilla Arma 3 helicopters are tested and configured for Fast Roping. From our friends at CUP (the Community Upgrade Project) we’ve already heard that they will add this feature to their ACE3 compatibility mod soon™. In the current version Fast Roping will not work for AI passengers nor AI pilots. This might change in future versions.

A Ghosthawk helicopter with deployed ropes.

There is even much more in 3.5.0 like Mortar Ammunition Handling and the ability to tag buildings using spray paint. We hope that you’ll enjoy 3.5.0 as much as we do.

The End Things

We would also like to welcome jonpas as our newest core developer. Being a contributor since back in the AGM days he’s always been around on github and in chat and helped out with scripting, configs or documentation. So, Welcome aboard jonpas.

The full change log of 3.5.0 can be found here: https://github.com/acemod/ACE3/releases/tag/v3.5.0

Even though the dev team and our contributors are from all around the globe, we still lack translators. Please have a look at this github issue to track the progress and what languages lack translations: https://github.com/acemod/ACE3/issues/367

Make sure to follow us on twitter and to like our facebook page.

And most important: If you want to chat with fellow ACE3 users or with a dev, if you have an idea or are in need of help feel free to join our public slack chat.

Registration is open for everyone: https://acemod.org/slack