Getting Started Guide (Arma 3)
This Getting Started Guide for ArmA 3 provides basic guidance on getting started with ArmA 3 at United Operations. It covers the proper synchronization to our modpack using Play withSix or Arma 3 Sync, how to connect to our servers, and the important things you need to know for your first play session at UO as well as further reading.
Contents
Prerequisites
Before you start playing ArmA 3 with us you'll need to acquire a few prerequisites: Teamspeak 3 for in-game and out-of-game communication and a forum account, you will also need to link your Teamspeak profile with your forum account. For a walkthrough on installing and setting up our prerequisites see:
You will need also need ArmA3Sync or Play withSix in order to download our modset. Follow either link below to download the respective application. The currently recommended application is ArmA3Sync.
You can use either, but once you have started downloading you cannot switch without entirely downloading the modpack again.
Addon Synchronization - Play withSix
Before you can successfully connect to our ArmA 3 servers you need to download or "synchronize with" our modpack.
If you do not already have any of our mods at all this can take a considerable amount of time as the size of the mods you need to download exceeds 2GB as of writing. If you have played elsewhere with mods before coming to play with us there is a likelyhood you already have some of our mods, in that event we will simply re-use those mods and the download time will be smaller.
Please launch the game at least once normally, through Steam, to ensure that all updates are processed fully. Do this before you continue with this guide or attempt to install any mods, and after all updates to ArmA 3.
Step 1 - Define your ArmA 3 Setup
Open Play withSix and follow the instructions below.
- SELECT - ARMA 3 as the active game.
Now ensure the Game Options in your Play withSix client matches the ones below. If the Game Options dialog does not automatically open click the Options button at the top right, click Settings then click Game Settings at the bottom of the dialog that opens.
- DISABLE - Beta Patch
- ENABLE - Load Server Mods
- ENABLE - Force "Run as Administrator"
- DISABLE - Launch as Dedicated Server
- DISABLE - Launch with Steam Launcher
- MODIFY - Startup Paramaeters = -name=YourInGameName -world=empty -nofilepatching -nologs -skipintro
- VERIFY - GAME Directory = Your Path to Steam/ArmA3 installation, if it is not automatically detected.
- VERIFY - MODS Directory = Your Path to Steam/ArmA3 installation, if it is not automatically detected.
- VERIFY - SYNQ Directory = Your Path to Steam/ArmA3 installation, by default.*
*(Advanced Users) You can optionally specify another location (even on another drive) for your SYNQ directory if you desire; for example, if your main game files are located on an SSD you can move the SYNQ directory to a mass-storage HDD to save space as these files take up a very large amount of space.
Step 2 - Add the UnitedOperations Repository for ArmA 3
SELECT - "Mods" and then click the Add Repo button and copy the following link into the text box that appears.
- pws://six.unitedoperations.net/arma3/config.yml
WAIT until all repositories are fully imported before proceeding. This should take no longer than 5 minutes.
Step 3 - Select the appropriate server from imported collections
- SELECT the "A3-SRV1 UnitedOperations" repository in the list of repositories.
- CLICK the large orange INSTALL button - This will install new mods and update any existing mods already installed in this collection.
- Once Completed - Install will change to LAUNCH (or JOIN), this means you are ready to launch with our modpack and join the game.
Occasionally we will add new mods to our modpack or update existing ones to new versions. If there are updates the LAUNCH button will change to UPDATE, all you need to do is click UPDATE and wait for the download to finish. You can review what is updated and when at our ArmA 3 Server Changelog.
Addon Synchronization - ArmA3Sync
Before you can successfully connect to our ArmA 3 servers you need to download our modpack. If you do not already have any of our mods at all this can take a considerable amount of time as the size of the mods you need to download exceeds 7GB as of writing. If you have played elsewhere with mods before coming to play with us there is a likelyhood you already have some of our mods, in that event we will simply re-use those mods and the download time will be smaller.
Please launch the game at least once normally, through Steam, to ensure that all updates are processed fully. Do this before you continue with this guide or attempt to install any mods, and after all updates to ArmA 3.
Disclaimer, as of the writing of this tutorial ARMA3Sync is not officially supported. There may be bugs/errors.
Step 1 - Download ArmA3Sync:
Download ArmA3Sync from here http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=22199
Step 2 - Install ArmA3Sync:
This part should be fairly easy. Just run through the prompts and once it is installed be sure to launch it. After you have launched ARMA3Sync it will ask you to locate your ARMA3 game. Find your ARMA installation and select your ARMA3.exe and press ok.
Your ARMA3Sync should now look something similar to this:
Step 3 - Setting Up Repository:
Select the Repositories button here:
After this select "Add a new repository" here:
Enter the following link in to Public auto-config url http://sync.unitedoperations.net/.a3s/autoconfig and then press import:
It should now say it was a success and look like this:
Hit ok and the box should now close. Now select the "Connect to repository" button located here:
And the page should now update to look similar to this:
Step 4 - Checking Addons:
After the modset's page has opened select the "Check for Addons" icon located here:
After a few seconds it should update the page to look similar to this:
Press select all (You can deselect @UOTest_A3 and @UOCBA_A3 as we do not use this) and then press the play button on the left, here:
Your mods should now start to update. Your mods will eventually be downloaded and once it is complete it should say 'Finished':
And you are done! Your mods have been updated and you are ready to launch your game.
Current noted bugs:
You might run into a HTTP error like below:
Removed offending files (for each reported file, make sure you remove the *.part file as well). Resync should resolve the issue.
Step 5 (Optional) - Connect with ArmA3Sync:
Now you have the UO modset installed, move over to the "Addon Options" tab. You should see something similar to below, you need at least 1 directory in the "Addon Search Directories" box which normally should be the game installed directory.
Go to the "Addons" tab. You should see all mods you've installed are listed on the "Available Addons" window on the left. On the right "Addon Groups" window, right click within the window a content menu with "Add Group" will pop up. Add a new group.
The new group should appear, after that drag the UO modset from the left window to the new group. Make sure you have the group checked by ticking the left box. You should have something similar to below: (The UO mods can be just under the "Arma 3" group, I have subgroups defined but they are optional for easy mod management)
Adjust settings under "Launcher Options" to your reference. But make sure the "ArmA III Executable Location" is setup and "Game Version" is set to "ArmA III". Mine looks like this:
Go to the "Online" tab. Here you can add the UO game servers by clicking the blue "+" icon on the right. Check the next section for server password.
You can now launch the game by selecting the newly added server and click "Start Game".
Note: Due to recent changes to Arma 3 - 1.44, connecting to any online servers with launcher other than the official one will prompt you to start BattlEye separately. More details in BI's forum: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?190426-BattlEye-service-implementation&p=2910511#post2910511
BattlEye - Workaround:
To avoid be prompted to start BattlEye before A3. You can change the "Arma III Executable Location" to use arma3battleye.exe and put "0 1" manually in the "Additional Parameters" box. That should start BattlEye before the game is launch.
Connecting to the Server
In most cases you can directly join our server with Play withSix, you do this simply by clicking the JOIN button. or with Arma 3 Sync by selecting the Primary server in the bottom bar and clicking Start Game. If this, for whatever reason, does not work or you have a LAUNCH/Start Game button instead follow the instructions below to find and connect to our server.
In order to manually connect to our servers you will first need to obtain our server password, for most servers this is the same as our Teamspeak 3 password, however, in the event this is not working you can find the passwords as well as IP addresses and rules for all our servers at this link: [1].
Once you have the password simple start ArmA 3, navigate to the Multiplayer server browser, click the button labeled "Remote" in the bottom right-hand corner and enter the following information into the corresponding boxes:
- IP: arma3.unitedoperations.net
- Port: 2402
Then click OK. This should yield a single result, our Primary server, in the server browser; simple double-click this result and enter the password you received earlier to connect. Once you have connected to our server please ensure you join the correct game channel on Teamspeak, failure to be on Teamspeak will result in you being kicked, not necessarily with any warning.
If the event you cannot find our server using the above method please contact a Regular on our Teamspeak for assistance.
Your First ArmA 3 Session
When you first connect to our server you will be presented with the slotting screen. Here at UO we allow the mission commander to select which slots he wishes to play his mission with; at the start of a mission one player will choose to command a mission then he will call which slots are available to be picked, once these slots have been called you will be permitted to start taking any of these slots, for your first few games at UO please restrict yourself to an infantry team-member and steer clear of high-value assets like aircraft and leaderships slots as these often require a lot more skill and experience and can potentially ruin the game for everyone if misused. If a game is already in process choose a slot in a squad that already has a leader.
It will likely take a few games for you learn the ropes of how we play here at United Operations, however, as long as you don't break any of our rules and abide by the United Operations Charter you should be fine. Simply let your fireteam leader know you are new and most of the time they will be very happy to help you out.
Troubleshooting
Having issues installing our modpack? Hop on over to our forums, we'll be happy to help you out.
