The Unsung MOD

Introduction

The Unsung Website

The Unsung Vietnam war MOD was the effort of a few OFP (Operation Flashpoint) fans and Vietnam war 'freaks'. In the early days of OFP the idea came forth that with this ultimate war simulation, the Vietnam war could be brought into the gaming world like never before. And with the gathering of a few talented members willing to go the painstaking road of working from the ground up in realising this MOD, The Unsung was born.

2004 saw the coming of the website for The Unsung mod. And it had finally a face. But with lot's of work to be done and fewer members of the team able to carry on, the team slowly fell apart and the Unsung started to fade away into history. Two community members didn't want to let the MOD die and took over where the previous team could no more. And the Unsung rose again from the ashes. It took yet again some time for new members to show up and join the at that point 2 man team. But once new possible members saw and heard, the team started expanding and has now a very capable team of moders working for it that is growing larger still. Since the re-birth of The Unsung, the mod achieved it's first two Demo releases for OFP. They show the quality and capabilities of the hard work of all Unsung members to date. Finally all the hard work of the first team and the current team came to realisation. No work has gone unnoticed in the process of making it all happen.

As hard work and countless hours of dedication to the MOD brought more and more beautifull creations we found ourselfs at a turning point for the MOD once more. ArmA (Armed Assault) was at the horizon, and the team was asking itself what to do next as we were working to a full release. But the minds and thoughts were the same, all the work done so far and unreleased were to go on into ArmA including the work for what was to be the full release for OFP! The Unsung Vietnam War MOD continues on...

Mission

The Unsung plans to recreate many events from the Vietnam war, between the mid 1960's - the early 1970's.

Most of the overall project will encompass the years in which US involvement in more than a funding and advisory role was no longer secret, this being 1965 - 1973. This was a very significant period in time for the United States of America. It was an engagement spanning ten years, where attitudes and tactics changed. It could be argued that America lost this war, this was their longest war, and yet, it wasnt a war at all.

It was also the coming of age of the helicopter, the creation of advanced tactics to combat a foe unlike any before encountered, in a country that held no front lines, no battle fields, it was the battlefield, its deep jungles and high mountains became the ever shifting sea of front lines. The US military quickly established various strategic bases, these were to provide support for the ground troops who would seek out and destroy the enemy where ever he may be.

The Team

The team members for The Unsung consist out of members from the OFP community with many skills in different fields of modding. But they all have the same thoughts surrounding their idea's and dedication to the MOD. They are all total Vietnam war freaks. And united the team has the talent and know how on bringing the Vietnam war into both games called OFP and ArmA.

Enlisting

Joining up for The Unsung MOD is always possible. If you are really interested into working dedicated for the MOD and are willing to learn/teach with other members and work towards that goal of bringing the Vietnam war into both games then you can always ask.

New applicants will have to show their work and skills, some skill is required to join up as 0 skill applicants would draw to much time and effort away to keep working on our main goal. New applicants must be able to work alone to a certain degree. The new applicants work and themselfs will be judged upon by the entire team in order to see if they will fit into the team and if they are as dedicated as the rest.

The main vibe within the MOD is that all MOD members will help eachother out and teach eachother what they know. If you are willing to learn, we are willing to teach. In that way we preserve and naturally expand our knowledge and bring the MOD to a higher level.

New applicants can contact us through our website.

Our work to date

Our work so far consists out of our Demo I and Demo II releases for OFP. In the Demo I release we showed the quality and capabilities of our MOD. It included a thick jungle island and some units. The Demo II release showed a expansion and improvement on all the work. It included new units, a new island an improved old island and some additionals. Some pictures of the Demo I and II work are shown below:

(note: 1 model in the second pic was used from a different MOD under approval for our MOD.)

Khe Sanh

Introduction

The Khe Sanh Combat Base. This is the main theme our MOD has chosen to work around for our first main release. Although we were well underway for OFP, developements around ArmA made us reconsider our steps. Therefore Khe Sanh will be seen in ArmA.

The Khe Sanh full release will be the story of the hill fights from spring 1967 that led to the main siege in the year of 1968, and the siege itself in that same last named year.

Story line

It will all start with the hill fights were US troops fought the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese Army (NVA) in a series of battles concerning the hilltops and valleys surrounding the Khe Sanh combat base (KSCB). The reason for the KSCB being there was for the US troops to monitor the movement along the strategic Ho Chi Minh trail that came down from North Vietnam along Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam. The trail was a series of jungle paths joined together that formed a way of transport for troops and supplies for the NVA to move to the South. Movement by the NVA could take up to months for a few 100 km due to intense fire power released by the US along the trail.

Dominated by high hills on all sides, the combat base had to be screened on foot by US Marine infantrymen while crack, battle-hardened NVA units roamed at will through the high grass and set up elaborate defenses on steep, sun-baked overlooks.

Eventually these battles got so intence that the North decided that the only way to get rid of the US looking into their troop movement to the South was to get rid of the KSCB. And this led into the siege of the KSCB in which US forces were surrounded by some ten thousends of NVA troops. The base was nearly overrun but due to the enormous firepower display from the US through air power and continious supply by air on the base itself the US could prevent this from happening.

And through these events the story is told. A story of hell.

Terrain work

The terrain for the KSCB and it's surroundings is carefully adjusted and made according to the real time terrain as it once was. Using maps and photo's available at numerous sources we are carefully making the terrain and the base itself so that it looks and feels exactly as it once did back in the years of the Vietnam war. When you take a actual picture taken during the war and put it next to a picture taken of the same piece of land in ArmA we want it to look as identical as possible.

The Demo I and Demo II releases were mere testing fases for our team to experiment with all kinds of stuff, so we can bring the ultimate Vietnam experience, now into ArmA that we could not in OFP due to the time shortage.

Unit work

The units of the US, NVA, VC and all other major known units that existed during the battle for the KSCB are made according to historical documentation so we can bring the reality to you as much as possible.

Reality

As said before in above sections, the Unsung wants to show the Vietnam war to the gamers of OFP and ArmA as real as possible. As it once was. We therefore are doing as much as possible to assure us in this quest. We use historical documentation, footage and talk to veterans when we get the chance in order to gain information about how it was.

It's hard work, but if you want quality over quantity you need to pay the price. Quantity can be achieved if the quality is there.

Completion

When will the Khe Sanh release be ready you ask? Well since ArmA has just been released, we are still hard at work on 'how to' just like any other MOD. We will first concentrate on releasing yet another small Demo so we get the hang and feeling of the new engine a little. And you get a preview of what we can do with ArmA and what is to come.

We will try to use at much of the work we have lying around for OFP that we can convert to ArmA. But how much can be used remains still a question.

Display of work

Operation Flashpoint

A flight over Ghostland island

A walk through the jungle on Ghostland island

A bunker pos on Highlands island

A walk on Khe Sanh island

Note: Above pics show various islands, from which Khe Sanh was unreleased to the public and still unfinished.

Armed Assault

To be continued.....