Arma 2: Terrain Tutorial

Introduction

This simple tutorial will explain the basic process of creating a Island in ArmA2.

What the tutorial will deal with:

• Setting up Visitor and the working directory / Project folder (namespace).
• Importing Landscape, Satellite Texture, and Objects.
• Binarizing your world properly.
• Proper Samplemap to work with.

Setup Editing Tools 2

• It´s pretty important to choose a proper place to install the BI Editing tools 2 before starting with anythings else (a clean empty partition is highly recommended).
• In this tutorial we will use Partition O:\
  • 1: Download the BI Editing Tools 2
  • 2: Create a foldier called BIS TOOLS 2 in your designated Partition (O:\BIS TOOLS 2\ in our example)
  • 3: Open or extract the dowloaded zip file and start the BI_Editing_Tools_2_Setup.exe
  • 4: The installer is basically self explanatory, the actual important process is to change the directory for each tool.
    • Make sure to define the respective path for each tool (e.g.: O:\BIS TOOLS 2\Oxygen 2, O:\BIS TOOLS 2\Visitor 3 .....and so on).
  • 5: All tools should be installed now in respective directory (O:\BIS TOOLS\). Every Tool is stored in its own folder.

• • BI's Tools Drive informations
  • The tool will create a P:\ drive on your hard drive using the SUBST command, it only associates a Folder to a Virtual ** Drive, default folder path is "My Documents\ArmAWork", you can change it in installation options.
  • IF YOU ARE USING P:\ DRIVE FOR A DIFFERENT DEVICE YOU CAN CHANGE THE DRIVE NAME IN "\ArmAWork\mapdisk.bat" AND
  • IN OXYGEN2PE (File->Options) AND IN VISITOR3 (Tool->SystemPreferences).

Preparing your Project Foldier

• Die Toolinstallation emuliert das Laufwerk P:\ abgeleitet von unserem O:\BI TOOLS 2\ArmAWork\ Ordner
• Als erstes sollte man sich überlegen welche Objekte man in die Map verbauen will, für dieses Tutorial bleiben wir erstmal bei einer geringen Anzahl an verschiedenen Objekten.
• In diesem P:\ Laufwerk erkennen wir den ordner CA dort befinden sich schon ein paar entpackte pbos unter anderem die Roads2.

Extracting Pbos with Mikeros Toolsuite

• Dowload the latest Versions of ExtractPbo and DePbo at DevHeaven

• Move the DePbo.dll from the dowloaded DePbo into the ..Windows\System32 Foldier (Wie beschrieben in der readme.DePbo.txt)

Setup Visitor 3

• Run the O:\BI TOOLS 2\Visitor 3\Visitor3.exe
  • You are forced to accept the license agreements of Visitor 3 unless you can use the full content of the Program.

References:

• Visitor 3 Manual
• ArmABuildEnvironment.pdf (by Synide)