Scripting Tags

A Tag, also referred as an OFPEC tag, is a usually two to eight characters identifier that is individual to each designer, and allows for proper distinction between different authors' content.

ⓘ

Before 2022 and Arma Reforger era, a tag was three to five characters long.

If an addon does not have a tag it could cause a conflict with another addon: this can cause your mission, game (or even your whole computer depending on the game) to crash.

Tags are used in the following mod/addon contents:

• Global variables
• Function names
• New classes (in config.cpp files)
• P3D names
• Addon PBO names - this is less true in Arma 3 since mod management is made through Steam.
  Note: for Real Virtuality games (OFP → Arma 3) pbo names tags should be lower case for Linux server compatibility.

ⓘ

It is good practice for mission framework makers to use tags for global variables as well.

Rules

Valid	Invalid
ARM4_Variable ABC_Variable A2345678_Variable	1ST_Variable A_Variable A234567890_Variable AbC_Variable ABCVariable

Tags must:

• be composed of letters and eventually numbers
• be 2 to 8 characters long
• be uppercase
• start with a letter
• followed by an underscore _

ⓘ

Following the regex ^[A-Z][A-Z0-9]{1,7}_.

History

Tags were originally introduced by OFPEC in 2002 as a way to avoid conflicts between different addons. The system was so effective that it was officially adopted by BI as a requirement for their Addons at Ease initiative.
Today, every respectable addon maker has their own individual tag.

OFPEC have created a list of all these tags so that people can see who registered which tag in order to avoid a tag usage conflict.

ⓘ

• See the OFPEC Tags page - an account is required in order to register a tag.
• A BIKI backup exists at OFPEC Tags List.

Examples

Scripting

// considering MYTAG is the current tag
player setVariable ["MYTAG_hasDocuments", false];

waitUntil { sleep 1; player getVariable ["MYTAG_hasDocuments", false] };
MYTAG_DocumentsGrabbed = true;
publicVariable "MYTAG_DocumentsGrabbed";

Unit Config

class MYTAG_Ranger : B_Soldier_F
{
	displayName = "MYTAG Ranger";
	model="\mytag_rangers\MYTAG_Ranger";
}

this would use mytag_rangers.pbo and MYTAG_Ranger.p3d files

Weapon Config

class CfgAmmo
{
	class Default {};
	class BulletSingle : Default {};
	class BulletBurst : BulletSingle {};
	class KozliceShell : BulletBurst {};
	class MYTAG_RemShell : KozliceShell
	{
		hit = 6;
		indirectHit = 6;
		indirectHitRange = 0.2;
	};
};

class CfgWeapons
{
	class Default {};
	class MGun : Default {};
	class Riffle : MGun {};
	class KozliceShell : Riffle {};
	class MYTAG_RemShell : KozliceShell
	{
		picture = "\mytag_delta\MYTAG_m_kozlice2.paa";
		// ...
		ammo = MYTAG_RemShell;
		// ...
		sound[] = { "\mytag_delta\MYTAG_shotgun.wav", db0, 1 };
		reloadMagazineSound[] = { "\mytag_delta\MYTAG_shotgunreload.wav", db-80, 1 };
	};

	class Kozlice {};
	class MYTAG_Remington : Kozlice
	{
		displayName = "MYTAG_Remington";
		model = "\mytag_delta\MYTAG_Remington";
		picture = "\mytag_delta\MYTAG_w_kozlice.paa";
		muzzles[] = { MYTAG_RemingtonShellMuzzle };
		class MYTAG_RemingtonShellMuzzle : MYTAG_RemShell
		{
			magazines[] = { "MYTAG_RemShell" };
		}
	};
};

class CfgNonAIVehicles
{
	class ProxyWeapon {};
	class ProxyMYTAG_Remington : ProxyWeapon {};
};

This would be stored in mytag_delta.pbo and use the MYTAG_Remington.p3d file.