This page is dedicated for tools specifically made for ArmA 3. Remember that most ArmA and ArmA 2 tools work just fine with ArmA 3 in most parts.

Not released yet PMCTODO

Please check ArmA Tools and ArmA 2 Tools.

ArmA 3 P:\ Drive Guide until the official BIS tools are released.

Copy your existing ArmA 2 ArmaWork directory, rename it to ArmA.2.Work

Make a P:\ drive switcher shortcut so the same set of tools are used, but the P:\ drive contents can be switched between an ArmA2 and an ArmA3 version.

Unpack all the ArmA3 files and Dta & Bin etc overwriting into the ArmA3 version.

In Dta copy the new product.bin file from ArmA3

Unpack Bin and Core pbo's from the ArmA3 install Dta directory.

For the new ArmA3 P:\ drive make new localised ArmA3Profile and ArmA3config files for buldozer, based on the game profile ones.

1. Copy Arma3.exe to P:\

2. Copy all the files that are in Arma3 root folder to P:\ root folder (steam_api.dll etc)

3. Depbo bin.pbo and core.pbo from A3\Dta folder and replace the A2 pendants on P:\ (backing A2 core.pbo and bin.pbo up in to a separate folder is a good idea) ⇒ Remember to do that everytime Steam updates Arma 3!

4. In Visitor 3/O2, simply exchange buldozer.exe to Arma3.exe in System Preferences, rest can stay the same. I use:

“p:\arma3.exe” -window -buldozer -exThreads=8 -noPause

5. Create a folder called a3 on your P drive, put in all necessary pbos, unpack them and move them until they look like a3\data_f\xxx.p3d etc.

A Big Concern, particularly by the more well-established guys who, usually after a bit of a struggle, now have tried 'n trusted Arma 2 P:\ drive setups which work reliably, is - not to screw that up!

It's perfectly possible to have completely independant “P:\ drives” for Arma2 and Arma3 which share a common tools install…

Here's how…

First - download ArmA3_Tools_Drive_Setup_Files.7z

Okay!

As we all know, the “P:\” drive isn't really a drive at all - it's a “virtual drive” which basically appears to contain files… in actual fact, the Real location of these files is in a folder called “ArmaWork” which lives in the same folder as your tools install… Take a look in your tools folder right now… see it? While you're here - make another! - call it “Arma3Work”

From now on, your precious and hard-won Fully Working Arma 2 P:\drive is out of the picture - it's SAFE and we won't be messing with it at all….

Now we need some contents for our new Arma3Work folder….

If we'd just started from scratch and installed the BI Tools, it would have created some basic contents for it's ArmaWork folder, so we'll start our Arma3Work folder off with the same files…

Look in the little package you downloaded - find the “Default_ArmAWork_Original” stuff - drop all the contents into your Arma3Work folder.

Next… While you're here inside your BI Tools install folder, make another folder - call this one “Tools_Switcher”. Find the “A2_A3_Tools_Switch.cmd” file from the download and drop it in there…

* You'll notice that for the sake of completeness I also included a couple of desktop shortcuts in the download package… you can refer to these later if you need to, but leave them where they are for now - it's easier if you just make your own…

Now - lets take a look at this “A2_A3_Tools_Switch.cmd” file…

*BE CAREFUL * - because it's a .cmd file, it's an executable… if you doubleclick it, it'll actually run, and you don't want to do that just yet…

Right Click the file and choose “edit” and it'll open in notepad and look like this…

@goto %~1
:A2
subst p: /d
subst p: d:\a2_bis_tools\armawork
@goto EndOf
 
:A3
subst p: /d
subst p: d:\a2_bis_tools\arma3work
@goto EndOf
 
:EndOf
pause

Okay… by now a lot of you guys will have twigged where this is going and have leapt ahead, but for the rest I'll explain in a bit more detail…

Basically, this little program is designed to be run by a shortcut on your desktop… if that shortcut has an “A2 Flag” included - the “:A2” section of the program runs, if the shortcut is carrying an “A3 Flag” then the “:A3” bit runs instead…

You can see if you look at the code above that the program is basically two sections - :A2 and :A3… Look at the line…

subst p: d:\a2_bis_tools\armawork

The “d:\a2_bis_tools\armawork” part is the path to my “ArmaWork” folder - change that part to your path to your ArmaWork folder, wherever your Tools install is located…

Now look in the “:A3” section below - theres another similar path - this one pointing to my new “Arma3Work” folder… Change this path too - set it to point to your “Arma3Work” folder

Now save and you're ready with that!

Now! RightClick on your newly edited “A2_A3_Tools_Switch.cmd” file and choose Send To/ Desktop (Create Shortcut) - go to your desktop and RENAME the shortcut to “A2 TOOLS”

Now - do the same thing again - create another shortcut on the desktop, as before, and rename this one to “A3 TOOLS”

At this point you can refer to the shortcuts I included if you're unsure, but anyone who's modified an Arma shortcut to add a modfolder will follow this next part easily…

RightClick on your “A2 TOOLS” shortcut and choose “Properties” and in the “Target” line add a space and then :A2 to the path…

It should look something like this…

D:\BI_Tools\Tools_Switcher\A2_A3_Tools_Switch.cmd :A2

Click OK and you're done with that one… Now follow the exact same procedure with your “A3 TOOLS” shortcut - add “:A3” to that one, obviously

Finally - that should be you ready… You now have a pair of shortcuts which should switch the contents of P:\ on demand, while still sharing the same actual toolkit (V3, O2, etc)

Try it now - make sure it works… When you're in “A3 Mode” the P:\ drive should just contain the “dummy content” we placed in there earlier… we'll set it up as a true A3 drive next…

This next section on setting up A3 content on a P:\ drive is likely to become completely redundant when the Mighty Mikero's “Arma3P” arrives - if it hasn't already - plus the same stuff is covered elsewhere, so I'll summarise this bit a little more briefly…

We're kindof in “Tools Limbo” at the moment - anyone who was around and messing with this terrain stuff back when OA arrived will remember it well, and probably remember the following procedure too. This involves messing with some of the “system” files on the P:\ setup, which is why it's a very good idea to be doing this on a fresh, new P:\ drive, and not your current precious Arma 2 one…

Briefly then…

Click your Funky new “A3 TOOLS” shortcut, and verify your P:\ drive contains only the dummy content we dropped in there earlier…

Navigate to your A3 install main directory - copy ALL the loose files in here - none of the folders, but for the sake of quickness, just copy ALL the single files, and paste them all directly into your P:\ drive… While you're on P:\ - look for your “buldozer.exe” - DELETE it, and RENAME “Arma3.exe” to “buldozer.exe”

Back to your Arma3 install folder - look for the “Dta” folder and open it up…. Look for “product.bin” - COPY that file - Navigate to your P:\ drive where you'll find a “Dta” folder - inside that there'll be a “product.bin” file already… DELETE the old one, PASTE in the one you copied from Arma3.

Back to the Arma3 install folder, and inside the Dta folder again… Look for “bin.pbo” - unpack it to a folder - COPY that folder - look to your P:\ drive - there's a “bin” folder already… DELETE the old “bin” folder, PASTE in your new one…

Now - the same thing again - this time with “core.pbo” in the Arma3/Dta folder - unpack it to a folder - copy, go to P:\ - delete the old “core” folder - paste your new one…

And… one more time - this time with “languagecore.pbo” - same procedure - unpack, copy folder, go to P:\…. This time you'll notice there isn't an “old” languagecore folder to get rid of first - that's ok - just paste your one in there and you're done…

Now - when you're switched to this new “Arma3 P:\ Drive” you should be able to run Visitor as before - it'll find all the files it requires… when you want to view something, it'll use the new sneaky “arma 3 buldozer” and it - should - also find all the files that it requires…

For now, this is probably about as close as we can get to an “A3 Tools Install” without risking valuable existing Arma 2 development installations…

The final stage of course, would be to unpack the A3 content to your new P:\ drive - that procedure HAS been covered before, and is also exactly the job that Mikes Tool will also address, so you guys can take it from here….

… as always - backups of backups is always a good idea…