ArmA 3 - ALiVE ORBATRON Tutorial for Idiots, Pt 1

In this (relatively) brief video, I'll show you how to use ALiVE's very powerful ORBATRON tool to create your own factions in ArmA 3.
Because I'm a gentleman, I'll even show you how to export them, turn them into .pbo files, enable them as local mods, and then use them in 3den. WOW!
ALiVE mod for ArmA 3: steamcommunity.com/workshop/f...
Autogen for Orbat tool: github.com/ALiVEOS/ALiVE.OS/b...
RHS mod collection: steamcommunity.com/workshop/f...
CUP mod: steamcommunity.com/workshop/f...
CFP mod: steamcommunity.com/workshop/f...

[@Gdan85]

So, after 7 hours, I did it! I made a few mistakes which swallowed most of my time. While editing units/factions I selected a weapon that caused the system to crash, so I had to start again. Second time, I failed to save the prepacked correctly (doube check the clipboard copy has actually pasted in to your saved files). Third time it worked. Next phase is my SF units! Thank you for this video

[@joed8634]

I'm sure people would like to see you continue to do more videos for ALiVE. Good solid info.

[@skyward_moon9355]

The most helpful video on this topic so far, thank you so much man!

[@auffhammer1]

Very nice, looking forward to more up to date tutorials

[@blizzination]

Awesome, thank you!

[@SpencerBurkett]

Something you should know: ORBAT apparently had it's code "updated" but actually it ended up borking a few things. I had spent the past week trying to make a mod that replaces the loadout of every infantryman in the NATO faction but when you export the full mod, ORBAT actually fails to grab some of the base class names, so you cannot pack and binarize the autogen successfully. To get around this, what I did was Ctrl + click on the units I had already made changes to in the unit editor (excluding vehicles or non-human units) and then went to Export > Units > Selected Units and just pasted that into the autogen file. Packed it like how you demonstrated, binarized it, and it works like a charm. I haven't made a standalone faction just yet so I don't know if the export full faction works in that capacity or not. It seems like some of the turret and helicopter class names are missing when Orbat tries to grab them, but I don't know if that's just because of the sheer size of the full NATO faction or if it's happens with JUST those specific class names I just did infantry. If someone here is using this video to figure out how to edit NATO loadouts like I did, I hope this comes in useful.

[@alexanderrussell2126]

i got a build fialed message is this because i edited each indivudual units loadout ?

[@VietnamWarSummarized]

This guy is a hero, thanks dude

[@6jamming]

Broooo you are such a life saver. Great Video

[@wraith1154]

Thanks man, first tut I watched that worked. Question: How do I go about uploading it onto steam?

[@wznation]

My kinda person! Thanks

[@brodylee3933]

Been working with ORBAT for a while, thank you very much for the refresher. Might be a dumb question, but do you know if making individual units their default bohemia roles has any difference on the way that they act? (i.e. make an engineer an engineer role, make an autorifleman an autorifleman, medic a medic etc.) I always erred on the side of caution and tried to match their loadouts to their intended roles, but does it really matter at all?

[@blizzination]

There are no dumb questions. I felt super dumb every time I would start up ALiVE and go "why the hell won't this work right?" Some of us (me) just have to play with it and learn the hard way to try and make it easier for everyone else. But the answer is - nope. Unless it's something specialized like ACE for designating levels of medical training, EOD, engineers, etc. I always go out of my way to make sure the unit titles match whatever it is they're doing. Both for correctly organizing whatever I'm doing in the mission, but also to prevent my OCD from giving me a brain aneurism. You could totally take a pilot, put a regular kit on him, give him a javelin, and rotate him into a squad and he will function just as a regular AT Gunner. But every time you look at him it'll say "Pilot" and that's what drives me nuts. By the same token, you could take a Medic and order them into a pilot slot and they'll fly off into the sunset blasting Ride of Valkyries.

[@snipesmckinley8691]

Excellent tutorial, I've probably watched and rewatched a dozen times or more. Curious if anyone knows how to set up multiple custom Orbaton factions in the same addon? Everything I have tried so far has failed, and the game only shows on faction.

[@gryff42]

What I really wonder, is there a way to control the randomization? E.g. I want my units to have 3 or 4 different, randomized helmets. So I'd like to pick the specific helmets that are allowed to appear randomly on their heads. Do you know anything about this?

[@itssooverweresoback]

Just make multiple riflemen and stuff..

[@trollgemomo3823]

I have several questions: 1- Do I have to repackage the PBO file every time I make a change to the faction or is there an easier way? 2- How can I add a faction flag? 3- Can I add flags to vehicles? I'd guess that the easiest way is to use a vehicle that has a flag as a base and edit the config?

[@kulik242]

If I make the addon only from assets my group uses (such as RHS) do players need to download the addon to play the mission or can I just use it as a local addon to build the mission and players can play without it?

[@hardstyle2289]

also it does matter which unit you take as base if you dont wanna do advanced editing in the config to get the right unit icons etc

[@blizzination]

Nope, doesn't matter at all. RHS has their sub-groups kinda weird (OCP/UCP) and if you're publishing your ORBAT to the Workshop for public consumption - you might want to change it around so people don't get confused. Ex. If you use an RHS UCP (Also, UCP is literally one of the worst camouflage patterns ever used by the US military) and put all of those units in OCP/Multicam, it's going to get confusing and frustrating for your users, thinking they're dropping in OCP units. But if it's just for you, or it's just in the background like in an ALiVE it doesn't matter at all.

[@hardstyle2289]

@@blizzination I was talking about the icons that show up in the editor, (medic symbol, arrow for autorifle etc) and also roles like medic, engineer etc for ACE and what the AI will call out when they spot the guy (medic, 100 meters). Not the most important stuff and you can edit it yourself as well in the config afterwards but if you want to get that right from the start and you care, choosing the right starting unit is a quick shortcut. You can also edit what sub group they will come into

[@blizzination]

@@hardstyle2289 Ahhh gotcha. Yes it's always easier to just clone that unit and then make more specific changes in the config.cpp if you need to, which is obviously a *tad* more advanced, but still not rocket science.

[@hardstyle2289]

@@blizzination eh, depends on what you think is easier. I only do things by editing the config but I know a lot of people who'd rather only work with ORBAT. It's just choosing a different starting unit, you can load a preset loadout if you don't want to have to change things around from the start. Besides that it's good to know so you don't choose a specialist as a base for your full faction and end up with a faction of engineers or medics, better to choose a plain rifleman (I usually just use NATO/CSAT rifleman for simplicity). My tutorial shows how to edit these things in the config afterwards: alivemod.com/wiki/index.php/Advanced_Tutorial

[@nachu885]

I made 3 addons and idk why but if they all are enabled only one of them works, but every of them are working alone

[@shandon122]

Would you by chance use ace? The ace interaction menu doesn't work for orbat created factions and I can't find a way to fix this

[@ahmadwildan5842]

D u know what must do if the mod is loaded but not detected? Cuz i just experience that, before i w as succesfull, but now it won

[@KENIXII]

hi how to edit loadout or class in moded faction

[@felixkranken9675]

How do I change category names and display my preview images? Where even is my preview images

[@Itsmiaglov]

what do i do to edit existing factions

[@Marty32]

What I did was make a new faction, open up the unit editor, import the units from the faction I wanted to work on, made the changes, then saves the configs etc as he shows here and then created a new folder. I wasn't sure how to edit one either so I just did it that way. I didn't upload or make it public, just used it for my own personal SP use.

[@Lecheno878]

I Don't trust myself to not delete some important file.

[@hardstyle2289]

easier to use pbo manager

[@blizzination]

PBO manager is in Arma Tools or is 3rd party?

[@hardstyle2289]

@@blizzination its 3rd party, it lets you right click a folder in windows and pack as pbo straight up

[@blizzination]

@@hardstyle2289 Does it error-check/validate? I like A3 Tools just by virtue that it will tell me if I do something dumb (like forget to put in an addon folder) and then easy publishing to Workshop

[@hardstyle2289]

@@blizzination not sure actually, but the reason I like it is just how quick you can do it if you want to constantly go ingame to check changes or make sure you haven't made mistakes. I pretty much always follow the same template so don't really forget to do stuff like that anyway :p

[@queenelizabethii4331]

Nerd

[@purest_evil]

Holy sht thanks