6 replies to this topic

[jaynus]

(Last Updated: 07.13.2011 by jaynus)


If, after reading this entire guide (we'll know), you have ran into issues with your installation, please feel free to come onto TeamSpeak and join the "Help and Support Channel". An Officer or Regular will always come to assist you.



The United Operations Getting Started Guide


Table of Contents
[indent] 1. Introduction
2. Getting Set up
[indent]a. Pre-Installation Checks
b. Installing and Configuring Six Updater
c. Launching for UO[/indent]3. Testing your Installation
4. Frequently Asked Questions
5. Server & Modification Information[/indent]

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1. Introduction

Glad to see you want to come play at United Operations.

United Operations is an open democracy with regulars (voted members) and officers (voted staff). We have no administrative staff, ruling cabal, or otherwise governing authorities. All actions done within the community are by the regulars, and for the regulars. The officer staff, voted for by regulars, are regulars first, and officers second. We believe this democratic method of administering a gaming community allows for the best equal footing, as well as a free and open forum for everyone to enjoy a military simulation community while still having fun.

United Operations is not a clan; it is a community. There are no requirements to play here, beyond following our standards of play. If you are a new player, you will find that our players thrive to enjoy military simulation gameplay; and shun excessive attitudes and actions which you may see in other servers or games.

Author's note: So - we are striving to make the installation process and smooth and slick as possible, so we have decided to make an initial "quickstart" guide which should assist the majority of players with installation to play here for the first time. But first! Read this and take it to heart. This is the core of everything we do here at United Operations. This can be considered V2 of this quick start guide, and is more streamlined to our new current setup, as well as a compilation of information.


United Operations Charter
Click here to view the Charter

Quote

United Operations is established to serve as a community for fostering teamwork, simulation and cooperation in gaming. We are a mature community bound by a set of common principles:

1. We believe that the virtues of friendship, fun, professionalism, respect, cooperation, teamwork and courtesy are more important than power.
2. Factions will not be tolerated.
3. All regulars will be respected enough to have a common influence on the direction and administration of the community.
4. Gaming involving tactical play and simulation is most fulfilling - although we welcome diversity in moderation.
5. We value merit over title and action over pretense. All of our regulars are valuable assets in their own way, and will excel within their domain.
6. We are a free community - monies will never be requested of our regulars, and those who ever do donate will never benefit from it.
7. Freedom of speech - no regular will be penalized for expressing his opinions. This is a community of mature people.
8. We value the input of regulars, and we are eager to devote our time and effort to educating and welcoming new additions.

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2. GET UP AND RUNNING HERE
We strive to keep as stable of a playing environment as possible, so we host our own custom repository, which can be considered our tested and stable versions of mods available. In order to play on our servers, our mod pack is required. We mention this because a lot of the time, we are not on the latest releases of many mods that we use. This pack consists of possibly custom versions of ACE, ACRE and a compilation of mods known as the UO Mod Pack.


Pre-Installation Steps
If you do not follow these steps, most likely you will have trouble setting up in the following steps.
Follow this guide to quickly go through your current system setup to make sure you won't run into any problems setting up to play at United Operations:
FOLLOW THIS LINK

Install and Update Six Updater
Follow this guide to learn how to update all of our mods via the Six Updater application:
FOLLOW THIS LINK

Launching to play on a United Operations Server
This guide gives walks you through configuring Six Updater to properly launch your game to play at United Operations:
FOLLOW THIS LINK

Testing to make sure everything is set up right
This guide gives walks you through double-checking that your set up and launching is done correctly so you can play with us right now:
FOLLOW THIS LINK

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3. General information about playing with United Operations

What do you need to know to play with us?
* We use our custom set of modifications, including ACE, ACRE and a multitude of custom mods and maps.
* You must be on TeamSpeak with ACRE working properly to play on our servers
* We prefer tactical gameplay and realism over shooter run-and-gun gameplay.
* Keep global chatter to a minimum when slotting and briefing. Do not use global text channels in game.
* Always listen to whoever has volunteered to be the commander for a mission


What will get you banned?
* Team Killing will never be tolerated
* Lack of effort to work as a team and follow orders
* Bad attitude and disrespect towards other players
* Attempting to derail or otherwise disrupt gameplay
* "Lone Wolfing" or otherwise ignoring the teamwork aspect of how UO plays

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4. In Closing....

See ya on the battlefield.

[jaynus]

(Last Updated 07.14.2011 by jaynus)


Pre-Installation Steps


1. Confirm that all your drivers are up to date

This step we really cant provide you with a guide for. However, we have seen multiple issues arise with either performance, crashes, or other problems with ArmA 2 and TS3 due to outdated or broken drivers. Make sure your drivers are all updated to the latest stables. If your running beta drivers and having issues, that might be your problem.


2. Confirm you actually have ArmA2, ArmA2 Operation Arrowhead, and TeamSpeak 3 Installed

Next up, we need to confirm exactly where your ArmA2, ArmA2 OA and TeamSpeak 3 files are installed. If you know where these are, just confirm it. Otherwise, follow the steps below and save these locations in notepad or something.

Common Locations
ArmA2 & ArmA2 OA

Non-Steam
[indent]C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2
C:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2[/indent]
Steam
[indent]C:\Program Files\steam\steamapps\common\ArmA 2
C:\Program Files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\ArmA 2
C:\Program Files\steam\steamapps\common\ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead
C:\Program Files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead[/indent]

TeamSpeak 3
[indent]C:\Program Files\TeamSpeak 3 Client
C:\Program Files (x86)\TeamSpeak 3 Client[/indent]
Manual Location Discovery
If you either do not know where the folders are located, or want to do it the easy way, you can follow these instructions to also find the folders (Vista&Win7 Only):
[indent]1. Start the program you cant find (ArmA2, ArmA2OA, TS3)
2. Right click your task bar, and click task manager
3. Click the "Processes" Tab
4. Find the process you are trying to locate
[indent]ArmA2.exe
ArmA2OA.exe
ts3client_win32.exe
ts3client_win64.exe[/indent]5. Right click the appropriate process, and click "Open File Location"
[/indent]
Once you have clicked "open FIle location", it has now opened a Windows Explorer window to the location of where you ran the file. Folder discovered! Rinse and repeat for what you cannot find.


3. Confirm that your installations are correct for ArmA2, ArmA2 Operation Arrowhead, and TeamSpeak 3

Six Updater requires certain registry keys to be correct (as they should be anyways) to auto-detect the locations and files to install, update and launch the game. These should already setup and correct for you. However, there are two main scenarios that these will not be correct:

1. You have moved some of the folders after installing them
2. You have Steam versions of the games, and have never launched them from steam
In these circumstances, its best to follow the instructions below.

Steam
In order to ensure that your configuration is good in steam - you must launch each game from Steam at least once. Additionally, to be on the safe side, you should launch steam as Administrator to do this. So, the steps are as follows:

1. Launch Steam as Administrator
2. Launch ArmA 2 from the Library (if applicable)
3. Close ArmA 2
4. Launch ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead from the Library (if applicable)
5. Close ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead

This should ensure that your system is setup correctly for Six Updater with steam installs of the game.

Non-Steam

Verify that the following registry path's point to the correct folders for their appropriate game folders (A2 & A2OA)

32-bit Windows
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bohemia Interactive Studio\ArmA 2
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Bohemia Interactive Studio\ArmA 2 OA

64-bit Windows
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Bohemia Interactive Studio\ArmA 2
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Bohemia Interactive Studio\ArmA 2 OA

TeamSpeak 3

Click your start menu, and type "regedit". Launch regedit. Browse to one of the following locations: [indent]Registry Locations
(2 Possible Locations)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\TeamSpeak 3 Client
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\TeamSpeak 3 Client[/indent]
Double click "(Default)", change the string to the location of your teamspeak 3 folder (ex C:\Program Files\TeamSpeak 3 Client)




4. Confirm that TeamSpeak 3 and ArmA2 Operation Arrowhead are set to launch as Administrator

Now that we have confirmed our registry settings are okay, and we have already found the locations of our files, lets take the easy route to make sure that these will always run as administrator. This helps prevents issues with ACRE.

Browse to the folder locations of ArmA2 OA and TeamSpeak 3, and right click each of their respective executable files and select "Properties".
[indent]arma2oa.exe
ts3client_winXX.exe[/indent]

[jaynus]

(Last Updated: 07.13.2011 by jaynus)


How to setup Six with the UO Repository




Here is the bullet point instructions if you feel like being smart. Below, you will find a guide with pictures.

1. Install Six Suite
2. Start it and let it auto-update itself.
3. Click the link for our repo here on this page.
4. You will see "United Operations" get loaded into Six. Make sure its also selected there (BOLDED) in the left hand side. If its not, Click it to make sure.
5. Click the arrow underneath the big green "Six" at the top left corner, and select "Convert to Six Updater". Let this process, it takes a while.
6. Click the arrow underneath the big green "Six" at the top left corner, and click "Install or Update"

United Operations Repository Link -
sixupdater://arma2.unitedoperations.net:85/srv1.yml

IF THE ABOVE LINK IS NOT CLICKABLE, COPY AND PASTE IT INTO YOUR ADDRESS BAR AND PRESS ENTER


Six Updater Download Link -
http://six.dev-heave...agn/Six_Updater

You are done! At this point, you can launch with whatever shortcuts or launchers you used before (except yoma). If you would like to use Six to launch (recommended!) read below. There are also optional things you can do - like optional sound packs, which will be explained in the next article.




How will I need to update in the future?

If you use the recommended six shortcut method below, it will automatically update before launching the game.

If you want to manually update and use a launcher/shortcut, then in the future you will:
1. Open six
2. Click green thing, Install or Update.

Your good to go.

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Step 1 & 2 - Install and Start Six

Once it is installed and updated, you will see this window:


Step 3 -Click the UnitedOperations Repository Link

Click the repository link on this page in your browser:


That will now have opened up stuff in Six, go back to Six Updater and it will look like this:




Step 4 - Convert current Addons to Six Updater

NOW! Click the arrow under the green icon in the top Left, and Select "Convert to Six Updater". This may take a few minutes, you will see text scroll at the bottom until it says completed.




Step 5 -UPDATE!!!!

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Finally. Now all we need to do is click the "Install or Update", to install and update the mods. It is in the same place as the convert button, but you just select install instead.





Your done and good to go! After this point, all you have to do is click "Install or Update" whenever you want to update.

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Basic Layout of Six Picture

[jaynus]

Configuring Six to Correctly Launch Your Game

NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO LAUNCH WITH SIX, THEN YOU ARE NOT SUPPORTED IN THIS GUIDE OR BY THE COMMUNITY. YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN.



First, confirm that you have selected Combined Operations inside of Six Updater. This tells Six Updater to launch the "Combined Operations" package of ArmA2 and ArmA2OA combined..

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Next, select the "Game Profile" tab. And confirm the checkboxes below are selected. Additionally, you can select your in game name on the left hand side.

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As long as everything has been done correctly up to this point, you should be ready to launch the game!

[jaynus]

(Last Updated 07.13.2011 by jaynus)

Testing your setup




WIP

[jaynus]

(Last Updated 07.13.2011 by jaynus)

Frequently Asked Questions and Problems


Six Updater Questions

Q: Why are @CBA_A2 and @CBA_OA black in Six Updater?
A: This is the correct setup. You should only have @CBA active within your Six Updater; this is the version utilized for Combined Operations. If the other two are not black, this means that Six has not detected both of your games (ArmA 2 and ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead). Please see the "Pre-Installation Guide" for troubleshooting this.


Q: Six Updater won't properly install my dsound.dll or my ACRE plugin
A: This usually means that Six is not detecting your TeamSpeak 3 folder correctly. Please see the "Pre-Installation Guide" for troubleshooting this. After you have done this, right click each of the mods in Six (@ACRE and @JayArmA2Lib), select "mod apps" from the drop down, and then select the appropriate copying action to try again.


Q: Why does Six Updater re-install itself all the time?
A: This is because Six Updater is constantly under development by Sickboy, and is constantly in contact with the Officer staff at UO for improvements which can be made to help stream line peoples installation & updating processes.


Q: I don't think my mods are properly updated, what do I do?
A: If you are ever in doubt that the files are somehow invalid, or that things did not update correct (even if the Mods are "GREEN"), then the best course of action is to select the "Verify and Repair" action. This will re-verify all files in your current installation against our servers.


Q: How do I pick one of the alternate sound mods available on the UO repository?
A: Make sure that the "Server UnitedOperations.Net" preset option is selected first. Then, select the "Custom Repos" tab in the middle of the Six Updater program. Then right click the optional modification you want to use, and click the "Add to Preset" button. This will then add that optional mod to your preset and you can now properly Install and Update this mod.


Q: How do I give Six Updater the password to the server to auto-connect to it? Q: Do I always have to use Six Updater to Launch the Game?
A: Make sure that the "Server UnitedOperations.Net" preset option is selected first. Click the "Server Browser" tab. The UO primary server should be the only one listed here. Scroll this window all the way to the right hand side, and you should see a field titled "Saved Password". Enter the current game server password here, and Six is now able to auto-join the game!


Q: Why doesn't UO use the official Six Network?
A: Many times United Operations utilizes either custom builds of mods, older stable versions, or beta/development versions depending on circumstances and stability; we put our mod pack through much more extreme testing prior to allowing them to reach the UO community and servers. Because of this, it is much easier for us to run a completely separate, non-standard modset rather than having to patch or otherwise fuddle with current mainline installations.

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In-Game Problems

Q: When I connect to the server, I receive "Session Lost", "Missing downloadable content" or a "Signature Verification Error".
A: This means that one or more of your mods have not properly installed, or files are corrupt. Run the "Verify and Repair" action inside of Six Updater after making sure the UnitedOperations server is selected (bold)


Q: When I am in game, I get an "ACRE not connected to TeamSpeak Error".
A: One of the following steps may be your problem:
[indent]1. Make sure you are running both A2 and TS3 as Administrator
2. Confirm that jayarma2lib installed properly and that there is a dsound.dll in your ArmA2OA folder
3. If you have somehow manually installed ACRE or JayArmA2Lib, make sure to "Convert to Six" these mods in SixUpdater.[/indent]

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Gameplay Questions

[jaynus]

Servers

TeamSpeak 3
Hostname: ts3.unitedoperations.net
Address: 67.23.180.4


Primary Game Server


Name: UnitedOperations.Net - Primary Server
Hostname: srv1.unitedoperations.net
Address: 216.155.140.30
Port: 2302
Password: Located at channel description to "In Game" channel in TS3.

Alternate / Training Game Server


Name: UnitedOperations.Net - Alternative Server
Hostname: srv1.unitedoperations.net
Address: 216.155.140.30
Port: 2342
Password: Located at channel description to "In Game" channel in TS3.

Mission Test 1

Name: UnitedOperations.Net - (1) Mission Test Server
Hostname: srv1.unitedoperations.net
Address: 216.155.140.30
Port: 2312
Password: Located at channel description to "In Game" channel in TS3.


Mission Test 2

Name: UnitedOperations.Net - (2) Mission Test Server
Hostname: srv1.unitedoperations.net
Address: 216.155.140.30
Port: 2316
Password: Located at channel description to "In Game" channel in TS3.

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Addon Overviews

Following are the addons and modules which are in use currently at United Operations. This is a full, descriptive, compilation of the addons used between all servers hosted by United Operations.


A.C.R.E. (Advanced Combat Radio Environment)
We would like to introduce to you the ACRE mod, in production by various members of the A2 community. The ACRE mod links ArmA2 and Teamspeak3 to create a more immersive environment in which we play in, including positional audio, real radio communications and complete compatibility with the ACE2 ArmA2 project.
We intend tz create the most realistic and immersive radio system within the current gaming world; based off of real life experience and knowledge, as well as the use of physical terrain obscuration, radio loss, distortion, and all other considers a real radio operator must make on a daily basis.
* Realistic terrain and signal loss for radios
* 100% simulated radio interfaces and programming
* Realistic distortion and effects for radios
* 3D positional sound for all players
* Much much more!

A.C.E (Advanced Combat Environment)
ACE2 is designed from the bottom up with the goal of encouraging its users to employ real world tactics and strategy (fighting as a team) in order to accomplish realistic military objectives. We strive to create hyper-realism without losing sight that the mod must be playable by the “advanced” user. Our focus is not only on creating features and models which highlight realism but also on supporting the creation of realistic missions in which one may experience the full spectrum of virtual combat.
* ACE2 allows casual to hard-core gamers the opportunity to experience realistic military weapons, equipment, and tactics while still maintaining an environment that is enjoyable to play.
* ACE2 provides the most realistic, comprehensive, and tactical first-person military simulation available for the civilian PC market.
* ACE2 is a mod in progress for ArmA 2 that is being created by many of the same people who developed the original ACE mod for Armed Assault. There are many exciting teamwork- and gameplay-enhancing features planned for ACE2; it should be the mod-of-choice for any groups interested in increasing their realism, teamwork, and gameplay at the same time.


UOMods Information Here