Code34/Sandbox – User

Arma 3 Apex introduces new main menu.

World Scene

World scene is a scenario shown behind main menu when a specific terrain is loaded and -skipIntro is not used. If you're playing on Altis and leave to main menu, Altis scene will be used.

The scene must be defined in an addon either in the terrain configuration or later by overwriting the existing configurations.

Guidelines

The scene should meet following criteria:

• High FPS is important! Lower performance makes navigating the menu uncomfortable.
  • Low view distance (~200 m) is recommended.
  • Camera looking down or towards sloped terrain, so the view distance is not as apparent.
• All content of the scenario should be placed in the Intro phase.
• Camera is static, all the movement should be in the scene (e.g., vegetation in the wind, sea, wildlife, etc.)
  • Avoid following settings (not mandatory, it may work in some cases):
    • Unlit night scenes (dark menus on dark scene don't look well).
    • Bad weather (hides shadows).
• The scene should work on 16:9 screen. Multiple monitors doesn't need to be considered, as the main menu shows a grey background there.

Configuration

config.cpp (must be binarized)

class CfgWorlds
{
	// Class of your terrain
	class MyWorld
	{
		cutscenes[] = {"MyWorldScene"}; // Class names of used scenes. When more than one is present, the system will pick one randomly.
	};
};
class CfgMissions
{
	class Cutscenes
	{
		class MyWorldScene // Class referenced in 'cutscenes' property in CfgWorlds
		{
			directory = "MyAddon\MyScene.MyWorld"; // Path to scenario with the scene
		};
	};
};

Scenario

1. Open Eden Editor on the desired terrain
2. Switch to Intro phase and place a player character (the system will not work without a player!)
3. Save the scenario using the name defined by directory property in config (MyScene.MyWorld in our example)
4. Open scenario folder (Scenario > Open Scenario Folder)
5. Create initIntro.sqf file, it will be run automatically at the scene start
6. Copy the code below to the file

   [
   	//--- Underwater plane
   	{
   		["InitDummy",["Stratis",[1445.92,4802.16,-4.05235],140.191,0.27,[-9.09091,-10.4773],2.74605,0,1049.08,0.00329716,1,1.10852,-0.157568,1.23792]] call bis_fnc_camera;
   		setviewdistance 200;
   	},
   	//--- Aegis
   	{
   		["InitDummy",["Stratis",[2622.76,580.76,16.5994],25.2349,0.53,[-44.4346,0],0,0,526.374,0.00669019,1,1,0,1]] call bis_fnc_camera;
   	}
   ] call BIS_fnc_initWorldScene;
   

   The script will automatically add a subtle vignette and play main menu theme repeatedly.

7. Replace scenes in the array with your scenes captured by Arma 3: Splendid Camera. Make sure to use "InitDummy" string at the beginning. The example currently uses two Stratis scenes, you replace them with as many scenes as you wish.
   • Optionally, add assets to the scene in the editor if needed (e.g., soldiers walking around, parked vehicles, etc.)
8. Move the scenario folder to your addon folder (as defined by directory property in config; \MyAddon\MyScene.MyWorld in our example)

Spotlight

Three large square buttons in the middle of the main menu are spotlight buttons. While the left and right ones are hard-coded, the middle one can be used by any mod-maker.

It's possible to define a list of spotlights, with the system picking randomly from them every time the menu refreshes (i.e., startup or returning from sub-menu).

Configuration

class CfgMainMenuSpotlight // RscDisplayMain >> Spotlight works but is considered obsolete since SPOTREP #00064
{
	class CoopCampaign
	{
		text = "Coop Campaign"; // Text displayed on the square button, converted to upper-case
		textIsQuote = 1; // 1 to add quotation marks around the text
		picture = "\a3\Ui_f\Data\GUI\Rsc\RscDisplayMain\spotlight_1_apex_ca.paa"; // Square picture, ideally 512x512
		video = "\a3\Ui_f\Video\spotlight_1_Apex.ogv"; // Video played on mouse hover
		action = "ctrlactivate ((ctrlparent (_this select 0)) displayctrl 101);"; // Code called upon clicking, passed arguments are [<button:Control>]
		actionText = $STR_A3_RscDisplayMain_Spotlight_Play; // Text displayed in top left corner of on-hover white frame
		condition = "true"; // Condition for showing the spotlight
	};
	class AnotherCoopCampaign
	{
		text = "Another Coop Campaign";
		picture = "\a3\Ui_f\Data\GUI\Rsc\RscDisplayMain\spotlight_1_eastwind_ca.paa";
		action = "ctrlactivate ((ctrlparent (_this select 0)) displayctrl 149);";
		actionText = $STR_A3_RscDisplayMain_Spotlight_Play;
		condition = "isKeyActive 'FinishedCoopCampaign';";
	};
	class JoinServer
	{
		text = "Splendid Server";
		picture = "my_mod\data\spotlight.paa";
		action = "connectToServer ['127.0.0.1', 2302, '']";
		actionText = "Join the Splendid Server";
		condition = "true";
	};
};