ZFM FAQ

[ZamboniBambino]

When will this motherfucker be released? I'm checking these forums all the time and I am an impatient person!

I'm glad you're so enthusiastic about this release! At the moment, I have to split development for ZFM between my personal life, and when my personal life gets busy, ZFM grinds to a halt due to other obligations. However, I will post when I'm developing again, and post updates where appropriate. I have given estimates before, but it's hard to judge when I will be busy and when I get paid work. Sometimes it looks like I have a free weekend, and then I don't! But, I love DayZ and developing ZFM, so I'm not going anywhere.

 

Aargh! The AI on ZFM aren't solid snake! Why aren't they making rockets out of debris, rapelling down buildings and hotwiring cars?

Yeah, there is no "AI" on ZFM yet, as such, like you would see from things like SARGE or WAI. At the moment, ZFM sets the skill level of the AI in ARMA based on difficulty, so at times you will see that AI will hide behind objects and seek out cover, or command others, but that's it. As of ZFM pre-alpha and alpha, there are no AI additions which you see in WAI, because ZFM is a mission system, and not an AI system and does not have any additions for controlling AI on ARMA above what ARMA does. What you see is what ARMA provides, not what ZFM provides -- there aren't any changes to the Finite-State Machine for AI or manual overrides which improve their reactiveness or proactiveness.

 

There is planned support for DZAI and WAI in ZFM Beta, so if you want your AI to be more proactive, then wait for that.  When ZFM has been developed for a while, I do plan to create AI to accompany ZFM, called ZAI, which is primarily aimed at ARMA3. But, that's in the far future at present. I have to release ZFM first.. :lol:

 

I have downloaded from master on GitHub but there is <x> not working, or <y> doesn't work, but on the forums, I can see it working!

Bear in mind that the master release only contains full releases. The current release, as of 25/07/2014 is Pre-Alpha as Alpha is still in production. Once Alpha has been released, "master" will contain Alpha. During development, testing builds will be made available in the "testing" repository on GitHub, and bleeding-edge features will be made available in the "devel" repository.

 

I downloaded the devel repository but <x> isn't working!

Please bear in mind the devel repository is used by me (Zamboni) for hosting code on GitHub between computers, and is also provided for those who have experience of SQF scripting and who will modify code themselves to test functions made available in these releases. However, it is not recommended for those who don't know how to develop SQF scripts; Devel does not contain workable releases of ZFM, it contains pieces of code being tested in isolation.

 

I noticed "ZAT" in the Devel Repository! How do I use your admin tools?

Very perceptive of you! Yes, there is a lot of junk I forget to tidy from my development folder, and some of it gives a bit of a sneak preview as to what I'm doing. Yes, ZAT is a tool I developed for myself called "Zamboni Admin Tools" which is part of a proof of concept I created for having defined "commands" for administration which were configurable on the server, and required token authentication from the server, eventually based on SQL information stored by the hive. It's kinda complete, but just works enough to prove it works. I may release the source at some time, but once ZFM is released.

 

For now, stick with the tools to which you are accustomed.

 

Does this support maps other than chernarus?

The way ZFM is coded it doesn't require map-specific configuration, so yeah, it works on any map. And on ARMA3 maps, too. Nifty!

 

Why does ZFM come with multiple languages? If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me, you heathen English bastard!

I love other languages, so I like to support them. When I played on Epoch servers, I could understand mostly what German players were saying, and they were usually quite inclusive of English players. Sadly, English players tended to have disparaging remarks about the Germans, who actually used to say nice things about them, and act in a more adult manor. Perhaps it's an isolated example, but I want to emphasise that your language is important! And DayZ needs multi-lingualism; I mean, it's based in a non-English country (Chernarus), and English people tend not to be multi-lingual, whereas, non-English people tend to be.

 

So, yeah. Love your language, and speak it! DayZ in German and Japanese? Why not. :wub: