ISLAND PANTHERA FOR ARMA 3 Version: v3.91 Release Date: Dec 4, 2020 Previous Releases: v3.9 (Jan 12, 2018), v3.7 (Dec 23, 2016) | 3.66 (Jun 30, 2016) | v3.6 (Jun 22, 2016) | v3.36 for Arma 3 (Nov 26, 2015) Last Arma 2 Release: v2.92 (Jan 15, 2012) Official site: http://www.icebreakr.info/panthera 1. INTRODUCTION =============== "Many have dreams. IceBreakr's dreamt of an island that many ArmA players could enjoy, along with his team of dedicated mil-sim gamers. He put on his yellow working helmet, rolled up his sleeves and started building and building and building, until his dream become reality. It took, time, energy and a lot of dedication but after initial three months he has succeeded - Island Panthera is born!" Version 2.92 came after 2 years and is the last version for Arma 2. Island will get updates only for Arma 3 and this is the latest version (v3.xx). 2. AUTHOR ========= IceBreakr is from Slovenia (Europe) and he's been a level designer for other games/simulations for more than 10 years now. Right after the release of Czech version of ArmA: Armed Assault, game soon became his passion and he formed a strong Slovenian community of mil-sim gamers supporting him in organizing and creating multiplayer coop/PvP events. Lack of islands made him switch to ArmA/ArmA 2 map making. Story continues in Arma 3. 3. WHAT IS PANTHERA? ==================== Name Panthera itself comes from Slovenian history of "black panther" crest. Map itself is based on the real height data of Slovenia's Northwest part in Europe - named Gorenjska Region. "Gora" in Slovenian means mountain and Gorenjska region (represented in Panthera) certainly lives up to its name being home to most of Slovenia’s biggest mountains, including the highest of them all – Triglav (three heads) standing at an impressive 2,865 metres. The Julian Alps and the beautiful Triglav National Park are the main features of the region – offering not just outstanding scenery, but a wealth of plant and animal life and an abundance of outdoor activities. It is also home to the unforgettable lakes Bled and Bohinj. It is almost impossible to decide which one you prefer – Serene Bohinj and its majestic mountain setting or fairytale Bled with its seventeenth century church on an island overlooked by a castle perched on a rocky outcrop. 4. CHANGELOG ============ For a complete list of changes see changelog.txt supplied in the archive. Includes history from first version in previous game engines. 5. FANTASY STORY TO GO ALONG WITH THE NEW ARMA ISLAND? ==================== Scenario #1: Massive climate changes rocked the entire world and heavy ocean flooding left only numerous islands. Panthera is luckly one of them, but people didn't unite in this disaster - army is able to protect only major towns, villages form their own protection squads and neighbouring countries (in order to survive) invade the last island between newly formed sea. Armor is scarce, but several airports serve as an air bridge for more equipment and weapons... Scenario #2: Pantheran government sold the Isla Nuba on Northeast to a Menk Group Corporation. They are building a Pantherea Park, special zoo combining nature with their superior knowledge of animal genetics. Problem is that locals are not willing to leave Nuba and are revolting against scientists and PMC company that Menk Group hired for their protection. Some of this local rebel activities might endanger the life of all living on Panthera... Scenario #3: Scientists are doing some kind of shady business on Fortieste and Rubina islands... 6. INTERESTING FACTS ==================== * Gorenjska region is in fact NW part of Slovenia in Europe and in RL it isn't an island, of course. * due to heavy real-life vegetation and gameplay issues author' had to resize a sector of ~40x40 klicks (kilometers) down to 10km x 10km terrain, quite enough for a small infantry operation supported by light armor and choppers. Of course jets and heavy armor can be used too but it requires a lot of skill and tactics in such harsh terrain. Large mountains and deadly valleys can be tough even for the most experienced fighters. Roads are basically only way to travel around (except air transport), but dense vegetation and many chokepoints can be fatal for a single vehicle or even an armoured convoy, not to mention Panthera's terrain layout can be fatal even for an experienced pilot. Therefor recommended way of travel is tabbing a.k.a. by foot. * first plan has been to create an entire Slovenia (of course resized to ArmA), but too many details were lost on mountain ranges. Slovenia is very similiar to other European countries with vast forests, several rivers, lakes and lush vegetation. * real-life counterpart towns in the area had to be resized to small villages, couple of them listed here: Radovljica, Bled, Jesenice, Mojstrana, Kranjska Gora, Kobarid, Tolmin, Bohinjska Bela, etc. Map now features over than 60 settlements/places, of course much smaller than real life counterpart. * texture is based on 10240x10240 composite of various satellite images and photoshopped in couple of places. * there are six airports present: - Lesce (real one is cessna/soaring plane capable, but in-game runway is the sake of gameplay paved and much bigger, so fighters & transport planes can use it) - Bovec (real one, small for mainly helicopter operations or for very very daring pilots) - Arnoldstein (fake one, Arnoldstein doesn't have one in RL, but this one has been added for better gameplay and mission makers' ideas coming to life. It supplies Tarvisio on SW. Its also the biggest airport with a long runway. - Smugglers (another fake one, this one stands in the desert and locals use it for smuggling operations in and out of the island), supplies the Town of Skooma. - Vatra Airport (only for military use on far NW) - Fortieste Airport (SW island, short unpaved runway) * Almost everything exists in the real World. But there are couple of fictional (FAKE) areas added to improve gameplay. One of them is a desert part on the SouthEast and entire Northern Sector (Austrian Coast) is also fictional with tropical vegetation and small villages, not to forget a fictional racing track & zoo on Nuba ;) * majority of roads are based on real-life data and cover all sectors of the map. * first try to explore the island by positioning your squad on one of the five airports and launch vehicle and air patrols from there. Don't forget to visit highest peak Triglav or a skijump in Planica (NW Valley) ;) 7. INSTALLATION =============== Warning: In order for this island to work you need a special package CUP Terrains Core (@cup_terrains_core) that includes legacy objects from previous Arma games! Unpack folder \@panthera to your ArmA3 root Steam folder and run game with -mod=@panthera parameter. Island will appear in map list and is ready for use. Admins running dedicated signed servers can grab server key from \keys folder. I recommend that you copy ALL of .pbo and .bisign files so that you can play on signed dedicated servers hosting Panthera! See install.txt in @panthera_a3 folder for more info. 8. CREDITS & THANKS =================== Created by: IceBreakr Contributors: Ben Rampling (road conversion to A3 format), PeterGrozni (ideas, feedback), Randy (normal mapping), SBP Team for extensive testing and valuable feedback, MAj Z. (Aljaz Tower object), Sgt.Ace/Atsche (A1-A2, Clutter & Plant configs), Berghoff (brg_africa.pbo foliage), Kju (configs, help), Mikero (configs, awesome tools, help & support), Mondkalb (crowdstand at Arnoldstein Airport), Opteryx (protection wall), Bushlurker, Ian Banks (new roads), M1lkm8n (support, bridge fixes that eliminated CTDs), Hatchet (p3d help, fences and doors), fabiano_celentano (new weather, skies), Flossy, Nicholas Bell, JP.ru OFP Legacy (fences), Bad Benson & MikeBart (grass, ground textures), ArmanIII (snow effects), Jakerod, Foxhound - thank you all for the contributions and support. Testers & bugreports: SBP Team, Monsieur, Sgt.Ace(Atsche), Kol9yn, Sahbazz, SmukY, Spidi, Sjaba & Team L.A.M.B.S., IISwede, swissMAG Special thanks: Bohemia Interactive for making of ArmA series. 9. COPYRIGHT & LICENSE TO USE ============================= Author: Lado Crnologar aka IceBreakr (discord IceBreakr#6570 or https://www.facebook.com/IceBreakrInteractiveStudio/) All rights reserved. Author grants you, as the enduser, a personal right to download, install and play with the island. This right does NOT include the possibilities to reverse engineer or even abuse content of the island addon in your own addons, games, game content or missions (scripts). Author can not be made responsible for ANY damage that could occur from the use of the addon. This island addon is for entertainment purposes only. Any military or commercial use is strictly prohibited. You are NOT allowed to exploit, redistribute and/or modify the content. You may use the island addon in conjunction with the game "Arma 3" by BIS in its original form (as in original 7z archive) only. If you want to use island addon or parts of island addon in your own addons or new game, you have to get written permission from the author. "Island and *.pbo files supplied with it need to have original .bisign files attached and no modification or reverse-engineeering is allowed. Island and addons are forbidden to be used on servers that require donations, unless those donations are merely covering the running costs of the actual server (donations/payments must not be over $1,500 per year). If donations or other payments are made for in-game services that improve player gameplay or favorize paying players in comparison with other non-paying players, those island and accompanying addons (*.pbo) are NOT allowed to be used. Any mistreatment of these rules stated here by an individual or group can and will be prosecuted by a legal team. Expressly, for island/addons use with "life" mods and TCs (Total Conversion mods) you need a prior written permission by the author." Please report bugs to: - the author via contacts above under 9.) - @Official BI Forums (forums.bistudio.com) where feedback will be provided. Official website for my islands is: http://www.icebreakr.info/ ==============================================================