Arma 3 hails people of every flavor from all over the world. To get to know them a little better, we're hosting a series of mini-interviews with some of our amazing community members. These aim to give you a personal insight into their backgrounds, why they got into Arma, and how they typically experience the game. In this issue, we interview community content creator wld427.
BIO
Name: Eddie
Nickname: wld427
Age: 45
Location: Tennessee, USA
Occupation: Retired US Army
BASELINE
Can you provide us with one random fact about yourself?
I have five cats, two dogs, three goldfish, and nine African Cichlids.
What's the first Arma game you played?
I had Operation Flashpoint (ARMA: Cold War Assault) and played it on a cheap Dell laptop while deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and used to play all the time between real-life missions.
What is your current Arma 3 playtime?
8,571.6 hours and running. I would bet 75% of that is in the Eden Editor testing things.
What is your favorite game of all time?
I always loved the Jane’s series of fighter games. I get the same feeling from Arma aircraft, so the first addons I made were aircraft oriented and I expanded from there.
Outside of video games, what other hobbies do you enjoy?
I enjoy hunting, fishing, shooting, firearm collecting, ATV riding, Auto Hot rodding, gardening, and spending time with my wife and kids.
Can you show us your PC setup?
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
How and when did you get into Arma?
I started out making mission edits for the {XS} clan in Arma. We got tired of just the normal US vs Russia scenarios all the time and began playing with the Royal Army Corps of Sahrani (RACS) faction. The limited selection of kit got me started modding for the server. We wanted to play as a decent independent faction, so I learned to do re-skins and RKSL Rock taught me how to do model.cfgs for aircraft. I ported a couple of ARMA: Cold War Assault planes with permission and it that was it from there.
How do you play or engage with Arma 3 nowadays?
My good friend Sekra is a programming and computer whiz. He runs my Discord server and game servers for me. I can always be found in my Discord server or lurking in the Arma Discord channels. I’ve got a small crew of mostly military veterans and current active duty that I play multiplayer scenarios with using addons. We never do anything too serious, but just have fun. I don’t get to play as much as I used to since most of my time is spent in Arma 3 Tools working on addons.
Can you tell us more about Project RACS?
Where do I begin? Project RACS at its inception was going to be a quick and dirty mod to fill out a little bit of the meagre equipment selection for the RACS side in Arma. This included a couple of planes, tanks, and a helicopter or two. It then snowballed from there.
The story of Sahrani and its lore left an open whiteboard to do anything. So I did. My mission has always been cool and realistic items that a GREENFOR country could or would have. I base every decision on thorough research and knowledge from my personal military experience and world travels.
Project RACS isn't about re-skinning everything or having super high-fidelity assets. We don’t have 100% perfectly accurate models or pixel-perfect items. What we are about is decent and fun addons that have realistic modernization expanding the gameplay to new levels of entertainment. What we gave you in Arma and Arma 2 was a complete, realistic, independent faction, with a well-thought-out ORBAT. Now for Arma 3, we do the same not only for the RACS, but the Sahrani Liberation Army too.
What is your favorite piece of Arma 3 user-created content (mod, addon, scenario, game mode, tool) and why?
Project RACS of course! But there are so many other good addons out there. RHS, FFAA Mod, RKSL, Pook’s mods, IceBreakr’s islands, 3CB, Polpox artwork supporter,and Rismarks animations. Each one adds so much more to the base game that makes replayability eternal. A user can literally sit down at his machine any day, any time, and choose where in the world he would like to play, what time period from World War Two to modern day - or even the future - then just have at it.
Can you share your #1 pro tip for any Arma 3 player?
Modding… Don’t do it! I’m kidding, but seriously though, make friends and find a community. I have friends from the Armaverse going on close to 20 years now. Find what you like about any military or time period, find the addons or make them, and just like a ‘71 Mustang Mach 1, drive it till the wheels fall off.
With the release of Arma Reforger and modding tools for Enfusion Engine, what are you looking forward to with the franchise as we move along the road to Arma 4?
I am looking forward to keeping the soul of Sahrani alive and into the future. We have built a lot of lore over the years and we are expanding upon that. Project RACS really has become like one of my children. I want to continue to nurture that well into the future.
BONUS: If someone stranded you on a deserted island and you had shelter and a food supply, but could only bring three items, what would you bring and why?
- A picture of my family - I would shrivel up and die without them.
- A boatload of half-decent beer - does that really need explaining?
- The boat to go get more beer.
CLOSING
To finish the interview, do you have anything you'd like to share with the Arma community?
A big shout-out to all the members of the community who have made this possible for me: RKSL-Rock, Sekra, the FFAA Mod Team, Red Hammer Studios, Savage Game Design, Dunn, XenithZero, Viper1Zero, Chief b00ce, Ballistic09, sv5000, Doc Warchild, Farsight, and the rest of my goons as I am absolutely sure I am forgetting someone important. The community and my team are what keeps me going. I quit for three years when my son was born, and when I returned I was welcomed back with open arms by most. There are so many great people with so much knowledge. It is heartwarming when you get stuck on a problem or issue with a mod and you have friends to lean on and help you through it. The community is what makes Project RACS what it really is.
A special thank you to my wife - Queen Sarah in our lore. She has tolerated all these years of me behind my machine grinding away at the addons. More importantly, she has always been supportive of my endeavours. She taught me to dream big and achieve it.
Finally, thank you to all the loyal fans of Project RACS, especially those who have been with us since the beginning. Without you, we would be nothing. We are still going strong nearly 20 years since our inception. Come by our Discord server and check us out. There are so many more chapters to come, and we look forward to bringing you some of the most enjoyable addons in the future.