BGC_Core - Battlegroup Command

1.8.0

# Battlegroup Command 1.8.0 (draft, version number to confirm)


New default gamepad bindings (keyboard bindings unchanged). All can be changed in Settings > Controls > Battlegroup Command.


## New
- **Gamepad support (first part)**, toward Xbox / PS5 play:
  - LB + D-pad up: open / close the management page (B closes it too).
  - LB + D-pad left (hold): order wheel.
  - LB + D-pad down: select the next in-game group card (after the last one: no group selected). New "Next group" entry in the controls settings.
  - In the management page: D-pad right switches Map / Organisation, hold RB to queue orders.
- Not yet: pressing A on the page panels (coming next), gamepad prompts in hints and briefing panels.


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1.7.0

# Battlegroup Command 1.7.0


**Server and clients must be updated together** (new network commands). New default key: **E** (Retreat). New settings are added to `config.json` automatically.


## New
- **Order wheel (Ctrl+C)**: select groups with Alt+1…9, then hold Ctrl+C to order them at the point you look at: move, attack, suppress, defend, retreat, follow me, board / dismount, formation / stance / rules of engagement, special orders, cancel.
- **Engineer orders**: repair a damaged vehicle (uses supply) and build the blueprints placed by players within 50 m (engineers dig with their shovel).
- **Retreat order** (E): the group breaks contact and heads for the point at once, even under fire.
- **Automatic ammo resupply**: BGC soldiers within 30 m of a friendly arsenal refill their magazines (paid with the arsenal's supply).
- **Vehicles**: selected soldiers can board or leave a vehicle on their own; click a vehicle on the map to see who is aboard and make them get out.
- **Soldier sheet**: with one soldier selected, the bottom bar shows his picture, weapon, health, magazines and vehicle.
- **Languages**: key bindings, order wheel, management page and server messages follow each player's game language (13 languages).


## Changed
- "Board vehicle" no longer takes ownership of the vehicle: groups ride as passengers. Assign a vehicle to a group to have it drive.
- Group colour now depends on the group type; health bars use one green → red gradient everywhere.
- New look for the in-game group cards, with an icon for the current action (also in the group list).
- The game's own command wheel is no longer redirected to BGC groups: use Ctrl+C.
- Briefing signs updated for Ctrl+C.


## Fixed
- Assigning a vehicle no longer makes the soldiers already aboard get out.

1.6.0

# Battlegroup Command 1.6.0


Groups of a player who leaves the server are handled differently. No change to the binary network protocol, to `group_types.json` or to the default keys. No new setting, but **the meaning of `ReclaimWindowMin` changes** (see below). Server and clients should both be updated: an older client still connects, it just does not show the new section.


Workshop: https://reforger.armaplatform.com/workshop/32C5A359B406A788-BGC_Core-BattlegroupCommand (mod ID `32C5A359B406A788`).


## Changed
- **Available groups.** When a player leaves the server, their groups move (after the usual grace period, `DisconnectGraceSec`, 90 s) to a new section of the management page, "AVAILABLE GROUPS", visible to the whole faction. Groups handed over to the faction are listed there too.
- **Requisition by any player, after a delay.** Any player of the faction can now requisition an available group for themselves (right-click on the group, "Requisition"), not only the faction commander. A group that belongs to a player who left stays reserved for them for 30 minutes: nobody can requisition or reassign it before that. The page shows "Reserved for <player> · N min" and the menu entry is greyed out with the time left.
- **Groups are given back whenever the owner returns.** There is no longer a time limit: if the owner reconnects in the same faction, every group of theirs that has not been requisitioned is handed back, even hours later. A requisitioned group stays with its new owner.
- The player's quotas apply to a requisition, as for any transfer.
- The faction commander still commands available groups (orders, renaming) while they wait, as before, but can no longer requisition or reassign a reserved group before the delay. A server admin can.


## Settings (`config.json`)
- `ReclaimWindowMin` (30) is now **the number of minutes during which the groups of a player who left are reserved for them**. `0` = can be requisitioned at once, a negative value = never. It no longer limits how long the owner has to come back.
- `RestartReclaimWindowMin` (30): same delay after a server restart, for a player who was online at the last save, counted from the restart. Server downtime never counts.
- `DisconnectGraceSec` (90) is unchanged: the groups stay with the player for that long, then become available.


## Known limitations
- For the faction commander, available groups stay listed under "My groups" (marked "Command"), since they obey them.
- The time left shown on the page is refreshed about once a minute.
- If the owner comes back in another faction, their groups stay available and are no longer given back (unchanged).

1.5.1

# Battlegroup Command 1.5.1


Bug fix for dedicated servers that restart with a game save. No change to the network protocol, to `config.json`, to `group_types.json` or to the default keys. Only the server needs the fix; clients just need the updated mod.


Workshop: https://reforger.armaplatform.com/workshop/32C5A359B406A788-BGC_Core-BattlegroupCommand (mod ID `32C5A359B406A788`).


## Fixed
- **Groups created shortly before a server restart were not given back to their owner.** In 1.5.0 the mod state was written at each automatic game save, but not at the save the game makes when the server shuts down or restarts (`#restart`, scheduled restart). Anything recruited or reorganised since the last automatic save was missing from the state file, so after the restart those soldiers came back as ordinary AI and the management page showed no group. The mod now writes its state when the session ends, just before the shutdown save.


## Changed
- **Server log**: the lines that follow the saved state (state written, state read, each group taken back, owners expected back, reload summary, groups returned to a player) are now always written to the server `console.log`, with the prefix `[BGC][ETAT]`, even when `LogProfile` is `prod`. With `LogProfile` set to `test` they stay in the mod's own log as before.


## What to check after updating
- Before a restart, the server `console.log` shows `[BGC][ETAT] État écrit (arrêt de BGC) : N groupes…` with the number of groups that exist.
- After the restart: `État relu … N groupes`, one `Groupe relu` line per group, `RELECTURE TERMINÉE`, then `Retour des groupes … rendus` when the owner reconnects.


## Known limitations
- Unchanged from 1.5.0. Groups lost by a restart under 1.5.0 are not recovered by this update: their soldiers are still in the world as ordinary AI and can be taken back one by one with the AI wheel (`Ctrl+C`, "Join").

1.5.0

# Battlegroup Command 1.5.0


First update since 1.0: this note lists everything new since the 1.0 release (sub-groups, in-game group cards and command wheel, supply order, server restart fix, indestructible signs).


**Server and clients must run the same version of the mod** (network protocol changed, version 7). New default keys (`Alt+1..9`, `Alt+0`). New settings are added to `config.json` automatically on first start; `group_types.json` is unchanged. A new file `state.json` appears next to `config.json` on servers that use the game save.


Workshop: https://reforger.armaplatform.com/workshop/32C5A359B406A788-BGC_Core-BattlegroupCommand (mod ID `32C5A359B406A788`).


## Added


### Sub-groups
- A group can be split into two sub-groups, A and B ("Manage" menu), and merged back. It stays one group: one symbol on the map, one column in the Organisation view, one line in the quotas.
- Each sub-group has its own orders and order queue, its own formation / stance / rules of engagement, and its own vehicles.
- Click the group again (tab, 1-9 key, left panel, map symbol) to cycle: whole group, A, B. An order given to the whole group goes to both.
- "Board vehicle" / "Dismount" can be given to the whole group or to one sub-group.
- Sub-group B is drawn in a slightly lighter shade of the group colour.


### In-game group cards and command wheel
- A discreet row of cards at the bottom left of the screen, one per group you own (up to 9): number and type icon on the group colour, amber outline when selected, red dot when in contact.
- `Alt+1` to `Alt+9` selects a group, `Alt+0` clears the selection, `Ctrl+Alt+1..9` adds or removes a group, holding `Alt` shows name, strength and current order.
- While a group is selected, the commands of the game's own command wheel (move, defend, suppressive fire, follow me, halt, get in, get out, fire rules) go to the selected groups at the point you are looking at.
- All keys can be changed in Settings > Controls, "Battlegroup Command" category.


### First special order: supplies
- Transport and Logistics groups can load supplies into one of their vehicles, or unload them, inside a friendly base. The exchange is made with the base's global stock; one soldier of the group must be aboard or within 30 m of the vehicle.
- Ordered from the right-click menu on the map ("Special orders"), the vehicle menu or the "Manage" menu. Choices: load max / 500 / 100, unload all / 500 / 100. The amount is limited by the vehicle's supply capacity (read from the vehicle itself, so modded vehicles work), the base stock and the free room of the base. Supplies aboard and capacity are shown in the menus; the result is announced to the player.


## Fixed
- **AI groups were lost to their owner after a server restart.** On a server restarting on a game save (Arma Reforger 1.8 persistence), the soldiers came back as ordinary AI and the page showed "AI 0 / 60, Groups 0 / 8". The mod now saves its own state with each game save and restores it at startup: groups with their name, type, members, leader, settings, vehicles and order queue. Groups wait under faction command and are handed back when their owner reconnects in the same faction within the return window. Server downtime does not count in that window.


## Changed
- Briefing signs are now indestructible (bullets, explosions, vehicle collisions).
- Clients stay subscribed to the group data while their character is alive, not only while the management page is open: slightly more network traffic per player.


## Settings (`config.json`)
- Server: `RestartReclaimWindowMin` (30), `StatePersistEnabled` (true), `SupplyGroupTypes` ("transport,logistics"), `SupplyOrderRadiusM` (30), `SupplyBaseRadiusM` (0 = the base's own radius).
- Client: `HudEnabled` (true), `HudOpacity` (0.85).


## Known limitations
- Sub-groups are not restored after a server restart: the group comes back whole. Also not restored: the "Follow" order, a group riding as a guest in another group's vehicle, the faction commander role, AI contacts.
- The group leader always stays in sub-group A.
- The game only shows the command wheel commands to the leader of his own player group; several selected groups all receive the same point; a split group receives a wheel order as a whole.
- Supply transfer is instant (no animation), only for vehicles that have a supply storage, and not available from the in-game wheel.
- Other limitations unchanged from 1.0.

1.0.1

# Battlegroup Command 1.0.1


Small content update. No change to the network protocol, to `config.json`, to `group_types.json` or to the default keys: servers and clients only need the updated mod.


Workshop: https://reforger.armaplatform.com/workshop/32C5A359B406A788-BGC_Core-BattlegroupCommand (mod ID `32C5A359B406A788`).


## Changes
- Briefing signs are now indestructible: the ten sign prefabs in `Prefabs/BGC/Briefing/` no longer take damage from bullets, explosions or vehicle collisions, so they can no longer be broken or knocked down.


## Technical notes
- New script component `BGC_IndestructibleComponent`, added to the ten sign prefabs. It turns off damage handling on the entity it is placed on; the destruction component inherited from the base game sign stays in place. Mission makers can add it to their own prefabs.
- Signs already placed in a mission pick up the change automatically (same prefabs, same GUIDs).
- A Game Master can still turn damage back on for a sign with the "enable damage" attribute.


## Known limitations
- Unchanged from 1.0.

1.0.0