The Black Skulls Faction (Ex Tenebris)

Black Skulls is an Arma 3 faction mod project that packages the group across multiple eras instead of as a single all-in-one setting. Each addon focuses on a different time period, with its own units, groups, vehicles, weapons, identities, scripts, textures, and editor assets.

Addons

• bskulls-modern: present-day / near-contemporary faction content
• bskulls-coldwar: Cold War-era faction content
• bskulls-nam: Vietnam-era faction content

These are released as separate addons and versioned independently.

Install A Release In Arma 3

Each addon release currently ships as an individual .pbo file.

Option 1: Arma 3 Launcher

1. Download the addon .pbo you want from the repository's Releases page.
2. Create a local mod folder somewhere on disk, for example:
   • @bskulls-modern
   • @bskulls-coldwar
   • @bskulls-nam
3. Inside that folder, create an Addons directory.
4. Copy the released .pbo into that Addons directory.
5. Open the Arma 3 Launcher.
6. Add the folder as a local mod and enable it in the launcher.

Example layout:

@bskulls-modern/
  Addons/
    bskulls-modern_v0.1.0.pbo

Option 2: Startup Parameter

You can also load the addon with Arma 3's -mod= startup parameter.

Example:

-mod=@bskulls-modern

If you are loading multiple mods, separate them with semicolons.

Example:

-mod=@CBA_A3;@bskulls-modern

Dependencies

These addons depend on Arma 3 base content plus third-party mods. The dependency set is addon-specific, so check each addon's CfgPatches.hpp for the authoritative required addons list.

Notes For Multiplayer Servers

All releases are signed. Each release includes:

• .pbo: the addon
• .bisign: the signature file, must sit alongside the .pbo in the mod's Addons folder
• RoFz_bskulls.bikey: the public key for server-side verification

Server-side setup:

• place the addon .pbo and its .bisign in the mod's Addons folder
• place RoFz_bskulls.bikey in the server's keys folder

Repository Layout

• addons/: active HEMTT addon content
• discarded/: reference and study material kept for context, not for active builds
• .hemtt/: HEMTT project configuration
• .github/workflows/: CI and release automation

Development Workflow

1. Make focused changes.
2. Avoid broad structural edits unless they are intentional and reviewed.
3. Use Conventional Commits.
4. Run hemtt check before opening a pull request.

Devcontainer Tooling

The repo devcontainer installs the local tooling used for Arma work, including Java for the skacekachna.sqflint VS Code extension. If SQFLint starts logging spawn java ENOENT after opening or editing Cfg*.hpp files, rebuild the devcontainer so .devcontainer/post-create.sh can reinstall the runtime.

Dependency Audit

Use the local dependency audit to review CfgPatches.requiredAddons[] against actual config usage:

python3 tools/audit_required_addons.py addons/bskulls-modern

The audit is report-only in v1. It uses:

• actual class references found in addon config and SQF files
• tools/class_to_patch_map.json for verified class-to-CfgPatches ownership

When a new external class appears, verify its owning patch in the upstream mod config and add it to the mapping file once. Then re-run the audit and update requiredAddons[] from the report.

You can also compare the static audit against a runtime-exported config snippet, for example an ALiVE ORBAT/autogen export that contains requiredAddons[]:

python3 tools/audit_required_addons.py addons/bskulls-modern --runtime-cfg /path/to/autogen.hpp

That gives you two complementary signals:

• static source scanning catches inheritance and content references even when you have not loaded the modset in game
• runtime/oracle exports reflect what Arma reports from the live loaded config database

When those disagree, the report highlights the gaps so you can either:

• expand tools/class_to_patch_map.json
• correct requiredAddons[]
• or confirm the runtime export was scenario-specific and not a full addon dependency picture

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for contribution rules, review expectations, and repository safety guidance.

License

This repository is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

In short: attribution is required, commercial use is not allowed, and redistribution of modified versions is not allowed under this license.