It happens a lot, communication breaks down. Commanders don’t know what’s going on, medics aren’t finding people, and CAS and Artillery forget to properly identify targets. The battlefield can quickly turn into a mess, and people often point fingers as points of failure. More often it’s a communication failure.
TFAR is a Team Speak plugin and Arma 3 mod that improves communication by restricting it. You have local chat and specific radio channels, as well as left and right audio channels. TFAR is easily installed using the plugin in the mod files directly. Just need to install Team Speak and then look in the mod folder to grab the plugin and install that.
Installing TFAR
The first thing you need is to install Team Speak. Unfortunately, you can’t go to the official website, the current version has a major, but that doesn’t allow you to easily install plugins. The new version also appears to want to turn into Discord? Ew. (Team Speak, please stay in your lane) So I recommend using an older version:
Normally, you need to go into the mod folder to install the plugin TFAR for Team Speak. However, people seem to have a mental block if they attempt to browse files outside their norm. For ease of use, I have the plugin ready to download from my website. You can grab the plugin here:
Task Force Arrowhead Radio BETA plugin DOWNLOAD link!
You can double-click on the plugin and simply install it. With the plugin installed, you’re ready for Arma.
Very Helpful Tips:
- Team Speak should be running BEFORE Arma 3 starts. Otherwise, you will have to ‘reload’ the plugin once you’re in the game.
- Be patient for Arma 3 to link to Team Speak. The process can take up to 10 seconds. Any lag issues can temporarily disconnect you from TS. Especially if you’re Zeus.
- When setting up a team speak server, the directory should be labeled “TaskForceRadio” with a password of “123”. This will throw anyone who has the plugin properly installed and linked to Arma 3 into the correct channel. Otherwise, coms will be a mess and it will be hard to communicate. DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF INTO THE DIRECTORY OR ABUSE THE PASSWORD. YOU MAY BE BANNED! But you won’t, only the cool kids read this blog!
- Be sure your in-game name and team-speak name are identical. You will be spammed errors if not.
- Not all squads need to be on the same channel. I recommend 1 command channel on which all element leads and fireteam leads can talk. Each element should be on its own channel. Your brain is automatically wired to handle multiple conversations if the audio is isolated. Left ear and Right ears respectively. It’s an amazing human ability that will give you a massive edge on the field.
- Don’t put the squad radio on speaker, you’re just being an ass.
- TFAR & Beta has underwater coms.
- Do not use the radios from RHS, they do not work with TFAR. If on Bluefor, use TFAR’s 152.
- Do not broadcast jokes & comments over the radio, that’s what local chat is for.
- Stay in earshot of your buddy and shouting range of your lead.
- Keep off coms when doing EOD. Some IEDs are set off by coms.
- CTRL + P to set up your radio+Channels
- Keypad numbers can quickly change your channels.
Can TFAR Run Under Linux?
YES! But Linux naturally has a lot of protected and sandboxed memory practices. You can’t just go around tapping into another program’s memory all willy-nilly.
For this to work, you will need to run the Proton version of Arma 3 & Team Speak. Once they’re in the same environment in proton, they can connect.
There are a few guides on the subject, but the TL;DR is run the helper script:
What’s the Difference Between TFAR and TFAR Beta?
Task Force Arrowhead Radio (TFAR) and TFAR Beta are different mods from different mod developers. TFAR came first and is no longer being developed. It’s not compatible with Team Speak and lacks a lot of features. TFAR Beta is still being developed (by one guy) and has a bunch of quality-of-life features.