ABOUT THE PROJECT
SJB started as a simple one-man operation when I (Jackal326) began modifying BIS OFP weapons into new variations, such as my very first addon, a re-texture of the M16A2 into an M16A1. It was very simple, in that due to it being made before the community even knew about O2/Bulldozer, the model hadn't been modified, so the shape of the magazine etc. were all as close as was possible, given the circumstances. After gaining access to the private BETA of Oxygen Lite (the official modelling tool for OFP), I began work on many fun projects, such as the NG1, a merger of the BIS M21, M60, M16A2 and MP5. It was a fictional gun, but gave me great insight into how O2 worked, and what was possible with the 'new' tools.

I wasn't really noticed in the community until I began work on an M16A2-E3 DMS (Designated Marksman Rifle). After several screenshots were released on the forums, I was soon recruited into the Lost Brothers Mod team. They specialised in addons encompassing the Israel/Egypt conflict, and as the DMS system was in use within the Iraeli army, it was believed my addon could be an asset to them. After releasing v1.00 of the M16A2-E3 DMS rifle in co-operation with the Lost Brothers mod, I worked on various other projects with them, whilst also persuing my love for modifying existing weapons. It wasn't until the Lost Brothers team seemed to die after Vipersheart, then leader of the team, joined the armed forces, that I began to persue other aspects of OFP. I joined an online squad, and met Hybrid - who soon became my scripter and a good friend. Working together we worked around several OFP engine limitations and came up with a collection of unique ideas never before seen in OFP, such as the animated night-vision goggles. The principle was simple, and the execution, thanks to Hybrid's scripting knowledge, was well executed. Using a unit model, kindly donated by Vipersheart, I attached a set of night-vision goggles which unlike the OFP proxies, were always visible. The player, was then given an action to 'PUT ON/REMOVE NVGs' which, when activated, would rotate the NVGs downward from the helmet mount, as if they were being positioned over the eyes for use. The night-vision optic was then displayed for the player, and it worked like a charm. This idea has since been copied by many other addon-makers and mod teams.

Work on various other projects continued on-and-off over the coming months. Work on v2.00 of the Special Reaction Team (S.R.T.) Pack was then called off after huge issues with the models were discovered. I set this aside, and it wasn't until February of 2004, that I began work on another large scale project having had my fill of small-meaningless projects made purely for fun. It was then that I began work on the 'Tears of the Sun' SEALs and Weapons pack (see SJB projects page). Work on this addon progressed steadily, with Public BETA v1.00 soon being released. It met mixed reactions, but the majority of which were good, with positive feedback coming in, which aided in the work on v2.00, which unfortunately has since been canned.

During work on the SEALs, I became interested in VBS1, believing it could present a new avenue for development and enhancement of my skills. I purchased it along with several of the addon modules and began work on porting the weapons over into the new title. After posting images on the vbsresources.com forums of the weapons, it became apparent the SEALs were in demand also, so I began to import them into VBS1, using Oxygen to replace the head and hands on the models, and to remodel the head-gear to fit. I also made some subtle model tweaks to fully exploit the updated graphics in VBS1 compared with OFP.

After a long wait, ArmA finally came along. The updated graphics engine meant a lot of my progress with the weapons pack would need to be re-done, which wasn't a total loss, as many weapons needed updating and tweaking to fully exploit the new features of the engine, including normal maps and self-shadowing etc. Work continues on the weapons pack, which has since been split into several smaller packs.

Now, with SJB being hosted by http://www.armedassault.info, we have entered a whole new era, hopefully which will see many more successful projects in the near future. My thanks go out to http://www.armedassault.info particularly Cervo for hosting me.