ACE Medical Guide

ACE For Beginners

A detailed guide for players who have never used ACE before, including keybinds and what to press.

ACE Guide

Click each section to expand.

Opening ACE Menus

ACE adds extra interaction menus. These menus are how you treat people, check yourself, carry people, load items and interact with vehicles/objects.

Default keys most servers use

  • Ctrl + Windows / ACE Self Interaction: use this on yourself.
  • Windows / ACE Interaction: use this while looking at another player, vehicle or object.
  • H / Medical menu or check pulse on some setups.
  • Esc closes menus.
Your server/modpack may have different keybinds. Check Arma 3 Options → Controls → Configure Addons → ACE if a key does not work.
How To Bring Up The Medical Menu
  1. Move close to the injured player.
  2. Look directly at the player’s body.
  3. Press the ACE interaction key, usually Windows.
  4. Choose Medical.
  5. Select the body part or treatment option shown in the menu.
  6. For yourself, use ACE self interaction, usually Ctrl + Windows, then choose Medical.

If the menu does not show, move closer, look more directly at the player, or check your ACE keybinds.

First Thing To Do When Someone Goes Down
  1. Do not panic and do not stand in the open.
  2. Return fire or get someone else to cover you.
  3. Drag or carry the casualty behind cover if they are exposed.
  4. Open the medical menu.
  5. Look for heavy bleeding first.
  6. Stop the bleeding before worrying about anything else.

A medic who gets shot while treating someone becomes a second casualty. Safety first.

Stopping Bleeding

Bleeding is normally the biggest killer. Bandage wounds as soon as possible.

  1. Open the medical menu on the casualty.
  2. Check each injured body part.
  3. Use bandages on bleeding wounds.
  4. If a limb is bleeding heavily, use a tourniquet on that limb to slow/stop blood loss while you work.
  5. Once the casualty is stable, remove tourniquets if the server medical settings require it.

Do not: inject drugs before stopping major bleeding. It will not fix the real problem.

Checking Vitals

Vitals tell you how bad the casualty is.

  • Heart rate: tells you if the heart is beating properly.
  • Blood pressure: tells you if circulation is okay.
  • Blood volume: tells you if they have lost too much blood.
  • Consciousness: tells you if they can fight/move.
  1. Open medical menu.
  2. Choose check pulse/heart rate.
  3. Check blood pressure.
  4. Check blood volume if available.
  5. Tell the squad if the casualty is stable, critical or needs evacuation.
Medication

Medication helps, but only when used properly.

  • Morphine: reduces pain but can lower blood pressure.
  • Epinephrine: can help wake/stimulate a patient depending on settings.
  • Fluids/Blood: help after major blood loss if available.

Only use medication after checking the patient. Do not spam morphine or epi because it can make things worse.

CPR

CPR is used when a casualty has no heart rate or is in cardiac arrest.

  1. Move casualty to cover if possible.
  2. Stop major bleeding.
  3. Check heart rate.
  4. If no heart rate, perform CPR from the medical menu.
  5. Keep repeating while another medic fixes bleeding/fluid problems.

CPR buys time. It does not magically fix blood loss or untreated wounds.

Dragging, Carrying And Evacuation
  1. Look at the casualty.
  2. Open ACE interaction.
  3. Choose drag or carry.
  4. Move them behind hard cover.
  5. Put them down and treat them properly.
  6. If they are badly hurt, organise vehicle/helicopter evacuation.

Do not treat casualties in doorways, roads or open fields unless there is no choice.

Medic Priorities
  1. Keep yourself alive.
  2. Get casualty to cover.
  3. Stop catastrophic bleeding.
  4. Check vitals.
  5. Stabilise with correct treatment.
  6. Wake/evacuate if needed.
  7. Tell the squad when the player is back up or cannot fight.