Essential Tweaks & Mods?

[Mkilbride 10]

And the mods came before said advice. You're not thinking straight. That said, they're installed now, so helping would be more beneficial as to what could cause this. Instead of moaning.

[flattermann 12]

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Edited December 26, 2010 by Flattermann
BS

[Tankbuster 1746]

Ack. That didn't come across quite how I meant it too. Apologies for any offence. Blame the Christmas spirit. :) Really, I'd help if I could. I'm not an ACE2 user.

In general, though, I use a couple of the pvpscene mods as they tweak a few aspects of the game. They are quite rarified though....

http://dev-heaven.net/projects/pvpscene-tweaks/files

For example, one of them stabilises the command turret on tanks - the commander turret is on top of the gunner turret so when the gunner turns, the commander does too and that means it's hard for the commander to watch anything as his view keeps moving. This mod cures that to an extent.

The real point about mods is that there isn't one that's good for everyone. Sure ACE2 is a fantastic technical achievement, but it's not the holy grail. For me, it's a little too hardcore and installing and maintaining it is a bit of a faff. (Thanks ACE2 users, I know how you do it - it's just not for me.)

I still say the best advice is to play the game in it's original format, then you'll get an idea of what YOU think the game is missing. Then go looking for addons.

[PogMoThoin 10]

I'm with Tanky on this, Ace is too big a mod to be using when You're not used to the game, it completely changes too many things. Play vanilla, then later play with Ace and realise all the things it changes

[Mkilbride 10]

Eh, I don't think I'll be playing to much of it really. A friend gifted it to me, so I felt I had to at LEAST play it for awhile, but alas, it's just not my style, I like cinematic games, not Call of Duty, but I don't feel drawn to the game, it lacks atmosphere, that's at least what I feel. I like WarSim RTS and such(Men of War), but I guess not WarSim FPS. Also, I died like 12 times in a row in the first three minutes. Enemies seem to down me in a shot; but they take 5-6. I even hit the head(I see the blood splatter), and they don't always go down. Not skilled enough, or mentally strong enough for these types of game.

And this is one odd bug:

Lmao, I have -no- idea what could have caused it, but it made me break out into laughter.

Edited December 27, 2010 by Mkilbride

[Sintacks 10]

Eh, I don't think I'll be playing to much of it really. A friend gifted it to me, so I felt I had to at LEAST play it for awhile, but alas, it's just not my style, I like cinematic games, not Call of Duty, but I don't feel drawn to the game, it lacks atmosphere, that's at least what I feel. I like WarSim RTS and such(Men of War), but I guess not WarSim FPS. Also, I died like 12 times in a row in the first three minutes. Enemies seem to down me in a shot; but they take 5-6. I even hit the head(I see the blood splatter), and they don't always go down. Not skilled enough, or mentally strong enough for these types of game.

And this is one odd bug:

Lmao, I have -no- idea what could have caused it, but it made me break out into laughter.

Lack atmosphere? Wow really? This is the one and only game that has made me attempt to brush the flies away from my head when I'm laying in the tall grass waiting for a group of Opfor infantry to walk by 20 feet in front of me complete with a BTR rumbling along behind them. The ground shakes, the bugs bite and the sun is hot. Not to mention the wind in my ears.

That weird texture thing reminds me of the ATI 5970 that I threw in the garbage.

Edited December 27, 2010 by Sintacks

[demonized 20]

the best way to experience Arma2 is online with friends or team focused public servers, and using Teamspeak or similar to communicate.

try out 3PARA servers for exelent Team play and good fun.

[Tankbuster 1746]

I hope Mkilbride is still reading this because it's a shame to lose any user.

I do think he's not given the game a chance, partly because he installed ACE straight away and partly because it takes longer than he's given it to bed in. Demonized is right, until you've played MP on a server using TS in your mother tongue, with the OPFOR tuned JUST right, you've really not seen the best of this game.

It looks like he's into RTS and this game does some of that, doesn't it? I've never played it but doesn't High Command do some of what he's after? As for lack of atmosphere, I'm with Sintacks - this game is, if anything, rammed full of atmosphere - it's its raison d'etere.

And that screenshot? Mkilbride doesn't give his PC specs, but it does look like an unoptimised install. That's a low LOD we're seeing there. Like many new users, he's 'overdriving' the game with settings unsuitable for his PC, or a de-fragmented disk. Either way, it's almost certainly fixable. If he's seeing that, I can see how it would lack atmosphere. I've seen some pretty ugly chaps in the back of a '60 in real life, but none quite like that! :D

[Mkilbride 10]

Tank, lol. I defrag every time I install a game. Also, that was a rare one, just happened that one time, not sure why. Also my guy keeps blacking out and getting up and breathing heavily for some reason. I even restarted, oh well.

And trust me dude, I am not over-driving anything, I build computers all the time, and help people build theirs, I actually set my settings -below- what was selected by default. I also knew right away it was best to set the resolutions in-game the same too, I turned Shadows to low, textures to normal, AA to low, AF to low, Textures, Objects, distance, ect, remained the same.(Normal)(distance is 1800), 1680 x 1050. Post Processing on Low.(With the NoBlur & no blinding sun mod)

Also, I despise games that -require- you to join a group, or a clan of some sort, and don't allow for public play, in my opinion a game is flawed if this is the case.

Atmosphere is also different from person to person. The game has great graphics; sure, but...it's art style is washed out colors. While this would suit a military simulation game, it just takes it abit farther and I feel very much like I'm in a game. Also, the way enemies well, just stand there and get shot is weird.

Like I shoot an enemy and he...stops, turns around, then shoots at me, and I see my bullets hitting, but he's not staggering or anything, which would be more appropriate. That just kills the atmosphere by making enemies take bullets like cardboard. Also the fact that AI seems to just know you're there, even if you use total stealth. Of course, no game has perfect Stealth AI, it's tough to do.

I like America's Army though, good game, don't even need to be in a clan and people will work with you. It has just enough realism to be quite fun, without over-doing it.

The other problem is with ArmAII's huge list of bugs, and overall unoptimized nature. Do not deny this, as ArmA was also. Bohemia is notorious for developing amazing engines like this, but being unable to optimize them, and leave them bug ridden. Maybe it's because I don't have Operation Arrowhead, and ArmA2 is a few patches behind that it's still so buggy, I don't know.

I just know I can't complete the rifle range, with or without mods on Basic training. I hit all the targets; but the guy just keeps saying I shouldn't go into a fight yet, I can hit 1/2, but it ends prematurely, and he endlessly loops playing the same voice over.

It's a good game, yes, I do like it's style at times, but mostly it's frustrating. I've learned to fly the Helicopter perfectly pretty much, VTOL is abit tougher, but working on it. Mastered pretty much all of Basic Training, which I wanted to do before I went online, and wanted to play some SP to get adjusted to the game, since the people in MP are so high on their horses.

And I only mentioned RTS because Men of War is a highly realistic one, compared to others, that is, you can control each unit in detail, equip them, ect, ballistics and all that, it's incredible. So I have been into more simulation games lately because of that, but ArmA2 is a mixed bag.

No reload animations...weird choice. That kills the atmosphere too, small things, like that. Animations all around are...pretty bad. Modded or default. Well, run animations are good...but that's about it.

Like I said I've gotten good at flying, but I really dislike the cockpit of the Helicopter and VTOL, gives me no sense of flying. If I could go third person in them, that'd be better. It's just well, the Helicopter view is surprisingly small, all things considered. Doing an attack run is also annoying, landing nearly impossible...(though I can do the crash landing course), maybe if I had one of those flight sim kits people had, it'd be better, I dunno.

Also there's like a million key bindings, which is redonkulous, it's not intuitive at all to the user.

I like how accurate weapons are though; they got that right for once. Most games really botch accuracy, but ArmA2 excels are making it realistic for once...good on them.

I haven't seen a mod, as ACE2 doesn't have it, that makes enemies less static, like I said, they stand there like a tree, just taking it. Most games they'd at least have the enemy fall down if you shot his leg, or well, a single headshot should be enough from a 5.56 round at nearly point blank distance.

I mean I'll play around in it from time to time, and I hope Project Reality can make it the game it was meant to be, but it's really hard to get into now as it is, because it feels like half-way through development, the devs said ok, we're done, release this sucker. :P

[PogMoThoin 10]

Eh, I don't think I'll be playing to much of it really. A friend gifted it to me, so I felt I had to at LEAST play it for awhile, but alas, it's just not my style, I like cinematic games, not Call of Duty, but I don't feel drawn to the game, it lacks atmosphere, that's at least what I feel. I like WarSim RTS and such(Men of War), but I guess not WarSim FPS. Also, I died like 12 times in a row in the first three minutes. Enemies seem to down me in a shot; but they take 5-6. I even hit the head(I see the blood splatter), and they don't always go down. Not skilled enough, or mentally strong enough for these types of game.

And this is one odd bug:

Lmao, I have -no- idea what could have caused it, but it made me break out into laughter.

They take several shots because weapons do have real simulation and ballistics, what seems like a dead on shot to You may be just a grazing, bullets have bulletdrop. You've gotta learn how to use the weapon, learn how to use the scope and judge the distance, even use a rangefinder sometimes. I've often had to google scopes and weapons to learn how to use them, find out what range they had and what the scope was centred on, honestly.

Looks like You've running on low textures, post Your specs and we'll advise the best settings for You. Also, as Tanky says, defragmenting is essential

---------- Post added at 13:27 ---------- Previous post was at 13:25 ----------

Settings any settings below normal renders on the cpu instead of the gpu, making the game run like shit and look crap.

Post Your specs

---------- Post added at 13:29 ---------- Previous post was at 13:27 ----------

Falling to the ground is an Ace thing, its fatigue. This is why we said play first without Ace

[dmarkwick 261]

I despise games that -require- you to join a group, or a clan of some sort, and don't allow for public play, in my opinion a game is flawed if this is the case.

That is not flawed gameplay, it's the way it's designed. It IS the gameplay :)

That said, I only ever play SP, there's endless variety in the editor for me.

I haven't seen a mod, as ACE2 doesn't have it, that makes enemies less static, like I said, they stand there like a tree, just taking it. Most games they'd at least have the enemy fall down if you shot his leg, or well, a single headshot should be enough from a 5.56 round at nearly point blank distance.

Ditch ACE2 for a while and install SLX for a while. It has lots of AI tweaks that add a more dynamic enemy. My favourite feature is that a dead body is not necessarily dead :) it can sometimes recover enough to give you trouble later on. It forces you to put a few extra rounds into a body just in case :)

[Mkilbride 10]

SLX is part of the ACE2 guide, yes. And Pog, how about reading my post. Thanks.

Q6600 @ 3.4GHZ

GTX280 Superclocked

4GB PC8000(1000MHZ RAM)

Windows 7-64bit

I always defrag a new game, -without- exception. And no, I am running on normal textures.

[dmarkwick 261]

SLX is part of the ACE2 guide

What? SLX is not part of ACE2.

[PogMoThoin 10]

SLX is part of the ACE2 guide, yes. And Pog, how about reading my post. Thanks.

Q6600 @ 3.4GHZ

GTX280 Superclocked

4GB PC8000(1000MHZ RAM)

Windows 7-64bit

I always defrag a new game, -without- exception. And no, I am running on normal textures.

Normal renders on the cpu also. You should have no problems running everything on High, viewdistance set to 2000. AA disabled. Set 3d resolution the same as Your monitors native res. Game will look amazing then.

Arrowhead runs much better, its mostly that the Takistan map isn't rendering thousands of plants and trees. There are also much better multicore optimisations

[Mkilbride 10]

Yes, so, how bout someone gets Arrowhead for me :P

Everything you've mentioned I've already done; also that is pretty bad if the game renders on the CPU on Normal...it's software based, no hardware based?

Still, the game runs bad on the current setting as is. I want to keep the AA, hides some of the jaggies. Much more important. I can't really dip below 45FPS or I just find it unplayable.

And SLX is recommended in that guide in the first post, so yes, I have it installed.

[PogMoThoin 10]

See, Arma is not any bit like every other game that renders only the scene You see. In Arma the whole map is calculated for which is why its so hard to run, enemy Ai the other side of the map will be calculated using your cpu. The game, unlike other games, really needs a quad and an ssd for higher settings as its continuously reading from the hard drive and constantly updating Ai position and status. Multiplayer runs a little better, as the dedicated server calculates the Ai. Lots of people don't bother with the singleplayer aspect of this game, multiplayer coops with friends is where it shines

[Mkilbride 10]

Yes, I have a Quad, and yeah, I imagine a SSD would help. I already know everything you just said, though, but if MP is the only good aspect of it, I'm not really a fan.

[ProfTournesol 956]

but if MP is the only good aspect of it, I'm not really a fan.

Pfff... obviously not, the SP part of the game is and always was very important in those games, mainly thanks to the very powerful mission editor, challenging AI and numerous addons.

[PogMoThoin 10]

........ if MP is the only good aspect of it, I'm not really a fan.

Open the editor, spawn Yourself as pilot in an Apache one side of the map. Spawn an enemy armour platoon the otherside of the map, give them a waypoint to move towards You. Fly by and blow the shit out of them. You can have endless fun in the editor, it just takes a little time to figure out. Its a sandbox, play it as You like.

Here's a link to some guides:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055623100

Edited December 27, 2010 by PogMoThoin

[Hedo 10]

Also my guy keeps blacking out and getting up and breathing heavily for some reason. I even restarted, oh well.

That's a feature of ACE2 - the stamina system. When you run too much with heavy equipment you start to black out. It's not perfect, but it wasn't possible to implement it better.

You should really try to play the game without mods and use them when you better know the game - you'll also appreciate the mods more that way. Especially the ACE mod is probably more complex than needed for a newbie.

I also recommend changing (lowering) these values in "My Documents/ArmA 2/yourname.ArmA2Profile" under the difficulty you are using, if you feel all the AIs are snipers (particularly the precisionEnemy)

skillFriendly=1;
skillEnemy=1;
precisionFriendly=1;
precisionEnemy=1;

Edited December 27, 2010 by Hedo

[Grizzle 0]

Yes, I have a Quad, and yeah, I imagine a SSD would help. I already know everything you just said, though, but if MP is the only good aspect of it, I'm not really a fan.

On the contrary I think more people play SP than MP. SP has endless potential whether it comes from playing the numerous missions provided with the game or some of the excellent user made missions/campaigns.

I played MP a couple of times when I first got the game, but found it took way too long to get into and enjoy the game. Switched to SP and played the hell out of Cipher SP (probably the best dynamic SP mission) and never looked back. As others have said, sometimes I just open the editor, plop down some units and modules and go at it.

Yes the AI isn't perfect and looks awkward at times, but I think one gets over that fairly quickly after experiencing a few of the "OMG did that just happen?!" moments that result fromt he AI driven un-scripted nature of the game.

[Tankbuster 1746]

With your PC, Mkilbride, you should be on high for most settings, turn AA and AF off fillrate (I think it's called that in ArmA2) to the same as your monitor. As you only have Chernarus, put viewdistance at 3000 or less and you should see, more or less what we see.

You don't have Arrowhead which means you are missing out on the middle east style terrain and as you rightly say, a much better build of the engine.

Almost all of your points I can only agree with. BI do have a well founded reputation for pulling shit out of the diamond locker and they don't seem to have the ability or the application to make this game the absolute pinnacle of FPS gaming, which could be.

The AI aren't perfect when you have them in plain sight, they do do some odd stuff, yet when you can't see them, they do have the uncanny to shoot you stone dead. But this one of the charms of the game.

I would at this point answer your original question, if you're playing against AI, get Zeus AI, it really spices up the AI. They still have a total disregard for obvious danger (they'll happily mince into a falling arty barrage), but when on the offensive, they are properly lethal fighters.

About flying, I think your settings may be holding you back here. The aviation aspect really comes alive when you are in a helicopter, deep in a valley at 250 knots. Now, because you don't have Takistan or an uber graphics card, you won't get a slinky smooth frame rate with VD more than 3000, but when you're in the air, even at only 100 meters, a longer view distance really pays off for immersion. It does feel like flying. You mention a simkit, I assume you mean TrackIR or similar, and yes, they do transform the game by giving you a vastly improved situational awareness, both on the ground and in the air. I'm lucky enough to have TIR4. Don't leave home without it.

You say you require 45 FPS, but given your rig, that's asking quite a lot. As primarily an infantry grunt/medic player, that 30 FPS is plenty. The action really isn't so frantic as to need more.

The game doesn't require you to join a clan, but I know what you mean. Certainly, this is best experienced with mates. There are those here who do a very hardcore clan thing which mystifies me, I just don't get all that rank structure and "sir, yes SIR" bullshit. Yeah, I play with the same set of blokes most days, but I don't call it a clan.

All in all, your coming up against the perilously steep learning curve and if I may speak plainly, you're not fully equipped. You need Arrowhead and ideally, the BAF expansion too (if my guess is right, you're British). It IS a complex game and I salute you for persevering with it. You came asking for help and I maintain, whoever told you to install ACE gave you bad advice. Really the best performing players here are introduced by a mate who already knew the game and held their hand through these really tough and frustrating first few days - I know that's how I got into this with Flashpoint.

It can be a satisfying game and extraordinarily rewarding, but I reckon you've done your research and already know that. I might be so bold as to read your post at #34 and say that you have the potential to become a good player, provided you can put aside your preconceptions and stop comparing this to other games. There's really nothing to compare this to.

[Mkilbride 10]

30FPS makes me sick, gives me a headache man. Can't stand it. And no, I'm not British, not sure how you got that.

Whoever told me to install ACE? The first post of the thread, lol. Then the couple posts after it told me to also. Yeah, I don't have any cash right now, this was gifted to me on Steam by a friend since I couldn't afford anything for Christmas right now, I had interest in the game, true, but I never got it cause my rig isn't powerful enough to get past the unoptimized mess this is. 45FPS is the minimum I will stand, when it starts getting lower than that, I find it unplayable.

And no, I just mean, the cockpit in general, I dunno, you can also turn on a dime in this. It feels so unrealistic the way flight works, and I'm talking about unrealistic compared to a game like Bad Company 2's Helicopters, which is a Run n Gun game, lol. I am using Zues AI also, the first post I recieved said to install that, too, on top of SLX, and they work together, making really good AI.

But yeah, I wish I had Arrowhead also, as pretty much everything has moved onto that; and a more powerful rig.

Like SLi 580 and a Core i7 980 @ 4.2GHZ :P(Or wait for Sandy-Bridge and get 8 cores, and hope better optimization for the game)

Now that'd have to kick this game in the ass, sadly none of the benchmark sites use ArmA2, which is odd, but I guess it's just because it's to inconsistent. The problem with a game like this is, it's unoptimized to such a degree, the only thin you can do is throw more hardware power at it, which is probably why Benchmarks don't use it. Then again, they still use Crysis. Oh well.

And there is always something to compare something to. Like I said, if anyones willing to get me Arrowhead, and those DLC's, I'd be more than happy to take the time, part of my problem with committing to the game right now is I don't have OA, which as ever post I've read on all forums I visit is basically a requirement to enjoy the game these days, so it's kinda meh to me.

[PogMoThoin 10]

.....And no, I'm not British, not sure how you got that.

Deffo Irish, at least the name is Irish, but especially with an answer like that :cool:

[Tankbuster 1746]

Ah yes. Maybe I should have guessed Celt? :)