How about realstic effects this time?

[BeerHunter 0]

ArmA2 effects (explosions , bullet impacts , weapon sounds) were dismal to say the least. They resembled paint ball/air soft guns rather than high powered weapons.

Can't play ArmA2 without Blastcore now but that shouldn't have been left to a modder in the first place,especially if your touting a "realistic military simulator".

Give us some atmosphere...please.

[Maddmatt 1]

When I did the effects for ArmA 2 I tried to get them to look like the real thing by watching plenty of real footage, I put realism first instead of Hollywood style.

For example all the footage of FFAR rockets I saw were just clouds of smoke and no flames, so that's what I did.

I guess the end result was too 'boring'. In hindsight I should have focused more on adding detail and making them look good, being less strict on realism.

Certain things I did didn't make it into the game but were implemented in the ACE mod. Someone else worked on them in OA so I speak for the changes there.

I'm not involved in ArmA 3. I'm curios to see what they do with effects :)

[BeerHunter 0]

I wasn't referring so much to the exotic weapons (such as missiles , artillery etc. which were just fine) as to the grunt's weapons.

ie: When we fired our FN's into the creek at the range , the spouts were about 4-6' high.Hollywood's look like BB guns.

When we fired the .30Cal the markers were complaining about the dust so the bank was watered down. Firing in front of the target , the dust obliterated the target (as well as incurring the wrath of the range officer :D).

That's the type of FX I'm referring to.

[Flash Thunder 10]

How about some decent muzzle flashes?

Some realistic smoke trails from ejected bullet casings, realistic amount of smoke from large weapons like .50 cal Barret and Launchers with backblasts and explosions that dont look like they came from 2000?

Being able to shoot out glass windows in buildings INDIVIDUALLY! currently they all break...

Some actual glowing shaders on the IR lasers and a glowing tip when it hits a surface.

Afterburners and vapor trails for Jets

Particles were the worst thing graphically in Arma 2 absolutely atrocious.

[ProfTournesol 956]

Being able to shoot out glass windows in buildings INDIVIDUALLY! currently they all break...

Oh god yes, i hate that.

[maturin 12]

They are realistic, just underwhelming. No hollywood bullshit, please.

Bullets hitting water makes decent-sized spouts in this game. As for dust, that is sufficient too. If you shoot a pile of sand you're going to get a huge could spraying everywhere. but if you shoot damp, tall grass you won't see anything at all. What we have now works for all circumstances and isn't unrealistic but minimal.

Explosions look good too, but could be a bit better. We already have vapor trails of a sort. Not important and planes don't fly high enough to see them well anyway.

The biggest overall problem is that all effects MAGICALLY get BIGGER at range.

From 300m, an M16 puts out more smoke than a Brown Bess musket using black powder. 40mm grenades turn into RPGs. RPGs turn into Hellfires.

And the shaped charge explosions in this game have always been too big.

But I would give this all away for actual shrapnel simulation.

[Flash Thunder 10]

BIS please fix the particle scaling bugs you know when you aim in on smoke and its small, then when you zoom out its way larger.

Particles and sound I think are way more important to overall immersion then anything else.