Multi-Player Madness

[hoolege06 10]

Hi everyone,

Well I have not played this game very often since I bought it. I tried the free version and thought the online play was pretty fun for what it offered. So I thought by buying the Combined Operations version that there would be tons of people playing this game online and it would be an awesome online experience. Unfortunately its been an utter dissappointment. I've popped on on Saturday mornings and even today and NOTHING. Unless you belong to some private league or whatever, your screwed. What am I doing wrong or what have I missed guys? I really really want to play this game and enjoy it. But so far, every time I open it up I just remind myself that I am wasting my time and close the program. I will definitely never be buying another Arma game unless they come out and announce to the entire free world that they have made a dramatic, 180 degree change in their online play. Sorry for complaining but its frustrating that such a good game has such poor online support and that no one seems to play it. Any tips, help, or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Hoolege06

[metalcraze 290]

At the moment of writing of this post 1489 players are playing the game with the top server being open/non-clan and having 74 people. You need more?

I've popped on on Saturday mornings

You mean when everyone sleeps after 5 days of work?

I will definitely never be buying another Arma game unless they come out and announce to the entire free world that they have made a dramatic, 180 degree change in their online play.

"they" who? The players?

Edited August 7, 2011 by metalcraze

[hoolege06 10]

Hey no need to get all upset metal craze. Now with that match of 74 players is that a private league or is that open to the average guy to just hop on and join? I'm not trying to sound cynical here, but when I got on there wasn't a single game open to the general public that had any players in it. They all had big red X marks next to them and I needed a password to join. Yes I did complain about the game, but there's got to be some reason why places like gamespot.com listed Arma 2 under "The Best Games No One Played". Just tryin to figure it out brother, thats all.

[mrcash2009 0]

TIP:

Go here:

http://forums.bistudio.com/forumdisplay.php?f=90

EDIT ... fixed to correct forum section link, sorry.

Best to assume the worst then go look for it, than it find you like all other games online, at that point you wont be disappointed :)

Edited August 7, 2011 by mrcash2009

[hoolege06 10]

Thank you!!!!

[mrcash2009 0]

The best experience is to a point clan servers or some open servers, dispel the ideas of other games and think of this as a very set approach to online.

Im currently fixes to SP for the moment, but the last thing I ever do is casual and randomly play, for me it just becomes more disappointment later down the line.

Like fine wine, seek it out mate :)

Kelly's heroes servers are a recommendation, they are open but do use ACE mod to join, but again jump through a few worthwhile hoops with these places and settle in its well worth it.

BTW that was the wrong forum link for squads ... go here instead :)

http://forums.bistudio.com/forumdisplay.php?f=90

Edited August 7, 2011 by mrcash2009

[metalcraze 290]

Hey no need to get all upset metal craze. Now with that match of 74 players is that a private league or is that open to the average guy to just hop on and join? I'm not trying to sound cynical here, but when I got on there wasn't a single game open to the general public that had any players in it. They all had big red X marks next to them and I needed a password to join. Yes I did complain about the game, but there's got to be some reason why places like gamespot.com listed Arma 2 under "The Best Games No One Played". Just tryin to figure it out brother, thats all.

UnitedOperations.net (which was the community in question) is an open community without the need to join BUT it does have requirements (like having ACE mod which you will need anyway as many servers use it and it's really sweet adding a lot of weapons and features to the game).

You just go to their site and there are instructions published plus password.

Enough people play ArmA - however due to extreme flexibility of it servers use mods and admins sometimes decide to password-protect their servers if only to force you to go to their website and read how they play and what they use. Because you won't be able to play right away on that said server regardless but that way you will know why.

This is how the community here works. There's nothing BIS or anyone can do to stop people from running a custom island or having more weapons.

Also has to do with the age I guess. Whereas the backbone of, say, BF2 is teenagers - the backbone of ArmA community are older people that usually have day jobs (that's why in the morning next to nobody plays) and also prefer to play more organized (thus having passworded servers).

It's just how it is but it really gives a different kind of experience. I suggest you try United Operations. It's a nice place to start and the server is usually well populated 2/3 of the day - even though it requires mods. They play both TvT and coop games.

[Zipper5 74]

Tragically, ARMA 2's public multiplayer scene is in an utterly dire state and it's not something I can see BI having an ability to fix since the community chooses what is played, how, and what addons are used. You aren't the first person to post here asking about this, and I'm sure you won't be the last unfortunately.

[sorophx 25]

They all had big red X marks next to them and I needed a password to join.

big red X marks mean your version of the game differs from the one they're using. you're obviously doing something wrong so don't be so quick to blame other people.

[coopr 10]

big red X marks mean your version of the game differs from the one they're using. you're obviously doing something wrong so don't be so quick to blame other people.

Obviously he is doing wrong because he sees red crosses in front of server names? Can't see why that is his problem? If bis just added a little bit more feedback when new unknown and very important customer trys to join a mod server. With for example the mod name and website they maybe keep those new customers playing. Instead of the "why can I not join any populated server? Let's uninstall this game" Awell let's hope arma3 is going to make it a lot more (new)user friendly same goes for the dialog "I'm ready and disconnect" at the end of the mission. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm ready does... it would better just go straight to a new mission from the autorotation missions setting or what so ever. Instead of "where are we waiting for? Start the new mission? Wait for host?"

[gossamersolid 155]

Tragically, ARMA 2's public multiplayer scene is in an utterly dire state and it's not something I can see BI having an ability to fix since the community chooses what is played, how, and what addons are used. You aren't the first person to post here asking about this, and I'm sure you won't be the last unfortunately.

QFT

I've seen the arma 2 MP community slowly die out since release. I remember back in the day when you could put a dedicated server up, pop in it and people would flock in. Best thing back then too, was that the amount of script kiddies was so low that you wouldn't be bothered by it.

Now all servers that are decent are PW'ed to make sure they have a solid game. Unfortunately, that usually means smaller matches like 4v4.

I think the scripties will get bored before A3 comes out and we'll have a bit of good game time left.

[Ians 10]

Don't know if some of you played a game called Red Orchestra , but in this game , everytime you joined a server , the client would auto-download the map or objects that are used in that server . Would have been useful to have that in the Arma2 multi , just my opinion though

Also that's a pity the radio comms system is not very functional for everybody in Arma2 , forcing people to go on private Teamspeak servers .

i have high hopes for Arma3 in this regard , i hope they 'll put an integrated system on the model of the ACRE mod , and that it will work flawlessly for everybody in the same team/group , so that people can join public servers and still have an immersive experience with teamplay and comms immediately

The other thing is the fact that in my humble opinion , the netcode of Arma has room for improvements in order to attract a large PvP crowd (warping , various lag mainly but also some use scripts that can hack the game .... (last time a guy used a human missile and crashed on base nuking everyone , or guys using SMAW that can fire indefinetely without ammos ... ) , probably why many put passwords on their server to make sure there aren't many players and that those who are there are playing fair

[visceralsyn 10]

Also that's a pity the radio comms system is not very functional for everybody in Arma2 , forcing people to go on private Teamspeak servers .

There is absolutely nothing wrong with OpF/ArmA/ArmA²'s VoN. It works perfectly fine. People are simply too retarded to use it as intended.

...Syn...

[rangerpl 13]

If you're not keen on joining any clans, drop by the Casual Players Group.

[Muerte LOL 10]

Just because a clan sponsors/runs a dedicated server does not mean you have to join the clan to play (there are some that want you to but I don't think most do).

The days when you could open a dedicated server and people would flock to it are gone when it comes to OFP/Arma servers. Back in the OFP days the mods were not there when the game came out and it took a bit of time before they did. This made servers run vanilla for a while and all were able to join. When the arma series came out the mods where up and on servers in a very short time so the community did not have a chance to get established before servers were flooded with addons that people needed to download and when you have noobs coming in that cant find a vanilla server to get used to the game and community on they get frustrated and quit.

Our attempts to stay on top of things and get our servers running with our favorite mods as fast as we can has worked as a detriment to our player numbers. Not to say it's a bad thing that we have so many great mods but it can be very hard for new people to discover the game and all of its greatness if they have to start out spending hours downloading mods just to find they need to get more when they go to play on another server. We have members in our own clan that gave up because of all of the constant updating and they went back to OFP.

[-=seany=- 5]

I have been playing since Operation Flashpoint, and there are more people playing Arma2 and Arrowhead now than I have ever seen playing before.

I agree that Bis could improve the feedback on why a player cant connect and what mods they need or shouldn't use. This must be quite confusing for new players.

Edited August 12, 2011 by -=seany=-

[coopr 10]

Just because a clan sponsors/runs a dedicated server does not mean you have to join the clan to play (there are some that want you to but I don't think most do).

The days when you could open a dedicated server and people would flock to it are gone when it comes to OFP/Arma servers. Back in the OFP days the mods were not there when the game came out and it took a bit of time before they did. This made servers run vanilla for a while and all were able to join. When the arma series came out the mods where up and on servers in a very short time so the community did not have a chance to get established before servers were flooded with addons that people needed to download and when you have noobs coming in that cant find a vanilla server to get used to the game and community on they get frustrated and quit.

Our attempts to stay on top of things and get our servers running with our favorite mods as fast as we can has worked as a detriment to our player numbers. Not to say it's a bad thing that we have so many great mods but it can be very hard for new people to discover the game and all of its greatness if they have to start out spending hours downloading mods just to find they need to get more when they go to play on another server. We have members in our own clan that gave up because of all of the constant updating and they went back to OFP.

You are totally right. The easy and quick turn over from ofp to arma mods which is ofcourse great but ruined it for the new comers. Because it is too difficult to get a proper understanding why they can't seem to connect to populated mod servers. as said so often a simple dialog with information what went wrong and where you can get the files would fix a lot of frustrated players.

[The Hebrew Hammer 10]

In my opinion what needs to happen is BI needs to encourage players to play in public servers, and introduce gametypes that limit the ability of people to do stupid shit. That seems to be the argument as to why everyone plays in clans in private rooms. Maybe introduce a qualification system so you actually have to prove yourself worthy to fly planes or helicopters before you can use them in multiplayer. Or simply run gamemodes that are purely land based.

[TimRiceSE 10]

big red X marks mean your version of the game differs from the one they're using. you're obviously doing something wrong so don't be so quick to blame other people.

OK Steve Jobs, calm down.

I dont think you can say someone is "doing something wrong" because they're not using certain addons.

Unfortunately, the MP community is pretty fragmented....

[sorophx 25]

I might have misunderstood, but the way I saw it was that the OP couldn't find a single mission without the red x beside it, at the very same time I was in the game, and there was at least a hundred maps open to public, without passwords or mods.

They all had big red X marks next to them and I needed a password to join.

that was my point, probably the OP wasn't patched properly or his server filter wasn't set up

[gunso 10]

here is all the server list currently playing http://arma2.swec.se/server/list

make sure you have the latest patch tho. I always panicked when i see red crosses on all the server and realize there's a new patch out.

[kazesim 2]

I play this game more then any other, but I almost never play online. Mainly because of the lag caused by all the AI units on the domi/evo servers, my comp can run up to 50-60 AI (living or dead) with playable framerate but after that its a 6 FPS slideshow. I don't know if anyone else gets this, but I was able to play ArmA 1 servers without a problem because on that game, nonlocal AI didn't cause lag for me, neither did AI in singleplayer (for the most part), the only time they did was if I was hosting a MP game. AI in ArmA 2 cause lag whether local or nonlocal, SP or MP, living or dead. Anyone else have this problem on dedi servers?

[HR4 Elite 10]

I don’t play online at all, but I think the first thing I would do if I wanted too is take a look on youtube to see which type of Arma2 MP I like, then get in-touch with that group via their links. There is an awful lot of Arma2 game-play on youtube and its all coming from online MP….

Some of the groups are really good and use correct tactics, this would be great for a mature player or younger player with a mature attitude...

[Opticalsnare 12]

Ive never played A2 or OA online because of being kicked, i once spent about a hour trying to find all the addons / mods that were used on the server but just kept getting kicked anyway because of differnt versions or whatever. In the end i just got bored and went and played something else or stuck to the single player with brainless AI. Its a damn shame cause this game imo should have been epic in terms of multiplayer with all the open space and vehicles and weapons it has to offer, theres plently of quailty addons which should be supported online but they arnt

sure theres a few but its up what the server owner allows. I hope some kind of improved method is on ArmA3 otherwise i feel it will just sink down the same hole. :(

Edited September 1, 2011 by Opticalsnare

[Tonci87 163]

Ive never played A2 or OA online because of being kicked, i once spent about a hour trying to find all the addons / mods that were used on the server but just kept getting kicked anyway because of differnt versions or whatever. In the end i just got bored and went and played something else or stuck to the single player with brainless AI. Its a damn shame cause this game imo should have been epic in terms of multiplayer with all the open space and vehicles and weapons it has to offer, theres plently of quailty addons which should be supported online but they arnt

sure theres a few but its up what the server owner allows. I hope some kind of improved method is on ArmA3 otherwise i feel it will just sink down the same hole. :(

You know that most servers are run by a squad and that this squad usually has a hompage where the needed addons are listed? If you want to join a server, look who runs it and then visit their homepage. There you will also find their TS adress which is important if you want to play properly.