My trip to BIS at Gamescom 2011- Great!

[purepassion 22]

Hello lads :)

17.08.2011- my personal D-Day

After a short ride with the train to the gamescom area, I finally arrived and was about to take a look at Arma 3 with my own eyes; and yes it was as amazing as I imagined it to be!

To not let you waiting any longer i start right away: You all have propably already seen the

the team has prepared for gamescom. It contained five levels, each showcasing some of the new features of Arma 3. Before I tell you what those features might be, i would like to point out that everything we have seen so far is very WIP and since there is still a lot of time for development, some things may change completely. So please don't expect that everything you read here will actually appear just like that in the final game. It is very likely but like i said, in one year, a lot of things could change.

Like you already know, the presentation started with an underwater scene. I don't know if somebody recognized it but since we saw the latest underwater footage, you can spot those light reflections in the water. Pettka told me that these might be customizable, meaning you can change their appearance. Since water has now a new importance, they want to make the water more reflective and it might even be possible to apply alpha textures on those reflections. Overall, the water will look much more life-like.

Next, we saw the soldier changing uniforms with an OPFOR unit and attaching a satchel to a boat. ( Like you propably already know, you will be able to attach satchels to vehicles).

Remember the small discussion about wether this is a different camo-scheme? Well my assumptions were right, what you see there is one of the options available: The urban variant. Those types will be choosable via a Dropdown menu in the editor where you can also equip the soldier and adjust his loadout.

In terms of AI improvements, the focus will be set on improving the macro AI and improve the CQB aspect of the game.

To all this "future weapons-OMG" talk out there: I can tell you that the weapon designs made for Arma 3, are done by people who produce actual weapon systems for real military use which ensures you, you will get the highest grade of authenticy possible.

Regarding Stealth kills and melee: May I? I think this answers a lot... ;)

Another nice aspect of the game and the environment is the wildlife. There will be animals such as dogs, sheeps, donkeys, butterflies, sharks and even snakes! An authentic environment has always been a big strenght of Arma and Arma 3 will feature a four times more detailed Terrain-Texture and therefore the data streaming is also going to be improved. Smaller objects like bushes will have a larger draw distance and even the smallest locations such as backyards will be modelled with a huge love for detail. You can also expect a lot of eastereggs as usual ;)

The FLIR system is also going to be improved, meaning you will be able to see more of your environment and everything will have its propper heatmap.

One of the major improvements of Arma 3 is the introduction of PhysX which gives the developpers and the player a whole new horizon of possibilities. PhysX will be used for every vehicle, water simulation and other ingame interactions. PhysX gives the ability to simulate slickness of surfaces, simulating ropes ( fastroping will be supported) and loading vehicles onto trailers and much more such as Shockwaves which are going to be simulated correctly as a force affecting other objects in the environment.

Another addition to the engine is Ragdoll. Pettka told me that you can blend from animations to ragdoll and that active Ragdoll should be possible in the engine, which would be a very nice challenge for the team and is in my opinion one of the very important aspects that should be covered. He also said that dismemberement should be possible but will not be in vanilla.

Regarding the story, Pettka couldnt talk about it in detail but he told me it will consist of multiple large chapters with smaller missions and side missions. Every Chapter will have its focus on an specific gameplay element ( stealth etc) so the player can experience everything Arma 3 has in store for him.

LOD-System: The LOD-System will be improved so there are no more X-looking trees in the distance. How those changes will look like in detail might follow later.

What impressed me the most, was seeing parts of the new animation system (tough most of what you can see in the videos are old animations. Only some of them- some reload and civilian walking animations- were new). There was a custom reload animation for every weapon I have seen in the game and Pettka told me they want to continue with this. Also keep the getting in- and out-animations from TOH in mind.

The animation files will also contain more information inside them, so expect some nice changes in this department.

As I already mentioned with the example of the GM6-Lynx, the reload animations were outstanding, even though still WIP. During the complete reload procedere i heard every sound i would expect, which leads us to the next point: The soundengine. There will be a much higher limit of samples and you can expect a whole new level in vanilla soundquality! :)

New aspects: Since there is a new scope of weapon and uniform customization ( you can customize your headgear, combat vest etc) there is also going to be an enhanced fatigue system, meaning you will be less mobile when you carry heavy things.

You propably already know that there will be different types of mines such as bounding mines, tripwire and directional claymores

The team liked my little idea about undersea mines, so there is a chance we might see them ingame. They are also working on an Heat haze effect for jet engines etc. ( fire, vapor trails). They also liked the idea of DPV's which are totally possible. In general, the process of evaluating and adding vehicles and other to Arma 3 is not finished, so use the wishlist thread if you want ;)

Render to texture is currently causing some problems in terms of performance which is especially valuable for PhysX but its being worked on.

UAV's: Pettka also told me the team wants to improve and enhance UAV's, and this means not only improving their models and functionality but actually how they work in general. Currently they are controlled by an invisible player which they want to change. How this will look like in detail will be known later in development.

small community issues: Yes, there will be different muzzle flash samples and yes the hands will also move on the steering wheel ;)

Underground structures: There is a high chance that there will be underground structures like in VBS2

Artillery System: The artillery system is also going to be improved. The Player will be able to choose different types of ammunition that have different effects. When operating the artillery you can click on the target location on the map and get specific values that show you the elevation and direction you have to adjust in order to hit the target.

The wounding system will get some changes aswell. In general, it will be easier to hurt yourself during collisions etc. There might be advanced things like bandages etc but those details will follow later.

Arma 3 will come for DX 10 and DX11 and there even is an artist doing nothing more than optimizing DX11. The same goes for the FX, which will be improved in Arma 3. With volumetric clouds etc. there is going to be an much higher Particle limit and light source limit (more details later)

Another nice thing: Lord Ivan said, he would like to have the ability to go hiking and climbing, so there might be a chance of being able to do things like abseiling etc. Nothing more yet. He just said he would like to see it.

Thanks a lot for reading and also a special thanks goes out for the whole BIS crew and especially the awesome Pettka, for making it possible for me to come to Gamescom and talk with you about Arma 3. It has been an awesome experience and ensured my feeling of how great this game will be even more.

Thank you for every second of your hard work for making a game that people like me and you can enjoy. But its more than just a game. It's an experience! The Arma experience, which has come to another level!

ARMA 3 is a game we can all look forward to. Being a fan of the setting or not. ARMA 3 will redefine the standarts of PC gaming in 2012.

Survive\ Adapt\ Win

Thanks a lot and with best greetings

Merlin

Edited April 23, 2012 by PurePassion

[roberthammer 582]

Cool :)

[glowbal 13]

Pretty good read. Nice stuff. Excited for the UAV improvements.

[froggyluv 2135]

Finally!!

:p

Just kidding -thanks mate, well done. Active ragdoll eh? I can't imagine a whole squad of AI falling like that bunny in Overgrowth. If thats going to be possible, I won't even bother with the military side of the game -just a car, some AI and cliffs.

Game sounds absolutely amazing and I await it like none other. Oh, and snakes, that'll keep everyone watching their step.

[Derbysieger 11]

This sounds absolutely fantastic. Thank you very much! ;)

[instagoat 133]

Fantastic info. Thanks a lot, to both you and the BI team. Looking forward to the game more and more with every day.

[dmarkwick 261]

More particles, nice :) better get my thinking cap on.

[lozz08 10]

I totally preordered overgrowth as soon as I saw that active ragdoll video.

[papanowel 120]

Wouah, thanks alot for these nice informations.

[NoRailgunner 0]

wait what...

I can tell you that the weapon designs made for arma 3 are done by people that produce actual weapons for real military use which ensures you, you will get the highest grade of authenticy possible.

I thought BIS are just game developers watching some military/action/sci-fi movies and just think by themselves 'thats fantastic, that could fit somehow...' :p

[maddogx 13]

Nice write-up, PurePassion! :)

Btw. peeps, if your raging boner persists for more than four hours after reading Arma3 facts or looking at Arma3 imagery, consult a medical specialist.

[Derbysieger 11]

Have you?^^

[cole 0]

What I just read makes all other games on the market sound like ultimate trash.

oh wait..

Seriously, this article just described everything I ever wanted improved in ArmA.

I LOVE YOU BOHEMIA INTERACTIVE!

edit: and ofcourse, thank you PurePassion for letting us know about all this delicious stuff!

Edited August 22, 2011 by Cole

[onlyrazor 11]

Btw. peeps, if your raging boner fails to persists for more than four hours after reading Arma3 facts or looking at Arma3 imagery, consult a medical specialist.

Fixed that for ya

[ginger mcale 11]

Wow, awesome. Thank you PurePassion and Bohemia!

[jw custom 56]

Holy smoke ArmA3 is gonna be sick :cool:

Thanks for the informative post :cool:

[Undeceived 392]

This feature list is just awesome!!

BI only needs to release a bug free game with all these things and Arma might get a lot of attention! Wow, I'm excited!

Thanks PP and BIS!

[ProfTournesol 956]

Thanks PP, nice report, lot of good things ahead.

Regarding Stealth kills and melee: May I? I think this answers a lot... ;)

This isn't good, it cuts a lot of modding possibilities.

[metalcraze 290]

This is good.

What I appreciate about BIS the most is that they seem to still care about their game and try to make it feel real (in the gameplay meaning).

You may say "future weapons omg" but after looking for info none of those weapons look like something sci fi, they do exist although in prototypes.

[mrcash2009 0]

More meat for the confirmed features sticky ;) Keeps em busy.

Nice write up too.

I was going to post "Holographic projections or it didn't happen", but I changed my mind. Shaping up to be something very nice indeed, esp Ivans mention of Rock climbing etc, that would be a great thing to expand on.

I think once videos start to trickle out with all the anims, people will start to ...

Edited August 22, 2011 by mrcash2009

[Smurf 12]

Shapping better then everything I expected it would be except for one thing: no mention on bipods\deployed weapons so far. :(

For the rest I can only say one thing: And its kind of one year away, it will get even better!

Thank you PP and BIS staff for this.

Edited August 22, 2011 by Smurf

[NoRailgunner 0]

A good report would have ask about solutions for current A2+OA (CO) issues/bugs eg netcode instead of turning a blind eye on them. Déjà vu A1 > A2 > OA > A3? Its all awesome + great until its sold. But hey BIS have some months to work on doubts and customers experiences... Nothing is as bad as it looks. :cool:

[[GLT] Legislator 66]

+1 NoRailgunner

I fapped on a lot of features that were announced for A2 and I was very disappointed finding out that a lot of them wasn't compatible or broken in MP mode. Some really useful minor features were never completed and some old bugs from the Cold War Crisis still survived to the latest versions of A2/AO.

I agree with everyone that those features sound awesome, but well ... until now they're nothing but marketing stuff. Anyone remember working elevators that were announced for ArmA I? :D

[viper[cww] 14]

I wonder if they have any new concepts for mines, seeing as its 2025 I'm sure they'll be some kind of advancement in that field, though even the oldest of soviet AP mines are effective to this day...

Nice report, most of it I already knew as I had a friend visit the booth too :cool:

Edited August 22, 2011 by VIPER[CWW]

[*LK1* 10]

pure passion, good for you :)