New to this...O my good god! :)

[dmarkwick 261]

To be honest I think we're not here because of the way ArmA looks, we're here because of how it plays. A game can look as great as possible but if you're not really engaged... I like watching Avatar as much as anybody, but if I watch it too many times I end up not really watching it.

[maddogx 13]

I don't see the point in turning this thread into a discussion about the pros and cons of a game engine that has nothing to do with Arma, awesome as it may be.

[Psilocybe 3]

This thread is turning into a battlefield(3)!

Welcome to the forums mate, enjoy your stay and get into the editor!

I'd say 95% of my play in arma has been in the editor and I still can't make a worthwhile mission. I can sure shoot the shit out of a convoy from a hillside though!

[moriah888 10]

Yup I agree...pointless debates achieve nothing.

Arma = amazing at what it does

Tech 5 = amazing at what it does

:)

[maddogx 13]

Yup I agree...pointless debates achieve nothing.

;)

So back to your original complaint: you were saying that you were getting bad performance and spending most of your time trying to tweak the video settings. I think you'll find that many people here have a lot of experience in doing exactly this, so if you were to post your system specs and current game settings - as I suggested previously - we may be able to help you get the most performance out of your hardware fairly quickly.

Some settings are rather unintuitive in their effect on performance btw., most notably the shadows setting.

Also, as someone else suggested, I can really recommend trying out the latest beta patch, as it comes with major performance improvements. Beta patches are installed like mods and do not overwrite any game content, so you needn't worry about having to reinstall the game if the beta isn't to your liking for some reason. :)

[HR4 Elite 10]

enjoy your stay and get into the editor!

Amen to that. The editor is the winning factor for A2 imo, not MP or campaigns, it’s the editor and all the things you can add into it that makes A2 stand out.

Back to topic:

As for performance, have a look at my settings, the fps has been getting better in my opinion over the last 6mths or so, they are now beginning to make serious headway, hopefully A3 is the reason why so much time is being put into optimising A2 (practise makes perfect), on release A3 might have a half decent chance of being optimised better from the outset, instead of a game of catch-up over the 2odd yrs A2 has been out..

A2 runs like a dream, albeit the dream is a nightmare sometimes..

What you getting stuck on, tree’s (forests), cities & towns, how does the performance give way, from what fps to what fps, setting’s can do a lot, as can the setting’s in your card driver software, its all about tweaking.. You can be riding high at 75-80fps then turn a corner and dive down to 40fps and only be looking at a tree on the edge of town, but that's A2, does not make the game unplayable, just part of the charm!!!:eek:

.

[moriah888 10]

Hmm thanks for this advice - I've just downloaded the beta version and will give it a try!

I'll post detailed system specs later if this version doesn't solve the issue. So far though the biggest low fps has been the town in chanarus in the harvest red campaign.

Have had to put draw distance to the minimum to get anything approaching smooth.

[On_Sabbatical 11]

Take agood care of your TAB button ...

[tk1138 10]

Welcome ‘moriah 888’

I disagree with most all the above, I bought Arma2, Operation Arrowhead & Reinforcements, and to be honest within a couple of days had found this forum and added around 30 mods, I have over 100 mods/islands now. If you have the download space and ability, I would just jump in feet first, you learn quickly having the mod’s, your just learning with the new content already there, means you get used to the full experience from the beginning..

Within a few weeks you can be making your own in-depth missions via the editor (which is the place to be with Arma2) and experiencing what A2 can be, without waiting..

Just my opinion, however.

Anyhow, however you do it your in for some serious enjoyment..

.

this is similar to my experience, after a few days i got a handful of mods (including ace)

[moriah888 10]

I've been playing a fair bit of the first campaign and getting used to the "cautious" approach needed! :)

I've got draw distance turned to min and shadows to min and getting "good" framerates. I am learning to overlook this however (e.g. compared to crysis looks like shite) as I'm appreciating the game for what it is....namely a huge world to play in with no loading screens and a lot of AI and depth of gameplay and atmosphere...also managed to get some AI mods working...AI healing each other, Zeus AI, stance AI.

Avoiding ACE at the moment as I want to play vanilla for a while, then I'll be able to appreciate it when I decide to install it :)

[tk1138 10]

I've been playing a fair bit of the first campaign and getting used to the "cautious" approach needed! :)

I've got draw distance turned to min and shadows to min and getting "good" framerates. I am learning to overlook this however (e.g. compared to crysis looks like shite) as I'm appreciating the game for what it is....namely a huge world to play in with no loading screens and a lot of AI and depth of gameplay and atmosphere...also managed to get some AI mods working...AI healing each other, Zeus AI, stance AI.

Avoiding ACE at the moment as I want to play vanilla for a while, then I'll be able to appreciate it when I decide to install it :)

something about shadows, when they are set to medium or lower, it is run off the cpu, now if you are like many people here chances are your cpu is the bottleneck, meaning, if your video card is not bottlenecking your system you might be better off with higher shadow settings...(high or greater if i understand correctly)

[HR4 Elite 10]

something about shadows, when they are set to medium or lower, it is run off the cpu, now if you are like many people here chances are your cpu is the bottleneck, meaning, if your video card is not bottlenecking your system you might be better off with higher shadow settings...(high or greater if i understand correctly)

Very true…

'moriah888' Don’t automatically think its got to be low settings, tweak and experiment, I can lose fps with some settings on high rather than V-High, bonkers but true..

Example: download ‘DVD’ mod or use fraps, it gives you an onscreen readout of your average fps, go into a heavy-ish area, take a look in one direction and keep it, let the fps settle then make a note of the number, then open your options menu ‘Video’ and tweak, come back into the game still looking at the same location and watch your fps, keep doing this and tweaking. An hour doing this can help tweak your game to work best with your system.

Its basic, but it works..

.

[moriah888 10]

Yea thats very bizarre...set shadows to max and frame rate still the same....problem seems to be with draw distance around large towns...apart from that so far very good :)

[domokun 515]

Here are a few tips on how to get OA running smooth and looking sweet:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=2029167&postcount=8

[metalcraze 290]

I run OA with 3km VD, v. high textures (high in Zargabad*), normal ground, high shadows, high object detail, v. low PP (I hate blur on higher settings), normal HDR, max aniso but no AA (although I turn it on sometimes at desert-style maps). I get good enough performance at my aging system which you can see in my sig and game looks good too.

*896 MBs become not enough there - note the higher texture setting is the better objects, especially trees look in the distance.

[runforrest 10]

u may also know that the singleplayer campaign of Arma2 on Chernarus is VERY FPS demanding, u can have a very good rig and still u will have low FPS, especially when u run AI mods!

also those AI mods might cause problems in the campaign, in that manner that u cant finish a mission/sidemission

[moriah888 10]

I run OA with 3km VD, v. high textures (high in Zargabad*), normal ground, high shadows, high object detail, v. low PP (I hate blur on higher settings), normal HDR, max aniso but no AA (although I turn it on sometimes at desert-style maps). I get good enough performance at my aging system which you can see in my sig and game looks good too.

*896 MBs become not enough there - note the higher texture setting is the better objects, especially trees look in the distance.

Metal what resolution are you running out of interest?