Would i like ArmA?

[krayze 10]

Hi everyone. Firstly, i made an account here just to ask you guys if i would like ArmA. I've never played an ArmA game before, but i love games that are open-world, offer the player choices, variety, and realistic experiences.

I've done some research and tests (including www.canyourunit.com) and my system exceeds the maximum recommended settings.

Also, i am a big single player fan and a huge fan of flight experiences in games.

So I'm basically wondering if you'd think i would like these games. I'm looking for;

• A realistic military experience
  
• Choices in the game
  
• Lots of different vehicles, etc
  
• Good single player!
  

Also, i don't know which one to start off with. I'm a Steam user, and i don't want the entire collection. I was looking at either ArmA 2 or ArmA 2 : Operation Arrowhead. (Both $20) I can't decide which one is better/is better for me starting out. So please give me good advice on all these points.

Thanks so much in advance!

[Leon86 13]

Try the free version of arma 2 and see for yourself

the full version has better textures and mods.

If you like it I suggest you buy the "combined operations" pack, that's both arma 2 and operation arrowhead.

Or buy the arma X anniversary edition. That has all arma games and dlc + the original operation flashpoint (renamed to cold war assault)

Edited November 5, 2011 by Leon86

[krayze 10]

I didn't really want to take the time to download just a free version because i have limited space left on my computer. I was morelike asking questions about which is better, and how the things i listed above are in them and which is better at it.

Arrowhead looks like it has more because it says 300+ new units, but i see good gameplay on Youtube for both of them. So i'm confused.

[purepassion 22]

What you described seems to fit quite perfectly to Arma.

• propably the most realistic available for you
• complete freedom
• shitload of 'em :D
  
• lots of nice scenarios available (dont expect cinematic stuff tough)
  next to that there is this awesome editor that lets you create any scenario you want

I would not recommend you to start with the free version since the graphics are extremely toned down and the most important aspect is not supported: Mods.

The heart and soul of Arma is the community and mods.

If you have to make a decision between A2 and Operation Arrowhead, I would recommend you OA. It has the more advanced and engine and completely new features such as FLIR and many more improvements. The best choice however would be Arma 2: Combined Operations which is simply Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead combined.

It costs only 25€ on Sprocket (btw: all money goes to the team if you buy there ;))

[krayze 10]

Thanks for the info Pure!

Looks like i'll pickup OA.

Does it have flight missions and a good variety? I've seen some really cool flight gameplay on youtube.

[purepassion 22]

sure. :) there are various missions containing flight operations in vanilla and next to that a lot of user-created ones

After you are a bit familiarized with the game and it's mechanics you can simply jump in the editor, push some buttons and have endless fun in dogfights or whatever you wish for ;)

[Leon86 13]

I didn't really want to take the time to download just a free version because i have limited space left on my computer. I was morelike asking questions about which is better, and how the things i listed above are in them and which is better at it.

Arrowhead looks like it has more because it says 300+ new units, but i see good gameplay on Youtube for both of them. So i'm confused.

True the free version doesnt look that nice because it only has the lowres textures. That also means its a relatively small download, under 1GB

Anyways, if you're going to download I'd also advise to get it from sprocket.

[metalcraze 290]

A realistic military experience

If you'll install ACE2 (requires ArmA2 CO)

Choices in the game

Depends on what you mean by this

Lots of different vehicles, etc

"If you can see it you can drive it" ©

Just don't expect an anal simulation of anything but infantry (infantry is the focus). Even then vehicles are not arcade-y insta- 180 degree turning plastic toys

Good single player!

In ArmA2 official campaigns suck for the most part.

However mission editor (really quick and easy to throw together simple attack/defend missions) and community made content make up for that.

OFP/CWA has the best SP campaign. Remake for ArmA2 is in progress and there's a demo available with 18 missions.

ArmA2 CO has a proper metric shitton of units, weapons and vehicles and ACE mod (which is a must for realism and features) expands that further.

Edited November 5, 2011 by metalcraze

[tom3kb 15]

@krayze

Dont buy only A2 or OA, buy Arma 2CO [a2+oa], if you want to play mp or the best mods, campaigns/missions or addons you must have a2 co. If you buy only 1 game and you really like this game, you will have for sure to buy the 2nd game to have CO.

[Gunter Severloh 4052]

Welcome.

Just get Arma2CO (Combined Operations) it has the best of both Arma2 and OA, you can do anything go anywhere, be anybody, drive any vehicle, play, ect,.

The Game series has been around since 2001 starting with OFP, the games have 100's of mods, and player made content you can add to your game, even comes with an in built editor, well several if you inlcude the 3d editor, the mp editor, and various other editors to do a ton of stuff.

Just get the game and play, stay away from the mods and such at first til you get the hang of the game as it has a learning curve.

Game can be realistic or not as realistic as you want.

If you have questions obviously follow the forum rules and post accordingly but the community is here to help if needed.

[Tonci87 163]

Seriously, get CO! You will regret it later if you only take OA

[[frl]myke 14]

...my system exceeds the maximum recommended settings.

I didn't really want to take the time to download just a free version because i have limited space left on my computer.

I wonder how a PC that "exceeds max recommended settings" have "limited space".

Besides that, don't give a jack on what such websites say about if you can run it or not. Often enough i saw Player moaning about low performance although such a site has said that their PC exceeds max recommended settings. Mostly because they rate only the generation of a GPU and not it's performance. Well, a brand new low end GPU is still much slower than a last generation high end GPU.

So get either the Demo or ArmA2free to see if it fits for you and how it runs on your system. If you feel to buy it you still can deinstall it. And if you don't have space for that, you wouldn't have the space for the full game either.

[krayze 10]

Myke;2051700']I wonder how a PC that "exceeds max recommended settings" have "limited space".

Besides that' date=' don't give a jack on what such websites say about if you can run it or not. Often enough i saw Player moaning about low performance although such a site has said that their PC exceeds max recommended settings. Mostly because they rate only the generation of a GPU and not it's performance. Well, a brand new low end GPU is still much slower than a last generation high end GPU.

So get either the Demo or ArmA2free to see if it fits for you and how it runs on your system. If you feel to buy it you still can deinstall it. And if you don't have space for that, you wouldn't have the space for the full game either.[/quote']

Because i have 80 gigs left, out of 1TB on my computer. And it's extremely organized and i hate downloading free trails/demos. 80GB/1TB = less than 10% HDD left. My specs otherwise are great, 8GB RAM, 3.6Hz CPU 9(8CPU's) Hyperthreading, etc. I know it will run. Just didn't want to waste my time downloading a slummed-down version of the game.

A good PC can have limited space. The HDD has absolutely nothing to do with the game running, granted that you have enough space to download it onto your computer and a few extra gigs for files, etc.

So that wasn't really a relevant comparison.

Thanks for your replies to everyone! I'll be getting CO.

Edited November 6, 2011 by krayze

[Tonci87 163]

The HDD has absolutely nothing to do with the game running,

You will see that this is not true for Arma!

Arma is constantly reading things from your HDD (Textures and other stuff)

I strongly suggest to defragment your drive after you installed Arma.

If you have some spare cash, then you could buy a SSD. Lots of People reported that Arma runs more fluid from a SSD (I have a 6MB/s HDD, Arma runs fine from it, SSDs are really expensive. Keep your HDD defragmented and you shouldn´t have problems)

[Deathstroke 10]

You will see that this is not true for Arma!

Arma is constantly reading things from your HDD (Textures and other stuff)

I strongly suggest to defragment your drive after you installed Arma.

If you have some spare cash, then you could buy a SSD. Lots of People reported that Arma runs more fluid from a SSD (I have a 6MB/s HDD, Arma runs fine from it, SSDs are really expensive. Keep your HDD defragmented and you shouldn´t have problems)

I can confirm all people who have older systems but upgraded their pc with a partial SSD got huge performance improvement. Exspecially visible when entering busy areas such as town spawned with enemy troops. Mostly everything that would deter their fps to near standstill in old situation does nothing to their fps now ( apart from night situation, that will still suck ).

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

You will see that this is not true for Arma!

True. With a nicely defragmented harddrive ArmA performs much better and much smoother. At least this is the case for me especially when playing in an urban scenario.

[colosseum 34]

Get rid of all your porn, that ought to free up at least 500 gigs.

[HR4 Elite 10]

So I'm basically wondering if you'd think i would like these games. I'm looking for;

• A realistic military experience
  
• Choices in the game
  
• Lots of different vehicles, etc
  
• Good single player!
  

Your four questions: answer ‘Yes’

Combined Operations (Arma2 & Operation Arrowhead)..

Then welcome to Armaverse...

.

[domokun 515]

If it helps to sway you, Steam are running a mid-week sale with all of BI's game at 50% discount

[lb8068 10]

True it does offer a lot of freedom, but not in the same way games like GTA etc. do. It's quite hard to describe really. But the map is absolutely huge with some beautiful sites to behold. I love the game, but get ready for a fairly steep learning curve.