Please share your 1.60 impressions

[maruk 80]

With 1.60 final update nearly completed, we are interested in hearing your impressions. I understand it may be long time for you when you really have played on 1.59 but please try to remember these dark days and compare with current shape of the game.

We would like to to promote 1.60 update outside this forum section and outside our forums and it would be really useful to be able to quote some of the impressions from the field that I am hoping to collect here.

To summarize the most important improvements:

* multiplayer is much smoother, no more warping

* the same in single player on distant units

* AI is improved, especially (but not only) in combat

* aircraft simulation received some new care

* Arma 2 campaign received some special treatment to get rid of some really annoying bugs

* handling of the official expansions and product combinations is unified in way that allows much easier operation for all distributions (including Steam) and also allow to benefit more from the build in expansions manager

This topic is really intended for positive impressions. Not because we do not want to find ways to further polish the game but because we technically can not do much more for 1.60 anymore now.

[.kju 3244]

big step ahead and a great base for a3.

especially with some further tweaks in 1.61+ (config/gameplay/mp)

[Craig_VG 20]

1.60 is an epic patch.

That's all there is to it. I mean, I thought the game was very polished when OA was released, and now look where we are. The changelog is huge, the work BIS is putting out for a game released over a year ago is unheard of in most/all FPS games. MP is my favorite fix by far, I didn't know it could get so smooth. And performance has increased dramatically, I can run the game no problem on my older PC, when before it was nearly unplayable.

The campaign issues have always been a big talking point, but now most of the kinks have been worked out, which is both excellent and unexpected. It shows that BIS is dedicated to their work.

A lot of people had issues combining the games, and I'm glad to hear it has been worked out, even if I've never had issues with it (sprocket download).

And to top it all off, you guys plan on a 1.61 patch! :)

Thank you Bohemia!

:)

bobtom

[katipo66 94]

AI is improved, especially (but not only) in combat

this is what ive noticed, AI seem to engage at longer distances and prefer to fire from cover? Chernarus for me is a lot more smoother than prior... just those 2 alone = Win! :icon_eek: Edited December 21, 2011 by Katipo66

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Fishing for compliments, eh? :p

First of all, I'm really impressed by the entire 1.60 beta cycle. It covered way more then I expected it to and CIT really showed it's huge benefits and impact on development this time around. DevHeaven crew earns a big pat on the back from me for keeping it useful.

Even tho I do not have much time to invest in MP as I used to, I believe the interpolation changes that smoothed out MP were the biggest individual improvement and most probably the one that took most of the effort.

The addition of FXAA made the game way better looking for me, as with my current setup I cannot afford other AA options, and ability to choose (and build!) memory allocators also gained me a few frames needed for the game to feel smooth.

Community also gets a special mention as I was surprised how many regressions were detected and fixed by BI crew at the last stages of this beta cycle.

[maddogx 13]

For me the new visual interpolation of units in MP and in the distance is the highlight of this patch. Visual glitches like warping and stuttering can really break your immersion while playing, so getting this fixed was a major step forward for Arma, especially since it makes the game engine feel more "polished". :)

[Gedis 0]

after all of these beta and RC patch spamming you want us to provide positive feedback?

which other developer releases 3-4 beta patches in 24 hours? hint hint...

I want to come to your offices and personally shake everyones hands who were/are/will be involved into improving armaverse! But community deserves the same thing too, cause the bug hunting force is STRONG! :)

Yet this isn't nothing new, it all started with ofp, back in 2001. ;)

1.60 patch impressions? That's hard question, since nearly everything was improved!

Edited December 21, 2011 by Gedis

[rundll.exe 12]

It's all the little annoyances that got some love that are most important to me.

For example this fixed (didn't test myself) means that we don't have to make akward plans anymore before detonating our objectives.

Also JIP init problems being fixed is a huge step forward for MP

or this.

Really, the big improvements are great, but fixing those little things that everyone got used to, but that shouldn't have been there from the start, is just as important to me.

[Craig_VG 20]

or this.

Agreed, I had gotten used to that one, and was quite pleasantly surprised when it was fixed.

[alef 0]

You used the ARMA2 Community Issue Tracker a lot this time.

[[evo] dan 79]

BIS have done yet another awesome job. Not many businesses out there that do the awesome things that you do. Keep it up.

ALL HAIL SOVIET UNION BIS!!!!!

[icebreakr 3157]

Do you recommend installing RC6 or waiting another day or two? :]

[Janez 530]

Hi,

I was playing 1.59 until about two weeks ago so I remeber the dark days alright. Last weekend we had a session of warfare with RC1 and it played very, very good. No more warping AI or players which was probably the biggest issue for most. Now you actually can snipe.

Performance was not much better in terms of FPS (wasnt expecting to be better) but it felt a bit smoother. Too bad wrong DLC signatures issue ruined the experiance for us.

I play the campaigns once in a while as well so I appreciate fixes and improvements in that department as well.

This weekend we will have another session with the latest RC. I will try to post some more feedback.

Thank you very much guys for another great patch. Happy holidays.

[UGLY58 10]

We were limited on what we could test in regards 1.6.

1. We stuck to testing betas so that we ensure backwards compatibility. Quite frankly the amount of RC`s that were pushed scared us of. As a large group its difficult enough to coordinate so many different mods let alone RC`s and betas. SU helped a lot

2. The impressions we have during MP testing with 1.6 betas have been excellent. Faster loading into missions, smoother game play which slowly improved with each beta.

3. My last point is we have become so reliant on ACRE for enhanced game play that unless there was a Jayarma2lib that was compatible we didn`t update.

Awesome to be involved in developing OUR game, glad to have a company so supportive to its customers !

BIS have a Great Christmas - but your on next years naughty list if you don`t release the 1.6 patch before Christmas :)

Have a good one

[metalcraze 290]

Good patch, smooth MP, better AI - but unfortunately some glaring issues with AI are still there

[Tonci87 163]

It feels like playing a new game. Not only did the Team fix known Bugs, but the new Patch also introduces very much welcomed new Features no one really asked for, like FXAA.

The performance and AI improvements are breathtaking.

Never have I seen a developer more dedicated to bring his game to perfection than BIS.

And never have I seen a Developer that works so closely together with its community and gives so much support to it.

Arma OA has become the best and most realistic military simulator available.

You may quote me on all of this wherever you like

I wish you all the best

Tonci Tomasovic

Edited December 22, 2011 by Tonci87

[whiskeytango 11]

Let me put it this way: I actually played the single player with the RC of 1.60! AI is much smarter, moving to cover, crawling through holes etc.

I've only really played online. My biggest impressions were around the warping and desync lag that would occur.

Other things that I really like is the helicopter auto hover fix and the speed increase that seems to have happened.

Thank you very much BIS!

[das attorney 858]

I feel the CIT was used effectively during the process. There were lots of people finding all sorts of regressions and you used the feedback effectively to fix the things that broke.

On that note, it seems the majority of people who tested the beta reported issues correctly on the CIT, which is always nice to see.

The main improvement for me was on MP. Multiplayer pissed me off before with all the warping and I grew to hate playing it. As Tonci87 mentioned, it feels like a (new) game now and I've been enjoying hopping on to random servers to join in on a few co-ops. Even when I (inevitably) die, it's a pleasant experience now for the camera to follow one of my team mates around while they do their thing. No Jerk-o-vision!

There's some nice touches as well like adding ground effect to choppers and planes. I still don't fly anything though because of the non-proportional throttle/collective, but that's more of a personal preference and is out of the remit of this thread.

It's easy to forget some of the improvements as they are legion. I guess that some of the people who buy the game now will take the new AI for granted (like it should have been like that anyway), but it should be remembered that you've made massive improvements and watching them lean round a corner instead of laying prone and pointing at a wall, or crawling under a fence instead of ghosting through it is a huge leap forward.

Overall it's excellent and I'm recommending some of my IL2 people to pick up Arrowhead. I will enjoy playing the game now and look forward to what you are doing with 1.61 (SMAA *cough*) :)

[sxp2high 22]

I love 1.60 :D

It really improved the multiplayer a lot.

Missions are loading much, much faster. Starting a mission is now a matter of 5-10 seconds, instead of 30-60 seconds.

No more lags when a new player is connecting... well... basically... NO LAGS AT ALL. If i'm in a vehicle that is driven by somebody else, it's smooth as it gets. It's like i'm driving myself in SP. Perfectly fluid. It was okay before, but now it's perfect!

And, of course, the AI warping is finally gone. Perfectly smooth movements, even over rather large distances.

I give it 5 / 5 bananas :yay::yay:

Thanks BIS!

[james2464 176]

Thank you for this patch it is amazing,

This patch will get Project Reality back online with atleast 200-350 players online fighting, we can't wait for 1.60 as the whole PR community has been waiting for these MP fixes.

Cheers BIS.

[jedra 11]

Fantastic effort from you guys. I am impressed that you have put so much effort into this patch when you could have so easily used the impending Arma 3 release as an excuse to let Arma 2 stagnate. I realise that a lot of the work done for the patch was also for the benefit of Arma 3, but even so, a lot of developers would not have done what you did.

Your use of the CIT was impressive, it almost made each and every one of us feel part of the dev team and effectively gave the community a voice in the development process. By doing it this way I think you have built a better product.

I especially liked the 'surprises' you threw in along the way. Interpolation, Injectors, memory allocators etc - this kept everybody's interesest and showed you were serious about not only bug fixing but making the game better. Some of the 'big' changes you threw in while in release candidate stage would have had given some of my old managers sleepless nights - but that's what makes life interesting!

I am struggling to find anything to say regarding what you could do better really. The patch notes could use further improvement, but even they were pretty good by the end.

Good effort, well done! I think you should take Sunday off!

[ArmAriffic 10]

Thank you for this patch it is amazing,

This patch will get Project Reality back online with atleast 200-350 players online fighting, we can't wait for 1.60 as the whole PR community has been waiting for these MP fixes.

Cheers BIS.

*The whole ArmA community, not just the PR community :)

[Dwarden 1125]

just note, the maximum player limit is softcoded to 255 atm. and i think if it runs w/o hitch then it's good achievement in itself ;)

so keep the 350 wish for 'future' :)

[Undeceived 392]

I think that not only the patch should be highlighted outside of these forums but also the fact that BI might be the world-best dev in terms of support of their games! Where others let their product rotten after some months, BI cared and polished it for (a) decade(s).

Of course, there is much to be fixed in Arma because of the bug infested v.1.0 release, nevertheless I never saw something comparable to BI's support!

Thank you, BI! Keep it up!

[Tankbuster 1744]

I tried this today on my backup install. I can't say how it perform as regards server lag as I only connected to my local dedi server with a ping of <1 , but overall, performance is greatly improved. Roll on the full release! :)