First impressions

[Fenrisulven 1]

EDIT - like it says, it's my FIRST impression and it's not very good, but I'm still evaluating IF and I do see some potential. Just in case you are reading this and still considering IF, then take what I say here with a pinch of salt.

Having a great day and don't want to ruin your good mood? Then look away. Unfortunately I don't have much positive feedback on IF. I just learned about it so I can't really say I had high hopes for IF. However I paid for it so I feel obliged to say something. Being a veteran BIS fan I'm used to bugs and problems that needs to be ironed out over time. BIS however always delivers good design and the bugs are often engine related and not because of sloppiness. Clearly AWAR have skipped a lot of tweaking and bug testing. I found bugs after a few minutes. For example if you get hit while in a tank, the sound completely disappears ? It doesn't come back even if you switch units or respawn. This bug alone renders tank battles obsolete, or at least for me. Perhaps it works for some. Then we have the classic AI path finding problems (again) and vehicles tend to get stuck in buildings and objects. The editor is working just fine, but there are no templates for quickly setting up MP missions, for example WF, CTI or even CTF, TDM. You have to do everything the hard way, including scripting. In most coop missions done by AWAR you respawn as a bird in MP :crazy_o: Seriously? Finally what's up with the Blitzkrieg mode? It's the worst yet! AI is severely broken on medium and large sized maps and simply mass group on the first capture point even after it's been captured. The rest of the capture points are left undefended and uncontested.

That's about it. There is nothing else to test except the campaign and I already lost interest. It's clear that AWAR was hoping that the community would fix their game. A challenge some of you may enjoy (however unlikely with A3 around the corner) but good luck with that. In this state IF should have been released as a MOD and not a fully-fledged game.

Edited June 3, 2012 by Fenrisulven

[raptor90 1]

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?134767-first-impression-and-any-questions ;)

[Fenrisulven 1]

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?134767-first-impression-and-any-questions ;)

First impression by stephsen. Not some type of "official first impressions thread" so why post the link?

[raptor90 1]

Maybe because there is already "First impression" thread and why make more ?

[Fenrisulven 1]

Maybe because there is already "First impression" thread and why make more ?

Again, there is no sticky first impression thread. Could be a good idea to make one but the thread posted by stephsen is not official and it's full of off-topic discussions. Better just leave forum policing to mods :rolleyes:

[raptor90 1]

Again, there is no sticky first impression thread. Could be a good idea to make one but the thread posted by stephsen is not official and it's full of off-topic discussions. Better just leave forum policing to mods :rolleyes:

Heh, so you think that yours something special then ? :rolleyes:

( No matter if positive or negative impressions... )

[Fenrisulven 1]

Heh, so you think that yours something special then ? :rolleyes:

( No matter if positive or negative impressions... )

What part of my post didn't you understand? :j:

Sure it's negative but I believe I'm fully entitled to my opinion. To be fair, the units and maps are pretty good. Good models and textures, so thumbs up to the artists at AWAR. However it's a bit expensive for a few maps and nice models, but if BIS gets a piece of the action then by all means, buy it.

[Dajunka 10]

@Fenrisulven. I agree with most of what you said, but you need to be careful around here, any criticism will have the wild fanboy hounds at your throat within seconds. This is a protected area. ;)

[Fenrisulven 1]

@Fenrisulven. I agree with most of what you said, but you need to be careful around here, any criticism will have the wild fanboy hounds at your throat within seconds. This is a protected area. ;)

I know ,) Normally I'm one of them but IF is just too bad. It dishonors the RV engine IMO. I would have been happier if the box didn't say "Powered by Arma2 technology". I did a few engagements in the editor with AI cranked up to max and the results are just laughable. Somehow AWAR managed to mess up micro AI and you have units standing in the open looking the wrong way while being shot at. You have units walking slowly and straight up when under fire. The "guarded by" trigger tend to stop working after a few minutes. AI teams standing around doing nothing while there is heavy fighting just a click away. I also tested the German campaign and found units under fire standing on the wrong side of cover, also doing nothing :crazy: Apparently AWAR don't know much about quality assurance. These issues should have been found during alpha testing.

Think I am being unfair? Well had IF been released as a MOD for a lower price then I would have overlooked most of these issues. Now I really regret that I bought it.

[ProfTournesol 956]

I know ,) Normally I'm one of them but IF is just too bad. It dishonors the RV engine IMO. I would have been happier if the box didn't say "Powered by Arma2 technology". I did a few engagements in the editor with AI cranked up to max and the results are just laughable. Somehow AWAR managed to mess up micro AI and you have units standing in the open looking the wrong way while being shot at. You have units walking slowly and straight up when under fire. The "guarded by" trigger tend to stop working after a few minutes. AI teams standing around doing nothing while there is heavy fighting just a click away. I also tested the German campaign and found units under fire standing on the wrong side of cover, also doing nothing :crazy: Apparently AWAR don't know much about quality assurance. These issues should have been found during alpha testing.

Think I am being unfair? Well had IF been released as a MOD for a lower price then I would have overlooked most of these issues. Now I really regret that I bought it.

That's really strange. I don't face those issues that much, isn't your CPU overloaded ?

[Fenrisulven 1]

That's really strange. I don't face those issues that much, isn't your CPU overloaded ?

Not likely. It's a brand new i7 8 cores. I normally used a secondary comp as dedi when running warfare but my new rig can handle it single handed with 64 AI teams (A2). The tests I did in IF was small scale with 3 teams (20+ units) on each side.

[ProfTournesol 956]

Not likely. It's a brand new i7 6 cores. I normally used a secondary comp as dedi when running warfare but my new rig can handle it single handed with 64 AI teams (A2). The tests I did in IF was small scale with 3 teams (20+ units) on each side.

No problem with ArmA2 with the same comp ?

[Fenrisulven 1]

A2OA runs like a dream on this rig. So you don't have any AI issues with IF? That is indeed very interesting, if true.

[ProfTournesol 956]

A2OA runs like a dream on this rig. So you don't have any AI issues with IF? That is indeed very interesting, if true.

Well i have some CTD from time to time, but i don't experience major lack of AI reactions, apart from the fact that the weapons are much less accurate than modern ones (wounding soldiers more than killing them), or under heavy CPU load. I didn't test 1.02 much, i must say.

[Fenrisulven 1]

Well i have some CTD from time to time, but i don't experience major lack of AI reactions, apart from the fact that the weapons are much less accurate than modern ones (wounding soldiers more than killing them), or under heavy CPU load. I didn't test 1.02 much, i must say.

That is interesting actually. I sincerely hope I didn't jump the gun on this one, but considering A2 runs so well I don't think I did. Maybe I will stick around and see how IF develops, and do some more tests. I like some of the features in IF but that only makes it worse because without a proper way to play with all these new toys it just feels like a wasted opportunity to make something truly amazing with this engine.

[jackrabbitslim7 10]

The only major problem now is random CTD, other than that the game is playable (and there is a loss of fps when a vehicle is shot at for the first time, idk if it's a physix issue or not). I've had great fun playing coop, but there is a lack of servers tough. About the editor unfortunately there is no templates but if you are coming from arma you shouldn't have troubles creating your missions.

The bird respawn just mean that there is no respawn it's one of the best way to play coop, but seriously, only 2 or 3 coop missions ! That's not enough.

[OrLoK 20]

Hello there,

Mostly everything works fine for me, no uber settings of a rig but the game (mostly) ticks along nicely. Ive had a couple of hangs and ctd's but nothing to write home about.

I find the AI is either idiotic or super elite just like OA (also there are improvements).

MP is where i usually hang out and besides my style of missions (coop) being limited there are more SP missions coming out every day. Just gotta get them on the servers.

The campaign for me is very lacklustre so instead i play SaOk's dynamic mission for my SP thrills.

The game isn't perfect but I don't believe its as flawed as some say it is. If it were the player numbers surely would be low online?

Lastly like Arma IFL has a dedicated following and we like to help, so on that note have you checked to see if your vram is reported correctly? A few folk have noticed performance improvements when fixing those values in the if config.

Rgds

LoK

[Fenrisulven 1]

Hello there,

Mostly everything works fine for me, no uber settings of a rig but the game (mostly) ticks along nicely. Ive had a couple of hangs and ctd's but nothing to write home about.

I find the AI is either idiotic or super elite just like OA (also there are improvements).

MP is where i usually hang out and besides my style of missions (coop) being limited there are more SP missions coming out every day. Just gotta get them on the servers.

The campaign for me is very lacklustre so instead i play SaOk's dynamic mission for my SP thrills.

The game isn't perfect but I don't believe its as flawed as some say it is. If it were the player numbers surely would be low online?

Lastly like Arma IFL has a dedicated following and we like to help, so on that note have you checked to see if your vram is reported correctly? A few folk have noticed performance improvements when fixing those values in the if config.

Rgds

LoK

You may be right. Perhaps it is more about the mission design than the AI code. In that case AWAR messed up and especially with Blitzkrieg. I still got some awkward AI behavior on simple test missions though. It's too bad I don't have the patience to make missions these days. DAP if you read this and have IF. We need some of your excellent Battlefield - Conquest missions. Those are still my favorites for a quick SP fix in OA :biggrin:

Edited June 3, 2012 by Fenrisulven

[chrisb 196]

Yes this is a good game, but maybe released a little too early. Still, would be even better if it were compatible with the Arma 2 stuff.

Never mind perhaps in the future..

[Nikoteen 24]

I would to give my impress as well. First time I do it for this game, but I am really frustrated at the moment.

I am a veteran also of BIS games, started with OFP and I have 500+ hours on Arma2, I 've customise mods (not good enough to produce one), and build my mods setup to produce the best SP experience possible (in MP you have to accept not using your favourite mods for compatibility reason, thus I don't do MP much).

I've bought this game because I love everything about what's running on RV, and the models seemed (and are) top notch.

The game is running fine now I bought a i7 2600k CPU being the main bottleneck for IF (much more than OA) but CTD happens much of the time, and the campaigns are almost unplayable for the following reasons :

- Once you manage to get rid of texture popping than cause CTD as soon as boot camp, you have language switching for some reason.

- The cutscene are bugged, I never saw the end of the german missions as it always miss something or someone. If you lose too many men on the last german mission, there's no way you can finish the mission or be reinforced (mission design fault). To congratulate me for finishing the campaign, I had a cutscene on a tree forever and nothing happend.

- There's no recoil on rifles, the sounds are weak. You don't feel anything with a carbine in your hands.

- I had the bug sound when you die in a tank and change position.

- The AI is useless, they do nothing and when they do, you regret the previous state.

SP missions non-existent for now complete the impress the SP part of the game is wasted.

MP I tried, it's Evolu-mess like always with evolution because that's the only mission who is played public, but for the most part when you find a server with people, you don't encounter the SP bugs as it much simplier by design.

So far, the ones that deny the bugs of the game are MP players, and I understand why.

To conclude, the game has potential but the modding policy isn't a good signal to see enhancements anytime soon.

For now, I regret to have bought the game.

[fkymplbo 5]

Such things happened also before you bought the new CPU or just after it? I haven't got any real CTD although my CPU is only old 2 quad cores. Im just planning to change new CPU to i7 3770 and GTX670 video card. Would higher system cause more pc crashes like you?

Edited June 20, 2012 by Fkymplbo

[Nikoteen 24]

Not related to CPU swapping, I had a Quad Core 9550 with 12 Mo L2 cache, it was just enough for OA to run well without too much action :) with IF it ran like crap because of increased cpu calculation. So I tell myself to upgrade with Arma 3 in mind, but that just made my experience smoother, it haven't change anything for the bugs I described.

[call_911 10]

Lots of potential, needs some love though.

Edited June 26, 2012 by Call_911

[fkymplbo 5]

Not related to CPU swapping, I had a Quad Core 9550 with 12 Mo L2 cache, it was just enough for OA to run well without too much action :) with IF it ran like crap because of increased cpu calculation. So I tell myself to upgrade with Arma 3 in mind, but that just made my experience smoother, it haven't change anything for the bugs I described.

It's regretful for your crash issues. But I really just got one since I play the game almost every night. Not sure if you ever try some self made missisions in the editor. I only play in the mission editor with dozens of scenarios made personally. I think the frequent CTD encountered by some people may be caused by complicated scripts of missisions originally in the game.

[Paronomasia12 1]

Brilliant except in the lack of playable/usable vehicles, aircraft or weapons (examples that should, in my opinion, have been included are the SVT40, Gewehr 43, PTRS, IL2, Tiger 1, SdKfz 223 and a few more.)

As of yet I have no issues with bugs, with fps or anything else.