SITREPs

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Weapon Switching On-The-Move, Suppressive Fire, Mappable Camera Controls, Update 1.58 Status

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

And just like that, we're publishing our 150th SITuation REPort on Arma 3's development. That makes it over 150 weeks since we began the public Alpha. It continues to be our pleasure to collect relevant information, share news, highlight cool community productions, and be as open as we can about the state of the game. There's no end in sight either. We're working towards the Apex expansion, and very likely we will not stop there. Back in the now, we have indeed decided to delay update 1.58 a little bit. The feature we are keen to include was meanwhile staged on Dev-Branch: weapon switching on-the-move (more on that later in this report). The extra time has also allowed our developers to resolve some of the issues in the highlighted changes. We're now looking at a release window that will open next week.

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Visual Upgrade, Milsim Live Stream, Respawn Screen

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

With Release Candidate testing for 1.58 continuing this week, and major 1.60 features being staged to Dev-Branch, things are perhaps becoming a little confusing. That's why we're here to clarify when you can expect what on the #RoadToApex. The simplest way of looking at it is: we want the weapon switching package to be in 1.58, but the version is otherwise locked. Anything else is for 1.60 or Apex itself.

 

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[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: 1.58 Release Week, Campaign Unification, Action Filtering, Eden Editor Updates, Targeting Improvements

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

This week we want to finally release 1.58 to every player. Besides several fixes, the last addition we sought to get in was merged on Friday (action filtering for weapon switching). That gives us all a day or two of further Release Candidate testing. Take a look at the pseudo change log on our forums for the highlights of this update. If you're aware of critical issues remaining in the build, alert us via the forums please. Catch you on the flip side!

 

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[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Official Mod, Milsim Stream VoD, Top 10 Update 1.58, Price Reductions, Score Screen

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

We've moved a step forward on the #RoadToApex, admittedly with a few stumbles, now that update 1.58 has hit main branch. There were several great improvements, which we're confident have bolstered the game's usability. Later in this report we will also have Intel on how we're dealing with some of the issues that were shared with us. Apex is looming on the horizon, so besides dealing with update glitches, we're already in full motion to compile the 1.60 build (Visual Upgrade and more). That does mean there are many more complex changes coming up, which we all know don't always work flawlessly in the broader player-base. But we still feel that doing this in chunks, rather than all at once, makes it more manageable for us, modders and players alike. Plus it means you don't have to wait for everything we're working on. Bear with us, it will be worth it!

 

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[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Tanoa Sector Tests, Community Guides, 1.58 Re-Released

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Seeing how we're very busy to deliver Arma 3 Apex, there isn't a lot to report on this week. You'll be happy to know that this effort includes our Marketing Communications people working on various avenues to shed more light on the expansion. Over the next two months, we'll finally be showing more about the assets, features and the Tanoa crown jewel. At the moment we don't yet have a concrete timeline for staging the components to Dev-Branch (besides what was already released on the #RoadToApex of course!). Our usual approach is to stage Sandbox assets (vehicles, weapons, characters, props, Tanoa) in several phases first and Playable Content (co-op campaign) last. Features sneak in continuously throughout, as they have for the past while. Once we decide on the specifics, we'll be letting you know via our usual channels.

 

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[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Launcher Upgrade, CfgPatches Revamp, Difficulty Overhaul Phase 3, Work Drive

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

We are presently preparing a snapshot build for the 1.60 update that we'd like to release at the end of this month. We feel that we should point out this is another complex update that affects the game in many areas. Some of those are very prominent, like the Visual Upgrade. Some are more low-level and explained later in this report. As is usual for Arma 3, these changes have been available on Dev-Branch for weeks if not months. We will also soon stage a public Release Candidate for even broader testing. And of course we're doing our own extensive build tests. As we've learned, no matter how hard we all try, there is a risk of errors sneaking in. Please know that we will work hard to mitigate the risks and to address issues should they appear. Ultimately, doing these changes now will pave the #RoadToApex, and hopefully provide a smooth landing on Tanoa.

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Release Candidate 1.60, Limping, Line Drawing, Quick Play

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

That was quite the weekend for Arma 3! A huge amount of players tried the game for free over the past few days, beating our concurrent player record. Plenty of recruits have also made their enlisting a more permanent career. We'd like to welcome everyone to the Armaverse. You've picked a perhaps slightly turbulent but very definitely exciting time to jump aboard. A new expansion is on the horizon and we're still supporting the platform with a motivated team. Keep an eye on the reports in our Dev Hub, like the one you're reading now, for our Intel on the #RoadToApex. Our last pitstop is the 1.60 update, for which we've just started the public Release Candidate test. Thank you for contributing to the splendid release prep!

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Development Status, Rendering Optimizations, VON Improvements

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

We would very much like to release the 1.60 update later this week. That would clear the way for the final leg of our journey to Apex. It would allow us to start staging some very interesting components of the package in phases. And of course it would mean everybody gets to enjoy the Visual Upgrade and other improvements. Give the most recent Release Candidate build a go if you can, and alert us to any last-minute issues on the forums. Our developers' work on Apex is meanwhile subject to Strict Data Lock and Localization Lock. For those of you new to our development cycle, this means that all work and changes in data must now be explicitly approved. We do this to consolidate the package, to monitor how all components interact with each other, to stabilize the build, and of course to pester our beloved devs! The second lock means the bulk of texts have been submitted for translation and any further changes need careful coordination. This doesn't mean work has finished, far from it, but we're nearing our destination on the #RoadToApex.

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Update 1.60 Released, Feedback Tracker Online, Respawn Screen

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Now that the dust is starting to settle from the usual post-release frenzy, we hope you're all enjoying the pretty sights made possible by the Visual Upgrade. We're actively scanning all channels for any priority issues. We'd like to commend the warriors of the mod scene for swiftly releasing compatibility updates to unlock the potential of the new improvements. If you're playing with Exile, Unsung, CUP, ALiVE or many of the other projects out there, you'll find new versions for 1.60 out already.

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Apex Artwork, PC Gaming Show 2016, Tanoa Dev-Branch Status

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Things have really kicked off yesterday with the revelation of the official Arma 3 Apex artwork and logo. We hope you're as excited as we are about the setting that's depicted there. It has been a joy to read your discussions about the clues contained within. We're seeing the full package coming together fast now, and soon you'll have all the details yourselves. One particular event to mark in your calendars is the PC Gaming Show 2016 on Monday June 13 at 11:30 PDT / 20:30 CEST. Creative Director Jay Crowe will be on-stage to announce the release date for Apex, and to drop more splendid Intel. The show will be live streamed on various platforms, including a mirror on our Twitch channel. There will no doubt be a recording for on-demand viewing afterwards as well. Be sure to stick around for the after show for more Bohemia Interactive coverage!

 

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[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Apex Release Date, Apex Sneak Preview, Apex Dev Diary

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Where do we even begin? Chances are that not many of you will read this week's report due to the massive influx of Apex Intel and goodies over the past days. But perhaps for that reason we actually recommend you do keep on reading! Get a clear overview of what we've revealed: the July 11th 2016 release date, a E3 2016 Teaser Trailer, the full expansion contents, and more.

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Armaversary, Main Menu Overhaul, Vehicle-in-Vehicle Transport, Vehicle Path-Following

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

The first week of pre-release public testing of the Apex sandbox has proven once again the value of this approach. Combined with our own thorough tests, your feedback has contributed to many tweaks and fixes already. At the small cost of a slightly skewed first impression due to the work-in-progress nature of the content, this will lead to a more solid release on July 11. Note that most changes arrive first to the daily experimental Dev-Branch. We then selectively merge these to the Apex Sneak Preview and RC branches, which are updated periodically. The update processes are running a little slower than we're used to, because of the large amount of data and increased branch count. It has also been quite remarkable to see a wide range of mods release compatible versions within days, and in some cases hours, of content staging. The hard work of teams like Exile, GetWrecked, various Life incarnations and others will provide players with a great many options come full release. There's still plenty to polish, so we'll get on with it!

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Revive, LOD Blending, Integrated Items

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Our designers are hard at work to hit their final pre-release milestone: staging the Apex Playable Content to Dev-Branch, RC-Branch and Sneak Preview Branch. That means getting Showcase End Game, End Game Moddergat, End Game Balavu, Master Tanoa Zeus and of course the "Apex Protocol" co-op campaign ready for your feedback. We're getting close, but we'd like to make some last tweaks and plug in all voice acting and videos first. Once the content becomes available to you, we'd like to ask you to again be mindful of spoilers. Try to mark your forums posts, Feedback Tracker tickets and other shares with cautions to readers, so those waiting for the release version get to experience the events in the Armaverse for themselves. It's almost July, so enjoy the remaining 2 weeks until release!

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Imminent Apex Release, Squad Communications, Units Stage Two, Mobile Ops

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Welcome to the last SITuation REPort on the #RoadToApex. By this time next week, owners will have access to the Apex expansion on main branch, and everybody will be playing the free 1.62 update. That also means you have less than a week to make use of the 20% discounted pre-order. We hope you're as excited as we are for everyone to be able to enjoy Apex, Tanoa and all the platform improvements soon.

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Apex Released, Apex Protocol

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

After one hell of a ride, we've all arrived at the release of Arma 3 Apex and the corresponding free 1.62 platform update. Here's our official launch trailer to celebrate this major milestone! We hope you're already enjoying the vanilla expansion or one of the many custom mod(e)s that were updated in unison. More than ever before we witnessed an impressive pre-release effort by the various mod teams and server hosts to make the transition as smooth as possible. Our thanks go to everyone who has contributed to this release, not least of which our developers and Bohemia Interactive's supporting departments. Have fun running your jungle ops on Tanoa or however else you enjoy playing the game!

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Profiling Branch, Recruiting, Wallpapers

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

The development locks that were in place during the last weeks of Apex development have now been lifted. This means our team members are free again to continue development under regular conditions. You may already notice this from the updates on Dev-Branch in recent days. We're also taking some time to reflect on the project together. This means we'll be looking back at both the journey and the destination, and creating action plans for a broad range of aspects to further improve upon. Besides our own thoughts, we also evaluate using your reviews, critiques, reports, stories, custom content releases and play-throughs ... and we're massively enjoying doing so. Keep sharing!

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Maintenance, Apex Blog, Launcher Mod Search, Feedback Tracker Guide

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Our clean sweep of the game continues during these first few post-release weeks. Besides making improvements to Apex itself, we've also been addressing your reports on older content, and will continue to do so. Some documentation has already been published to the Bohemia Interactive Community Wiki, while more elaborate topics are in progress. This all goes hand-in-hand with mapping out our further roadmap for Arma 3 development and support. It will still be a little while before we have concrete details for you, but you're already in the right place once any news breaks!

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Lessons Learned, Units Administration, Arsenal Sorting

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

During the past week we've concluded our first round of post-release evaluations of the Apex project as a whole. The departments collected their notes on what has gone well and what hasn't, which were then discussed among the department leads. The next step was to convert the lessons into a concrete action plan for improvements. We try to be self-critical and to look at all aspects of development. Of course this includes the resulting game as a major component, but it goes beyond that. We also evaluate our team's organization, developer performance, IT infrastructure, data pipelines, auto-testing methods, project methodologies, back-office support and much more. Why is this relevant to you as a player? Striving for better results in all these areas should mean a more solid platform and game developed on top of it. We still are excited to carry on this great Arma 3 adventure with you!

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Ports Update, Eden Editor Improvements, Mod Preset Sharing

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

While the maintenance, documentation and planning work continues for the primary Windows version of the game, the time is right to give some love to our experimental client ports for Linux and Mac. Having been in development and testing for a long time, we have today published the 1.58 version (including Eden Update) for the ports, made possible by our Virtual Programming partners.

 

Full SITREP

[DnA 5154]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Arsenal / Zeus Improvements, AI Diagnostics

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

It's a bit of a slow summer week here at Bohemia Interactive. Some of our developers are enjoying well-deserved holidays, and we have a delegation visiting Game Developer Conference Europe to absorb knowledge from peers. Arma 3 does not otherwise have a presence at the associated gamescom convention this year. Meanwhile we certainly do have a crew working as per usual, and keeping SOPs running, such as Dev-Branch updates. Next week we intend to start actual prep for the release of a 1.64 update, containing all tweaks, fixes and optimizations since the Apex release.

 

Full SITREP

[bis_iceman 7384]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Update 1.64 RC, Gamescom, Apex Protocol Improvements

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

The development team is now making final preparations for the first post-Apex main branch update. Containing countless fixes and improvements, update 1.64 will aim to increase the stability and performance of the Arma 3 platform. Based on the feedback from players, we are also making changes to the Apex Protocol campaign (more about them below). We hope to have the build ready for internal testing in the middle of this week and enable it for public RC testing as soon as it passes the Quality Assurance evaluations. Follow the official Twitter account or subscribe to the dedicated forums thread to receive the information once it happens.

 

Full SITREP

[bis_iceman 7384]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: 1.64 RC Started, Tanoa Structures Improvements, Valve Anti-Cheat

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Testing of the upcoming main branch update "1.64" has begun last week. Bringing several improvements to the Apex Protocol campaign and aiming to improve the stability of the game, it also brings a handful of small tweaks, which will benefit everyone (more on them later in this report). Everybody is encouraged to try the RC build on their own, and to visit the dedicated forums thread or the Arma subreddit thread for more information. Don't forget to provide feedback, and report issues to our Feedback Tracker, it is being monitored actively by our QA. 

 

Full SITREP

[bis_iceman 7384]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Update 1.64 RC Continues, BattlEye Update

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

The development team continues to work hard on improving the Release Candidate for the 1.64 update. Last Friday, the build has received a bunch of major improvements (full list available on the forums). We now aim to polish it and to introduce more bug fixes. With that in mind, the potential release window opens next week, depending on the stability and functionality of the RC build. User feedback is of course appreciated; players are encouraged to visit the Feedback Tracker to report any issue they find.

 

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[bis_iceman 7384]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Arma 3 Anniversary, Apex Protocol OPREP

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

While the development team is still preparing the upcoming 1.64 update, Arma 3 passed a significant milestone. On September 12th 2013, it successfully left the Early Access program on Steam. With a solid platform underneath and years of support to come, all was set for Arma 3 to become the most successful Arma game thus far. We'll focus on the Armaversary later in this report.

 

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[bis_iceman 7384]

FROM: High Command

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: Release Candidate Finishes, Tanoa Topographic Map, Revive Documentation

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

Both internal and public Release Candidate testing of the upcoming Update 1.64 are slowly coming to an end. After weeks of fixing and iterations, we're aiming to release the main branch update later this week. Along with that, a small Tools update is being prepared as well. Meanwhile, the development team is focusing on minor tweaks to the performance and gameplay improvements, which can be followed in the Dev-Branch Changelogs forums thread.

 

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