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mr_hanky

I'm new and I'm lost / Some help for those new to the fold?

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well, maybe you were confused with "Alpha" phrase.

This game is not completed yet, it's under limited testing. (Thus called Alpha, followed by "Beta" - public testing phrase)

that's why 90% of content is not available yet.

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Im fully aware that its alpha. But every game even in its Alpha stage has a purpose. As I said Im sure there is stuff to do.

And from what Im reading a lot of them require the editor

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Im fully aware that its alpha. But every game even in its Alpha stage has a purpose. As I said Im sure there is stuff to do.

And from what Im reading a lot of them require the editor

Well if you don't want to make your own missions just play the ones included in the Alpha. Then keep an eye out on these forums for missions released by other people. Armaholic's a good place to look for new ones to download too.

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Im fully aware that its alpha. But every game even in its Alpha stage has a purpose. As I said Im sure there is stuff to do.

And from what Im reading a lot of them require the editor

The main purpose of the Alpha is mainly to test out the infantry gameplay element and stability.

Thing is Arma has quite a developed mission making and modding community who have already put out several SP and MP missions as well as small mod's.

The catch is, if you want to have fun playing Arma, you need to find a good group to play with, due to the fact that most public servers are full of people with 0 intention of team play.

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It's indeed just an Alpha, the content you are seeing now is just 15% of the game. You can very easily make missions in the editor too if but you don't like playing with AI then i guess you are out of luck because you should either look for a group to play the game with or play the showcases and make your own missions or play those others have made. The editor is very simple just click the editor button, you will see a map of the island then double click on the map somewhere where you want your player to be now click OK or ENTER then double-click again where you want your allies to be (they are called BlueFor) and again double-click but now change the upper dropdown box to make it enemy (OpFor). You can edit all these things and spawn vehicles, mortars and what not. Mess around a little bit with it it's the only thing you can do at the moment besides multiplayer.

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The purpose of the release is for you to test it out as far as you can and to report on serious issues. Gameplay is not the first concern here, only performance and stability.

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Well he did say he joined an MP session but only had a pistol....sounds like Wasteland mission. You could also go online and try some Coop missions or other types of PvP missions like Blitzkrieg. Sometimes people are aspergers weird and the server is silent but when you have agood group of people relaying comms and using group tactics its great.

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Hoping that you're not trolling :)

I bought this today. And for the love of god I dont understand what this game is for.

So whats left is multiplayer. I joined up a server, with only a pistol, no objectives or if there was one there was nobody

doing it. I cant tell where anybody is or I see nobody talking on the chat. Hell I presume thats because they cant find the button

to activate normal chat text rather then voice. I still havent lol.

Try browsing through the options/controls. That's what I always do when I get a new game, gives you insight into what's there.

Furthermore, someone mentioned armaholic - good place to see what kind of missions and game modes exist, but then again, it's a lot to take in.

Am I just supposed to join servers, run 1km to an objective, sort of sit there defending it?

I dunno

Sometimes, yes. IMO, best gameplay to be had in ARMA is with a bunch of like minded players, in an organized match or mission or whatever you wanna call it.

Can you list a few games that you liked and enjoyed, might help us to see where you're coming from, so to speak, and help you make the transition :D (if that turns out to be what you want)

So how do I get into GTA mode where I can just explore the whole island without a team, scavaging supplies

to stay alive and occasionally running into enemies?

That'd be the Wasteland mission (in the server browser filter mission name for "wasteland"), but since A3 is so fresh, the mission isn't ported completely from A2. Still, you could get a feel for it.

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This Video will get your settings on track. If you listen to Sidestrafe, then you'll do alright.

Wow! Thank-you! That video was hugely helpful to me, not so much for the video settings (which was informative, don't get me wrong, but the default was working fine for me), but for a way to enter the game and experiment with the controls. When I tried to play it, the game would continue even when I had the map or inventory open, so I couldn't take my time and learn what did what.

I'd already found Dslyecxi's videos, which were also very helpful, but SideStrafe is really a life-saver with that one. Thanks!

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Merged two very similar threads together, it goes without saying the Arma series can be a little brutal for new people and especially those brave enough to move away from the arcade corridor bunny hop type shooter, welcome to the fold!

lol ?

Unhelpful replies like that are really unnecessary, we were all new once and nobody can deny that Arma's UI/controls etc aren't a little daunting. Please show some compassion and either reply with helpful answers or just ignore the thread and move on :)

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Thanks, all. As it turns out, this video from SideStrafe is what I really needed:

The information on video settings is interesting, but what I really needed was shown at the start of that video, a way to enter the empty game world just to experiment with the controls. Before, the game wouldn't even pause when I had the map open, or my inventory. And since there are a million different commands, it was really hard to see what each of them did.

It didn't even occur to me to try the editor, since I figured that was advanced stuff, and I just wanted to learn how to play the game. This will make a big difference!

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Merged another almost identically themed thread together.

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I need some help I wasnt much of a fan of the Arma series untill now mostly because my knowledge of it well... Lets say was lacking

Now when I play Arma 3 Im overwhelmed by how much stuff I need to do and remember, hell I still dont know how to switch to a grenade launcher or how to switch to the

red dot sight on top of the other sight (Which I cant remember its name) I literally spent 3 hours yesterday going over the Field manual trying to figure out how to take off in an AH9 (Which worked... Q) any chance anyone can teach me the basics maybe make a video (The videos I found on youtube were no help)

It might be from the fact that this is alpha and most of the tutorials and "Showcases" are not much help even with the Hints that pop out in them or maybe its just my own incompetence (Probably) Any ways any help that can be provided will be much obliged.

Suggestions! Portable motars! Im not talking 120mm or something like that but maybe 85mm or maybe just maybe 100mm

I realize it will probably be heavy so what I thought of was lets say "A small unit attacks an outpost and takes it over than 2 or 3 people had motars with them deploy them while

other people that carried the shells for them start loading them up and they start shelling an enemy base for another Task force"

Since the motars will probably be too heavy to carry shells aswell team work is a must the motar can be placed in the Launcher slot

and deployed it will work like a vehicle you press 'space' or what ever activate key you have it set to and get into position in that you can adjust the aim according to markers or scouts that someone els placed while another guy will load shells it will not work the same he activates the loading symbol gets a little animation than backs up and out no vehicle thing. I know theres artillery and a motar vehicle but they are harder to hide from attack helicopters and such while a small force can easily conseal 2-3 motars also Infantry can just pack up and leave no problem if they are spotted and dissapear again plus it can get to more awkward positions which vehicles cant get to. Just a suggestion I dont expect it to get used or anything or maybe its already in and I just dont know it yet. It wont surprise me.

Give me your honest opinion and please go easy on me...

And appearntly they put my post here....

Edited by Yairweinberg
Bohemia...

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to switch to grenade launcher: press F multiple time (it cycles between semi/burst/auto/grenade_Launcher (if the gun have any of those mode)

to switch between red dot sight and the other one, press left ctrl+right mouse button.

Also, you can throw grenades by pressing G. If you have smokes, you can select them by pressing left ctrl+G, then press G to throw them.

I hope this help.

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The best advice I can give any new player is to join a Arma community. The level of play is a million times better than any public server. Also, little to no lag. I dont even remember the last time I played on a public server.

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So what communities can I join?

How can I load up missions and play them with a friend?

How do you use the mission editor?

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So what communities can I join?
Here's one of (if not) the most famous example(s).
How can I load up missions and play them with a friend?
If you intend to host a mission, then run your game with the '-server' command line option to force the game .exe into server mode. If you mean playing on someone else's server, then you and your friend should both pick the same server (hosted by someone else) and have any required addons ("mods") loaded.
How do you use the mission editor?
's the beginning of one series teaching the Editor, with
being episode one.

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Same here. I played Dayz a little. Didn't like it..

Tried Domination and I loved it.

But Arma 3 at the moment is a disaster for me ! SP I can play on high/very high settings, MP lags on low settings. Even if I join a server with less players and "ok" lag, people just act like dicks there.. The main activity is to TK or destroy ammo boxes. This is no fun at all :(

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How do you enable the console? All I have to do is put that command in and me and my friend could play a mission?

---------- Post added at 12:19 ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 ----------

Here's one of (if not) the most famous example(s).

If you intend to host a mission, then run your game with the '-server' command line option to force the game .exe into server mode. If you mean playing on someone else's server, then you and your friend should both pick the same server (hosted by someone else) and have any required addons ("mods") loaded.

's the beginning of one series teaching the Editor, with
being episode one.

How do you enable the console? All I have to do is put that command in and me and my friend could play a mission?

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I know this is in alpha, so I'm not expecting a tutorial. But I'm struggling to figure out anything. I know it's funny, but I can't even tell who I'm supposed to be shooting and who's on my side. Sometimes, there's a red box around the enemy, but usually not. When I tried that infantry showcase, everyone on my side died very quickly, so I started shooting everyone I saw. But do friendly troops respawn? It really was pretty funny, since I was never sure if I was murdering my own allies.

Depends on the game mode - more commonly once you are dead, there is no respawn. But in high-casualty game modes (eg deathmatch) you can expect to be killed repeatedly and often, and you and your teammates will respawn.

And I can open up the inventory, but... what then? I can't figure out how to do anything there. When I open the inventory from a dead soldier, I can't even figure out how to take anything (not that I know why I'd want to).

You can drag and drop or right-mouse click to take an item. If it is a 1-for-1 replacement (eg rifle for rifle) you will drop your existing one. To take individual items like ammo or grenades, right mouse click and you will notice the count decrease each time - eg 3-2-1 meaning you have taken 1-2-3 of that item. Whenever a white icon (like the inventory or first-aid) appears in the middle of the screen, you can access it by hitting the return key. Often I find I can never get enough frags, so I tend to be a shameless grave robber for grenades from both dead enemies and friendlies. If someone has a better weapon than you, you might want to consider swapping ... don't forget make sure you get the right ammo when you do so.

Also, how do I tell how badly I'm wounded? And what can I do about it? My character sounded like he wasn't feeling very well (either that, or he's a real wimp), but that's all I could tell about it. And, apparently, he can't use a first aid kit on himself. (I don't know how you use it at all.)

You will grunt and moan if you are slightly injured. No medical attention required, but you may be a little slower or tire faster (blurring of screen and hear your heart beating). If you are more seriously injured, you will see a white "ambulance" logo in the middle of the screen. That means open your first aid kit. Don't open your first aid when you are exposed because you are vulnerable. Go to cover or a sheltered spot and press "enter" to treat yourself. If you need dire medical attention, the screen will take on a red hue. You may be able to crawl but most often not walk or hold a weapon steady. You can summon a medic using the communication menu (who may or may not be able to reach you), or use your first aid kit. Often you have a limited number of first aid kit usage. I say "often" or "usually" because mission makers can script or mod just about any outcome in each circumstance.

Finally - for now - could someone explain what those numbers are at the top right of the screen. Yes, I know they have something to do with my weapon and its ammunition, but that's about it. It looks like a lot of information, but most of it doesn't tell me anything. Even when I shift through different weapons (the 'F' key), that doesn't seem to help.

The big number is the number rounds remaining in your current magazine, the small number is the number of mags you have left. The bar in the middle is the fire cycle setting (single, burst or fully automatic), which you can change by pressing the "f" key.

Oh, one more thing: Is there a crouch command? I can figure out how to lie down and how to stand up, but nothing in between. When I'm lying down, I can't see anything but grass. When I stand up, I tend to get shot. :) But maybe crouch isn't implemented yet? There wasn't a key listed in the commands. No problem, if so.

Z is prone, X is crouch, V is stand. Press Z twice and you stand up (I think - that is new to Arma 2). Pressing "shift" and uparrow/larrow/rarrow/downarrowmakes you crawl, run crouched and run standing up faster.

Yeah, I haven't played any of the other Arma games, because I'm really bad at this stuff. (I've set the difficulty to "Recruit," and I'll probably never change that.) But these things might get me started. Thanks.

Don't worry ... after a lot of dying, you will start to get it.

Edited by MissionCreep

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Ive watched it but I dont really find the game what the video says it is. It says its a military sandbox. Ok fair enough.

So how do I get into GTA mode where I can just explore the whole island without a team, scavaging supplies

to stay alive and occasionally running into enemies?

Hey SzymonS92, if you haven't already, try this. It's a dynamic mission with some scattered obj's to clear. Good for getting to know the game, exploring and randomly coming up against enemies. It's called 'Whole lotta Stratis' by Saok

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?147768-SP-MP-Dynamic-Whole-Map-ArmA3-Missions-by-SaOk&highlight=lotta

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...I see you have some stuff called showcase which I assume are simple missions to show what the editor

can do and what you can do yourself. I scratched that off my list of to do things because I dont like playing with

or against AI...

...So how do I get into GTA mode where I can just explore the whole island without a team, scavaging supplies

to stay alive and occasionally running into enemies?

I'm not sure how this works: surely "GTA mode" is playing against AI?

Anyway, if you're still struggling to see the point of ArmA (or if you're someone else reading the thread who's struggling to see the point), my two suggestions are:

  • Do play through the Infantry showcase, at least once. If you want, you can pretty much ignore your team-mates and blast away at the enemy. It's a decent introduction to movement, cover, and combat. The mission may not be up your alley, but it does do a good job of demonstrating the basic mechanics of the game (which is why it's a showcase, I guess).
  • Give MP another chance. As mentioned above, all MP servers are just running on normal clients right now (no dedicated server exe has been released yet), so performance will suck (which goes a long way to explaining many of the "OMG Arma is teh suXX0rz" threads around). That said, there are servers around which are quite playable. Try different mission types.
    • The one mentioned in your post is "Wasteland", where you spawn with only a pistol. It's about the closest to GTA mode that you're going to get in ArmA. Wander around, pick up vehicles and weapons which are scattered around, and either team up (playing as BLUFOR or OPFOR) or go solo (as Independent) and blast some doods.
    • There are some Team Deathmatch servers around with a miniscule play area around Agia Marina. It's a bit too BF3 for me to want to play it too long (frankly I think BF3 is better for that style of gameplay), but it's good if you want some non-stop shooty action while getting to grips with the controls and target recognition.
    • There's another mode (I forget the name - maybe Blitzkrieg?), which is a sort of staggered Capture the Flag. It's good for a medium-paced game which encourages teamwork in a moderate but not artificially-limited play area.

...Armaholic's a good place to look for new ones to download too.

Armaholic can be a bit intimidating and confusing if you don't know what you're looking for. I haven't tried the forums lately, I guess there's a bit of an influx of new players with the Alpha release - I wonder how that community's taking it? Hopefully they've set up an "Arma for noobs" section and are giving people a bit of guidance (I expect so).

Any ways any help that can be provided will be much obliged...

Suggestions! Portable motars!...

Actually, that's not a ridiculous idea at all: portable mortars were implemented in ArmA2 (definitely in PMC, at least). I expect they'll make an appearance in A3 as well, so you can rest easy.

And as for ways to get into the game: if the videos posted earlier in this thread are no help, you can try looking at Dslyecxi's videos (some are HERE), or watch the Arma3Official twitter feed. They've been linking to some good guides.

---------- Post added at 07:18 ---------- Previous post was at 07:14 ----------

Z is prone, X is crouch, V is stand.

Actually, V is "Vault". You can climb over low obstacles with it. Once you're done, you will be left standing up.

Z toggles prone and X toggles crouch. Best way to work it out is to fire up the editor, double-click (you'll automagically place a Rifleman which you will play as) anywhere on land, then click Preview. You'll be alone on the island. Then go to 3rd-person view (Num-Enter) and mash the Z, X, and V keys. Shouldn't take long for it to click.

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How do you enable the console? All I have to do is put that command in and me and my friend could play a mission?

---------- Post added at 12:19 ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 ----------

How do you enable the console? All I have to do is put that command in and me and my friend could play a mission?

Disregard that -server and console stuff for the time being, you can host a multiplayer game from your server browser (MAIN MENU, click PLAY, click MULTIPLAYER) within the game, just click NEW in the bottom left.

Then you'll be taken to the next screen where you enter the name of your server (that's what your friend will need to find in his server browser), then select INTERNET for the HOST option, leave the PORT as it is, set up MAX. PLAYERS to your liking and optionally enter a PASSWORD that your friend will need to enter to join the server.

Next screen lets you choose the mission you want to play and the difficulty. You can choose from 4 preset difficulty settings, each of which you can tweak back in (MAIN MENU - OPTIONS - GAME - DIFFICULTY).

When you choose a mission and hit PLAY, your server will initialize and your friend will be able to join. Then you both pick slots, click OK and have fun.

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