Is it worth buying?

[Joe98 90]

Arma2 is a game.

Operation Arrowhead is mod to Arma2

BAF is a mod to Arma2.

PMC is a mod to Arma2.

ACR is a mod to Arma2.

All the above can be installed together in one install.

===================================================

Iron Front is a mod of Arma2. It cannot be installed together with Arma2. MAJOR MISTAKE!!!

It is a stand alone game. MAJOR MISTAKE !!!

===================================

If Iron Front could be installed together with A2, then it would receive much praise.

.

---------- Post added at 11:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 PM ----------

Iron Front does not need mods. It is itself a mod.

[ProfTournesol 956]

Arma2 is a game.

Operation Arrowhead is mod to Arma2

BAF is a mod to Arma2.

PMC is a mod to Arma2.

ACR is a mod to Arma2.

All the above can be installed together in one install.

===================================================

Iron Front is a mod of Arma2. It cannot be installed together with Arma2. MAJOR MISTAKE!!!

It is a stand alone game. MAJOR MISTAKE !!!

===================================

If Iron Front could be installed together with A2, then it would receive much praise.

.

---------- Post added at 11:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:15 PM ----------

Iron Front does not need mods. It is itself a mod.

Yep, i do agree with this. IF would have been a nice ArmA2 DLC.

[NoRailgunner 0]

Simple: A2 is standalone, OA is standalone and BAF + PMC = RFT is standalone too - all of them are set in modern time/war and made by BIS. IF is build on A2 engine by AWAR because they wanted to make and sell a WW2 game on their own. If they didn't want to make profit they would have made a Libmod for A2OA. Money makes evil... ;)

[scrim 1]

I think they would've made plenty more if they'd gotten an agreement to make it as a DLC to Arma.

[Gunter Severloh 3949]

Iron Front is a mod of Arma2

Correction it is not as its DeepSilvers, Arma2 engine is licensed to DS/Awar, so it is not BIS's.

Iron Front does not need mods. It is itself a mod.

It is a mod, but then it is not, as there is no one to add content and or fix it, and modding is prevented from doing so.

Being standalone game as it is setup that way it is not a mod in its that respects, but wanting mods for the game is basically asking for new content for it,

which wont happen from the official aspect, Awar is gone, DS dont care, they were only in it for the money.

If they didn't want to make profit they would have made a Libmod for A2OA.

They did at the start.

I think they would've made plenty more if they'd gotten an agreement to make it as a DLC to Arma.

Yes same here, but then they would have made more money if modding was open freely like with BIS games.

Open modding would have made them even more money just look at Arma2CO and all the mods made for it, would you still be playing if there were no mods?

or no modding possible? I'm sure with the editor alot of folks would still play, but with no modding allowed the game would dwindled down to what IF is currently,

a small community that just makes missions, and plays in coop groups, and some other small misc.

It still boggles my mind on how stupid this is.

Here sits a game that still has huge potential, still can be modded, refined (patched/fixed) and you got the wrong people in control of it, you guys are f**king Morons!

I think average players have more sense then the folks with the money, just like the government, you give them money for something and they screw it up.

I just love how they handled the whole situation, slowly we will dissapear and let the community figure it out that the game is dead, you guys make me sick,

you guys didn't have enough balls to come out and say anything, maybe i should side with the negative bunch.

My close friend was right, when him and I had our WW2 clan, and then realism unit, he said that to many people with their hands

in the pot will end in disaster, and sure enough look where IF went! You have 2 classes of people in this situation the folks that care about money

who have their hands on the steering wheel, and those that make the content, well guess what the car is in ditch!

Rule of thumb is, to work with like minded people that have the same passion and interest as you, or you get conflict of interests.

You should have let the community decide, I bet all you guys would have been rolling in the dough if you got feedback and support from the community,

we're the ones that care about the game, all you care about is your stupid return.

Apparently they forgot the number one rule in business, the customer is always right.

A great example of this is what BIS has done with Arma3, put out an Alpha, get the communities feedback and reports, and allow open modding

right off the bat, thats how it should have been done for IF, how it should be done with all games. My hats off to BIS!!

Edited April 19, 2013 by Gnter Severloh

[Li0n 10]

My hats off to BIS!!

You take your hats off to people that, as engine owners, forbidded modding in IF?) Didn`t you read explanation about modding posted long time ago on ironfront forums?)

http://forum.iron-front.com/showthread.php?358-Iron-Front-Liberation-1944-Modding-possibilities-Announcement

There has been a misunderstanding on our side until very recently about our agreement with Bohemia Interactive on the possibilities and limitations.

Modded was disabled in IF by contract from BIS side. And if BIS would want to allow it - they could freely do it for fans (even without changing the agreement), but it seems they decided not to do it.

[OMAC 254]

Can this be taken to mean the paid alpha will at some point finally be finished into a proper releaseworthy version after all this time? Iron Front Liberation 1944 at least received support with the last V1.05 release being quite decent in most respects.

Excellent question. I've been wondering the same thing for a long time. Not a single =status_id&op[status_id]=o&f[]=cf_29&op[cf_29]=%3D&v[cf_29][]=ACR&f[]=&c[]=tracker&c[]=status&c[]=priority&c[]=subject&c[]=author&c[]=assigned_to&c[]=updated_on&c[]=category&c[]=fixed_version&c[]=votes_value&group_by="]issue has been fixed in over 7 months. Talk about a waste of assets. And what about the Hinds patch that was first mentioned back in 2011?

[Dwarden 1124]

@sander @omac @li0n

there're lot of things which can't be revealed ~ IF case

so I can't correct your wrong assumptions (or do you think w/o us you would see IF engine fixes?)

ACR patch is on hold as all the staff works on A3, tho it most likely comes alongside 1.63 OA (whenever that happens)

while quite lot of the bugs were fixed for the ACR patch, not all are in yet nor QAed, hence the on-hold state

content TOH: HINDS patch is unknown to me, afaik HINDS 1.01 were mainly string fixes and install tweaks

TOH 1.07 (6th patch) same, it might happen one day but atm. not priority

[tay-uk 13]

Dwarden -

there're lot of things which can't be revealed

Alot of things? correction, nothing at all has been revealed

Dwarden -

(or do you think w/o us you would see IF engine fixes?)

Are you talking in the past tense? or is there a possibility of continued development of IF as a game?

[Gunter Severloh 3949]

Its only going to get better real soon! ;)

Edited April 25, 2013 by Gnter Severloh

[tay-uk 13]

Its only going to get better real soon! ;)

[Strelok 10]

Alright, so I've finally gotten into Arma2 after several years thanks to the amazing CWR2 mod, brings back the glory of OFP in a way I never expected. I'm really interested in the WW2 setting IF offers though. First of all, I don't care at all about MP, I just want to know more about the SP campaigns. Some have said they are pretty good, close to the quality of CWC/Resistance, but buggy. Are there many mission breaking bugs or is it only one or two missions that don't end properly? Do the campaigns create a sense of atmosphere like the OFP/Resistance campaigns? Also, is performance about the same as ARMA2 OA? Thanks in advance.

[Joe98 90]

Yes the performance is about the same as Arma2.

I have not tried the campaigns. There are lots of single player missions made by various players. Thats where I play.

[OMAC 254]

In terms of atmosphere and "look and feel," IF is unparalleled in its depiction of the desperate battles on the Eastern Front and on Omaha beach during and immediately after D-Day. After playing for several hours, you feel like you have to take a shower to wash off the gun oil, trench dirt, and blood. The campaigns have bugs, but should be played regardless because of their complexity, creative mission design, originality, intense immersion, and high difficulty. Cutscenes are in general very well made and are liberally used throughout the campaigns, enhancing the atmosphere immeasurably.

I played on Veteran (only one user savegame allowed per mission, unlike A2), but the sensible way to play is on Regular, with options tweaked up to Veteran levels in terms of AI skill, HUD, waypoints, etc., but allowing >1 savegame. There are no autosaves in the last ~3 missions of the German campaign, making them EXTREMELY difficult and time consuming on Veteran. But I did it without cheating, and it's worth it.

Russian campaign:

Mission 1, "Scouting" (urban combat in Baranov with very serious time limit), is nearly impossible to finish on Veteran, but it can be done. The mission can be considered bugged, but it can be finished. It will take about 50+ tries on Veteran, as either the time limit will run out or too many Russian squadmates will die, both triggering a fail, and you have no control over either.

Mission 6, "Searching," is of absolutely spectacular, mind-bending difficulty. Feel the fear. Most people will quit the campaign at this point. But it's doable.

Only one mission is so bugged that it won't end, and that's Mission 7, King's Audience, second-to-last mission of Russian campaign. But I fixed that mission and provided a standalone version here. I recommend to play up to that mission in the campaign, then playing my standalone mission 7, then using ENDMISSION to cheat through the official (bugged) mission 7, and continue the campaign. Mission 7 is simply a spectacular mission, so it is worth playing.

Be warned that the Russian campaign ends in a very unspectacular way, with no final cutscenes, wrap-up, or credits. There is little to no character development in the Russian campaign other than in the first training mission, where you meet several squadmates whom you never see again.

German campaign:

Very nice character development and story line exist in the German campaign, and there are a few instances where your choices will result in divergent plot directions (but these are minor in scope, so don't get too excited about them; but they are cool anyway). Mission 4, Night Call, is really a mini-campaign in and of itself, and will take you many, many hours to complete. The desperation and fear in that mission rival that of OFP and CWR2 (almost at "After Montignac" levels), as you are behind enemy lines.

Several very serious bugs exist in Mission 6, Master of the Dagger, in the German campaign. To save you the maddening trouble, follow the advice below. First, if your friend Walter dies before you clear the Supply depot, the cutscene there will never end, requiring reload/restart, so protect him at all costs. Second, you MUST have your squad disembark from vehicles BEFORE the dialog with the sentry at the second Russian checkpoint starts. When the dialog/cutscene with the sentry starts, vehicles are locked automatically and never unlocked, requiring reload of a save. Third, you MUST go through the checkpoint or the rest of the mission is completely bugged and unfinishable. If you avoid the checkpoint, you are still in a setCaptive state and the mission goes haywire.

Mission 7, "Rats of the War," is doable but very difficult, with annoying, invisible insta-death triggers and highly controlled path of attack. You have to do just what the dev wants you to, or else. No autosaves. Brutal. But with a cool ending.

Here are the principal issues from both campaigns. Note that some have been fixed, others most definitely not.

=status_id&op[status_id]=*&f[]=category_id&op[category_id]=%3D&v[category_id][]=943&f[]=&c[]=tracker&c[]=status&c[]=priority&c[]=subject&c[]=author&c[]=assigned_to&c[]=updated_on&c[]=category&c[]=fixed_version&c[]=votes_value&c[]=cf_3&group_by="]Russian campaign bugs

=status_id&op[status_id]=*&f[]=category_id&op[category_id]=%3D&v[category_id][]=944&f[]=&c[]=tracker&c[]=status&c[]=priority&c[]=subject&c[]=author&c[]=assigned_to&c[]=updated_on&c[]=category&c[]=fixed_version&c[]=votes_value&c[]=cf_3&group_by="]German campaign bugs

Edit: the IFL44 bugtracker has been made private, hopefully temporarily, so the above links do not currently work.

DLC:

The D-Day DLC will be the best $10 you have ever spent*. Although the flagship SP scenario, D-Day, is completely bugged and unplayable due to infinite enemy respawns, Wass provided a lite version which is playable and finishable on Veteran, but will take at least 50 tries to do so. Even though enemy respawns have been limited, it is still one of the hardest official missions in the Armaverse. During play, I cursed Wass as an evil man. But still the mission holds a singular place in Arma history. The task names and debriefing need some love.

Another DLC mission, Iron Punch, is also too difficult, with no autosaves, and will take you another 25+ tries on Veteran. But it's still worth it. You won't believe the forces the Germans throw at you. AWAR hates autosaves, but at least I convinced Wass to add them when objectives complete in the first 5-6 missions of the German campaign.

Another DLC mission, Tiger's Might, takes place on the Eastern Front again and is one of the best missions I have ever played, and Tiger Hunt, Firefighters, and Beheading the Command are perfectly designed, not too hard, and simply awesome.

Tech:

Be sure to play using v1.05. Performance is not as good or as stable as Arma 2 or Arma 3, so expect FPS <25 in complex missions with lots of AI using high quality vid settings, but the game is perfectly playable. If you have NVIDIA SLI, use the Arma 2 SLI profile. Be sure to use the one from the latest driver, not necessarily the one posted in that thread.

LOD switching of vegetation is very bad and annoying. Try your best to ignore it. But the terrains are masterfully designed and are some of the best aspects of Iron Front.

Epitaph:

Now to the bad news. The game is dead and will receive no further developer support or patches. But these guys are planning something cool.

Hopefully the above will give you an idea of what you are getting into before you buy.

---------------------------------------

* Not including Arma 2 DLC (which are typically cheaper), or possibly a six-pack of Pilsner Urquell. ;)

Edited May 21, 2013 by OMAC

[sander 14]

The performance is similar to A2/OA, but this depends to some extent on other factors when playing missions. There can be performance hits due to the sheer size and detail of the maps, which as has been noted above are top notch quality, depending on the location. A sizeable village of enterable and destructible buildings is ofcourse harder on a machine than the open fields. The extensive use of scripting and significant amount of units and objects in some scenario's also take a toll.

The campaigns are available in both original languages (Russian and German) and that aids immersion significantly. The German campaign was in my opinion the more interesting and varied, concentrating on the infantry action that is the staple of the series. It also neatly sidesteps some of the qualms one might have about playing a character in the Wehrmacht by making the player a FNG, therefore not yet tainted by the conduct of the preceding campaigns on the Eastern front. The tasks one has to accomplish are varied and there is a decent storyline in the progression of missions.

Aside from the default content one has the mission editor and that can remain a source of enjoyment for a long time to come even despite the end of support by the developers. Luckily the V1.05 version runs pretty well and although there are some niggles about remaining bugs and undocumented features, these are in my opinion not detracting from the overall positive experience of playing the game. It basically does everything A2 can do and has some new tricks to boot, especially in relation to armour simulation. Therefore I can recommend the game regardless of the cessation of further development by the creators.

Regards,

Sander

Edited May 14, 2013 by sander

[OrLoK 20]

Hello there

Green Man Gaming have the dlc for half price, so that's worth picking up if one decides to go for it. I had balked originally, but for 3 quid you cant go wrong.

Rgds

LoK

[Strelok 10]

Thank you all for the extremely helpful information, based on which I will be purchasing this and the DLC. I can certainly put up with some bugs as some of my best times with OFP were with buggy as hell user made campaigns, as long as the atmosphere is there. Gonna reference your post OMAC once I get into the campaign. Thanks again gentlemen.

[Gunter Severloh 3949]

There are lots of single player missions made by various players. Thats where I play.

http://www.missionrepository.com/

I play in the editor myself ;)

Green Man Gaming have the dlc for half price, so that's worth picking up if one decides to go for it.

Yup got it yesterday for $3.39, vs reg price of $9.99 worth the buy!

@Omac, very good post, nice and informative and useful, hope the new guys will find some use and some info from it.

@strelok, dont forget the game has an editor, you can make your own missions, and play them in the editor.

[Strelok 10]

Great, downloading the game and DLC from GMG. With sale price and 20% voucher, total came to less than 9 USD! Being able to use authentic WW2 weapons and armor in the editor is already worth more than that.

[Dajunka 10]

Bought this turd on release and can tell you.....This game is the worst, and I mean the worst game that I have ever bought and I have bought a lot of games. It's laughable really, you can't really call it a game, more like one big frustrating mess.

[OrLoK 20]

Bought this turd on release and can tell you.....This game is the worst, and I mean the worst game that I have ever bought and I have bought a lot of games. It's laughable really, you can't really call it a game, more like one big frustrating mess.

Hello there

Whilst there undeniably some issues with the game as a "stand alone" I think you are being a little harsh. At least give some details why you think it's not all that good.

IMHO it's only limited by its lack of modding ability other than that it's a mini Arma with a ww2 setting.

My main gripe (other than the mod aspect) is the "small" amount of front line vehicles and equipment that are really useable in any mission.

It's a gem, a flawed one but a gem and for under a tenner well worth it.

Rgds

LoK

[Dajunka 10]

Actually, I'm not being harsh, I am being kind. This game is not even in the same country as a gem. It's a buggy mess that burned a lot of people, my regret is that I didn't buy it on steam where I may have got a refund.

I know at the time I was astonished that BI associated themselves with this game, it didn't do them any favors.

The one and only thing I did get from this thing, is a few laughs by the antics caused by the atrocious bugs. :)

[scrim 1]

Seriously, I'd hate to use the term fanboy, but would you people stop recommending this lousy game already just because you've been sticking with it so long? It's lousy for several reasons. One would be that Arma is a series that is almost 100% dependent on its success due to community mods, something that just doesn't exist for IF. It's received lousy support while it was actually alive, and now it's completely dead. There were a bunch of lies comming from the "poor devs" about it for months, including pictures of tanks that never ever materialized, despite having been shown off very early. The trajectories of very many shells are so completely off that the ranging on the cannon sights is almost worthless, and the "realistic" armour penetration is nothing but crap, were tanks like even the Shermans can take several direct hits from Tiger tanks, catch fire, and still keep driving and engaging the Tiger, the front armour of which will be penetrated after 4-5 hits, killing large parts of the crew.

True, it is a flawed gem, but here's the deal: The flawed gems are only valuable because they can be fixed. IF won't be fixed. Modding won't be allowed, it won't be made into a DLC for Arma (which is how it could've made a spectacular success. Wtf were the devs thinking?). Not even the pathetic small support that it once had from the devs will be resumed.

[Gunter Severloh 3949]

@Dajunka

Sorry to hear about your misfortune but some of the bugs really dont bother me as its not game breaking I hardly notice maybe because

im used to them? IDK but you haven't really listed what bugs or issues you have run into that makes you dislike the game.

I know at the time I was astonished that BI associated themselves with this game, it didn't do them any favors.

Iron Front uses their arma2oa engine which as has been said BI supports those games and or companies that use their engine.

You may find it astonishing in terms of the association but as a business its not hurting BI its hurting DeepSilver their the ones who make or lose the sales.

@Scrim

If you knew that the game was and or could be fixed by whomever either the developer (fat chance anymore they moved on) or a mod team or another,

would you report your problems and or issues that you found on the Official IF wiki?

[scrim 1]

Yes, yes I would. However, since modding is essentially not allowed anywhere beyond the cosmetics, there's no point. The game is dead, the only way it'd stand a chance now would be if DS let it go to BIS as an Arma DLC and the devs returned to it. I don't see that happening any time soon.