a few head scratchers, if you please

[Digital_Aura 1]

Me and 2 other friends just bought the Arma alpha and have been enjoying the multiplayer missions very much. We have all experienced some things that leave us wondering if there are problems with some features or whether they are simply not working in the alpha on purpose.

Firstly, none of us can figure out how to ZERO our sights. They are all default to 300m. Page Up/Down is supposed to change this - i would expect it increases and decreases the range showing in the HUD, respectively???? Is this weapon dependent? Page Up /Down does nothing.

Secondly, does choosing a particular class, say medic, negate that soldier from being able to use longe range scopes? we try to arm certain components to our rifles and yet sometimes the right click button does nothing other than deplete the item from the crate. (we can grab the item like a scope, but it simply disappears into the nether).

Thirdly, in the editor, is the Timer/Countdown feature broken or even functional? We've figured out the waypoints and triggers, but COUNTDOWN and TIMER does not seem to work. Can someone shed light on it's proper use? (yes, we've scoured all the Youtube tutorials to no avail).

Fourthly, the range finder. Is this also dependent on the scope used? We've been resorting to scrolling down while scoped to bring up the action menu which also brings up a range finder, but this is clunky and not at all what we would expect. The range finder should be a tool like the compass or GPS - perhaps we haven't found the right scope?

And lastly, is there a way to mark enemies on screen for your squadmates? (In the single player the leader can mark enemies, but we haven't figured out how it's done in multiplayer).

Thanks!

[Kaijev 1]

Except for the last line (and possibly the range-finder, I don't quite understand what you mean.. you can't use a compass while using a scope IRL lol), those would be bugs. The zeroing issue is already on the bug tracker (http://feedback.arma3.com/view_all_bug_page.php), but you might wanna add the ones that aren't there.

The "marking enemies" in SP doesn't carry over into MP. BIS intend it to be that way - you rely on communication to work as a team, and a floating triangle above an enemies head (or whatever the shape is) kind of detracts from the atmosphere. If it's something you feel you need/would like to use though, you can always make/find a script that you and your friends can use for coop sessions. :)

[pundra 8]

I can answer a couple of those.

Regarding the sights, some of them can't be zeroed. Pretty much any optics you attach to the gun can't be changed, but grenade launcher and iron sites can be adjusted with page up and page down. I don't know if this is just an alpha thing of if it'll be added later on.

As far as classes, I don't think they restrict any weapon attachments. They do, however, restrict the usage of medkits (only medics), and repair kits (only repair specialists). There may be other restrictions I don't know of. I usually play as the medic class and I always use the ARCO.

TIMEOUT makes it so that the trigger's conditions have to be met for that amount of time, while COUNTDOWN makes it so that it waits that amount of time after conditions are met before activating. For example, if you had a trigger set to display a hint saying "Hello world," after a COUNTDOWN of 10 seconds, the car could pass through the trigger and ten seconds later the hint would pop up. If it was set to TIMEOUT, the car would need to stay within the trigger for 10 seconds for the hint to appear.

I don't know about the rangefinder, however I'm pretty sure the squad/team leader can mark enemies for those in their group by aiming at the enemy and then issuing an attack order (hold down "~", scroll to attack, middle click/spacebar/enter). On higher difficulties this function is disabled.

[RuecanOnRails 10]

The rangefinder is a separate object that takes up the position of the binoculars. you use it the same way you would use binoculars.

Scrolling and having it tell you the range, is not part of the rangefinder. That is controlled via the difficulty of the game.

To mark an enemy you must be a squad leader and tell one of your members to attack, as Pundra stated. You can select as many people in your squad or as few but right now as far as I know, it relies on heirachy chain of command. The squad leader can only create those markers using an unmodded and no scripts running.

Most of the current scopes and weapons do not have zeroing capabilities, wait until more weapons are added to have the ability to zero with different scopes. The scopes that don't zero usually have mill dots to help in shooting at distance.

I don't think soldier class limit what can be equipped, rather the starting equipment. You can always change what the player starts with using in the editor.

[Digital_Aura 1]

ahh, thanks guys. That does clear things up indeed. Marking enemies is rather BF3ish and we appreciate the realism of ArmaIII and not having these weird triangular markers above their heads.

Pundra, the countdown and timer are working for you? I have tried to use them to trigger various events like incoming fireteams after one minute but haven't been successful. I just wanted to verify that it was working for others.

[pundra 8]

Yeah, the countdown and timeout functions work just fine for me.

[viper[cww] 14]

Weapon customisations should never really be attached using right click, that feature only benefits if you have already left click and dragged an item into place, a magazine into a pouch/bag for example. You must first left click drag, and then right click as many times as you want to add to that (think right click as a topping up feature).

So saying that you should only left click drag a weapon scope/suppressor/IR Laser/Flashlight for it to attach to the weapon, otherwise it'll be gone in the wind, even though the weight has bee added to your total weight.

[Digital_Aura 1]

;2367269']Weapon customisations should never really be attached using right click' date=' that feature only benefits if you have already left click and dragged an item into place, a magazine into a pouch/bag for example. You must first left click drag, and then right click as many times as you want to add to that (think right click as a topping up feature).

So saying that you should only left click drag a weapon scope/suppressor/IR Laser/Flashlight for it to attach to the weapon, otherwise it'll be gone in the wind, even though the weight has bee added to your total weight.[/quote']

YES! thanks I see this now. Very odd behaviour though, wouldn't you say? I mean right click for some things and not for others? Not very intuitive.

[viper[cww] 14]

True, it wasn't very intuitive to start with, I happened across the right click feature by mistake. But in all honesty I think it's a great system and a massive improvement over the previous system.

[Digital_Aura 1]

Can someone tell me why I can't add a back pack to my character? I noticed today that my automatic rifleman (private probably, if rank matters) was able to wear a Light carrier belt (or something in the middle uniform slot) but couldn't equip any back packs ?????

The slot was empty on the right. I did try the drag and drop but nothing worked. What's the catch? This is what I mean by unintuitive restrictions. I get the medic is the only one can carry a med kit or a sniper can carry a range belt only, but rifleman??

[accapella 1]

What?

Any unit can carry any gear item as far as I know, as long as your overall load doesn't exceed the maximum.

[icewindo 29]

ahh, thanks guys. That does clear things up indeed. Marking enemies is rather BF3ish and we appreciate the realism of ArmaIII and not having these weird triangular markers above their heads.

Depending on the difficulty setting you can mark enemies also in MP with rightclick or rightclick hold (I always use rightclick hold so dunno if just rightclick is enough) while e.g. you see them in a scope or binocular.

This has been around since Operation Flashpoint and will make them appear at the map - I use it to tell friend or foe on large distance sniping in MP when the server has the advanced map settings on. If it's not, some people may be unlucky ;) .

[Digital_Aura 1]

so how do I add a backpack from the crate to my character. I see a slot for the backpack but cannot drag any of the backpacks onto my character slot

[viper[cww] 14]

What character are you using, I'll see if I can reproduce your bug.

[Digital_Aura 1]

;2368354']What character are you using' date=' I'll see if I can reproduce your bug.[/quote']

Well, I usually take Marksman, but the other two guys I play with regularly are having the same problem with their classes too. Mind you, I don't know how to reproduce it myself because it works fine on some servers and not at all on other servers. But for example, in a self created mission using the editor we cannot figure out how to arm back packs on private ranked characters of any loadout class.

[delta99 34]

YES! thanks I see this now. Very odd behaviour though, wouldn't you say? I mean right click for some things and not for others? Not very intuitive.

right click works for everything and adds or removes items from your inventory. It is separate from attaching an item to a weapon

[Jex 1]

ahh, thanks guys. That does clear things up indeed. Marking enemies is rather BF3ish and we appreciate the realism of ArmaIII and not having these weird triangular markers above their heads.

Pundra, the countdown and timer are working for you? I have tried to use them to trigger various events like incoming fireteams after one minute but haven't been successful. I just wanted to verify that it was working for others.

Red Orchestra 2 does this very well in that it creates a faint red circle over the area you are pointing for a few seconds so people can see where you are trying to direct them and your character yells out "enemy infantry" or something.

[10t 12]

Can someone tell me why I can't add a back pack to my character?...

There'a a (no-doubt known, but I haven't checked the tracker) bug where you need to drag some things from CRATE to GROUND, and then drag from GROUND to your inventory. I haven't had a case yet where that workaround didn't work.