Sorely Unimpressed with Arma 3's Graphics as they exist in the Alpha.

[zapat 56]

Since world loading is dynamic and most resources go to actually draw the data, I don't think that a larger world will kill performance. High object count territories (like Cherno in Chernarus) may kill though, but this has nothing to do with world size I guess.

And IMHO BIS can only win, whiners can't but this is why they are whiners in the first place. I already feel having won by A3 alpha alone, if you know what I mean. :)

[Agalpaf 1]

Hi everyone, that second picture in the first post is mine. It was rendered with all settings maxed out, at 200%, Sweetfx injecting SMAA, DoF, colour correction, and grain. Other than that, the textures are all the in-game ones. It was more of a benchmark (I run ArmA on my laptop), to see what my max image quality was, seeing how I do virtual photography. Compared to A2, A3:A runs really great at equivalent settings, and tbh, I don't think that graphics are anything to be unimpressed about ^^ http://lefamas.tumblr.com/tagged/arma%203

Edited April 11, 2013 by Agalpaf

[Zupadupazupadude 10]

Looks good!

I think the two biggest issues I see here for the original pre-alpha picture are:

1. The amount of buildings in the distance: the largest town we have right now is of course Agios Efstratios, which is not very large. The town shown in the distance is certainly larger.

2. The trees are very well blended into the ground, which the lack thereof is possibly the biggest factor behind the poor visual fidelity right now, behind the midrange texture issue. As posted before, trees in the alpha tend to look completely unshaded and much lighter than the background. Also, I don't know much about the pine trees, but unless they were modeling a specific, odd looking tree native to the island, the needles don't branch out in the weird circular fashion they do now. It makes them look "billowy", especially at medium range.

However, I do have to say that I'm very impressed by the vegetation at close range, especially grass coverage.

Maybe that's because that pic was taken on Altis?

[Smurf 12]

Maybe that's because that pic was taken on Altis?

He was just poiting out that this make a better composition for the image, better sense of scale.

[Sixgears2 1]

I keep hoping that they don't read the forums as a constant torrent of unimpressed players who think the game is naff, but rather a lot of enthusiastic players who all have suggestions on how to improve. Just in case, however: We love you BI, make us more nice things.

That's all most game forums are these days unfortunately. It must be really disheartening as a dev to see someone outright dismiss your product as "garbage" because it has a few kinks that need to be ironed out.

[nodunit 397]

That's all most game forums are these days unfortunately. It must be really disheartening as a dev to see someone outright dismiss your product as "garbage" because it has a few kinks that need to be ironed out.

I wouldn't say the majority of us think Arma 3 is garbage, there are just some of the same mistakes we wish BI would not make.

Large towns being one, a good idea on paper but not so much when your computer has to render every bit of what you are facing at all times for example, this was a problem in chernarus, made more evident in Operation Arrowhead.

Edited April 11, 2013 by NodUnit

[Sixgears2 1]

I wouldn't say the majority of us think Arma 3 is garbage, there are just some of the same mistakes we wish BI would not make.

Large towns being one, a good idea on paper but not so much when your computer has to render every bit of what you are facing at all times for example, this was a problem in chernarus, made more evident in Operation Arrowhead.

I completely agree with you. In fact, I've made several posts on the same topic. However, there's a huge difference between offering legitimate, reasonable criticism and simply bashing a game or dev studio. The latter is what I take issue with.

[Failberry 10]

That's all most game forums are these days unfortunately. It must be really disheartening as a dev to see someone outright dismiss your product as "garbage" because it has a few kinks that need to be ironed out.

Goddamn you. How dare you say that to me. I love BIS and the fact that this has 88 replies means something. I hate your guts for having the nerve to say that I said that their game was garbage, you slanderous scum. Read my second reply regarding people talking about how this is "just and alpha." and think before you say such an asinine thing to someone willing and loving to purchase their products and talk on their official forums. I have been insulted, and overwhelmed, and as you can tell I haven't been able to reply partially because of your misjudgments. I like graphics, I like gameplay. I LOVE graphics, I LOVE gameplay. Get it? Some people agree that it's nice to talk about, nobody said it was garbage; I didn't say it was garbage. I will forgive you, but you really made me hate you.

BIS I really appreciate the game you've made for us, I will try some tweaking, but I do feel that some of the images don't look as good as your original images. I love communities because you all can correct me, give me advice, but not trash me or others make up slander or tell the devs things that you inferred and that we never said. You, sixgears, are the one who disheartens the devs by doing so. Not me for asking why the image quality looks different. Thank you. I am pleasantly surprised to see the amount of attention my postings brought up.

[Sixgears2 1]

Goddamn you. How dare you say that to me. I love BIS and the fact that this has 88 replies means something. I hate your guts for having the nerve to say that I said that their game was garbage, you slanderous scum. Read my second reply regarding people talking about how this is "just and alpha." and think before you say such an asinine thing to someone willing and loving to purchase their products and talk on their official forums. I have been insulted, and overwhelmed, and as you can tell I haven't been able to reply partially because of your misjudgments. I like graphics, I like gameplay. I LOVE graphics, I LOVE gameplay. Get it? Some people agree that it's nice to talk about, nobody said it was garbage; I didn't say it was garbage. I will forgive you, but you really made me hate you.

BIS I really appreciate the game you've made for us, I will try some tweaking, but I do feel that some of the images don't look as good as your original images. I love communities because you all can correct me, give me advice, but not trash me or others make up slander or tell the devs things that you inferred and that we never said. You, sixgears, are the one who disheartens the devs by doing so. Not me for asking why the image quality looks different. Thank you. I am pleasantly surprised to see the amount of attention my postings brought up.

My post was a generalization and was aimed at no one in particular. I therefore have precisely no idea what your problem is. Maybe it's time to invest in a stress ball, eh?

[Killface 10]

Game look good for me at least and graphic are 600% better than ArmA 2 :)

[Sanguinius 1]

Maybe the OP hasn't tried different weather and time settings? If s/he did, mayhaps you might get a scene rather similar to BIS'.

[seamusgod 1]

I completely agree with you. In fact, I've made several posts on the same topic. However, there's a huge difference between offering legitimate, reasonable criticism and simply bashing a game or dev studio. The latter is what I take issue with.

humans are not machines. i can completely understand why someone who has been a loyal fan since maybe ofp would be pissed off that bis continues to ignore what they perceive to be no brainer issues.

the higher the frustration level, the harder it is to be constructive. especially if it seems that bis is being unresponsive, so it's hard to tell if they're considering some of the popular suggestion(they are not known to be a vocal company in regards to feedback)

[Sixgears2 1]

humans are not machines. i can completely understand why someone who has been a loyal fan since maybe ofp would be pissed off that bis continues to ignore what they perceive to be no brainer issues.

the higher the frustration level, the harder it is to be constructive. especially if it seems that bis is being unresponsive, so it's hard to tell if they're considering some of the popular suggestion(they are not known to be a vocal company in regards to feedback)

A lack of self-discipline or control over one's temper is not a valid excuse for bad behavior. You're more than welcome to be angry, but that doesn't absolve you of basic social expectations like being respectful, not to mention the fact that you catch more flies with honey. :)

[Mattar_Tharkari 10]

Maybe the OP hasn't tried different weather and time settings? If s/he did, mayhaps you might get a scene rather similar to BIS'.

Already suggested it and posted screenshots of the same:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?147389-Arma-3-Photography-No-images-over-100kb-Pictures-only-NO-comments!&p=2369679&viewfull=1#post2369679

There must be something wrong with their Drivers / Hardware?

I don't think many realize that there are 12months/24hr days/0-100% overcast weather settings and the scripted filter and color effects / modules all in game. If you start in the editor and keep the July /14:00 settings you are missing 80% of the visual effects.

Edited April 12, 2013 by Mattar_Tharkari

[Failberry 10]

A lack of self-discipline or control over one's temper is not a valid excuse for bad behavior. You're more than welcome to be angry, but that doesn't absolve you of basic social expectations like being respectful, not to mention the fact that you catch more flies with honey. :)

Understand that I am the topic creator; hence most of the replies and discussions therein are in regard to such topic as identified. I felt the responsibility to read every single post in my own thread in order to get a sense if whether I brought up was legitimate or not.

What you bring to the table, notice your join date and post count, is values and feelings from other communities' games' forums, or; a different topic on the BIS forums. Since obviously people will discuss on many tangents occasionally as the topic gets longer and has more replies; that is acceptable. What is not acceptable is for you to derail my thread and the people talking in this thread about issues that we feel are legitimate.

That is why I will respond abruptly and necessarily to you.

[ak1287 1]

I'm still not seeing how the photo you're exemplifying looks any better; there's really no difference between your first photo and any of the other photos that have been posted.

[Sixgears2 1]

Understand that I am the topic creator; hence most of the replies and discussions therein are in regard to such topic as identified. I felt the responsibility to read every single post in my own thread in order to get a sense if whether I brought up was legitimate or not.

What you bring to the table, notice your join date and post count, is values and feelings from other communities' games' forums, or; a different topic on the BIS forums. Since obviously people will discuss on many tangents occasionally as the topic gets longer and has more replies; that is acceptable. What is not acceptable is for you to derail my thread and the people talking in this thread about issues that we feel are legitimate.

That is why I will respond abruptly and necessarily to you.

Derail your thread? Please. Sharing an opinion about how others are expressing theirs is hardly off topic, especially since it was made in response to another post. It was only a one-off comment until you stared this bizarre flame war over it. If anyone derailed your thread it was you.

Regardless, this isn't your thread; it's the community's. Once you click submit you no longer get to control where the discussion goes. I haven't violated any rules, and you have no right to tell me what I can or cannot remark upon even if you don't like what I have to say.

This weird perception that I'm some kind of threat to you is... rather odd. As I've said before, my post was a general one and was in no way aimed at you or any other specific person. Hell, it wasn't even specifically aimed at the ArmA 3 forums. It was simply an observation I've made about many posts I've seen here and elsewhere on other game forums. You need to calm down and back off.

Edited April 12, 2013 by Sixgears2

[Failberry 10]

I'm still not seeing how the photo you're exemplifying looks any better; there's really no difference between your first photo and any of the other photos that have been posted.

My concern is with the tree and grass and medium overlay, as well the expansive seen in which all of the far away stuff looks so much better. I understand that I can toy now with shading and stuff like that and have already begun to research into that, but the tree's all butt ugly from what I can change in the game's own settings. They look terrible, like these light green-yellow blobs cast against a darker foreground. To bring up arma 2 and I know you hate for me to bring up arma 2, but wow running through a forest was quite something. If you hovered above a forest in a helicopter, the forest and trees looked great at the time as well. In arma 3 the trees simply look gross; there is no forest for the trees (pardon my idiom.) Hovering right above them in a copter, makes them look even worse, and the same can be said when being on one hill looking at a forest of those trees on the other side. Only until you fly really high up and you get to the "high overlay trees" do they start to look realistic and magical like the pictures showcased in BIS's screenshots. I don't just see the blur or the browning in that screen, I see higher fidelity in low to medium to far distances, and the character models even look a bit smoother and higher res.

Now for my general response to everyone reading my reply: Ak1287, this is my answer to your question. This was not me complaining or whining. Why don't these ugly terrible forests in the alpha look not so ugly and terrible in the BIS screen that I have seen?

My drivers are up to date. Could this be an SLI problem? I do suffer from white grass and trees if I don't create a custom arma3 profile in NVidia, and my lod flickering is high and the PIP flickers uncontrollably and is virtually unusable. There currently exists no way to fix the PIP bug. That is a graphical bug that NEEDS to be fixed as that is one of the main graphical features the devs were so proud about implementing in the game for us and that we wanted so sorely. PIP simply doesn't work for some reason, but I'm confident that is an alpha bug. The over graphical fidelity however, is not a bug. It simply is what the game's graphics are. Btw, I'm loving some of those screen you guys have been posting. I hope to achieve the same without use of mods or scripts.

Btw, I'm loving some of those screen you guys have been posting. They are all really cool, and I hope to achieve some cool ones hopefully without the use of mods or scripts. Now guys I have been reading all of your responses, trust me, but I'm a busy guy you know. I checking out all those cool sites and stuff, thanks. I was part of a hardcore arma 2 ACE/ACRE community myself, so I know the community knows what's up. That's why I'm thinking the community knows what's up about the graphics as well ;)

---------- Post added at 06:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:30 PM ----------

Derail your thread? Please. Sharing an opinion about how others are expressing theirs is hardly off topic, especially since it was made in response to another post. It was only a one-off comment until you stared this bizarre flame war over it. If anyone derailed your thread it was you.

Regardless, this isn't your thread; it's the community's. Once you click submit you no longer get to control where the discussion goes. I haven't violated any rules, and you have no right to tell me what I can or cannot remark upon even if you don't like what I have to say.

This weird perception that I'm some kind of threat to you is... rather odd. As I've said before, my post was a general one and was in no way aimed at you or any other specific person. Hell, it wasn't even specifically aimed at the ArmA 3 forums. It was simply an observation I've made about many posts I've seen here and elsewhere on other game forums. You need to calm down and back off.

You aren't a threat to anyone; I'm sorry ;). But nobody said this game was garbage, as I made the topic and I pretty much want to defend the people talking about graphics issues, rather than the ones saying nothing is wrong, but that we are all a bunch of cry babies. I'll defend a response as well from someone saying that there is nothing wrong with the graphics because if they have valid reasons as well. Do you really care about what I want to defend? Be it you, or me, or another poster. Isn't that just my deal, not yours? So dude, do whatever you want, you know you aren't breaking rules, but are you helping anybody?

[ak1287 1]

First, there is no way in hell I can agree about Arma 2's trees, at least not in direct comparison to Arma 3 alpha.

Second, at least half of the screen shots that have been posted here, from in game, look slightly better than the screenshot you grabbed. The other half look way better, EVEN the vegetation. I don't see how that didn't automatically invalidate the point.

[gpha5e 1]

well trees look gross i agree, and it's definitely not your SLI :)

[Sixgears2 1]

@failberry

I have multiple posts in other threads about my issues with the game, so I don't feel the need to make duplicative posts in this one. You can read them if you like. I felt like making a comment and I did so. I'll probably do it again sometime, and your approval or blessing will be the last thing I am concerned about. Better brace yourself now. :)

[Failberry 10]

@failberry

I have multiple posts in other threads about my issues with the game, so I don't feel the need to make duplicative posts in this one. You can read them if you like. I felt like making a comment and I did so. I'll probably do it again sometime, and your approval or blessing will be the last thing I am concerned about. Better brace yourself now. :)

Right back at yah, buddy ;)

[Mattar_Tharkari 10]

My drivers are up to date. Could this be an SLI problem? I do suffer from white grass and trees if I don't create a custom arma3 profile in NVidia, and my lod flickering is high and the PIP flickers uncontrollably and is virtually unusable.

I don't have that and neither does anyone in my squad - one of them plays on an overclocked dual core CPU and a single HD6850 - and does just fine with smaller maps, no flickering lods or missing textures - as said before, it's likely to be a problem with your PC (or the server you play on, a good server is V important). Before you complain make sure it's nothing your end pls. For me and most people I know Arma3 looks like this:

Edited April 12, 2013 by Mattar_Tharkari

[Failberry 10]

I don't have that and neither does anyone in my squad - one of them plays on an overclocked dual core CPU and a single HD6850 - and does just fine with smaller maps, no flickering lods or missing textures - as said before, it's likely to be a problem with your PC (or the server you play on, a good server is V important). Before you complain make sure it's nothing your end pls. For me and most people I know Arma3 looks like this:

PIP is a known problem. It is a well-documented problem. You and your squad mates are very lucky in that regard. For others, however, we have to suffer through unusable PIP flickering. This is a well-known bug. And I have heard from many who own the gtx 690 that they also suffer from PIP flickering/bugs. It's so bad that it makes it unusable. I have well looked into my computer, and no, there is nothing wrong on my end. It's all new hardware, everything checks out, I have made sure of it. The PIP problem is a known bug, and before you criticize someone who uses an NVidia gtx 679 compared to your HD6850, you really make yourself look stupid by saying that my graphics card of a completely different architecture than yours should have no bugs compared to your completely different system. This is the whole point of alpha testing; we aren't dealing with consoles here. Please, other feel free to chime in as I've made other threads where others complained about the PIP flickering bug. Again, my apologies for calling you stupid, I didn't mean stupid, just ignorant.

[Mattar_Tharkari 10]

Nothing but another troll thread....

There is a fix for PIP - works for me:

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?152869-Tutorial-How-to-fix-pip-flickering-sli

Edited April 13, 2013 by Mattar_Tharkari