A few Questions from A New Player

[daveallen10 35]

Hi, I'm fairly new to Arma 3 and the Arma series. I've been playing the Alpha for about a week, but I have a few persistent issues/questions that maybe are problems on my end or are just part of the game (in which case, I would provide feedback on)

1) When it is night out, it is difficult for me to see enemy muzzle flashes. I usually only see tracers, but not muzzle flashes. I can see my own muzzle flashes though.

2) At night, it is unnaturally dark--even when i change my gamma/brightness slider up. It seems darker than real life.

3) Are there bullet physics in Arma 3 (drop/wind or both)? I haven't noticed any, but its very hard to tell at long ranges. I have noticed that people are making ridiculously accurate kills at long range even when they are not prone. It seems a little OP in favor of scoped rifles.

4) In normal multiplayer missions/open world games, is there any way to "win" or "lose"? For instance in a cooperative mission, will allied players ever run out of respawns? Or any other win/lose conditions?

5) Has there been any word about "Hardcore" servers or anything? Or have people done that in the past? (specifically, no 3rd person camera, no "eye zoom" with the +/- key, which i find really ridiculous).

6) Shadows seem to be killing my FPS in this game, and animations. I don't have a great GPU, but I turned off shadows and instantly got a boost of 20 fps up from around 10. Are there any ways to optimize shadows manually or reduce draw distance below 50 meters?

Thanks

[EDcase 87]

Hi and welcome Dave,

1) Yes its hard to see muzzle flashes more than a few metres at night. This may change.

2) The date of the mission has an influence because of the moon cycles. Select a date with a full moon. (press 'n' for night vision ;))

3) Bullet drop and speed is quite accurately simulated. (use tracer ammo to see the arc) There is no wind effect currently.

4) Totally dependant on the mission maker. There are no set rules in ARMA. Everything is set in the mission. It can go on forever or have a win/lose situation.

5) There are some hardcore servers but most of them will be private for clans. Public servers are usually on easy mode for new players to get used to it.

(the zoom effect is to simulate your concentration at a specific area since no monitor can currently replicate full eye resolution and Field of View)

6) There are many options that can kill fps. Shadows can be adjusted in quality and distance in settings. It has to be said that this is a more complex game than most so a decent machine is quite important.

Also look at:

Resolution (I play at 1440x960) Still looks good. (personal taste but lower = better fps ;))

Antialiasing [off] or [x4] max

ATOC [off]

PiP [off] (for better fps in vehicles)

HDR Quality [LOW] (set brightness to minimum and it looks almost the same as Standard)

You can also adjust object draw distance in video settings. Its important to set that as low as you can.

Remember that lots of AI (soldiers & vehicles) will slow down your CPU and then lowering graphics will have NO effect on fps.

Best to test graphics settings on an empty map in editor. That will show you absolute max fps. The more AI in a mission the lower the fps and the less influence the graphics settings have.

Edited June 5, 2013 by EDcase

[neokika 62]

2) At night, it is unnaturally dark--even when i change my gamma/brightness slider up. It seems darker than real life.

Well, Arma 3 time of day takes into account many factors including moon phase, quantity of clouds, time of the year, etc.

3) Are there bullet physics in Arma 3 (drop/wind or both)? I haven't noticed any, but its very hard to tell at long ranges. I have noticed that people are making ridiculously accurate kills at long range even when they are not prone. It seems a little OP in favor of scoped rifles.

Surely.

4) In normal multiplayer missions/open world games, is there any way to "win" or "lose"? For instance in a cooperative mission, will allied players ever run out of respawns? Or any other win/lose conditions?

It solely depends on the scenario you are playing, currently all official content has win/lose conditions.

5) Has there been any word about "Hardcore" servers or anything? Or have people done that in the past? (specifically, no 3rd person camera, no "eye zoom" with the +/- key, which i find really ridiculous).

I'm certain there are.

About the "eye zoom" this cannot be disabled, it basically simulates your real field of view.

[daveallen10 35]

Okay, thanks for the answers!