Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead performance problem

[ferroviere 10]

Hello,

I have a problem with playing Arma 2 OA and DayZ.

During the gameplay there is moments when my fps drops down a lot. Usually, on good Arma2 OA/DayZ servers my fps is about 25-40 and I can play fine, but after about 10 minutes of gameplay my fps drops down on about 7-8 fps, its not playable during that period. It lasts about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and gets back to normal fps after that time. And that repeats every 10-15 minutes or less, sometimes.

I tried with killing all the unnecessary processes during the gameplay, but its not helping. I also tried lowering my video options, and setting it on very high, its not helping either.

I had the same problem before and I managed my video options in game and it stopped, for some time. Now its happening again, I`ve done the same thing with video options, but its still happening. And its really annoying during that period od 30 secs to 1 min. It happend to me on any kind of arma servers, Arma 2 OA wasteland, DayZ (all mods), Arma 2 OA singleplayer.

Here are my PC specs(id it can help):

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250 3.0GHz

Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX

Memory: 4GB DDR3

If you know the solution for my problem please help me. Thank you.

[orcinus 121]

For Dayz-related issues, use the Dayz forums - mods will close Dayz-specific threads here.

As far as OA SP goes, does this happen with the vanilla game (i.e., no mods loaded)?

If so:

1. Delete all the text in the arma2OA.rpt file, save (or just delete the file, ArmA will create a new one).

2. Launch the game without mods (check by looking at the "Expansions" menu).

3. Play until you get a freeze. Wait for it to get back to normal, hit "Escape".

4. Open the RPT file. Copy the contents and post them (GO Advanced & paste the text into a spoiler).

5. In another spoiler, post detailed PC specs. Also post the size & location of the swap file (fixed size? system managed? min/max size?).

[ferroviere 10]

It happens in all arma 2 OA mods including vanilla and singleplayer. Doesn`t matter if I am on multiplayer or singleplayer same thing happens every time.

However, I can not locate the arma3OA.rpt file, tried inside steam folder(bought it via Steam), nothing, same in Documents. No .rpt file. If you can tell me where it usually is, then I can try to find it.

I`ve checked CPU usage during this problem happening. Usually, Arma 2 OA uses between 30-45% of my CPU, and when this problem happens it suddenly raise up to 80-92% usage. Does that for 30s - 1 min, and then goes back to 30-40%.

Here are my PC specs:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 3.00 GHz

Motherboard: Asrock

Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800 GT

VRAM: about 2GB

Memory(RAM): 4GB DDR3

Edited July 29, 2013 by ferroviere

[orcinus 121]

It's "arma2OA.RPT", not arma3OA.rpt. No idea where Steam would store it, I have the ArmA X DVD set. Just search your C:\ drive for arma2OA.rpt. When you find the file, make a shortcut to it on your desktop.

[ferroviere 10]

Ok, I`ve found the .rpt file its in AppData. I deleted everything from it. Started vanilla game, singleplayer, played mission until this problem started happening.

Here is the content from .rpt folder:

Cannot find mission ca\missions_ew\campaign\missions\str_ew1.Chernarus\mission.sqm

ErrorMessage: Error in campaign structure

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

== C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead\ArmA2OA.exe

== "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead\ArmA2OA.exe"

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

Exe timestamp: 2013/03/24 17:38:13

Current time: 2013/07/30 16:16:27

Version 1.62.95248

Warning: looped for animation: ca\anims\characters\data\anim\sdr\mov\erc\wlk\non\non\amovpercmwlksnonwnondf.rtm differs (looped now 0)! MoveName: amovpercmstpsnonwnondnon_amovpercmstpsraswpstdnon

Warning: looped for animation: ca\anims\characters\data\anim\sdr\mov\erc\wlk\non\non\amovpercmwlksnonwnondf.rtm differs (looped now 1)! MoveName: amovpercmrunsnonwbindf_rfl

Warning: Unaccessible ladder point for AI (already used for actionend3) in ca\structures_e\housec\house_c_1_dam_ep1.p3d

Warning: Unaccessible ladder point for AI (already used for actionend3) in ca\structures_e\housec\house_c_1_v2_dam_ep1.p3d

Warning: Unaccessible ladder point for AI (already used for actionbegin4) in ca\structures_e\housek\house_k_6_dam_ep1.p3d

Warning: Unaccessible ladder point for AI (already used for actionbegin5) in ca\structures_e\housek\house_k_6_dam_ep1.p3d

Warning: Unaccessible ladder point for AI (already used for actionend4) in ca\structures_e\housek\house_k_6_dam_ep1.p3d

Warning: Unaccessible ladder point for AI (already used for actionend5) in ca\structures_e\housek\house_k_6_dam_ep1.p3d

I strated Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead without any expasions, also without Beta expansion.

You mentioned some swap file, I don`t know what is it, if you can tell me what is it, so I can find it if you need it.

[orcinus 121]

The swap file is what Windows uses to move clocks of code in & out of RAM. AKA "virtual memory". Right click on the "My Computer" icon -> "Properties" -> (performance-) "Settings" -> "Advanced" -> Virtual Memory "Change".

Note the settings.

Hmm - IIRC "structures_e" is part of the Expansions/Addons set - aren't these the beta files? - can't check atm as I'm using a different device.

Try the test again but start by double-clicking the arma2OA.exe in the main game directory (notan exe in the Expansions folder).

Also let the game run a little longer after it recovers, a mnute pr two should suffice.

Edit: have you used Steam to verify the gsame installation?

[ferroviere 10]

Ok,

I played the vanilla game, via shortcut that I made during the Steam installation. I`ve got 2 shortcuts Arma 2 OA and Arma 2 OA Beta.

I played the Arma 2 OA, checked the expansions, there was Arma 2, Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead, Arma 2 British Armed forces(Lite), Arma 2 Private Military Company (Lite), and I can`t disable any of these.

'Automatically manage paging file size for all drives' was checked before I took this picture. So when I frist opened it, it was checked.

And yes, as I mentioned before I did verify the installation and bought the game via Steam.

[[frl]myke 14]

Hmmm...sounds like another app or a Windows service is kicking in and eating up resources. Can you confirm that the raised CPU load only is assigned to the ArmA 2 process?

[ferroviere 10]

Myke;2454497']Hmmm...sounds like another app or a Windows service is kicking in and eating up resources. Can you confirm that the raised CPU load only is assigned to the ArmA 2 process?

Sorry for not posting for a while. I`m not at home atm.

Well, I can confirm that. It happens only when I`m in the game. Playing DayZ, wasteland or another multiplayer/singleplayer mission. If that is what you mean.

Also, I haven`t mentioned early that I have only Arma 2 Operation arrowhead bought and I use Arma 2 Free. If that could help. As I said before, I have killed all unneccesary processes during the gameplay. Same thing happens again and again.

I tried running multiple processes on my PC. Like, NetBeans IDE, web server and database. Running all that takes about 50-60% of my CPU and it works fine.

This thing only happens with arma.

[orcinus 121]

What was the mission you played? I've looked at many RPTs (mostly my own) and I've never seen those warnings about unaccessible ladder points in the vanilla structure files.

BTW, Eagle Wing first release was buggy - the message at the top of the ROT suggests it may not be up-to-date. Alternatively it might not run on A2 Free (with which I have no experience).

I'm not sure how an OA-A2Free handles mods, I know A2Free does not allow mods.

I'm going to publish a fairly detailed guide to basic troubleshooting in the next week or so which might help.

A bit OT, but it's worth getting A2 retail. The graphics will look so much better in CO.

[ferroviere 10]

It happens with every mission or mod I play.

After disc defraggmentation, CCleaner, deleting unnecessary programs etc. There is only one thing that I haven`t tried. To delete game completely and install it again as soon as I get home.

Thanks for help and quick response.

Maybe if mods can leave the topic alive so when I try this I can post it here, or I can open a new topic.