Arma 3 - Sneak Preview Livestream

[kavoriken 1]

All i can say so far is... Altis looks AMAZING. It's gonna take ages to see it all. Great job!

[EvEnLeaSe44 0]

Except I really doubt it will be much improved within the month. Sure, there will be some improvements, but I highly doubt it will go from broken to beautifully working within one month if it hasn't for the past several months.

I obviously didn't mean it would be the best most polished game released... but it has obviously improved a LOT since the beginning of the alpha, and they are continuing to improve until release and after.

I'd rather they improve, miss out on a couple vehicles and just have them released after launch... like a birthday present every time they add more content after release in patches!

Not like ANY ArmA game has ever been about the vanilla content in the first place, thanks to mods.

[novahot 1]

All i can say so far is... Altis looks AMAZING. It's gonna take ages to see it all. Great job!

Unamazingly looking is the fact, that this video is shown with low texture quality, which can easily be seen the two times entering the jet and still not running properly. No word on the blurry mid-range textures, multicore usage, low usage of GPU, deployable weapons, firing from vehicles, vehicle interiors etc etc. No word or word on working any of the Top-10 Feedback Tracker. So much time wasted on this since start of the Alpha. #but the guys are nice.

Edited August 10, 2013 by Novahot

[thr0tt 12]

Great stream, will leave comment after I play the full release, a bit daft trying to judge every little piece from a preview and we don't even know specs, settings, etc.

Altis looks amazing, I just hope the frames in the large cities are not 1fps, drones hmmm should be a game changer that, hopefully not everyone picks one up at spawn so theres hundreds flying around in MP games.

[froggyluv 2130]

And this is the face of faces. http://abload.de/thumb/pettkat2lak.jpg

Gasp! Like a real life Devil smiley!!!

:icon_twisted:

[novahot 1]

Gasp! Like a real life Devil smiley!!!

:icon_twisted:

You dig it. :)

[Korneel 115]

Dear BI Devs, this question wasn't fully addressed in the livestream Q&A, you just told me to go see the established list on the website (which yes, technically answers the first part) but what I really want to know is will we see MORE weapons whether in the campaign release DLCs or in future DLCs.

Hi samyG, sorry for the confusion. We addressed the question about DLCs separately in the livestream. For the rest, the questions about additional weapons/vehicles will be detailed further in the next SITREP.

[goldenfiver 11]

Was wondering about the Merkava tank, in real life it can take some infantry soldiers in the back of the tank. Will it be possible in the game?, if it were, would they show it?

[Varanon 892]

Was wondering about the Merkava tank, in real life it can take some infantry soldiers in the back of the tank. Will it be possible in the game?, if it were, would they show it?

It has been confirmed that it will have cargo spaces, yes (and it will have an interior for the passengers... not for the driver/gunner/commander, though, which still is a real shame)

[Flash Thunder 10]

and the whole stream was running at 15 frames per second.... No surprise there.

[Zipper5 74]

and the whole stream was running at 15 frames per second.... No surprise there.

This was a problem we realized in the previous streams as well. The game we were seeing was actually running butter-smooth at 30 FPS and above the entire time, but the streaming program compresses the video file to fit a specified bitrate, and it automatically lowers the framerate of the game capture that is broadcasted to ensure this, if it has to.

We tried to improve it for this one, since we were doing it offline, but it would appear we still didn't set the bitrate high enough. It never had to lower the framerate for the webcam, so that's why it remained smooth while the game appeared choppy in places. Apologies for this. We'll try to fix it for future streams. :)

[novahot 1]

As you mention 30 fps, how is engine tweaking going on? You shouldn't be going for future streams, but for actual performance. Helicopter showcase ... anyone ?

[samyg 3]

Hi samyG, sorry for the confusion. We addressed the question about DLCs separately in the livestream. For the rest, the questions about additional weapons/vehicles will be detailed further in the next SITREP.

Ok, thank you for the reply.

[KingoftheSandbox 10]

Overall you can say that there is not really any surprises in that stream, sadly so are no questions answered for the hardcorecommunity.

On one side im sad because it seems like there are less vehicles and models overall, on the otherside im happy if the release is much more stable.

To the devs:

Civilians and ambient traffic, are they as complex as they were in Arma 2? (same features or dumbed down in any way)/ are there female civilians again?

Will we see a better looking rain system and will it be in the DEV build?

Im looking forward really much to the full release and like the most people, of course to explore Altis with my buddy.

Thanks for the best new sandbox (ever?!)!

[PuFu 4591]

This was a problem we realized in the previous streams as well. The game we were seeing was actually running butter-smooth at 30 FPS and above the entire time, but the streaming program compresses the video file to fit a specified bitrate, and it automatically lowers the framerate of the game capture that is broadcasted to ensure this, if it has to.

We tried to improve it for this one, since we were doing it offline, but it would appear we still didn't set the bitrate high enough. It never had to lower the framerate for the webcam, so that's why it remained smooth while the game appeared choppy in places. Apologies for this. We'll try to fix it for future streams. :)

1. 30fps is not really butter smooth, no matter how often you keep repeating it to yourself.

2. bitrate has, in 99% of the cases, little if anything to do with framerate.

[Zipper5 74]

As you mention 30 fps, how is engine tweaking going on? You shouldn't be going for future streams, but for actual performance. Helicopter showcase ... anyone ?

The capture program was set to capture at 30 FPS, so it locks the game's framerate to that. Just like how Fraps works, for example. Just like any recording you do without a capture card, the framerate isn't going to be as good as it is when not recording. :) Maybe we'll be able to employ better capture solutions for future streams.

[nikiforos 450]

Butter smooth for me is everything above 50fps :) Maybe I have to high standards :)

BTW Altis looks great :) I hope I can visit Altis(Limnos) next month for a short vacation.

[sgt_Savage2003 10]

I have been to the twitch page and cant find the web cast from today. Can some one point me to where I can watch it.

Thanks I found it right after I made the post. Thanks guys.

[novahot 1]

Let me clearify my question. Are you going to work on engine performance? Does it fits to your rec specs? (with recommended auto specs) Within all the concerns your community has regarding the feedback tracker?

Edited August 10, 2013 by Novahot

[nikiforos 450]

[windies 11]

1. 30fps is not really butter smooth, no matter how often you keep repeating it to yourself.

2. bitrate has, in 99% of the cases, little if anything to do with framerate.

^ This.

30fps in ArmA is far from butter-smooth, in fact around 45-60fps is where the game smooth's out and you stop noticing the hitches in animations and the guns since animations and rate of fire are tied to FPS. It's almost impossible to maintain however in any realistic scenario and in the case of the stream you could easily see the FPS dipping far below 30fps because there was a lot of hitching when walking during the beginning, which was not caused by a pre-recorded video.

You also can't blame the encoding bitrate and target frame rate as the cause of the jerkiness in some area's, like when the tanks where firing and all of the vehicles were on screen etc... as it has absolutely nothing to do with the source quality and frame rate.

[Sealife 22]

This was a problem we realized in the previous streams as well. The game we were seeing was actually running butter-smooth at 30 FPS and above the entire time, but the streaming program compresses the video file to fit a specified bitrate, and it automatically lowers the framerate of the game capture that is broadcasted to ensure this, if it has to.

We tried to improve it for this one, since we were doing it offline, but it would appear we still didn't set the bitrate high enough. It never had to lower the framerate for the webcam, so that's why it remained smooth while the game appeared choppy in places. Apologies for this. We'll try to fix it for future streams. :)

Uncanny that it makes th same stuttr i get now without recording anything ,

why make excuses , just say th tuth , w do have lag spiks in the Rv ngine at certain moments , this can b when buildings and such are dawn on mass,When the FSMs of several AI groups get processed , when a pilot makes a sudden turn , when a sound is played that is corded at th wrong bitrate etc etc

To spout this rcording and capturing nonesense doesnt help anybody , it makes people think you wont Optimise the game more in future development and also makes you seem a little hmm Non technical ?

Fact of the matter is this game has and always will have lag spikes however they are usually reduced when the feedback from multiple systems are fed back and thats the top and bottom of it ?

no need for the Bullshit , its not professional at all .

apologi3s or the lack of E s33ms my k3yboard is messing up , mayb3 im r3cording lol

Edited August 10, 2013 by Sealife

[Zipper5 74]

2. bitrate has, in 99% of the cases, little if anything to do with framerate.

When using the program, we specify a bitrate for the uploaded capture that we want it to maintain. This helps keep the stream constant rather than cutting in and out. The program itself then handles a lot of different areas to try and maintain this bitrate, lowering the image quality, audio quality and, as we learned, the framerate, if it deems it necessary.

So, in the areas of the capture deemed too complex by the program, it was lowering the framerate to try and maintain the bitrate. Those experienced with the way Arma handles its changes in performance can perhaps notice, upon close inspection, that the areas in which the framerate drops don't always seem natural.

[windies 11]

When using the program, we specify a bitrate for the uploaded capture that we want it to maintain. This helps keep the stream constant rather than cutting in and out. The program itself then handles a lot of different areas to try and maintain this bitrate, lowering the image quality, audio quality and, as we learned, the framerate, if it deems it necessary.

So, in the areas of the capture deemed too complex by the program, it was lowering the framerate to try and maintain the bitrate. Those experienced with the way Arma handles its changes in performance can perhaps notice, upon close inspection, that the areas in which the framerate drops don't always seem natural.

They seem quite natural to me insofar as what I personally have experienced. You put some units on that map, you get lots of hitching and stutter and poor performance, and I don't even have to stream or record to experience this. It looks to be somewhat worse on Altis which was what I feared.

You can't explain away the obvious performance problems by trying to say it's the stream or the bitrate or encoding.

[PartyHead 10]

From a mission maker/making point of view I really liked what i saw. I just hope that eventually all factions will have at least one jet each. Cant wait