Altis - Info & Discussion

[Smurf 12]

Is Altis complete or we might see minor adjustments\additions like the ones were made on Stratis (most notable: Kamino Firing Range)?

[KingoftheSandbox 10]

I allready love ALTIS. The performance is awesome, even in the large villages in the east and drops NEVER under 30 FPS for me with Very Hight till Ultra settings. my system: i52500k & GTX 570 (NO OC)

I really hope we get the civilian modules till release!

[teaboy 11]

Is Altis complete or we might see minor adjustments\additions like the ones were made on Stratis (most notable: Kamino Firing Range)?

I don't think it is complete, i noticed in one of the first videos released for Arma 3 where they are helo jumping, that you could see a clearly built stadium, which seems to not be on Altis at the moment, and is just a construction site for the stadium.

Take a look at 1:00 in this video, to see the completed stadium:

[Ekko 1]

Let me say first, Altis is damn beautiful, details such as scattered rocks on fields is a nice touch to the immersion. The lack of decent midrange-textures however ruin it when flying and when looking at hills, but this might just change...

Whats bothering me though is a big problem we have always had: Town stuttering and low town fps... Its usually down to about 40 with me on ultra when I hang around in any settlement, and it doesn't change much when lowering the settings( the exception being turning down distance and object, but I want to be able to see at least 3km and 1.5km of objects). This issue bothers me alot when wanting to make missions in towns, villages and cities, and just ruins the whole freedom for me. So why is it that the community-created Arma 2 city-map Fallujah is easier to run than a smaller settlement on Altis or Chernarus? Some obvious conclusions could be that its because the A1 houses that are used are not so heavy to render since they are not all enterable, but when the big city has more than 3000 buildings compared to a village with 50 houses, and the latter stutters and lags more, then something is a bit wrong... in my opinion at least( then again there is a big difference in size of the entire maps...).

[Sniperwolf572 758]

I don't think it is complete, i noticed in one of the first videos released for Arma 3 where they are helo jumping, that you could see a clearly built stadium, which seems to not be on Altis at the moment, and is just a construction site for the stadium.

Take a look at 1:00 in this video, to see the completed stadium:

Don't expect pre-planned additions or changes to the island, what you see is what you get unless they decide to add more stuff.

I think what you saw there was just the satellite map at the time which had real life data. If you went there on foot, there would be nothing there. While real life stadium itself doesn't look look like anything complex (pitch, track and 2 buildings), I'm sure they just removed it in favor of "let's say it got destroyed" instead of replicating it/making an actual stadium there.

[topas 1]

0-1 FPS and total unplayability on Altis (even with every option disabled or set to low + windowed mode)

Stratis - works like a charm with everything set to high or ultra, stable 30-40 FPS...

Vista 32

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processor 3.2 GHz

4GB RAM

ATI Radeon HD5670 1GB

[Illusion_cz 10]

0-1 FPS and total unplayability on Altis (even with every option disabled or set to low + windowed mode)

Stratis - works like a charm with everything set to high or ultra, stable 30-40 FPS...

Vista 32

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processor 3.2 GHz

4GB RAM

ATI Radeon HD5670 1GB

Just go and read this thread mate: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?162402-1-2-FPS-on-Altis-and-60-fps-on-stratis&p=2480793#post2480793

This problem is related to 32bit OS. Bis is already trying to find solution how to fix it.

[sproyd 2]

And this... is why you do soft launches.

Imagine the press if A3 had no public Alpha, no Beta and no Dev branch and it just launched in a couple weeks time. Notwithstanding all the extra bugs it would have had that have been ironed out through the HUGE open alpha and beta, all the gaming press (and prob some regular press) would have had headlines "Arma 3 unplayable" akin to what happened with many games i.e. SimCity etc which adversely affected sales.

[ProfTournesol 956]

And this... is why you do soft launches.

Imagine the press if A3 had no public Alpha, no Beta and no Dev branch and it just launched in a couple weeks time. Notwithstanding all the extra bugs it would have had that have been ironed out through the HUGE open alpha and beta, all the gaming press (and prob some regular press) would have had headlines "Arma 3 unplayable" akin to what happened with many games i.e. SimCity etc which adversely affected sales.

Basically ArmA2 launch. Lesson is learnt.

[maturin 12]

Basically ArmA2 launch. Lesson is learnt.

That was a soft launch... it was only the Germans who got to suffer 1.0! :p

[sproyd 2]

Okay awesome trick. Place a squaddie on top of a windmill hill with loads of multi-coloured smoke. TeamSwitch (U) to him and dump all the smoke. Then teamswitch back and and put on 4x speed (=). Watch the smoke get blown around and the windmills rotate in the direction of the wind. :) cool

[call_911 10]

And this... is why you do soft launches.

Imagine the press if A3 had no public Alpha, no Beta and no Dev branch and it just launched in a couple weeks time. Notwithstanding all the extra bugs it would have had that have been ironed out through the HUGE open alpha and beta, all the gaming press (and prob some regular press) would have had headlines "Arma 3 unplayable" akin to what happened with many games i.e. SimCity etc which adversely affected sales.

AMEN very very smart move by Bohemia to do Alpha/beta. I remember how it was early on in early days of ArmA1 an ArmA2 way smoother launch expected. Still plan for issues but overall alot less stressful this time around.

[kupcho 19]

I tried to set up an unmanned (empty) Littlebird to do a bit of site seeing. No EMPTY class available, so I just placed one as NATO as PLAYER.

As it was loading the map, I was greeted by a lot of missing stuff errors. And although it did load, I don't have the airport, solar plant, etc.

AND after flying for a couple of minutes...BSOD!

Anyone else?

[Smurf 12]

I tried to set up an unmanned (empty) Littlebird to do a bit of site seeing. No EMPTY class available, so I just placed one as NATO as PLAYER.

As it was loading the map, I was greeted by a lot of missing stuff errors. And although it did load, I don't have the airport, solar plant, etc.

AND after flying for a couple of minutes...BSOD!

Anyone else?

Do the Steam file check thing (right button => Proprieties => somewhere there)

[smiley_ie 7]

Performance is good getting good FPS its the stuttering thats killing it for me, MP seems to be hit and miss as far as performance :rolleyes:

[Mr. Charles 22]

That was a soft launch... it was only the Germans who got to suffer 1.0! :p

Now we had to suffer 0.5...

:p

[kavoriken 1]

Played a lot of Invade & Annex today and i just love Altis. The variety is just awesome. Every corner of the map has its own feeling, look- and strategy wise.

MP Performance is another thing though. Invade & Annex is of course a pretty heavy map for servers with like 60 players and probably around 100-150 AI spawned at peak, but i just don't understand how the client FPS is still so much bound to the server FPS. In Kavala i got like 20 FPS max with viewdistance and object draw distance both turned down to 1km, and i'd call my machine upper midrange. In the editor i get like solid 60 with 5km viewdistance, maybe 45-50 in Kavala.

There is probably still some optimization that can be done both by BIS and the mission editors, but the MP experience is leaving me with the impression that this game is either ahead of its time regarding hardware usage, or the engine is just not capable of delivering a propper gameplay experience on a map the size of Altis.

Dont get me wrong, i love this game and i don't want it to be dumbed down or have smalle maps, but BIS should seriously invest some time into the core engine and MP code for either Arma IV or possible addons. If a propper gameplay experience can only be delivered by placing few units on a very small area of the map, it feels like you're playing 30 smaller maps in rotation, there is no real sense of big scale war.

[sproyd 2]

Man driving around Altis (rather than Flying) REALLY gives you an appreciation. I was doing 110kph on the main highway for ages and then checked my pos on the map and I covered a tiny fraction and drove through many villages, saw farms, groves, petrol stations etc etc.

Biggest gripe so far is definitely the mid-range textures which really kill the immersion when playing on max settings with everything else looking so good (shadows, AA clouds, close textures, distant textures, lighting, SSAO, ATOC etc).

Secondly, I've got grenade bounce back out of some windows in what looks like a new building. A 2 story delapidated house. Probably the same on other new bdgs.

[becario 1]

How come people in America still speak English when they no longer live in England?

At least wait for the official lore before you start nitpicking.

It's based on the Mediterranean Sea. There are more places apart from Greece that use Greek alphabet... and in Cyprus it is the official language.

I don't think it is complete, i noticed in one of the first videos released for Arma 3 where they are helo jumping, that you could see a clearly built stadium, which seems to not be on Altis at the moment, and is just a construction site for the stadium.

Take a look at 1:00 in this video, to see the completed stadium:

That video is from 2011. Many things changed since then. Maybe they decided that they didn't want a stadium. Though it would be cool to have a full modeled stadium to have some hostage rescue mission there.

[progamer 14]

It's based on the Mediterranean Sea. There are more places apart from Greece that use Greek alphabet... and in Cyprus it is the official language.

That video is from 2011. Many things changed since then. Maybe they decided that they didn't want a stadium. Though it would be cool to have a full modeled stadium to have some hostage rescue mission there.

I hope the stadium makes a comeback even if just an object in the editor.

[XxSheepDoggxX 10]

I also hope they complete interiors of the large church, hospital, and power plant! I love that all the small buildings are enterable but it seems the ones you see from a distance and go wow check it out! (Domes) Its a let down when you see they are only half enterable or not at all..

Found some sort of abandonded WSA to the SE, a mine to the W, some of those power buoys everywhere along with a good bit underwater 3622 9745 -0.70, The underwater ruins still evade me.... FORUM WIDE SEARCH COMMENCE!!!! haha i checked the whole shore last night.. nothing

[barakokula31 10]

I also hope they complete interiors of the large church, hospital, and power plant! I love that all the small buildings are enterable but it seems the ones you see from a distance and go wow check it out! (Domes) Its a let down when you see they are only half enterable or not at all..

The domes are enterable FYI.

[zedderzulu 7]

Loving Altis to bits at the moment. There are a few tiny errors I can see - misplaced road signs, a few structures that either are indestructible or don't leave any sign of rouble when destroyed (Domes for example).

Performance is...mostly okay. Once the computer has process loading the surrounding countryside and/or town, then the rates are quite nice, but I haven't tried it with loads of other AI and it can take a very long time to load stuff and seems to suck up a hell of a lot of RAM, which can cause it to crash quite frequently. Currently have 4GB which I'm looking to update in the coming days, so it will be interesting to compare performance - see what is purely RAM alone.

Have found the underwater ruins, but curious to see whether there are any large shipwrecks anywhere? Anyone found anything? I've found a partially submerged trawler - upright and in one piece - and there is a fishing boat amid the wreckage of one of the power buoy sites, as well as a few wrecked fishing boats in at least one of the harbours.

[Steakslim 1]

anyone notice some of the chicken wire (?) fences have gaps in them? I thought they were broken parts that you can walk through but the player cannot seem to pass through them.

[Koukotsu 2]

I've just noticed that AI soldiers are completely incapable of stepping over the little 3 inch curb at the main airport terminal :icon_lol:

They simply take the long way around and which usually leads them so far away that it eventually triggers their "report position" communication, lol.