DVD Version turning into Beta Version ??

[DnA 5028]

Any word on what U.S. Retailers are going to carry ArmA III in stores? I am not seeing any information on where to buy. Of course it's slim pickin's when it comes to PC games in store, now.

Unfortunately Publishing informs me there is no retail deal for the United States - so your options are limited to Store.bistudio.com, Steam or import.

For those installing the game from DVD before 12.09: there is no way to get the actual full game until then. The DVD contains an earlier (incomplete) version of the full content, but it will be down-patched to Beta if you install before 12.09. Of course you're welcome to do so, but it means you'll need to download more data on Thursday.

[dale0404 5]

but it means you'll need to download more data on Thursday.

Quick question, any idea how much extra data going from Beta to release? I am sure some people have capped internet, that's why I am asking.

[maddogx 13]

Quick question, any idea how much extra data going from Beta to release? I am sure some people have capped internet, that's why I am asking.

If you're on the dev branch, then you already have all the sandbox content and the release download should be quite small.

People going from the latest stable build to release will need to download roughly 3.5-4GB, by my estimate.

[mrcash2009 0]

DVD purchase = a physical DVD disc with some content data & a steam key with steam client install. The only benefits would be shops selling it for a lower asking price than steam or other online stores, but you dont circumvent steam by doing so, just might be a cheaper way to get a steam key (effectively).

[Tacti-Cool 10]

The arma series are so great, because they are so open. You can create missions with some clicks, you can get plenty of mods and addons etc. No other game has so much possibilities. )

The game being on steam does not mean Arma 3 does not have any of these features. Its just the way of downloading/patching/launching it.

[Beagle 684]

The main problem with steam simply is that in a lot of regions even in germany and other european countries the bandwith is still low and you only get 100kb/s download rate on a good night when everybody else sleeps.

That's ma main problem with Steam and any other digital distribution plattform. I have just experienced the problem at it fullest with Rise of Flight, installes from DVD but the big updates bring me in big trouble and basicalyl broke the game no because it never got it to perform the intital 2 GB update since sold DVD version is 1.26 and actual is 1.31.

Thats the point, not Digital Distribution itself.

The internet providers stil tell me they cant get better bandwith out of the old lines and I have to wait till at least 2016.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Beagle

[chortles 263]

DVD purchase = a physical DVD disc with some content data & a steam key with steam client install. The only benefits would be shops selling it for a lower asking price than steam or other online stores, but you dont circumvent steam by doing so, just might be a cheaper way to get a steam key (effectively).

This, and (depending when exactly your disc was printed) it can save you from as much of a download.

As for the whole thing about Steam integration and low bandwidth... at this point it's water under the bridge, BI made a conscious decision that getting the game out before the end of 2013 > customer issues with bandwidth and ISPs.

The game being on steam does not mean Arma 3 does not have any of these features. Its just the way of downloading/patching/launching it.

I want to add/emphasize that up until Steam Workshop support was added to Arma 3, mission/mod download, installation and enabling worked the exact same way as in Arma 2, literally only changing directory names from Arma 2 to Arma 3. :)

[darkjedihawkeye 1]

The main problem with steam simply is that in a lot of regions even in germany and other european countries the bandwith is still low and you only get 100kb/s download rate on a good night when everybody else sleeps.

I don't view this as a steam problem at all, its more of a ISP issue in your area, whether you download 2GB from Steam or some other provider, there isn't really a way around the issue.

[Beagle 684]

I don't view this as a steam problem at all, its more of a ISP issue in your area, whether you download 2GB from Steam or some other provider, there isn't really a way around the issue.

In the case of ArmA III its a steam problem, in case of RoF it's a 777 problem but the problem with digital distribution stays...the A2 DLCs with just around 800MB took me hours and several attemps to download so im no even considering to buy anthing bigger via digital distribution.

[myngos211 10]

Ahh, 100kb/s isn't so bad. That's the maximum dl speed for me being rural; receiving my bandwidth/connection via radio waves to/from a tower 15 miles from my locale. I've been on the DEV branch for a month or so and it's been eating my nightly download time but it's worth it. I thought Europe had super high speed cheap internet?

[DnA 5028]

The data download required on release day will differ per person for several reasons (estimates are tricky since the delta-patching Steam uses is mostly a black box to us):

• Digital: if you already have the Beta - the size depends on the difference to main / development branch (latter is the smallest update).
  
• DVD: the game data on the disc is incomplete and outdated. It relies on an update to the release version. However, the disc does contain a snapshot of some of the release data - so this download should be smaller than for those coming from Beta main branch.
  
• DVD: the age of the data on the disc is different per territory. The master was updated for some territories, depending on which distributor operates there.
  

[Beagle 684]

Ahh, 100kb/s isn't so bad. That's the maximum dl speed for me being rural; receiving my bandwidth/connection via radio waves to/from a tower 15 miles from my locale. I've been on the DEV branch for a month or so and it's been eating my nightly download time but it's worth it. I thought Europe had super high speed cheap internet?

only close to urban (100.000+) areas, once you get just 20 km away into the small villages that have no seen much change sincwe the 1900s its all 30 years old copper lines and no fiber.

[Mr. Charles 22]

only close to urban (100.000+) areas, once you get just 20 km away into the small villages that have no seen much change sincwe the 1900s its all 30 years old copper lines and no fiber.

Our village (1200 people) is deciding now to get fiber or not. I'm not sure if I'll order it, as I already got 50k Internet.

[darkjedihawkeye 1]

In the case of ArmA III its a steam problem, in case of RoF it's a 777 problem but the problem with digital distribution stays...the A2 DLCs with just around 800MB took me hours and several attemps to download so im no even considering to buy anthing bigger via digital distribution.

The issue isn't the distribution platform as you describe it, but the bandwidth between you and the sites, it not specific to steam or 777 but to anything you are downloading. There isn't much any platform can do to assist until the ISP/infrastructure issues catch up. That being said, you best bet is to grab the retail DVDs and install the bulk from there. Unfortunately, it looks like this is the way things are going as we move forward. But I question labeling it as a Steam issue when it's not steam that needs to fix it. Probably a issue with semantics.

[pressytcn 10]

i see the age has been changed a2 was 18

[ajsarge 10]

Once you have the game/beta installed, I noticed that there's a standard .exe in the Arma 3 folder that you can use instead of launching through steam or one of its silly non-standard shortcuts. The only issue is whether it will start Steam anyways and if it demands an internet connection to play offline when you have zero connection.

A shortcut of the .exe has a properties section that lets you set start parameters like you used to need for mods during the early days of Arma 1/Arma 2.

[djporternz 27]

That .exe will start steam if it isn't running. You also can't play MP if steam is not running AND in online mode :(

[Bobylein 1]

Ahh, 100kb/s isn't so bad. That's the maximum dl speed for me being rural; receiving my bandwidth/connection via radio waves to/from a tower 15 miles from my locale. I've been on the DEV branch for a month or so and it's been eating my nightly download time but it's worth it. I thought Europe had super high speed cheap internet?

Nope, I live in north germany and some villages are still using modems. I live now in a town with 250k population and have a 13k internet connection here. I think you mean Japan.

[Seitan 8]

i don't understand why people hate steam in this forum. i've never seen anything like it. what is this, 2003?

Actually it's 2001 in this forum. Forever... muhahaha.

Anyway, gotta agree that it's kinda stupid if you go to a game store and buy game on dvd and it's BETA. But hey atleast you get the full game at some point with BIS. With most games support stops on release day.