ARMA 2: OA beta build 112555 (1.63 build release, not backward compatible)

[dunedain 48]

I know what ArmaX is. It just shouldn't be there. Like everyone else is doing on Steam with bonus content it belongs either in the folder of the game it's linked to and/or as an optional download among the DLCs of the game.

Same story with the DLCs, it just doesn't make any sense... PMC and BAF are DLCs for OA but are listed as any other game, yet ACR which does require both games is listed as a DLC for OA as it should be.

It's just very sloppy. Steam being what it is, it just adds to the big clusterfuck the library becomes after a few hundred games.

Company of Heroes had the same bs going on with its two expansions listed as full games, they recently merged everything into a single shortcut though. So it's totally possible for BiS to fix this.

Edited March 28, 2014 by dunedain

[Dwarden 1124]

then realize that BAF and PMC predate most of DLC functionality on STEAM, same goes about AX: AE etc.

ACR came after newer DLC system in place and still suffered some issues for STEAM delivery

A2: OA beta is standalone appid and it predates the branch system etc.

quite lot of these features and improvements were added based on our experience (or absence of) ...

in short not gunna happen due to complexity of the task...

e.g. our OA DLC don't contain final data but delivers the installer which is then installing the final DLC on game start etc.

(so stop calling clusterfuck something you have no idea about what you talk)

Edited March 28, 2014 by Dwarden

[dunedain 48]

I'm very certain the "current" DLC system was in place by the time ArmaII came out. Borderlands used it for instance...

I know CoH was there on Steam long before A2 came out. And yet they somehow managed to switch to something less amateurish. But then not all developers are equally talented. I ain't gonna bother you again... :butbut:

Edited March 28, 2014 by dunedain

[Dwarden 1124]

sigh, another one who argues about something he has no clue about,

so let me explain it to you, i'm the person who did all the arma deployed on steam since we got titles on steam ...

the DLC system Valve had, in past for example not supported start/run of binaries to install data like our DLC works

and several other major issues, that's why it had own appID (which means it got own entry in games list)

our DLCs aren't simple like COH or BL ones .

so stop trying lecture me on something we addressed with our partner Valve and sorted in way it was working within that time limitations...

Valve was, is and will be improving STEAM based on the boundaries i/we run into ...

Edited March 28, 2014 by Dwarden

[dunedain 48]

I kind of figured out from the start you were in charge of that thing since how touchy you obviously appear to be so far over some trivial issue. My point, which you missed, was that since the late DLC ACR uses the proper DLC integration and at least another developer without any dosh adapted their games to the newer system, I didn't see any reason to keep so much unneeded stuff in the library of millions of your customers. Let alone having a specific entry in the library just for a bunch of .mp3, maps and wallpapers...

But now I see, you simply don't care. If millions of $$$ thanks to ArmaII "DayZ" won't get a patch released, it certainly won't fix this. Farewell...

[domokun 515]

If BIS didn't care about it then they wouldn't bother to respond.

His point, which you missed, is that it is slowly being addressed.

On se calme le petit Breizhad

[IcyDennis 10]

This argument that A2 is superior to A3 is absurd. I suggest anyone still feeling that way to give A3 a real chance and start playing it and porting their content to the new platform. I did, and it changed my perspective 180 degrees. A3 is, in every aspect, a step forward in the series.

Is it? What exactly is superior in A3? I tried to port some of my WIP A2 missions to A3, a quite massive one and not a quick and dirty editor thing. Every time Altis was updated, I had to fix issues cause for example where I placed a tank all of the sudden one of these stupid burger huts appeared, making my tank fly mile high. Actually, constantly changing something important as a terrain in a apparently finished product is absurd.

Or maybe the new fatique sounds they added are superior? To me they sound like faggots are on it and shortly having an orgasm. They are no step forward but just really annoying. I have no clue how why they were changed to the current joke.

Above two examples made me stop all A3 projects for good now. I no longer will run in circles just because some 'professionals' think they must constantly play around with a released game. Back to A2 it is for me, at least as long as it lives and then moving on to something more stable. And I will not even start talking about the shitty performance A3 still has after almost a year or the fact that there are almost no military style coops present anymore. All you see on server browser is that 'Altis life' shit and Zombies.

But maybe that's the direction BI wants to go. A2 was their last real military game by the look of it. Sad but true.

[Vipera 10]

I want Arma 2 content done on Arma 3 engine. AiA mod could be good but this is just a mod.

[Dwarden 1124]

I kind of figured out from the start you were in charge of that thing since how touchy you obviously appear to be so far over some trivial issue. My point, which you missed, was that since the late DLC ACR uses the proper DLC integration and at least another developer without any dosh adapted their games to the newer system, I didn't see any reason to keep so much unneeded stuff in the library of millions of your customers. Let alone having a specific entry in the library just for a bunch of .mp3, maps and wallpapers...

But now I see, you simply don't care. If millions of $$$ thanks to ArmaII "DayZ" won't get a patch released, it certainly won't fix this. Farewell...

and you typical example of fail to read, considering i already explained to you i setup A2, OA, TKOH, HINDS, PMC, BAF, ACR etc. then i probably know why BAF and PMC are done that way while ACR this way ...

(don't get me started on the 'skipping' of the fact BAF and PMC were PRIOR the DLC system could handle our DLCs while ACR came when it was already nearly supported right)

these 'other titles' you talk about adopted ti because they just have plain simple data w/o anythingelse, while our DLCs aren't just data ...

so you trying compare apples with oranges ...

these decisions were made with Valve (like AX: AE) so don't whine at us ... it was as best as it could be at that time ...

also you completely ignore the amount of work the transition to different format of system (appids, dlcids etc) this would mean for both Valve and us ...

i would prefer to spend that time on 1.63 final and ACR 1.01 update than just converting old data formats, clients, theirs keys, installers and who know what else (not to mention QA all that)

all just because you upset you have 5 more entries in gameslist

Edited March 28, 2014 by Dwarden

[foffy 58]

Hey there. I know this is perhaps something strange to note, but whatever changes the 1.63 beta patch does to the underlying hood of the game, it happens to break a few things. I've been going through the ArmA series chronologically now that ArmA III's main campaign is finished and I'm playing Harvest Red, the central ArmA II campaign. For whatever reason, the mission Bitter Chill is broken in 1.63. A cutscene is supposed to play that gives you context of the mission and then gives you your objective. In 1.63, this scene is skipped, which means you are not given an objective to do at all. Originally I assumed it was a mod that somehow conflicted with the mission (I've been using model replacements, but I turned those off for testing) but the solution I found was to run the game with the recent Steam exe, of version 1.62. This strangely solved the issue.

I figure I would inform you of this so that when you guys plan to fully release the final, major patch for the game that this sort of thing doesn't slip through on people playing your older works. I'm a very single player guy in ArmA (I have over 700 hours in ArmA II, only 60 of which is online play) so this sort of stuff is pretty big to me. I hope my input helps. I am not sure what changed under the hood from that release to this beta, but I do find it strange that it broke a cutscene from loading. :P

[aviatormoser 6]

Hey there. I know this is perhaps something strange to note, but whatever changes the 1.63 beta patch does to the underlying hood of the game, it happens to break a few things. I've been going through the ArmA series chronologically now that ArmA III's main campaign is finished and I'm playing Harvest Red, the central ArmA II campaign. For whatever reason, the mission Bitter Chill is broken in 1.63. A cutscene is supposed to play that gives you context of the mission and then gives you your objective. In 1.63, this scene is skipped, which means you are not given an objective to do at all. Originally I assumed it was a mod that somehow conflicted with the mission (I've been using model replacements, but I turned those off for testing) but the solution I found was to run the game with the recent Steam exe, of version 1.62. This strangely solved the issue.

I figure I would inform you of this so that when you guys plan to fully release the final, major patch for the game that this sort of thing doesn't slip through on people playing your older works. I'm a very single player guy in ArmA (I have over 700 hours in ArmA II, only 60 of which is online play) so this sort of stuff is pretty big to me. I hope my input helps. I am not sure what changed under the hood from that release to this beta, but I do find it strange that it broke a cutscene from loading. :P

I believe 1.63 breaks a lot of stock and modded content. For that reason, I haven't been testing this patch.

[domokun 515]

I believe 1.63 breaks a lot of stock and modded content. For that reason, I haven't been testing this patch.

I suspect that this is true, hence my remark that the sooner it is released the better

Here, here.

Moreover I believe that several major mod teams that are waiting for 1.63 before shipping their final version (Unsung 2.6, I44 2.7, CWR2), to avoid having to release post-1.63 patches.

This is especially significant because I think that, after taking a well-earned rest, many of them with then jump over to A3.

I must admit that I appreciate BIS' conundrum, release a patch earlier but it contains less bugfixes and optimisations or release one later that is more polished (incorporating fixes from TKOM and/or A3).

Personally I think that given the significant changes in 1.63 (most of which I think are welcome), BIS should have shipped a final (non-beat) patch earlier.

IMHO an earlier release would have minimised the inconsistencies between official content and community-crafted mods and missions.

Moreover mods team would feel more motivated to patch their creations to become 1.63-compatible.

[nettrucker 142]

Yeah it's too bad. If indeed the patch 1.63 will break MODS we will be left with a lot of Mods that won't work properly. Now that ARMA 3 is their flagship I doubt that MOD groups will fix old MODs for ArmA 2 now that the major part of the player base switched over to ArmA 3. It was nice as long as it lasted though.

cheers

[Dwarden 1124]

Yeah it's too bad. If indeed the patch 1.63 will break MODS we will be left with a lot of Mods that won't work properly. Now that ARMA 3 is their flagship I doubt that MOD groups will fix old MODs for ArmA 2 now that the major part of the player base switched over to ArmA 3. It was nice as long as it lasted though.

cheers

proper reports or it can't be fixed ...

[Vipera 10]

One of the latest updates (before 1.63) breaks guided missiles controlled by AI gunner. Can someone test it please? In Editor put Apache controlled by the player as a pilot. Put some T-72s in a distance for the targets. Play mission. Highlight the target. Try to hit target by Hellfire missile commanding to your AI gunner. In my case missiles fly straight forward as unguided missiles. Now switch to manual fire mode and try to hit the target by yourself. In manual fire mode Hellfire missile is guided and hits the target. I don't want to create a ticket yet because I am not sure if this is a bug or I make something wrong.

[nettrucker 142]

Hello Dwarden

the bug tracker is full of reports. Unfortunately I personally don't have the time to do proper testing and reporting them on the bug tracker and for being honest I don't care anymore that much as before. I once was a so called fanboy now I'm retired.

Thanks for all the fun you guys provided to me. Guess that all nice things has to come to an end one day.

All the best. :)

[OMAC 254]

^ ^ Sad but understandable. I would be surprised if anyone is bothering to post tickets in the A2 bug tracker anymore. :( Old A2 fanboys are dropping like flies. Not good.

[nettrucker 142]

^ ^ Sad but understandable. I would be surprised if anyone is bothering to post tickets in the A2 bug tracker anymore. :( Old A2 fanboys are dropping like flies. Not good.

Hello OMAC

well RL issues have definitively priority over a video game that goes without saying. On the other hand some bugs are difficult to reproduce IMHO.

Old A2 fanboys are dropping like flies. Not good

Honestly I have no idea how many of the old ArmA players actually dropped out. I know a few but I wouldn't know the precise figures. Most probably it's impossible to establish. Furthermore BIS gained a whole new player base also in this case it's impossible to establish who is just a casual player, who will play ArmA games for a while and then move on . . . and who will become a new "fanboy" or "Die hard fan".

The exclusive distribution has led some people I know to not purchase ArmA 3 . . . myself included. But everyone has his own reasons I guess.

Don't worry the player base is growing we old fanboys are irrelevant in business terms. I've accepted it and it's best to get over with.

Say my "Hi" to the CWR team next time you get in touch with them.

All the best

cheers :)

[OMAC 254]

Say my "Hi" to the CWR team next time you get in touch with them.

All the best

cheers :)

Will do. The team is *very* hard at work on a new release. Older, somewhat jaded OFP/A2 fanboys and "hipsters" are being replaced with pimply, enthusiastic, and snarling A3 minions every day. :rolleyes: In the big picture, this is a natural progression. Release of 1.63 + ACR patch would re-energize much of the older crowd in a big way. Come on, BI! :)

[nettrucker 142]

Will do. The team is *very* hard at work on a new release. Older, somewhat jaded OFP/A2 fanboys and "hipsters" are being replaced with pimply, enthusiastic, and snarling A3 minions every day. :rolleyes: In the big picture, this is a natural progression. Release of 1.63 + ACR patch would re-energize much of the older crowd in a big way. Come on, BI! :)

That's good news thanks . . . gotta check on Armaholic more often but I'm lacking the time.

BOT . . .yeah releasing a new patch would enable a lot of people who have still some things on hold to finish them, myself included. gotta a fully voice acted campaign ( size 500 + MB) which still has some flaws and which I would like to correct and bring to a final release and I have two smaller campaigns as well. They are on hold for the time being because of patch 1.63 it makes no sense working on them and improve them in case the new patch should break things which would mean to start all over again. I hope they will release the 1,63 patch soon.

cheers:)

[tom3kb 15]

Nettrucker release the campaigns. ;)

Who knows how long we will wait for 1.63 stable and even if this patch will be breaking something

nobody force players to install new patch.

Edited April 3, 2014 by tom3kb

[OMAC 254]

It is too complicated to explain here, but a problem has arisen with the current beta patch and the near-final build of CWR2. This problem necessitates that we remove the beta patch and test/play with vanilla 1.62. It is sad to have to abandon CCP and all the fixes contained in the beta, but it is ridiculous to have to make a complex mod work with an incomplete beta patch that may be superseded* at any time. The CWR2 team has worked for years and years on the mod, and the lack of 1.63 final is now a very serious problem.

Anyway, I cannot start vanilla 1.62 without a bad crash. I've done this many times in the past, but now 1.62 will not start without the beta patch. Something has become corrupted (?), and I am trying to avoid removing and re-installing everything. Does anyone know of some way I can troubleshoot and/or fix this problem? I removed the arma2oa.cfg, but that doesn't stop the crash. Dumps and .rpt are not being created after the crash. It is odd that nothing is being written to the rpt. Using the beta patch, A2CO starts up just fine.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :)

* (wishful thinking there)

----------------------------------

Edit: on the bright side, I am gathering my old discs in case I have to reinstall everything going back to A2. I dug out an old DVD to which I had burned the A2 download which I had purchased online somewhere. On the DVD I found the beautiful Chernarus_map.pdf which I didn't even know I had. :cool:

Edited April 4, 2014 by OMAC

[Dwarden 1124]

imho before 1.63 final must RC happens or the 'serious' regressive bugs will not get sorted and more complains will happen

[IcyDennis 10]

And when these "RC" gonna happen? In 2015?

By then, no one cares about A2 anymore. I still can't belive such a letdown from BI. If I would run a Mod like CWR or any other of the big ones, I would have long time said "fuck you" and moved on. Unbelievable that first BI is supporting the Modding teams and then just spit in their faces and leave them with this bugged to hell, half-finished "patch". Clearly shows how much downhill this developer gone in the past years. :(

[seba1976 98]

If I would run a Mod like CWR or any other of the big ones, I would have long time said "fuck you" and moved on.

They should've moved on alright, to A3.