Petition: Add a 'Rant'' sub-forum, or make use of existing

[TiborasaurusRex 11]

Rant forum would be a very good idea since venting frustration & depression is the best way to keep us sane :D

Should we hire some psychologists and counselors too? lol :bounce3:

[fn_Quiksilver 1633]

I doubt very much that the overwhelming majority of those who voted "A good idea" have issues with Arma serious enough to render MP unplayable...

Although of course they'll always be a martyr.

Its one thing to find issues, constraints and barriers to fun in MP. Its another thing to keep bashing the head against the barrier. :)

Reality: We cannot have big AI fight or many AI in combat/danger state without severe FPS drop. Period. 64 v 64 AI in an urban fight with crunch the server FPS and then client FPS falls down to 22-32 area.

Adding more AI to that 64 v 64 fight will further cause FPS drop.

That is the reality.

During development of I&A (the scenario you are finding this issue on), I did several things to attempt to reduce AI burden on the server. I remove most of the heavy combat from urban terrains. I reduce the number of waypoints per AI. I reduce their view distance and object view distance. I reduce their skill spotDistance. In some of the more advanced/later versions, I use a 'lite' caching system, by using 'disableAI "FSM"' on some AI which are far away from the players. I reduce number of scripted threads running in general, to provide more CPU for AI. I reduce total number of AI from ~200 down to about ~140, and then have 40-80 AI as reinforcements. Only this last has had real effect. Unfortunately it is not public code yet. :) Designed for another scenario in development but being tested/developed in MP I&A, to see the effects in live environment.

I have talk to some of BIS AI guys about it, reported the issues, spent lots of time trying to squeeze performance from the AI. To some level I have given up trying to do that, since learning that the structure of the AI code is to spawn a new per-frame FSM evaluation thread for each AI. Add in their individual nearObjects/terrainIntersects/lineIntersects calculations when in danger FSM, and there the AI-related FPS drain becomes apparent.

If you want good FPS, play a No-AI scenario.

If you want great FPS, play a No-AI scenario, on Stratis.

If you want to play an AI scenario, limit the number and limit the scale of fighting especially in urban terrain.

If you want to play a big AI scenario, then live with the 20-30 FPS during periods of combat.

Almost all the complaints of Low FPS In MP these days are actually related to AI count in the server/mission they are using.

You rarely hear complaints from Altis Life / King of the Hill / Stratis Wasteland players on the FPS issue ... Why? They have no/few AI, and thus no real MP FPS issue. The FPS issue primarily affects those of us who enjoy the CO-OP / PvE experience, due to AI.

tl;dr cliffs:

* Most of FPS issue is actually just AI issue

* If you want to be focused with your rant, bash away at the structure of the AI code. We have to have more of the AI danger evaluations stacked and feeding into the CPU a few at a time, rather than each AI thread trying to get its share of CPU all at the same time.

Edited January 22, 2015 by MDCCLXXVI

[Nicholas 5]

If only people could read the forum rules. They can't post whatever they want, this is a privately-owned forum so BI can censor whatever they so please. As BadHabitz suggested, there is already a feedback thread and there is a bug tracker to report bugs. There is also a support email that people can email if they are having issues.

The main issue is people failing to utilize readily available options, as well as failing to use basic functions of the forum such as searching.

A great example is this thread. There is already a specific thread for people to post suggestions about the forums. (New Forums: Feedback thread - Bugs/Suggestions here please.)

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

No, no create a dedicated rant page. Two reasons. First off, over a long period of time, previous points brought up by people will vanish in an infinite corridor of complaints that's almost impossible to dig out. Second, Moderators need things to do. Take away unreasonable amounts of post, then you take away a mod's chance to get in some wrist slapping/humor punishment. It hurts the Arma-verse Economy. =P

[ratszo 17]

When i see a guy's join date Jan.'15 with over 100 rant posts, gotta think he's been banned before --and will be banned again.

[Llano 11]

Yeah, I'm sure BI devs are just sitting and watching TV all day in the studio, that's why we need to flood their forums with all kind of rants and harsh complains... that will work for sure and motivate them to work better and with more passion... *

After all, don't we all work better when we have hundreds of rude complains? :j:

It's not like the forum is flooded with different complaints. The main complaints is regarding the performance. It's not like this is some new problem with the game. The performance have been hanging around for many years. People are now getting tired of the bad performance and fps that they get while playing the game.

[chrisb 196]

There should never be a sub forum for things like complaints.

Complaints are warranted where players have concerns. Performance for some (I'm lucky I guess, not for me), is a major concern, specifically public MP, not so much for private groups perhaps. Also other concerns, AI, environment, movement, etc can be of concern to players too. All should be able to rant occasionally, it releases inner demons and does little harm to anyone, other than those that take things personally..;)

But regards sub forums for complaints, no, not really.

[chortles 263]

I can't bring myself to rant about Arma 3's issues because I chose to spend my $30 based on what was in at the time I bought Arma 3 in the first place -- anything else was just a bonus. ;) That and because I can judge the DLCs independently of "core game issues"...

[mikey74 168]

ummm Just got one thing to say. You cannot please everyone!!!! There are things I'm not happy about, but Arma series as whole has been very satisfying. I've spend more time with the game than any other combined in my 40 years of life. Sure there are tons of things that can be improved upon, but what I think would be better doesn't mean you would agree. Sure theres a feedback tracker thats probably got several years worth of reports. But Bis is relatively a small company. So like modders they have to pick and choose there battles. ;)

Like AISS mod. I have some raving that its the best thing sense the wheel, BUT I have many that would argue its not all that. Sure I know I'm an amateur of an amateur of an amateur 3 times removed. lol That being said mods are normally based on personal taste. I'm willing to bet a game that's created is basically based off the same thing..... Personal taste. ;) Now I know there has got to be a bug reporting thread and also customer support. Use those for help or to complain. :D Jmho

[Llano 11]

ummm Just got one thing to say. You cannot please everyone!!!! There are things I'm not happy about, but Arma series as whole has been very satisfying. I've spend more time with the game than any other combined in my 40 years of life. Sure there are tons of things that can be improved upon, but what I think would be better doesn't mean you would agree. Sure theres a feedback tracker thats probably got several years worth of reports. But Bis is relatively a small company. So like modders they have to pick and choose there battles. ;)

Like AISS mod. I have some raving that its the best thing sense the wheel, BUT I have many that would argue its not all that. Sure I know I'm an amateur of an amateur of an amateur 3 times removed. lol That being said mods are normally based on personal taste. I'm willing to bet a game that's created is basically based off the same thing..... Personal taste. ;) Now I know there has got to be a bug reporting thread and also customer support. Use those for help or to complain. :D Jmho

Well, I'm pretty sure everyone can agree that the performance in Arma 3 is bad.

[Maio 293]

There should never be a sub forum for things like complaints.

Complaints are warranted where players have concerns. Performance for some (I'm lucky I guess, not for me), is a major concern, specifically public MP, not so much for private groups perhaps. Also other concerns, AI, environment, movement, etc can be of concern to players too. All should be able to rant occasionally, it releases inner demons and does little harm to anyone, other than those that take things personally..;)

But regards sub forums for complaints, no, not really.

Indeed :) Closing