Difficulty Overhaul

[muf 49]

Hi community! We are working on the difficulty options overhaul. First batch of changes will hit the dev branch soon. You can find some details on the Community Wiki.

[ineptaphid 6413]

Good to see some changes here :) Regarding functions and features that are turned on/off with each difficulty setting-is this the thread to ask or discuss these options?

[muf 49]

Good to see some changes here :) Regarding functions and features that are turned on/off with each difficulty setting-is this the thread to ask or discuss these options?

Sure, this is the right thread for any feedback/discussion regarding the presets and setup of particular difficulty options.

[ratszo 17]

VonID defaulted 'off' on expert --bad idea. 

 

Most servers do not intend to block vonID. Default 'on' pleaz.

[danny96 80]

Would be cool to introduce new assets to difficulty options - like advanced flight model, or even wind affected shooting. Make people actually pick If they want to play ARMA like simulation, or arcade.

[muf 49]

VonID defaulted 'off' on expert --bad idea.

Most servers do not intend to block vonID. Default 'on' pleaz.

We think that as well, will be changed to Enabled for all presets, see the list of changes.

[muf 49]

Would be cool to introduce new assets to difficulty options - like advanced flight model, or even wind affected shooting. Make people actually pick If they want to play ARMA like simulation, or arcade.

We've considered adding the advanced flight model as a part of difficulty and decided to better leave it in the General tab of the Game Options, which has couple of advantages:

• Advanced flight model does not necessarily mean more difficult - while it has certain demands on the pilot, it allows more precise handling and complex maneuvers than the Standard one.
• It can be switched even during a MP scenario, which difficulty options can't. This allows the pilots to choose what suits them better and doesn't force them to use one or the other model.

[ineptaphid 6413]

Sure, this is the right thread for any feedback/discussion regarding the presets and setup of particular difficulty options.

Well one option that I feel could be looked at reagrds a change made in the EDEN update. Before the update there was the option to have the white markers on squad mates on or off depending on difficulty. The way I had it set was the marker would appear when that unit was selected, then would fade away after a few seconds like the rest of the HUD as I had permanent HUD set to "off". But now it seems that option no longer exists-the marker must either bu on or off-it will no longer fade.

 

Can that be looked at?Or why was it changed in the update? Thanks :)

[oukej 2910]

Can that be looked at?Or why was it changed in the update? Thanks :)

Some improvements are planned that could replace this "workaround" to hide squad indicators. Ie. better fading or manual refresh of the indicators (and not only limited to squad leader). But it's probably too soon now to share more details.

[gc8 977]

Will there be option to turn the aiming sway off, and let the aiming be like it was in arma 2?

[ineptaphid 6413]

Some improvements are planned that could replace this "workaround" to hide squad indicators. Ie. better fading or manual refresh of the indicators (and not only limited to squad leader). But it's probably too soon now to share more details.

Great thanks for letting us know. I do miss that feature ;)

 

Will there be option to turn the aiming sway off, and let the aiming be like it was in arma 2?

I would be very surprised if that was made an option-but there are a lot of mods that do exactly what you want.

[R3vo 2654]

Any chance of some explanations of what which option does in the difficulty menu itself, or maybe even a button which opens a new tab in the default browser with the wiki page(just like in 3den) of the skill settings https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3_Difficulty_Menu#Super_AI

[muf 49]

Great thanks for letting us know. I do miss that feature ;)

 

Some improvements are planned that could replace this "workaround" to hide squad indicators. Ie. better fading or manual refresh of the indicators (and not only limited to squad leader). But it's probably too soon now to share more details.

Besides that, there was an unwanted dependency we wanted to fix: If both "Extended HUD Info" and "Permanent Extended HUD Info" were disabled, group indicators didn't show up even if "HUD Show Group" was enabled, which was confusing. This is now fixed and functionality of this option is going to be extended.

[muf 49]

Any chance of some explanations of what which option does in the difficulty menu itself, or maybe even a button which opens a new tab in the default browser with the wiki page(just like in 3den) of the skill settings https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_3_Difficulty_Menu#Super_AI

Definitely, it's already in our battle plan :)

[x3kj 1247]

Regarding AI difficulty - i always thought it to be a giant step backwards to remove the option for AI skills to be independently modified by the player.

Yes missionexperience may differ from what the author intended if different AI settings are used, but it's the player that plays it and it's his decision. If the player can't beat a mission, gets frustrated or bored , what use is the author's intended "experience"?

As long as it's a thing you have to actively enforce and is also communicated, that customizing AI skills can lead to a different experience, i see no good reason not to allow independent AI skill modification.

[muf 49]

Regarding AI difficulty - i always thought it to be a giant step backwards to remove the option for AI skills to be independently modified by the player.

Yes missionexperience may differ from what the author intended if different AI settings are used, but it's the player that plays it and it's his decision. If the player can't beat a mission, gets frustrated or bored , what use is the author's intended "experience"?

As long as it's a thing you have to actively enforce and is also communicated, that customizing AI skills can lead to a different experience, i see no good reason not to allow independent AI skill modification.

When you switch the AI Level to Custom, the Skill and Precision sliders appear and can be adjusted ;)

[Gwynbleidd 28]

It would be good if you guys showed what value is skill and precision for every preset. The new guy will probably select a preset, over setting a custom skill and precision, at least until he gets an idea how AI behaves there. Problem is, if you like the preset, but you want to tweak the skill or accuracy of the AI just a little bit, instead of jumping to the other preset (since switching presets adjusts AI more than you want), you can't, because you don't know the skill / precision values of the preset.

[ineptaphid 6413]

It would be good if you guys showed what value is skill and precision for every preset. The new guy will probably select a preset, over setting a custom skill and precision, at least until he gets an idea how AI behaves there. Problem is, if you like the preset, but you want to tweak the skill or accuracy of the AI just a little bit, instead of jumping to the other preset (since switching presets adjusts AI more than you want), you can't, because you don't know the skill / precision values of the preset.

Yeah-not a bad idea. It would help if you play on normal, but want a little more or less of a challenge, then you would know how much to tweak the values.

[muf 49]

It would be good if you guys showed what value is skill and precision for every preset. The new guy will probably select a preset, over setting a custom skill and precision, at least until he gets an idea how AI behaves there. Problem is, if you like the preset, but you want to tweak the skill or accuracy of the AI just a little bit, instead of jumping to the other preset (since switching presets adjusts AI more than you want), you can't, because you don't know the skill / precision values of the preset.

Yeah-not a bad idea. It would help if you play on normal, but want a little more or less of a challenge, then you would know how much to tweak the values.

Good point. It already is on our list :)

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

If it's not already available, would it be possible for you guys to add an option/slider for AI spot distance for both human AI and enemy AI?

[gippo 38]

Great news, I hope you touch the Auto reporting as well (AFAIK, right now you cannot disable it). Essential for PVP.

Custom preset means that you can finally change every setting, right?

[old_painless 182]

When you switch the AI Level to Custom, the Skill and Precision sliders appear and can be adjusted ;)

Unless I am mistaken, the problem is that the Skill & Precision can not be set for, say, OPFOR only. That used to be an option which was removed, AFAIR

[lev 21]

This is great news.  I've been waiting for a difficulty overhaul for a while now as it leads to the most confusion when finding servers to join and also when people are setting up servers.  

 

My two main desires for this update are to have:

1. Clarity in 3rd person camera and crosshair modes.  e.g. Veteran = not possible to have those on at all.  Regular = 3rd person and crosshairs on.  Mainly this is something that is immediately understandable in the server browser without having to rely on servers titling themselves something like this "3pp:on | xhairs: off | etc".
2. Stamina and stance indicators default on at all difficulies.  I believe this type of knowledge regarding your soldiers position and status is very important and not easily discernible without these indicators.

Some possible nice to have features:

1. Bullet and magazine count off on veteran difficulty.  We can check via our inventory so this could be removed without much impact on experienced players.
2. Close range name tags optional on all difficulties - e.g. under 10m you can see a name tag.  This is mostly due to the fact that without name tags it is often hard to tell exactly who is who even at close range

[ineptaphid 6413]

 

This is great news.  I've been waiting for a difficulty overhaul for a while now as it leads to the most confusion when finding servers to join and also when people are setting up servers.  

 

My two main desires for this update are to have:

1. Clarity in 3rd person camera and crosshair modes.  e.g. Veteran = not possible to have those on at all.  Regular = 3rd person and crosshairs on.  Mainly this is something that is immediately understandable in the server browser without having to rely on servers titling themselves something like this "3pp:on | xhairs: off | etc".
2. Stamina and stance indicators default on at all difficulies.  I believe this type of knowledge regarding your soldiers position and status is very important and not easily discernible without these indicators.

Some possible nice to have features:

1. Bullet and magazine count off on veteran difficulty.  We can check via our inventory so this could be removed without much impact on experienced players.
2. Close range name tags optional on all difficulties - e.g. under 10m you can see a name tag.  This is mostly due to the fact that without name tags it is often hard to tell exactly who is who even at close range

 

Oh I have to disagree here-you are advocating the removal of a lot of choice. Forcing 3rd person and crosshairs on/off in Veteran or Regular should always be an option for the player to customize. You are looking at it from a server only point of view-what about players who only play Sp or with a small group of friends-the loss of that customization would be a real shame

[rebel12340 46]

Oh I have to disagree here-you are advocating the removal of a lot of choice. Forcing 3rd person and crosshairs on/off in Veteran or Regular should always be an option for the player to customize. You are looking at it from a server only point of view-what about players who only play Sp or with a small group of friends-the loss of that customization would be a real shame

My understanding is that there will be a "Custom" difficulty setting preset in addition to the "Recruit", "Regular", and "Veteran" difficulty setting presets. The three main difficulty setting presets are static and any change to them would set the difficulty setting preset to "Custom".