Arma 4 a look to the future

[B_Fox 132]

IMHO I would like to see a cold war environment since their is so much room for expansion it could be a game that starts from late 1940's early 1950s all the way to the 90s early 2000s and that would be such a unique thing since not a lot of games cover that time period and there was so many wars fought in such differing environments from the Middle East to East Asia then to Africa and to Central Europe.

[Janez 530]

I don't particularly care about next game's setting as long as modding weapons makes sense. What I am looking for is overall polish to the game.

Recently I had an itch that needed scratching in form of an arcade-ish racing game so I bought NFS Payback on one of the sales. Unsurprisingly, that was a huge mistake but what really impressed me was, overall graphics sure, it is a frostbite game after all but more then that, subtle effects like dust on the car after you drive offroad and how it's wiped off from the windshield. Similar effects with dust and frost are in Mass Effect Andromeda as well. Now, Arma 3's textures and models are still great but lacking wetness effects and such really makes the game look dated by now. But alright, we "hardcore" long time players don't play Arma only for pretty graphics so I'll list some gameplay improvement that I consider to be essential for the next game.

 

- Inconsistencies in assets and controls

Two/three-step zoom for all weapon systems. 1st person weapon model sizes. Separate next and previous weapon bindings for infantry and vehicles.

 

- Contextual AI commanding

What a nightmare it is to get an AI to open inventory at a specific object or get into specific seat of a specific vehicle! Something like this would be much better: F2 >> point at object >> scroll trough options >> select action. Similar goes for player interactions with the world. Context sensitive action key and object highlighting.

 

- Less retarded AI

Well, just read trough countless pages of various threads piled up over past years but mainly your squad to require less babysitting and AI overall to navigate and use environment a lot better. Especially vehicles.

 

- Gameplay

Tactical reloads. Modding underbarrel attachments and paint. Changing vehicle loadouts and mods ingame. Larger inventory UI and weapon size in addition to weight.

Repacking magazines. Explosives such as satchels and mines handled like weapons. Ability to accurately throw and attach them, manipulate tripmine wires, etc.

Vaulting and climbing. Ability to climb ladders faster at the expense of stamina and sliding down them.

 

- Campaign

Small skirmishes in a large scenario like hub missions in East Wind were great. Make use of that.

Couple of general notes:

-commanding large squads is just annoying. 4-6 man teams work best.

-fighting against more 2-4 man teams is a lot better then fighting less 8-12 man squads. Especially since TTK is a lot longer due to infantry armor improvements and fatigue/weapon sway.

Also, fully flesh out gear saving and management. East Wind was a clusterfuck regarding that.

First, crate size you stuff crap in needs to be unlimited. Second, Virtual Arsenal type interface for that would be a lot more useful. That may also thigh in with general inventory UI and pre-mission/briefing inventory management.

 

- Other

PROPER SAVE GAME MANAGEMENT! Save, load, DELETE and overwrite existing save. Unlimited save slots and option to name them. Small screenshot wouldn't go amiss either. Quick save and load keybinds. Also, handling saves for huge missions without freezing or crashing the game!

Separate chat, kill feed and server notifications in MP. Separate videos settings config for 3DEN and ingame. Working 3DEN modules (zone restriction...). Separate grass and terrain detail settings.

Make grass short so you can see while prone unless you find a way to make grass view distance X km. Mitigate floating or sunk objects due to terrain detail setting.

[Wedge1 4]

Better get on with it then, I'm 67 years old , don't want to have to wait too long

Edited September 21, 2018 by Wedge1
spelling

[Xe-Cute 10]

I know ARMA is/was created a MILSIM, but it is already SO MUCH MORE! IMO it is a game development engine with overtones of MILSIM. There are already great mods (or parts of MODs) out there with some of these suggestions,  but It would be nice to get built-in or Eden placeables of the following:

 

A polished complete melee system as well as melee weapons and animations. Weapons and tools could be crossbows, swords, knives, hammers, nunchucks, throwing stars, rope (tying/choking/hanging/climbing), grapple hook,  farming implements like a hoe, spade, pitchfork, wrench, spanner, pliers, cutters etc. Melee animations could include wrestling, choke holds, climbing, jumping, parkour, boxing, karate/kung-fu, zip line/rope/mountain climbing with rope animations for horizontal (over and under)/vertical (hanging and rope walking)/sling zip line seat.

 

More animals... E.g. horses were used since ancient times and in many wars since - yet no horses (baring DBO crazy horse), never mind other ridable animals like camels in ARMA. Bats for caves, Buffalo, hippos, deer, moose, elephants, lions, tigers, panthers, leopards, dolphins, whales, eels, crabs. Also be able to resize animal (and possibly other), models

 

Motorcycles with and without side-car with proper momentum angle/leaning animations and foot out when going slow or stopped

 

A generic built-in (saveable/persistent/transferable) character creation and modification system would also be great.

 

Rating/reputation could also be expanded to more easily be able to create many factions rather than the 3 - EAST, WEST and Independent (Civilian doesn't really count) that could be friendly or enemy to one another.

 

Monetary/currency/economy system which could be easily adaptable to different currencies or have exchange rates. This should include being to trade something for something in a fair and agreed way between ARMAnians or with NPCs.

 

Persistent (DB backed) characters with Inter map/server "travel" even if you just respawn with the same body/face/kit/experience/rating 

 

Integration with something like AIML and Chatscript with Text-to-Speech and subtitles for NPC dialogue/interaction

 

Modular buildings/building parts to enable building very large building scenarios 

 

Caving creation system including stalactites and stalagmites, rope ladders (with proper climb off/on animation when you get to the top) e.g. Place the walkways, ladders and declines/inclines, doors and then the system builds the cave walls/floor/roof around it.

 

Interactive particle creation/modification GUI system that does not require restarting to test/check

 

Modifiable/customizable vehicles e.g. be able to add bull/bush bars, roll bars, turrets and guns, spikes and barbed wire as well as change colour/skin/paint, tint and bulletproof windows etc. Enterable/walk around vehicles like a mobile office/home truck or cargo planes would also be nice

 

A stand-alone or built-in traps mod that includes all sorts of booby traps e.g. the fantastic ones in Unsung Heros with lights, lasers, flares, alarms, spikes, grenades, mines and bombs

 

Installing multiple 1GB to 12 GB MODs to use 1 or 2 functions of each or writing all my own script for each of these is more than a little painful. As I said, I know there are great mods and scripts that do some of these (my Arma III + DLC + MODs + scripts folders = 66GB + ARMA Server folder = 80GB) and I have dabbled with some scripting, however, this post is just a wishlist ;-) so go easy on the flaming

 

[jeza 5416]

I'd literally rather play OFPDR than above if that came to fruition.

[Xe-Cute 10]

Thank you Jeza for your constructive criticism. Is OFPDR your favourite MILSIM. I suppose there is an appeal to only play MILSIMs and kill the player/AI and getting the loot - your 5K subscribers to your YouTube channel attests to that. I personally prefer playing survival in all sorts of milieus, and if I look at the number of subscribers to MODs like Exile (75K), Ravage (51K), Arma LIFE (258 pages on Steam Workshop), DBO_Horses (8K), RSPN Cave Systems (2.6K) there are at least a few that also like out of the ordinary survival.

 

What would your ideal ARMA 4 look like?

[M. Glade 524]

On 10/19/2018 at 2:41 PM, Xe-Cute said:

look at the number of subscribers to MODs like Exile (75K), Ravage (51K), Arma LIFE (258 pages on Steam Workshop), DBO_Horses (8K), RSPN Cave Systems (2.6K) there are at least a few that also like out of the ordinary survival.

 

Armed Assault is a platform for mods like those you mentioned, to really change the way of the game. ArmA should stick to being ArmA, not ArmALifeFortniteDaYz, if you pleasure those modes you can easily browse for the server and join. Personally I bought the series to use big weapons not pretend like im a firefighter. 

[beno_83au 1369]

26 minutes ago, M. Glade said:

 

Armed Assault is a platform for mods like those you mentioned, to really change the way of the game. ArmA should stick to being ArmA

 

Agreed. I like the openness of Arma. I'll quite happily make a semi-realistic campaign, jump online for some Exile/Epoch or do a bit of my own private deathmatching. I even ran a zombie-survival-coop-progressive-base building-jungle combat-story driven-mashup of crap that I'd been wanting to try for a while. Worked well, but getting the mates together at the same time kinda limited it's life.

 

Mods make the series what you want it to be (for the most part). I love that about it.

[Xe-Cute 10]

I 100% agree with you. I am not advocating removing functionality or the MILSIM out of ARMA - I propose adding to its basic functionality and gameplay by adding functions that will expand campaigns with BI quality and standardized in-game content. These can then be used or not used or overridden as the map maker, game master or player prefer or expanded on by MODders. 

 

e.g. Are there not ziplining or rappeling in warfare? Can a soldier not sneak up stealthily to an enemy to strangle, choke or stab them and stay covert? Also, there are wild bears and elk in Chernobyl zone (and all over forests, bush and flatlands)  - IMO being worried about wildlife as well as the enemy soldiers would make it more realistic and interesting, but the same as ARMA III, all wildlife agents can be disabled or deleted.  Similarly, an enemy barricading themselves in a cave or an office block, rather than a two or three-roomed two storey building (where the doors keep pushing you out of the doorway), could add a few more extra scenarios. 

 

Everything I listed above might not be ideal for a pure MILSIM, but once I started I thought what the heck.... just list all I can think of at that moment. I am not sure why or how adding content and possibilities, possibly even as a DLC, would make someone like ARMA less.

[Malcain 35]

To support Xe-Cute. Playing since OFP, nor arma nor OFP has never been about "huge dildo guns/warfare" for me. It has always been about open-world, exploration, survival and simulation of living environment.
Milsim diehards will never understand that. 
Since Arma4 will be running on Enfusion, I'm quite confident that BIS will be focused on providing players more tools and freedom to create their own content. So milsim diehards, survival diehards e.t.c. can create their own games up to their own taste.

Creating another WWII game or modern military game would be a waste of time and resources. Arma 3 has proven that having mediocre campaign but great mods and  missions by community.

[Private Evans 498]

I think it absolutely does not matter which scenario it will be, it all comes down to the new engine and tech..

 

- rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, waterfalls 

- dynamic snow, dynamic seasons changes

- supporting different biomes on one map

- underground structures, caves and tunnels

- dynamic lighting- better destructable environment

- real outside lod terrain 

 

- female charcters

- civilian life simulation 

- wildlife simulation

 

- stealth gameplay

- mellee combat

- advanced medic system ( could be optional like the helicopter flight controls)

- radio system (could be optional as well)

 

- overhauled combat AI

- customizable formations

- overhauled pathfinding

- voice commands 

 

- new animation system

- climbing, jumping vaulting ( parcour), ladder climbing, hit reactions...

- walking on moving objects ( especially in airplanes, ships and submarines without going into para or swimming animation)

- navy warfare mechanics

 

:)

 

Edit ...and one important one...overhauled faction system 

[B_Fox 132]

I'd like to see the reintroduction of Arma 2 modules such as:

Ambient Animals

Ambient Civilian Vehicles

Ambient Civilians

Town Generation

Also the inclusion of female civilians

 

New AI system with which can be switched off or on with in game modules.

AI morale system:

AI morale should affect how hard they fight, do they flee easily or die hard, if their weapons run dry do they run or surrender or save that one grenade for a fake surrender. Does the sight of a death of the squad leader cause them to panic and flee or take a morale hit but stand firm or the surrender of one cause a domino effect of the squad. I think all this will be a positive addition to gameplay especially SP people like myself.

 

 

Again this cannot be stressed enough combined arms AI. AI which seek to work together not separate from each and should use all available weapons (e.g. rocket launchers, grenade launchers, grenades, HE tank shells, CAS, Bomb runs etc) before sacrificing themselves unless they are fanatics (which should fall under morale) and other AI improvements which the community has been begging for.

[Onno 22]

There's some more coding related things I'd like to see:

 

Scripting language:

• Multithreaded scripting. I mean full concurrency with (pseudo-)threads and some form of atomicity and locking. The time of single threaded programming is over. Not just for the makers of the game, but also for scripters. Some notes:
  • An asynchronous programming system could be implemented on top of this to facilitate less skilled coders.
  • This would probably also require a stronger typing system.
• The ability to include code libraries in the basic scripting. (so you can include code without CBA)
  • Ability to reference compressed/binarized resources/libraries
• Add the ability to work with custom markers

 

Scripting:

• An extension of targetsQuery with type of sensor, or a similar query which shares an array of known targets for a specific sensor on a specific vehicle.
• Alternate ballistics radar script which tracks rounds instead of creating markers for firing positions. (currently hard to do because attaching markers to bullets is impossible)
• Thread pool object.

 

Engine:

• Make it possible to show custom markers
• Add direction to markers on map in game.
• Ammo belts with individual rounds. (relevant for MG's and aircraft)

 

Tools:

• A stand-alone script runner or 2D simulation environment for development purposes (so code testing and profiling becomes a lot easier).

 

[pierremgi 4869]

Perhaps a "replay" tool. Like 5 min replay before player killed, shareable if possible, in a debrief room (like a simulated ACMI for jet dogfights).

[Luke Zientala 11]

On 10/7/2017 at 11:46 AM, Abburo said:

I see next ARMA as an engine evolution able to cover larger terrains. What era to put there is a completely different thing and I would keep the sandbox architecture that make ARMA what it is now, letting communities to populate with whatever army generation they want, from Napoleon to StarWars 🙂

They could also make DLC's like ArmA 2 OA had the PMC DLC and dlcs like that. loved how they did arma 2 shame they didnt expand on it.

[Janez 530]

3 hours ago, Luke Zientala said:

They could also make DLC's like ArmA 2 OA had the PMC DLC and dlcs like that. loved how they did arma 2 shame they didnt expand on it.

 

I imagine you weren't around here on forums at that time. After few hundred pages worth of threads about increasingly absurd <YOUR_FAVORITE> Armed Forces DLC requests, Arma 3 development as a whole was instead focused around useful platform upgrades, rather then content. And I'm sure every @CameronMcDonaldes would agree. 🙂

 

Spoiler

I don't blame anyone for not getting the reference, it was probably almost a decade ago.

 

[The Man Without Qualities 110]

??? I thought there is no future?

All I need is:

 

- brand new server/client SW without HC able to deal with hundreds of human players and thousands of AI

 

Rest is chicki-chacka

[doogerie 10]

I was thinking about the future of ARMA now I know that ARMA focuses and dose very well in modern settings but i was thinking what if ARMA 4 went a diffrent way (Arma 3 has  aliens now) so prehaps Arma 4 could go back in time to Vietnam Koria or even WW2 it would be a new way for the series (we should keep the same gameplay) and may bring in new players the have hadly been any WW2 shooters in the last few years (not incuding Call of duty and Battelfield 4) and as a relalistic game it could be really good don't you think?

[Sanya 97]

Need in ARMA 4 the interaction and features from ACE 2 from ArmA 2. Note, namely from ACE 2, not from current ACE 3.

[emkill 10]

For the next ArmA I sugest this as a trailer refference

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzvrpXuHCtw

 

THIS, its epic

Edited October 23, 2019 by Dedmen
Merged into existing A4 Megathread

[cb65 86]

I would like Arma 4 to stay with the present to near future era, modder''s addons can take care of any other era.

And I hope that with a new engine they try and keep the same form of scripting language so I don't have to learn a new one.

Also Id like there to be better focus on AI pathfinding especially when it comes to AI driving.

A dedicated server tool like Tophe's arma dedicated server tool would be great.

 

I'm very happy with the current installment/s of arma 3 it's progressed pretty well.

So if there isn't going to be an arma 4 at least I'll always have arma 3.

 

Cheers.

[LSValmont 789]

Arma 4 must do everything A3 does but using 100% of the CPU, MEMORY and GPU resources effectively.

 

Dynamic shadows is a very immersive feature that had a mayor role on making the Stalker games as Immersive and Scary as they were yet was surprisingly missing from Arma 3 even thou A3 was released March 2013 while Stalker was released March 2007.

 

So even with its 6+ release year difference and during all of A3's development that reached END OF LIFE in 2020 (so 13 years of difference) we still haven't gotten a proper dynamic lights in Arma 3 to even match that of Stalker.

 

So currently in Arma 3:

 

The only things that emit shadows are the Sun or the Moon!

 

Your flashlights, headlights, lamps, fire, flares or any other light source really do not create extra dynamic shadows at all! (Yes, even in 2020!).

 

A final note is that I find it weird that Arma 3 was announced way before Arma 2 reached its END OF LIFE cycle while the same hasn't happened for Arma 4.

 

In fact it is quite notable the difference of several years in delay (Arma 4 announcement vs. Arma 3 End of Life) compared to was the "norm" previously specially considering that BI's resources and staff have at least doubled since Arma 2 times.

[froggyluv 2136]

 

 Honestly I dont believe the authors want to make an Arma4 - thats why they were testing the waters with how well they could do in the primarily or soley MP arena via DayZ/Argo/Vigor. So many of the biggest games lately are in the MP survival arena and that just requires alot less headaches like building a competent AI or maps in which you have to take AI into consideration. 

 

Arma is their biggest moneymaker, but i think they wish it wasnt so..

[Janez 530]

Well hey, I would be sick of it after seven(?) years post release too. After wrapping up Arma 3, they probably should take a brake from Arma for couple of years. Relax, asses and regroup. Perhaps make something completely else, I'm sure they have all kinds of ideas that were never realized. Then come back strong and with zeal for Arma 4.

[froggyluv 2136]

7 hours ago, Janez said:

Well hey, I would be sick of it after seven(?) years post release too. After wrapping up Arma 3, they probably should take a brake from Arma for couple of years. Relax, asses and regroup. Perhaps make something completely else, I'm sure they have all kinds of ideas that were never realized. Then come back strong and with zeal for Arma 4.

 

 Pretty sure thats exactly what they've been doing -you dont think theres a full production crew still maintaining Arma 3 do you? Hasnt been for years just a skeleton crew and outsourcing of missions. And they have tried spreading their wings a bit with some new and *cough* interesting games -ill let you decide if they've been successful or not.

 

 If the troops are tired of the same old from your flagship product -its time to infuse new troops to breathe new optimistic and forward thinking production life and energy. Look at some of the editor based guys basically twisting metal with their hands trying to get a new and functional AI working -imagine had they the computer engineer salary and access to engine level code -what they could achieve. That type of fresh optimism and willingness to think outside the box would without question vault Arma 4 into next tier status