Contact Expansion Playable Content Feedback

[stburr91 1002]

6 hours ago, R3vo said:

That's the problem, I have no idea how to get into the menu. Pressing "H" to get more information doesn't work.

 

Alright, I figured it out. Seems like if "Last Help" action is bound to "CTRL + H" it doesn't work.

 

"F" key gets you into the menu. 

 

If you watch the official launch video, it actually shows you how to do this part. Start watching the video at 25 seconds.

 

 

[EO 11275]

Loving what you guys have put together so far.....

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Spoiler

Anomalous Phenomena:
After overhearing the conversation about locals stealing a radio, and Black Fox being diverted to Charlies auxillary beacon, the following errors ocurred (From RPT this time):
 

22:22:44 Error in expression < "s_polana_10_transmitterCheck") then {[s_polana_10_transmitter,"signalEnded",s_>
22:22:44   Error position: <s_polana_10_transmitter,"signalEnded",s_>
22:22:44   Error Undefined variable in expression: s_polana_10_transmitter
22:22:44 File A3\Missions_F_Contact\Sites\s_polana_10.Enoch\squadAttack.sqf, line 2
22:22:44 Error in expression <bleSimulation false;

{
_x forgetTarget s_polana_10_transmitter;
} foreach units>
22:22:44   Error position: <s_polana_10_transmitter;
} foreach units>
22:22:44   Error Undefined variable in expression: s_polana_10_transmitter
22:22:44 File A3\Missions_F_Contact\Sites\s_polana_10.Enoch\squadAttack.sqf, line 8
22:22:44 Error in expression <bleSimulation false;

{
_x forgetTarget s_polana_10_transmitter;
} foreach units>
22:22:44   Error position: <s_polana_10_transmitter;
} foreach units>
22:22:44   Error Undefined variable in expression: s_polana_10_transmitter
22:22:44 File A3\Missions_F_Contact\Sites\s_polana_10.Enoch\squadAttack.sqf, line 8
22:22:44 Error in expression <bleSimulation false;

{
_x forgetTarget s_polana_10_transmitter;
} foreach units>
22:22:44   Error position: <s_polana_10_transmitter;
} foreach units>
22:22:44   Error Undefined variable in expression: s_polana_10_transmitter
22:22:44 File A3\Missions_F_Contact\Sites\s_polana_10.Enoch\squadAttack.sqf, line 8
22:22:44 Error in expression <bleSimulation false;

{
_x forgetTarget s_polana_10_transmitter;
} foreach units>
22:22:44   Error position: <s_polana_10_transmitter;
} foreach units>
22:22:44   Error Undefined variable in expression: s_polana_10_transmitter
22:22:44 File A3\Missions_F_Contact\Sites\s_polana_10.Enoch\squadAttack.sqf, line 8
22:22:44 Error in expression <l BIS_fnc_removeScriptedEventHandler};

s_polana_10_transmitter hideObject true;>
22:22:44   Error position: <s_polana_10_transmitter hideObject true;>
22:22:44   Error Undefined variable in expression: s_polana_10_transmitter
22:22:44 File A3\Missions_F_Contact\Sites\s_polana_10.Enoch\squadAttack.sqf, line 4

 

 

[ISparkle 49]

It is really tad difficult to use the communication device we get. Drone Hacking don't work so well no matter which antenna I point at. Wasted good 30 minutes trying to get it to work. There's really no consistency on how to get it work. Field Manual doesn't help at all when you are told to basically aim at antenna precisely or something. I mean, it doesn't even work when I am right on top of the drone. 

 

Also, it is really a pain to do communications with aliens as well. I wasted total of an hour and half just trying to get through and it only worked randomly like the drone hack. I tried watching streamers who got through it and they all were just pressing random keys until it somehow magically worked. I don't think this is a well executed mechanic if we have to just rely on it randomly working for drones and alien entity. Oh yeah, I've been trying hard to find the pattern and I just can't. Tried different sounds in rhythms that aliens emit and etc... just doesn't work at all unless it is intended to be random.

[jens-o 0]

So far so good, I really liked the storyline and atmosphere. EW was quite fun. 

But I think CBRN and EW should have some kind of functionality in the main game as well, since it opens up a whole new vector of warfare. Hosters could make those functionalities optional if needed. But I understand if it's too heavy to properly implement, I hope modders can then figure something out. 

[iWazaru 11]

Just here to say....

 

 

THANK YOU BOHEMIA

 

I am a fanboy of radio-communication concept, and you give to guys like me, something like a BIG-birthday gift, with contact!

And i appreciate the ambiance of the campaign !
I was thinking that livonia can't be fun after the Tanoa Master piece,
But, omg, i am in.
I won't get out of her !!

I agree with @ISparkle to say it isn't easy to catch what to do with alien,
But,
HEY!
That's a first Contact! Nobody knows what to do!
So, if the operator play it really in immersion with this concept, i found that this is just perfect! (But i haven't ended the campaign atm, i will update this if i change my POV about this )

I've noticed the FPS drop as some other, but it is playable for me (not ultra setting on an old 750ti)

I suppose there is a looooot of script running behind...
 

One question @DnA,
Is there some other secret plan designed for contact?
I mean...
Is it possible that one day you make all the Contact script stuff loaded by default on every concerned piece, outside of the campaign, with only some parameters to tweak ?

Maybe outside of the DLC?😍
 

 

"Black Bonobo for Bohemia"
"Go to North and Keep doing great things"

[R0adki11 3949]

I have to say i am very impressed with this campaign and story, the atmosphere including music makes a very immersive experience. 

[Bobrus 29]

On 7/26/2019 at 11:42 AM, Bobrus said:

1. Addon Error on start up - https://feedback.bistudio.com/T142660
2. Missing czech subtitles in game - https://feedback.bistudio.com/T142659 
3. Poor performance, about 50% of normal FPS. 
4. No achievements. 

I was looking forward to spend last few days of my vacation playing Contact, but now I understand that I will play Contact in my next vacation in six months, when it wil be in playable state 😄

After two days. 

Addon error is gone. 
Czech subtitles are there now. 
FPS performance returned almost to the normal by third mission. First two have still bad performance. 

Missions are immersive, conversations between characters are funny, a little joke about little green men is here too. 

So yes, so far i love Contact 🙂 




Edit: No, FPS performance in the third mission is still poor. 

[johnandrews 10]

I just tried to use the so called "Alien Entity (small)" in the editor, but other than using the turret i cant do anything. I cant give it orders nor can i take control over the driver window. That one is greyed out in the UAV map. What do i miss?

 

EDIT: After further fiddling around with those alien drones in the editor, it seems to me they are completely useless. Why are they in the editor at all if they are of no use outside of the campaign? I shurely miss something here...

 

Other than that and after playing trough the entire campaign, i have to say: This is an amazing DLC and i really enjoyed it.

[haleks 8212]

My feedback after a few hours on the campaign : I've played about 75% of the missions (2 missions left before finishing it), and I really dig what I've seen so far. Some interesting gameplay ideas, excellent atmosphere (although it looks like the whole campaign is going to be by night time - I hope the sun will rise before I get to the end).

But I think I'm going to take a break there : the performance issue is just spoiling the experience for me... Half of my engagements with hostiles are impeded by framerate drops and I've been grinding my teeth more than once. I barely get 20 fps, including in open areas, with frequent stuttering. It's just painful to play most of the time - and it gets in the way of an otherwise very enjoyable piece of content.

 

Another thing, @DnA : the first time you get to wear a gasmask, you get an overlay to simulate that. But just this once; that overlay isn't used anymore after that scripted scene.

Is there a specific reason it's not consistently used later in the campaign?

 

[killzone_kid 1330]

1 hour ago, johnandrews said:

Why are they in the editor at all if they are of no use outside of the campaign

You prefer not having them in editor? They are not in editor if you dont use "play contact"

 

[johnandrews 10]

@killzone_kid, Congratulations sir, you just won the "most useless comment of the wekk" contest (facepalm) regarding the alien drones: I just found out that i need to place a movement grid and sync them to it. 

[IndeedPete 1038]

Went ahead and finished this gem today.

 

The Good

Spoiler

• Great writing and dialogue. (No real suprise here considering this is the team that brought us Laws of War.)
• Audio and visuals are superb.
• The scripted gameplay elements around the Spectrum Device are a refreshing addition.
• It's oozing atmosphere.
• The story starts off compelling and finishes somewhat satisfying. Not something you see every day. Especially compared to TV mystery series and the like where endings are usually quite terrible or the shows drag on for ages so viewers won't even give a damn when they finally end.
• We have sort of proper characters with personalities and agency. Very rare occasion in the Armaverse.
• Russians aren't actually the generic badguys. Again, a much welcomed novelty in the Arma series.

 

The Bad

Spoiler

• Performance is abysmal for no apparent reason. I'm getting between 15 and 30 FPS with a mean somewhere around 24. On an i7-8700K, 32 GB RAM, GTX 980, and game on SSD, mind you.
• The Danger Zones are just bollocks. I see what the devs tried to do there - the same thing Warhorse Studios tried to do in Kingdome Come: Deliverance. But for me personally, limiting savegames to make the player consider his actions more carefully is the lazy way to do it. It's hindering experimenting and leads to me exploiting game glitches rather than coming up with good tactics. I'm not ashamed to say I resorted to cheating in some instances because frankly, I don't have the time for that.
• The two open world missions sometimes felt they would drag on for ages. Not sure how to improve that though.
• "Spectrum Device" is a pretty lame name. Surely, someone could come up with some cool abbreviated codename or so. 😉
• I mostly didn't bother with hacking stuff and deceiving enemy patrols because it seems I always missed the cue or it was bugged, and so I found it easier to just kill everyone.

 

All in all, a great experience and a nice, self-contained spin-off. Can't wait to see more content from the Amsterdam office in the future. Certainly, a big improvement over other official playable content in Arma 3.

[Glow 181]

@jakerod

Quote

That hole in the ground at the factory was clever! I don't think anyone even found that beforehand on dev branch either. Might be wrong.

Yes, I know it that something like that will be pressent once I sow the 32x32 floor asset in editor. You can do crazy builds with it, I have one WIP.

 

@Sniperwolf572

Quote

"Hold [space] to advance" prompts don't seem to do anything,

'Cos you, same like me probably, have bind something else to space key, but Arma should read my binds... I use 'go prone' under spacebar - as most important thing.

 

There was once a funny game with "Press A key" message and then, the only key to skip forward had to be 'A' key. Please don't do this in Arma 😄

 

Low FPS? Check your settings, if you play with full screen windowed or fullscreen option on, try to switch between or turn on/off and restart game. I play with windowed fullscreen all the time now, I notice some missions have heavy fps drop when I have not windowed. From time to time there are some missions that have heavy fps drops on windowed and windowed fullscreen but not in fullscreen. I was trying to figure this out but give up on this...

 

Ok. Some of the issues I notice:

 

First mission, on the beginning there is a wrong date. Mission start 17th and few minutes later in some document there is 19th. Sorry haven't catch this on screenshot.

 

Anomalous Phenomena mission:

 

No watch to check a time. Why there is this restriction? You can see time in GPS anyway... once you get it and the watch is on my wrist. Is it broken by EMP? I thoug is mechanical.

 

Spectrum Device : when you mount to a pickup at shooter position, it won't work and screen is showing 999 - I'm glad that not  666  iwouldshitmyself with this soundtrack.

999 booga, booga, booga!

 

AI imprecise placed or something went wrong with animations : After I back to tower base, one of the scientist was by the desk, second was fixing an antenna from other side of the road:
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

FreeRoam 1 : zone restrictions borders : very weird, I not even get close to a border of dangerous zone (see screen, Im inside) and I get kick of the mission 'cos I left the AO! Mission Failed and no save 'cos dangerous zone restrictions! Argghhh...

Spoiler

 

 

 

Orca crash side : There is no device or I can't find it and my protagonist saying "Yeah is here, some weird device, bla-bla..." WHERE??? LDF come and shoot me, arhhh... F!

UVG shooting a lots of GMG in there, so maybe that's why something went wrong... but hey : "I see wird device... bla, bla, bla..."

 

Something went wrong with spawning:

 

Spectrum Device and Stomper hacking. O M G. Why I can't do this from few meters distance? Why I have to be so close to Stomper? Once I hack it, LDF start shooting grenades at Stomper - it's obvious - and Im dying there. I knew I was going to die... but I was so excited that finally I succeed on hacking... ehh.

 

 

No car hud box - I like that or maybe I hide it in my layout... but :

 

I like the new task menus (press and keep 'J' key - jurnal in menu), the small one, immersive improvements like that should be in A3 long time ago, but all that's ruined by other very arcade adds. Like a sound when you entering a dangerous zone or all those extra arcade components of spectrum device: circles showing direction and advanced screen - this should be off in expert mode, not really needed all the information needed are on a map. Please link those off in settings menu to some other option - like those weapons windows in hud, can be hidden or faded. I wish to have all those new hud components off in expert mode. Spectrum device look so cool, no need to drop on screen all those extra adds - it's doing the job fine withou those.

 

 

Over all awesome fun and I like it very much but...

Im still in Anomalous Phenomena mission, over 7h now 🙂 I decide to play stealth with no LDF killing and do all objectives.

 

Once I hack a Stomper... yeah...rip... I will try to approach this again with no hacking. I hope that someone who design those mission took this under concieration - to not kill allies. Even when they are temporarily not friendly.

 

[R3vo 2654]

I've just finished the campaign and it was a blast.

 

Some notes:

• Great dialogs and voice acting
• The atmosphere the campaign conveyed was awesome.
• I liked the main characters
• The spectrum device was refreshing and worked almost flawlessly. I hope to see some use outside of the campaign for it. Would be a shame to leave it at that.
• Overall, the areas of operation were nicely designed. A lot of things to discover (looters, gear etc.)
• I enjoyed eavesdropping with the Spectrum device
• The map screen looks very refreshing, I had been missing the handwritten font for notes since Operation Flashpoint. Hopefully we can get this one in the base game as well.
• The task system was nice too, although somewhat confusing in the beginning.
• I think the spectrum map is kinda useless. It doesn't really show more information than clicking the icon on the map.
• The scripting (gravity effects) were awesome to look at. I think it would have been nice to have some deadly stalker like anomalies scattered around the forests.
• The sound when entering/exiting the danger zones is a bit to harsh. Got startled every fucking time. 😄
• I had the feeling that the saving was a bit faster, were there some engine changes made to it?
• Spoiler

  Russians being the "good"

  guys was actually unexpected. Nice touch!
• Something I didn't like were all the abbreviations. Someone  who has not severed in the military has to look up 90% of all abbreviations. Would be nice to have a glossary for them in the field manual.
• Effect, voice and music volume was not balanced well. In order to understand all dialogs I had to turn down music and effect volume to 50%, leaving voice volume at 100%. I usually play with all three set to 100%.
• Performance was almost at the edge of not being acceptable. I had expected more from an official campaign. All mission ran at 20-28 fps with view distance set to 500 m. None of the other settings affected the fps. System i5 3570k @4,6ghz, gtx 1070.at first I thought my CPU was the bottleneck, but after ready that others had the same issue with recent CPUs I don't think so.
• If "Last Help" binding is not bound to the default "H" key, it doesn't seem to work. That made me get stuck during the second mission?
  Spoiler

  where I had to send the guards away at the first site. I had not clue how to open up the Library.

  Turned out that the "Next Weapons" binding wasn't bound to a key. 
• Awesome soundtrack.

 

 

 

That's all I can think of for now. When something else comes to mind, I'll update the list.

[Private Evans 498]

For me personally the best single player experience since years beside Metro Exodus ....thx a lot BI 🙂

[jakerod 254]

Just finished the campaign! Great work! I really enjoyed it!

Spoiler

• Do vehicles lose velocity when the game is saved? I was trying to run down an LDF squad on the road that was walking in a line as I crossed a Danger Zone line. The game saved. I got them but then the  guys behind them lit me up and I died. Reload... vehicle isn't moving, squad of LDF right in front of me. Somehow managed to survive but that was pure luck. It would have been annoying getting stuck there.
• I was investigating Camp Kresnik in Carpe Noctem, Lost EDI because I tried to open a door, accidentally placed him, and then he got stuck on the other side and the door was locked (Shed w4 at Camp Kresnik)
• In the final mission/credits I had 5 FPS. The frequencies weren't moving and the sound was stuttery. Then when I hit ESC Arma 3 crashed. I went back to it and was able to "play" it fine once I restarted. Not sure what happened.
• The pickup I was driving had an "Arsenal" option on it at some point. I don't think it always had it but it did eventually have it. I opened it and when I did I lost the compass at the top of the screen. Before | After | Contents of truck in case that somehow triggered it
• Does this house have any significance? I feel like it was a lot of detail to put into something for there to be nothing important and no one there. https://i.imgur.com/7YLZKRT.jpg
• Awww :( That's sad... and a little weird that one of them is sitting on the guys head
• Not sure why this guy chose to fight in his underwear. He was on the back of the pickup that spawns along the road west of the "root" that is north of Dolnik. It drives by you when you're investigating the smoking pickup with the guy who I think always has a picture of the house in Kulno.
• Speaking of which, I never understood the significance of that picture. That house doesn't exist there and I didn't see a similar pattern of buildings and fences that would indicate it was a historical photo clue.
• I love the last level a lot! It had a good feeling to it. I was expecting to have to hold off against the counter-attack more though.... especially given the amount of explosives and AT mines in the crates at the base of the core.
• Really awesome that you got to fight alongside the Russians. I had just been thinking that and then noticed them in the background.
• I found three dead Spetsnaz during the other missions and I feel like that's a significant enough development to warrant a radio call back to your friend. Same with having the visions.
• I found myself scavenging a lot because I didn't know the context of the scavenging. I wasn't sure if I would have access to the weapons later or if I would need to arm AI. I feel like I wasted quite a bit of time on that and never really saw the benefit.
• Overall though it was a great campaign! You guys have been kicking ass on that front lately!
• I'm a little disappointed that you can't get through the whole campaign without killing LDF. That would have been cool but doesn't seem possible given the last mission.

Are you guys tracking anything similar to what you did in LoW? https://www.bohemia.net/assets/articles/img/thumbs/arma3_dlc_lawsofwar_campaign_infographic.jpg I'd love to see another one of those for this campaign. Not sure what would be on it though.

[haleks 8212]

The view distance sliders don't have any effect for me : no matter what, I have trees rendered at very high distance. No wonder the framerate is terrible.

[jakerod 254]

1 minute ago, haleks said:

The view distance sliders don't have any effect for me : no matter what, I have trees rendered at very high distance. No wonder the framerate is terrible.

I imagine it's necessary so you can see certain things in the distance.

[haleks 8212]

Just now, jakerod said:

I imagine it's necessary so you can see certain things in the distance.

 

They could use setFeatureType combined with terrain view distance, no need to impose crazy objects view distance - especially with such dense forests. :/ 

[darkChozo 133]

17 minutes ago, jakerod said:

Spoiler

• Does this house have any significance? I feel like it was a lot of detail to put into something for there to be nothing there. https://i.imgur.com/7YLZKRT.jpg

 

 

 

Spoiler

If that's the house I think it is, there's a shotgun Promet near the backdoor, and the shoot house inside leads to an oddly-rare pair of binoculars.

 

[jakerod 254]

50 minutes ago, darkChozo said:

 

  Hide contents

If that's the house I think it is, there's a shotgun Promet near the backdoor, and the shoot house inside leads to an oddly-rare pair of binoculars.

 

Spoiler

Ah okay. I found the Promet but not the binoculars. I was pretty much using an MK-I EMR the entire game so the Promet wasn't anything special to me. I was expecting there to be people or a "Examine" type of thing. That was a cool house though. I saw it from across the valley on the other side by the smoking offroad and it stuck out nicely. I was also confused by the other house that was close to there. The one with the van with all the computer stuff. But maybe the thing in the shed was the special thing there.

 

[jakerod 254]

This guy https://www.reddit.com/r/arma/comments/circp2/help_cannot_play_contact_campaign/ was having problems where whenever he tried to play Contact it started up the Laws of War campaign instead. His RPT is in a pastebin link in the comments. He has never played the LoW campaign (which I told him he really should). We did a screenshare and he did everything right as far as I can tell but then all of a sudden it started loading the LoW campaign. We removed the save files it was generating for it but no luck. We eventually resorted to just removing the Orange mission ebo and that "solved" it but that isn't a real solution. That might be something good to look into. Something that seemed odd was that when it got to the loading screen for the first mission of Contact it popped up an error about missing a file from Orange (probably from the mission pbo) but I found it odd it was doing that after the loading screen popped up and not before since I would expect it to look for Orange and then go to Contact if it was loading up Orange before.

 

[LykosMactire 298]

Any chance we can get the Patrol waypoint moved to the free content section? I dont see any point to a waypoint being only usable when the DLC is loaded, when the animations the Patrol waypoint uses are part of the free platform update. 

[ISparkle 49]

42 minutes ago, LykosMactire said:

Any chance we can get the Patrol waypoint moved to the free content section? I dont see any point to a waypoint being only usable when the DLC is loaded, when the animations the Patrol waypoint uses are part of the free platform update. 

This, I am not sure why some features like this are locked away even for the DLC owners. Would love Patrol waypoint.