Arma 3 Apex: Old Man Feedback

[mmm 35]

The endless transaction amount hint is quite annoying after shopping/selling, especially a large number of items. There has to be a way to consolidate a number of transactions into a single hint so I don't have to deal with it the next several(or dozen) minutes.

[LSValmont 789]

Hey guys, do you have an ETA on when will the OLD MAN assets be integrated into A3?

 

Because I could really use the money/cellphone/store assets that the mission features on my own missions not to mention that .50 Cal!

[mmm 35]

They need to take a look at Syndikat enforcing CSAT restricted zones. I've in more than a few occasions having Syndikat turn hostile when I reach a cleared CSAT checkpoint on foot, which is also incidentally a consequence of Syndikat missing the "retreat" trigger when the specific units of a site is destroyed(which is normally desirable so they actually help finish securing the site so I can exploit it), and I can tell some of those are misconfigured too.

[OMAC 254]

I just started the scenario for the first time (after Jan. 13 update).  One small bug to report:  soon after start there is a task to "Drive to village."  I went to the map to see where I should drive to.  The task text is "Accompany Arthur to his home, just outside Luganville." When I clicked on the maplink "home," its location was at the extreme southwest corner of the Tanoa map, in the ocean.

 

 

[Rochambeaubeau 4]

Consider having a voice actor say, "Mon Toques!" when you purchase their watchcap. There's already a TTS placeholder for "Mon chapeau!"

[mmm 35]

How does this scenario keep the time for that mission with timer?

Spoiler

That deliver medicine or people start dying thing.

 

First, full disclosure here, I use setacctime at both above and below 1, I don't know how that affects it but I assume it's not the only factor - I'll explain. In case it is I hope it's not too complex to implement a fix so it's only based on in-game time elapsed.

 

So first playthrough, with the prior version, I got that call around 4A.M., on the second full day. Nothing told me to hold on to those pointless quest items but good thing I stockpiled just in case. it said minimum 3 hours, so I thought, "there's time". Only to find out the timer ticked down at least as fast as the minimum time rate, if not faster. So I rushed back to my stockpiles, handed over every medicine I have. The timer went back up, but it also appeared that handing over medicine also caused a few to die instantly(I assume that's what the cross over portrait mean, since it came without a call or hint)?! I wasn't going to find out what exactly caused it before the update hit.

 

Second playthrough, the quest broke early on somehow started at 10A.M, or so, with the timer not updating to display the actual time left in the task description, map not updated with the new location icon, and the timer tickdown update hint only says "any". My hope was that with the coordinate I have I could still find the camp and the quest still work in the background. That was not to be. I handed over 50+ packs of med, skipped a few hours to see if it worked. Spoiler alert they're still dying(but not wiped out). "But at least there's at minimum a few hours I just need to speed run everything", I thought. That's not to be either, some 30min of play later, doctor called ,"oh no, EVERYONE's dead." From everyone's fine as far as last update.

 

And because I'm the kind of take time and try to get everything, see everywhere player, with little time skip used it took me about as much real life time to get to the point. While I may or may not be the outlier on the slow side for an open world as big as ARMA, to think a scenario up to several dozen hours long, without anything to insulate player from potential game breaking bugs, that's scary. It's clear they're aware it is a single scenario design, well maybe they want to take another look at it.

 

The reason I don't find such problems(as bad) in other persistent SP or vanilla "East Wind" campaign is that(I believe) they got "restarts" with persistent save mechanics, or "fresh start" for individual mission but with some persistent information preserved. It probably allowed far better reliability and performance than an indefinite length single scenario where something's bound to break after running long enough, and a "reset" button to possibly fix/workaround bugs with at limited progress loss, with the added benefit of preserving savegame compatibility. I personally don't feel a mission loading screen by itself breaks an open world, it's not preserving the world status that should have been between loadings screens does it.

 

Speaking of which I have some relatively minor complaints about how quickly they erase some information in their current design, like how short the corpse clean up/roadblock reset distance is. When the little economy you have is built around personally looting corpses, having those cleaned up after a few hundred meters isn't really the best option. Other than expanding the distance I think instead of instant delete add an extra amount of time that has to be elapse before delete can be an idea. As for the checkpoints, if they really feel the need to have infinite amount of recurring enemies in a few fixed locations, at least add some substantial delays before respawns, like a day at minimum. In fact I don't feel repeatedly regenerating those roadblocks has much purpose than making physical traveling more tedious.

[Rochambeaubeau 4]

Regarding the Deliver Medicine timer, I figured out a way to receive the maximum time value and this will extend the minimum to over 100 hours with just a dozen packs of medicine. Save your stash in a vehicle or pack, then deliver one pack of medicine one-by-one.

[mmm 35]

18 hours ago, Rochambeaubeau said:

Regarding the Deliver Medicine timer, I figured out a way to receive the maximum time value and this will extend the minimum to over 100 hours with just a dozen packs of medicine. Save your stash in a vehicle or pack, then deliver one pack of medicine one-by-one.

And you realize that's another way how this single mechanic is broken, detected, between just you and me... I didn't get more than 2 days(probably far less in real world time even without skipping) with maybe 30 something in one go. Now you don't even know how it count number of items delivered.

 

Now I wonder what kinda of ongoing support they're gonna provide. Obviously they're not obligated to offer any. I kinda hope they "live service" this mission and iterate it overtime with whatever manpower they can muster while also leverage it as some sort of SP idea proving ground/practice range. But on the other hand I feel the issues are numerous and many not just skin deep, I personally don't even like the overall structure, the basis of the mission placed the first step in the wrong place to start with. Well, we'll see how this goes forward.

[Lord_Shing 1]

Hi All, just had my first play through and am now going back to see the details.  I echo the statements of this being a very entertaining mission / task, but I did come across issues that are mostly here already.  I have no mods installed on these play throughs so nothing external should be causing the issues. 

 

Silo Mission - after update that changed the mission criteria in the task list

 

Spoiler

For the silo destruction mission I decided to help the assault team rather than try for personal glory, so I snuck in prior to the call, got into a decent position and waited.  As soon as that came in I shot all of the exterior sentries and other visible guards.  Two were still hiding so I joined the assault and we took these out pretty easily.  They laid a charge, we all ran and I took up an ambush position on the QRF.  The rest of the team ran away somewhere west as I took out the QRF thinking we were going to win this time.  For the next 45-60 mins in game time I heard firefights in the distance and imagined some intense running battles, then it became quiet and I got the mission fail notification.  So the fail is tied to all members of team (except me) being killed.  That should be the case maybe until the silos are destroyed, but after that, it shouldn' t matter if they all die to be honest (every man for himself).  Also, I didn't use any boats to get off (yes, the one we used was locked)...I swam back as no one came after me specifically.  Swimming took a while, but was by far the easiest way to get away instead of running west into certain death or east to the bridge.

 

Disappearing fast travel seems to be tied to the sleep save, but I have not been able to replicate this and it happens differently each time.  Though the accommodations at Cerebu disappeared off the map this last play thorugh even though it has full function when there, I just couldn't travel to it.

 

Meds / Doc

 

Spoiler

Giving meds to the doc I found worked without issues but the meds were easy to find due to them respawning in the little village with the bodies on the way to Meet the Contact or Keystone and the IDAP tent near Arthur's home.  I just go back to those locations every now and then and I can acquire over 20 boxes before I even need them.  Giving them to the doc in one shot gives me 50+ hours of time but I end the mission before the lower timer comes close. 

 

Incidentally I use the same idea for the NVGs rather than steal them or fight patrols for them.  The NVGs in the CSAT base at the lumberyard has a set that respawn so if you take out the camp, you get the ones on the baddies and then free respawning ones....there is also a respawning malaria med pack in the same tent so more free meds. 

 

Final Task

 

Spoiler

So destroying the bioweapons dome was fairly easy in full daylight. I inserted on the south of the island, walked around a few minefields, dodged two patrols, got to the dome and walked over the wall in the northeast corner due to terrain, went in the back, put a single charge on the fuel truck (no enemy inside), went out of the warehouse side entrance as there were no enemy in the warehouse nor outside it or the front gate and made off to meet keystone.  The dome was destroyed by the charge on the truck and I wasn't too sneaky about it.  This didn't even raise the alarm so the last patrol was easy to walk around and mission was complete without firing a shot.   

 

Sometimes the checkpoints take time to load up and during this lag you can just drive through or around with no issues because there are no guards yet, they are the last to arrive.

 

I do love these kinds of SP missions, so I want to see it finish well.

[Miki_Titou 0]

Great SP scenario, kind of "Pilgrimage in Tanoa"

 

What I like : persistent open world, being able to blow csat checkpoint in my own MSE3 Marid

 

What I dislike : Santiago is a lone wolf, the scenario is missing squad command which are a highlight of Arma 3 ; Pilgrimage is better on this aspect.

 

What I'd like to see : 

• recruit and command my own squad, 
• possibility to sell "in bulk" like for the stashes, 
• sell vehicules,
• clear checkpoints and bases once and for all (no respawn after),
• after some time you amass a lot of money (160K for me now), what to do with it ?

Version 1.96.146114

Mods :

• CBA_A3,
• C2 Command & Control,
• Enhanced Movement,
• Outlawed MagRepack v3.1.3 (not working)

 

Bugs :

• Safehouse and Market on 092059 not showing on map and not working
• Since blowing the two radars and getting quite a loot in the process : 
  • fast travel is broken, either not working at all, or getting a black screen or a grey low res screen on arrival
  •     fast travel from home is usually broken
  •     FPS dropping a lot : before 40 fps, after down to 20
  •     each time I'm home, a new radio set  is spawn under the small table (I've got about ten of these)
  •     right now, a hell of a time to load a scene, if at all ...

Comms Alpha doesn't respawn, Comms Bravo does respawn

 

Spoiler

So far, I've managed to complete those missions :

• destroy the silos
• destroy the two radars
• research papers

Harcourt base is totally empty / doesn't spawn

I've managed to destroy the police station in Katkoula, but to no avail, is there a console code to complete this mission ?

 

Besides, I'm stuck on the mysterious body mission :

Spoiler

I've checked the house in 093062 and the one in 063041.

Is there something on or west of the island 083050 ???

 

Finally :

• how do you refuel boats ?    
• is there a way to fully repair vehicule (like bullet ridden windshield ..) ?

[dmaziuk 3]

On 2/12/2020 at 6:34 AM, Lord_Shing said:

Disappearing fast travel seems to be tied to the sleep save, but I have not been able to replicate this and it happens differently each time.  Though the accommodations at Cerebu disappeared off the map this last play thorugh even though it has full function when there, I just couldn't travel to it.

 

Seems to be all over the place: some runs you can fast-travel from home, some: you can only fast-travel from after you fast-travel to -- and in one of them my loot box disappeared in a puff of smoke when I arrived. (After a restart I didn't fast-travel and it still disappeared at some point while I wasn't looking.) Sometimes fast travel disappears after you sleep, sometimes: after you step out of the house... I too have the safehouses randomly not marked, even ones that were marked on other runs, so even when fast travel's available there's only a couple of places to fast travel to..

 

So far the funniest one's been the run that got progressively more sluggish: phone calls arriving out of sequence at 3 words per minute, inventories start filling up after 30 seconds... Until on the silo mission I walked in and drove all 4 vehicles out of there, then sat down on the hill and watched the guards spawn. 

 

[Lord_Shing 1]

On 2/17/2020 at 2:45 AM, dmaziuk said:

 

Seems to be all over the place: some runs you can fast-travel from home, some: you can only fast-travel from after you fast-travel to -- and in one of them my loot box disappeared in a puff of smoke when I arrived. (After a restart I didn't fast-travel and it still disappeared at some point while I wasn't looking.)

 

 

I too had my loot box vanish and it never came back, mine was after a fast travel as well. 

 

My fast travel comes and goes, except for a disappearing accommodation icon, the travel comes back but has been too random to try and log the possible reasons.

[ActualyRealZ 0]

The delivery missions are broken for me

The one where you have to deliver the truck for refuges i deliver it then it says get out and the vehicle gets locked then nothing happens

Same with the airplane mission i land it in the field then i get out and it gets locked and nothing else

Also the guerrila teams you can call are broken they apear for a second then disapear and it says disstracion successful

 

 

Also the mission where you have to retrive the photos from the crashed plane i found the secret file but i cant give it to the guy

 

 

Edit:

I had to restart the mission to get the missions to work but this time the resistance missions where you have to blow up the police station with a car bomb didnt work. The guy told me everything but the mission didnt get activated. And at the end i couldnt give the vaccine to the doctor and i couldnt do the resistance ending

[dmaziuk 3]

So is it just me, or is the map menu broken for everyone? "Intel" works about one time out of three, "contacts" shows call log and "call log" shows messages, or whatever... it's one off. But only sometimes. Sometimes it works except all my messages have Drabek's face on them.

[R0adki11 3949]

6 hours ago, dmaziuk said:

So is it just me, or is the map menu broken for everyone? "Intel" works about one time out of three, "contacts" shows call log and "call log" shows messages, or whatever... it's one off. But only sometimes. Sometimes it works except all my messages have Drabek's face on them.

 

Are you using any other mods?

[PVT B.Utah 0]

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

 

 

I have about 20 -30 hours logged on this by now and I have to say, generally speaking, I love it. I have noticed some bugs though:

 

 

- The mission where you need to ID the CSAT unit and find them for Keystone is broken. I took pictures of the bodies, the whiteboard, the tire tracks, and the one room near the bodies. Still hasn't progressed.  The tracks indicate they went west but no CSAT outpost provides anything further beyond that. I wonder if I go across map to the next outbreak zone if it'll be there, I haven't tested this yet. 

 

- I've spent a lot of time exploring the map and investigating features, the Fast Travel system is either broken or the help function used to show how to use it is broken.

 

- I've noticed invisible objects in or alongside roadways that stop the vehicle, sometimes causing it to flip, they don't do damage all the time either which is weird.

 

- The task to find the archaeologist's papers or whatever is broken for me as well unless I missed something.

   - No map marker, no nothing.

- Checkpoints are sometimes broken: The guard who directs the vehicle has gotten stuck in a perpetual "move forward" loop.  When I back up or proceed forward they gun me down.

 

Aside from these things I think this is amazing. I do have some suggestions though for things I'd like to see:

 

- More structure to main plot tasks, more information regarding them as well. Considering this feels very much like Grand Theft Auto I would suggest a set meeting point or points with Keystone to access the Canon missions.  

 

- Less randomization with the L'Ensemble support tasks, sometimes I'll be in the middle of another task or objective and this pops up. I missed a few in a row because of distance or being on a locked down Island.  L'Ensemble seems to penalize you for that, some sort of proximity gating would be great. Maybe limit the attacks to within 1km or so of player position to make access easier.  Also instead of having them randomly pop up why not have a set schedule for them that you can access and use to preplan (gear up, recon, etc).

 

- More vehicles and civilians. The Vehicles for easier and faster travel if the one you have becomes unusable. The civilians for immersion and perhaps even assistance, almost like a network of sympathizers who offer basic supplies or enemy intel.

 

-  Options to expand personal storage space (even if you have to use in game currency to unlock)

 

-  Ability to capture zones for the friendly factions

  - Eliminate all CSAT personnel in an objective area to claim it for the resistance and then have a friendly zone.

 EDIT: I would also like to see more attention paid to the lore of the story, as things progress of course.

 

 

As I've said in the beginning, I am in love with this and cannot wait to see how it progresses. I know it's a Beta but it can use some significant polishing for a potential release. Please reach out if I'm off base or missing something, or if you need additional information. I'll post more if I come across more or remember anything else.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 24, 2020 by PVT B.Utah
added another suggestion

[R0adki11 3949]

1 hour ago, PVT B.Utah said:

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

 

 

Next time use the spoiler tags - Thanks

[PVT B.Utah 0]

will try to figure that out.

[krzychuzokecia 719]

On 2/20/2020 at 6:31 AM, dmaziuk said:

So is it just me, or is the map menu broken for everyone?

 

Common bug for everyone. Reloading the game seems to solve it. At least before scenario update (I haven't had time yet, to play Old Man after update).

[Morbo5131 16]

Has the radio chatter when "wanted" been addressed yet?

[Godis_1 63]

On 2/24/2020 at 8:31 PM, krzychuzokecia said:

 

Common bug for everyone. Reloading the game seems to solve it. At least before scenario update (I haven't had time yet, to play Old Man after update).

Not a bug. You should start a new game.

This happened to me after an update before - until starting a new game. Then everything works fine

[Rochambeaubeau 4]

On 1/29/2020 at 1:54 PM, LSValmont said:

Hey guys, do you have an ETA on when will the OLD MAN assets be integrated into A3?

 

Because I could really use the money/cellphone/store assets that the mission features on my own missions not to mention that .50 Cal!

It looks like it's been announced in the latest Dev build per Razazel https://forums.bohemia.net/forums/topic/140837-development-branch-changelog/?page=56

Quote

05-03-2020
EXE rev. 146224 (game)
EXE rev.146224 (Launcher)
Size: ~980 MB

 

DATA

Added: "Old Man" open-world singleplayer scenario* (unsubscribe or disable the Workshop mod ⚠️)

 

[LSValmont 789]

16 hours ago, Rochambeaubeau said:

It looks like it's been announced in the latest Dev build per Razazel https://forums.bohemia.net/forums/topic/140837-development-branch-changelog/?page=56

 

 

Yeeeeiii

 

Thanks for the heads up!

 

Now my quest for finding how to use some of the assets specially the UI Phone... begins!

 

*wish me luck!

[Rochambeaubeau 4]

On 2/27/2020 at 11:21 AM, Morbo5131 said:

Has the radio chatter when "wanted" been addressed yet?

Yes. There is no longer blaring radio chatter. I've aggravated CSAT, the red flare ignites overhead and there are vehicles and helos hunt after me without any audible radio chatter. However, if you're in close proximity to CSAT or Gendarmes, you will hear language appropriate radio chatter audibly emanating from their radio.

[Electricleash 133]

Anyone else getting this error:

 

 

It triggers at the 10:34 meeting with Keystone and causes really slowed down (pitched down) dialogue/VO.

Edit: No mods running,  Dev1.99.146224