Running Arma in 16bit Colour mode

[ryankaplan 1]

I enabled 16 bit mode in Arma the other day by editing

My Documents/Arma/Arma.cfg

And changed the 32 to a 16.

Results? i get the same fps at 3500ViewDistance which i get with 1200 on 32bit mode. At first the colours and the lighting looked a bit odd, but i thought the extra 2000 VD was well worth it.

However i recently noticed that 16 bit mode actually disabled HDR. 'Woohoo' some of you might think, but without HDR, Nights Are Pitch Black, NV goggles are Bright-Bright Green and etcetera.

I was wondering if there was any way to fix this? Or is it The lack of HDR that is giving the immense FPS boost anyway?

[icehollow 0]

hahhahahh 16 bit , gosh that must look fucked. Anyway, the HDR of course when it's off is going to yield more FPS , however like you said at the sacrifice of some things you will probably need.

I run arma fine so ive never had a problem with HDR being on , IMO it's the most realistic HDR i've seen so far , other games have it wayyyy over the top. And as for viewdistance , i can understand that some people want to be able to see towns and areas out to 3000+ meters , however you can't see Infantry out at 3000 meters without opticals (ex:binocs, high mag scope) , and also you most likely won't be engaging in infantry battles past 1000 meters , more likely it would be 500 meters for standard infantry , 1000-1200 for snipers max. so once again IMO : 1800-2300 is a good view distance. but you know , different strokes for different folks.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Yep, been doing this a while, not too bad except for the NVGs

I didn't really notice a *picture* quality difference .... looks very similar really.

And icehollow, not everyone owns a super computer, I had to do this just so I could play the bloody game! Even so, I'm playing at detail levels little better than OFP.

..... saving for a new puter.

[Chris Death 0]

But related to viewdistance i totally agree with icehollow.

It's not worth to shrimp visual quality down just to be able

to see 1500-2000 meters more than 1500.

If it's to make the game playable at all - i understand it.

~S~ CD

[ryankaplan 1]

thank you for your answers. they didnt help me find answers to my questions, but thank you anyway.

Arma is halfarsedly playable on my system, but 16bit makes it very playable. on a Athlon 3700+ with 1gb ram and x1800gto256mb, Coupled with 16bit mode and no-grass islands recently released, i can have a battalion vs battalion conflict diverging over northern sahrani on Normal settings (shadows off) at 2000vd with mostly over 20fps.

Looking at the sort of games that i will most likely play on the zeus server (once linux server is released), that is Reinforced Company vs Reinforced Company on a tactical scale, i want to be able to play with more than 1200 VD. You will not see enemies beyond 1200, only if you are not looking for them. 1200VD imho, makes capturing a hill close to pointless, it makes planes and choppers blind, and forces Tanks into Close Combat.

In any case, different people, different styles of play, different needs.

So I ask again, did anyone manage to activate HDR while running in 16bit mode?

[Maddmatt 1]

thank you for your answers. they didnt help me find answers to my questions, but thank you anyway.

Arma is halfarsedly playable on my system, but 16bit makes it very playable. on a Athlon 3700+ with 1gb ram and x1800gto256mb, Coupled with 16bit mode and no-grass islands recently released, i can have a battalion vs battalion conflict diverging over northern sahrani on Normal settings (shadows off) at 2000vd with mostly over 30fps.

Looking at the sort of games that i will most likely play on the zeus server (once linux server is released), that is Reinforced Company vs Reinforced Company on a tactical scale, i want to be able to play with more than 1200 VD. You will not see enemies beyond 1200, only if you are not looking for them. 1200VD imho, makes capturing a hill close to pointless, it makes planes and choppers blind, and forces Tanks into Close Combat.

In any case, different people, different styles of play, different needs.

So I ask again, did anyone manage to activate HDR while running in 16bit mode?

Your card can handle 32bit just fine, switch to 32bit.