Patch 1.05 impressions

[mr reality 0]

Is it just me or does enemy AI seem greatly improved but your squadmates remain retards?

I've never had a complaint about the enemy AI. They see you and they try and shoot you. BUT your squad AI like you say is a completely different matter.

I only play single player so i notice this very much. Friendly AI is laughable. I've had soldiers facing the opposite direction they were getting shot at, i've had soldeirs standing up to present themselves as a much larger target while out in the open, i've had soldiers lagging behind because there pathfinding is utter crap, i've had soldiers who stand up with rifle down even though i gave the danger command and this is just a few of the sheer dumb things the friendly AI do.

Unfortunetly this game is 85-90% multiplayer orientated so these little things like friendly AI get unoticed by the majority of the community and probably by the developers. Maybe i'm a wee bit harsh but whenever there's a thread about AI its primarily about enemy AI, because they expect the players team to be comprised of all humans.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Is it just me or does enemy AI seem greatly improved but your squadmates remain retards?

I've never had a complaint about the enemy AI. They see you and they try and shoot you. BUT your squad AI like you say is a completely different matter.

I only play single player so i notice this very much. Friendly AI is laughable. I've had soldiers facing the opposite direction they were getting shot at, i've had soldeirs standing up to present themselves as a much larger target while out in the open, i've had soldiers lagging behind because there pathfinding is utter crap, i've had soldiers who stand up with rifle down even though i gave the danger command and this is just a few of the sheer dumb things the friendly AI do.

Unfortunetly this game is 85-90% multiplayer orientated so these little things like friendly AI get unoticed by the majority of the community and probably by the developers. Maybe i'm a wee bit harsh but whenever there's a thread about AI its primarily about enemy AI, because they expect the players team to be comprised of all humans.

All AI's use the exact same .fsm so im not sure what you mean...

[Luciano 0]

That is because "ARMA is a multiplayer game with a built in singlerplayer as a bonus" Dont you know that by now?

[mr reality 0]

All AI's use the exact same .fsm so im not sure what you mean...

This is what i expected  

I know all Ai uses the same coding but it's pretty obvious when things go very wrong when the AI is in the squad your commanding. All the enemy Ai has to do is look for you and shoot at you. It's abit of a no brainer really. But the squad Ai has to be a little bit more sophisticated to at least survive a simple encounter with the enemy without half the squad dying.

I know exactly what i'm talking about as i have the very same game as you my friend.  I see stupid AI actions in my squad in every mission i make or play.

Quote[/b] ]That is because "ARMA is a multiplayer game with a built in singlerplayer as a bonus"  Dont you know that by now?

I know this. That's why i stated 85-95% MP orientated in my previous post. And this will untimitly be the reason i will give up on ArmA. Not yet, but the time is getting near..

[LeftSkidLow 1]

I like the patch alot, it seems to have fixed the degrading FPS issue for me, the interfaces are a bit better, VTOL, but I can't find the SU-34 in the editor.

[mr reality 0]

I like the patch alot, it seems to have fixed the degrading FPS issue for me, the interfaces are a bit better, VTOL, but I can't find the SU-34 in the editor.

Then if that's all you have to worry about then your a very lucky person...

It should be in OPFOR/Air/at the bottom of the list i think.

[colt 0]

The enemy AI is a frigging nightmare

I'm playing the single mission Night Strike and I crawl near a bush and peer through my sights at a guard on a watchtower. I'm about 20 metres away and I can see he's not wearing any night vision goggles. I assume a kneeling postion and suddenly he turns around and shoots me...

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, even when you manage to shoot an enemy in the head with a silenced weapon, their loud "ARGGHHH!" alerts everyone in the vicinity.

I did some testing in the mission editor (in daylight).

Test 1:

I did a "How far away can they hear you walking before they react and shoot you" test. I can sneak up from behind someone within 15-20 metres and then they will hear you moving.

Test 2:

I then placed 2 enemy units at varying distance from each other (one facing the others back).

Me---> Enemy 1---> Enemy 2--->

I then shot the one nearest to me in the head with a silenced gun.

In order for Enemy soldier 2 not to hear the "AARGGGGHHH!" of Enemy 1, he had to be at least 82 metres away.

In version 1.04 you could use stealth tactics - headshots without the cry.

For any future patches I'd really like BIS to consider releasing Beta versions.

[Scrub 0]

I wish the unconstructive complainers and trolls would take note of Mr. Reality and Colts responses. They have issues, some pretty significant. But the manner in which they post has information and an attitude that allows someone to understand and be able to help - Wether that is BIS, or someone who just altered the same issue in the FSM. Either way, we all win. Just a thought.

[MamiyaOtaru 1]

So I decided to do some framerate tests.  Before patching, I saved a couple missions (one in S Sahrani, one in N Sahrani) with just me on the map.  Started each mission, and without moving recorded the framerate looking to the left, right, straight ahead, through irons, and through irons+zoomed.  

Then I patched to 1.05, loaded the same missions (so I am in the exact same spots) and measured. (same settings of course)

I averaged 7.3 percent fewer frames per second.  Figures below.

numbers are FPS looking left, right, ahead, irons, irons+zoom

South Sahrani (looking over Somato from hill to south)

1.04

52, 58, 56, 44, 48

1.05

48, 53, 52, 40, 44

North Sahrani (in forest east of Eponia)

1.04

34, 32, 33, 28, 26

1.05

32, 30, 30, 26, 26

I would assume the loss is from the AI is doing more or something (we keep asking for that) except that in my tests there was no AI on the map at all.  The loss is entirely degraded graphics performance.  Is it the new grass layer?  Maybe the loss comes from keeping extra textures or LODs in memory and ready to display quickly to try to mitigate teh low LOD seen up close problem.  If so (and if it works) I guess it's a worthy trade.  That's the only reason I can come up with why things might be slowed down graphically: that it is tied ti improvements.

Anyway, the performance loss is real for me.  Tests run on

Core 2 duo 6600

2 GB ddr2-800

Intel G965+ ICH8 chipset

geforce 7900gt

Windows XP

Normal textures, terrain detail, shading, shadows.  Low postprocessing, low antialiasing, 1024*768 Viewdistance ~1600

[-CS-SOBR-1st-I-R- 0]

Are you really complaining the drop of FPS to an average of 30+ FPS ??

Be glad that you have that much ... lol - Jokes aside, nice idea to have it tested. Well done.

[swissrudeboy 0]

Great patch, some things still remain to be fixed, but you are really on the good way.

[Daniel 0]

SOBR[1st-I-R] @ Mar. 04 2007,23:05)]Are you really complaining the drop of FPS to an average of 30+ FPS ??    

Damn right he's complaining, why should a patch that doesn't upgrade your graphics cause you an FPS drop?!

[john_mcclane 0]

So far, my performance seems basically the same as before patching from 1.04. I haven't changed any settings. And visually it looks the same as 1.04. Below are my specs and game settings in case it might help somebody.

My system:

AMD 64 3400+ (2.4GHz)

2GB DDR (PC-3200)

6800GT AGP, 256MB (93.81 Beta drivers, v-sync off, max frames to render ahead set to "0")

XP

My ArmA settings:

1024 x 768 x 32-bit, 75Hz, 4:3

View Distance: 1400

Quality preference: Very High

Terrain: High

Objects: Very High

Textures: Normal

Shading: Low

Post-processing: Low

Anisotropic: Normal

Shadows: Low

Anti Aliasing: Low

Blood: High

[baddo 0]

Daniel @ Mar. 05 2007,00:22)]why should a patch that doesn't upgrade your graphics cause you an FPS drop?!

Maybe there is much more than just graphics in the game, which use the processing power?

[mr reality 0]

I can't say for sure if this is a 1.05 bug or a 1.04 bug or it's just my game as i never tested the AH1Z before.

When i press "N" i get the nightvision but then after about 4 seconds it fades back to black (04.00hrs in game). I tested all the other US helos and there fine, it's just the A1HZ.

Can anyone else test this out.

Also has the tow missile always flown like it does in 1.05. I'm amazed it actually reaches the target because of the zigzag dance it does. Anyone else noticed the Tow vehicles being crap at fireing when you order them to, they take at least 3 missiles to hit the target., after a long delay from targeting to actually fireing...

Plus the drivers of the M113 and stryker don't turn out properly. I order safe mode and the driver wont turn out unless i go in the rear.I thought this was fixed. This is my first real attempt to test some of the weapons in Arma and if they fixed a shit load of bugs i'd hate to think what it was like in 1.04  

[MamiyaOtaru 1]

SOBR[1st-I-R] @ Mar. 04 2007,23:05)]Are you really complaining the drop of FPS to an average of 30+ FPS ??    

 

Not really  If I throw enough units on the map though, a drop from 25 to 22 starts to get to where I can't stand it.

Quote[/b] ]Be glad that you have that much ... lol  - Jokes aside, nice idea to have it tested. Well done.

Wouldn't hurt of some other folks tried it.  Would be a little more scientific.

Maybe there is much more than just graphics in the game, which use the processing power?

 

That's why I ran my little test with no AI.  Unless there are a ton more seagulls, I think any change can be attributed to changes in the graphics.

Anyway, I think the grass layer may be at fault for part of it.  It is extra stuff to draw.  Unfortunately it is a lot lower resolution than the ground underneath it, especially obvious when zoomed in on it

[imustkill 0]

I love the patch, except for one thing. You can turn the grass off in singleplayer, but from what I have seen, it is always there in multiplayer. Without the grass, I could run ArmA smoothly at my normaly res (1280x1024).

[Albert Schweitzer 10]

the patch did not resolve our multiplayer problem. Even if I disable Ethernet I can rarely join a server. Game still crashes, besides that everything works fine. However the path-finding of tanks still sucks big time.

[Anon55 0]

I've had a good few hours on Ar Aslt today, first really good session after installing the patch, noticed lots of bugs that were'nt there in 1.04, I now get missing textures as mentiond in preivious threads these then suddenly appear, also it happens more in MP to the piont of it becoming unplayable, also performance seems to be worse i lowered my settings so every thing was around normal View Dist of 3918, performance seemed to be worse so I put every thing back to the settings I had before(Quality pref-Very High /Visibility-3918 / Res 1280x1024 @ 75hz / Terrain detail-Very High / Objects Detail-Very High / Texture Detail-Very High / Shading Detail- Very High / Postprocess Effects-High / AS-Very High / Shadow Detail-High / AA-High / Blood-High.)The game is playable but not as well as it was pre 1.05. This game has some real issues that need addressing fast, the most important of these being ( IMO) the performance/graphical issues, The graphics are good but not cutting edge, therfore should not stress todays hardware.

[Commando84 0]

dude you are making your computer lag cause of the uber high visibility settings you have, i run 1000 or something and game runs just smoothly.

[W0lle 1046]

1200m here and runs fine on my not-so-uber-elite system.

I gave up long time ago discussing why one needs 3000m+ viewdistance when his weapon has an average range of 600m.

[iGnitor 0]

Quite impressed so far. Obviously there are some issues but it seems to be coming along well. Seems obvious now that high end machines actually give the worst performance with this game and average systems do it better.

I felt the OFP magic touch!

[pedro870 0]

I love the patch, except for one thing. You can turn the grass off in singleplayer, but from what I have seen, it is always there in multiplayer.

The same here, I just cannot switch the grass off on our server by changing the terrain detail setting. However, if I include setterraingrid 50 in the missions, there is no grass. But it should work through server config.

My other problem is, that internal voice doesn't seem to be working.

But the game has become totally playable on my not so new computer, and the multiplayer part has been improved since 1.02 a lot.

[causticwindow911 0]

1200m here and runs fine on my not-so-uber-elite system.

I gave up long time ago discussing why one needs 3000m+ viewdistance when his weapon has an average range of 600m.

It would make sense in a game that was infantry only, but when you have things like helicopters and SABOT chucking tanks then longer ranges come into play.

2000m seems good for me. You can see the surrounding terrain quite well and it's not much of a drop from 1200m or more.

[INNOCENT&CLUELESS 0]

Hehe, WOlle you will never get it!

One reason is: it is possible! So I would enjoy 10000m VD! That's why I drive sometimes 260km/h, not that it makes any sense or that I need it, but I can - the manufacturer promised me I can. And if the car would only drive 240 I would be pissed, even if I do not really need it.

But the VD 10000m make really sense and I need it because I love the strategic aspect and that requires intelligence in the field about enemy movement. Was quite impossible with VD 2000-3000m which ends 1/3 earlier for human players due to the foggy fade out.

I love to be the spotter on a hilltop - reporting the enemy convoy to the nice prepared ambush - enable them to hit hard and concentrated - the secret to be successful even with small forces.