Tip: Zoom without holding your breath.

[Stagger Lee 0]

Considering a large part of the game is scanning for enemy movement, and that a lot of us are stuck playing at around 1024 resolution which feels kind of like I forgot to wear my glasses, I find myself holding the right mouse button a lot just when walking around. When I'm doing so it feels like I'm sort of squinting and scanning a particular direction in the distance so it in no way feels unrealistic. Problem is when you hold the right mouse button down for more than a few seconds you start breathing hard and it screws up your aim if you want to shoot anytime in the near future.

I found there's a separate Zoom option in the keyboard options, which does the exact same thing, except doesn't make you hold your breath and you can keep it held down forever, switching over to holding your breath without a hitch.

I tried lots of configurations and found what worked best for me was to have one of the extra thumb buttons on my mouse set to holding my breath. It's a Razer Diamond back mouse; I had to configure it to a keyboard button out of game so I could map it in game.

I would much prefer to bind the mouse wheel up and down to zoom in and out, but unfortunately the game sees the wheel like a joystick movement and only zooms if you continually mouse the wheel forward or backward at very high speed..impossible to achieve really. That and I do like the use of the wheel for the Action button and scrolling up and down menu choices..can't have it both ways I'm afraid..though I'm not sure why.

Another alternative that appears to be impossible at the moment is to bind "hold breath" to a double right mouse button tap. So you hold the right mouse button for unlimited Zoom, and double tap it and hold for "hold breath". You can configure for this, but it simply doesn't work. I'm guessing a bug.

For those without an extra mouse button I would recommend binding "hold breath" to an easily accessible key which you can hold down while still manuevering as necessary. The Left Alt would be good for this, but I find that works better as the current View control. If you're using TrackIR you won't need the View key, so that may be a good option for some of you.

Hope this helps someone..it's made my gaming more enjoyable as it no longer sounds like a porno with lots of heavy breathing. Maybe if I change my avatar voice to female...

[bootleg soldier 2]

Thanks for the heads up, i never got the breathing hard bit anyway can anybody tell me what it simulates?, i know i'm not in the fitness shape of a year ago but if i look hard in one direction..... well i aint that flabby yet

[Stagger Lee 0]

Yeah, by default the right mouse button is "hold breath" which makes your aim better for a few seconds and zooms you in whether you have your iron sights up or not. So it's proper use is when you are 80% lined up with your target and ready to let a bullet fly. Just try holding down the right mouse button and after a few seconds you'll hear yourself breathing hard like you just sprinted a bit. You'll also notice your aim steadies for a short period. If you are already using a Sniper weapon it won't zoom in any more than it already is, but for the other weapons it will.

So the Zoom function is exactly the same, just doesn't hold your breath, and it's not really bound to any useful key by default. I like to be able to zoom in "squint" at will if necessary for as long as I want to scan for targets, and then "hold my breath" as a separate function when I'm ready to shoot.

[frederf 0]

This is one of the first things I did in ArmA. Along with unbinding "Reveal target" from Right Mouse Button as well. People in MP will thank you for unbinding that stupid reveal target so you stop shouting out all the little bits you see in the distance. My hold breath is space bar and my reveal target is J.

I am kinda annoyed that "Lock" and "Zoom" are the same control and you can't do anything about it.

[Stagger Lee 0]

Hey Frederf..I was wondering what "Lock" actually does..I haven't been able to figure it out.

[bootleg soldier 2]

I assume Lock (well how i use it) is for things like choppers or TOW missiles and the stinger etc for well locking onto stuff

[frederf 0]

Yeah, that's what it does. It also works with Hellfires, FFARs, and the minigun as AH-1 gunner... if you're clever.

[Blanco 0]

good tip Stagger Lee

[smellyjelly 0]

I've know about this for a while, and set the zoom to my left Windows key