ArmA is just ... disappointing

[SHWiiNG 0]

haha a dynamic campaign that could last weeks would make this a truely Awesome game, but come Game 2 this may change lol i like how this post if far more popular than the Arma, things i like forum below lol

[majoris 10]

The game is garbage, you are kidding yourself if you think that "possible" patches, years from now, automatically make the game good in it's current state.

Too many bugs, too many problems. It's a graphical step forward (a small one, at that) but with the performance, it doesn't even matter how good it looks. There's no reason performance should be that atrocious. On a brand new PC, I'm dragging at 20 FPS on low settings.

The HDR system makes ACU and other uniform textures seem to glow in the dark, rendering 90% of all camoflauge patterns entirely ineffective.

The weapon sounds are as fake as ever. AK's are still sniper rifles, and machine guns have NO recoil or dispersion whatsoever. Weapons still magically reload and there is no decent animation system for the weapons.

Tracers still look like Star Wars lasers. Fine, they can't use the same ones as VBS. But how hard could it possibly be to make something at least remotely realistic?

Player animations are slow, bulky, clumsy, and awkward. Trying to slowly move forward is like trying to drive drunk, high, and coked up. Someone can be in the middle of reloading, be shot 50 times, and still continue to play the reload animation as if the bullets only affect him when he's not reloading. Getting in and out of a vehicle is more a magical disappearing act than something a child could do.

Patches seem to create more problems than solve them. The game was released in a horribly sloppy state, and still remains such. BIS will not fix these problems. Like I said, there is absolutely no excuse why a game should be judged on it's potential patched capability YEARS from now, when the actual product is a piece of garbage.

War simulation? The hell it is.

[opteryx 1562]

The only dissapointing thing I feel is worth mentioning, is lack the lack of realism when commanding tanks/aircraft, I was hoping for Falcon/Steel Beasts + Flashpoint

[Average Joe 0]

A Patch a month, at best. Estimate the time its going to take for all the problems mentioned in this game to be fixed in future patches and wonder why Im kind of miffed alittle.

[ThePredator 0]

Well, well, where should I start?

First off all, the sound engine is completely useless, no stereo, no occlusion/obstruction where it should be (inside a vehicle, nt behind a bush!, more events for sounds to be played, like gear up/down, flaps, servo start, end and idle, engine start, shut-off and idle, same for gatlings (spin up/down).

Did I mention stereo sounds already?

The Superdumb artificial incompetence is hilarious. YOu could put dozends of those dudes in one small village and let them battle. It's like watching ants on dope. They do act more like zombies than decent soldiers.

I could create countless videos to show what I am talking about, but this is about serious issues, not unwanted entertainment.

They stand up under heavy fire to check their surroundings, like meerkats in front of their lair. They run towards an enemy guns blazing terminating everything except the threat. Some guys even passed each other not firing a single shot.

They fire in several bursts one after another and not hitting the target, this sounds silly too. The machine gunners fire in the standing position and snipers don't need to aim, of course, they are the best ammo dumpster I've ever seen. One shot - one kill. They could spend all their ammunition without one single hit. And the heavy sniper is like a machinegunner on a rampage.

The AI does not care for cover or concealment, they just reload their weapons where they stand, under fire.

Friendly fire seems to be realistic, being gunned down by some stupid machinegunner is not funny nor acceptable.

Placing enemy units close to one another does not start the war. There is a specific distance they eventually engage the enemy. Approx 200 m on Ramahdi airfield, that is.

The supersonic cracks are nice, but it would be nicer if they actually had the threatening nature. I hear the snap all over the place, even if I am not close to bullets passing, changing the volume does not really help.

Tankers think they are invulnerable. They stop and fire their guns, even if they are threatened by AT soldiers or other tanks.

The damage/armour values are completely wrecked. A T-72 can shoot out a pilot, even if the cockpit could withstand 37 mm projectiles.

I am really p*ssed off at the moment, I like the game, somehow, but there are so many issues that were fixed in OFP years ago and now we see one beta after another with the same errors again?

I paid 50 € for a game that should be offered for free as a beta test, I don't like the current way developers and publishers release their games, why do console games work fine from the beginning? I am not talking about hardware specific issues, I am talking about bugs and such things like the never-working-Javelin. Now the model is fixed...or sort of, and the damn thing does not work the way it should. I don't have a clue about modding, but even I was able to make the Javelin work properly with the old, totally bugged version...Direct attack AND top down, that is.

I quit writing this, so I can cool down.

[Maddmatt 1]

Well, well, where should I start?

First off all, the sound engine is completely useless, no stereo...

...Did I mention stereo sounds already?...

I got surround sound working perfectly. I don't see why stereo wouldn't work, I haven't seen other complaints about it. If you got the correct speaker setup in windows/sound drivers then it should work fine.

[CanadianTerror 0]

Why are there no lights in South Sahrani at night?

Are these people that poor? They have G36's for god's sake.

I dont know much about the North, my 8800GTS 640MB vid card doesnt let me play there.

Why do the weapon sounds have to be so bad?

Why is the Mp5 so small?

Cant run and throw a grenade

The *beep beep beep* has to go!

Big red X's when i do an action have to go!

Id like some thought towards online download users. I mean I dont like the idea that my game is now in the hands of a 3rd party company hired by Atari. Not even Atari is in control of the game once it's bought online when it comes to support and patches.

Im just sayin.  

[MEDICUS 0]

The "Hit the Dirt"-Animation should have top priority. It's really annoying to get shot by an AI during a reload/heal/gear/whatever-Animation. Wouldn't it be normal to touch the ground with our nose if someone is shooting at you? Even if you are during a reload-procedur?

I really hate the Action-Menu ... it's so fretful to run arround an ammo crate for 5 min until you get the right angle to actually get the "Gear"-Option there. The way OFP handled that was much better.

Just my 2 cent,

MfG Medicus

[Maddmatt 1]

I really hate the Action-Menu ... it's so fretful to run arround an ammo crate for 5 min until you get the right angle to actually get the "Gear"-Option there. The way OFP handled that was much better.

Point at it and press G, the action menu isn't the only way. Works fine as long as you point at it with the crosshair.

[MEDICUS 0]

Point at it and press G, the action menu isn't the only way. Works fine as long as you point at it with the crosshair.

Yeah .. that would work fine if i would use a crosshair. But i don't

[ThePredator 0]

I am not talking about the output, I am talking about every single sound file, which is mono only. What year we've got? 1998? Modern games use stereo to create a much better sound environment, using EAX and surround won't do the trick. A mono sound on my 5.1 system sounds as poor as a frog barking.

[Maddmatt 1]

I am not talking about the output, I am talking about every single sound file, which is mono only. What year we've got? 1998? Modern games use stereo to create a much better sound environment, using EAX and surround won't do the trick. A mono sound on my 5.1 system sounds as poor as a frog barking.

The sound files need to be mono since they are coming from a single point in 3D space, which changes relative to the player all the time. What is the use of having more than one channel if they are coming from the same spot? You would need to define seperate sources for each channel, which would give the same result as having more than one sound file.

What exactly are you trying to achieve with this?

[ThePredator 0]

Every source for sound is 3 dimensional. Even a bullet. This is because of your two ears. If you have a single source with mono just upmixed to 5.1 does not really work. Upmixing a stereo sound will lead to a much better positioning, since you can split the two channels over more speakers. At least that is what some sound engines are capable of.

The other issue is the detail a mono source can reproduce. Every stereo sound has much more information for proper recreation, I am no expert, but I can tell just by listening to (my) sounds in mono and stereo on a 5.1 surround system.

We have decent gfx but prehistoric sfx. And in a military environment sfx create more immersion than simple eye candy.

[tourist 617]

Well, just today I tried ArmA again with 1.05 (didn't bother to download the really huge 1.07 beta) and I realised in a mere seconds of play why exactly I still keep on playing OFP. One thing, I do admit, is my hardware, which, at least in the specific combo that forms my PC, is too weak.

I have an Athlon 64 3700+ CPU on an Asrock 939 Dual SATA 2 board (allows using an AGP GPU or an PCI Express GPU) and a Geforce 6800 GT (AGP) GPU. The GPU is too weak. Period. I don't care if people with similar systems claim to get 30-40 FPS. For me, this will not happen continuously with having decent looks of the game at the same time.

If I put everything on normal except postprocessing (low) , Anisotropic Filter (off) and Shadows (low) at a view distance of 1200 m, I like the looks of ArmA, but I get my personal maximum of 38 FPS only in the desert. Grassland with some trees: 22-25 FPS at best, dropping rapidly to 11-18 in forests and towns.

I could live with scaling down everything until ArmA looks no better than OFP with FFSX 2007 or Tonalredux if the game itself would be either on par or better than OFP.

It isn't.

Since all negative points have already been stated very detailed by the posters before me, I will just list them:

1) Friendly AI can't be commanded properly.

2) Enemy AI shoots way too good at distance but totally (even more than OFP's AI) sucks in Close Quarter Combat.

3) Player Avatar moves clumsy, especially the arms with the rifle give me the impression my soldier comes straight out of the hospital, arms still in bandages from wrist to shoulder.

4) Ridiculous behaviour of both friendly and enemy AI in some combat situations.

5) Still lots of weird vehicle behaviour

6) Unnecessary loss of equipment when swimming.

7) Crappy sound (Yes, I know about the FDF mod, but we are talking about ArmA out-of-the-box in this thread I guess)

8) Default Campaign and missions neither working smooth nor immersive.

So, what do I do know? I play some more OFP, wait for the next patch and also I will do upgrades to my PC either for Christmas or at the beginning of 2008 (Geforce 8800 GTS 640 MB and an Athlon AM 2 CPU).

I am disappointed by ArmA in its current state and will definitely not buy Game 2 right after it hits the shelves... Same goes for Codemaster's OFP 2 title, though that doesn't belong in this forum.

tourist

[Maddmatt 1]

Every source for sound is 3 dimensional. Even a bullet. This is because of your two ears. If you have a single source with mono just upmixed to 5.1 does not really work. Upmixing a stereo sound will lead to a much better positioning, since you can split the two channels over more speakers. At least that is what some sound engines are capable of.

The other issue is the detail a mono source can reproduce. Every stereo sound has much more information for proper recreation, I am no expert, but I can tell just by listening to (my) sounds in mono and stereo on a 5.1 surround system.

We have decent gfx but prehistoric sfx. And in a military environment sfx create more immersion than simple eye candy.

Couldn't you compensate for that by using a higher bitrate and sample rate for the sound? Since you are changing it from two channels to one, you can afford to double the bitrate. I'm no expert either though, but I don't see how having two channels originating from the same source will do any good.

I realise ArmA could do with improvements to the sound engine though, I miss some effects which I have heard in other games.

[Mobious 0]

Cant reload your weapon on the run.

[Jack-UK 0]

Dedicated Servers dont always show in the list, dissapear after 30 minutes. Been waiting MONTHS for this. Servers ARE NOT FREE.

BIS haven't said a word on this issue. We dont know whether it is fixed, whether it is being fixed or whether they cannot fix it. Pathetic.

[ThePredator 0]

It's difficult to explain that.

A stereo sound system is superior to a mono system, even with mutliple speakers. The sound can be upmixed to fake surround sound, but the mono source will always be the same.

A stereo sound has two seperate channels, being played individually on the two speakers. The sound does not reach your right ear the same time it will reach your left ear, therefore creating the image of a 3D sound.

With a mono source you can't delay anything, there is no information for different channels.

Upmixing a stereo sound to 5.1 or even 7.1 will achieve a better environment, because even a single source of sound can be precisely positioned around the listener (channels split, time differences etc).

This is not possible with a mono source. Sure, you can play a mono source on front left and rear left speaker to simulate a sound directly to the left, reducing the volume of the sound on either speaker will fake distance and exact location, but it's just the same sound. With two channels one would be played front left and the other channel rear left, volumes modified and voilà, a true positional audio experience.

However, my top priority would be the AI, it is useless like it is now.

But sound is more important in a human-player-only environment.

The bitrate is 705 kbit/s @ 44khz 16 bit.

[SHWiiNG 0]

oh i have a couple more. hearing the sounds im comparing this to Company of heroes a tried and tested classic. the sound becomes very low and echo'ey when you are not near the unit of event producing the noise, Half life 2 now the sound there is supurb, a machine gun sounds completely different from afar then close up.

and secondly, when yo stand still your Avatar stands still, do these guys not need to breathe, it sounds liek they are but it doesnt look like they are. Come on even Swat 3 has this little feature.

[froggyluv 2136]

While i love ARMA there's only one MAJOR show stopper for me

Bridges...

There's nothing more frustrating, more immersion-busting then being halfway through a mission AI squad still intact when being confronted by the dreaded bridge. Good lord what is the problem? I've seen enemy squads cross them no problem but when my guys get near they have a death like phobia. Ordering my guys to "wait for me" while i try to find a vehicle to ferry them across just gets me down  

[Jambo107 0]

I loved Flashpoint, played it everyday up till the release of Armed Assault. I wish I could say the same for ARMA.

Graphics & Visuals

For a game that looks 2-3 years old it runs crap, total utter crap. One of the things that BIS promised was improved performance yet we see none. Alot of fanbois argue that Arma is different then most other games bbecause of the amount of units at any one time, Oblivion has hundreds even thousands of NPC's moving any one time in the wilderness(not including instanced based houses/interiors) Yet it can run smooth! (And looks 10x better) Countless threads in the tech forum all about the same problems, problems which where reported 7 Months ago. Specifcally;

Low performance in Northen Sarhani

LOD / Textures issues

Big drops in FPS when using Iron sights

No support for Dual Core or proper Sli support - Sorry its 2007 this should be standard

Hardcoded HDR, the same effect you desire can be reached other ways, why hardcore a massive performance sapping feature when the vast majority of people don't want or use it?

Visual effects leave alot to be desired. Tires that turn to rusty wheels after a couple of shots? Fire effects are a joke. Tracers are aweful. Building damage, again cheap looking effects. Sun glare over the top, no reflection in water - for christ sake a modder released a DLL for you 2 years ago

The world isnt flat, roads can have ditches, embankments. The world isnt a barren flatland with random villages, theres small hills / fields / tall grass / rock formations. Land is muddy when it rains, arid when its sunny. Its snows in the winter. Arma as big as it is is devoid execpt in some areas of life. Hills are just slopes, bushes are purely decorational (Since Ai can see through them anyways) Theres no animals or wildlife, no farm land or any of the above. The map belongs in 2003 not 2007.

And I must note, poor tech support with over zealous Fanboi's who shoot down any constructive support or critism

Gameplay & Immersion

They is very little immersion evidently;

Sound - One word. Aweful. Did you even test the game? (In reference to super loud tanks / helis)

Ai - The AI in OPF was bad, even for its time but ARMA is a joke - I've never seen worse pathfinding. Ai have no emotion, no idea of how to fight in combat. Urban combat - they is none because the AI get stuck on walls or are dead before anything can happen.

Call of Duty I a 4 year old game feature Ai that could take cover behind walls, low rubble, in buildings behind wreckage and so on. In arma your ai run around untill there dead or just drop to the ground in low grass in plain sight? Military Commanders would gag in horror if there troops did this.

Ai don't respond to commands, follow you like sheep and can't even fight for themselves, often running into a line of fire. Classic examples are AT Troop facing off against a BMP or any armoued vehicle. And for the love of God why do they fire RPGs at men?!

And as mentioned upteen times, why are they crack shots with anyweapon of any calibre from any distance!

Wheres the covering fire?

Wheres the Flanking movements?

Wheres the Skirmishing / Bounding overwatch?

Wheres the dynamic switch of formation to suit the battlefield situation?

Wheres the morale / retreating / regrouping / calling in reniforcments?

Why are my team mates idiots?

Why are vehicle/drivers so stupid?

Why don't harriers engage ground targets?

Why don't SU's target anything?

Why Do tanks drive into trees and get bounced back, then try again & again & again?

Why do tanks drive through towns instead of around?(if the better choice)

Why do SF sappers not use there explosives but shoot vehicles when ordered to attack?

Why do units shoot when orded not to?

Why do units engage and crazy ranges (300 metres+) but not in close combat?

Why do you units jog/sprint everywhere unless ordered to walk? (Even in urban combat or stealth)

Why Do units in vehicles come to a complete stop when being shot at (though alive) and sit inside until you kill them?

Why can't armoured vehicles use formations?

Why do machine gunners stand and shot instead of finding a postion to shot from (for that matter why cant they rest on objects?)

Why do snipers shoot like machine gunners?

Why do snipers engage in frontline combat with there pistol oppsossed to what a sniper is actually for?

Why do units drop to prone at every single shot fired instead of looking for cover or moving to cover and going prone?

Immersion

Animation is terrible in fact I suspect alot of the animation is taken directly from Op:f - Walking of soliders when weapons are in safety but everything else....its terrible. Walking/sneaking - what the hell is that? A squat walk - oh christ I've shit my pants walk?

Getting in vehicles - in Flashy you could get away with it but not today. Its 2007 and its not acceptable theres no open door get in, no climb aboard or get out animations.

All the animations are canned. I mean shooting someone - its just kills all immersion watching a unit play through its animations for several seconds even though its 'dead'

No weapon reload - wow my mag just dispeared!

Okay so onto gameplay I'll list key things missing;

A thought out practical interface for well to be honset everything important. Walking upto to the vehicle and moving my mouse around crazy to try and get to get in symbol is not just annoying its plain bad design. What where you thinking - it was often touted as one of the worst features of Flashpoint and you somehow made it worse!

Commanding squad is a nightmare again possible the worst feature of flashpoint as mentioned in dozens of reviews at the time and yet you've not only retained it - you made it more difficult by removing colour coding! Well done BIS you deserve a medal.

Damage values are messed up 1 hit kill to my arm? or any part of my body? No body armour to speak of. T72 a big pile of metal scrap everytime. Weapons ranged very stupid, making using sniper rifles a chore (At least put an option in to retain orginal flashy settings)

Conceleament is usless as well since Ai can see you from any where with pintpoint accuracy. No shooting from vehicles - not even littlebirds. No modular damage (like shooting out part of vehicle to effect performance)

No physics, no ragdoll! If the game was optimazed and porgrammed to a level that was acceptable then physics could be easily implemented, they've been added to PS2 games with small amounts of ram on games with dozens of units - a PC with 1gig of ram could handle more more!

No tension no atmosphere, just fustration in every feature, reminders everywhere you look your playing a game, a very heavily bugged game. My posted sounds harsh but BIS took my love of flashpoint, promised me lots of change, promised to take onboard what people had be complaining about for YEARS with Flashy and ultimately didnt listen.

Now I've wasted £29 that could of been spent on quality titles like R6: Vegas instead of 'beta' testing a game that was supposed to be 'retail' 7 months ago. I don't care what anyone says but when you buy a product that proudly claims its the ultimate military sim and dosen't deliever I expect my money back or at the very least an knowledgement of the problems, accept where they've cocked up and actually listen to whats being send keeping us in the loop! What we got is Mod's closing topics, banning people left right and center and zealous fanbois screaming blue murder if anyone steps and says anything.

A very unsastfied custimer.

[Raptor 10]

you all get it.

And I must note, poor tech support with over zealous Fanboi's who shoot down any constructive support or critism

[Jambo107 0]

Also, what happened to the AAR? A key feature that dispeared.

[Scrub 0]

Also, what happened to the AAR? A key feature that dispeared.

There was supposed to be an AAR for ArmA?  Where is the info?  I'd like to see what was planned.  

Just reread your post.  Isn't Oblivion a single player, locally active, loaded area game?  And secondly: Do you have a computer capable of playing what you just asked for?

[Jambo107 0]

The silly thing is though with Armed Assault is everything we've begged for, everything we complain/moan/whine/scream for could be put right very quickly (not easily but nothing is easy) by taking what they've got right in VBS2 and porting it in or at the very least minmicing it. It's BIS engine, they have the right to do that and I'm not talking about converting or porting the addons specfic to the military but the sutle things dare I say like TRACERS.

Right now BIS are proving that Codemasters where right in dropping them, and that codemasters game (probaly dumbed way down) will outclass ARMA/Game 2 - thats the impression I'm getting and its certainly why alot of my clan memembers refuse to purchase Arma.

-Flashy had one - as basic as it was it was certainly better then nothing.