What are the new features of ArmA?

[OmniMax 0]

Hey there, I used to play OFP ages ago and make dynamic missions for LAN fun. One thing that always bothered me about OFP was the bad netcode and no JIP. It made playing online virtually impossible without someone either dropping or going out of sync.

What are the new nifty features of ArmA? Multiple gunners per vehicle? Can you walk around in the vehicles (like in the back of a transport plane or in the back of a pickup?) How is the netcode? Stable patch /release out? I'm very interested in getting back into OFP/ArmA again and I'm curious to know of the new features. Post your experiences, frustrations, etc...

I am very curious to know about multiple gunners, walking inside of vehicles, and better netcode (no lag/de-sync) but I am open ears to all your experiences of the game and what the current issues are.

If everything is golden, I might have to actually buy a copy and start playing again!

It's great to be posting again!

[walker 0]

Hi all

New Features

Join in progress

Clipping solved, no more falling through walls

Better destruction system, no more folded up buildings

Bigger games in MP and SP Thousand of AI and Hundred plus Human MP games

New MP and SP game forms MODs like CEX

Better interface functions

Better Scripting

Better Graphics

Better animations

Better sound

Dynamic lighting

Better Tools

Larger maps (people have started importing google world environments)

Better plant life, all trees different, no more of that moire effect Forrest

More intelligent AI

Better water you can now go under it and see things.

Swimming

Same modding community so improvements in AI and models new weapons and vehicles all the time

I liked OFP but in all honesty I can not go back to it. I feels too flat.

There are a whole bunch of other things; I will add to this as I go along.

Kind Regards walker

[max power 21]

It's improved vastly over OFP. You cannot walk around in moving vehicles, however.

[OmniMax 0]

It's improved vastly over OFP. You cannot walk around in moving vehicles, however.

Is this a feature in VBS1/2, though?

Hope ArmA II has it.

Anything else new and interesting? I played the ArmA demo and the server would always go out of sync after a bit, but this was the demo mind.

Keep sharing the new features/facts/your praises/qualms about ArmA!

[PuFu 4600]

It's improved vastly over OFP. You cannot walk around in moving vehicles, however.

Is this a feature in VBS1/2, though?

Hope ArmA II has it.

Anything else new and interesting? I played the ArmA demo and the server would always go out of sync after a bit, but this was the demo mind.

Keep sharing the new features/facts/your praises/qualms about ArmA!

AFAIK walking inside vehicles is NOT gonna be in arma 2. shooting from some might be though

[mr burns 132]

Bigger games in MP and SP Thousand of AI and Hundred plus Human MP games

lol, what server do i have to connect to?

[NoRailgunner 0]

With a little search you could find something like:

ArmA features

Developer's Blog

There are plenty of ArmA things you can find them as usual in forums or at some news sites. Don't be so lazy if you want something that is already mentioned/posted. Or did you only test the "New topic" button? Its still working...

[walker 0]

Bigger games in MP and SP Thousand of AI and Hundred plus Human MP games

lol, what server do i have to connect to?  

Hi all

In Reply to Mr Burns there are several servers going down the mega-battle line Shackactical was probably the first, several other servers and clans have been experimenting with the BIG-WAR game form.

The current publicly admitted record holder is the International Conflict server

http://arma.totalgamingnetwork.com/

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....t=72435

http://arma.totalgamingnetwork.com/sc/tattler.html

Though I have heard of a stable 160 person server and most of us heard about the 200 people attempt.

As I said several other servers are working on the same form. Some in public some not so. Most of the bigger private clan/servers are interested in this. I expect there will be super leagues forming at some point in the future.

Various people are discussing island ownership battles. Where the modders in a team create islands and own them until they are defeated on them. I personally would prefer the islands were based on realistic geography and have attendant resource points. As I say much of the game form is experimental and the various clans/mod teams are still in the discovery process to find what works and how to organise it.

Kind Regards walker

[OmniMax 0]

With a little search you could find something like:

ArmA features

Developer's Blog

There are plenty of ArmA things you can find them as usual in forums or at some news sites. Don't be so lazy if you want something that is already mentioned/posted. Or did you only test the "New topic" button? Its still working...

*shrug*

I've been registered since 2001 and the forums have changed considerably. I see youtube video describing supposedly ArmA Moving In Vehicle but it really isn't ArmA it's VBS. I've already been to the links you've provided, doesn't mention any of the nitty gritty details. I was particularly interested in how stable the netcode is and how often the game goes out of sync (my experience with the demo was terrible in that regard).

How about the new scripting features? Do we finally have a simple function to yaw a vehicle on it's side? Anything new and delectable?

[W0lle 1050]

Moving in vehicles is neither included in VBS1 nor VBS2. BIA was playing with that but obviously it didn't worked that well, otherwise it would be in VBS2.

NoRailgunner

If you have nothing constructive to add to a thread then... well you know the deal, no?

[maddogx 13]

When it comes to moving in vehicles, most games do one of three things:

- cheat (most games)

- implement it badly (BF2142)

- leave it out completely (ArmA etc.)

By cheating I mean that the game creates the illusion of being inside a moving vehicle, instead of really having the vehicle move. This is done by making the vehicle static and moving the scenery around it. The only actual examples I can pick off the top of my head are Pariah and Jedi Academy (a moving train level in both cases). This method only works if the vehicle cannot be exited - or exiting the vehicle causes death. This would never work in MP.

The prime example of bad implementation is Battlefield 2142. BF2142 has a game mode called "Titan Mode". Basically each of the two teams has a huge flying battleship that the players can move around in. Now it should be noted here that the titans can move - but veeeeery slooowly. And they can't pitch or bank, meaning they are never tilted. Still, titan mode was extremely laggy when the titans were moving - and unless everyone had a very good ping, moving around in the titans could get pretty jerky. I stopped playing a while ago, so maybe they've fixed it by now.

I'm guessing BIS/BIA tried to get it into ArmA/VBS2/etc. but it was just too much hassle.

[johnwilso007 0]

the best implementation of moving in vehicles ive seen (ive not yet played BF2142) was in Joint Ops a online game, you could stand ont he sides of little birds and jump off them at will, or alternatively sit on them. was Brillian in UH60s when ud have people sat down and stood up and all firing from the vehicles at the same time, I do wish theyd implemented this in ARMA would have been awsum!

[max power 21]

With a little search you could find something like:

ArmA features

Developer's Blog

There are plenty of ArmA things you can find them as usual in forums or at some news sites. Don't be so lazy if you want something that is already mentioned/posted. Or did you only test the "New topic" button? Its still working...

*shrug*

I've been registered since 2001 and the forums have changed considerably. I see youtube video describing supposedly ArmA Moving In Vehicle but it really isn't ArmA it's VBS. I've already been to the links you've provided, doesn't mention any of the nitty gritty details. I was particularly interested in how stable the netcode is and how often the game goes out of sync (my experience with the demo was terrible in that regard).

How about the new scripting features? Do we finally have a simple function to yaw a vehicle on it's side? Anything new and delectable?

That was some R&D footage. It was an experiment like the dynamic destruction experiment. So far they haven't worked in that exact usage of the things they learned from those sessions, but a more detailed system of destruction for buildings will make it into arma2.

[sparks50 0]

I think the changes I'm most glad for is the JIP(do you remember the constant whine for reas?) and 3D ironsights.

It may sound like I'm a graphic-whore, but the truth is that the 3D sights adds vastly to the realism for me.

The A4 paper suddenly popping out in my eyes just isn't the same.

[Col. Faulkner 0]

It may sound like I'm a graphic-whore, but the truth is that the 3D sights adds vastly to the realism for me.

The A4 paper suddenly popping out in my eyes just isn't the same.

The 3D sights do make it look much more like you're waving a

long object around in front of you. They make the recoils look

better too (you can get them to visibly recoil backwards more

than the old 2D ones ever did). I like the newer soldier anims

too - despite one or two problems with them; those arthritic,

spastic, bandy-legged, string puppets from Flashpoint are all

gone now.

[BraTTy 0]

What are the new nifty features of ArmA? Multiple gunners per vehicle? Can you walk around in the vehicles (like in the back of a transport plane or in the back of a pickup?) How is the netcode? Stable patch /release out?

There is multiple gunners per vehicle now.

Unfortunately still no turrets in planes altho sounds like that doesn't bother you , but critical for my would-be plans

No walking in or on vehicles, which is a wanted feature by me also

The netcode now has Join In Progress and I have played MP games for hours. Sometimes a red-chain but I haven't seen any actual desync in a long while (happened in first versions)

The red-chain is most always just when someone joins and it goes away soon

Maps are also huge compared to OFP so I hope you have a nice PC

I have had no problems on the 4 PC's I have played Arma on, my latest PC plays it well

Patch 1.09 and above has helped performance

[OmniMax 0]

Holy shiest, it's BraTTy! I remember you from the map editing and modding parts. You probably don't remember me, though. How is it going, man?

I've been playing on a friend's copy of ArmA so far, things I remember I liked from the demo are the 3d iron sights. What a godsend, really. I remember in the demo the ACOG M4s had their sights offset, though Bit funny, really.

So the moving-in-vehicles was merely a test? Damn it. Tell Maruk to work double time! It was really an attractive feature, gives firepower for vehicles like M113 and Urals, would make the game unique, too. Well, maybe for ArmA II... won't hold my breath, though.

Also no multiple turrets for planes? I notice the UH60/Loadmaster has dual turrets but I really would like a B-17 or a JU-87 /w tailgunner. Imagine that combined with walking inside vehicles, like in a B-17. Ah, bliss. I see your dream BraTTy... *puts on OFP tinkerer hat* What if we made a B17 and defined it as a CAR and implemented our own rudimentary "flight" model using a series of scripts... oh sorry, slipping back into old habits again.

Also, this game eats up resources like they are going out of fashion. In a native resolution of 1680x1050 (16:10) the game is s-l-o-o-w on a 7900GS, but on a more reasonable 1024x768 (4;3) and very fluid; more the reason for me to upgrade my machines, eh?

So what do you think about 24/7 servers and missions? Possible with ArmA netcode? Also, is there any official word about the max number of turrets per vehicle? Maybe create something like the M3 Lee to more insane things like those Russian WWII 'land battleships'.

Are most of the old OFP/Resistance mods and missions mostly compatible with ArmA? The default stuff in the mission editor is kind of... bland. It would be cool to I dunno, load up FDF mod in ArmA or something.

[mr burns 132]

Are most of the old OFP/Resistance mods and missions mostly compatible with ArmA? The default stuff in the mission editor is kind of... bland. It would be cool to I dunno, load up FDF mod in ArmA or something.

Not at all. Peek into the A&M:C section of the forum and you´ll find out that almost no addons from OFP made it over to ArmA - too much work fixing modells and textures afaik.

Missions do sometimes work, the infamous "steal the car" only needed some vehicles switched that no longer exist, but i dont think it´s worth the hassle for more script intense missions.

So what do you think about 24/7 servers and missions? Possible with ArmA netcode?

Seems to work, connect to a "Sahrani Live" Server the next time you get to play ArmA. Pretty cool GTA style mission with players acting as cops & civis, probably a little bit like the cops and robbers mod for OFP which i´ve never tried due to the excessive addon requirements.

Also, this game eats up resources like they are going out of fashion. In a native resolution of 1680x1050 (16:10) the game is s-l-o-o-w on a 7900GS, but on a more reasonable 1024x768 (4;3) and very fluid; more the reason for me to upgrade my machines, eh?

Depends on a bunch of factors like OS, user´s capability, game version, etc.

The troubleshooting section will make you cringe

Gotta say though that with v1.12 (beta) ArmA finally became enjoyable.

..there are several servers going down the mega-battle line Shackactical was probably the first, several other servers and clans have been experimenting with the BIG-WAR game form.

The current publicly admitted record holder is the International Conflict server .. *snip*

Thanks for the additional info! Been planning to go to IC server for several weeks now but never made it.

I take this as a motivation and a slap in the face for being such a lazy bastard - hehe

[walker 0]

Hi all

In reply to OmniMax

24/7 servers and missions are Possible with ArmA netcode. Several games have been run that way.

Main problem with long games is sychronising map changes with incoming players. When lots of people play on a map for a a long time they knock down lots of trees, lamp posts street signs and buildings not to mention all the wrecked vehicles dumped ammo, expended weapons and dead bodies.

There are several soltions, short term quick easy fix, write clean up scripts to fix dammage and remove the trash. Would be nice if these were attended by visual cues, ambulanses or graves registration trucks picking up bodies, AVREs recovering damaged vehicles, gardeners planting trees etc. Long term use a seperate sychro server that is down to BIS though some of us have done some experiments.

Kind Regards walker

[BraTTy 0]

Quote[/b] ]

Holy shiest, it's BraTTy! I remember you from the map editing and modding parts. You probably don't remember me, though. How is it going, man?

Of course I do...how you been?

I miss alot of the old friends, new generation of gamers are NOT the same, it's not always a happy place anymore

Good to see old faces (nicks lol)

Quote[/b] ]

So the moving-in-vehicles was merely a test? Damn it. Tell Maruk to work double time! It was really an attractive feature, gives firepower for vehicles like M113 and Urals

You can have multiple turrets on a m113 and you could possibly proxy switch to simulate firing from vehicle positions

Would have been important to me to walk on a moving Aircraft Carrier...killed my mojo

Altho in OFP you actually could walk on moving vehicles ( I had days if not months of work involved with it)

The problems were that when you stopped walking you fell thru and when walking you did not move with the object, so you would walk faster against the travel and walk with the object moving the same direction of travel. Not as noticable on something very slow moving

Quote[/b] ]

Also no multiple turrets for planes? I notice the UH60/Loadmaster has dual turrets but I really would like a B-17 or a JU-87 /w tailgunner

Yes a chopper can have multiple turrents

I'm still dreaming of tailgunners on planes.

Another mojo killer

I have a Wildcat in progress is all, haven't worked on it much lately.

Some work with complex animations for a ASL Interpreter addon I was making ( I have 2 deaf children)

Tried importing a simple addon and got confused and didn't happen, I haven't sit down and mastered it and making addons now are slightly harder than OFP

I am pressed for time, too many jobs and too many hobbies

Quote[/b] ]

the game is s-l-o-o-w on a 7900GS

Should work fairly well on that, I was playing it fine with a 7600gs AGP

Quote[/b] ]

Are most of the old OFP/Resistance mods and missions mostly compatible with ArmA

Negative but have you seen this:

CWR

If you plan on making some addons O2 has gotten better also

[funnyguy1 0]

It's just a seriously upgraded ofp, so if you liked the first game, you really shold give ArmA a try. Besides, you can always read the "wow, arma rox" and "wow, arma sux" topics...

[MehMan 0]

Also, is there any official word about the max number of turrets per vehicle? Maybe create something like the M3 Lee to more insane things like those Russian WWII 'land battleships'.

This should be perfectly feasable. At least I'm counting on that.

[OmniMax 0]

Main problem with long games is sychronising map changes with incoming players. When lots of people play on a map for a a long time they knock down lots of trees, lamp posts street signs and buildings not to mention all the wrecked vehicles dumped ammo, expended weapons and dead bodies.

What if you ran a 24/7 server that restarted every 12 hours? I remember back in the OFP days we were forever looking for a way to save game state data and then reload it, but we really never found a good solid integrated solution. Would something like that work for ArmA MP? To load important data, like ammunition in crates and scores and who 'owns' what towns, dynamic spawn point positions, various variables like that. No trees knocked down or anything trivial like that.

Obviously the best solution would be a way to keep the server up 24/7 and find a way to keep everybody coming and going in-sync.

In reply to BraTTy: Yeah, I remember your aircraft carrier project and dreams, really cool stuff. I too, dream of such things. I think

ArmA engine could be a really cool platform for a WWII Online style modification, that's why I'm interested in it (after all the disappointments with the demo). Aircraft carriers would have been rad, so would have been u-boats you can walk inside of and mount different stations (acoustiphone station, periscope, helm, etc). You could mod some anti-uboat planes and sink my subs! But alas, the features are not there. Mojo killer as you said.

In reply to funnyguy1: Yeah, I get the feeling the game is just 'upgraded OFP'. I haven't had anyone in here pop in and say the netcode or sync is great or bad per se, but that was the main limiting factor of OFP (no JIP, terrible netcode, game goes out of sync every 30 minutes). It does very much so feel like OFP with a facelift and JIP. I'm really disappointed in the lack of features like walking inside of vehicles, OFP would be the first of it's kind with such a feature and I'm sure the kinks could be worked out eventually. Why drop it from VBS2/ArmA/ and possibly ArmA II?

Why haven't many of the old mainstream mod groups ported their stuff over? Is there a technical problem of sorts?

[max power 21]

The scripting set up for arma is slightly different, I think. Also, in ofp, it was necessary to have many smaller textures to make up a whole unit. This was because of the demands of graphics card technology at the time, I think. With the new cards, it's much better to have one large texture than lots of little ones. Units with a lot of different 'sections' perform really poorly... like really poorly in arma. Also I think some of the LODs and such are different.

I think some limitations in arma with regards to turrets is that you can't have turrets on fixed wing a/c, you can only have one weapon per turret, one gunner per turret, one turret per gunner.

Subsequent posters will undoubtedly correct me if my recollection is weak

[Second 0]

Why haven't many of the old mainstream mod groups ported their stuff over? Is there a technical problem of sorts?

Technical "problem" is the amount of work ArmA addons requires, i think time it demands to produce good quality Addon has been multiplied (graphical side mostly). Or was this just with Islands? I haven't been into addon making (textures, models and stuff) so don't know, but i remember reading about this.

There are OFP mods comming into ArmA form, like FDF. Tools haven't been that long available, has it even been a year of their presentation? (visitor 3 was released in July perhaps) That is another "problem".

Scripting is bit different in ArmA, all commands doesn't go 100% same like they went in OFP. But scripts i've taken from OFP to ArmA had worked with just bit of tweaking. infact one my 20 scripts consisiting structure demanded just about half hour or hour tweaking to be ArmA compatible (testings in ArmA included, not just time spent in notepad)

Scirpting in general has advanced, lots of new commands. Some AI scripting related and bunch of others, i liked them all.