Game Engine?

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

Are they using the same exact game engine for ArmA2 as they did for ArmA? From the screens and little videos it seems the exact same, just way better optimized. The voices are the same, seems to use the same shader and texture drawing methods as well. Seems like a lot of the models are recycled from ArmA1 too, the civilian bus and the M1A1 stick out in my mind. I'm really wanting some better physics so when you shoot somebody they don't fall along a predefined path, and also when reloading, PLEASE let us move around BIS, thanks. So my question is: Does ArmA2 use a revamped game engine for ArmA2 or a completely different one which seems to still be lacking for a modern game, even if it is a simulator.

[mr.g-c 6]

Yes its even the same engine from OFP. It just gets renewed the whole time.

According to the screens and videos we saw so far, it indeed "just" looks like a slightly improved Arma1, and i nearly fall from my chair as i saw the same Arma1 bugs in Arma2 in one of their released videos (exact case: Hind starts rotor and jumps around on the ground).

However i see a lot of potential, as it will be more or less the first Quad-Core optimized Game engine i heard of so far.

I think, depending on the development roadmap they have, that the environment comes first, then comes models and effects.

So i think its to early to really judge about it. Lets wait if we see screens from one of the next gaming-events, then we can judge.

If the Landscapes will be so beautiful like we see in some screens, if the models will be optimized (and i bet they will, according to some photo-realistic texturized BRDM/BTR in one of the screens), if they can get rid of the "stiffnes" and make animation transitions smoother and if they finally consider some of the community made suggestions in terms of "love for detail" and new possibilities/small effects like countermeasures and stuff, then it will be absolutely fine for me.

Regards, Christian

[.kju 3244]

Almost every company does improve their engine rather doing

a new one from the scratch..

Quake, Unreal, Blizzard etc etc

[max power 21]

ArmA 2 was in development before ArmA. It is apparently an all new engine. It is not a development of the ofp engine as ArmA is. Apparently some improvements that were developed for ArmA 2 made it into ArmA. The company has said that ArmA is ofp 1.5, and arma 2 would be bis's sequel to ofp.

[NeMeSiS 11]

It is apparently an all new engine.  It is not a development of the ofp engine as ArmA is.

Where did you get that from? Looking at the screens its quite easy to say that at least the core is still based on the old OFP engine.

[max power 21]

This is information from back when it was still called game 2. Among newer information, the graphics engine is supposedly improved, with pixel shader 3 support and parallax-bump mapping and more material shaders like a metal shader. They also have something they call soft particles that will not penetrate solid objects.

BTW, screenshots can't tell you about the game engine. The graphics engine != game engine. Even further to this idea, the assets that they use and other things don't tell you anything about the graphics engine. You would need a graphics demo that specifically contrasts the differences with that. Some fuzzy videos and some still shots using similar assets are unlikely to highlight the differences.

[NeMeSiS 11]

BTW, screenshots can't tell you about the game engine.

http://alpha007.wz.cz/images/ofp/4.jpg

http://screenshots.playwhat.com/files....3_3.jpg

http://www.pcgamespecial.nl/cgi-bin....00&tn=0

http://www.firingsquad.com/games/sin/images/sin000.jpg

4 screenshots, 2 engines (Or updated versions from an engine), i would say its quite easy to tell them apart.

And why would BI need to throw all their old work out anyway? There is no need to update parts of it, it just doesn't make sense.

[Maddmatt 1]

4 screenshots, 2 engines (Or updated versions from an engine), i would say its quite easy to tell them apart.

And why would BI need to throw all their old work out anyway? There is no need to update parts of it, it just doesn't make sence.

If the two different engines were showing the same map, using the same models, textures, shaders, then how would you tell them apart?  

It's the artwork that you are seeing there, not an engine.

Anyway, ArmA 2 seems to be an evolved version of the same engine.

Although once code has been changed, it's not completely the same engine.

So in that case you could say that ArmA is not the OFP engine, even though it seems to share some of the same code

All BIS/BIA games so far seem to be based on the same engine, but they are reworking and adding parts as they go.

So I'd say it's not the ArmA engine, but it's based on it

No point making a whole new engine, just change the parts that need changing. Creating a new engine is a huge investment for a game developer.

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

That's not a biased post at all . Well good luck convincing people when your posting screens from Quake 3 and OFP and comparing the two, lol.

[Jacobss 0]

Is this so hard to look at BI Wiki?

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Real_Virtuality

[NeMeSiS 11]

4 screenshots, 2 engines (Or updated versions from an engine), i would say its quite easy to tell them apart.

And why would BI need to throw all their old work out anyway? There is no need to update parts of it, it just doesn't make sence.

If the two different engines were showing the same map, using the same models, textures, shaders, then how would you tell them apart?  

It's the artwork that you are seeing there, not an engine.

You can see how it's 'build up', OFP where buildings are clearly objects placed on a surface that has been made seperately while in games like Q3 all that is intergrated in the same thing, stuff like that, i never ment the textures/models themselves.

[.kju 3244]

@plaintiff1

Search for Shin Raiden's posts.

He explained it once.

The have one main trunk for the engine and A1, A2, VBS etc

are branches of it. Sort of different states of the same base with

a some different additions.

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

@Q

True...

[Radnik 18]

ArmA II shurley will look good in visual terms, shadows, shaders, particals, etc., but it's the phisics what ArmA II needs in order to be ultimate game...no more no less!.

it's just...feeling while playing ArmA is that all vehicles have the same weight and a small weight, hardly to explain, but for me its same whether there is Abrams or T-72 or BMP...i just can't feel those 60t. or 40t. Maybe becouse their maneuverability ingame is much to simple...i dont know.???. Or maybe i'm just to old for games .

anyways...hopefully ArmA II will have at least improved phisics part of engine.

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

ArmA II shurley will look good in visual terms, shadows, shaders, particals, etc., but it's the phisics what ArmA II needs in order to be ultimate game...no more no less!.

it's just...feeling while playing ArmA is that all vehicles have the same weight and a small weight, hardly to explain, but for me its same whether there is Abrams or T-72 or BMP...i just can't feel those 60t. or 40t. Maybe becouse their maneuverability ingame is much to simple...i dont know.???. Or maybe i'm just to old for games .

anyways...hopefully ArmA II will have at least improved phisics part of engine.

Exactly. Everything feels so damn light and maneuverable like it's some sort of car. Oh and don't get me started on the fight physics... EVERYTHING about the helicopter and plane handling is completely off of reality. I have a feeling they slightly improved it though, because a lot of people complain about it, and a video showed a VTOL actually taking off like a VTOL. Amazing... Anyway, I really hope they improve the physics (ragdoll anyone?) or animations and the flight characteristics.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Exactly. Everything feels so damn light and maneuverable like it's some sort of car.

Except for cars, who feel like their wheels and the ground are made of velcro or something.

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

Haha, too true. One more thing, that I'll list anyway, the wheeled vehicles seem to have something weird with the steering which makes it not so responsive. Oh, I know what it is! The sensitivity seems to be very low on steering wheels. Is there anyway to fix this for ArmA? Like some file I could tweak or something?

[dentist guba 0]

i'm just beginning to worry that the core engine will not be good enough, especially with OFP2 getting an all new engine. you can add all the extensions and furniture you want to your house but if it's built on a cliff it will only make it more likely to fall.

[robertoHrvat 10]

Hey guys..Radnik you was make 3 Serbian soldier addons for ArmA 2, Very nice and "cool" addons.. Pozz i svako dobro ti želim! and if you want Register on my Serbian Forum OFP you are welcome, If you want I can make you rank to Admin with me.

Edited January 1, 2011 by robertoHrvat

[Zipper5 74]

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