GC 2008 Press Coverage

[Viiiper 0]

@W0lle

Big Big thanks, I wish I was there too, sounds great, I love the feature you saw and wrote about, I especially love the fact that the system was stable & the immersion is in advance of ARMA1. I'm looking forward to this puppy !!!!

Cash in hand. I hope they release a Euro version (inc English) in one step !!

viii

[Yoma 0]

I was in Leipzig on friday and saturday. However i didn't go to the GC. (As i couldn't find any exact details on a Arma2 presentations, and couldn't be bothered scanning a rather large noisy area for just one great game, which is a total shame PR wise!

One thing i lacked in the video's i've seen was a simple massive ai vs ai battle. I bet most of us have been toying around at some point in the editor just putting massive amounts of infantry, air, armor on the map and have them battle it out.

That really shows how the ai really works, and that also shows what all these other games simply do not have, cannot do.

It shows the scale of battles that are possible AND the true AI nature of the "npc"'s.

I'm pretty sure if they'd have shown one of those (like they showed the tank ai vs tank ai battle) the ignorant "presentator" would have truely awed what he was seeing.

Besides that it looked like a lot of stuff was shaping up and i can't wait to see how this next version will run on my pc.

If BIS needs any extra beta testers i'll be happy to oblige.

[Brendon 0]

Edit:

Quote[/b] ]Hopefully they fix the Bugs... this Games so great Graphics, would be a shame with the same OFP/Arma1 bugs again...  

No, they won't because they are evil and leave the bugs in on purpose just to angry their customers.  

Apparently from the way ArmA had bugs dating all the way back from the early 2000's, I wouldn't doubt it.

Joking!

[Praelium 0]

So, are we expecting any more footage or is it all over? I think Armabase.de said that they had three hours of footage, but is any of that going to be released?

[gonk 0]

So, are we expecting any more footage or is it all over? I think Armabase.de said that they had three hours of footage, but is any of that going to be released?

I think so... see you in 12 months..

[sabre4809 0]

- Civilians randomly move around in villages. While i was walking around in a village suddenly some russian patrol was there while the area was clear as I started

- Animals: Dog, Rabbit, Boar, Sheep, wild pig and a few more

Was this when you just put yourself in the editor, i.e they are always there even if you placed just yourself in the editor and ran it. Or a 'mission' they made and you played.

What Im trying to ask is are the civies and animals part of the map or normal units you have to place.

[Raj 0]

@W0lle

Quote[/b] ]

Raj

If you have nothing constructive to say, then don't post at all rather then spamming the forums with nonsense.

Obviously i didn't have the same perspective of ARMA 2 as you did.....  

But the video showed nothing new..just arma with a new island and addons...I thought that BIS release a detailed preview of the game with some in-game features...like the ones you mentioned...in the previous post....  

i know it's still an early preview...but please BIS:

- improve the AI

- improved engine (the physics..)

- better animations.....

I'm a great fan of OFP & ARMA, no doubt about that...but i just want BIS to deliver us a far more improvedversion of arma  .  OFP had much more features than arma....like...

- fast rope

- AI carrying wounded soldier

- soldier in pain

- improved gameplay..(addons + effects..)

(special thanks to the incredible community   )

ARMA had nothing of that..it's again the community which had to implement those....

well i do have high expectation for arma 2..and just hope that BIS make it...just as awesome as the community would have done it...

[funnyguy1 0]

@ W0lle: thx for the info. The vid was rather poor, especially the AI part (still chickens).

[xnodunitx 0]

@W0lle

Quote[/b] ]

Raj

If you have nothing constructive to say, then don't post at all rather then spamming the forums with nonsense.

Obviously i didn't have the same perspective of ARMA 2 as you did.....

But the video showed nothing new..just arma with a new island and addons...I thought that BIS release a detailed preview of the game with some in-game features...like the ones you mentioned...in the previous post....

i know it's still an early preview...but please BIS:

- improve the AI

- improved engine (the physics..)

- better animations.....

I'm a great fan of OFP & ARMA, no doubt about that...but i just want BIS to deliver us a far more improvedversion of arma . OFP had much more features than arma....like...

- fast rope

- AI carrying wounded soldier

- soldier in pain

- improved gameplay..(addons + effects..)

(special thanks to the incredible community )

ARMA had nothing of that..it's again the community which had to implement those....

well i do have high expectation for arma 2..and just hope that BIS make it...just as awesome as the community would have done it...

OFP never had rolling, carrying wounded soldiers or fast roping, those.

Fast roping was done by addons as was soldier carrying in WGL I believe it was..

soldiers are cried out in pain but mods were again what changed it from simply being unable to aim or walk to bleeding to death, having blackouts and so on.

Arma also had just as much chance for content but it takes longer to make because standards rose substantially, look at OFP's addons in comparison to Arma's, not to mention the community divided into half if not more and many of the original OFP addon creators skipped out on Arma so we won't be seeing as much content if ever again most likely.

The community implimented all of that

[Raj 0]

yeah that's what i meant.. all these features was implemented by the community in OFP..!!

Fastroping was done by the BAS team.....

SLX mod team implemented the

- carrying soldiers

- wounded soldiers

- animated doors where AI opens the vehicles doors before they get in.....and just hope that in arma 2, soldiers don't get teleported in the vehicles when they 'getin'...

And just take a look at the FFUR mods..and so on..the community changed OFP environment....

[4 IN 1 0]

How about the physics? do they still sucks like dragons crap or do they have a major improvement?

[Undeceived 392]

So, are we expecting any more footage or is it all over? I think Armabase.de said that they had three hours of footage, but is any of that going to be released?

I think so... see you in 12 months..

I read that the first video is going to be posted at armabase.de at approx. 4 o clock PM (German time). I hope they make it... Snakeshit's PC is making trouble, he says...

Snakeshit writes in the comments of the latest news that the first video is about the "High Commander Modus", what ever this is...

Hey, can please someone explain to me what this "legendary MICRO AI" is??? Or where I can read about it?

Thanks.

edit: I know that it is mentioned in all feature lists of BI, so don't refer me to the press kit or something like that.

[Praelium 0]

Thanks for the info.

The micro AI is what BIS is calling there new AI because it has the ability to move within inches to a location, like taking cover behind a pillar or tree.

That's basically it, though if I can find a quote I'll post it because BIS explained it better.

[Commando84 0]

Micro a.i is the way Bis describes the new ai. And some of it features is that it moves with better precision to waypoints and not as defuse as it is now. i think its something like that.

[lugiahua 26]

There is a preview on Armaholic's homepage, maybe it explains the micro AI to you.

[Undeceived 392]

Ok. Thanks, guys!

[SaBrE_UK 0]

Thanks W0lle, but you really do have Pink BI glasses, it seems

[W0lle 1052]

- Civilians randomly move around in villages. While i was walking around in a village suddenly some russian patrol was there while the area was clear as I started

- Animals: Dog, Rabbit, Boar, Sheep, wild pig and a few more

Was this when you just put yourself in the editor, i.e they are always there even if you placed just yourself in the editor and ran it. Or a 'mission' they made and you played.

What Im trying to ask is are the civies and animals part of the map or normal units you have to place.

It was an exisiting demo mission I played, just escaped from the cam scene and walked around. They must have been placed dynamically because as said at a later point a russian patrol was in the village while before it was empty.

I was also driving around and in each village I came by there were civilians on the roads. Since it was a scene located in one village I doubt they placed civilians in each village on the map just in case someone could jump in the APC and drive around.

So yes, it seems like the villages are populated dynamically (when player comes near these villages).

[Dwarden 1125]

@W0lle

Quote[/b] ]

I'm a great fan of OFP & ARMA, no doubt about that...but i just want BIS to deliver us a far more improvedversion of arma  .  OFP had much more features than arma....like...

- fast rope

- AI carrying wounded soldier

- soldier in pain

- improved gameplay..(addons + effects..)

(special thanks to the incredible community   )

ARMA had nothing of that..it's again the community which had to implement those....

need to react to this

- fast rope = not available in OFP/OFPR/OFPE by default

- soldier in pain = not available in OFP/OFPR/OFPE by default

- AI carrying wounded soldier = not available in OFP/OFPR/OFPE by default

so Your point of comparing it with ArmA ?

- improved gameplay..(addons + effects..) - all OFP and also ArmA got it so point of complain ?

please before claiming OFP/OFPR/OFPE got more than ArmA ...

run them both in default (non modded) state

ideally with same missions (read this http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....t=74695

so please think at least twice before posting next time ...

[Praelium 0]

I don't think that this has been posted yet, but Armabase.de put a new Q&A article up. I used google translator to translate the webpage from German to English:

Armabase.de

Hopefully that will work.

[telejunky 0]

Haha no need

I translated as best as I can... typos inclusive

-------------------------------

Is there a basic change with the scripting commands oder language? Are there new features for the editor?

Yes, besides a new bunch of scripting commands and simplifications (e.g. automatic completion) there will be some kind of database. There you can read for what this or these codes stand for and copy them if needed right to the editor. For many users it sounds very simple to put the VBS 2 3d editor into ArmA 2, but it is a different System, Marek told. There will be some kinde of 3D Editing but not in realtime like the Army is using. Snakeshit should know this better.

How about beta testing? Will they launch a demo?

Nope, it seems that there wont be any beta for public/ chosen people, only the team itself. But Marek said, that a demo will be aviable for public. He cannot answer if it will be released before the the actual game is released. We are still hoping to test the demo before we bet our money on the wrong horse.

Did they improved the A.I.? E.g. handling convoys, taking cover.

Compared to ArmA 1, the new AI with its “Micro-AI†the artificial soldiers are able to park unused vehicles besides the road. They can lean round the corner or use suppressive fire to frighten the enemy. Therefore the A.I. is on its way to be a charmant and fair enemy.

This new “Micro-AI†is rather the brain on the near battleground, its causing some more natural and tactical events.

What System is needed? How does a System running ArmA 1 smooth challenge ArmA 2?

Basicly smooth is spread to different opinions. If you are a lucky guy and you owned a dual core cpu with some mainstream cards like (X1950Pro/2600XT/7800GTX/8600GT, equal wether DX 10 or 9), then you should be able to run ArmA 2 smooth with a resolution of 1280 width. I am not able to estimate other things. Necessary needed is a graphics card with shader model 3. There are people out there using a large scale monitor, but they only use mainstream cards – according to BIS you have no to be frightened. There will be a function implanted that will better upscale low resolutions.

How is the engine using more than one cpu core?

Sorry, but I cannot say it very specific. But I do know, that the performance drop form two to one core will be significant. Persons, who overclocked their old Pentium 4 to the orbital speed should have a chance , too.

Generally, ArmA 2 could run even on older systems. Due to the cpu evolution, newer architectures are mostly based on two or more cores, so that odler cpus with only one core do not naturally have the performance which is needed. BIS wont hear the complaints of people getting 9-0 fps with their old Celeron…

How are the civilians? Are the any kinds of rpg elements? Is the player able to change his abilities?

There is something really new: with only a few code it is possible to activate the civilian- and wildlife. After that you can find people in villages of Chernaurus, which flew of conflict zones or they do have a daily cycle. They drive, talk to each other or go into their houses at evening.

There is no possibilities to change your abilities. If you collect every Mission the campaign, the “story time†will be something around 2 weeks. So it would not fit to the story if your characters got more muscles etc…But they have different “load outs†for their specific jobs.

How ist he new dialogue system?

With this new feature you are able to get informationes by civilians where the enemy is supposed to be. It will be a kind of answer system you know from adventures.

The dynamic campaign

With the above mentioned communications menu you can also warn people. It is to you if you are strict to the plan and attack the tank in the village, where civilians are. But you can also warn the civilians or abort the mission. Marek told me, that your decision really makes a different ending to the further campaign. As you already know it: Every decision retight its consequences.

The campaign is not an “On Going War†with its automatic generated mission as we were told in the past. Considering that BIS wants to tell a story with the protagonist of the razor team, it is not that very dynamic, but more interesting how the story of the conflict grows up.

What about the equipment? Are we able to attach different moduls to our weapon?

Nope, weapons are not build modular, so you are not able to attach anything like scopes or flashlights. But the animations of the weapons are awesome: every single mechanical part is animated! Wow! I think there will be a video soon

best regards

telejunky form armabase.de

[Barely-injured 0]

ahh too fast for me telejunky i was just about to post a google translation.

thanks a lot for the info 

[Raj 0]

@ Dwarden

Quote[/b] ]

@W0lleQuote  

I'm a great fan of OFP & ARMA, no doubt about that...but i just want BIS to deliver us a far more improvedversion of arma  .  OFP had much more features than arma....like...

- fast rope

- AI carrying wounded soldier

- soldier in pain

- improved gameplay..(addons + effects..)

(special thanks to the incredible community   )

ARMA had nothing of that..it's again the community which had to implement those....

[ end quote=Raj,Aug. 24 2008,11:11]@W0lleQuote

need to react to this

- fast rope = not available in OFP/OFPR/OFPE by default

- soldier in pain = not available in OFP/OFPR/OFPE by default

- AI carrying wounded soldier = not available in OFP/OFPR/OFPE by default

so Your point of comparing it with ArmA ?

- improved gameplay..(addons + effects..) - all OFP and also ArmA got it so point of complain ?

please before claiming OFP/OFPR/OFPE got more than ArmA ...

run them both in default (non modded) state

ideally with same missions (read this http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....t=74695

so please think at least twice before posting next time ...

i know ofp since the start..i have played the ofp demo..(which as too coool) back in the old days...and since 7 years i still have ofp installed on my hdd together with arma.....

i know these features like fastrope..(imlemented by bas team) and so on was done by the community addon makers...  

What i meant is that i thought that BIS would have implemented what the community did for OFP in ARMA....nothing bad..

[stakex 0]

The campaign is not an “On Going War†with its automatic generated mission as we were told in the past. Considering that BIS wants to tell a story with the protagonist of the razor team, it is not that very dynamic, but more interesting how the story of the conflict grows up.

Ok, so its official... BIS has given up on every single thing that made Game2 sound so great. To say they removed the dynamic campagin because they wanted to tell a story is the funniest thing I have ever heard as you can still tell a story mixed in with dynamic missions... or, just do both. But lets not forget, ArmA2 was suppose to be about NEW gameplay. Not the old story mode of past games.

In the last 3 years BIS has abandon an amazing idea for a game, and decided to just tack on some minor improvements to ArmA1, build a new map, new story, and call it a day.

If that was the original plan (and what was originaly presented to the community), then fine, no complaints... BUT remember the devs own words a couple years ago?? This was suppose to be a "new" game, with totally diffrent gameplay, built with next gen technology... what the hell happened since then???

ArmA2 is NOT next gen, there is little to no new technology in use (other then eye candy), almost no community suggestions have been used, and ArmA2's gameplay seems exactlly the same as OFP's with some conversation system tacked on. ArmA1 was suppose to be the game that used the old technology and gameplay... NOT ArmA2.

Its not like the original info about Game2/ArmA2 recieved bad press by the community or anything.... in fact, everyone loved it. Even people who were not OFP fans loved the ideas behind the game... so what would posses a developer to drop thoes ideas, and do exactly what they said they didn't want to do at the time, and thats stick with the old gameplay? Lazyness? Lack of desier? Streamlineing for the console version? Who knows... but something sure as hell happened.

[xnodunitx 0]

@Raj We may yet, they do still have a long time of development left.