GC 2008 Press Coverage

[Undeceived 392]

Lets be honest, the Preview he made was quite disappointing...

C'mon man, can you present a game if there is one damn host-guy (who had not the foggiest idea of arma and not a foggiest idea of  a moderation) always trying to keep you down?

I think at the beginning and the middle part the BIS-guy did it pretty well.

I think so, too!

Except of some situations he did his job well. The adolescent moderator and the pretty "wise" woman always trying to say something clever from behind really were a challenge for him... So Markus was ok.

And why we all just don't shut up for some days and wait for more material to come out?

This surely wasn't the last presentation of the game, so keep patient!

It's not R.I.P., it's W.I.P.!! (wasn't this a cool wordplay??)

[hoot 0]

Graphically ArmA II rocks, no doubt about it. But engine-wise, i do strongly hope that they have just shown an older build, because it is a little unconvincing so far (to be Game 2 after 2002). However one could say, if the codies don't show everything they're currently working on, why should BIS do so? Something the opponent don't know, is something he probably won't implement. Looks a bit like information hiding - optimistically spoken.

I mean Rastavovich told us in the video, that they are working since 1.5 years for ArmA II, so where are the new features? Why do the tanks still play hockey? Why is the KI not that smart like shown in the streetfight vids from last year's Invex? Why don't they show us something from the features they have written into that shiny presskit (except wildlife)? Why don't we see reloading when walking, or shooting from not only gunner positions, like LB's benches. Questions, questions... Anyhow, i guess BIS just hides intel and that they know, what all went wrong with ArmA. Not only performance-wise, but also feature-wise in with reference to Flashpoint:R.

I guess they won't sell ArmA as ArmA II just facelifted... There is yet time folks

[MehMan 0]

Yeah, there's somewhere from six to nine months, but what the hell, something better than an ArmA mod could've been shown.

[kernriver 4]

Video was OK, but there's one thing that bothers me:

In the CQB portion of the video (at ~9:47min), why didn't that guy (AI) that died on the street just climbed over the fence and took cover at the corner of the house? If he did that, i would've wet my pants...

[ArchangelSKT 0]

I have to share the sentiments like some others on the video.

The press kit looks really good but then the video looks under pair if you set them up against eachother.

Of course I don`t know which resolution the game ran on or the specs of the PC but it looked dated in my eyes.

However the video quality was not the best so there is a greyzone there.

If we look at the in-game screen on the ArmaII page then it clearly looks better then the video in my opinion so I don`t worry much as of yet.

However for me to enjoy this game to the fullest I hope for improved veihcle (spelling) physics, smooth fps controls and better AI.

The last one I can to some extent live with but the two first ones may be potential dealbreakers for me.

[NeMeSiS 11]

I won't make comment on all the other complaints as it's absolutely pointless, it's not final, it's not beta, it's all WIP

Sure, but now we have finally got some footage we are going to point out every little thing (Good or bad) we can find, its our duty.

[Viiiper 0]

overall I'd have to say B.I.S. are doing a great job, nothing is this world is perfect and games are included. I have yet to see any game present AI which are believable. Climbing over fences is a treat but if it does not exist for player then it can not exist for AI. I would like to see the ability to climb fences but in the greater plan I would prefer the AI to be more intelligent first.

All AI seem to be lost in a world where they do not judge objects or threat as humans do, because of this we then perceive them as dumb. This is the biggest problem we face with regards to AI.

The rest of the game shown is a W.I.P. and the tank anim. of destruction sequence is like ARMA 1 and could do with updating eg. TANK hit, crew try to bail, tank explodes, tank blackened husk.

I love the addition of animals & civilians, this adds elements of friend or foe and animals in the woodland will be great, no more invisible barking dogs

The presentation was poor because it looked like there was no clear plan on what to show, the interviewer seemed to be leading the presentation instead of the presenter. Next time, it would be nice if B.I.S would have predefined things to show, like aerial view of an AI v AI battle on the ground where the cam is neutral, Where the presenter can enter the battle replacing one of the AI or joining the team, even if it means pre recorded video of it.

I'd like to see more PR from BIS in the coming months on a weekly or bi-weekly time frame so we all can become more apart of the final process. I'm new on this forum but I've played Arma on a regular basis and only want Arma 2 to be the best tactical Battlefield title available.

I personally do not want an arcade experience nor one that compromises the immersion factors. I hope B.I.S. start to roll the PR wagon out alot further.

Best wishes on this title becoming the final word in the field.

viii

[CarlGustaffa 4]

I'm still having some mental issues with what I've seen so far in the video and released screenshots.

Minor issue I'm sure will be fixed. But in one picture you can see an aircraft instrument panel. It "looks like" every screen is turned off, but it can be an HDR effect. However, the backup attitude indicator is flipped upside down

Graphically, it looks generally impressive and better than ArmA. Anyone would expect that. I really don't mind too much that fallen trees have a bad animation, although I agree it could have been made better. I'm more worried if the result will still have viewblock object, or if the AI can still see right through debris? There appear to be mostly woodland fighting to come, and this would be a severe limitation. And how about that ever hauting issue about screening smoke not screening anything from AI?

They are promising us supressive fire, but how does it work? Will AI perform supression? Will the react properly while supressed? Or is yet again hit & run tactics again the only thing that will work in this "simulator".

Walking with Binoculars would be cool, but to me it is of greater importance that there is builtin support for more binocular types. Each one with its own kind of benefits, i.e. zoomable, builtin nvg, rangefinder, spotterscope (heavy zoome, tripod) etc.

Again it "seems like" weapons are premodelled, that is, comes in given configurations. The engine doesn't seem to support configurable weapons. But frankly, I didn't really expect it either.

Agree on the explosion effect. Really bad. How about (for simplicity) first a hit effect with scrapnels, then start burning, then a crossfade between normal and black textures while burning?

I've been missing bikes since OFP, ArmA only had motorbikes. The mountain bike is a nice addition (but hopefully motorbikes are still in). But how about giving such vehicles some kind of shock absorbers on the view? In real life you don't get disoriented from hitting a small bump. It's like your brain makes up for it or something. Same thing with banking a bike, you tend to counterbank your head while in ArmA the whole view is banked equally.

Civilians and animals looks fantastic. Spot on, just what I wanted. But I hope other more important stuff hasn't suffered by including this.

The campaign looks great. I belong to the camp where I doen't mind team switching and revive (if done right). But having to resolve to teamswitch to unstuck a character should be avoided at all costs. Character wise, it looks a bit like Queens Gambit, and I hope "general characters" (ground units) other than these are also supported. You probably won't bond as much with character as OFP, but looks better than default ArmA campaign where I still don't remember any of the characters I played.

Voicing sounds horrible as ever! I don't mind static sounding voices, but their "type" should vary with combatmode. I mean, if going stealthy, would they shout like that into the mike? Should be one for "normal" and safe behaviour. One for "shouting" behaviour when firefight is intense. And one "quiet" one for stealthy movements.

Anims for crossing low fences should be implemented, as should jumping. Sure we carry a heavy BDU and equipment. Sure this is not a jumping game like Unreal Tournament. But jumping and traversing should be included in any decent "realistic" combat sim.

And I haven't seen much of hand signals yet, and reactions to them. Will they be magically seen by the guy on the other side of the house? I'm just hoping that I will be able to lead my clan fireteam using handsignals instead of voice, for immersion.

The landscape looks completely mindblowingly terrific! It looks realistic. No more 60° sloping "hills" like in ArmA. Hopefully though, I will be able to find cover and concealment in this landscape that is not only based on trees, grass, and bushes. But can we now find any tactical routes of advancements? In ArmA nearly everything is out in the open. Especially what I'm looking for are small ditches and rigdes in the landscape that will provide cover from a known enemy.

And what about slots for equipment? Is it still ArmA based? Is it still based on predefined slots? I.e. I would like map, compass, and gps to take up valueable slot space (and have weight that affects endurance). Does the engine now support scripted slot occupants, such as a first aid kit with graphics showing up in the inventory?

Many of the issues I point out are "engine" issues, some dating back to OFP. Someone mentioned "engine" being DX10 related, but thats a graphics engine issue, big difference.

I am very pleased with most of the graphics I've seen, but to me graphics is less important than gameplay and possibilities allowed in the engine. Scripting wise that is, not addon wise. I guess every game needs to have decent graphics to attract new players, but old flaws should have number one priority or they won't last long. At least I don't think so.

[guerilla -MCY- 0]

i still see the same soldier anim bugs from arma1, jumping crosshair, endless unnatural transitions etc etc. everything was changed except the greatest bug in my eyes causing 95% of the ofp pvp com. to leave in the first place. i hope they change it but i doubt it really. good luck with it...

[Raj 0]

Disappointing......

[kavoven 4]

I really like the style of the whole game...! This looks like nothing but pure OFP to me

The new UI is quite refreshing and yes... I'm excited

(Can anyone turn of the damn stupid questions of the reporter? Hell THAT was anoying!

Edit

Just finished the trailer... I LOVE the graphics BIS =)

[Barely-injured 0]

well a google translation of the main page of armabase.de seems to indicate that they have seen a lot more material than just this video which are apparently a lot better.

I guess we will have to wait for our German friends to take their breath a little and then start sharing stuff

[W0lle 1047]

I visited BIS at the GC on Friday. And what I've seen in the more then six hours was anything then I expected. Even though it was an early version, it was running very stable on both PCs except the one or other CTD. Compared to ArmA this is something totally different while familiar at the same time, with different lightning effects depending on the weather situation and time of day. You literally can feel a rain coming in for example. You might say "We have that already" but it's still something different and hard to explain actually. Lightning comes from different sources like street lamps, vehicles or the light of the moon and stars.

A much better AI then what we have now, even though not completely done yet. I've seen fightings going on in the woods and each time I've seen the same scene the behaviour of the AI was different.

Here are some of the things I remember:

- Even more realistic tides and stars

- Village signs are in cyrillic

- Better animations then we have now

- Improved lightning, no more shining vehicles when sunlight falls on them

- More fractions on each side: USMC vs. Russia and also two local fractions on each side

- Very dense road network with a lot of dirt tracks going into the landscape. I played around with it for like an hour, driving and running around in Chernarus. I got lost several times, despite the dense road network

- No trains, the tracks are just to improve the scenery

- No rivers or streams but small lakes

- Most buildings are not be enterable, but almost each one is destroyable. If they get too much damage they collapse like in ArmA

- Very nice church with incredible details

- Many, many different vehicles, actually too many to remember but: Crossbike, Mountainbike, BMP-1, BMP-2 and BMP-3, T-90, Avenger HMMWV, Mi-24, Kamov, PV3S, Ural with ZU-23, Tunguska, LAV-25. The editor menus are full of different vehicles and these in different configurations

- The BMP-3 has 3 gunner positions (2x front MGs, 1x main gun), the Mi-17 has gunners in the side door, rear door and the front.

- M1 with loader position, without a loader the gunner must switch to loader position and reload, then switch back to fire

- Both F-35 and Osprey take off vertically, but not sure if the AI can too

- Aimpoint optics looking much better now

- Player can interact with all units when he is near them and AI starts to forget about things, example:

Some russian tanks passed a village before.

If you ask someone in the village about tanks in the area after two days, they might say: yes there were 4 tanks going through yesterday

If you ask them 2 weeks after they passed, they might say: Yes there might have been tanks but i can't remember

- Campaign can be played with up to 4 players. It's not limited to that but because in the campaign there are only 4 members in the force recon team.

- Womans and many other civilians, old and young ones which fit perfectly into the area

- 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

- Editor is the same one we know already but has now a debug console where you can do all kind of stuff like pausing the game and fly with the camera around

- The command interface is slightly different, like order your men in a vehicle is now: Select them -> 9 –> Complex command -> Get in vehicle

- The vehicles are extremely detailed, like moving instruments, retracting gear, electronics in the wheel well, scratches

- Wounded units roll on the ground in pain

- Wounded or dead units can be dragged or carried

- Dualcore support, one core is used for the Micro-AI

Overall it looks and feels much better then ArmA, even if you consider that it's an early version. In fact, I haven't expected it to be like this

I was at CM too and what I've seen there was anything then impressing. Most of the time you either seen render images or video stills. At BIS I've seen a game running in front of me all over the time, paused only to show some details. A game I was able to use, to drive or walk around in it and not just a huge presentation with selected stuff. I was able to say, show me this and can I see that and it was shown to me. No chance for BIS to show only what has been done yet.

Big thanks to Marek, Jan and the Idea guys for a great day, their patience with me and the chance to see and use ArmA2 live.

Raj

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

[CAVE]guerilla

Have you ever considered that the jumping crosshair is by design? It might reflect the fact that after moving or running your aiming ain't zeroed for a while.

[Spoock 3]

2 W0lle: thank you, It is what I needed today, really thanx  

[NeMeSiS 11]

- Wounded or dead units can be dragged or carried

Does the AI also do this?

And thanks for writing this.

[dmitri 0]

Thanks W0lle. Some really nice details there. The questioning Civs about enemy movements sounds fantastic.

[W0lle 1047]

- Wounded or dead units can be dragged or carried

Does the AI also do this?

That I was about to ask but then I forgot as I had to hurry to get my train back home.

The AI in VBS2 cannot drag units itself, but there the new Micro-AI isn't used so everything is possible here.

[Commando84 0]

very nice info there W0lle

Bis will probably give us a great game when it is released.

[mr reality 0]

It's nice to read those things that wolle posted, but there's not much in there that jumps out and slaps me stupid.

It's nice that we get more vehicles and weapons to play with, it's nice that we'll be getting a new improved island to play on but when you see the AI unable to hop over a tiny fence and the exact same tank combat from 2001, well it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

A lot of the info that wolle posted is just superficial. It's not new in terms of gameplay and simulation.

If i could have one thing improved vastly in ArmAII it would be the AI ability to control vehices in a realistic manner, on and off road. That one thing would make me a happy person.

[Praelium 0]

I'm a bit confused about the campaign. Is it going to be similar to Arma with seperate missions, or open ended like Evolution (kind of like GTA)?

[Spoock 3]

Campaign starting as linear missions, then continue to missions with choices and finally continue to dynamic phase with freedom as Evolution style.

This sad Jan Hovora (Ohara) last year at INVEX (similar as GDC but czech and smaller)

[mr.g-c 6]

More disapointing news from the german online-magazine "Krawall" which was at the GC to take a look at Arma.

Link with google translator:

http://translate.google.de/transla....e=UTF-8

Important negative part (google translated):

Quote[/b] ]Here comes the AI into the game to us in the presentation still not really convincing. While there are clear improvements in comparison to the first part of "Armed Assault" and are allegedly centimetre movements, but failed the soldiers in the simplest tasks. Non-believable behaviour at walls, through a garden-Fences and changing prone, then up again and were exhilarating to be in the final game, however, such actions would be a destructive criticism. The fact that at a tank battle, the textures changed before an explosion was shown, should also be changed.

Quote[/b] ]First thought: The first part, I found somehow neat and i had hoped they continue to iron all the problems away. But this demo lets me shake a little again. If they still target as planned, it can be really good.

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

[W0lle 1047]

What these Krawall guys have not mentioned is that neither the Micro-AI for the infantry is completed yet nor the one for vehicles and helicopter/planes.

Maybe it wasn't told them though. Generally said one must decide what he wants: Scripted AI that takes cover behind a stone and jump about fences, or dynamic AI that outflanks you and appears out of nowhere. You just can't have anything and I definitely go for option #2 as games with scripted and predictable AI I had enough in my life.

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.

[Colossus 2]

Interresting read, W0lle!

It seems like the video which was displayed never really catched the whole feeling of ArmA2. I do hope BI, IDEA, 505 and/or Peter Games can show us some of those features you mention in the coming future.

PS: Where/Is there any people who is filming at GC08? I'm sure alot of member would like to take a peak at those

[W0lle 1047]

Well no matter how good someone is you never can catch the atmosphere with a camera, standing passive behind the screen. It's a huge difference if you control the units yourself in first person or if you are just watching from a distance.

The relative low resolution of these videos (the game resolution was atleast 1680x1050 on a 24" screen) does the rest. Unfortunately many people judge the game now by these rather crappy videos.

As I was there, there were a bunch of press people there recording the action for several minutes. So there might appear some more videos one day.