ArmA 2 Demo feedback

[echo1 0]

I'm buying a second ATI RADEON 4870 X2 to run in crossfire and with Windows 7 I'll have Direct X 11 with Open CL...that's right Open CL not Open GL and this will allow me to run my GPUs as multicore arrays...1600 cores each for multithreading

Just so you know ...

1) Don't bother with a second 4870X2, ArmA 2 can't properly use more than one GPU, let alone four.

2) OpenCL and OpenGL are completely different things that do completely different stuff. So implying that one is better than the other is like comparing apples and oranges car tires.

3) Open CL only works for certain software that's specially optmized to use it. Because running Open CL code uses your graphics card's processing power, it would be pretty stupid for a games designer to make a game use Open CL. So, the speed benefit on a game from having an Open CL capable system is absolutely zero.

4) DirectX 11 requires your graphics card and the game to support it. Considering how little games make proper use of DX10 all these years after it's released, I wouldnt hold my breath on seeing DX11 popping into full use overnight.

5) GPU processing units are not the same thing as CPU cores, if that's what you are saying. So having 1,600 of them or whatever isnt like having a 1,600 core CPU, not even close.

Tho a 1600 core processor would ROCK !

I've heard they're only half as fast as a 3,200 core CPU :p

And supernova.....wow

Yep, that's our Universal... *tears of pride*

Edited July 6, 2009 by echo1

[cartier90 0]

ah well, thats dementia for ya ;) - jk !

[mrcash2009 0]

It's the Ghost Recon of my dreams...i

The very reason Arma1 appealed to me back in 2007. Open sandbox and control. I was GR1 nut from the moment that landed end 2001 nothing really came close to it for some time (raven shield maybe for CQB) ... I tried "others" but still was looking for that open ended side.

Arma did the job, Arma2 is doing the job even more.

PS: I cant believe this guy posted so positive and all anyone can do is post anal tech dogs*it and p*iss and moan ref bugs to be dealt with, jesus.

Edited July 6, 2009 by mrcash2009

[NotASenator 10]

Just so you know ...

1) Don't bother with a second 4870X2, ArmA 2 can't properly use more than one GPU, let alone four.

2) OpenCL and OpenGL are completely different things that do completely different stuff. So implying that one is better than the other is like comparing apples and oranges car tires.

3) Open CL only works for certain software that's specially optmized to use it. Because running Open CL code uses your graphics card's processing power, it would be pretty stupid for a games designer to make a game use Open CL. So, the speed benefit on a game from having an Open CL capable system is absolutely zero.

4) DirectX 11 requires your graphics card and the game to support it. Considering how little games make proper use of DX10 all these years after it's released, I wouldnt hold my breath on seeing DX11 popping into full use overnight.

5) GPU processing units are not the same thing as CPU cores, if that's what you are saying. So having 1,600 of them or whatever isnt like having a 1,600 core CPU, not even close.

I've heard they're only half as fast as a 3,200 core CPU :p

Yep, that's our Universal... *tears of pride*

Actually, once again just nitpicking, but many of the optimizations (tesselation, etc) of DX11 will be supported on DX9-10.1 cards. Shader Model 5 and I think the multi-core GPU support is specific to DX11 hardware.

But you are correct that the game will have to support these enhancements to really take advantage of it. There are a few games that have been delayed to include DX11 support, and since it is just an evolutionary step over DX10, I think strong support will come much quicker than for DX10, which was dreadful.

But all around good points.

[echo1 0]

PS: I cant believe this guy posted so positive and all anyone can do is post anal tech dogs*it and p*iss and moan ref bugs to be dealt with, jesus.

And if everyone agreed with him, someone would come along and complain that the thread was full of fanboys. Welcome to the internet... You can never win

To be honest, to those of us who like the game, the good points are pretty self-evident and elaborating on them further serves no real purpose...

[tranquillity 10]

same for me.....absolutely awesome post from cadmium, and those guys try to put him down for nothing.

you could have told cadmium that such a system would not really be needed, and that some of the technical aspects like 1600 core gpus are not really existant, but not blame him for saying how happy he is with arma2!!!

"I played with the little non combat scenario of leading a squad and 4 tanks around the island. This is teh coolest thing. I played and played and played with this."

this line is just awesome...he really loves that game, and I can understand him! but i can't understand any of you guys whining about bugs and the non optimized engine....

why do you complain about it if you can't change it? that is nonsense...

@cadmium77: in my opinion a triple head to go system with 3 monitors would not be necessary if you have one decent screen and the trackIR with pro clip, as the tracker basically enlarges your FOV and situational awareness by giving you the opportunity to quickly turn your head ingame....triple head to go is another way to go in my opinion, as it just offers a wider resolution...well, for me that's too much money for a too small effect.

and with you driving alone on the island without enemys: I do the same...but I do it with choppers....just flying and flying and flying, to master these aircrafts once, and I can tell you...it won't get boring for me in the next year, at least that's what i believe.

besides i have a question for supernova: what are you doing in an online forum of a computer game, which is by your opinion the buggiest game this year by far? why are you still here if you don't like the game?

sorry for the english, still learning..

ch_123....have been typing my post before yours....took me too long xD

basically you say the same as I do in two sentences xD

[cadmium77 16]

Just so you know ...

1) Don't bother with a second 4870X2, ArmA 2 can't properly use more than one GPU, let alone four.

2) OpenCL and OpenGL are completely different things that do completely different stuff. So implying that one is better than the other is like comparing apples and oranges car tires.

3) Open CL only works for certain software that's specially optmized to use it. Because running Open CL code uses your graphics card's processing power, it would be pretty stupid for a games designer to make a game use Open CL. So, the speed benefit on a game from having an Open CL capable system is absolutely zero.

4) DirectX 11 requires your graphics card and the game to support it. Considering how little games make proper use of DX10 all these years after it's released, I wouldnt hold my breath on seeing DX11 popping into full use overnight.

5) GPU processing units are not the same thing as CPU cores, if that's what you are saying. So having 1,600 of them or whatever isnt like having a 1,600 core CPU, not even close.

I've heard they're only half as fast as a 3,200 core CPU :p

Yep, that's our Universal... *tears of pride*

I wasn't implying Open CL was better than open GL, only that they were very different things...that it wasn't a typo..

And yeah, having 3200 cores in a GPU won't be teh equivalent to 3200 cores of a full CPU chip but they will allow important advantages as we can see with the Tesla supercomputers...

http://www.nvidia.com/object/personal_supercomputing.html

And I'm not running an i7...I'm running 2 Quad cores for 8 cores..

Edited July 6, 2009 by Cadmium77

[Skodz 10]

On an objective note, the Demo is good and fun and this game have a lot of potential but the main issue for me is the Performance. I am no expert but I just feel like its not well optimised.

I have a good PC and can't get this game to have average 40+ FPS with good video quality. I usually get 35 average FPS according to the Benchmark with "high" setting" and it just isn't good for me. Maybe if it would never drop below 30 FPS it would be ok but it does randomly drop below 30 and get saccady and not smooth.

I just hate laggy games and I'm not gonna spend 500$ to upgrade my PC for this game in the hope to gain a few FPS. Plus, some graphics effects in this game are just odd. I actually prefer playing older games with maxed out video options and good FPS (40-50+) than this one with "Normal/high" setting and 35 average fps and random FPS drops.

By the time I can get a PC powerful enough to run this game with 40-50 FPS + and maxed out video setting Arma 3 will probably be out and will have same performance problems :P

Edited July 7, 2009 by Skodz

[Soulie 0]

aah finally flashpoint is back (not counting in arma skipped that one , but oe had some nice memories about flashpoint trilogy , tbh the demo felt like not finished)

The demo should convince buying the game right ;o , so why is the demo shipped with a lot of features bad to wurse then in the actual released game beats me. Sine i am always like whining to people for years now , pfft dude if only you had played flashpoints in the early days :P

-Demo general

-the control list was a complete mess : In the actual game it is nicely shorted in groups etc

-for new players the speed of the tutorials which key to press dissapear to quickly leaving you stuck sometimes what to do(well personal opion , since I knew the general flashpoitn keys and gameplay never got a problem but just somethign i noticed).

Training missions :

-you can not complete the team command mission on expert level , since that does not allow you to enter command-view/3person view (whatever you wanne call it) and this is one of the actions you need to perform to get ahead.

-the basic training mission , while learnign to shoot with rocket launcher the insurances of the village will attack you already because of the bing kaboems (or because they see the humvee in the distance )????.

TBH the ai there is so silly (expert and veteran even) you park the humvee in the middle of the village and all the insurance will keep shooting the humvee even you not even close to it and you just pick them off one by one from a distance when they attack it.

-one save ,(ok it is patched in game already but still , new people ??)

-USB mouse handling , when in main menu , shocks all over the place?(also in main release 1.02, it is completly fine in the actual game)

-the installer should not be allowed to pick default , program files on a 64bit machine , this can lead to vista nightmares and crashes , it should pick the programfiles(x86) , unless i missed somethign completey about 64 bit support?(not sure here , but I had troubles with a install like that before)

:P got the game without a millisecond thinkign otherwhise but you guys makign it diffcult to convince people with this demo , to many little things gone bad!

[Armoredfury193 10]

Good experience overall, no major problems except that its hard to find a decent server...

[[aps]gnat 28]

The demo is very very ordinary!

Love the game, but the demo doesn't really do the game justice.

Graphics etc, ok, performance good for a 2.3ghz duo and a 8800GTS, but the missions are very lame, especially the MP missions. The CTI is especially badly presented.

BIS would have done better to include a C&H or similar instead.

[Jimmy the Saint 10]

voted for "the demo is good" - hope to get my box soon. :)

[jmc 0]

No real problems with demo.

It was very odd that some times I could get in the jeep or AA gun

and next game could not.

The main problem is that in a "single player game" ONLY the

single player should be able to decide if and when the game is

over!

There I am exploring here and there, having all sorts of fun and

then the game ends just because some AI wandered onto the

airfield.

I hate having to go over to where the APC come a shore and having to

blow the treads off the thing to stop it takeing the air field.

One more fun thing... there I am in the AA gun blowing everthing up

having a wonderful time and then the chopper flys by and kills me

along with the AA gun. (and I had not yet destroyed any friendly units

to keep the buggers off the air field and end the game)

thoughts welcome

jmc

[Yisc 0]

I like the demo but after about 30 minutes the performance drops heavily making the game lag so much. I can't see my hardware being the problem so this must be related to the demo. After running the calibration tool it gives me 25 FPS which is enough for a game like this but since my hardware is above average, it would be nice to get a little better result. Maybe this will come when the game will be optimised by patches. The only thing I'm finding weird is the fact that I had to install DX9 to get the game running, while I'm already on Windows 7 with DX11 included. I'm not sure I will buy the full version because of those performance issues.

[shifty-afc 0]

I had the same after playing for 20 minutes, heavy lag and crashed to desktop.

Windows gfwx were messed up and had to restart the pc.

First 20 minutes it played like a dream, I did run the benchmark and had 35 fps.

I wanted to buy the full but im a bit uncertain now

[Skyline On Fire 10]

Go for the full. The demo was a little unstable for me, the full game patched up runs perfectly. I havent really had any glitches whatsoever, except one body floating but that was just visual.

You wont regret getting it.

[AAD10 Pete 10]

Overall, the demo made a good impression to me. But the AI of the attacking LAV 25 of one default mission was really annoying. This was almost the case for me not to buy Arma2.

Fortunately only almost...

[Arma-2-Guru 55]

I only had a quick go, but it was fun, then I got the game the same day :)

[Shadow NX 1]

I had the same after playing for 20 minutes, heavy lag and crashed to desktop.

Windows gfwx were messed up and had to restart the pc.

First 20 minutes it played like a dream, I did run the benchmark and had 35 fps.

I wanted to buy the full but im a bit uncertain now

Tried the demo on a low spec PC of a mate and it crashed often, i later tried the full there it worked perfectly.

[jetplane_pete 0]

Can someone send me the bin pbo file for the demo. I tried to see whether Kegety's "noblur" would work with the demo, but replaced the original file without saving it.

Rather than downloading the whole demo again any chance someone can shoot it my way

petewenman(at)btinternet.com just change the at

thanks

Pete

[yanquis 10]

the demo convinced me beyond doubt to get the game, so id have to say it was great.

[kdawg 10]

I was really liking the arma2 demo, and was thinking of buying the complete game but after 3 days of playing the game, now my game freezes before I get to start it. I just built this pc and running windows 7, could this be the problem, any help would be welcomed.

Thanks

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

Your saying "it was working", but now it's not?

What happened/changed between the 2?

[kdawg 10]

i'm not sure what happened, it played fine for several days but now all of the sudden it gets to game and freezes up. I do thank you for the response and please keep in mind I am a noob when it comes to pc's. This was my first build but I think I built a pretty good one for my first one. I dont think speed is an issue here.

AMD Phenom II X 2 550 Blk (3.1 G)

EVGA 9800GT 1 GB video card

4 GB dual channel memory.

It may be something with Norton anti-virus. I turned my firewall off and still had problem. I play Joint Operations a lot. Lost my CD's and had to re-order and download, it seemed like that was when I started having the problems after downloading JO. HUMMMMMM!!!

Thanks again for any responses...:cool:

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

The only issue I personally have with W7, is most games and apps may need to be ran as administrator, do this by right clicking it's icon.

And you really should install everything "As Administrator". Even if your account has administrator rights.

Also try in game video memory setting to "High". If that is an option in the demo, can't remember.

Edited February 18, 2010 by SWAT_BigBear