Arma II is going on the shelf...

[IrishDeviant 10]

I have searched endlessly through the forums for a solution to Freezing/Laging/Crashing issue with Arma II. And, apparently it is a multi-core optimization issue that has yet to be fixed. This may not be the actual cause, but it is what people seem to be saying.

Nevertheless, I am putting Arma II on the shelf until this problem is fixed. Arma 2 is unplayable on my rig:

Intel QX9650

nVidia eVGA GTX260 Superclocked

4 Gigs Corsair Dominator

Win-7 32bit

nVidia Driver 190.38

Arma 2 Patch 1.03

I even gave Arma II the benefit of the doubt and turned the graphics settings down to minimum, just to make sure it wasn't over-powering my system. But, the problem persisted.

As for the F-22 Raptor that I've been making for the community, I'll get back to it when Bohemia fixes their game. There's no point in me making addons for a game that I can't play. Not that I don't like making assets for the community, but I've got other projects to work on and this one just got demoted.

I've tried the various target path arguments to limit CPU's to one core, etc. Even alt+tab'd to desktop and forced affinity to one core, etc,etc,etc... I've tried it all, and simply put, I'm tired of wasting my time to get this game working. BTW, I'll be purchasing OFP2 to see if they did a better job. Obviously, OFP2 isn't a simulator, but if it works, I'll play it.

Also, I understand that many people are able to get Arma II running smoothly. And, I'm happy for them. But, if I can't play it on my rig, something is seriously wrong.

Ok, now that I'm done ranting, I'm sure this is the part where all of you flame me for saying Arma II is anything less than perfect... So, I'll leave you to it.

[Fansadox 0]

I feel your pain bro. I decided to play Arma less and less for a while aswell.

Im sure they will make this into a fantastic game in the end but the question is how long will it take. Who knows? Anyways back to play some Niko in GTA4 ;)

Hope to see you back soon

[tankkiller01 0]

Dude, with your specs you should be getting good performance, i have done alot of tweaking and have now got a good set up with very nice frame rates, surely you should be getting more..

However it does need to be looked at , the game that is, but they did take a while to iron out ArmA 1

____________________

Intel core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 3.1Ghz

BFG Tech GTX 285 OC to core 674MHz. shader 1535MHz. mem 1247MHz

Asus P5N-D 750i

4 GB Corsair DDR2 XMS 800

EZ COOL 700W psu

Maxtor HDD

Windows Vista 64bit

[screamingeagles 10]

this game is not finnished at all ,it sucks big time

[mutters 10]

sadly im packing it in to cant be arsed with the stress get enough of that in real life,without having it in a little game.

[interox 10]

Try a registry cleaner [important], then a driver cleaner , reinstall gpu drivers [190.38 whql] then defrag the hdd. Dont run with any switches except -nosplash. Goodluck.

[Nutlink 10]

As much as I love this game I find myself playing it less and less every day because of performance issues. ArmA 1 is still bad as well, but it's at least playable on current hardware, even on Vista, which is more than I can say for ArmA 2. Hope this game gets patched up and we get to see that F-22 in the future though.

[Nazul 10]

I'm getting very annoyed with this game too, a gaming session involves not much gaming, a lot of loading, waiting, crashing, loading , more waiting, another crash....

[fitzee 7]

Hi.

That sux. The game works great for me with less of a system than yours, vista64 even.

"nVidia eVGA GTX260 Superclocked" - Have you tried lowering the timings closer to default nvidia speeds? I've seen other people have problems with factory overclocked cards before.

Probaly won't make a difference, but its always worth trying.

[skypine27 0]

I dont know WTF happend with my Arma II install.

I had the game running great, no tweaks at all on a quite high end machine (QX9770 @4.0ghz, 8GB ram, GTX295, Vista 64 Bit.) Didnt do squat except install the game, the 1. patch, and everything was sweet.

So then, OPPS, I decided to try out Windows 78 64 bit. Installed ARMA II, the 1.2 patch, and BOOM, game played terrible. I was a victim of the dreaded flashing white and/or black blocky textures. I blamed it in on Win 7, so I reinstalled Vista 64. And guess what? The problem remained ! FLashing white, missing, and black blocky textures.

Patch 1.3 came out, and I was hoping that would fix the problem. Did it? NOPE, still screwed up textures. Game is on the shelf for me too until 1.4 patch and/or some new drivers from nvidia.

[no use for a name 0]

I dont know WTF happend with my Arma II install.

I had the game running great, no tweaks at all on a quite high end machine (QX9770 @4.0ghz, 8GB ram, GTX295, Vista 64 Bit.) Didnt do squat except install the game, the 1. patch, and everything was sweet.

So then, OPPS, I decided to try out Windows 78 64 bit. Installed ARMA II, the 1.2 patch, and BOOM, game played terrible. I was a victim of the dreaded flashing white and/or black blocky textures. I blamed it in on Win 7, so I reinstalled Vista 64. And guess what? The problem remained ! FLashing white, missing, and black blocky textures.

Patch 1.3 came out, and I was hoping that would fix the problem. Did it? NOPE, still screwed up textures. Game is on the shelf for me too until 1.4 patch and/or some new drivers from nvidia.

did you use the -maxmem=2047? Arma2 has a problem with 8GB

[rstratton 0]

try windows xp, no issues here

[nyran125 10]

i get NONE of the problems you guys are having. However , turn Post-processing on low and everything else to normal and AA OFF. there is NO computer out there in this currant generation of cards , processors, that can play this game with smooth frame rates on high graphic settings. It is future proofed to hell. Just like Oblivian before it, just like no one could run Crysis until the 8800 series of cards came out. In 2 years time with hardware 2 years from now, you WILL be able to run Arma 2 in all its glory , but right now the game looks great on normal and AA OFF and its too good a game to worry about stupid little things like window textures flickering.

My specs 8800 GTS 512mb, 2 gb ram, intel core 2 duo processor 2.66Ghz. Runs at 35 fps consistently on normal graphic settings and post processing on low. YES i get textures popping in and out , and yes some of the missions need to be explained ALOT better by the developers in briefings like , you can only do ONE artillary strike THAT...IS...IT(Its not a bug) and if you stray to far away from your mission you will get shot by invisible enemies.

Heres a tip :>:>:> When pc gaming remember this "ONLY UPGRADE YOUR PC a YEAR OR TWO AFTER a game that stresses your hardware out actually comes out, then upgrade to new graphic cards and processors etc. Never upgrade your computer before a game comes out, because it is INSTANTLY OBSOLETE".

IF you think just because you have a nividia 295GTX and the latest crap windows7 system for gaming and you can run Arma 2 with everything on very high with the latest hardware you have been duped by nividia and Bohemia into buying stuff prematurely. If games come out and you can run them sweet, why upgrade computer?, unless you cant run games anymore?

What you are trying to do is future proof YOUR computer without any needing to. However its not your computer that needs future proofing, because games will come out eventually that only can be played on high graphics, 2 years down the track, its a fact, because games are always trying to push the boundaries of graphics and lighting and are always trying to future proof it for the NEXT GENERATION of video cards and processors NOT this generation (Nividia 295gtx for e.g.) Because if they didnt do that, why would Nividia and Intel support the gaming industry with hardware later on $$$$$$$$$$$$?

You think They do this to video cards for people that like watching movies?. GET REAL, they do it to get the money off gamer's in the future. Why buy something if you dont need it yet. There is no game out at the moment apart from Arma 2 that requires anything higher, spec wise, than a single 8800GTS 512mb card and a intel core 2 duo 2.66Ghz. However now i know (because a game like Arma 2 has come out) in a years time, probably 2, i will need to upgrade my system. Why before, when its not necessary? XP still runs games better than vista its a fact. SO why bother?

There is ALWAYS a series of video cards that come out in a years time or 2 years time that magically make all the latest games like Arma 2, run really well all of a sudden. Its like magic, when 8800 series came out all of a sudden Everyone could run Crysis and Oblivian , its like magic. LOL. :):):):):) remember WAIT for the magic to happen, before YOU try and make the magic come prematurely when upgrading your pc. Because you will get duped over and over and over and over again. Wai tfor that special game like Arma 2 or Crysis to come out, Wait a year or 2(Preferably 2) Then go all out and upgrade to ALL the latest stuff.

However i do agree that the spec system NEEDS to change on game boxes to stop this bs that has been happening with future proofing games on pc's for the last 10 years,well since 1995. There needs to be minimum requirements, medium requirements, developer requirements and FUTURE requirement specs so people know they cant run a game properly on high graphic settings and have good performance aswell before they buy the game on all the latest hardware.

Edited August 10, 2009 by nyran125

[Kenjineering 10]

As for the F-22 Raptor that I've been making for the community, I'll get back to it when Bohemia fixes their game. There's no point in me making addons for a game that I can't play. Not that I don't like making assets for the community, but I've got other projects to work on and this one just got demoted.

Dammit! I have to wait a bit longer now until I can fly that!

[skypine27 0]

but right now the game looks great on normal and AA OFF and its too good a game to worry about stupid little things like window textures flickering.

Dude, people (ME included) are having issues with FAR more than window textures flickering static. Entire forests and buildings flicker black and white is a no-go issue. The game is unplayable for many with high end hardware.

IF you think just because you have a nvidia 295GTX and the latest crap windows7 system for gaming and you can run Arma 2 with everything on very high with the latest hardware you have been duped by nvidia and Bohemia into buying stuff prematurely.

People aren't trying to run the game with everything on high. After the install of Windows 7 64, it played lousy for me with everything on Normal on my current system. However, it played perfectly fine on my Vista 64 install that was about 2 years old, though I have no idea why it would not play fine when I reinstalled Vista 64 after the Windows 7 failed experiment.

Waiting for 1.04 and/or Nvidia drivers before I reinstall this game.

[Gaizokubanou 0]

i get NONE of the problems you guys are having. However , turn Post-processing on low and everything else to normal and AA OFF. there is NO computer out there in this currant generation of cards , processors, that can play this game with smooth frame rates on high graphic settings.

Wrong. There are many graphic cards that can handle this game's visual processing demands. The problem is with cpu load.

[[aps]gnat 28]

.

Far too much evidence exists (in these forums) suggesting these problems are not just BIS created.

Runs fine for me with a Duo 2.13, 2GB Ram, 8800GTS 640MB

[jaundiced 10]

Gnat;1400070'].

Far too much evidence exists (in these forums) suggesting these problems are not just BIS created.

Runs fine for me with a Duo 2.13' date=' 2GB Ram, 8800GTS 640MB[/quote']

i find it to be quite the opposite.

most people seem to have wonderful experience with all other games aside from Arma II, myself included.

you shouldn't have to registry clean and change system settings just for one game - that's call poor coding, or poor communication on BI part with 3rd party companies that release drivers. believe it or not it isn't their job to figure out what BI does and then make changes for them, it's the other way around.

so i fail to see how this isn't BI problem or fault when the most intensive games out there run on our systems with no issues whatsoever with no tweaking or system setting toying....

and this is now a habit / pattern for BI. arma I was EXACTLY the same and took about a year to get playable for many people.

[NataszkaFromRussia 10]

I've tried the various target path arguments to limit CPU's to one core, etc. Even alt+tab'd to desktop and forced affinity to one core, etc,etc,etc... I've tried it all, and simply put, I'm tired of wasting my time to get this game working.

whats the benefit of doing that?

[H-street 10]

I have searched endlessly through the forums for a solution to Freezing/Laging/Crashing issue with Arma II. And, apparently it is a multi-core optimization issue that has yet to be fixed. This may not be the actual cause, but it is what people seem to be saying.

...

Ok, now that I'm done ranting, I'm sure this is the part where all of you flame me for saying Arma II is anything less than perfect... So, I'll leave you to it.

Sorry to hear you are having issues, sometimes there are just issues that are very specific to a person that no amount of "trouble shooting" by the community or even BI can help it.

For others i'll just put a few suggestions since it sounds like you are done trouble shooting

It could be a multicore issue, but i'd really be suspect if it was. And usually anything that has multi-core issues can be fixed by setting the Affinity (only 1 game i know of has had multi core issues, DCS-Blackshark, and it is fixed by setting the affinity)

First I'd check the Event logs in windows, make sure nothing else funny is going on look at the Errors and Criticals.

Second i'd run a Mem checker - even if you think its ok i'd run it (never assume your hardware is OK because of other things that run fine) Along with this scan your HDD for faulty sectors.

Third i'd probably monitor temperatures of my CPU/GPU/Southbridge.

There is a programe called Prime95 that overclockers use to test theri CPU. I'd suggest running that just to see how your CPU does. It should really work your CPU (monitor the temps with it running)

i'd then check my drivers, even uninstalling and reinstalling them (actually uninstalling the drivers, not just removing the hardware).

When i've had issues that aren't of the normal it ended up being a piece of hardware or device driver (even though everythign else was working perfectly) or my GPU / CPU was over heating. Some programs (armaII may be one) are much more sensitive to to things like that.

After hardware issues it usually ends up being a corrupt installation. A few files corrupt here and there (usually from faulty hardware, DVD, ribbon cable etc..). Corrupt installations are hard to diagnose if they dont' have a way to verify the installed files are correct. I doubt this is it though since that would usually crop up as other errors (Check your windows log) for several programs.

anyways hopefully in the future your issue will get resolved, i found shelving problems like this eventually fix themselves just as your change hardware / operating systems, etc.. I understand your frustration.. I'd give it a week and then maybe take a fresh look at it. See if you have any luck.

[SnR 1]

Those of us that came from Armed Assault waited for Patch 1.16 to see any WOW improvements, Those same people will wait again and continue to be proactive where needed. As for the rest Dragon rising is not to far away so hang in there.

[spamurai 3]

Game did not run very well on a 8800GT, the frame rate was tolerable at 20-30... but the display adapter continuously crashed regardless of what version of the Nvidia driver was used or what tweaking tricks were tried.

I pulled the card out and noticed the GPU heat sinks and air channels were full of dust, and blew them out and things were better. I didn't play much longer with the 8800GT, but I suspect Heat Issues were the cause.... its the first time EVER that I've had an overheating issue with stock hardware.

Then I went to the Nividia 260GTS, even though there are lots of threads on the forums about troubles with the card. I haven't had a single problem, game frame rate received an large boost and every thing plays very well. No sign of trouble.

There is just way to much speculation about why performance is poor in ArmA II and example after example of how unreliable most laymen gamers are about predicting what's causing it.

"Overheating" issues were the last thing on my list of possibilities, but so far it's been proven correct in 2 firm examples of mid level machines having severe crash issues.

[lowang 2]

Spamurai do you know what was the temperature of your 8800GT when it made problems?

For me Arma 2 works quite good (means average fps of 25 during the Razor 2 mission for example) on 1600*1200, AA normal, anisotropic high, textures very high, shadow, terrain and object detail medium, postprocessing low. It runs the same in my Windows 7 on the second hdd.

Irishdeviant you should be more specific with the performance problems you have and the graphic settings you use. Shadow and object details do the most performance difference, but I see you tried also minimum settings... I recommend trying 3DMark06 or vantage to see if that runs good.

Also I think you made a mistake with installing 32bit version of OS which is quite deprecated a long time ago. You realize that your system can use only 3.5GB of RAM and the rest will just rust? ;-)

The game IS very CPU intensive, because I had 30fps with my Q6600 @3.7GHz in one spot and then I had 20fps after underclocking it to 2.7GHz in the same spot! Over and underclocking GPU did nothing!

Edited August 10, 2009 by LoWang

[Chaosrik 10]

I haven't experienced any of the problems like flickering textures, white triangles, corrupt graphics or had a single CTD so far. I play in 1920 * 1200 and settings set between medium and high and avg about 20fps when in towns and things are busy and 60fps when out in the open country (playable). So no real problems at all apart from AI issues and mission probs but im sure they will get fixed. I use Vista 32bit and have:-

Q9650

GTX 295

4GB 1065mhz ram

Latest NVidia drivers 190.38

Arma Patch 1.03 (this gave me no performance gain over 1.02)

I think this is a fantastic game and have really enjoyed it but it will need a few patches to fix a lot of issues ppl have. (AI and performance)

I just installed the game and patch with no special nvidia settings, forcing SLI off or running with 1 core, just out the box and into playing. I'm sure a lot of the problems ppl are posting are more likely personal pc setup issues or conflicts.

:):):)

[Rexxenexx 0]

I teetered on the edge so many times. I totally understand putting it aside IrishDeviant. I'll be getting OFP2 aswell.

Do one last thing before you toss it out the window. Grab an extra HD and put XP 32bit. Install all your drivers off the web. The newest Nvidia is very important!Old driver New driver. Install Arma2+patch 1.03. put -nosplash -maxmem=2047 in the exe, then try. If it's still Death!! then format c: and fire it off the roof! ;)

I have a Evga GTX285 and it's still chugs sometimes. -maxmem=2047 switch made it so when I alt-tab it's instant, no "receiving" waiting, that was somewhat nifty. Still their is a bit too much for me to tolerate, like the z-fighting. Something I haven't seen not fixable in a long time. Hopefully it gets better optimized in the future.