ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead discussion thread

[4 IN 1 0]

Just seen this in another thread and holy crap does that mean all ArmA2 units with the new OA features where applicable? Now that would be pure bad ass!

thats a clear no I think

[andersson 285]

I remember reading somewhere that BIS said that armaII units will have some compability with the new features but not full. A guess could be that FLIR will work on them but they will not have the defined heat sources (engine, tracks and so on)?

[txalin 2]

Requirements:

Minimal PC Requirements

– CPU: Dual-core Intel Core 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon 2.4 GHz

– GPU: Nvidia Geforce 8600GT or ATI Radeon 3650 or faster with Shader

- Model 3 and 512 MB VRAM

– RAM: 1 GB

– OS: Windows XP or Windows Vista

– DVD: Dual Layer compatible

– HDD: 10 GB free space

Recommended PC Requirements

– CPU: Intel Core i5 or AMD Athlon Phenom X4 or faster

– GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 or ATI Radeon HD 5770 or faster with

Shader Model 3 and 896 MB VRAM

– RAM: 2 GB

– OS: Windows 7

– DVD: Dual Layer compatible

– HDD: 20 GB free space

Source: http://www.armedassault.info/index.php?cat=news&id=4185

[nodunit 397]

CPU requirement went down but GPU went up, I wonder why that might be.

[txalin 2]

CPU requirement went down but GPU went up, I wonder why that might be.

Because thay have added, for example, SSAO and other graphical features to the engine :)

[Kristian 47]

SSAO sounds cool, does it do something that I can see? :D

[turin turambar 0]

SSAO sounds cool, does it do something that I can see? :D

You will see, believe me. You will notice it in your framerate :P.

[nodunit 397]

No kidding, I just hope it is an option that can be turned off..truth be told Arma2 could be much more workable if you could turn more off, normal maps, specular, enviromental though shaders etc. Sure you might be left with a few things bare but hey if you don't have a great PC then you still get to play it.

And yes you will see the SSAO though you may not realise it. http://www.geeks3d.com/public/jegx/200808/direct3d-ssao-demo.jpg It's a 'dynamic ambient occlusion' if you will.

[Pulverizer 1]

AO adds lag and flickering shadows. It could improve looks of the bland building interiors, but I'd rather take static lightmaps than AO.

[nodunit 397]

depends on how they utilize it and on what.

[Takko 10]

The vegetation looks better, also because of the Ssao

Just look at te picture where you could see single leafs in the bush

[paragraphic l 2]

Is there any word on new animal models being included, anywhere?

I can only find it listed as content on the BIKI but nothing else about it.

If not, can someone place it as an question on the BIKI for me?

[DancZer 65]

SSAO demo pic

[nodunit 397]

If it might work like that ingame then it could greatly increase the appearence of dark textures and night time, for example if you take off the environment maps and lower the specular to very bare in A2 in shadows the texture is very...odd.

[Kristian 47]

I hope it wont affect the allready pretty bad performance on some systems.

I think I saw in one review a dev talking about 10-15% Performance boost, not sure where it was though.

[Smurf 12]

10-15% boost is for vegetation. If you apply SSAO it will decrease your perf., a lot!

With SSAO headlights\flashlights will cast shadows on objects or just make them gow, as is it ATM?

[nodunit 397]

Not likely, SSAO is more of a dynamic ambient occlusion, instead of being generated by maps, for example for interiors and things with repeating patterns or huge scenes where it just wouldn't be feasable (this includes terrain) the engine generates its own ambient occlusion.

However it is more fluid in that the shadow source moves unlike a static map...it's like comparing a normal map with diffuse made bevels..with the diffuse the light source stays the same no matter what you do, with normals it is effected by light source and direction making it dynamic.

It however isn't (or shouldn't) be cancelled by shadows, which will, if it works right enhance sun set and night scenery as well as interiors, now wether or not HDR will like it is in the air.

[Kristian 47]

Official info from BIS devs about this would be nice. I really wanna know how big impact on FPS is has, and can it be turned off.

[turin turambar 0]

It surely can be turn on and off, don't worry. It can be done in every game it has used it.

[stilpu 0]

I'm hoping SSAO is going to give us an approximation for distant shadows, like this:

No SSAO: http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/galleryimage.asp?topic_id=528742ℑ=1

With SSAO: http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/galleryimage.asp?topic_id=528742ℑ=3

[nodunit 397]

someone said it could be seen in screenshots and I think I've seen it in play on distant terrain..we'll just have to wait and see.

[Richey79 10]

I was going to say something sarcastic about how we don't need Arma2's system requirements to go up and how in BFBC2 the only way you could tell you'd switched SSAO on was that it cut your framerate by a third.

However, then I realised that, even though the game stresses the CPU like crazy, it doesn't seem to put a particularly high load on the GPU at all. If BIS implement this feature so that it is calculated pretty much entirely on the GPU, it might be a welcome addition to the game.

[twisted 128]

Full editing capability, SDK, modding support

from the OA faq.

SDK? is that access to more than modders get to now?

[sbsmac 0]

I'm intrigued by the "integrated mod management" (from OA FAQ).

[Pulverizer 1]

SDK? is that access to more than modders get to now?

Pretty sure it means the content tools. Visitor, Oxygen, export plug-ins, addon packing/signing and such.