ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead discussion thread

[SEALVI 10]

How would you get it before the actual release date...?

More importantly....Distributors don't ship games before the actual release date. I've never seen them ship a game before its actual release date.

You're info is most likely wrong man. :(

Might have to wait a few days after the 29th to have OA...

One day shipping FTW!

[Steakslim 1]

@Enad: Actually happens a lot. I got my copy of STALKER CS 3 days before the release from A-zon.

@Steakslim: Buy it from Sprocket, they are a wonderful company.

No, what I am asking is for your comment on Steam to make sense.

[Rayers12 19]

It means that patching is key, everything to the ArmA series.

[BF2_Trooper 0]

Wouldn't buy it on Steam, anyway. They have bad reputation for patching (otherwise known as fucking everything) the AA games. Sprocket all the way!

Sorry, but I fail to understand this hatred for STEAM and I used to be against downloaded purchases until I started buying my games from STEAM. I am definately going to be getting OA on STEAM. I would much rather wait for a while for a patch to come out than not be able to play a game because of some stupid buggy DRM that thinks I have an illegal DVD copy of a game I bought.

Edited June 8, 2010 by BF2_Trooper

[W0lle 1046]

Lets see...the including of VBS2's FLIR, added features..the ability for the game to play on it's own enhanced engine without the requirement of having Arma2 installed...and you think that it should be around $30 or something?

So what would be a fair price for you? $20, or $10 or maybe $5?

Have you noticed already that you get more than just "VBS2's FLIR"? Have you noticed how many more vehicles, units and weapons you get for those $30? And that last but not least there were humans working on that $30 product and not robots. And now guess what? These people need money to pay the house, car and bills - even in the Czech republic.

If the price tag is too high for you then don't buy it - but please stop telling us about it because it doesn't change anything at all.

[Steakslim 1]

It means that patching is key, everything to the ArmA series.

And what is Steam doing with patches, or not doing with patches that seems to have you bothered? No 1.05 patch via steam? That's been explained here, by BIS, it was their decision, not Steam's, to release the patch to be applied manually.

Also about those bitching for the price. 40 is ten dollars less than what most new games costs, and 20 dollars less than what PC gamers had to fork over for MW2 which was 10 dollars more than what other platforms had to pay, all for NO EXTRA CONTROL FEATURES OR EVEN DEDICATED SERVERS. And you all are bitching over 40 dollars?

Edited June 8, 2010 by Steakslim

[enad 11]

And what is Steam doing with patches, or not doing with patches that seems to have you bothered? No 1.05 patch via steam? That's been explained here, by BIS, it was their decision, not Steam's, to release the patch to be applied manually.

Also about those bitching for the price. 40 is ten dollars less than what most new games costs, and 20 dollars less than what PC gamers had to fork over for MW2 which was 10 dollars more than what other platforms had to pay, all for NO EXTRA CONTROL FEATURES OR EVEN DEDICATED SERVERS. And you all are bitching over 40 dollars?

Exactly. Both points are dead on. :cool:

[ebanks129 10]

@Enad: Actually happens a lot. I got my copy of STALKER CS 3 days before the release from A-zon.

Walts please be correct lol!! better happen in this case too. One day shipping told me 28th

[hamm 10]

So what would be a fair price for you? $20, or $10 or maybe $5?

The dude's being sarcastic, he's saying the price is fair.

And @Steakslim, Steam is horrible for patching because it auto-downloads patches sometimes even if you set it to NOT auto-download. This causes issues with having to redownload the entire game because of Steam updating from 1.05 -> 1.04 (Steam's version); to updates the server you play on hasn't implemented yet.

[W0lle 1046]

The dude's being sarcastic, he's saying the price is fair.

Ooops...

NodUnit may forgive me this time.

:couch:

[Steakslim 1]

The dude's being sarcastic, he's saying the price is fair.

And @Steakslim, Steam is horrible for patching because it auto-downloads patches sometimes even if you set it to NOT auto-download. This causes issues with having to redownload the entire game because of Steam updating from 1.05 -> 1.04 (Steam's version); to updates the server you play on hasn't implemented yet.

Uh, it doesn't happen unless you make it happen. I've turned auto patching for ArmA2 off months ago, hasn't tried to patch the game since. Same with some other games if I chose to cease autoupdates for any reason. User error isn't Steams fault. Either autoupdate was reactivated due to maybe a reinstallation of steam itself, or you tried to run the game through Steam after patching to 1.05, which is a mistake I myself even made, but I knew and understood that mistake.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

And @Steakslim, Steam is horrible for patching because it auto-downloads patches sometimes even if you set it to NOT auto-download. This causes issues with having to redownload the entire game because of Steam updating from 1.05 -> 1.04 (Steam's version); to updates the server you play on hasn't implemented yet.

That's ridiculous, I haven't even turned off auto-updating and not once has Steam unpatched my game from 1.05.

[hamm 10]

Uh, it doesn't happen unless you make it happen. I've turned auto patching for ArmA2 off months ago, hasn't tried to patch the game since. Same with some other games if I chose to cease autoupdates for any reason. User error isn't Steams fault. Either autoupdate was reactivated due to maybe a reinstallation of steam itself, or you tried to run the game through Steam after patching to 1.05, which is a mistake I myself even made, but I knew and understood that mistake.

Well it happened to me, twice. And to other people I know, and I never reactivated auto-updating. So it's Steam's fault, hth. :)

And the game has no Steam perks, so buying it for $5 less on Sprocket is a better idea.

@Big Dawg KS: "Something never happened to me, surely it doesn't exist!"

Edited June 8, 2010 by Hamm

[AnimalMother92 10]

I would gladly pay full price for this game. :)

Just look at the sys reqs:

ArmA II: 10gbs of HD space

OA: 9gbs of HD space

We are getting a ton of new stuff.

[Steakslim 1]

Well it happened to me, twice. And to other people I know, and I never reactivated auto-updating. So it's Steam's fault, hth. :)

And the game has no Steam perks, so buying it for $5 less on Sprocket is a better idea.

You did something to trigger it as did they. Again, user error. I had a friend who swore offline mode for Steam didn't work, and I had to prove him wrong. Just because you're doing it wrong and don't know it doesn't make you right. As for perks considering I don't have to deal with disc, serial numbers, and will have the game tied to my account for use on as many pc's as I wish to install it on. I'd say that's a pretty good perk. I'm not dodging Sprocket, I'm just not going to deviate from a platform that I haven't had any issues with that weren't easily solved. But enough talk about Steam, this is an Arrowhead topic.

[hamm 10]

You did something to trigger it as did they. Again, user error. I had a friend who swore offline mode for Steam didn't work, and I had to prove him wrong. Just because you're doing it wrong and don't know it doesn't make you right.

Whatever, I'm telling you I didn't trigger it, believe it or not! And offline mode was actually broken until they had to put the "REALLY REALLY Fixed Offline Mode" in one of the Steam updates. So yeah, Steam can and does actually break sometimes :eek:. And believe it or not, some people actually have different experiences!

Not saying it's a bad service, but it isn't perfect and I've had patching issues with it. Besides Sprocket gives BIS the most money, so I'm picking that!

Edited June 8, 2010 by Hamm

[Big Dawg KS 6]

@Big Dawg KS: "Something never happened to me, surely it doesn't exist!"

But weren't you saying "It happens to me, so it will certainly happen to you."?

Honestly, I haven't heared of anyone having these issues with Steam for any games. If it happened to you there's probably something else at play.

And there are other benefits to using Steam than Steamworks implementation (though it is an added bonus when it is). The main reason I prefer Steam is because I don't have to worry about copy protection, but there are other things as well. For example, no need to keep track of product keys, no discs to worry about, automatic updates, plus I'm saving gas/shipping costs by not going to the store or having a hard copy delivered.

Edited June 8, 2010 by Big Dawg KS

[hamm 10]

But weren't you saying "It happens to me, so it will certainly happen to you."?

Honestly, I haven't heared of anyone having these issues with Steam for any games. If it happened to you there's probably something else at play.

No, I was saying it might have issues with autopatching. As ArmA2 did. For me. I wasn't saying it has to happen to everyone, unlike you guys who think an issue can't possibly exist if it never happened to you.

[Big Dawg KS 6]

No, I was saying it might have issues with autopatching. As ArmA2 did. For me. I wasn't saying it has to happen to everyone, unlike you guys who think an issue can't possibly exist if it never happened to you.

You're right. As far as I'm concerned there is no issue. Whether or not you have an issue is another story. All I do know is that regardless of how well a system or piece of software works, there's always people who will have some issues, as unexplainable as they may be. But the possibility of someone having an issue with Steam's patching is probably less than you think. You made it sound like if you use Steam, you will consistently have problems patching... which is just untrue.

Edited June 8, 2010 by Big Dawg KS

[hamm 10]

You made it sound like if you use Steam, you will consistently have problems patching... which is just untrue.

Sorry about that, I was just expanding on Walts' point (maybe generalized too much), and Steakslim came off as kind-of aggressive. :rolleyes:

But yea, enough with this pointless argument I think.

[Killerwatt 0]

I cant believe the guys on here complaining about the price. I am a great believer in the old saying "a fair days pay for a fair days work" and I was happy to pay the sprocket price. I will also happily pay the Amazon.UK disc price when it becomes available there as I want a hard copy. Even buying this game twice is well worth it to me considering how many hours of use this software will give me.The guys who produced this masterpiece have families to feed and bills to pay just like you and I, and they deserve to be well rewarded for the hard work and dedication they have shown since the days of OFP.

[nodunit 397]

Ooops...

NodUnit may forgive me this time.

:couch:

No problem W0lle it happens. (post edited because I was originally responding to the accusation until I saw your other post) and thank you for pointing that out Hamm.

Edited June 8, 2010 by NodUnit

[oktane 0]

That's ridiculous, I haven't even turned off auto-updating and not once has Steam unpatched my game from 1.05.

Me either. It doesn't mess with it unless you 'reverify' the cache or whatever that option is, that is what reverts it back to 1.04.

I liked the steam version because honestly, these digital download companies are a dime a dozen but I don't expect steam to be going anywhere soon. (ie, disappearing, going bankrupt, losing any ability to retrieve my licenses/games) It makes it so when at a friends house or anywhere with internet, I can retrieve my games, it's nice. It produces less waste, packaging, dvd's.. I guess I like my shelf of Bohemia games (multiple copies of OFP, Res, Arma, A2) on the shelf but honestly I can do without them... they are a shrine to something most people don't understand and don't care about. :rolleyes:

But since the only game I really play when I have time is ArmA, I just disabled steam from auto starting for the past year or so.. there is no need to even run it after you have installed the game, since BIS is nice enough to disable the copy protection after a few patches. (yes, copy protection is an annoyance to developers too! you have to submit your binaries to the protection vendor, costs time/money, etc.)

Some people like the social networking features of Steam too, shows what server you are playing on and stuff. (dunno if it ever supported that in A2, like I said, I try not to even run Steam) I know it said 'yadda yadda is playing arma 2'.

But in any distribution medium case, digital or dvd, I never reinstall the game because I just zip up the directory after patching and extract the registry keys the game uses. Then it's ready to go on if it gets messed up or I reinstall the OS.

Please don't complain about the frigging price. These people that made this fine game for you do not make money hand over fist. They are a small company that has done incredible things with very little resources. They are not ruled and owned by a giant parent corporation/publisher, as most 'popular game' developers are. The risks they take are real and failures are not easily 'absorbed' into the balance books as they could be with a larger, corporate owned studio. This is not your typical garbage DLC that is pumped out these days by various developers. It's an expansion proper, hopefully on par with OFP Resistance. (not like Red Hammer, Queens Gambit, or other 'publisher' expansions that only served to tarnish the games IMO)

Cheers

Edited June 8, 2010 by oktane

[Steakslim 1]

Sorry about that, I was just expanding on Walts' point (maybe generalized too much), and Steakslim came off as kind-of aggressive. :rolleyes:

But yea, enough with this pointless argument I think.

Not aggressive, and don't you roll your eyes at me mister! :P And yeah I know Steam does break stuff, but like I said, it's nothing that wasn't easily solved or fixed, like the time half if not all their users were getting errors telling them their games were not 'theirs', or I think the specific message was "You do not own this game". That was probably one of the more amusing mass-hiccups I've seen Steam have in ages and they squared that away in a few hours. As for the offline mode, they must of fixed it a long time ago, because since I've had it, every time I see someone say it doesn't work, I test it myself. Hasn't failed once.

I know people have different experiences with Steam, but most blame Steam before looking at their side of things. Things like the auto-update, if once turned off, YOU have to do something to trigger it. I'd suggest after patching to 1.05 to never click the ArmA2 icon in the Steam GUI until a Steam relevant patch is released again.

Anywho since I failed to leave the Steam subject alone. What kind of content do you think we'll get when Dwarden finally gets permission to put up what ever the surprise was for the 500 users in the Steam group? More info on the British units? Something else that hasn't been released or shown? Placebo being devoured by a large barracuda?

[Laqueesha 474]

Wouldn't buy it on Steam, anyway. They have bad reputation for patching (otherwise known as fucking everything) the AA games. Physical copy all the way!

Fixed. ;)

In all seriousness, it shouldn't be long before the demo comes out, considering that Operation Arrowhead is gold now. However, the ArmA 2 demo came out after-release, so...

Now, it's all a matter of waiting. June 29 is now just twenty days away, give or take. :D

Edited June 8, 2010 by Laqueesha