Patch 1.05 suggestions

[MD500Enthusiast 10]

Our computers are getting more and more advanced, so should our games. One of the major problems with arma aside from the poor performance and crashes is that with all the vehicles available, none of them make you feel like you're actually in one of them. This game is suppose to be a combat simulator right?

Arma 2 should be a simulator in all aspects not just foot soldiering, even then it's not all that great. For example, when we go full auto with guns there's almost no bullet spread. There's no wind to affect bullet trajectory or the aircrafts that we fly, there's no temperature variation to affect soldier performance and vehicles and bullets. While wind will be implemented by Ace 2 mod even though it'll only affect the bullets, the game should've shipped with these features included.

This game was targeted for the mature community that wanted realism. Then why all the dumbing down of the game to make it easier for people to play? For example, helicopter yaw rate in real life does affect the bank angle. I know this for a fact because I am a student helicopter pilot in a Robinson R22. But yet that feature that adds to the realism of flying helicopters (which is a big part of this game) has been taken away?

If anything a start up/shut down procedure, torque, transverse effect and dissymetry of lift, settling with power, ground resonance should've been added to make it feel more real. Flying a helicopter is not suppose to be easy, if people wanted easy they should've played BF2.

Making things more realistic has a two fold effect, it will eliminate the amatures from the guys that know what they're doing or at least has the capacity to learn to do it. So we don't get a bunch of kids flying in helicopters or driving tanks and what not and trashing bases or TKing. Because they wouldn't know the first thing about how to operate the machinery. This would also make the game that much more interesting to play, hold more value for the game and foster teamwork and a mature community that can take the game to newer heights.

[celery 8]

For example, when we go full auto with guns there's almost no bullet spread.

Some kind of magical and random bullet spread is a lazy feature that tries to simulate was Arma 2 does for real, which is unstable hands and recoil. In Arma 2 bullets fire where the gun is physically pointing at just like in real life.

This game was targeted for the mature community that wanted realism.

[...]

Flying a helicopter is not suppose to be easy, if people wanted easy they should've played BF2.

Making things more realistic has a two fold effect, it will eliminate the amatures from the guys that know what they're doing or at least has the capacity to learn to do it. So we don't get a bunch of kids flying in helicopters or driving tanks and what not and trashing bases or TKing. Because they wouldn't know the first thing about how to operate the machinery. This would also make the game that much more interesting to play, hold more value for the game and foster teamwork and a mature community that can take the game to newer heights.

The game is not a flight simulator, it's an infantry game where vehicles play a supportive role. I can say for certain that multiplayer missions would become extremely restricted if the flight model was any harder because many people are struggling with it right now. Only a fraction of players can even fly a transport mission without breaking the helicopter or being so slow that it would be better to drive or walk there. Sometimes it's better to have realism in outcome instead of realism in detail, because the latter most likely results in unrealistically bad pilot performance when using helicopters.

[boy soldier 0]

Fix the broken sound please. Is it only me that suffers from appalling sound drop-outs when there is firing of automatic weapons? Whenever I'm in any busy firefight and somebody opens up on a machine gun.....it's bang bang bang silence.............bang muffled distorted garble.

Guys, I'm not the only one getting this am I ?

I'm stuck on 1.03 any later betas all have this problem.

P L E A S E F I X

[Ruisruutu2 10]

I would like to see something done to the ZU-23 AA guns, my post on subject http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=82061. Thanks.

[OOPz 10]

im with MD500, flying aircraft is incredibly hard IRL, thus should require more than an afternoon on an empty map with an AH1z to master, if as celery stated "many people are struggling with it right now" then i can only conclude that 'many' people are utterly ham fisted and lack the basic hand eye coordination required for basic tasks such as feeding themselves, the product should absolutely not be dumbed down to account for the ability of the weakest links, they have a massive array of 'pick-up-and-play' games made just for them (the vast majority of the games industry makes nothing but dumbed down crap to entertain them), in these rare situations (a game made for people who dont mind having to actually train just to shoot a gun over 200m), there should be virtually no concessions made to ease of play, we WILL learn no matter how hard it is (infact, for many of us, the harder it is, the more satisfying it becomes to master the skills).... if you cant fly a helicopter because you suck that hard, bad luck, stay on the ground or get someone else to fly you.

---------- Post added at 12:20 ---------- Previous post was at 12:14 ----------

heh, i forgot why i logged on.

a method to change difficulty level in the editor would be useful (unless there already is one and i just cant find it)

also, after dieing the screen blurs and throbs red.... it would be good if these post processing effects faded away over about 30 seconds so that we can watch the activity (or, in my case, leave it running like a screen saver while i roll a smoke or chat to someone)

it may also be worth considering setting it up so the camera drifts around (to see more than the down angle on the guy who killed you) and maybe even moves to watch a different character after (something like) 2 minutes or a few seconds after the current target gets killed.

[celery 8]

if as celery stated "many people are struggling with it right now" then i can only conclude that 'many' people are utterly ham fisted and lack the basic hand eye coordination required for basic tasks such as feeding themselves, the product should absolutely not be dumbed down to account for the ability of the weakest links

If the biggest Arma1 and Arma2 tournament (around 100 players) currently has only a few people who can be trusted to fly transport choppers in a reliable fashion, then yes, I think the flight model shouldn't be any harder than it is now. Otherwise expecting support roles to work as they should becomes wishful thinking. The official stance of the devs is that the game is not a flight sim and anyone can see that it's focused on infantry with everything else playing a simplified supporting role. If we had a simulator grade flight model, you'd be complaining about 99% of players being completely useless in the air. Even now most of them are.

[Master gamawa 0]

Our computers are getting more and more advanced, so should our games. One of the major problems with arma aside from the poor performance and crashes is that with all the vehicles available, none of them make you feel like you're actually in one of them. This game is suppose to be a combat simulator right?

BLARG BLARG LARGE FONT SIZE NOT REAL ENUFF ARGH ARGH I WANT A CHOPPER AND A TANK SIMULATOR IN A GAME AND I AM A PROFESSIONAL I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT

This would also make the game that much more interesting to play, hold more value for the game and foster teamwork and a mature community that can take the game to newer heights.

Seriously, I love Arma and I've been a fan of the series since early OPF times.

But you are taking it too far dude... I don't want the chopper to be more complicated than it is. I am not a pilot and I think the same goes for the majority of people here. Some of us want to ride on a chopper AS IF we were trained pro pilots. Which means that flying a chopper should be easy/intuitive enough for us without having to take a crash course in advanced avionics to play a damn game in our spare time.

I mean if we take it this far, where do we draw the line? Next thing you know someone will pop up and say "Hey I am a highly trained corpsman and I think this game is about realism so I want a healing minigame where you apply pressure and bandages to the wounds and try not to lose the injured soldier then you can also press space to scream "COME ON SOLDIER DON'T DIE ON ME MAN! YOU CAN DO IT! YOU NEVER BACKED DOWN MAN! WAKE UP WAKE UP! and at that point you click both left and right mouse buttons to punch the soldier dramatically on the chest to jumpstart his heart by the power of love and loyalty. Then you must get a blur effect to simulate your teary eyes and how emotional the whole experience is."

what I am trying to say is that you sound half-crazy.

Edited November 24, 2009 by Master gamawa

[OOPz 10]

If we had a simulator grade flight model, you'd be complaining about 99% of players being completely useless in the air. Even now most of them are.

dont put words in my mouth, youre quite clearly not qualified to do so.

if we had a sim grade blah blah, i would be happy with it (infact, id be ecstatic, iv been looking for a good heli sim with combat for most of a decade) and would focus my wishes for upgrades on whatever the most in need of upgrading is 'now'... there is after all AI if you need a pilot

actually, i think the car driving system is MUCH worse than the air system (in that the car system is actively bad to the point that i simply dont drive cars in the game, it annoys me too much (the thing about the steering wheel taking about two weeks to react when i turn my physical usb steering wheel)), and every monkey can drive a car, anyone in a unit could be required to drive under various circumstances.... however, nobody expects a rifleman to be able to fly, it IS a specialized skill that almost nobody can do, so... just like the 'specialized skill that almost nobody can do' that is sniping, it SHOULD take a LOT of training and a LOT of practice to get good at it, not one long afternoon dicking around on an empty map with an ah1z.

Which means that flying a chopper should be easy/intuitive enough for us without having to take a crash course in advanced avionics to play a damn game in our spare time.

maybe im just 'that' good, but it took me MUCH less time to learn to fly reliably than it took to learn to shoot reliably (which im still working on)...

i dont think its much to ask that the helicopter turns a bit when you pull on the collective and other little things like that, doesnt need to be simulation grade, a simple behavioral rule would do the job just fine... likewise, its only a couple of lines of code to add a ground effect.

and anyway, it would only make learning to fly 10% more difficult. if youre well coordinated enough to fly with the current model, youll be able to fly a propper sim too

in truth i would MUCH rather they fix the MASSIVE dead zones in the joysticks tho, currently the rudder is pretty much useless for lining up a rocket pod with a target because it goes from 'nothing' to 'too much' with no points in between.

anyhow, any chance we could get access to our statistics after we die?.. would be nice to be able to see how we did even tho we did get killed.... i.e.. 'damn, i got 11 of the 12 bad guys'.

[una-pitbull 10]

how about makeing the airports bigger so that the ai can land and take off again without hitting or getting stuck in the trees ?

[celery 8]

dont put words in my mouth, youre quite clearly not qualified to do so.

Sorry, I didn't know that.

if we had a sim grade blah blah, i would be happy with it (infact, id be ecstatic, iv been looking for a good heli sim with combat for most of a decade)

I can sell you my copy of Enemy Engaged 2. There's also Black Shark.

there is after all AI if you need a pilot

The game is made for people to play, not AI.

however, nobody expects a rifleman to be able to fly, it IS a specialized skill that almost nobody can do, so... just like the 'specialized skill that almost nobody can do' that is sniping, it SHOULD take a LOT of training and a LOT of practice to get good at it, not one long afternoon dicking around on an empty map with an ah1z.

The player isn't always a rifleman, sometimes he is a chopper pilot. The missions in the game simply couldn't be as diverse if handling a vehicle takes your full concentration just to keep it in the air because virtually no-one could fill that role in an effective way. Pilots being a prized commodity even now is a testament to that.

maybe im just 'that' good, but it took me MUCH less time to learn to fly reliably than it took to learn to shoot reliably (which im still working on)...

Consider joining the Charlie Foxtrot tournament, they always need good pilots.

i dont think its much to ask that the helicopter turns a bit when you pull on the collective and other little things like that, doesnt need to be simulation grade, a simple behavioral rule would do the job just fine... likewise, its only a couple of lines of code to add a ground effect.

Some of it is possible to do in a script if someone's arsed to code it. An interesting point is that in Armed Assault I made a script/addon that further simplified the flight model for planes and it was welcomed as an improvement.

anyhow, any chance we could get access to our statistics after we die?.. would be nice to be able to see how we did even tho we did get killed.... i.e.. 'damn, i got 11 of the 12 bad guys'.

I might be wrong but in the debriefing there's a button that reveals your kills. In the editor it's probably possible to get debriefing with an end trigger with !alive player as the condition.

[b00ce 160]

I'm no professional pilot or anything, but I would like to see some realistic aircraft. Besides, I think the ground effect deal would make it easier to fly, considering you wouldn't hit the ground so easy when flying low or auto-rotating in a helicopter, because lift is achieved from the earth itself. I don't expect all of the little niggling nuances of flying, like a start up/shut down procedure, to be implemented. Only the big things; IE. Ground effect or dis-symmetry of lift.

If you don't know what ground effect or Dis-symmetry of lift are go here.

Ground effect TLDR = Ground provides some lift.

Dis-symmetry of lift TLDR = Go too fast and you'll flip over.

I also think that the controls for most aircraft, namely helis, should be made more realistic. Helicopters are really sensitive with cyclic movement, and thus nimble, IRL. At the very least I would like to see something similar to the little-birds, in terms of BIS aircraft handling. And auto-rotation needs a face lift too imho.

And for the love of god, MD500Guy, WHY would you suggest ground resonance. It would be the shittiest thing in the world to be landed in a Uh-1, waiting for your squad to arrive, then all of the sudden your heli starts shaking and explodes all over the place. Or being a mud foot and running to extract, only to see your ride out of that hell hole vaporize whilst perched safely on the ground. :butbut:

For those whom don't know how to use google, here ya go.

And torque is already at play in ArmA 2, if you lose your tail rotor you'll spin like a top. ;)

I have to say, ArmA has some of the most realistic aircraft dynamics for a non-flightsim game.

[ZeosPantera 0]

how about makeing the airports bigger so that the ai can land and take off again without hitting or getting stuck in the trees ?

I highly doubt they will edit the map in a patch.

I would love collapsible AI Icons. If I have an AI Tank I don't need 3-4 AI slots showing that. Collapse it to 1 slot with 3 player icons. If I need to select someone specific and not the tank or squad in general I can press the corresponding "F" Key and then the F1-2-3 again to select them individually. Vehicles Should always be forced left based on class. If you buy an empty vehicle it should show on your AI bar as empty. If a human player gets in their name should be displayed in the icon.

If that isn't possible at least make 20 or so AI Icons stretch across the bottom of the screen.

There is room there for at least 10 more across the bottom!

Next a color coding system may be useful. Nothing nickelodeon. Just if I have 3 AI tanks a small circle of primary color after their name in the AI bar with that color repeated on my hud popup and in map view. It would be much easier for me to know the red leader is north of town with blue following me. Instead of 4,5,6 north and 8,9,10 following me. Red Tank, Blue Tank not 234 tank 567 tank

Also the stacked numbers/player names in map view for vehicles is a joke right?

Who can tell what is going on in that chaos? It funnier with humans but I cant find a screenshot.

Edited November 25, 2009 by ZeosPantera

[NoRailgunner 0]

Improve and develop AI - dont drop the amount of work that its already there. Too many games suffer from stupid and predictable bots/NPCs.

Beside land-based AI developments its very important to make a proper working air-based AI. Terrain collision avoidance, using missiles/bombs and JSOW/JDAM from safe distances, return to base or fly away (land somewhere in a safe area) if damage is critical - to name only few.

[SASrecon 0]

maybe not for 1.05 but I saw this video just now and maybe they can include several textures on vehicles like in this

[Flash Thunder 10]

maybe not for 1.05 but I saw this video just now and maybe they can include several textures on vehicles like in this

ha that would be cool, that was an awesome video.

Highly detailed cockpits, interiors/ readable textures!!!! :p

[jhoson14 10]

FreeTrack Suport.

[waterinthefuel 10]

But I didn't see a single shell impact. I'd rather ARMA2 in that regard.

[OOPz 10]

I might be wrong but in the debriefing there's a button that reveals your kills. In the editor it's probably possible to get debriefing with an end trigger with !alive player as the condition.

yeah, should be no trouble in the editor but i mean just playing scenarios/missions made by other people (offline) where you just get the resume or quit options and nothing else :/

how about adding a tiny amount of white, rapidly expanding/rapidly fading particle to bullets in flight to duplicate the effect of the visible wave front things traveling at that speed produce in air, should be very subtle and almost invisible, but... just enough so we can see it, especially from behind a round (i understand that they are clearly visible when using a medium/high zoom scope)... would be good for sniping

[OOPz 10]

infact... could add the same thing for supersonic explosives too (i dunno if subsonics make those visible wave fronts, anyone?)

[OOPz 10]

the magical range finder on the reticule (command menu thing) should probably be disabled on the higher/highest difficulty setting

[alef 0]

FreeTrack Suport.

Available in the last beta. Tested, and it works!

[OOPz 10]

it would be good if weapons would remember the fire mode they were left in, switch to auto, get in a car and back out again, pish, gun is back in semi mode!?

and seriously, guys... the stopping power!

you go to the effort to learn how to range a target, how the bullet will drop and how to lead him,

you get a target at >1km, running across the scope, dial up the drop and 'wind' (for those who dont know, 'GMJ scope adjust', highly recommended mod) and pop, wait... wait... splash, clean shot, center mass....... and the guy keeps running!?!?!?!?!

a 762 center mass will kill you, even at over 1km.... i dont care if youre wearing a flack jacket or not, you are dead (they are 'flack' jackets, made to make explosions more survivable and absorb miscellaneous bits of fast moving hot metal, they are not bullet proof and will do very little to stop a case hardened snipers round)

its hard enough to pull off those shots, having to do it two or three times just to drop a guy is REALLY irritating.... REALLLLLLLY irritating.

[C-zom 10]

I'd love to see a resolution to the reloading save game memory leak. When you reload a MP Save the host will run at 5-10fps constantly no matter the settings, more than likely due to a severe memory leak.

[mirok 0]

I'd like to see my suggestion about red dot sights improvement (posted today) implemented. Basicaly to allow the model of the red-dot sights to become semi-transparent when looked through not to obscure the vision. Thanks.

[johncage 30]

yeah, should be no trouble in the editor but i mean just playing scenarios/missions made by other people (offline) where you just get the resume or quit options and nothing else :/

how about adding a tiny amount of white, rapidly expanding/rapidly fading particle to bullets in flight to duplicate the effect of the visible wave front things traveling at that speed produce in air, should be very subtle and almost invisible, but... just enough so we can see it, especially from behind a round (i understand that they are clearly visible when using a medium/high zoom scope)... would be good for sniping

yes every bullet on the battlefield will have this effect so that the performance can get further degraded.

just say no to fake ass tracer round effects for all weapons ala call of duty games.

btw, you won't see visible wave effects, ever, with the naked eye. what your suggesting is just amazingly dumb, no offense.