Is ARMA II ready now?

[mattinkent 10]

It is fairly universally acknowledged in the press that ARMA II will be brilliant 'when it's fixed'. I've held off for this reason up 'til now.

The question is: is ARMA II now fixed?

I'm a little bit computer-fluent but I probably don't have the time to spend adding script etc. and that's where I always screw things up.

What does everyone think?

What mods are considered 'essentail'?

M x

[Relemar 10]

yes, it pretty much runs perfectly. few bugs left, but they're working hard and quickly to fix them.

essential mods, ACE 2 when it comes out, vopsound :) few weapon mods if your british, maybe the british soldiers if you are british too. the new US 09 soldiers :)

[vilas 477]

my mod is essential :P

heh

stupid question

i know you're newbie, but such questions are on this forum pain in the ass

cause than you demean other people work

everyone of addonmakers work harder and as much he have time, skills, sources...

one do sound mod, other do weapons, other units, other islands

every addonmaker works as he can

you may not realize how many hours spent guy who made Namalsk island, countless hours, maybe thousands of hard work

i don't like such idiotic questions

why the *** essential is ACE and British soldier addon, not Polish soldier or East German soldier and Leopard 2A4 ??

and if in press they write like this, than you must ask yourself question:

what is considered as a bug

cause different thing can be considered as bug

for one person it is HDR darkening, for other person it is FPS lower than 30, for me it is wrong irrational AKS74U range of fire and lack of some things for military realism

many people who play OFP/Arma are military-realism freaks

not usual player of stupid games, without any knowledge, armchair commando 15 years old who play as rambo with "ay kay fourty seven"

do you know what is difference between :

- first serie of AK

- second serie of AK

- can you recognize what is AK and what is AKM

- do you know what is difference between PK and PKM

- do you recognize generation of HK 416

- do you know rate of fire of real canon of tank ?

...

i may ask 1000 such qestion

than you must ask yourself question:

- am i grown enough to be in this community

- is press black PR of other developers is right

- what offers other games

- do you know that Arma has mission editor and you can do missions yourself ???

hah ?

Arma is playble, simply it is completly other software than other games

other games are CLOSED, Arma never, you have mission editor, you have addons, you have open engine for configs, modding, scripting

and what black PR says... hah

Edited October 17, 2009 by vilas

[lee_h._oswald 0]

I would wait for the next patch.

At this moment ArmA2 runs ~ok, but not good enough for me to finally start the campaign.

Biggest problem is the performance, it goes to often under ~24fps and then the game "feels" terrible, even with just a few enemies.

But if you just want to play arround in the editor and do some firefights on the test island(Utes) or one of the user made(more fps friendly) islands, buy it right now!

ArmA2 with low fps sucks very hard.

ArmA2 with constant ~35fps is fun like hell.

Let's see if the devs are doing their job on the next patch.

MfG Lee

[Fudgeblood 10]

It's been ready ever since v1.04 was released, still some bugs and it's still very rough around the edges, but it's 'ready'.

The mission editor dosn't actually require any scripting to enjoy, you can just place a few things and have quite a fun time.

The mods that I consider 'essential' are: CAA1 and Vilas' addons (So much weapons and units!).

I have a pretty decent PC and get pretty decent FPS (30-40, only ever dips below 30 when the action gets REALLY intense), playing at medium settings (still looks great).

[Langnasen 10]

I would wait for the next patch.

At this moment ArmA2 runs ~ok, but not good enough for me to finally start the campaign.

Biggest problem is the performance, it goes to often under ~24fps and then the game "feels" terrible, even with just a few enemies.

But if you just want to play arround in the editor and do some firefights on the test island(Utes) or one of the user made(more fps friendly) islands, buy it right now!

ArmA2 with low fps sucks very hard.

ArmA2 with constant ~35fps is fun like hell.

Let's see if the devs are doing their job on the next patch.

MfG Lee

I agree with this. The variable performance is the biggest issue in terms of general playability. Going from 24fps to 60+ (v-sync off) somewhat indicates how poorly coded/optimized some parts of this game are, especially when making drastic changes in the graphics settings don't make huge differences (going from silly high to stupidly low takes me from around 22fps to 35fps on one view-point I use for testing). In comparison I get a silky-smooth solid average of around 40fps in A1 with similar settings.

I have a good rig now:

E8400 @ 4ghz.

GTX 285 OCX.

2gb RAM.

xFi soundcard.

OS, pagefile and game spread over three SATA drives.

In-game settings:

Everything on normal, except v-RAM on default, PP off, 1600x1200 on both res, view-distance on 2500.

I seem to average around 28fps most of the time. Looking at the sky in A1 I get over 200fps; in A2 I can get no more than 65fps...WTF is going on with that? A screen full of nothing but empty sky and I can't get more than 65fps (v-sync disabled remember)?! Something is clearly screwed.

[vilas 477]

yes, it is poor coded game

i have much worse PC than yours, half yours

and i have the same FPS man

i have 28 FPS in Chernogorsk in Beta (no securom, securom shit eat 5-6 FPS in my case), althought my PC is half of your's power (2 GB ram from 2006, CPU 3 GHZ AMD 6000+, VGA 8800 512 GTS, mainboard ASUS M2NEsli, only disc is new, rest is 2006/2007 and i cannot expect better result on 2-3 years old PC)

BUUUUUUUUUUT

BUT FPS in not important

it is important that you can add own stuff

and if FPS for you is most important

i have 290 or 390 FPS on AVP1 game now :)

i must enter RTCW to tell you how many FPS i have on RTCW :D

so of course BIS are not masters when it comes to those FPS issues (your computer is twice stronger than my, and we both have 28 FPS)

but look:

when you want go for hard ride in wood, mountains

will you prefer even poor jeep or you want super Ferrari ?

one car is made for flat highway, other are offroads

and i prefer even poor coded game with addons and mission editor, than 100 super high-coded 100 FPS games in which i don't have Polish army, AKMS, and mission editor

of course BIS are also poor when it comes to total ultimate military realism values, but... they are better than rest

like someone wise said BIS community are perfectionists , so simply we expect more, than other can do

look at Dragon Rice... panzer trees, max 64 AI on map, and many things from youtube movies

marketing is not all in life

PR-men are liars, and black PR on Arma is not fair when it comes to compare with other shooting games

Edited October 17, 2009 by vilas

[Herbal Influence 10]

Runs absolutely fine here.

Better to get it now than tomorrow.

My personal vote after doing BI games since 2001.

But remember: BI games are open, vastly open, i.e. there will always be "bugs". If you cannot appreciate the openess, but want to do campaign only, it is not the game for you.

---------- Post added at 10:30 ---------- Previous post was at 10:17 ----------

Nobody knows indeed whether it is a "poor coded game", like vilas stated above.

I personally, don't even think so - having a lot of fun in multiplayer and hours of games without meeting any bug at all.

I think, that's just a rumour spread.

And as it is likely to be an insult to the BI developers who may have sweated to get things done, I wouldn't spread this rumour if I have no proof for it.

Take a look here and maybe at my signature.

[yanquis 10]

how do you disable v-sync? i dont see an option in the menu.

[Alex72 1]

From your ATI or Nvidia control panel in Windows.

[Relemar 10]

my mod is essential :P

heh

stupid question

i know you're newbie, but such questions are on this forum pain in the ass

cause than you demean other people work

everyone of addonmakers work harder and as much he have time, skills, sources...

one do sound mod, other do weapons, other units, other islands

every addonmaker works as he can

you may not realize how many hours spent guy who made Namalsk island, countless hours, maybe thousands of hard work

i don't like such idiotic questions

why the *** essential is ACE and British soldier addon, not Polish soldier or East German soldier and Leopard 2A4 ??

and if in press they write like this, than you must ask yourself question:

what is considered as a bug

cause different thing can be considered as bug

for one person it is HDR darkening, for other person it is FPS lower than 30, for me it is wrong irrational AKS74U range of fire and lack of some things for military realism

many people who play OFP/Arma are military-realism freaks

not usual player of stupid games, without any knowledge, armchair commando 15 years old who play as rambo with "ay kay fourty seven"

do you know what is difference between :

- first serie of AK

- second serie of AK

- can you recognize what is AK and what is AKM

- do you know what is difference between PK and PKM

- do you recognize generation of HK 416

- do you know rate of fire of real canon of tank ?

...

i may ask 1000 such qestion

than you must ask yourself question:

- am i grown enough to be in this community

- is press black PR of other developers is right

- what offers other games

- do you know that Arma has mission editor and you can do missions yourself ???

hah ?

Arma is playble, simply it is completly other software than other games

other games are CLOSED, Arma never, you have mission editor, you have addons, you have open engine for configs, modding, scripting

and what black PR says... hah

British soldiers pack are essential for me because I'm British. Why on earth would I want to use German or Polish soldiers, when I'm not Polish nor German? :butbut:

[vilas 477]

From your ATI or Nvidia control panel in Windows.

no, not in all drivers

for me, i have to download Power-Strip software

and it not allows to disable V SYNC

now i am downloading 190.7 drivers to see if it will work

[TimRiceSE 10]

British soldiers pack are essential for me because I'm British. Why on earth would I want to use German or Polish soldiers, when I'm not Polish nor German? :butbut:

To shoot with your british soldiers :O!!!!

To the OP: For me and my buddies playing co-op the game has been playable since 1.02 even without any real gamestopping issue. Mods which we use every time that really affect gameplay are SLX addon, Sound of War, RH helicopters sounds ( i think its called), TRSM tracked vehicles sounds, kjus low vegetation addon for much improved fps, and eh... thats about it in terms of gameplay.

Unit addons are imo something that is purely aesthetical and id rather spend my time looking for something to mkae the gameplay better and increase the level of immersion...

Edited October 17, 2009 by TimRiceSE

[vilas 477]

and we get to the idiotic point

i had topic about idiotism, i asked to lock it cause it was sensless to continue

now look:

newbie in community asks "what mod are essential" and everyone can say "my country mod"

and we will get to idiotic discussion "tea is better than coffe, pepsi better than cola"

and back to FPS - when i disabled V-Sync, terrain on lowest (like OFP) i have ca. 34 FPS in Chernogorsk and forests

and guy with twice more powerfull PC says about 28, heh

Edited October 17, 2009 by vilas

[Shadow NX 1]

yes, it is poor coded game

i have much worse PC than yours, half yours

and i have the same FPS man

i have 28 FPS in Chernogorsk in Beta (no securom, securom shit eat 5-6 FPS in my case), althought my PC is half of your's power (2 GB ram from 2006, CPU 3 GHZ AMD 6000+, VGA 8800 512 GTS, mainboard ASUS M2NEsli, only disc is new, rest is 2006/2007 and i cannot expect better result on 2-3 years old PC)

BUUUUUUUUUUT

BUT FPS in not important

it is important that you can add own stuff

and if FPS for you is most important

i have 290 or 390 FPS on AVP1 game now :)

i must enter RTCW to tell you how many FPS i have on RTCW :D

so of course BIS are not masters when it comes to those FPS issues (your computer is twice stronger than my, and we both have 28 FPS)

but look:

when you want go for hard ride in wood, mountains

will you prefer even poor jeep or you want super Ferrari ?

one car is made for flat highway, other are offroads

and i prefer even poor coded game with addons and mission editor, than 100 super high-coded 100 FPS games in which i don't have Polish army, AKMS, and mission editor

of course BIS are also poor when it comes to total ultimate military realism values, but... they are better than rest

like someone wise said BIS community are perfectionists , so simply we expect more, than other can do

look at Dragon Rice... panzer trees, max 64 AI on map, and many things from youtube movies

marketing is not all in life

PR-men are liars, and black PR on Arma is not fair when it comes to compare with other shooting games

Well it may not be perfect but poor coded?

Seeing how epic Codemasters failed with their huge team it makes you wonder if its maybe not so easy to code such a huge scale game?

And OFP : DR was rather small scale compared to ArmA2

And please Vilas dont always act as the all knowing elder here, he asked for essential mods and people will tell him what they think is essential like for example VOP sound or ACE once its out.

Who are you to decide what people here can say and what not?

And your old topic was only useless because pages long you said the same and the same not changing your standpoint one millimeter.

Edited October 17, 2009 by Shadow NX

[jw custom 56]

The question is: is ARMA II now fixed?

Most people can run it, but you need a proper computer else you might get disappointed!

Personally i've been playing from day 1.

What mods are considered 'essentail'?

No mods are considered essential... that said there's mods that really makes the game even better. VopSound is something i wouldn't play ArmA 2 without now that i've tried it ;)

[mrcash2009 0]

@Vilas what browser do you use, you seem to have mass "line break" post issues :)

[Alex72 1]

Is ARMA II ready now?

Yes its ready now.

[vilas 477]

Opera 10.0

Who are you to decide what people here can say and what not?

cause "what is best mod" "what is essential" leads to flame war between addonmakers

every addonmaker works hard and tries do his best

there were some russians that were claiming my weapons are totally wrong, other's are correct

and i had to publish screens showing model mesh with blueprint/real photo in background... do you remember ?

when someone says "this is the best rifle addon" than i can show "magazine is too small, sight is wrong, pistol grip is wrong, 2 weapons with different sizes from this addonmaker are identical in size, while i.r.l. differ for 15 cm"

And your old topic was only useless because pages long you said the same and the same not changing your standpoint one millimeter.

hahahaha

so should i say:

"i am, sorry , if the same model/textures are used in mod A it is shit , if used by mod B it is super (althought mod B uses stuff from mod A), but of course the same texture and the same model can look different only because of TAG before file..."

and

"okay, you are right, those guns are crappy, cause were given to other addonmaker too"

and

"okay, you are right, i must equip army in rifle that they don't use"

and

"okay, UKF mod should make GAZs, UAZs, Krazs instead of Landrovers"

"okay, model made on technical blueprint is wrong, i should make magazine 30% too small, barrel from other rifle, another optic from different weapon"

etc. :/

and when some russians will start moan that 2+2=5 than all mathematics must change standpoint???

no matter is it law faculty or technical faculty, in school we have logics

2+2 cannot be different than 4 and it is neither "taste" "ego" or "standpoint"

if something is correct with blueprint - it is good

if something is not correct - wrong parts, wrong proportions, wrong sizes - it is not good

if army uses rifle X, you canot say "shity addon, he should do rifle Y"

if mod A uses weapon from mod B, than you cannot say "B is shit, they should learn from A, cause A made it super"

i know from past some people that understand "truth" in other way, but i don't want here to back to you know what...

2+2=4 amen

____

and concerning how it is coded: guy has very strong PC and says he has 28 FPS, well on weak 2-3 years old PC i have now 34 FPS (new driver and V-SYNC off)

"poor" is for me synonymic for "not so good"

but i don's say "totally wrong" coded

Edited October 17, 2009 by vilas

[Langnasen 10]

I believe the proof of the pudding is in getting 200+ fps looking at the sky in A1 and getting no more than 65fps looking at the sky in A2. In any game I have ever played, looking at the sky obtains the maximum FPS the card can render, and that figure has always been pretty uniform per card.

Something is badly wrong with A2's graphics code, and resorting to tortuous solutions like RAM-drives is treating the symptom, not the illness.

[Shadow NX 1]

Opera 10.0

cause "what is best mod" "what is essential" leads to flame war between addonmakers

every addonmaker works hard and tries do his best

there were some russians that were claiming my weapons are totally wrong, other's are correct

and i had to publish screens showing model mesh with blueprint/real photo in background... do you remember ?

when someone says "this is the best rifle addon" than i can show "magazine is too small, sight is wrong, pistol grip is wrong, 2 weapons with different sizes from this addonmaker are identical in size, while i.r.l. differ for 15 cm"

hahahaha

so should i say:

"i am, sorry , if the same model/textures are used in mod A it is shit , if used by mod B it is super (althought mod B uses stuff from mod A), but of course the same texture and the same model can look different only because of TAG before file..."

and

"okay, you are right, those guns are crappy, cause were given to other addonmaker too"

and

"okay, you are right, i must equip army in rifle that they don't use"

and

"okay, UKF mod should make GAZs, UAZs, Krazs instead of Landrovers"

"okay, model made on technical blueprint is wrong, i should make magazine 30% too small, barrel from other rifle, another optic from different weapon"

etc. :/

and when some russians will start moan that 2+2=5 than all mathematics must change standpoint???

no matter is it law faculty or technical faculty, in school we have logics

2+2 cannot be different than 4 and it is neither "taste" "ego" or "standpoint"

if something is correct with blueprint - it is good

if something is not correct - wrong parts, wrong proportions, wrong sizes - it is not good

if army uses rifle X, you canot say "shity addon, he should do rifle Y"

if mod A uses weapon from mod B, than you cannot say "B is shit, they should learn from A, cause A made it super"

i know from past some people that understand "truth" in other way, but i don't want here to back to you know what...

2+2=4 amen

____

and concerning how it is coded: guy has very strong PC and says he has 28 FPS, well on weak 2-3 years old PC i have now 34 FPS (new driver and V-SYNC off)

"poor" is for me synonymic for "not so good"

but i don's say "totally wrong" coded

Yeah maybe admitting youre not 100% right or at least take a step back and not bringing up the same thing already discussed thing page after page again would be a good idea.

Also why always bring totally different topics into a discussion, it was about mods now i see a discussion about BIS coding and performance again, doesnt really belong here i think.

And that has nothing at all to do with who should make what, this was about a guy asking for Mod advises and as i said why can you decide for him, why not let people tell him what mods they like so he can test them and find his own faves.

Personally i have fun with all addons, be it russian, british, american, czech or whatever related as long as its well made.

Only odd thing is im German and somehow not so extremely intrested in BW stuff, but i blame that on beeing a DDR child that is grown up with BMPs and other vehicles passing our village each time the NVA did manouvers in the nearby woods, hehe.

[bono_lv 10]

Yes its ready now.

Excuse me. But no, it's not.

It's ready only for lucky ones with arma friendly system specs, and these are far less than those who acctually has big time problems enjoying the game because of really bad performance.

And please don't start to tell everybody - "hey, use ramdisk or ssd hdd, it makes gameplay smooth as..."

Get it real! Why should anybody spend more money on additional hardware/software if their system spec already is twice better than recommended system specs?

If you can afford to waste money and time by doing so and getting game to work smoothly - good for you. But do not tell that game is ready. It is not.

For example on Windows Vista it's completely unplayable no matter what tweaks settings you try. Period. And sorry, I can't blame Microsoft or AMD drivers, because all other games, i mean ALL I have, and I have a lot of them - runs same on Vista and Windows 7, except Arma 2.

I just can't find any solution why it runs much better on windows 7. Not perfect, but better. It still has fps drops near any buildings by more than 50% even without v-sync. And btw... The only difference on my pc between Vista and Win7 is that Vista runs on 2xhdd Raid0, but win7 on single 7.2krpm hdd. Drivers are the same.

So here comes my answer to OP. No, Arma 2 is not ready yet. I'd suggest you to wait for real performance patch, and next patch btw is not performance patch.

[Bulldogs 10]

Yes it's ready for most people, some people it's not ready for though.

Especially overclockers, it doesn't like overclocking much.. well, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

[bono_lv 10]

Yes it's ready for most people, some people it's not ready for though.

Can you give any evidence that it's ready for most people? Kinda weird, check this topic: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=77055

It looks like most people has problems.

[EDcase 87]

Couple of things make that poll inaccurate tho...

1) Its in the troubleshooting topic. Who do you think is likely to see it there....

2) Its old. Pre 1.04 so many of the people who voted poorly may be happy now with latest patch.

To OP: maybe try the demo......