New to this game, some questions?

[stevedrumsdw 10]

First I like to say that I was really let down by Operation flashpoint Dragon rising. And it lead me to buy this immediately following my return of a great idea of a console game that failed to delivery many aspects of what I consider realism. From the A.I. soldiers vanishing, the very un-sandbox like map, the timed missions, the scripted extreme linear format, friendly A.I. that stand errect in the midst of a firefight, to just bad looking graphics for a game so limited in options. Enough bashing of OPFDR, its a game that is not for me; others may like it, I wish them the best.

So I tried Arma 2 because of a review I read by Tactical gamer.

Here are some questions that I have about the game that may be quite elementary to veterens of this series.

1. How do you throw a grenade(lightly) without tossing it over the mountain before you?

2. Do all the missions intail a restart if one member of your four man team dies? I would hate that to be the case.

3. Does somebody have a instructional for the mission editor, I am really confused about how to use that thing.

4. Do you have to unlock the weapons before you can use them in the scenarios?

5. Would the majority of you guys reccomend a new audio mod and which one?

Thanks for any help.

Edited October 20, 2009 by stevedrumsdw

[schurem 0]

1. try aiming lower when tossing 'nades. you will make a more flat throw and therefore not throw it into the neighbouring country causing all sorts of international diplomatic incidents.

2. for the campaign? yes. there's more to the game, even offline singleplayer than the campaign. try for example the sec-ops thing hidden in "my scenarios"

3. ooh.. that takes a little more doing. try a google video search.

4. no you dont.

5. im not the majority, but i'd say yes. grass mod is a good one too.

[jw custom 56]

First I like to say that I was really let down by Operation flashpoint Dragon rising. And it lead me to buy this immediately following my return of a great idea of a console game that failed to delivery many aspects of what I consider realism. From the A.I. soldiers vanishing, the very un-sandbox like map, the timed missions, the scripted extreme linear format, friendly A.I. that stand errect in the midst of a firefight, to just bad looking graphics for a game so limited in options. Enough bashing of OPFDR, its a game that is not for me; others may like it, I wish them the best.

So I tried Arma 2 because of a review I read by Tactical gamer.

Here are some questions that I have about the game that may be quite elementary to veterens of this series.

1. How do you throw a grenade(lightly) without tossing it over the mountain before you?

2. Do all the missions intail a restart if one member of your four man team dies? I would hate that to be the case.

3. Does somebody have a instructional for the mission editor, I am really confused about how to use that thing.

4. Do you have to unlock the weapons before you can use them in the scenarios?

5. Would the majority of you guys reccomend a new audio mod and which one?

Thanks for any help.

1. Aim lower

2. Dunno, never played the campaign. Making your own missions with the editor you can make your own rules ;)

3. There's tons of info in the editor forum, lots of info here http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Getting_Started

4. Dunno how it works in the campaign, but again with the editor you can add all the weapons you like.

5. The VopSound and Sound of War mod is very nice recommendable.

[Flash Thunder 10]

Your questions have been answered but Im going to tell you this...

The game takes ALOT of time by alot I mean 50+ hours for you to get good its very expansive game controls and interface take a good grip to get fluent at, I reccomend making your own missions in the editor like what I did, fool around with everything modules, items, etc.

Don't Expect to pick this game up play a mission and get good at it unless you've played all the previous games.

Mods That I would reccomend, also check out the Mods discussion and Completed sub forums for new mods.

US Army Units 09

Kju's Proper Mods helps with Preformance

LandTex mod makes the ground textures better looking

Vopsound 2.1 Better sound FX

RobertHammers Pistol mod RH pistol pack

Don't forget to patch the game up to 1.04 so you wont run into problems with the campaign.

You will find this game 100x better than OFP DR, sadly I thought OFP DR was going to be Great also, HUGE LET DOWN.

Arma 2 it's! :D

[stevedrumsdw 10]

I really like this game, it is way better imo than OPFDR. Thanks for the help everybody!! It is so intelligent and I can use my 360 controller although I am finding it difficult to schematically customize controls.

I am thinking about getting the 09 US army units and the vopsound 2.1, Will these work well by themselves? which one of the 09 units is the most recently updated? Or are these the same? Do you guys keep multiple copies of the same game on your hardrives in case of a mod botch mess up?

Which one of these should I install?

US Army '09 (v1.5) (ArmAHolic)

US Army '09 (v1.5) (ArmA2Base.de)

US Army '09 Replacements (v1.2) (ArmAHolic)

Edited October 20, 2009 by stevedrumsdw

[metsapeikkoo 10]

Yeah. They do work.

Also, you might want to look at the version numbers.

And no, I'm not keeping multiple copies of the same installation in my hard-drive, but however, I am trying to keep mod-folder structure "clean, simple and compact" in case of mod-related problems.

I recommend checking the "Addons & Mods" forum-section for the latest updates and so on. And if you're feeling lazy, you can just check ArmAholic, even though there is small latency between "Addons & Mods" section release and ArmAholic frontpage release. Which is totally understandable since last time I checked guys who run ArmAholic are(or atleast were) humans.

[yanquis 10]

on the armaholic site they have a good guide on how to create modfolders linked to at any of the download sites, i recommend checking it out. it keeps everything neat, safe, and tidy. you may also want to download the arma 2 launcher which simplifies loading mods.

note that for me, for some reason the us army 09 addon did not work with the modfolder method, so i just dropped the units into the official addons folder. ymmv.

[Thirdup 0]

I *HIGHLY* suggest you get an addon manager/launcher

and read up on how to set up files for mods.

I suggest that you use the "@folderName/Addons/file(s).pbo" format

No need for two copies on the game on your drive, but don't just go stuffing addon pbo files into your default addons folder of the game.

---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:08 PM ----------

This guide should help http://www.armaholic.com/plug.php?e=faq&q=18

[LJF 0]

I *HIGHLY* suggest you get an addon manager/launcher

and read up on how to set up files for mods.

I suggest that you use the "@folderName/Addons/file(s).pbo" format

No need for two copies on the game on your drive, but don't just go stuffing addon pbo files into your default addons folder of the game.

---------- Post added at 04:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:08 PM ----------

This guide should help http://www.armaholic.com/plug.php?e=faq&q=18

Haha, yeah, that's what I have at the moment, everything stuffed into addons :D I really should try to get it working again, for some reason my ArmA2 simply refused to notice the mod folders, it was all working for me before, but suddenly it just ... stopped :( I'll try again tonight I think.

[yanquis 10]

i think im having that problem as well, or at least, there seems to be some limit as to what gets recognized. i dont get why, but let us know if u find out.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

1. Aim lower as suggested. However, due to unrealistic bounce and absolutely no sense of aiming vs where grenade ends up, expect to run into problems. I've played since OFP days, and I have still to manage a good throw with a grenade. They suck in this game.

2. Yes. In the lower difficulties you have infinite saves though, so then it's not that much of a problem. The fights you run into are NOT that hard. You never have to fight insane amounts of enemies, making everything have a very nice realistic feel to it.

3. Mission Editor is probably the best place to start. It doesn't tell you everything you need to know about editing though, but will help you understand some concepts. Also I suggest downloading some user made missions to see how things can be done. You'll need a pbo extractor though, which can be found here.

4. It's a realistic oriented game. Which means you'll usually get what you get and not much to choose from. So, so weapon unlocks afaik. You have weapon unlocks for when playing the Armory though, but I've never used it.

5. VopSound is apparently not being worked on anymore and have some bugs (artillery flares and wp, throwing stone etc). And if you use that combo pack (added vehicles and choppers), I find those vehicles and choppers too loud for my personal liking. SOWmod is nowmy preferred sound addon, although there are things in VopSound I prefer over it.

If you're fairly new to the game, I wouldn't reccommend veteran or expert modes. Instead use the regular mode and tweak the allowed difficulties to your liking.

[jw custom 56]

SOWmod is nowmy preferred sound addon, although there are things in VopSound I prefer over it.

Same here, there's some neat sounds in VopSound but overall SOWmod is better and still being worked on, right?

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Both are great imho. The problem is I like to use artillery flares and willie petes, which both contain an aweful sound bug in VOP. I don't know it SOW is still being worked on or if it is a one thing release thing, but I think/hope it is since its fairly fresh. In Arma1 I preferred the FDFSound, but afaik it was never updated to support ACE. VOPSound was, so it was very easy for me to change. I loved ACE, but I could never enjoy the sounds of it.

[yanquis 10]

SOW has some nice throaty sounds, i like it quite a bit

[Kristian 47]

So I tried Arma 2 because of a review I read by Tactical gamer.

Here are some questions that I have about the game that may be quite elementary to veterens of this series.

1. How do you throw a grenade(lightly) without tossing it over the mountain before you?

2. Do all the missions intail a restart if one member of your four man team dies? I would hate that to be the case.

3. Does somebody have a instructional for the mission editor, I am really confused about how to use that thing.

4. Do you have to unlock the weapons before you can use them in the scenarios?

5. Would the majority of you guys reccomend a new audio mod and which one?

1. I just aim little bit lover, its nearly impossible to throw little distances since ArmA2 grenades are made out of soft rubber

2. This is only the case in campaing, in any other mission, or custom mission, this is NOT the case, unless mission makers has scripted mission so.

3. google for mr.murrays editign guide, heck, it has everything about the editor :D

4. nope, no CoD4 here

5. yes, Sounds of War. Great sound mod ;)

[HardBoot 10]

The AI isn't anywhere near as smart as people make it out to be. There are two types of interactions with the enemy- they shoot you dead the second you show yourself or they turn in circles 10 feet away from you oblivious to your presence. Friendly squad movement is fine in open fields, but moving next to a building will send a squad-mate a block away. Sometimes they will use cover, but sometimes that cover is a sign post 2 inches in diameter while they ignore the vehicle or rock wall that would provide decent cover. My very important commands to my squad are often delayed by useless radio chatter. Making the radio three channels would fix this, 1 for the cinematic stuff, 1 for the constant and mostly usless updates your squad and command gives you, and 1 for the actual commands that will save lives and accomplish missions.

The first two missions were ok, but leaving 3 local men tied up in the barn seemed rather silly. Either take them out or let me escort them to safety as well. Was this one of those sick hidden statements about sex or just sloppy work? I really think in a game that is all about being a sim and having great AI the missions should be set up for this. Mission-Harvest Red is a great example of my complaint here. Running full speed down a street is not how you deal with a MOUT situation. Also, there is barely any combat in this mission, its either shoot the 1 fleeing enemy or get owned by a bmp. Hopefully you get what I'm saying so I'll stop here.

Compatibility, yikes. Not sure why a game made for Vista wont run without a WinXP tag that kills my computers ability to use its RAM and probably many other things. The WinXP compatibility mode wont even help, this compatibility mode lets me run anything... I do mean anything on this rig. When I first installed ARMAII I was running 1920x1080 smoothly on high quality settings, now I'm running half that resolution with normal settings and no FSAA and its super jumpy. ARGH! I spend more time reading these forums than I do playing the game.

When you add to this the totaly messed up state of Windows, Microsoft and all other corporations, the inability for Antivirus programs to actualy protect your computer and having to spend $3K every-other year on computer parts.. I'm just pissed off. So sorry for the negativity, but this world better get its shit together or I'm going AWOL. I'm thinking a bag full of mushrooms and a trip to mars on my nerf rocket. Stupid humans.

well, whatever, I'm still going to play as I uninstalled everything else to increase my HDD speed. And its not like any other game even attempts to be good let alone great. Twitch shooters and the mainstream killed the gaming industry.

---

edit

and then of course this forum posts this to someone elses thread.. awesomeness!! Well, at least I will catch less flak.

[jw custom 56]

The AI isn't anywhere near as smart as people make it out to be. There are two types of interactions with the enemy- they shoot you dead the second you show yourself or they turn in circles 10 feet away from you oblivious to your presence. Friendly squad movement is fine in open fields, but moving next to a building will send a squad-mate a block away. Sometimes they will use cover, but sometimes that cover is a sign post 2 inches in diameter while they ignore the vehicle or rock wall that would provide decent cover. My very important commands to my squad are often delayed by useless radio chatter. Making the radio three channels would fix this, 1 for the cinematic stuff, 1 for the constant and mostly usless updates your squad and command gives you, and 1 for the actual commands that will save lives and accomplish missions.

The first two missions were ok, but leaving 3 local men tied up in the barn seemed rather silly. Either take them out or let me escort them to safety as well. Was this one of those sick hidden statements about sex or just sloppy work? I really think in a game that is all about being a sim and having great AI the missions should be set up for this. Mission-Harvest Red is a great example of my complaint here. Running full speed down a street is not how you deal with a MOUT situation. Also, there is barely any combat in this mission, its either shoot the 1 fleeing enemy or get owned by a bmp. Hopefully you get what I'm saying so I'll stop here.

Compatibility, yikes. Not sure why a game made for Vista wont run without a WinXP tag that kills my computers ability to use its RAM and probably many other things. The WinXP compatibility mode wont even help, this compatibility mode lets me run anything... I do mean anything on this rig. When I first installed ARMAII I was running 1920x1080 smoothly on high quality settings, now I'm running half that resolution with normal settings and no FSAA and its super jumpy. ARGH! I spend more time reading these forums than I do playing the game.

When you add to this the totaly messed up state of Windows, Microsoft and all other corporations, the inability for Antivirus programs to actualy protect your computer and having to spend $3K every-other year on computer parts.. I'm just pissed off. So sorry for the negativity, but this world better get its shit together or I'm going AWOL. I'm thinking a bag full of mushrooms and a trip to mars on my nerf rocket. Stupid humans.

well, whatever, I'm still going to play as I uninstalled everything else to increase my HDD speed. And its not like any other game even attempts to be good let alone great. Twitch shooters and the mainstream killed the gaming industry.

---

edit

and then of course this forum posts this to someone elses thread.. awesomeness!! Well, at least I will catch less flak.

Maybe you should go for a easier game, that might give you relief from some of that frustration :bounce3:

[Alpha_Scurge 10]

Takes Practise, Muck around on Armory to Perfect yourself, then do Campaign for a few hours to build up an idea.

The multiplay till your hearts content.

Custom map/scenario is you want