A.C.E.2 Public Beta Servers

[Herbal Influence 10]

PS..If you cannot operate a vehicle in 1st person, it means you are not capable enough to use it on public server. Especially helis. My only exception is the bike. Makes you nauseous when ridden in 1st person :( .

Nope. Experienced blackhawk pilot said on this forum that flying a chopper in Arma2 without 3rd is unrealistic.

(My opinion is: lack of environmental awareness is so much in egoshootermode instead of 3rd view that the possibility to watch over a wall/around corner can be neglected if you aren't just a doom shooter or doing corridor games all the time. But as this is OT here further discussion on this should take place here.)

Edited December 17, 2009 by Herbal Influence

[cross 1]

Cross, how it can be realistic to keep player markings on map?

hmm lets see.... BFT? like blue force tracking ? Do you think soldiers are relying on maps only on today's battlefield ?

http://www.janes.com/news/defence/land/idr/idr080611_2_n.shtml

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3767827

I can say BFT2 is even more accurate what ArmA2 map update offers. Just assume soldiers have it as well :D

That was for realism...

Now the point of my post was not making it totally realistic...but leaving some room for the less experienced. Again that said we have the expert setting available where everything is OFF so that you can get lost as much as you want :D

ACE too has the tracking markers anyways

Selecting mission difficulty is not related to realism all the time. It depends on the mood and ability of the people on the server ;) . I had some great teamwork and game with regular difficulty which beats any so-called "realistic" veteran mode hands down...

Besides if the mission maker wishes more realism, he may remove the maps from inventory and leave it with TLs only which brute-forces ( :D ) realism on all ...

Hope this clears my POV.

PS..I prefer ironsights & 1st person at all times, no matter what the difficulty is set serverside..

Edited December 17, 2009 by Cross

[Blechreiz 0]

Markers on the map or 3rd Person are not as annoying as a HUD full of informations that I dont need. Im playing since the OFP Demo and OFP since 2002 online. The first months I played in cadett mode but after fighting through the campaign I started switching things off: 'Wow. Looks much better without these ugly HUD icons!'

Im happy that so many people replied yet. I now have a growing list of servers, that are running with advanced difficulty settings.

I now have a serverlist on the first page. Feel free to look there for veteran servers.

Edited December 17, 2009 by Blechreiz

[Alex72 1]

Yeah, I can understand that and I have both mods, it's just I don't get it how is that controlled? For example, if I set Instant View Distance will that also control Object Draw Distance? If not, how do I control Object Draw Distance?

You dont need the draw distance mod anymore unless you use 1.04? In the latest beta its implemented. Official 1.05 will have it.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

The biggest problem is Arma2 itself, as the server dictates what you get instead of setting a limit on how high your own settings can go. How it should be:

Grass: Low - You should be able to choose anything above low setting, but not turn it off.

View Distance: 4000 - The maximum allowable setting for fairness sake, but you can set it lower if you have performance issues.

Crosshairs: On - You should still be allowed to turn them off locally, but if they were off, you shouldn't be able to turn them on.

But, server settings should be the absolute minimums. Mission settings could increase these settings but never go below them. Player settings could further increase the mission settings but never go below them.

Anyway, we have basically turned off all hud elements from all our difficulty settings, except the recruit one which I'm usually using for mission testing purposes anyway. AI is so low here it wouldn't be fun to play against them. 3rd person is turned off for all difficulty modes.

Some controversy:

3rd Person

Pros:

* Enables a driver to use his compass for vehicle types that does not have an interior and can't turn out.

* Can be used to simulate a mirrror-on-a-stick to see over walls and corners, though too convenient.

* Some vehicles lack "magic" indicators that you could obtain in the real thing just by looking around in the interior but that you cannot do in the game version.

* Increases the chance of good landings for inexperienced pilots (apparently, they claim). Personally I've never used it, but I don't have a real problem with it since LZ tends to be some distance from the fight, not giving a tactical advantage to the pilot using it. I agree it's not realistic per se, it's just not that much of an issue for me.

* If grass is enforced and you play without crosshairs, increases your chance against AI when AI is located over a convex land surface due to AIs seeing abilities in grass. You don't get to fight him effectively, but at least you can see him and plan something against it.

Cons:

* A tank driver becomes too aware of his close surroundings. At a wall he no longer have to drive forward and pivot the tank to see threats. It all becomes too magical.

* Can be used to simulate a mirrror-on-a-stick to see over walls and corners, though too convenient. Yeah, a con too, since it's just a bit too fast and too convenient.

Crosshairs

Pros:

* Most are aware by now that lockable weapons such as Javelin and Stinger will loose their visual lock ability if crosshairs are turned off. I agree the weapons systems should be better, but this is what we are stuck with.

* Other weapon systems, like the laser designator, you don't even know if it's on or off without crosshairs.

* For BMP3 sidegunners, weapon crosshairs are their only means of aiming.

* Players with a high deadzone can "shoot from the hip". Not an issue for players without it since they can aim using the center of the screen.

Cons:

* Obviously, snipers become just as efficient in CQB, which is truly horrible.

* You're dead accurate without having to use your sight. In Arma1 FOV was different for out of sight view than for in sight view, and it wasn't that much of a problem. In Arma2, they are equal.

* There are no real positives with using the sight, only negatives (non zoom sights). With PP off, you don't get a clearer sight picture, and using the sight removes parts of the screen for its parts lowering your situational awareness.

Basically, difficulty settings are not a binary world, and it's impossible to "get right".

Some ideas of mine:

1) Never have both 3rd person and weapon crosshairs active at the same time in any given difficulty setting.

2) If you host a lot of missions where you get to have AI help (Domination AI i.e.), turn at least off 3rd person so that people instead have to rely on their AIs magical seeing abilities (through grass etc). For such missions, even ExtendedMapInfo is useful so that you can control your AI in a good fashion via the map (but not via the tactical view).

3) In equipment heavy missions, weapon crosshairs should be considered.

4) In sniper heavy/recon/arty FO style missions, turn off group info, since shift clicking a WP on the map can be used as a quick cheat. It won't affect vehicle drivers though.

Basically, what we've done is have active weapon crosshairs, but we'll use addons to remove them from rifles. Then shut down the server for the public so that nobody comes in and exploits this. The situation kinda sucks :(

I'm hoping that ACE, being realism oriented, or BIS, one day realizes the importance of removing accurate crosshairs from all rifles by force. 3rd person as an option due to singleplayer missions and AI control, now that actually makes sense to me. But I see no point why rifle crosshairs should be optional - it just makes stupid server settings...

Here are our settings, for ref:

Armor=1; //Up to you, unless some addon deem it necessary to turn it off (like ACE1)

FriendlyTag=0; //Always off, friendly fire is a fact of life due to bad communications, and should be so in game, despite being annoying.

EnemyTag=0; //Always off, it doesn't make sense to have it on.

HUD=0; //Always off.

HUDPerm=0; //Anything permanent should be turned off. Use Esc esc to update it instead when you need it.

HUDWp=0; //Usually off, unless you have WPs in missions that are not marked otherwise.

HUDWpPerm=0; //Anything permanent should be turned off. Use Esc esc to update it instead when you need it.

HUDGroupInfo=0; //Usually off to prevent WP point cheat for non drivers, but mission should provide other options.

AutoSpot=0; //Always off, AI will use it anyway. Players should have to reveal things manually.

Map=0; //Off unless you play missions where AI assistance is heavily required.

WeaponCursor=1; //On for equipment heavy missions. Off for typical infantry work and training missions. Addons will remove rifle crosshairs for our players anyway.

AutoGuideAT=0; //Always off. Manual TOW steering is not a problem in Arma2 as it was in Arma1.

ClockIndicator=0; //Obsolete? Never used it with Arma2, and was buggy in Arma1.

3rdPersonView=0; //Always off. You should *never* allow both 3rdPersonView AND weaponcrosshairs.

Tracers=1; //Always on unless you have some clan desires to play without tracers.

UltraAI=0; //Up to you, but for us it is always off.

AutoAim=0; //I don't have a clue what this does, but name alone suggests to leave it off always.

UnlimitedSaves=1; //Some campaign missions would be hopeless without it, but doesn't matter otherwise.

DeathMessages=1; //Always on to see who is teamkilling. Closed games can have it off, and combine it with the "downed men don't talk" philosophy, but never for public games.

NetStats=0; //Always off for coops, it should never be about points. You can review your stats in the end anyway. It makes people score whores if you leave it on. People can check their own stats in the map screen statistics anyway, but not compare to others.

VonID=1; //Always on, especially for public games, since you don't know who other peoples voices belong to.

Bah, long rant again.. :p

Edit:

HUDGroupInfo should be set to 1 for typical public servers, as you can rarely achieve the needed communications that are required. People are afraid to talk, and public games are usually not seriously enough oriented so that the WP point cheat needs to be prevented. For closed clan play, the matter is different. Here you'd normally want communications to take care of teams sticking together instead of some magical GUI element.

Edit2:

Also note that the more "magical GUI help" that is removed, you should consider lowering the AI skill to compensate for the lack of information. Personally I find AI skill 1 to be completely horrible to play against with when I have no magic help. Also, some missions might "not work" with AI being too good. I.e. you might want to practice real engagement distances, but too good AI may deem that impossible since they tend to hit at too far distances. So, you might want to experiment with the AI skill and accuracy values depending on what kind of missions and gameplay you are looking for. Some say that non 1 values are "not hardcore enough". I tend to have a laugh at that and leave quickly.

Edited December 17, 2009 by CarlGustaffa

[[kh]jman 49]

You dont need the draw distance mod anymore unless you use 1.04? In the latest beta its implemented. Official 1.05 will have it.

The addon is still quite a bit better.

[-HA-badger 0]

Cross, how it can be realistic to keep player markings on map?

Install my addon on the server

[[kh]jman 49]

As has been said the default server settings can be changed by the current admin to veteran whenever required. So whats the big deal?. Seems like this thread is going off at all tangents...

@Blechreiz. Relating to your modified first post, fyi our public server's default setting is recruit not cadet.

Edited December 17, 2009 by [KH]Jman

[cross 1]

Actually it is regular not recruit/cadet.

[Blechreiz 0]

Jman;1517524']As has been said the default server settings can be changed by the current admin to veteran whenever required. So whats the big deal?. Seems like this thread is going off at all tangents...

@Blechreiz. Relating to your modified first post' date=' fyi our public server's default setting is recruit not cadet.[/quote']

My list should show servers, where you do not have to play with crosshair and an overloaded HUD with a bunch of informations like in BF2 for example. Addons that dont show the crosshair and the "bubbles" are nice, but not alowed on almost every server.

Edit: List updated. On these servers you wont find crosshair or advanced HUD informations no matter what the difficult is set to.

Edited December 17, 2009 by Blechreiz

[KNac 10]

"{BDR} Clan Italia ACE2" server plays with experienced mode (no 3rd, no HUD, no xhair)

[Blechreiz 0]

Thanks KNac :) I hope the list will grow =)

[jw custom 56]

Thanks KNac :) I hope the list will grow =)

Agree :cool: