JCOVE Lite for free

[Kr3v 10]

But the large city is more interesting (imho) than any other city or town in ArmA 2 . It's large, the architecture is different, buildings are enterables, and it runs at 60fps, not at 25. I personaly don't play ArmA for its graphics, do you ?

[andersson 285]

This 'optimisation' is simply a matter of removing most shaders (no normal maps or specular maps), and having lower resolution textures. AFAIK JCOVE/VBS2 doesn't benefit from any other optimisation tricks that we haven't got implemented for the ArmA series, besides this graphical amputation.

True. If anyone dont care about grafics there are alot of good tweaks in kju's PROPER thread that makes the game more ugly but takes away stuff that make it more easy on the computer.

Remove high reaolution LODs, remove specular maps, disable postprocessing, remove clutter. All that can be used to get the same effect in arma as you are experiencing in JCOVE.

If a usermade island is released with the same features you will have alot of FPS in arma2; fairly flat terrain, not much clutter or objects and objects/models without normal maps/specular maps.

I wouldnt call that optimization though.

[NeMeSiS 11]

Not to mention that maps have a lot less objects per km2 than Chernarus has. Run maps with similar detail in Arma 2, and your FPS would mirror this.

Guess why OA takes place in the desert? :D

Installing now, lets see how much the AI effects the FPS which is much more interesting to know IMO. Though i expect it to be the same.

[spooky lynx 73]

Didn't notice much differences between A1 and JCOVE graphics.

Not to mention that maps have a lot less objects per km2 than Chernarus has. Run maps with similar detail in Arma 2, and your FPS would mirror this.

I doubt that the same map even with that amount of objects in A1 or A2 will give the same FPS, that JCOVE has. Just simple comparison: I've never got 80+ FPS in Avgani with removed clutter and low/medium settings.

[sparks50 0]

Spooky: It doesn't mean that Arma 2 demands exactly the same as JCOVE, it means that it is a factor in the performance.

[Pathy 0]

Yes, but as 12thMonkey pointed out, thats simply because there are no normal maps or specular maps in VBS2/JCOVE. Gamers tend to demand such things as shiny pretty things. The military don't tend to care so long as it's functional and looks more or less like it should. Ie, you couldn't take the 'optimisation' (read: Removal of most of the shaders) from JCOVE and apply it to ArmA2, because most of us would complain about the crap lighting effects....

Edited February 7, 2010 by Pathy

[ricbar89 0]

Just had a look, pretty good.

BIS said the FLIR system from VBS will be in OA correct? Hope so, the VBS FLIR is brilliant, and ARMA really needs FLIR if it wants to be considered a proper MilSim.

[spooky lynx 73]

Yes, but as 12thMonkey pointed out, thats simply because there are no normal maps or specular maps in VBS2/JCOVE. Gamers tend to demand such things as shiny pretty things. The military don't tend to care so long as it's functional and looks more or less like it should. Ie, you couldn't take the 'optimisation' (read: Removal of most of the shaders) from JCOVE and apply it to ArmA2, because most of us would complain about the crap lighting effects....

Hmm... I've tried to set shaders quality to minimum in A1 and got worse FPS results than in JCOVE (with playing both in urban area) again. So, I suppose that the matter is not only in normal and specular maps.

[raedor 8]

Spooky Lynx, JCOVE just has less visual quality, smaller textures, less polys, less shaders (less objects). There's no mighty magic used by BISim to make JCOVE's performance better than ArmA1's. You can doubt that, but it doesn't change the fact, you can read this, this or this if it helps (and this!). Did you try to play ArmA1 with and without Keg's Lowplants? -- And now take this effect for ALL objects, and add "less polys" and "smaller textures" and you'll have the same result as you see in JCOVE. And no, none of the additional JCOVE features will be ported to ArmA1, as it requires a LOT of work and I doubt that there's someone willing to pay the programmers, designers and artists to do all that work. Sorry, that does not sound nice, but that's how it is (maybe this guy can help you now ;)).

ricbar89, afaik they didn't say that JCOVE's FLIR is in OA, they just said that there will be FLIR in OA, without specifing which (by that I'm of course not saying that it won't be as good as JCOVE's, though!).

[TimRiceSE 10]

ricbar89, afaik they didn't say that JCOVE's FLIR is in OA, they just said that there will be FLIR in OA, without specifing which (by that I'm of course not saying that it won't be as good as JCOVE's, though!).

Just quoting Wolle from the old OA Q&A thread from last year..

Is there going to be a functional FLIR system out of the box (everything has heat based textures)

BIS: Yes, there will be a FLIR system. We have one of the most sophisticated FLIR simulation systems already done for VBS2 and we will bring it in Arrowhead to fans of ArmA II too.

[raedor 8]

Just quoting Wolle from the old OA Q&A thread from last year..

Well, this sentence doesn't say too much, as it is unclear if "it" in the last part means "the FLIR of VBS2" or "FLIR in general" ;) (The quote still doesn't say that it is 100% the same ...) Anyway, there will be FLIR in OA, I think that's the important part.

Edited February 8, 2010 by raedor

[ricoadf 0]

If it were, don't you think P:UKF might have released it all by now?

Not if the contract of making them meant you weren't allowed to use the models in any mod.

[dm 9]

The renderer for JCOVE looks to me to have more in common with OFP than ArmA or ArmA 2

Seriously? :j:

Not if the contract of making them meant you weren't allowed to use the models in any mod.

Which is why UKF have already released some of it...

Wow, one day we'll be able to have a topic about VBS without any drama... Not holding my breath tho...

[spooky lynx 73]

That's already been addressed, too. Porting stuff over from ArmA 1 even to ArmA 2 consumes a significant amount of time, never mind porting hard coded features. This time is money to a corporation. What further revenue could you promise BIS for this expenditure of resources?

More patches, especially with additional content = more interest to the game = more sold copies. Even now I see old good OFP in some shops. BTW, you don't see one little moment: all this takes a significant amount of time to modmaker, who does it having less skills and less time than professional gamedev.

[spooky lynx 73]

So lets come back to the subject. Found a bug in desert Scimitar w/slat armor: while turning out crew, camera appears under the hull and crew becames invisible. Only opened hatches.

[pj[cz] 2]

Hi, lets put those content/optimisation bullshit aside please, to many "all-knowing" people talk crap about engines.

Ive just tried the thing and i think its really good. Ive been always the more features good performance person and as long as its free JCOV really rules. Sure those models look OFPish but you can shoot from vehicles and use other functionalities and in supreme FPS for free. Me and my friends will sure enjoy that.

Arma2 is still supreme for me but i cant really play it with my buddys because most of them dont really have the rig for it.

[blazer01 0]

all thay need doing now in JCOV is to get the MP workin on it

[andersson 285]

It is, but its LAN only. You can use hamachi though.

JCOVE is not ment for internet, its ment for classrooms.

[Mastiff 10]

I can't wait to get the MP working and doing some Co-ops with you people...

[icebreakr 3107]

Use hamachi to play it online.

[Extremeus Decimus 0]

You can also join remotely if you dont want to use hamachi between friends (you just need their actual IP address), me and a friend tried it last night.

[Pathy 0]

If it were, don't you think P:UKF might have released it all by now?

Not if the contract of making them meant you weren't allowed to use the models in any mod.

As one of the few people actually privvy to the contract in question, I can tell you that your speculation is wrong. We wouldn't have put pen to paper otherwise. This is why you'll see we've already released some of the stuff we made for JCOVE (Weapons, Chally, Landrovers and the ArmA1 Jackal), and intend releasing other stuff. See the UKF website, you'll see the Warrior front page, for example.

However, this stuff isn't really up for discussion so.....if you don't mind, could you please not speculate on things you're not informed about; thats how baseless rumours start. Lets leave it at that, eh?

Edited February 10, 2010 by Pathy

[Heatseeker 0]

Well i just took it for a spin and its a bit rough but i kinda like it.

Performance on the samawah map is worth loosing the candy for, frame rate is great, urban areas are dense and pretty much every building is enterable :) .

And i dont know if its just me but loosing the silver makes it easier on the eyes?

Edit..

Q1: Aren't we asking the wrong questions? "Think not what VBS can do for Arma; Think what Arma can do for VBS". I remember hearing certain developers saying that it was possible to move Arma content to VBS just not visa versa. So the real potential was to play Arma on the VBS engine with all the bits we've so longed for as a community, proper thermal vision, vehicles you can walk around in and fire from, far more realistic and complex weapons systems, etc.

Q2: This may be an entirely stupid question but is it possible/legal to implement Arma's shaders into VBS? I know they share a "common engine" so surly one engine was developed and then built upon buy separate developers. If the content is out of bounds (models, etc..) what about enigine improvements?

Q3: Could somebody clear this up for me? Is it possible to mod for VBS JCOV at all? Or is it dead in the water? If this turns out to be a massive prick tease I shan't be pleased.

edit: final Q: I've just read that VBS2 lite is coming to the US. If nothing else, is the content from various nations releases transferable?

Dude, you sound like the kind of person that when offered a hand rips the arm off and then proceeds to complain about it. All the bits we've so longed for as a community arent here and A2 still offers far more improvement over armed assault than this small build, even without ACE2.

And do you really think the UK MOD would release this so you could port Arma, Arma 2 and all your favorite addons to it? Or do you think BIS releases games and dev tools just so that they can be ported to a free, promotional build?

If you arent pleased with something the UK MOD allowed to be distributed to the general public for free (wich it wasnt meant to in the first place) simply uninstall it, stop crying and get some common sense.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Heatseeker

[W0lle 1046]

I cleaned up this thread and all unnecessary comments and hacking requests has been removed. This includes replies to such posts so please don't wonder when your posts disappeared all of the sudden (this goes esp. to DM and raedor). :)

Please discuss about JCOVE only here, it's features, content and possibilities. No one here bothers if you installed and uninstalled it because it's crap, or if you would like to see it hacked and the content transferred to ArmA2. We do not allow any discussion which is against the JCOVE EULA! From now on all comments about cracking the encryption, reverse engineering etc. will be removed and result in 7 days vacation from the forum.

Edited February 11, 2010 by W0lle

[gossamersolid 155]

I'm guessing the 3D Real-Time editor is disabled?