ATTN NOOBIES! - New to ArmA II or OA - Here's the place for your questions

[PastorJoe 10]

Thank you for your quich response Günter! I will look for answear on that forum.

[Hillsbills 1]

Yeah, the main menu when you start op the game, the menu that pops up when you pres ESC, the editor, you know.. ;)

Late reply but I just gave Alt F4 a try while doing a HALO on Domi LAN. Instant program close.

[InsaneGent 10]

Whats the learning curve like in Arma 2?

I have played the free version and am installing CO right now. from playing the free version it seems like it is a little hard to get all the controls and things down.

[GReeves 10]

It took me about an hour of running around on the training mission to figure things out. It isn't as bad as I was expecting. I would definitely suggest changing the default controls though; the stock settings confused me a lot. You'll also probably have to turn down the graphics settings quite a bit. My computer could hardly handle it on the normal setting, much less high. I've found it's best to put everything on Very Low and just put 3D Resolution on 67% or 75%. That makes all the textures look kind of ugly but the 3D Resolution makes everything clear, which is especially helpful when spotting targets at long range.

[orcinus 121]

Whats the learning curve like in Arma 2?

I have played the free version and am installing CO right now. from playing the free version it seems like it is a little hard to get all the controls and things down.

Welcome to the Armaverse :)

Biggest part of the learning curve is learning how to control your team (if playing as leader) and in doing so, accomodate the foibles of the AI; and learning that the AI isn't the dumbbot-style of scripted "AI" in standard FPS games. The AI groups will employ tactics like flanking without human intervention, and quite effectively too. Don't imagine you can plonk down on top of a hill with a sniper rifle & pot away - the AI will spot you, suppress you & they dont kill you outright, will flank & hunt you down.

There are threads like rotkep's guide to AI squad control that are well worth reading. How to set up and use fire teams is a key part of the game, and crucial to surviving.

An essential read (especiallt but not only for MP) is read Dslyecxi's unique "ArmA2 Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures Guide" - a massive amount of information, very well organised and written. A third version is "in the works" so watch the BI thread here for updates.

Another key point is learning to shoot. Arma weapons have real ballistics and follow real trajectories, not the laser-like straight lines of all-too-many games. Get something like Kronsky's moveable target range (available on Armaholic) & practice. RL troops spend a lot of time on the firing ranges, & so should we.

Have fun!

BR

Orc

[kromka 40]

1. Can anybody tell me how passing from "dangerous" to "stay aware" works?

I ask because often there is situation that i want to break contact and this is possible only if my men are at least in "stay aware" mode.

Otherwise they cover each other and so on.

Anyway, when i give them command "stay aware" nothing happen. After some time they go into this mode.

Why it works in this way.

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2. In tactical mode when i choosing unit and give her a command, she remain selected. This is extremelly annoying. How set it to first person way of commanding?

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3. Is there ANY way to kill enemy from squad without alarming rest of this squad?

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4. Do AI hear anything?

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5. Is there is any chance to avoid damage after being het by another tank (some bouncing mechanism)?

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6. Sometimes (eg. snipers) uses his secondary weapon. How to force them to use primary one?

Edited August 12, 2013 by kromka

[chrisb 196]

1. Can anybody tell me how passing from "dangerous" to "stay aware" works?

I ask because often there is situation that i want to break contact and this is possible only if my men are at least in "stay aware" mode.

Otherwise they cover each other and so on.

Anyway, when i give them command "stay aware" nothing happen. After some time they go into this mode.

Why it works in this way.

----------------------------

2. In tactical mode when i choosing unit and give her a command, she remain selected. This is extremelly annoying. How set it to first person way of commanding?

----------------------------

3. Is there ANY way to kill enemy from squad without alarming rest of this squad?

----------------------------

4. Do AI hear anything?

----------------------------

5. Is there is any chance to avoid damage after being het by another tank (some bouncing mechanism)?

----------------------------

6. Sometimes (eg. snipers) uses his secondary weapon. How to force them to use primary one?

1/ Now I’m not totally sure what you mean here, perhaps a vid or diagram would help.

Anyway, if you have a squad and they are engaged with the enemy, then it is hard to bring them back to another position without them wanting to protect themselves and their comrades, which you still would want them to do. So the best way is put a barrier between the enemy and your squad i.e. smoke, they will, breaking combat and reposition for you, but this may not happen in Vanilla AI, I use a heavily modded AI, so they will do much more than the stock AI.

2/ RMB to de-select, sure you must mean more than that, could you explain more.

3/ Yes here you need modded AI for best results.

4/

also sounds from aircraft, vehicles etc, but only modded for all these things.

5/ Not sure about tanks, very rarely use them to any degree.

6/ For Vanilla AI, take the secondary weapon off them, common problem with Vanilla AI. However you could use modded AI, they tend not to use the secondary weapon unless needed.

:)

[kromka 40]

ChrisB thank you for response.

1. As you know, now in vanilla Arma, when firefight starts, AI automatically go into "danger" mode (equal to pressing 7->2). This impact on movement style and other things.

But there are situations where i am able to break contact with enemy but i need fast movement (eg. when i need to escape deep into wood to avoid tanks or run into other part of town to quick regroup).

And now if squad is in "danger" mode (7->2) they cover each other and effective run is imposibble. But if they would be in "stay aware" mode (7->3) they run smoothly and quick escape is possible.

Additionally even if firefight ends, they stay in "danger" mode for couple of minutes (my commands are omited). After this time, when other (!) unit say "clear" squad starts obey my earlier commands.

I will try today make some video.

2. When i am in first person view, after giving command all units which recieved this commandare deselected automaticaly. But in tactical view they remain selected. This is inconsistent. RMB cause quit from tactical view (i will check my keyboard cause i modified buttons significantly, but i doubt i've change RMB behaviour).

3/4 Very interesting one. AI works as he should (i watched other movies too). Can you make a package with these pbo for quick download?

6. Can you point which mod should be used?

Additional things:

Did you observe that when you are tank commander and you will give order "move fast", you can't give order "move forward"?

To do this, first you need to give order "slow forward" and then "move forward".

Edited August 14, 2013 by kromka

[chrisb 196]

ChrisB thank you for response.

1. As you know, now in vanilla Arma, when firefight starts, AI automatically go into "danger" mode (equal to pressing 7->2). This impact on movement style and other things.

But there are situations where i am able to break contact with enemy but i need fast movement (eg. when i need to escape deep into wood to avoid tanks or run into other part of town to quick regroup).

And now if squad is in "danger" mode (7->2) they cover each other and effective run is imposibble. But if they would be in "stay aware" mode (7->3) they run smoothly and quick escape is possible.

Additionally even if firefight ends, they stay in "danger" mode for couple of minutes (my commands are omited). After this time, when other (!) unit say "clear" squad starts obey my earlier commands.

I will try today make some video.

2. When i am in first person view, after giving command all units which recieved this commandare deselected automaticaly. But in tactical view they remain selected. This is inconsistent. RMB cause quit from tactical view (i will check my keyboard cause i modified buttons significantly, but i doubt i've change RMB behaviour).

3/4 Very interesting one. AI works as he should (i watched other movies too). Can you make a package with these pbo for quick download?

6. Can you point which mod should be used?

Additional things:

Did you observe that when you are tank commander and you will give order "move fast", you can't give order "move forward"?

To do this, first you need to give order "slow forward" and then "move forward".

3,4,6: No I don't have them to download, the mod/addons are easily obtained from armaholic, details listed below.

The following mod/addons are the ones you will need:

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=8848&highlight=GL4

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=15379&highlight=COSLX

A/ http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=8250&highlight=ZCOMMON

B/ http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=8688&highlight=ZCOMMON

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=17049&highlight=TPW%2BSUPPRESS

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=17861&highlight=SMK

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=12540&highlight=SHACKTAC%2BMOVEMENT

Details for the pbo's you will need from the mod/addons is here in this video. After obtaining the mod/addons make a new AI folder containing the pbo's listed. Then put the GL4 configs across into your user configs and change the one gl4 config, as listed in the video.

Please note the mix works for GL4 format missions, if you need more details pm me.:)

Regards the tank speed, yes you always come back to slow from 'fast' it seems, not sure why that's not been addressed by BIS before.:confused:

[orcinus 121]

@kromka: this is a tricky one. Using smoke as ChrisB suggests is good, but doesn;t always work (& of you have no smokeshells left, isn't an option). However there are workarounds. If you pay attention to what AI commanders yell, you'll sometimes hear them shouting things like "Formation file" followed by "All - hold fire".

"File" and "Delta" are the only 2 formations in which the AI will generally move fast behind you. Whether telling them to hold fire is a good idea or a very bad one depends on the situation.

Using teams can help, even if you have only 4 units. Tell one team to hold fire (formation orders apply to all teams, unfortunately) and move to cover, or regroup (if you are in cover away from them & there's cover between you & them). When that team reaches a suitable spot, order them to open fire so they cover team 2, then repeat with the second team. Doesn't always work.

One point about formation - you must evaluate the situation before deciding between delta or file (remember that both teams will assume that formation). Both run the risk of friendly fire, especially with larger teams. It depends where the enemies are, how widely dispersed. what the terrain is like in terms of topology and cover/concealment.

[Gleimairy 10]

So I flew to a village so I could see if you can make AI paradrop in-game without scripts. I told my AI to disembark but to no effect. Do i need to script to make AI paradrop?

[sander 14]

An order to disembark to AI under your command in an aircraft or helicopter requires that aircraft or vehicle to be on the ground before the AI will comply. In case you wish them to jump out while flying you will need to issue them a command to eject. One needs to have sufficient altitude when ordering the AI to do so because if that order is issued when flying too low the parachute jump can result in injury or death of the AI.

Regards,

Sander

[barrett217 1]

How do I switch to a different AI member? I have seen others have this, to where their AI would be a blue E moving around the map. Plus they can keep some at the base. To keep the base safe from enemy's. I using Domination_West-AI.Chernarus

[jimmyjjohn 10]

Well, I just got arma 2 and I'm still very new. I've searched all over the internet but despite that, I couldn't fix all of my problems. The sole reason I got arma 2 is because I'm obsessed with FLIR. ANYWAY, here are my questions:

- When in an aircraft (e.g Apache) how do I switch to the gunner seat? Note: I am playing through either the armory or in preview mode through the map editor.

- How can I zoom when I'm using the UAV? How can I fire the hellfire missiles on a particular spot on the ground? (without locking on to a particular target, some sort of way to get it to follow a laser pointer?)

- How can I create targets for the UAV through the editor? I've got my UAV setup (MQ-9, UAV station, player etc.) I just need to create some targets to play with.

Also, In what other game modes can I play with FLIR aircraft systems? (Any particular campaign, mission etc.)

PS4 Modded Controllers

[Joe98 90]

In the editor, a soldier can be "Player" (that's you) "Playable" or Non-playable

You must always have one "player" on the map.

All other soldiers must be "playable" or "non playable"

You are "player". If another soldier is "playable" press "T" and you can now jump into the shoes of that other soldier.

You can jump from soldier to soldier and back again if you need to. This is very useful when testing things in the editor. Or if you are part of a chopper crew.

[johnnypope 10]

Hi guys, great thread.

Not a noob, but I have a question that I'm unable to find the answer to.

When using my default profile, I can connect to a server, start the game, and the mission is downloaded to c:\users\me\appdata\local\arma 2 oa\mpmissionscache\

When using a different profile, the mission does not appear to be saved anywhere. I've searched c:\ for the mission name, other mpmissionscache folders, etc.

AMD-Based System, Windows 7 x64, Steam CO install, running everything as admin.

The workaround is obvious but I wonder if I'm the only person with this issue. Is there a way to change the location for mpmissionscache, per profile? If the mission file isn't saving anywhere, then how can I play it? Oh, and the kicker: It doesn't download the mission each time! It's somewhere!

Any clues?

[marrs101 10]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to Arma 2, I'm playing the standard Steam version. My problem is fog. I would like to fly CAS-like missions in editor mode, but I always encounter thick fog. I have the weather set fair, no fog, but still can't see a thing because of it. I couldn't find the tread where this problem belongs to. Other people had similar issues in the past, but I never find a useful solution to the problem.

Any help please?

[SavageCDN 231]

Check your view distance setting under graphics options it might be set to 1500m or something low.

[Joe98 90]

I have a Nvidia graphics card. Nvidia did an update about a year ago. Ever since that update I see fog in the distance in all 3 games:

Arma 2, Operation Arrowhead and Iron Front.

I will look at this suggestion next time I play the games.

[livrot 10]

Hi guys,

I'm new to Arma and looking forward to a long future with this fantastic tactical fighting sim.

As a noob I can not open a new thread and not post links, so take this:

I have written Livrot Mic Command, a speech recognizer and macro tool:

livrot.com

It can load old VAC and keyspeech profiles and offers many new features.

With the right ARMA settings you may find the freeware version sufficient for your needs.

I post this for advertising, yes - but not only:

Send me a PM or open a thread if you can and I give this community maximum support / build in new features to your likings.

Cheers, Livrot

[Mirek 166]

Hi guys, great thread.

Not a noob, but I have a question that I'm unable to find the answer to.

When using my default profile, I can connect to a server, start the game, and the mission is downloaded to c:\users\me\appdata\local\arma 2 oa\mpmissionscache\

When using a different profile, the mission does not appear to be saved anywhere. I've searched c:\ for the mission name, other mpmissionscache folders, etc.

AMD-Based System, Windows 7 x64, Steam CO install, running everything as admin.

The workaround is obvious but I wonder if I'm the only person with this issue. Is there a way to change the location for mpmissionscache, per profile? If the mission file isn't saving anywhere, then how can I play it? Oh, and the kicker: It doesn't download the mission each time! It's somewhere!

Any clues?

Try: Documents/Arma2otherprofiles/profilename/Usersaved (or saved) might be there.

[fager 0]

I am playing the single player campaign mission "Badlands" - a Warefare mission I guess. But it also happens in Warfare missions created in the editor.

Whenever I try to purchase a weapon for my character I end up with an empty inventory (except for night vision googles, binocular and so on)

Last patches are installed.

Thanks for your help!:)

[coffeecup 10]

Anyone know any simple DM/TDM/Domination/CTF missions with AI enabled, that can be downloaded from Armaholic or anywhere?

Edited June 21, 2015 by Coffeecup

[connorwarman 60]

Anyone know any simple DM/TDM/Domination/CTF missions with AI enabled, that can be downloaded from Armaholic or anywhere?

Here is the Domination mode that most people use for OA, enjoy!

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=10993

[Gunter Severloh 3949]

Anyone know any simple DM/TDM/Domination/CTF missions with AI enabled, that can be downloaded from Armaholic or anywhere?

Should be asking that here

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?111114-User-mission-requests!