ArmA2: Operation Arrowhead Impressions - ALL OA Impressions/Videos/Screenies Here

[aidas2 10]

Game is awesome, for me it's much better then Arma2, the extra features, graphic, everything's so smooth, much more realistic weapons than arma, bullet drop, good A.I. started Campaign on Veteran dificullty, the Ai later in the mission just rapes me and my teammates, talk about vehicles, plenty of them, the IR lasers, flashlights add immersion to, it's basicly what I ever wanted Arma 2 to be :D

[KeyCat 131]

If any of you are taking requests I would love to see more night pics/videos (without NVG's) and lightsources (lamps, searchlights, etc). Really looking forward to the improved lighting engine and to see more night ops in general.

Ohh, another question.... is the fog issue we have in A2 fixed in OA?

/KC

Edited June 30, 2010 by KeyCat

[liquidpinky 11]

Had my first full shot last night, love it.

Renamed my exe to ARMA2 to get SLi working and the performance is good, all settings higher than my previous ARMA2 ones. Game looks stunning.

Spent the evening on a CTI server and found I had to adjust my play style to suit the new surroundings. Not to sure about the three team CTI, being the first army wiped out isn't much fun (usually the woefully equipped independents). Maybe a spectator option or switch to civvy to doss around in a town somewhere would be good to help while away the time waiting for the second team to get gubbed.

I enjoyed travelling everywhere on foot in Cherno and even though the scenery is more barren it is still pretty enough to enjoy the walk, just got to be more aware as you are more easily spotted now.

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

I'll keep it in the editor for me :p

But I'm still looking forward to the campaign. The whole warfare thing in ArmA 2 ruined it for me so I hope this one is much better.

Warfare ruined the online aspect you mean?

If any of you are taking requests I would love to see more night pics/videos (without NVG's) and lightsources (lamps, searchlights, etc). Really looking forward to the improved lighting engine and to see more night ops in general.

Ohh, another question.... is the fog issue we have in A2 fixed in OA?

/KC

1: How is the lighting engine improved? 2: What fog issue?

Spent the evening on a CTI server and found I had to adjust my play style to suit the new surroundings. Not to sure about the three team CTI, being the first army wiped out isn't much fun (usually the woefully equipped independents). Maybe a spectator option or switch to civvy to doss around in a town somewhere would be good to help while away the time waiting for the second team to get gubbed.

There's CTI stock in the game now!? I thought they took that out in A2. (I haven't played MP in months)

[maddogx 13]

If any of you are taking requests I would love to see more night pics/videos (without NVG's) and lightsources (lamps, searchlights, etc). Really looking forward to the improved lighting engine and to see more night ops in general.

Ohh, another question.... is the fog issue we have in A2 fixed in OA?

/KC

I will probably be making some HD videos this afternoon (CET). Mostly fiddled around with the settings yesterday to get the best recording results in FRAPS. Let me know if you want to see anything specific. :)

[turin turambar 0]

Warfare ruined the online aspect you mean?

1: How is the lighting engine improved? 2: What fog issue?

There's CTI stock in the game now!? I thought they took that out in A2. (I haven't played MP in months)

There were warfare missions in the arma 2 campaign. Did you play it?

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

There were warfare missions in the arma 2 campaign. Did you play it?

Not all the way through. I play in the editor, armory, and online mostly.

[Yoma 0]

1. I still cant even get over 30 FPS with all settings low and PP effects disabled.

2. But ArmA 2 ran GREAT at patch 1.05...why not OA?

3. That's probably the problem, because I have a 4870x2. It runs ArmA 2 AMAZINGLY, but in OA my FPS is dreadful.

Have you tried renaming the OA exe to Arma2.exe (to fool your crossfire)?

[JuggernautOfWar 1]

So in what ways is the lighting engine improved in OA?

[TinManNFO 10]

I will probably be making some HD videos this afternoon (CET). Mostly fiddled around with the settings yesterday to get the best recording results in FRAPS. Let me know if you want to see anything specific. :)

Well, if it isn't too much trouble, could you please film some views of the positions (commander, gunner, driver, "ride in back") inside the M2A3 Bradley, including the different view modes (3D interior, optics, FLIR, stepped zoom levels). I keep wondering how well it's modeled, but I don't think I've seen a video that shows more than the driver position, nor do I remember seeing any FLIR video from any of the ground vehicles (only from the AH-64, ULB, and TWS). Thanks in advance!

[TimRiceSE 10]

So in what ways is the lighting engine improved in OA?

"cone" of light is gone.

looks softer.

its nice.

[jonneymendoza 10]

..and sexy

[armored_sheep 56]

fraps me hell slows in OA. used playclaw trial.

[YOUUBE]iQdnUPuvAPo[/YOUTUBE]

continue to explore new feature "called penetrability"

if so intended, then in my opinion is not even funny

what type of active armor using in Lada and this takistan moto ? :)

I confirm that this is not correct behavior. Must be some mistake in that specific ammo. It has to be fixed in patch. Tx for reproting and nice YouTube vid.

Edited June 30, 2010 by Placebo

[Fox '09 14]

made a quick video. Damn this game runs great for me!

<object width="1280" height="745"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Cl8y7oel0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Cl8y7oel0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="1280" height="745"></embed></object>

some ugly LODs around 1:00, objects were set to low at the time of the video

Edited June 30, 2010 by Fox '09

[KeyCat 131]

2: What fog issue?

This:

Really miss those rainy/foggy missions at dusk/dawn!

/KC

[maddogx 13]

Well, if it isn't too much trouble, could you please film some views of the positions (commander, gunner, driver, "ride in back") inside the M2A3 Bradley, including the different view modes (3D interior, optics, FLIR, stepped zoom levels). I keep wondering how well it's modeled, but I don't think I've seen a video that shows more than the driver position, nor do I remember seeing any FLIR video from any of the ground vehicles (only from the AH-64, ULB, and TWS). Thanks in advance!

Will do. :)

[turin turambar 0]

Let's see. Impressions.

The game have, in multiplayer: around 5 coop missions based in some of the already present single player missions, 2 warfare missions, and three pvp missions (from dm to sector control).

In single player:

-15 tutorial missions (pretty short each one, of course). They are pretty well explained step by step, they have improved it since Arma 2 so they can be used by new players without problems. With visual indicators to see where to go, etc.

-7 single player missions (scenarios), 10-20 minutes each one.

There is a little infantry firefight with a humvee as support, clearing a village by night with laser pointers in weapons, a sniper missions at dawn, an attack with tanks, a stealth/sabotage mission, a combat patrol with an armed Little bird and the Death from Above mission with the Apache/UAV combo.

-1 benchmark.

-4 "showcase" missions, one for each side, which are just a place where you can try each weapon and vehicle from each army.

-7 mission campaign.

-Of course, we still have the editor, the combat mode (secOps module), the armory, etc.

The campaign itself.

They have improved two points since the Arma 2 campaign: it does have more action, and have more varied missions. But also they have lowered the level in qualities like the atmosphere, the plot and the characters, hell i would say that it's not like they have bad plot/characters per se in OA, it's just they don't have a proper plot/characters this time. You are a guy from the US army that participates in a military operation. End of the story.

The whole interaction with the civvies angle is anecdotic as best. There are (i think) two missions where if you were friends with them they give you a bonus (a bit of info, allied guerrilla), or a "minus" (without info, guerrilla against you) if they don't like you, that's it. Occasions where to affect that civ opinion are also... sparse.

Another "negative" point is the length, with a duration of 6-7 missions (the seventh is optional, depending of your acts in the sixth mission), it can be finished in a long evening/night by veteran players.

Without giving spoilers, there are three infantry missions (well, in the third you have a Bradley at your disposal, so it may be a vehicular mission really), two tank missions, and two Apache missions.

There is a possible salvation in this aspect of duration/replayability of the campaign, and it's the coop mode. You can play with 4 friends, and unlike in the Arma 2 campaign, in each mission each player have different roles, like a infantry guy, a specOps Delta force attacking from another point, a tank giving support and a chopper making attack runs. It sounds interesting from a replayability standpoint, even if perhaps you can't fight "back against back" with your friends. As the campaign have more action and less "dead time" than the Arma 2 campaign, it may be more adequate to play it in coop.

Some extra comment:

-Sounds for the new weapons and vehicles are very good. I was a bit worried with the tin sound for the SCAR i heard in youtube, but it's clear that YT sound compression is not something to trust.

-The sound engine can play more sounds at the same time (setting in sound options), it should help to have less problems with the cutting/sttuter sounds.

-Backpack system works great. You can open it and take stuff from the inventory screen, or drop it in the ground and use it from there, or call a mate and open theirs without him having to drop his backpack in the ground.

-Also the new combat sights and the "zeroing" in the sniper rifles/vehicles works without problem. That said, i would liked to use the zeroing in more weapons that just in sniper rifles, for example it would be great to use in the scoped MGs.

-I am a bit dissapointed with the "new and improved" vegetation. Improved, lol. It looks worse than Arma 2, it looks like vegetation from a game from years ago, that's why it will consume less resources.

-Textures seems also a bit more blurry, in the same setting (high textures). I think they perhaps changed the distance where they use the highres textures to a more shorter distance. Or maybe is an issue with my computer.

-Take care with the postprocessing setting in video options, now from medium upwards it adds SSAO effect, and as in other games it's very taxing for the gpu.

-There is a pair of vehicles where they made a halfassed job, like the SCUD and the Striker Mortar, where the weapons doesn't work. Come one Bohemia, one of the strong points of your game is how every weapon and vehicle is usable, you shouldn't make fake stuff like this.

-There is a pair of humvees / Land Rovers with dual weapons, a first for BIS-made light vehicles. I am speaking of a car with a fixed mg in the front seat and a rotory fixed mg in the rear seat.

-The 'automated' voice system... well, it's still the same, but they have improved it slightly, the pauses between each word seems to be a bit shorter.

-There is a new, quieter, variation for the voices, if you are in stealth mode.

-Choppers are a bit more agile, but perhaps it's my imagination.

-IR strobes can't be sticked to yourself, meh, it's the main use for them in the ACE2 mod.

-I didn't try the new modular system (dismount/take in backpack/mount) for the fixed weapons.

-AI is the same as always (well, the same with the 1.07 patch for Arma 2).

-Not even one big bug in the single player missions or the campaign... well, until the last objective of the last mission in the campaign, where the game got stuck and couldn't finish it properly. I had to use the endmission cheat. Tsk.

-The new radar, the RWR system, the progressive/by step zoom optics, the flares in the air vehicles, all the improvements in the vehicles are god sent, as the vehicle part of the Arma games was being left a bit behind in comparison with the infantry part.

-Now you can't use the NV google with the scoped weapons. To compensate, now you have flashlights, or new scopes with NV or FLIR vision.

-You can throw grenades with different strength.

-Perfomance in the first scenario, the Takistan countryside, is good, but in the second scenario (which is smaller in pure scale), Zargaband, the capital of Takistan, is very poor. I know i am going to play in the first one and forget the other until i have a new computer (note: i do have a dual core, the new improvements in the engine are more focused in improve the game in quad cores).

-It seems Bohemia has made some changes in how the interaction between certain projectiles and armor works. In theory this is good because it's supposed to be a little more realistic, but right now it's bugged or some data values from some projectile types (HEAT ammo from T55, for example) are incorrect.

-FLIR system is excellent, but that's not a surprise, it's one of the most publicized features by Bohemia. It's affected by weather, season, time of day, the heat affects the metal from vehicles and people in a different way, etc.

[bono_lv 10]

Got OA at Steam. Downloaded in about 1 hour. Running better than Arma 2 overall, but OA has same issue with huge fps loss in towns. I tried to run alone in Zargabad... It felt kinda uncomfortable. Fps was microstuttering and low. I can't imagine any mission there with AI or some multiplayer action. I just finished Boot camp, and it was great. During Boot camp performance was really good. Will try some scenarios later.

[TovarishMimino 10]

Arrowhead walktrough in Russian

[YOUTBE]5Ln8Jlbdv8I[/YOUTUBE]

Sorry of topic, but have to get this of my chest .. the narator is a complete idiot. He might be high though, I dont know, maybe both?

Edited June 30, 2010 by Placebo

[maddogx 13]

Sorry of topic, but have to get this of my chest .. the narator is a complete idiot. He might be high though, I dont know, maybe both?

Would you care to elaborate for all of us non-Russians here? :)

Why is the narrator an idiot?

[jblackrupert 14]

Sorry of topic, but have to get this of my chest .. the narator is a complete idiot. He might be high though, I dont know, maybe both?

I don't speak Russian. Just thought it might be something good.

[Fred DM 0]

got my copy (German retail) this morning. tried it out in the editor for a few minutes. performance is absolutely amazing, considerably better than Chernarus, both the Takistan and Zagrabad. i get a constant 60-75fps on Takistan, and on Zagrabad i get rougly the same fps in the outskirts, right in/over the city it drops no further than 40fps. only when i actually enter the city on the ground do the fps seriously drop, into the 20s. i guess that's to be expected.

of course that's without AI units.

my settings are the same as they were in ArmA 2. everything on Very High, except AA (Medium). both resolutions are set at 1600x1200. visible range is 3800m, as high as it goes before terrain detail is limited to High instead of Very High. (system: i5 750, 4GB 1600, 5870 Vapor-X).

i didn't even patch OA yet.

Securom copy protection is a nuisance, though. sometimes takes ages to verify the disc, sometimes doesn't start at all. haven't had that problem in ages.

Edited June 30, 2010 by Fred DM

[wingtip 11]

My initial performance results with operation arrowhead...

same exact pc as i had for arma 2

3.1 ghz dual core amd

gforce gtx 280/1 gig ram

4 gigs system ram

700 watt supply

vista enterprise 64 bit

arma 2, no matter what i tried, wouldnt run period.. just standing still looking around i got around 12-14 fps... totally unplayable....

fast forward to OA, same pc, patched to 1.52, runs flawlessly (so far)... i went through 95% of the tutorials to refamiliarize myself and got online for 20 minutes after patching before i left for work this morning and without having fraps up to get the fps it seemed smooth enough i didnt care...

so it is interesting how some of us that couldnt run arma2 can run oa , yet some people that had good performance with arma2 now have crap performance in oa.... in my case whatever they changed (besides not having to draw a bazillion trees) did the trick and im thankful...

of course this could all change the moment i step into a full server with 20 aircraft flying around and 20 vehicles driving around and explosions everywhere :D but its a major major improvement over what i got with arma2 without changing anything but installing oa and patching.

congrats BI on a nice job so far!

[maddogx 13]

Securom copy protection is a nuisance, though. sometimes takes ages to verify the disc, sometimes doesn't start at all. haven't had that problem in ages.

Yeah, the first time I tried to start the game it didn't work. I just thought "Noooooez!". :eek:

Fortunately, ejecting and re-inserting the disc fixed that. Hasn't happened again since.

Still, here's looking forward to the patch that removes Securom for good. According to Maruk it will be coming sooner rather than later. ;)

[old_painless 182]

Am awaiting my copy, hands trembling! As a flyboy, is the 10x10 km "limit" for islands removed from OA? Read somewhere that it was. Not so much flying that can be done on the small Arma2 maps, mainly Combat Air Support.