ARMA 2: CO (how to combine ARMA 2 into ARMA 2:OA and use together)

[LondonLad 13]

I have retail Arma 2 and I am getting Operation Arrowhead. Most likely if I want to play with my friends ASAP and getting it a bit cheaper, I would have to get it from Steam.

What kind of complications does this produce? Mods not working? Are Steam players ignored on some servers?

How excatly would combining these games work if I bought OA from Steam?

Personally, I would stick to the retail (boxed) copy if you can purchase.

[Arksa 10]

Personally, I would stick to the retail (boxed) copy if you can purchase.

Yeah I'll do that. Found out it's not worth the trouble getting it from steam, other half being retail.

[Failberry 10]

Sorry if this problem has been stated before, but I recently bought CO on steam and when I go to launch OA, I get an option to launch Combined Operations. Unfortunately, when I go to launch CO, a command field pops up with errors in it while the OA standalone continues to launch normally.

It appears it is launching both OA and CO and CO has some problem that I think is related to Arma2 original. I have noticed that Arma2 is not updated to patch 1.07 even though steam is supposed to automatically update it.

I have dl the patch as well and nothing I do seems to be able to get Arma2 to update. I have tried reinstalling Arma 2 as well and I still can't get CO to launch properly.

[jkhaaja 10]

1.

there is no DirectX 10 mode, the game is only DirectX9

2.

there is no -forcedirectx9 switch

3.

-cpuCount=4 is by default for quadcore or more

so using it makes no difference if you have quadcore

if you have 6core Xeon or AMD cpu then ofcourse use 6

for most people more than 4 with hyperthreading enabled results into negative performance

anyway in nutshell you want to say usage of the cmdline lowers powerformance ?

No, thats not what im trying to say. The switch works fine with arma II, the switch works fine with Operation Arrowhead alone (it improves the performance and makes the random framerate dips every second go away), however it doesnt work with Combined Arms for some reason.

[Psychopathus 10]

@Failberry

heheehehe if you mean that command line window that pops up when you choose "Launche Arma2: Combined Operation", no worries, it's just executing a .cmd file (that _runA2CO.cmd) to "merge" Arma2 and OA

[Dwarden 1125]

seems like these who read my older comments of use mklink etc.

missed what i got mainly ind mind :)

for ARMA 2: Combined Operations

solution to enable ingameUI modification manager

(when -mod are used the modification manager is disabled)

Windows Seven, Vista users using inbuilt mklink

mklink /j ".\Addons" "..\ARMA 2\Addons"
mklink /j ".\Dta" "..\ARMA 2\Dta"
mklink /j ".\Keys" "..\ARMA 2\Keys"
mklink /j ".\userconfig" "..\ARMA 2\userconfig"

Windows XP users with NTFS drives needs use this from SysInternals

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx

junction  ".\Addons" "..\ARMA 2\Addons"
junction  ".\Dta" "..\ARMA 2\Dta"
junction  ".\Keys" "..\ARMA 2\Keys"
junction  ".\userconfig" "..\ARMA 2\userconfig"
[/Code]

this will automatically enable your game to load ARMA 2 content w/o need to use -mod switch

now you can add / remove mods in the UI interface

there are 3 problematic

1. you cannot enable/disable ARMA 2 off the list and it looks disabled

* yet it works, so no issue

2. all servers with retail A2:CO will show as Red with question mark

* yet You can join and play, yet it works so no issue

+ there is 1 downside of this

3.

if you host you will be shown as w/o the CA and thus A2:CO users can't play with You

* can't be resolved w/o data wise changes, no big issue if you not hosting

-------

attached file detects automatically your A2 and A2:OA and makes these changes for You

also i included the one where you can easily add junction for mods from ARMA 2 to OA folder to be seen in ingameUI modification manager

have fun

Edited July 6, 2010 by Dwarden

[Reverend Crast 10]

Thank you very much Dwarden, I've got it all running, even with beta (which I use because it runs better than 1.52)

[bushlurker 46]

Yeah! Thanks again Dwarden...

That worked just nicely... !

For some obscure reason my Arma 2 item in "Extensions" is marked as green/enabled, rather than greyed out/disabled and I can't change it, the opposite of what you warned about... dunno why...

However - all working fine - including the "junction this modfolder" cmd too... well done!

B

[jkhaaja 10]

No, thats not what im trying to say. The switch works fine with arma II, the switch works fine with Operation Arrowhead alone (it improves the performance and makes the random framerate dips every second go away), however it doesnt work with Combined Arms for some reason.

Ok I tested it again and if I add the startup parameters to steam with "" (f.e. "-forcedirectdx9") it works fine. I dont know why this switch improves performance since ArmA is supposed to be directx9 anyway but for some reason it does.

[Dwarden 1125]

Ok I tested it again and if I add the startup parameters to steam with "" (f.e. "-forcedirectdx9") it works fine. I dont know why this switch improves performance since ArmA is supposed to be directx9 anyway but for some reason it does.

makes zero sense

that's like claim -forcedirectdx11 works too ...

-forcedirectdx9

-forcedirectx9

are some bogus ....

[Devil Dogs SF 13]

I ordered simply OA (I already own A2), I just place the download on the first page into the OA directory and all my A2 stuff will transfer to OA yes? I am just asking for whenever OA arrives.

EDIT: Both are disc versions

Edited July 4, 2010 by Devil Dogs SF

[r3volution 0]

Ok, I have Combined Ops running thanks to the cmd file posted up, but how on earth do I get the junctionthismod4me thing to work? (edit I'm running win7 64bit)

I've tried putting it in the mod folders and running it, tried putting it in the arrowhead folder and then dragging my modfolders onto it, putting it into the arrowhead folder and running it but nothing seems to work. I'm sure this is probably just me being a complete and total noob, but I just can't figure it out, and the readme wasn't massively explanatory on how to run it.

Any thoughts?

[bushlurker 46]

In Win 7...

I dropped the "junctionthismod4me" file in my Arma 2 main folder...

From Windows main start menu - clicked "Run" - then "browse" - navigated to that file - select and click "open" in the fileselector box.

You'll then see the path to file you're ready to run in that "Run window"...

Type the modfolder you want to junction at the end of that path - then click OK

If you want to junction another modfolder - select "run" from Windows Start Menu again - it will have "preserved your last path", so next time you don't need to navigate - just type in the next modfolder name... etc etc...

If you have a window open on the main OA folder, and you get it right, you'll see "folder shortcuts" appear in there for every modfolder you junction...

B

Edited July 5, 2010 by Bushlurker

[waycool 0]

Will the zip work for both Steam versions Arma 2 and steam OA? I have both but they are steam and would like to combine them. Is merging same as combined? My OS is xp pro sp3. I also run Ace2 is this an issue?

[r3volution 0]

So after you've done this and the links have appeared in your OA folder you run the _runA2CO.cmd and then the mods show up in the in-game mod manager?

Cause I've created the links using the junction thing as described above, but when I run OA nothing shows up...

[DruidB 10]

seems like these who read my older comments of use mklink etc.

missed what i got mainly ind mind :)

for ARMA 2: Combined Operations

solution to enable ingameUI modification manager

(when -mod are used the modification manager is disabled)

Windows Seven, Vista users using inbuilt mklink

mklink /j ".\Addons" "..\ARMA 2\Addons"
mklink /j ".\Dta" "..\ARMA 2\Dta"
mklink /j ".\Keys" "..\ARMA 2\Keys"
mklink /j ".\userconfig" "..\ARMA 2\userconfig"

Windows XP users with NTFS drives needs use this from SysInternals

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768.aspx

junction  ".\Addons" "..\ARMA 2\Addons"
junction  ".\Dta" "..\ARMA 2\Dta"
junction  ".\Keys" "..\ARMA 2\Keys"
junction  ".\userconfig" "..\ARMA 2\userconfig"
[/Code]

this will automatically enable your game to load ARMA 2 content w/o need to use -mod switch

now you can add / remove mods in the UI interface

there are 3 problematic

1. you cannot enable/disable ARMA 2 off the list and it looks disabled

* yet it works, so no issue

2. all servers with retail A2:CO will show as Red with question mark

* yet You can join and play, yet it works so no issue

+ there is 1 downside of this

3.

if you host you will be shown as w/o the CA and thus A2:CO users can't play with You

* can't be resolved w/o data wise changes, no big issue if you not hosting

-------

attached file detects automatically your A2 and A2:OA and makes these changes for You

also i included the one where you can easily add junction for mods from ARMA 2 to OA folder to be seen in ingameUI modification manager

have fun

I have no idea what to do with the junction program or the files you linked... you need to explain things better for those of us that are not programers.

I am running Win XP if this helps

[Dwarden 1125]

you need to read better ... the code provided in post is only explaining what it does

1st solution is no brainer, replace the single cmd , run and detection is auto

2nd solution is no brainer run the cmd .... it detects the OA and A2 paths by itself and set all up

3rd solution is no brainer

run the cmd in style

cmd modfoldername1

cmd modfoldername2

can't do it ? well it can't be simpler from my side

[DruidB 10]

you need to read better ...

Before accusing me of being unable to read perhaps you should invest in some better translation software... im assuming this is the reason many of your posts are difficult to read.

I downloaded the junction program from the link you provided... i ran it and a dos window popped up then dissapeared... Is that all it is supposed to do?

What folder do i place the files you provided in... Arma 2 or Arma 2 OA?

[S-M 10]

I am not sure why people have having trouble, when i want to run both programs together i simply click the downloaded file (from the first page) and i can select both campaigns from OA main menu.

I leave the file on the desktop, changed its icon to something resembling a game (the big yellow star one lol) and renamed the file to "Combined Operations"

Click it and it all starts up, simples?

[DruidB 10]

I am not sure why people have having trouble, when i want to run both programs together i simply click the downloaded file (from the first page) and i can select both campaigns from OA main menu.

I leave the file on the desktop, changed its icon to something resembling a game (the big yellow star one lol) and renamed the file to "Combined Operations"

Click it and it all starts up, simples?

I have no issues getting the game to work in combined mode... My issues are with loading mods that are in @folders in my Arma 2 Folder... so i dont have to have 2 copies of every mod

[Sheepy 10]

Finally fixed my setup. I had bought Combined Ops from Sprocket.

The problem was the Arma II install via sprocket didnt setup the registry paths properly, so it didnt detect that the game was installed. (neither did the patch) So each game was installed in its own folder. However, after fixing the registry paths manually and reinstalling AO via the sprocket setup, it detected it and sent it to the Arma directory.

So I guess the easiest way was to just manually rechange the directory to the Arma II one.

P.s the batch file did work, however it wasnt showing Arma II in the expansions, so I thought I'd reinstall OA just to be sure.

Edited July 5, 2010 by Sheepy

[jkhaaja 10]

makes zero sense

that's like claim -forcedirectdx11 works too ...

-forcedirectdx9

-forcedirectx9

are some bogus ....

Well yea, im not sure. I just found that in one of the community support tools (arma2 launcher). Anyway if that does not work then it has to be the cpuCount=4 that does the trick. Could that be it? (im running an i7-920) Maybe its a problem with hyperthreading?

EDIT: I tested it and it apprears to be the cpucount parameter that increases the performance.

Edited July 5, 2010 by jkhaaja

[4 IN 1 0]

I have no issues getting the game to work in combined mode... My issues are with loading mods that are in @folders in my Arma 2 Folder... so i dont have to have 2 copies of every mod

As told you dont need to have 2 copy of same, you just make sure that the actural mod is im arma 2 folder and creat a symlink folder in OA folder which direct to the mod folder of the same name in A2 folder.

[Dwarden 1125]

I downloaded the junction program from the link you provided... i ran it and a dos window popped up then dissapeared... Is that all it is supposed to do?

What folder do i place the files you provided in... Arma 2 or Arma 2 OA?

the junction batch creates symlink junction directory

it's virtual 'link' between 'new' directory and old one

so let say you have

some drive:\somepath\ARMA 2\@somegreatmod

and want to have

some drive:\somepath\ARMA 2 Operation Arrowhead\@somegreatmod

to see it with the mod manager or use with -mod=

then all you need is execute

_junctionTHISmod4me.cmd @somegreatmod

the batch detects the path to ARMA 2, ARMA 2: OA

and use provided @somegreatmod parameter to create junction

ofcourse it will work only on Vista and Seven

on XP you need to get junction from Sysinternals and update the batch file

Edited July 5, 2010 by Dwarden

[Aiky 0]

All your needs over there

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=101615