2nd ranger

Ehhhh no, you're thinking of Tactical Vest and Chest Rig. There's a new vest called Tactical Chest Rig that neither CTRG or Syndikat is using (a CTRG guy was wearing it in the dev diary).

The guys without shoes isn't as silly as it may seem. A Tanoan government faction would have good though. I was actually kind of expecting it. Just guys in old BDUs with boonie hats and AKs or FALs. Wouldn't even care if they were reskins. I don't think any faction is using the new Tactical Chest Rig yet. Wonder who's getting it?

Nice, they look good. On a somewhat related note; using the GL sights of the CAR-95 while wearing hex fatigues causes something to block your view.

Whenever I put down a Syndikat 4WD, it takes a long time for the mission to load. Doesn't happen with the civilian version.

If you're evaluating the work done based on development time, then it may be worth noting that the water scooter and MB 4WD (not to mention a few other bits of gear and static objects) were also produced by external artists. Not saying it matters at all, just saying.

He's not talking about the jungle being too shady, he means that Arma 3 graphics generally look like ass when there's no sun. Being in the jungle highlights the fact that Arma 3's HDR isn't very good. It's the same problem when there's high overcast. Everything looks really flat and unimpressive.

Anybody experiencing this? It happens when standing near, or inside, certain buildings. That particular building is "Land_Slum_05_F".

He's an Apex character in the editor, I don't think it will come as a galloping shock to anyone that he's in the campaign. Plus, as I've pointed out, this information is presented for all to see in those two videos if you look hard enough.

Well he gets captured at some point, going by the teaser trailer.

In most cases, the issue isn't that retextures have been used. It's that some of them aren't even good.

If they're not going to get their own vest, doing a good quality retexture of the original NATO/CTRG vests makes sense, particularly the Mk2 Rig since it has 556 mags on it. This would be the first time in three years that vest would actually look right on a BLUFOR unit.

I fully agree - I think CTRG gear is the weakest area of the expansion. I personally don't like the overall look of them, with the helmet and whatnot, but that's subjective so I won't bitch about that here. But for the faction that is, presumably, the focus of the campaign, I think the quality of their gear is lacking, especially compared to the quite excellent Viper units. In Arma 3, the CTRG units were a relatively minor part of the campaign, so I could understand that they wore a retextured version of the NATO uniform. But now that they're more prominent, I would have expected them to have their own uniform model, particularly since it's supposed to be a different, 'stealth' variant. Not to mention that the NATO uniform was probably one of the very first things made for the game, and it's really showing its age now, particularly if compared to the AAF uniforms, for example. However, it might not have been such an issue if the retexture was high quality. But it just isn't that good-looking. If I'm not mistaken, the actual camo pattern itself hasn't been altered in any way - it just looks like the texture has been recoloured and had the triangular stealth tile things added to it. I was also quite disappointed to find that they didn't even get their own vests. Just the old Tac vest that is also looking rather dated now (maybe they've got a new vest in the works, who knows). Also, the uniform and vest combo makes them look like helicopter pilots. That's all I can think of when I look at them. NATO & CSAT tropical uniforms: As someone else noted, the pattern on the NATO gear looks like it's just painted on, with no fabric effect. The CSAT camo is okay, no difference in texture quality from the original hex, so not much to say there. I guess the retextures can be viewed as extras so I don't want to complain too much about those. The Viper guys are great and I was pleased to discover that we got normal hex variants of their gear as well, which is appreciated. Are the hex variants of the new CSAT NVGs going to be default for regular CSAT? I really like those. P.S. I think CTRG should carry the khaki SPAR by default. It's a little weird that everyone else is using camo weapons except them.

Honestly I think the Pacific NATO guys look like some community retexture. You can see in many places, on vests especially, where parts have just been recoloured rather than totally redone. Maybe this was some attempt to maintain consistency between the MTP and tropical variants, but if that was the case then the older textures should have been brought up to the level of the new ones, not the other way around. The Syndikat units are palatable because the new textures are generally quite good (although I just can't look at them and forget they're FIA reskins).

When reloading the PM pistol, a tiny magazine appears near the mag well.

Yeah, texture quality is inconsistent. The Syndikat trousers, for example, are pretty good quality with a nice fabric effect. I'm guessing this is because the model is fairly new and good quality (AAF trouser retexture), while certain t-shirt models never seem to have nice textures, presumably because they're quite old or just not that well made. All the Viper gear is excellent.

I'm really not warming to the CTRG. They look like pilots wearing motocross helmets. In retextured uniforms.

CTRG and Viper have dual night vision and thermal goggles with full-screen visibility. Also, placing a MB 4WD on the map makes the mission load ten times slower.

All of the NATO and CSAT pacific variants are in there.

Yeah, the Syndikat names are dumb.

My first, very early impression is that CTRG got really short changed here. The quality of the Viper units is very high in comparison. I'm not sure about the helmet, but I love the new regular CSAT NODs. The CAR-95 is pretty fun too.

Holy crap, the CSAT Viper guys are.... different. CTRG Prowler

Woah, so the main menu has been totally overhauled.

You hear that, guys? Next time you're getting shot at, don't run for the nearest concrete structure, hide in a bush! See you next time for more Combat Tips with your deliberately obtuse host, lexx! (I know the interiors aren't going to change and we're all just going to have to get over it, but pretending it's not a step back for the game does not diminish the issue). (P.S. I'm totally over it)

It's starting in 5 minutes.

You've never been fighting in a town and ran inside the nearest building for cover? Nobody is going into buildings to admire the decor. It's about not getting killed. Lives are at stake, man!