BeerHunter

We only need ONE command for each action , not a plethora of funny sounding words pulled at random from an array. ie Regroup: We only need to hear "REGROUP" , not "regroup" or "on me" or "fall back" (??) etc. Open Fire: We only need to hear "OPEN FIRE" . Not "open fire" or "weapons free" etc. etc. "Move to" could be a simple "move" or "go" , not "move...to...that..." then bush , tree , whatever. The player has indicate where he wants the AI to go so doesn't need to be reminded. The AI don't "listen" anyway. They simply go to a co-ordinates read by a mouse click and I doubt anyone listens to the command in MP either. AI don't need to holler "go..I'm covering" over and over either. It's understood for the most part. I know these voice phrases were included to enhance the atmosphere but they ended up have the reverse effect for the most part. They destroy it. And if it's too late to do anything about it now for ArmA2 , PLEASE do something about it for OA..

Sometimes..under the right conditions (dry , dusty , limestone etc.) the target can be obliterated by dust..hard to see. Other times (wet grassland) it's just a wee clump of sod that crops up. Anxiously awaiting the next update..wont play ArmA without it.

Actually , it seems that once the AI holler "target acquired" in Veteran mode you can scan , holding down the command button and they will show in red for a while indicating the LAST known position they were in.

Interesting info as I'm not really very well versed in exactly how game engines do their job. Didn't mean to sound like developing the engine wasn't what BI did , meant it to come across as : if BI wants it , and can do it , they will. :o

TrackIR (@ about $120.00) or FreeTrack(??) if you're handy with soldering might be a solution as it emulates free look by allowing you to move your head rather than the mouse to look around. You can find info on these as both have their own forum post (search). Personally I love my TrackIR for flying (ArmA2 and MS FSX) and wont leave the ground without it but for slogging and driving , I simply assigned free look to a mouse button and toggle it on when I want to look around and toggle it off which automatically centers my view forward over the sights.

Can't help it. I enjoy ArmA2 so much I find it irritating that such menial things as voices were so poorly implemented considering all the phenomenal work that went into the rest of the game.. Anyway ..it's like a fine whine..can only get better with age...:p

I have a VAC program (Voice Activated Commands) I keep forgetting to start and am wondering if there's a command line argument that would start it automatically when I fire up ArmA2. The WiKi shows arguments but they are for ArmA1. Is there anything for ArmA2? Txs

I'm just wondering if some of the annoying quirks players often complain about such as the voices , the command structure (some don't work,others don't do what they are supposed to or what you think they should do ) , the voice looping , constant repeating of the same command etc. are going to be fixed in OA?

I'm well aware of the performance issues and that they have a much much higher priority than the little idiosyncrasies I'm talking about in ArmA2. I'm just wondering , since OA is basically being built from scratch and there are supposed to be some engine enhancements if this would be the time to iron these little irritations out while the developers are devoting their time and efforts to improving ArmA2. For me , the performance and FPS isn't an issue as I'm enjoying the game even with my systems limitations. I just get frustrated sometimes when the suspense os shattered by ..."man..far...to...our...right" or constantly having to hear hearing "go..I'm covering":mad: (I had a mod that silenced these but it doesn't work under the latest patches).

First off , I am MOST impressed with the interaction between the players and the developers in here. Now a quirk I ran into (and I think it's been mentioned before but can't find it now). I was playing the BI "Village Sweep". The armored vehicle at the top of the hill (don't know the techno term for it :rolleyes:) blew an enemy vehicle to smithereens but then...kept firing at it. Wasn't so much that we were in the shell impact area but that annoying "boom" Boom "boom". I was able to get it to cease fire by switching to command mode then instructing it to cease fire but that shouldn't have been necessary. Game bug or scripting error (didn't return that the target was destroyed) I'm not too sure. Just thought I'd mention it..BTW using .60899

When I go into the "Controls" I see an entry called : "Missing String STR_USRACT_ACTION_CONTEXT" with the Primary Mouse Button assigned to it. Odd the Primary Mouse Button is also assigned to the "Fire" command and doesn't create a conflict. Anyone else seeing these?

Txs for the info on that. So my whole reinstall , thinking my files were corrupt , was for naught :butbut:

Why on earth was this important announcement buried in the middle of a 174 page post???

Well if BI owns/developed the engine then they have the source so there is a possibility that flowing water , deformed craters etc. could be developed for it. Look at how far Windows has come over the years by simply adding/improving already existing code. Depends on whether or not the developers have the time and inclination to expand the game engine or not.

Since the voices and menu's seem to be hard coded , hopefully BI will be looking at re-doing them for their up and coming expansion pack....hopefully.

Damn I wanted to keep this as a reference because it's so informative. Lot more information in here than in the "official manual". If the mods won't sticky it , then I'm damn well going to book mark it.

Don't ya just love telling your AI to "REGROUP" and hear "FALL BACK" (which usually means retreat). :p I tried using voice command software as I did in ArmA1 but that damn "quick menu" pops up sometimes and screws up the command sequence. Still fighting it. Agree that the commands presented sometimes don't do what you think they should do and the voice repeating the command (is it really needed???) is inconsistent. If they wanted to use a voice response why didn't they just stick with one for each command? Other than that I find , even though the AI tend to sometimes wonder off somewhere and get lost , you do have to act like a leader and issue commands to them as you would in RL. If you'r a SL in RL you can't go running off to do your own thingy..you HAVE to assign tasks to your squad and let them do the fighting and that's how I handle my AI. Other than a few glitches , they are the best AI you can find in just about any game given the complexity of ArmA2 and for the most part , smarter and more willing to obey than you're average online pub player.:p

IMO it's a shame that it took 5 patches to get ArmA2 to where it should have been on first release. With all the improvements it's now a phenomenal game/sim but for the most part , only those of us that stuck by them are benefiting from the improvements. Hard to say what kind of reviews and sales numbers would have come out on first release if the game had been as awesome as it is today. And in only a few short months ... we could have waited (at least some of us anyway :p ). I for one am not the least bit sorry I stuck with it.:)

There is a grain of truth to what is said though...vast majority of gamers want action and lots of it and then even more of it. The thought of actually having to think can be painful for them (word "migraine" comes to mind.;).

I'm trying to reinstall ArmA2 but it wont accept the CD key printed on the back of the manual. Have a feeling I'm confusing "V" with "U" and as there are 4 of them in the serial , the permutations are more than I can handle right now as I have to go to work. Quick question then.. as all I have is either the "V" or "U" so can't make a comparison , how to tell the difference?? (and NO I'm not going to post the SN :p;) ). ---------- Post added at 09:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:30 AM ---------- NM Problem solved..seems they were all "V"'s

For scripting ,scenario building etc. look at "Mr Murrays" tutorial. Goes into great detail on scripting , setting up scenarios and how to use the editor, menu actions etc. DL and print. Much more useful as a reference than the endless links and lack of solid working examples etc. on those damn WiKi pages. It's for ArmA1 but 99.9% of it will work in ArmA2. Once you get a handle on this , then you can delve into the extra's that came with ArmA2. I've always felt that with the scripting language being so unstructured and so unfamiliar to anyone with any structured programming experience & with the complexity of the game a well written manual , even at an extra cost , would be welcome. Just wish they'd sticky a link to Dr Murrays guide as this one is IMO far more useful for learning how to play ArmA than Dsylexi's (which is basically just a well written tactics manual) which does havea sticky.

not worthy of a comment..removed as I can delete.

Have a look at Tactical Gamers and some other squads. They sometimes have training sessions and some are very tolerant of beginners. Have to remember that ALL of us , at one time or another , were "n00bs". :D Check out the squad section of the forums.

Not wanting to criticize the BI developers as they have presented an awesome game that I thoroughly enjoy but , apart from some of the deeper , technical problems of the game (none of which I've come across) some complain about,MY biggest complaint,whine,whatever :rolleyes: concerns some of the immersion killing visual aspects of the game , some of which are even game killers IMO. (ie hate/wont play night missions because of the flash bulb muzzle effect) If you want an idea of what it's like to approach an enemy compound and come under fire check out OFP DR. The sights and sounds of those tracers ripping over and around you and thumping into the ground does increase your heart rate. Bullets chewing up the ground , a stone wall disappearing behind the dust created by your AI squad throwing suppression fire their way,these are only some of the stunning visual effects. And it CAN be done in ArmA2. Someone already posted a small mod that increases the bullet impacts so they no longer look like Air Soft impacts. TBH , DR isn't a fraction of ArmA2 for realism and wont replace ArmA2 , but damn..I wish it has at least SOME of the visuals.

Don't you know about the beta patches you can try out?? :rolleyes: Been some major improvements to game play that will be released as an official 1.5 patch later , but you are certainly welcome to try the beta's out first.