Grumpy

Hi all, Having some issues with accessing the Options > Controls dialogue ever since I unplugged and re-plugged my joysticks into my machine running ARMA: Combined Operations (Steam version) on Windows 7. I can click on Options just fine, that brings up the next menu dialogue no problem, but if I click on the Controls menu item, the game freezes my cursor for 20 to 40 seconds and then the Controls dialogue opens. The only applicable error I can find in my ArmaA2O.RPT is this: Here are the steps I've tried to rectify this problem: I have uninstalled and re-installed my joystick setup so it is first on the list of controllers. Updated my joystick drivers and re-calibrated everything. Joysticks disconnected (all USBs unplugged). Just the keyboard disconnected. Just the mouse disconnected. Joysticks, keyboard, mouse disconnected. Despite all the above, the game still hangs for 20 to 40 seconds when I click the Options > Controls menu. Does anyone know what that error message means? Is it related to this problem? I found this Dialog Controls Wiki page that explains that IDC entries are unique identifier codes for dialogs. From that, I'm guessing the error might have to do with a joystick button option that has been included, but doesn't have an IDC code. Then again, that error could just be a symptom of the real problem. I think it's the latter, because everything was working before I unplugged my joystick and then re-plugged it back in. I'm looking for any and all possible solutions, no matter how unlikely or ridiculous :)

Great discussion about the material penetration of vehicles. I did some further testing of my own this evening and found several differences between stock ArmA2: Combined Operations and ArmA2: Combined Ops with the ACE mod running. I'm at the early stages of testing, so limited my trials to M-107 and MAAWs rocket rounds fired at close range through adobe building walls, free-standing concrete walls, and wood fences, and corrugated metal. In stock ArmA2:CO, the M-107 rounds can't penetrate an adobe building's wall, or a brick building's wall (like the control tower on the airfield) and wound or kill an AI I placed on the other side, whereas running it with the ACE mod, it can penetrate these walls. Free-standing concrete walls about 8-inches-thick are no match for the M-107 round in stock ArmA:CO or with the ACE mod, although in my tests it did take more rounds in stock ArmA:CO to get the kill of a hapless AI on the other side of the wall from the same standoff distance. MAAWs rocket rounds will completely destroy a small adobe house in stock ArmA2:CO but leave an AI positioned inside unharmed. In ArmA2:CO with ACE running, a MAAWs rocket round fired from the same spot will only crack the wall of an adobe house, but it will wound the AI inside due to fragmentation of the interior wall. As for the vehicle penetration, I hadn't gotten to that yet, and I am tempted to just go with the results you guys have posted, but I better run a few tests on my own just to see it first hand. :)

Maturin and Max Power, Thank you both for your replies. Max Power, those links you provided are brilliant. Thanks so much for those. I can see now how the material penetration modeling is implemented. I doff my cap to you because I thought I had some pretty good Google Fu but those pages you posted eluded me. I see now, however, that by simply going to the Community Wiki and using its built-in search with the phrase "material penetration" finds all the pages you posted. Who'd've thunk it?! :bounce3: When I get my review completed I'll post a link here (if that's okay with the mods ... I won't if that's considered spamming).

Hi all, I'm writing a review of Arma2: Combined Operations, and I'm trying to get some technical details on the Material Penetration Modelling (MPM) mentioned on the features page at the Official ArmA2 website. I've asked my press contact at Bohemia twice for further details but only get more press releases in reply ... no details on the MPM. For example, is the MPM modelling just the thickness of steel on each type of vehicle and object; or, perhaps, does the MPM also model, say, the angle of incidence an incoming projectile like an RPG may have when it strikes a body plate on a vehicle like an LAV? Furthermore, does the MPM effects only apply to vehicle-projectile interactions, or does it also apply to soldier-projectile interactions? I do know, from first-hand in-game experience, that rifle bullets seem to have less killing power of AI soldiers at longer ranges. Basically, I'm trying to get as many details about how the MPM works. Any help in this regard would be most welcome :)

Hi all, A few of us old-timers still play OFP and so, simply because I wanted to see if I could do it, I created an online utility for making ammo crate .sqs files as well as description.ext files for weapon pools and respawn settings. The utilities are nothing near as full-featured as Chris' OFP Script Editor, but they are quick and easy to use if you need to quickly make a crate or weapon pool with respawn setting. Ammo Crate Builder Weapon Pool / Respawn Builder My squad of online buddies and I have found the utilities pretty handy, so I thought I'd share it with the community. Hopefully, there's a few folks left playing OFP to try it and find it useful Who knows? Maybe it can be modified to work with ArmA?