Helmut_AUT

Hi all Upgrading my whole system, the 9600GT gives way to a 4890 (unable to find a 5870 anywhere). I plan on running CCC with default 4xFSAA, 4xAniso set since many of my older games do not support FSAA selection within the game menu. With Nvidia, forcing FSAA trough driver caused Artifacts in Arma2. Same for ATI? Any other problems I should be aware off with the combination of Win7 64bit, latest catalyst and 4890?

Okay, I reset the GFX options down, then up again, and it seems to improve. What it feels like is actually as if loading terrain causes this at irregular intervals. But I'm playing from an SSD with 200MB/s read speed? It's not painful now anymore. But there's definitly a jerk that wasn't there before, a sharp drop in framerate. No beta patches yet, I loaded the same 1.02 as I had on my old system (never got around to updating for 1.04). CCC is at default.

Okay, I loaded everything up on the new computer - and I DO have troubles. Even in the option screen (the camera panning over the Aircraft Carrier) I get jerky movement. My framerate jumps from 60 to 45 and right back up every second or two. It's insane - obviously the HD4890 should run this perfectly fast, but something causes performance to break down at regular intervals, leading to a jerky game. I'm at a loss - spent 1400EUR on this new box, all drivers up to date, Win7 64bit, an i7-860 and 4GB RAM - plenty of power. But A2 jerks.

I think the texture thing Master means is related to the 8GB RAM which leads to wrong detection of GFX Memory. JW, I'd have stayed with Nvidia, but if I can't get a GTX285 for over six weeks anymore it's really their problem to lose a customer.

Never in OFP or Arma has there been any implementation of tactical lights on the guns. While I realize the Army and Marines are mostly using NVGs instead, this isn't quite the same. For once, lights would give you broader field of view, in other contrast/colors. In Stalker (I know it's not a tactical shooter, but pretty awesome game) the light also adds a lot of atmosphere in otherwise totally dark nights. So, lets have player-flashlights, the graphics engine obviously can handle vehicle headlights just fine.

Turn off UAC temporary and run as admin?

There will always be posters claiming superiority of one equipment piece over everything else. "Vitaliy" already points towards a Russian origin of our OP. ARENA seems much better than I actually thought possible, but certainly not proof against Top Down flight paths.

I have an AMD Phenom II 965 on order (3.4 Ghz) and the HD5870. As long as FSAA works nice, and the overall performance is good, I'm a happy camper. There is however one guy at simHQ already posting about texture problems with his card, but as long as it isn't universal... http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2878841.html#Post2878841 And yes, in general I think unless you are running fast or overclocked i7, you're better off stabilizing at 25 to 30 constant frames and squeezing every little bit of image quality out of the card. From the benchmarks I've seen, you won't get much more framerates from normal Intel Quadcores or AMDs once heavy AI kicks in.

What I find is that usually in a correctly set rifle squad (12 guys and me) the three fire team leaders are automatically grouped at the front of the numbers (2, 3 4, one being yourself), Arma does this by rank. So going with Fincuan's advice, if you correctly color each fire team with it's FTL, you should already have soldiers 2, 3, 4 in different color, and can use SHIFT with those keys to select the entire fire team. It gets problematic when the FTLs bite the dust, however. And for WARFARE you have to buy the units in the correct order. I really miss the Arma1 spacebar interface with the ability to mouse-scroll/click select a color.

I think the problem with SSDs is that many people just can't "restrict" themself to fewer files and data. I cleaned out two games I never play today, and I'm now at 64GB including my iTunes library, 10 installed games, lots of digital edited pictures, OS and applications. If you can trade volume for speed, it's a godsend thing.

^What Longtime said. My new system (to arrive in one or two weeks) has a Patriot Torqx 128GB SSD in it. I'm a discriminating user and not a pack rat, so my entire files currently are 80 gig (including music and digital pictures). The Torqx has a 10 year (yes: TEN years) manufacturer warranty on it. And of all the SSDs sold in the shop where I have my system built, only one came back so far - with a controller error. In the same time a proportionally much larger amount of total mechanical HDs sold were returned. I would say that's pretty damn reliable, especially given that even if you reach the limit read/write cycles, you get a read-only drive which will not work for the OS anymore, but allows you to fully recover your data.

As far as I know most of the US Army has transitioned now to the M4, even for regular Line Infantry. The only guys still lugging M16s are rear echelon support. The M4s are made to such high standards today that the accuracy penalty was deemed negligible, especially at the common MOUT engagement ranges. Shame though - the Steyr is an awesome rifle (and the only Warfare item we Austrians ever really got right).

I bought a GTX285 last Friday (in a complete new system) and it took me quite some effort to decide if it wasn't the time to wait and switch for ATI. Ultimately though right now most games run really nice on a GTX285 in 1920x1200, the ATI gets between 10% to 50% performance increase (depending how well the game and drivers are optimized) but at least here in Europe costs considerable more. That price increase IMHO is just not worth it when it gets you from 40 to 55 FPS - what for? Besides, unless you are running an overclocked i7-920 or better CPU, Arma2 will bottleneck you at avg. 30 frames in many missions (per the Pcgamerhardware bench). No point in spending on a card that does 60FPS then, rather I would set up visual quality as high as you can go with 30avg. I believe image quality will give you a better edge in combat than pure frame rate, since A2 isn't a twitch game, and he who spots first shoots first.

Even in Chenarus they are annoying when you're looking from the shore over the ocean, where nothing is supposed to be. But for north and west side of map they are quite believable. Shame they can't be finer controlled.

What exactly was broken in 1.02 or 1.03? I admit I never noticed.

That Eotech demo looks awesome, thanks for keeping at this. Truth to be told it never really bothered me that much, but I'm all for more realism and easier time hitting targets.

Are there really FPS increases (although the changelog doesn't specify performance fixes) or might this be a result of the mouse input changes?

No need to apologize, I understand your frustration with people always seeing only the negative. I really like the game, and I'm glad the initial patches fixed glaring problems rather than performance so everyone can at least play stable. But now the wait for BIS to get the performance into a range that jives with their system specs on the box is getting a tad bit long. For now I'm limited to playing self-created missions with about 80AI units total, everything more and I drop below 20FPS (independent from GFX settings, it's the AI). I don't blame BIS for being overly optimistic about implementing a really good Micro AI at high CPU costs, but they can't possible have wanted to release a game where the default included content only runs on current-year CPUs. So lets hope for some performance cleanup in 1.05.

The letdown is that I now own the game since the initial german release days and still can not play most of the included missions at playable framerate, since the 5000+ AMD I have (which by the box is above "Recommended Optimal System") can't handle the load. And don't go telling me my CPU is old - then they should have given honest system specs on the box, but of course it would be bad marketing to write that you need a very new current CPU to actually be able and play the included campaign or SP missions at anything more than 15FPS. It was good that they got the first few patches out quick and added FSAA in the "second and half" update, but now after four patches still no playable performance is a joke. I'll be done upgrading my system before they release 1.05.

Hi all Was wondering if someone has tested this a bit more closely. Hunting three Grad BM-21 Rocket Vehicles in my custom mission, I requested a Tac Airstrike, standard SecOps deal. You get two Harriers showing up, at the place you designate on the map, or which is center of your binos/FOV. So far all clear for me. I then wiped out the Laser Designator I earlier took from an injured AI Squadmate - to find out it was empty??? I know that there's "ammo" for the LD, but can you actually "fire" it's magazine empty??? A bit miffed, I then opened the Coms menu again for Support->Tac Airstrike (active) and while aiming at one of the Grads with my mouse cursor, clicked that again. Next I know the first Harrier is gun-strafing the Grad I had so designated. Now, what I haven't figured out yet: 1) If you don't carry an LD, or it's out of battery (however that happened) can you still "point and click" a Tac Strike onto target? 2) Did the Harrier gun the Grad as coincidence, or did I really tell him to do that? 3) Will the Harriers simple leave the area if you are not designating a specific target by LD or Mouse, or will they attack what they find at the spot? This is really interesting gameplay-wise, and pretty cool. Nothing like sitting on a hill 700m north of your mission objective and seeing two Harriers roar overhead to strafe them. The Strela-guys on the other side didn't get any hits either on their 4, 5 shots, but I wouldn't have wanted to try that with a Chopper instead.

Hi all Just placed the Radars on the map, they would make good mission objectives - but the radar dishes are not moving by default. I guess they need some kind of animation code entered, has anyone figured out the correct command? Thanks.

I run at 1920x1200, so there are other 16:10 res supported. Can you set your Windows Desktop to 1440x900? I suppose A2 simple takes the available windows resolutions, if your desired one isn't in windows, it's not gonna be in A2.

Haven't keept up to date, what does the -winxp switch do/why would you use that? I plan on the same card and OS, so curious.

Hi all This might also be a question for mission editing/scripting, but in general it's gameplay related... If I have a AI soldier with an Laser Designator under my command, is there any way to get him lasing a target? As a Squad Leader, it's now very easy with the modules to set up "Tactical Air Strike" support with the Harriers. But if you are not lasing a target for them, they will not drop any bombs. As a Squad leader, you shouldn't have to do everthing yourself, it would be rather nice if you can tell your AI subs to get out the LD and paint the target. But the action menu for the subordinate soldier doesn't offer "Weapon Laser Designator" or anything similar. I think this worked once upon a time in Arma1, but can't remember how...

I think it's great that they fixed the campaign, which from all I heard is really good - but many can't play any decent sized campaign mission due to CPU overload, so without performance optimizing, campaign fixes themself are pretty useless.