john_mcclane

Quite enjoyable "mission". Thanks for taking the time to make it! Also like the taxi paint schemes.

I had been following the game for several months and was eagerly awaiting the release. I purchased it as soon as it was available on Steam. So what do I think? The game is exactly what I expected. I have been playing BIS games ever since the original OFP release. What I expected this game to be was basically a civilian helicopter oriented version of ARMA2, with some improvements in the flight model and atmosphere to make it seem more realistic, but I was not expecting a hard-core simulation by any means. I think some people had unrealistic expectations as to how much of a simulation this game would be. To me, it feels like a realistic enough representation of helicopter flight in a game. If I was an actual pilot, I believe I'd be more interested in my day job than wasting time on a forum complaining that a computer game isn't just like flying the real thing. Professional flight simulators are very expensive. If you expected to hook up your pedals and flight stick to this $50 game and feel exactly like you were flying an actual helicopter, you were being rather silly. This was marketed as a simulation game. Apparently some people took that a bit too seriously. Technically, all of their games since OFP have been considered simulations, but I wouldn't expect any of those games to be completely realistic simulations of actual combat. In the end, they are all games, and that is why most of us are here... to play games.

Some good points have been made. Let's see what the patches do. Hopefully they can find a middle ground that will satisfy most everyone. BIS are very good at listening to their customers.

Can someone explain to me why the standalone update is a mere 29MB and Steam shows the update as 1.694GB? And it's not a typo, as I downloaded 100MB and it was still downloading.

We are talking about a game that is using a modified ARMA2 engine. This is not something that has been built from the ground up to be a flight simulator. I personally think it is unrealistic to expect too much in regards to authentic flight modelling. Did you really think they were going to convert a tactical combat game into a perfect flight sim? The trainee flight model is quite an improvement over the ARMA2 model, as far as giving non pilot players a decent representation of flying in a game, over the simplified ARMA2 model. Even that model was better than most, such as found in the Battlefield series. No matter what they do, I highly doubt they are going to be able to completely satisfy actual pilots. Even FSX couldn't do that.

Oh well, just when things were getting fun, we have to get all serious.

And I'm an astronaut. If they had come out with "Take on Space Shuttles" instead, me and the boys could ease up on the tang and complain about a game instead.

The title of this topic should be changed to: "I need to learn to fly ArmA choppers now!" A lot of people are quite satisfied with the flight model. Instead of complaining and making unrealistic demands to change it, why not just practice more and be happy with what we have? It's not bad at all, and is quite enjoyable with a joystick/gamepad. It is more than adequate for this game (emphasis on the word "game"). Just my 2 cents worth.

I'm very impressed with the performance boost I'm experiencing with the patch. I am getting a solid 30 - 40 FPS (even in the forrests) with basically everything maxed out and the view distance set at 4500. It looks fantastic, and no more stuttering or other issues. I also just played it for hours without a single hiccup. Vista 32-bit 8800GT (nvidia 175.16 drivers) Intel Q6600 CPU 3GB 800MHz DDR

I just upgraded to an 8800GT & Vista. When I first ran ArmA, I had the 169.25 drivers. I was very disappointed, as the game ran very poorly and stuttered constantly. Lowering visual settings made no difference. After reading this thread, the BETA drivers sounded promising. I installed the 175.16 drivers. I am VERY impressed. The stuttering is completely gone and it runs very smoothly on high settings now.

If you look back at similar threads, there are plenty of supposed real life pilots voicing their concerns... about a game. I find it amusing.

Aircraft were simplified in OFP. ArmA isn't all that realistic either, but it is more so than OFP. And lets not forget, it is just a game. It's not supposed to be a perfect flight simulation. I also get a kick out of how many "licensed pilots" pop up in these threads. You're mature enough to pilot an aircraft, yet immature enough that you complain about a game not being like the real thing? Well... duh.

I think the main gripe about helicopters in ArmA comes from those that use a keyboard to fly. That was the only way I flew in OFP, and it worked very nicely. In ArmA, you really need a joystick or gamepad to enjoy flying. I personally prefer using an Xbox controller, which works excellent.

For kicks, I installed Resistance on a ThinkPad X22 800MHz P3 with 8MB ATI mobility video. Even though the requirements say 16MB video (except for Glide), amazingly it runs quite well on the 8MB card in D3D using low settings @ 1024x768! Anyways, just thought I'd share. I found it pretty impressive myself that the game could run well on an 8MB card in Direct3D.

The 8MB dedicated VRAM is all that is used. If I bump the color up to 32-bit in 1024x768, I get an out of memory error. Runs great in 1024x768x16-bit. 8MB was the minimum requirement for Glide mode, 16MB for Direct3D mode.

Many thanks, Celery!

2.70, or whatever the latest version is. I've looked just about everywhere and can't find it. Thanks!

Just wanted to clarify that your old "54kbs" dial-up would have only been downloading at around 5 - 7 Kilobytes/sec max. Sounds like you're getting kilobits and kilobytes mixed up. I think it's a bad choice to buy the downloadable version of ArmA now. Why bother? Almost all stores (such as Wal-Mart) have had it for a long time now.

So many people freaked over the use of a single word. Didn't anyone ever tell you it's unwise to believe everything your read?

Except Operation Flashpoint? The floating zone is one of OFP/ArmA's best features in my opinion. I guess a side benefit is helping make low FPS more playable. I'm glad that the floating zone can be adjusted via a slider in ArmA. OFP did not offer that option.

I totally agree. The setting can make a HUGE difference. I think it takes care of most, if not all of the mouse control issues that many people have been complaining about. Adjusting the in-game floating zone & mouse sensitivity, and the video card "max frames to render ahead" setting (if you're able to change it) can really make a difference. All of them can drastically improve the mouse movement.

Care to elaborate on all those missing features that even 6 year old games have? And saying that it's worse than OFP 1.0 is a really absurd and completely invalid statement. Customizable weapons- Global Operations Vihicle controlablity- Joint Operations Typhoon Rising Plane controlablity/realism- BF1942, At least in that game they had LIFT, LIFT!!!!! Helo controlabbility/realism- BF Vietnam, Watch a real AH-1z fly and then watch the in game ones fly, now, what do you see thats diffrent? RELOADING ANIMATIONS- SEARCH FPS ANY GAME Player Vs player combat- BF2, JOTR, EOD, FEAR, Quake, Doom, Americas Army, COD, COD2, Soldier of Fortune, need i go on? You were impressed by vehicles in Joint Ops and BF Vietnam? Wow. The land based vehicles handled like sleds, and the aircraft flight models & controllability were far from realistic. So you actually expect combat in ArmA to be like Quake, Doom, SoF, etc.?

Care to elaborate on all those missing features that even 6 year old games have? And saying that it's worse than OFP 1.0 is a really absurd and completely invalid statement.

If you have an NVIDIA card, try lowering the "max frames to render ahead" setting in your video control panel. That can make a significant difference, as far as mouse input lag. Also, try lowering the "floating zone" setting in ArmA, under controls.

I'm quite pleased with the patch. I have the UK version, and hadn't tried out the recent BETA releases due to being on dial-up. The 1.08 patch took me a total of 35 hours to download with a d/l manager! On my mid-range system, 1.08 runs smoother (with increased draw distance), and loads faster as well. The improved menus are great. I haven't noticed any game-play issues or had any crashes. The Armory is a nice addition, and the A10 is splendid! The flight models also seem improved, and I am happy with them now. It seems like a lot of people still haven't tried lowering the "floating zone" setting for tighter control/movement. I personally think the game was good at 1.04, very good at 1.05, and now great at 1.08. And I can't think of any other developers that would be this dedicated to correct issues. Thanks BIS.