Praelium

I don't have the Alpha but I do want to add that distance makes a difference in Arma I and Arma II. The further the bullet travels, the less damage it deals.

So, has anybody tried running this on Windows XP? Technically it's not supported in Arma III but I'm wondering what the results are.

Dslyecxi's Arma 3 Movement & Shooting Tutorial (11:47)

We had a large discussion regarding the lighting and shadows back in May when this trailer and a series of related teaser screenshots were released: mIwfS8uJJIk Now, I can't remember the technical details but I can give you the basics: Essentially, there are a few different methods for games to handle lighting and shadows. The Arma III engine uses a more basic system, which is why we can have neither soft shadows nor dynamic shadows. The updated lighting system, for reasons I can't remember, was confirmed NOT to be implemented into Arma III. At least, from the beginning, but a dev hinted that it might be included as part of a later patch. Until then, the current Arma 2 lighting style will be used. Here, I found a post by a dev that touches on this: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?122794-ARMA-3-development-blog-amp-reveals&p=2155863&viewfull=1#post2155863 I remember the discussion being rather long so you should be able to find more information by browsing nearby pages from that topic. Also, that post was made almost a year ago and much has changed since then, so don't get angry if deferred lighting never makes it to Arma III.

Absolutely beautiful. I love natural look of them - no fancy sunset views or special angles, just raw Arma III.

I'll try to get a free invite... my computer is aging and may not run Arma III properly.

Hah, no one is asking you to sleep with him! :p He'll just be around your mom a lot, that's all.

So I understand why some people are against Steam, especially those who feel that it's becoming a big monopoly and those who want BIS to remain as independent as possible, but can we at least be happy that BIS found a way to make their work more efficient? I mean, there's been much complaining these past few days and I think the point that we're missing is that BIS is choosing to use Steamworks because it's the best decision for them. If we respect BIS as a company and group of employees then I think we can learn to accept Steam. Think of it as your single mom getting a new boyfriend. You don't have to like him and you could never speak to your mom again, or you can understand that this decision is for the best and learn to live with it. Sure, he's not perfect and there will probably be some issues, but having a companion will help your mom greatly. Let's just trust that this decision is for the best and try to adjust, okay?

Assuming that the majority of their consumer base are even against using Steam, it doesn't sound like BIS really has a choice. Did you read the whole blog post? http://www.bistudio.com/english/home/news/projects/357-arma-3-will-be-steam-exclusive

Great post, I hope this will clarify some of the questions that people have with Steam. I'll add, though, that Steamworks modding system may actually increase mod downloads, as they will be easier to find, install, and keep up to date. This should help the modding community.

Auto-mod downloads would be convenient but give us a list of the mods and their sizes so we can verify whether or not we want to download all of them, some of them, or none of them.

I think the reason for the drama is that many who are against Arma III being exclusive to Steamworks are that way for invalid reasons. Now, I'm not saying that there are no valid reasons, but some people here are getting upset over rumors and misunderstandings. For example: Steamworks will hurt the modding community: There isn't much evidence to support this. In fact, many games that are currently released through Steamworks have very strong modding communities. There are also features that help make downloading, installing, and updating mods easier for gamers. Steamworks requires automatic game patching: I've read this mentioned three or four times and it's not true. Steam users can opt out of automatic patch downloads through Steam preferences. Steamworks will require constant internet connection: Except for a few individual situations (which I neither confirm nor deny), playing Arma III offline should not be a problem. Particularly, there have been complaints that losing connection to Steam may kick players out of a multiplayer server. However, I've been using Steam for a long time and I have never experienced this. If you have, post more information so we can figure out the variables that causes it. In addition, there have been people asking whether or not LAN will require an internet connect, but as far as I know that it totally up to BIS. Steam hurts performance or kills my internet connection: I can't say I've experienced these issues but if you do then that's unfortunate. Sorry that Steam doesn't work correctly for you. It may be on your end, though, so perhaps reinstalling Steam or trying a number of other fixes can help. I like to put the DVD in the DVD drive/I like to compress and save my files in a certain method/I like having the manual/Etc.: I'm sure BIS understands that gamers take small pleasures in doing lots of stuff like this, but clearly moving towards Steamworks is a business decision. They work to develop successful games, so it makes sense that their decisions would reflect that priority. To expect BIS to make changes just to cater to these things is silly. Overall, I just want to say that many people in this thread are overreacting. Now, I'm not saying that implementing Steamworks will be perfect, but can we at least wait until actual, verifiable, replicatable issues specific to Arma III occur before complaining? Speculating with this must hostility is doing us no good.

Those are invitations, though. Games actually linked to an account cannot be resold. Not that it bothers me, I'm fine with Arma III being Steamworks exclusive.

Actually, if I recall correctly, the user has been able to disable automatic patches for quite a while. I'm not sure how the process works then, though. Maybe you would be notified that a patch is available and then asked for permission to download it, which you can do at night or while you're away because Steam is fully automatic. This is an improvement over normal patches that sometimes require the user to click "Next", manually restart the computer, or insert the DVD before continuing.

Why don't you like Steam?

Why is it so bad?

Whether it's Arma III or not, good for BIS for branching out. They've been becoming a bigger name in the gaming industry during the past year or two.

When do they mention BIS? http://www.gametrailers.com/netstorage/psmeeting/index.html Edit: Okay I guess it's just a logo at 02:26:40

Maybe it's for preorder?

I agree that the game looks great but the shadows are a small pet peeve of mine. Rather than having very dark blackish shadows, I think that grey-blue shadows compliment the bright bloom much better. Here's an example from Mafia 2:

I'm happy for BIS. This probably wasn't an easy decision as I'm sure a lot of changes must be made, but it's for the best. I wonder, though, if they're going to change the layout of the map.

Update!! http://www.bistudio.com/english/home/news/projects/352-new-name-for-main-island-in-arma-3 New name for main island in Arma 3 Bohemia Interactive has renamed the main island of its upcoming mil-sim game, Arma 3. The new name, ‘Altis’, reflects the distinctive Mediterranean identity of its environment, but distinguishes it from the real-world Greek island of Lemnos, which has served as the main source of inspiration. The decision follows an incident involving the arrest of two Bohemia Interactive employees, who were spending their holidays on Lemnos. Both were detained for 129 days on suspicion of espionage. They were recently released on bail. Arma 3’s main island (approx. 350 km²) is inspired by the beautiful environment of the Greek island, Lemnos (approx. 475 km²), artistically re-created based on commercially and publicly available data. It was originally chosen to be the centre-piece of the game after Bohemia Interactive's CEO, Marek Spanel, visited the island on vacation several years ago and shared his impressions with the Arma 3 development team. However, in view of recent events, the team no longer feels passionate about using the previous name, 'Limnos', and hopes that the new identity, ‘Altis’, will help emphasize the fictional nature of the game. A secondary, significantly smaller island in Arma 3, ‘Stratis’ (approx. 20 km²), will keep its name. Joris-Jan van ‘t Land, Project Lead on Arma 3, explains: "As part of the creative process, our virtual environments are often rooted in real-life locations and, during development, they evolve and grow along with our design. The resulting fictional environment is often close to its inspiration, but it's never exactly the same - nor would we want it to be. For us, 'Altis' echoes the Mediterranean heart of our island, but differentiates it from any undesired real-life connotations.†Starting with the successful Arma: Cold War Assault (originally titled Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis*) in 2001, Arma 3 is the latest installment in the award-winning tactical military shooter series by Bohemia Interactive. This PC-exclusive video game, which is set in 2035, provides an authentic combat experience in a massive military sandbox. Running on a brand new version of the Real Virtuality™ engine, Arma 3 features a wide variety of single- and multiplayer gameplay - supported by limitless opportunities for content creation. Arma 3 is scheduled for release in 2013. More precise details will be announced in February. Plus, two new screenshots? Screenshot 1 Screenshot 2

I would like to see my units engage enemy men who have left their vehicle. As it is now, they can accurately identify the vehicle as "enemy" from a great distance but the men are too far and are classified as "unknown". It makes sense that infantry is more difficult to identify but this is just illogical. In addition, perhaps my units should also engage unknown infantry who are just NEAR the enemy. This would add some depth to the game as friendly units and especially civilians could be in danger of friendly fire if they don't keep a responsible distance from the enemy.

Right, I agree that consistency is important. With so many keys, it's necessary for the controls to feel intuitive. And with that, if vehicle actions are assigned to the number row then they should be as similar as possible across vehicle types. For example, "5" should always be "Get out" and "6" should always be "Manual fire".

BIS is listening. One of the devs said in the development blogs and reveals topic that he appreciated our input.