RAKtheUndead

I've had this problem myself, and I have tried locking onto both the wooden tank targets, along with an OPFOR T-72B. The Javelin never seems to complete its loading sequence.

I think that it is utterly bizarre that anybody would suggest Java as a language to learn before C. As a part of a computer science curriculum, it does not suffice: it doesn't get down to the essentials of programming, unlike Python (or, in the past, BASIC), being too heavy with boilerplate code; it is a resource-heavy language, being bytecode-compiled rather than natively compiled; it is far too heavy with libraries for a beginning language; it ties you inherently to the class-based object-oriented system, and it does not teach certain elements of programming that a language like C does - namely, pointer syntax, which teaches you rather more about what the likes of a segmentation fault actually is than anything else above the assembly language level. Therefore, my suggested progression would be somewhere along the lines of Python, to learn the basics quickly, followed by C, to get a greater insight into the lower-level components of programming, followed by a functional language along the lines of Scheme, Common Lisp, OCaml or Haskell, to teach people that they don't know everything yet, then optionally a course in a "nice" assembly language like ARM for those that need to understand how instructions go through the computer. Only then would I begin teaching the likes of Java/C#/Objective-C and the rest of the Smalltalk-alikes. Java seems, from my limited perspective, to be a sufficient language for application programming, where you need to get things out quickly and be able to iterate quickly, yet have reasonable performance. It, however, is certainly not a perfect language, and doesn't really suffice as a beginning language by any means, and is certainly not a very useful language for programming games in if you want anything substantially more sophisticated than Angry Birds. I recall that the original aim of Java was for embedded devices, so it's not that far-fetched. It is also possible using the GCJ compiler for one to compile Java code into native machine code.

Nah, if this was Stack Overflow, they'd be talking about how Haskell is the ultimate language, and anybody who doesn't learn it is a peon who doesn't understand real programming. Personally, I think Haskell is a toy language and that nothing particularly useful is going to come out of it, but I've got a vendetta against most pure functional languages. Java, on the other hand, is just fine by me!

An HD 4890 is a superior card to an HD 5770 in terms of memory bandwidth, and I believe performance - I wouldn't be worried about them suggesting the HD 5770 in their specifications sheet, because they've also suggested the older GTX 260, which only supports DirectX 10, rather than the newer DirectX 10.1 or 11 supported by the ATI cards.

Doubtful. Given the genre and the difficulty of actually simulating hand-to-hand in a first-person perspective, I wouldn't expect anything on those lines from the game.

Despite having an ATI card, and probably in a state to upgrade to another one, I'm not worried about this. Frankly, it gives me a reason to use that old 8800 GTS I have lying around.

It's ARMA 3, people! http://www.bistudio.com/index.php/english/games/arma3

The whole appeal of ARMA 2 to most of its players is that it occupies a niche which most game developers - and gamers, for that matter - won't touch with a ten-foot pole. The ultra-realism of ARMA 2 is quite apart from the quasi-realistic shooters which have taken over the market, such as the Call of Duty series. While that type of game has its own merits, sometimes, you just want the difficulty and challenge that comes from a game which doesn't hold your hand throughout. ARMA 2 is very much a game which doesn't hold your hand.

OK, I've got a Six Updater problem now which I can't sort out. I cannot use the GUI version of Six Updater. It does not work, and has never worked. Which files do I modify and how so in order to enable the ACE_RU and ACE_USNAVY sections of ACE to be downloaded using the console updater? EDIT: Never mind. The GUI system decided to finally work for me.

SPAS-12 doesn't have any ammunition associated with it right now. It was removed with the update to 1.5, and will probably be redone in a future patch.

Did the change from 1.3 to 1.5 remove buckshot and the spotting rifle from the SMAW, or is it just me? If they were temporarily removed, are there any plans for their return? EDIT: OK, verified the SMAW spotting rifle removal.

To be fair to Bohemia Interactive, mecha are not exactly realistic options in the world of warfare: WARNING: Extremely long spoiler follows. I agree that the game could use a few not-so-serious addons to really test the limits of the engine, but considering the target market for the game and the genre which ARMA 2 sits in, unrealistic touches like mecha are never going to be a big priority. If you're willing to work on all of the necessary touches to make a mecha addon, go ahead and good luck with it.

Actually, tested with ACE 2 on my system, there didn't seem to be any conflicts anyway, and it worked to perfection. Excellent job - an addon worth waiting for.

Good. One of the best bargains out there in the mid-range of hardware, and it can run ARMA 2 well.

I've been trying to find an appropriate racing circuit since Operation Flashpoint. I found some good ones on Nogova, although they're a little boring, and one very good one on Everon. The best car so far for racing is the Jeep in OFP, and the Sedan (saloon) in ArmA and ArmA 2. The problem, as I see it, is that roads have different characteristics for driving. A car which can go 100 km/h on a tarmac road might only go 50 km/h on a dirt road, and good luck getting any specific speed on grass. While it convinces people to stay on the road, the rapid decrease in speed makes it difficult to catch up after even a single diversion from the track. Motorcycle racing is very fun, though, albeit extremely difficult.

So, you're a sim racer as well as a producer of ambitious and exciting ArmA 2 videos, richiespeedisback? This just keeps getting better.

Agreed. It's inexpensive, but it's got plenty of features. Now, if only I could actually use the throttle on ArmA 2...

The fact remains that PC gamers have always been known as the more hostile and elitist for most game genres, and there has been the keyboard/mouse vs. gamepad war for quite some time. Yes, the gamepad certainly has its advantages - I wouldn't want to play the likes of, let's say, Mario or Tekken on a KB/M combination - but the mouse is generally a more precise and accurate tool for the likes of FPS and RTS games; it's easier to be pixel-perfect. When this game is transported over (and it will be), I don't expect that it will have cross-platform multiplayer precisely because of that elitism (of which I'm very much guilty). I would expect them to have problems with sales. The hardcore PC gamer is a rare breed, so few gamers are going to be able to play the game. And we, as Operation Flashpoint and ArmA players, are an even narrower cross-section of the hardcore market (because OFP and ArmA are definitely hardcore gamers' games, as well as being specialist-market games). So, I doubt that we'll have many pre-pubescent 12-year-olds screaming down their mikes for long, because they'll be so puzzled on how to play the game on whatever platform, and they'll be pissed off for dying so often.

Disregard; connection problems led to double-post.

Well, even with a throttle slider, one cannot adjust the thrust between any values other than 0%, 70% and 100%, unlike in OFP, where throttle sliders were taken to be analogue rather than digital, making it a lot easier to adjust speeds for different situations. That's something that needs to be fixed, at least.

Just as long as when they're doing it, they don't restrict certain keyboard shortcuts on the PC version (a la Call of Duty 4 or BioShock, whose control systems seemed oversimplistic for somebody used to playing PC exclusives), or "dumb down" the editor on the PC version, a version of ArmA 2 on the PS3/Xbox 360 could be a good idea. Let's see: The main problem with porting a full-scale FPS game from the PC to a console has always been the lack of control buttons on the joypads. My problems would lie with trying to adapt the orders system from OFP/ArmA to the joypads - how do you select different units? I'm sure OFP: Elite figured this one out, but I haven't played Elite, so I don't know how that one works out. I know that consoles can strictly use keyboard and mouse, but I doubt that many gamers are going to want to have to try to find one of those sets. Voice controls would be an interesting, if difficult-to-implement way of ordering units around - I remember a PC application called Game Commander which offered this sort of capability, but I wouldn't hold my breath about feasibility, especially since there are going to be so many diverse accents to account for. I'd love to take on the console gamers with my keyboard and mouse combination - and see how quickly I wipe the floor with them! Crysis is very much a PC exclusive - I would believe it to be too stressful for even the PS3 at high specifications, judging by the way it gives 8800 and 9800 GeForce cards a hard time.

Awesome map set. I'm glad to see these back in ArmA so soon - the forests of the CWC islands and the cities of Nogova really add a lot of strategy. This bodes well for the ACE team. I'd like to see the doors and ladders of buildings working again, and the airfields to be concreted, but all in good time, I suppose.

Looking good, ACE team! I loved WGL (can't play Flashpoint without it now), and I'm really looking forward to more realistic gameplay inside the ArmA engine. Once this is complete (and I hope by that time that I diagnose my bug problems so I can enjoy it to the same extent as WGL), I'll be transferring my wargaming to ArmA.

I'm very pleased with this addon, especially with the advent of the keyboard versions (I prefer the feel of them even with the joystick). I haven't yet tested the weapons customisation, but nice work anyway.

About the whole "not being able to use the fighters to their full potential" point, yes, that much is largely true on Sahrani, but isn't it possible to produce much larger maps using the Real Virtuality engine and include them in ArmA? I know it's a real pain to make these maps (2,500km^2, which would be possibly the biggest reasonable map of land would be a nuisance to fill), but they'd be a lot more appropriate for flying such aircraft.