blackdog~

Completely accurate information based on all of the things I've ever posted. Thank you. ---------- Post added at 07:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:28 AM ---------- I played Operation Flashpoint for several years beginning in 2002. Before playing OFP I had played and enjoyed games such as Goldeneye 007 (N64/FPS)' date=' Perfect Dark (N64/FPS), Half-Life (PC/FPS), Counter-Strike (PC/FPS), Battlezone (PC/FPS/RTS), and Battlezone II (PC/FPS/RTS). Of all those games, I had really enjoyed the Battlezone series the most. The combination of command strategy and first person shooter elements were truly fantastic and even though the AI was terrible I could play BZ1 or BZ2 for HOURS on end without getting bored or frustrated enough to stop playing. Then, enter Operation Flashpoint: I don't even know why I picked up OFP off the store shelf back then - I think that it was the cool name and box cover -- no joke -- but little did I know that it would dominate the next 4+ years of my life as I became an active member of the small but tight-knit community. I wasn't around early on so I can't say too much about the condition of OFP's release... but what I do know is that when I started playing, there was literally no way (in my mind) to make Operation Flashpoint more awesome. It had everything that anyone could have wanted. Planes, helicopters, tanks, boats, cars, infantry, large open landscapes. Great performance for me was 12fps – but that was on a 500mhz Duron with a Voodoo 3 graphics card. That didn’t lessen the experience any though. I played regularly on a public capture and hold server full of public players. My ping wasn’t too horrible and neither was anyone else’s – it was a US server with US players, and some Europeans mixed in. I played regularly – every night, for hours, on a packed server. [u']Now, stuff that I have to say:[/u] I think that the 1.30 update was a revelation for a lot of people. BIS was kind enough to add a BRDM, BMP2, M2A2, and a few other little things to the arsenal. It was like: holy shit, you mean you guys can add more vehicles this “easilyâ€?! Pretty soon I started downloading addons – back when the only thing people could do was retexture stuff, since none of the SDK was released to the public. And I joined the BIS forums. I remember when Eviscerator modified the UH-60 to look like a Huey – everyone was like: holy shit, this is AWESOME. We want MORE! After some time, BIS released SDK tools to a limited group of people, and after some more time, they released it to everyone. A lot of fantastic addons were made by a lot of people. However, between OFP, ArmA, and ArmA2, stand-alone addons have never been successful in multiplayer games – which is – in my opinion – despite the often-times horrendous net code – the only game mode worth playing in BIS’ games. I tried to organize an addon server through the forums and this failed – not because people don’t want to play with addons, but because of a combination of reasons: * There are very few multiplayer missions made. Of the few that are made, even fewer are made that incorporate standalone addons because it introduces dependencies and other problems. Often times, especially in the 1.75+ era, addons had a boatload of scripting attached that would often times break in multiplayer. * Addons are big. No one wants to download addons. People on these forums didn’t even want to have to download addons. Everyone was starting to micro manage their addon folders back then and it would take 30 minutes just to figure out which mod folders were needed to run a mission. For the average player, it’s even worse. It cannot be expected of the average gamer to be able to do what all of us here on the BIS forums deem as routine work and maintenance in terms of addons. * In 1.75+ era Flashpoint, mods that modified the HUD, particle effects, movement, etc began to come out. This fad has continued through ArmA and ArmA2. I have no problem with this kind of thing in single player, but in multiplayer it has no place. Sound mods, texture mods, vehicle and infantry and weapon replacements all introduce unfair advantages. This coupled with additional features added through scripting, in my mind, is cheating. In fact, this methodology has been used by cheaters in OFP, ArmA, and ArmA2 to ruin multiplayer games for a LONG time. And yet still, virtually has nothing has changed from the server admin's perspective. It is still as archaic as OFP 1.46 to admin an ArmA2 server. We wanted more functionality. We needed additional features. But we got nothing. Now, what BIS should have done and should be doing: A larger array of vehicles and units and weapons should have been included thus reducing the need for so many addons to fill gaps. The playing field should have been at LEAST leveled, giving each vehicle on each side a comparable adversary. I am a stickler for realism, but you know what, real life war isn’t fun. Technologies of today may not be equal in terms of our opponents in guerilla warfare, but until BIS improves on close-quarters AI and on other things, there is very little point in having asymmetrical warfare in a video game like this. The islands of Malden, Everon, Kolgujev, Desert Island, Nogova, and Sahrani should have all been ported and improved to ArmA2 standards and included by default. Scripting commands from OFP and ArmA1 should have been made backwards compatible to ArmA2. Classnames should have been backwards compatible. People complain about Evolution, Domination, and AAS being the only game types played in multiplayer. If BIS had ported the islands and everything, we’d have 10,000 missions to play instead of just 10! “Oh, but that’s so much work!†You know what? Most of the people I’ve talked to who played OFP and ArmA1 don’t have very many good things to say about “Chernarusâ€. BIS could have scrapped Chernarus and just ported the old islands instead more successfully. “But that’s kind of unorthodox, and out of the ordinary, and strange!†Well you know what, with the way BIS is doing things now, doing this would fit right in! I’ve already been thinking and typing about this stuff for 30 minutes, and I had to leave an hour ago. There are so many other things intertwined with what I wrote above that I feel as though I've made an incomplete or invald argument. Maybe I’ll write more. Maybe not. Because who even cares?

In Operation Flashpoint circa 2002-2003 I could jump on a full public C&H server at almost any time of the day and have a hell of a good time. This was without JIP mind you -- I can only imagine how many more players there would have been if we didn't have to wait 30 minutes between games that already started. Those were the days. Good times. I played ArmA2 for about a month, and haven't played it since. I could ramble about why and how I believe that ArmA2 has turned out to be a total failure in terms of multiplayer enjoyability, but at this stage, what is the point?

In ArmA1 I liked the MH-6. In ArmA2 I like the V-22. It's a challenge.

Haven't played it for more than 5 minutes in the past 2-3 months. Like other posters have said, it's too much work and not enough reward. I've been playing 8+ year old games instead....

Again, CH47 Chinook ≠CH46 Sea Knight. -------------------------------------------------------------- Somewhat on-topic rant: Striking a balance between BLUFOR and OPFOR sides does not seem to have been a priority in ArmA/ArmA2. This is really a shame because I feel that this a big reason why people are only interested in co-op multiplayer scenarios these days rather than PvP (which was pretty popular in OFP). You can all say and pretend that "addon makers will fix it" but you know what - I've been playing BI games for quite some time now, and while I respect the work that addon makers do, I have come to realize that the MAJORITY of people playing multiplayer are uninterested, overwhelmed, or too short on time to mess with addons. They just want to play a game for an hour or two without having to waste hours downloading addons that are not standardized, or not worth even having in the whole scheme of things - like road signs or something similarly silly. More vehicles and equipment and weapons need to come as default content, or should be offered as OFFICIAL downloadable content in patches. In Operation Flashpoint, most WEST vehicles or weapon had an EAST adversary featuring VERY similar armaments and handling characteristics (with the exception of a few). So, one could create a PvP mission with an M2A2, HMMWV, Jeep, 5 Ton, Disarmed UH60, M1A1, Vulcan and M60 for the WEST side and counterbalance teams perfectly with a BMP2, BRDM, UAZ, Ural, Disarmed Mi17, T80, Shilka, and T72. Life was grand. This is what made CTI in OFP so great - it was a fair fight. The few vehicles that were not PvP friendly were just left out with no real loss in the fun. In Armed Assault, the vehicle selection was even smaller than in OFP. WEST vehicles/weapons had to be counterbalanced with both RESISTANCE and EAST vehicles, with holes still left to fill. You had to counter M1A1's with T72's for christ's sake - this was a JOKE. In Armed Assault 2, there is a greater focus on realism which is nice. but the WEST side still reigns in terms of equipment and weapons. Oh, how nice it would be to have an Mi-2 to counter the UH-1, and a CH-53 to counter the Mi-8, yadda yadda yadda. I don't feel like typing anymore. This is just one game-breaker out of so, so many for me. With the stubborn attitudes that so many people on this forum have I doubt that this will change any minds or provoke any thought anyway. I can only hope that some of the things I've mentioned have been fixed or added in Arrowhead, so I can start playing the game that I love so much again...

CH47 Chinook ≠CH46 Sea Knight As for why they did not include this or a CH53 by default in the game... well, I guess it would just make too much sense to have a comparable adversary (in terms of armament and agility) for the non-rocket-armed Mi-8's. As for why they did not include an Mi-2 as a comparable adversary to the UH-1, once again, I guess it would have made too much sense. It's a shame really.

I don't get shot down by AA often either, because I'm able to avoid it most of the time - but sometimes, it's just impossible - take random-spawning KA52's in Evolution for example... I think I managed to dodge a missile from one of those things ONCE. And that was some crazy shit too. As for passengers complaining, I ignore them and just get them as close to the AO without endangering myself, them, or the helicopter. I used to fly dedicated helicopter transport in Evolution, and rarely had complaints. As the AA threats dissipated I would deliver people closer and closer to the primary objectives as well. People would wait for me to return in my helicopter rather than risking near certain death in someone else's helicopter a lot of the time. The people who complain can get their own helicopter and learn the hard way.

I run ArmA2 with these parameters on FireDaemon, -name=server -config=server.cfg -cfg=arma2.cfg -profiles=profiles -port=2302 -netlog If you you don't have a profile set up, server.cfg set up, or arma2.cfg set up, you need to see this thread: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=74957

I use a joystick personally, an X52. Anyone who wants to fly well I would suggest binding the following commands to your flight stick: zoom in, zoom out, fire, bind twist to rudder left/right, third person, GPS, cycle through weapons, auto-hover (for VTOL). Bind a key that you can't hit accidently to "eject" - even the best of chopper pilots need this, especially with the ridiculous AA in ArmA2... Then you fly like this: -- seems slow now but most of the video is full speed.Oh wait, you can't. Becaues ArmA2 doesn't have Littlebirds .:butbut:...

Yes, you do have to bind it yourself. On my X52 (RIP) I had the following commands within easy reach on the joystick: zoom in, zoom out, third person, GPS, fire, cycle through weapons, one to auto-hover (for VTOL aircraft - never helicopters other than the Osprey), and I bound the twist to rudder controls, If you plan on flying a lot, I would suggest that you don't twist the stick too hard... my X52 started to wig out with my rudder towards the end of its' life, making it a little difficult to fly quick through tight spaces (constant fear of inching left or right just a little bit)... I still need to get a new one. Edit: Also, bind a button (make sure it's not too easy to accidently hit) to eject. Good for when you have to get out of the bird fast.

You guys sure are a friendly bunch of people. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

http://dev-heaven.net/issues/show/1607 Also, you could use Fraps instead. http://www.fraps.com

Had my hopes up but after seeing this vehicle trailer it's looking just like BF2 with only slightly better graphics. Same vehicles and everything. Not even accurate ones for the US side. Such a shame. Oh well.

It might be because you're slowing time down too much by setting "setAccTime" to .003 - set it higher, to something like .01, and see if it works then.

Use this - requires no addons in multiplayer and you don't have to edit the sqm file. http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=5934