cjph

Had a few runs this morning and not yet completed, but enjoying so far. Nice one - thanks ! cj

The legend returns . . . Your work has given me a lot of enjoyment, so thanks for all your efforts. cj

I'm lucky (old ?) enough to have been able to purchase every game and expansion/DLC in the Arma series since OFP, and at times have had to consider the value of games versus other spending over the years. In the last two years I have probably spent less on BIS products than last weekend when I took my family to a cinema to watch an average film and have a meal, so I have probably got a hundred times more enjoyment in terms of time spent out of Arma3 than from one evening trip out. In fact, my only problem is finding free time to spend on the game and I usually end up just exploring the latest map release, scattering a few insurgent units around the main built up area and then go in and wipe them out. In answer to the OPs question, like many I don't think the DLC feels like a donation, more like ongoing support with some new stuff added, and still incredible value for the enjoyment I get from the game. cj

I've only just started exploring the island but can already see why it won - congratulations. cj

I second this - setting up some patrol missions in Sangin for a small British foot patrol, all the soldiers have the same un-scoped weapon and load out (unless I'm missing something) and I have been too lazy just yet to set up ammo crates and loadouts. I hate getting my ass handed me by insurgents with better kit - perhaps this sadly reflects real life more than we would like it to. I also noticed the weapons used by the insurgents (I am at work and can't ID the addon being used) tend to bounce around on the ground long after being dropped, though I think this is more likely a map/insurgent addon problem. Oh, and the squad leader/officer I select from the BAF options always has an American accent whereas the team have British ones, and there is no medic option in BAF. These are just quibbles though and I only wished I had the time and skill to help - your work on this is really appreciated m8 - I was fighting to regain the main base in Sangin for four hours last night (more a reflection of my Arma ability than anything else) so may have to resort to the Landrovers !. cj

Just downloaded and took a quick spin in Sangin in a jackal - epic so far, just epic. cj

Just wow. I wish I had half your talent. cj

Underground elements to maps - tunnels, underpasses, metros, car parks. More urban, enterable and destructable buildings (dams, office blocks, housing etc) in larger city maps, along with some form of random map generator. Not sure how intelligent the civilians are in the game but maybe simple people models with just the ability to walk, run about madly, cower/hide (where threatened) and die to limit the overhead on the CPU, which would be nice to have offloaded/distributed to another thread/core/system. cj

Might be a dumb question but I have an old Intel 6600 quad core at stock running Vista sitting on the shelf - would it make a suitable server machine for SP, ie use my current rig as a client and get any benefit of AI being run on the 6600 ? Am thinking of upgrading my graphics and so retiring the 7950 to the 6600 (overkill graphics for a server). cj

I want some bikini clad lady models to go with the resort ! It is looking awesome. Well done so far. cj

How about AA - Armaholics Anonymous. "My name is Dave, and I am an Armaholic. Its been three years since I had a fluid game of Arma MP . . . " cj

Hi I've seen this mentioned before but not found any instructions on how to achieve it or is the improvement is significant ? (ie do you simply run the dedicated server exe locally ?). cj

Good to see BI still keeps up their sense of humour ! cj

What sort of drive do you have the addons installed on (and also your system specs) ? If you have an HD the thing that comes to mind are defragging it as many mods with updates might get split pretty quickly. If that fails maybe you could look at an SSD, or even a RAMDisk if you have enough RAM. cj

Being a cheapskate I built a Freetrack unit (three IR LEDs soldered to a battery box and attached to my headset) a couple of years ago with Arma II with the intention of moving to a TrackIR if I liked it (there is a separate thread about a €10 freetrack build). I spent some time with the settings but found it awkward to use, but probably more down to my suffering a stiff neck and the extra weight and movement making it worse. In the end, I gave up and have purchased a cheap USB foot pedal with the intention of simply using it to control the freelook key. I've not used it in anger just yet. I am jealous of those who can get on with it as many users I have played with swear by them. cj

Obviously we will have to wait and see what features and facilities are included. I wonder if it will allow two players to go head to head after designing their own armies (maybe a third referee to change the landscape and send in weather), or even in SP/MP whether it is possible to craft evolving missions and scenarios which can be saved and replayed again, almost like mission creation. We'll know (more) in an hour or so. I personally would also like to see some content added, but I am greedy like that. cj

Thanks JJ - is there a guide/thread to setup a dedicated server ? cj

Excuse my ignorance on this (I'm not a server admin or deeply technical), but are any of these optimisations likely to be transferable to single player, or are they just server related ? Some of the people I know are lucky enough to have half decent old machines or parts around, and I wonder if there is a way of getting a performance boost using this hardware by setting up a local LAN, although I would imagine a full second license would be needed. Or am I just trying to invent an SP headless client ? Maybe thats a possible DLC - I would buy it. cj

9/10 for me. I would have started with a lower score, but the more I play it the more it felt like how OFP used to grab me, so am looking forward to the next installment. A few rough edges, but some potential for when you can't find an online game. I believe you never stop learning, so having some of the 'basics' gone over is never a bad thing. cj

Apologies for a dumb question, but does a headless client run on the same processor as the server, ie utilising an un-used core, or is a separate machine required ? Probably like many I have enough old half decent parts lying around to build a small machine which could offload the AI workload in SP games (assuming they are structured to use HC). I guess licensing is also a factor with a separate license for the game required for a separate machine ? The ideal situation would be the availability of a low/no cost headless client license running on a local second machine without a full UI, with the Arma server engine modified somehow so that a connected HC system would be automatically used for the AI calculations without having to customise the missions. I am not modernly technical, so am probably smoking the wrong stuff again . . . back to the bath with the national ladies volleyball team. :) . Thats never going to happen either. cj

Between battle days and Portland navy days South Dorset was the place in the 70s and 80s for military lovers ! Battle day always ended with the troops having to damp down the heathland fires cause by flares etc.. Happy days, watching combined arms assaults with Harriers hovering above the treetops overhead. Thinking about it the (long decommissioned) Portland naval base with the helicopter pads would make an awesome map. cj

I know the Bovington grounds and used to attend the 'Battle Days' there years ago. I take it you won't be creating Monkey World just across the road . . . Looks awesome btw. cj

I don't believe an SSD will increase your FPS on its own, as framerate is more a function of your GPU and CPU. An SSD will help reduce or even remove stuttering from the game, leading to a smoother experience. Also be aware there are several threads indicating that some people are suffering from low framerates in multiplayer games and various posts indicate this is happening to SSD and non-SSD users. I would not want you to spend money on an SSD and no gain in fps. I would suggest searching for someone with a similar system to yours and see if they have found a way to optimise performance (there are also threads on tweaking system settings and so on). cj

I use one of the commercial RAMDisk products available (DataRam I think) to run an 8Gb one which holds most of the Arma3 pbos in the Addons folder, with the rest of the game, mods and OS on a 250Gb Samsung 840 SSD. OS limitations mean I can't go over 8Gb though I do notice the difference when running from the RAMDisk, with very occasional slight stutters, usually when gunner in a helo and firing off bursts of rapid fire into towns. I use a startup command line to point to the RAMDisk (mod=G:\Addons from memory) and the RAMDisk software does give an option to same the image at shutdown and auto load it on startup. As mentioned above with this method you do have to track updates like patches to ensure they get applied. I have Win 7 Professional another 8Gb waiting to be installed to bump up the RAMDisk to 16Gb when I get around to it, though at the moment the setup does not suffer enough to need changing just yet. I should add this is all on SP, three monitors, most graphical settings high/very high and 3000/1500 VD. My experience in Arma2 was that an SSD was that after the patches and optimisations an SSD was sufficent for stutter free play (with the right CPU/GPU etc). cj

You'll be a popular squad member ! ef̱charistíes cj