alan8325

Hello, I am new to this forum and have done searches on modding possibilities for this game but have been unsuccessful in finding what i'm looking for. It appears as though aircraft flight models will not be simulation level in realism, and it's obvious that developing realistic models for all of them would take years of additional development time, so I was wondering if it's possible for 3rd parties to mod in realistic flight models and cockpits with all working instruments. Just a few devoted groups could have some of that work completed in no time after release, even if it's just for a few of the aircraft. Also, what about component-based damage in vehicles, besides the damagable wheels already mentioned? Will vehicle damage be based on penetration vs. no penetration, or will it be hit-point based (i.e. enough hits from small munitions will make Abrams eventually blow up)? If it's hit-points, can it be changed to a more realistic model by a 3rd party? For example some areas of vehicles are more armored than others and ONLY penetrations have the potential to cause damage. Then, damage would be to individual components, not a global health bar. Larger HEAT warheads and faster/harder KE penetrators would have a greater chance of penetrating than smaller warheads or slower/softer KE. Rather than the vehicle being either "dead" or "alive" the decision to bail out would be realistically based on whether enough components are operable to continue and the vehicle is not on fire. I've read that VBS2 can have additional features added by 3rd parties to improve its capabilities in simulating specific tasks, but how moddable will ArmA2 be in this respect? I'm assuming VBS2's large price tag is because of its customizability and ArmA2 won't quite go there. :( How moddable was ArmA? Could anything described above be done? I apologize if this should have gone at the end of a 10-page-long thread. :D

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=5694 This quote from the 505 press event seems to indicate that the "infinite-land" at this point is just whatever land contour exists at the map edge extended out to infinity with no textures, possibly with some random forests scattered on there. I don't know how they plan on making it a random landscape, but maybe the terrain elevation can follow some formula that creates a random-height hill every few hundred meters in each direction or something. The same output for the random heights and locations for hills would have to be the same for all people playing though. A more simple, non-random solution which I would be content with, would be to mirror a portion of the actual South Zagoria playable area into the "out-of-bounds" area. For example if you are approaching the border and you come across hills A, B, and then half of C, as hill C is cut by the border, then on the other side you see the same half of C mirrored, then B, then A.

Ah, got it. That makes much more sense now. Looks like the F-35B correction is going to be one of the first mods out. Looks good so far!

Why would ArmA 2 not look that great based on this review if I haven't played ArmA? I usually play more military sims like the Combat Mission series and flight sims than FPS's, so I'd be more likely to compare it to those games than mainstream FPS's like Battlefield or CoD. I didn't even look into ArmA until I read about ArmA 2. There must have not been much marketing or hype. Hopefully I'll be in for a good surprise with ArmA 2. :)

That's actually a pretty good idea. I'd like to see a mod where your in-game team has an AI-controlled camera man following and taking 'shaky-cam' video of points of interest, such as aircraft flyovers and firefights, and taking cover when the bullets start flying. It would look similar to the shaky cam in the faction trailers for the Arma2 factions but would be done dynamically by an AI camera man rather than scripted camera movements. Once the scenario is over you could watch the video for a cinematic perspective. Dunno how this would be done or if it even can, but it would be a nice ability to mod in.

I don't mind if the air-to-air options are limited as long as the capabilities of weapons and equipment provided are done realistically. I'd rather have only two types of air-to-air missiles, such as AIM-9 and AA-11, and only ground attack-type aircraft, but everything done to the highest degree of realism possible, than many aircraft and weapon options but everything done with more simplicity. If some part of the game is secondary in priority, like aircraft for example, reduce the effort required for development by reducing options available but keep the realism. Don't reduce the complexity and realism just to be able to include more aircraft and weapons. More options can always be added by modders later. Probably in the minority here but that's my .02.

How is the faction "reputation" going to work in this game? There presumably will be some dynamic way of increasing or decreasing faction favorability with the Marines (assuming you are playing as them as in the campaign). For example, kill members of ChDKZ and NAPA becomes friendlier to you as a result. Also, maybe civilians are allied with different factions depending on what town you are in and any civilian casualties you inflict will lessen reputation with that faction (other than the civilian faction). An easier, albiet somewhat less interesting way to program faction alliances is to simply tie them to missions where doing a mission for one increases repution while decreasing it for a rival, but it would be nice if it was more dynamic than mission-based alone.

Anymore news on how terrain can be modified in ArmA2? Can we have trenches and foxholes as buildable fortifications?

This actually doesn't bother me that much if FLIR can at least be modded in. With VBS2 being the military's counterpart to ArmA2, I would think FLIR would be essential to their simulations so I'd be surprised if the engine for some reason doesn't allow it. Are different ammunition types supported for the same weapon? For example HE-I and APDS rounds for the 25mm Bushmaster, switched with the weapon's dual feed.

I was wondering the same things myself. FLIR is essential for even semi-realistic aircraft use, for spotting warm people and vehicles against a cold background. Also, it is required to have the Javelin system function correctly, as the infrared signature captured by the CLU is what is uploaded to the missile for guidance. How did the Javelin work in ArmA1, because as I understand there was no IR in that game either?

Anyone know if this engine supports door-mounted machineguns (w/gunner) in helicopters? I haven't played ArmA or OFP.

Can windows in vehicles at least be shot through to kill occupants, or does a hit to the window just deduct hit points from the whole vehicle? Thanks for the info.