TheHarvesteR

I don't know abour RPGs... but you could give 'em Stingers... That would have a higher chance of working... The AI is kind of unpredictable... there's no telling what it'll do EXACTLY... so it's a little difficult to script precise dramatic moments in cutscenes... but with a little patience and careful tweaking, I think it will work just fine Cheers

ArmA 1 did have FF... I remember playing with my old (and incredibly tough) MS Sidewinder FFB... there was vibration when the heli rotors started spinning, and the stick shook when you drove over dirt... Now I use a Saitek X52 Pro, which doesn't have FFB, but is an infinitely better flight stick in all other aspects... so the lack of FFB doesn't really bother me much, and I switched to the X52 during ArmA1, so I don't really know if A2 has FFB or not... I was looking forward to the release of the Saitek X65F, which apparently is NOT an FFB stick, as most people were expecting... instead, Saitek decided to build a force sensing stick, which is a stick that DOES NOT MOVE... it responds to pressure you exert on the handle, which is something no one wanted, and really only applies for F16 sims... a terrible move on the part of Saitek... Now I'm waiting to see what the ThrustMaster HOTAS Warthog will look like... it's supposed to be a replica of the A-10 controls... and given that the A10 is my all time favorite airplane, and has split throttle IRL, it's really sounding very good... I just hope TM doesn't disappoint like Saitek did Cheers

You CAN map the throttle on your joystick backwards so it will feel like a heli collective... there's no neep for a reversal option because the way you map your control can define that already... the BIG problem for me is that helicopters don't respond to the analogue throttle (introduced in 1.04), and if you map both digital and analogue controls to the same axis (being that most people with joysticks will at best have a single axis for throttle), the digital one has priority and wins out over the new analogue (and much better) mode all this means that it is simply impossible to use the analogue throttle in planes and digital in helis without having to remap your controls every time you switch from one to the other. you either fly helis and planes on the oversimplified digital throttle, or you drop helis altogether but fly airplanes more realistically... you can't have both as of now... this issue has been reported in the ArmA Issue Tracker, so if you agree, please vote it up so it gets fixed more quickly (I didn't post the bug there, I'm only trying to pass it on) LOL this has been going on since the OFP days... not only the Mi-17, but many other planes and helicopters... I don't mind that their hands don't move with the sticks, but at least set them in a proper pose, no? Cheers

I think there are so many much more pressing issues right now concerning flight in ArmA2... as of now it is impossible to use the analogue throttle without having 2 joysticks because helicopters don't respond to it... this IMO is a much more important matter than whether or not the swashplate on the hind is animating correctly or not... Cheers

My gripe is with control input... for me the flight model itself could be quite ok if the control inputs were handled better... I've said this before in a number of other posts, but it cannot be stressed enough... helicopters MUST be able to use analogue throttle, or at least analogue throttle MUST have priority over the digital one... as of now, there's really no way to fly airplanes with the new analogue throttle and still fly helicopters without conflicting control bindings or having 2 joysticks... the helis don't respond to analogue throttle and if you map both controls to the same joystick axis, the digital one wins out in fixed-wing aircraft, and you're back where you started. IMO, BIS should bend every possible effort if it is at all possible to make the flight and vehicle simulation more realistic... A large part of the player base is in for the flying... I know I find it most fun... I just wish BIS would fix these little but immensely problematic issues Cheers

sorry to hijack, but this seems like the proper place for it: is it also possible to get an AI in the Venom's observer seat and have him use the laser designator? this would be awesome for MP missions where people just don't quite cooperate with lasing targets for us pilots and our LG bombs Cheers

My peripherals are as follows: Laser Optical Mouse from PerfectChoice (kinda generic brand but very good nevertheless) Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Keyboard (big brand, not so good keyboard) Saitek X52 Pro HOTAS Stick (how did I live without this before? ) Saitek Pro Flight Ridder Pedals (or this? ) Matrox's Triple Head 2 Go Analog Edition (will never go without one of these anymore) 3x LG 1952h LCD 19" screens (pretty decent screens) Cheers

The only reason why ArmA is not a direct sucessor of OFP (as in being called OFP 2) is because BIS lost the rights to the brand name (which remained property of Codemasters), so ArmA is in fact the real sucessor to OFP What CodeMasters did was to shamelessly plug into the fan base BIS had amassed with OFP and ArmA to release their 'competition' title whose only resemblance to the original OFP is it's name... but as of now no other game studio has even come close to developing something as uncompromisingly realistic and all-encompassing as the OFP/ArmA series Cheers

Ok, I came up with a "fix" for now... not an optimal solution, as you will soon realize, but it's the best it can get right now. bear in mind that I'm using a saitek X52 Pro, and my procedure is based on the capabilities of the SST profiling software from saitek and probably will only work for this stick. (if you have an X52, try it.) anyways, what I've done was this: I set up a profile for ArmA 2 in the SST (if you have a saitek stick, you probably have already done the same) then, using the mode switch on the stick, I set up mode 1 to be fixed wing / generic and mode 3 to be rotorcraft the fixed wing throttle setting is the deafult axis mapping, I didn't tweak that. the rotorcraft mode now, uses the throttle axis in bands mode, meaning you can define 'regions' in the axis travel that will give out programmable keypresses when the stick is on that position so, for rotorcraft (mode 3) throttle I defined 9 regions, evenly spaced throughout the throttle range. The middle one (center of travel) doing nothing... on the upper half I have bands for 1/4 up, half up, 3/4 up and full up, and likewise for the lower half. (up being the Q key and down being Z) so I setup an advanced command for each band... the advanced command lets you define a sequence of keys to be pressed and released, cyclic or not, and lets you time those keypresses. so I set delays for keypresses and key releases to get a variable intermitent keypress for each region. the delay defines how much time the key will remain pressed in relation to how much time it will remain unpressed... by doing this fast enough (5 times a second), it's possible to have something akin to a semi-pressed key. the key sequence loops once it finishes, so I only had to define a 2-key sequence. the delays for each region are as follows: full up :: fully repeating Q -- pressed 100% of the time 3/4 up :: Q down (.075), Q up (.025), Q down (.075), Q up (.025) -- pressed 75% of the time half up :: Q down (.05), Q up (.05), Q down (.05), Q up (.05) -- pressed 50% of the time 1/4 up :: Q down (.025), Q up (.075), Q down (.025), Q up (.75) -- pressed 25% of the time note that all delays will add up to .2 seconds... this is intentional... how much time it takes to complete the key sequence is immaterial, what matters is how much time the key is being held down, in relation to the full sequence time. the lower half of the range is the same, only using the Z key instead... what this causes is that you get a progressively higher amount of time with the key pressed, thus being able to emulate (to an extent) the behaviour of a joystick axis only using binary buttons. now when I enter a helicopter, I switch the stick to mode 3, and fly it using the throttle as normal... for fixed-wing, I just switch back to mode 1. (it's also necessary to switch back to mode 1 when leaving the helicopter, since these keys have other uses when on foot, and you don't want them being pressed all the time) as you can see, this is a major kludge, but it was the best solution I could find for this issue for now (and it only works if you have the means to sequence keypresses and define regions in axes, as the Saitek SST software allows) I hope this helps those using X52's Cheers

Nice!! I'm still on XP 64, and I must say it's working out pretty great for me too!! the only thing that keeps me from getting very high FPS is the triple head 2 go, which requires a screen resolution of 3840x1024... no video card is made to handle that load comfortably... but still, I get very decent performance nonetheless!! Cheers

I think having the game installed on 2 machines is not a problem in itself... if you only use one at a time... When you have both clients running together, that I think would constitute a breech of policy... and could quite likely trigger the copy protection well, that's what I would guess at least... ;) Cheers

I have mine set like this: trigger (first stage): none trigger (second stage): fire / command fire (this is so I don't fire accidentally) safe button (2): eject (flip up and press to eject, quite cool) A button: toggle weapons B button: zoom in (rarely used) C button: cycle targets pinkie switch: push-to-talk <-- this is extremely useful!! left toggle up/down: auto hover on/off <-- for when I have to read the map.. or pick up the phone ;) middle toggle up/down: flaps up/down right toggle up/down: gears up/down twist grip: look left/right (analogue) throttle: throttle (old) rotary 2: throttle (new analogue mode) <-- BIS really messed up here, so the new throttle is my 'taxi' throttle... but it's unusable for heli flying... E button: toggle GPS D button: Action throttle hat: WSAD keys redundancy mini mouse: mouse redundancy mini mouse button: free-look throttle mouse wheel: mouse wheel throttle mouse wheel click: toggle internal/external cam slider: zoom in/out (analogue) hat 1: POV hat 2 down: scoreboard hat 2 left: lights hat 2 right: night vision that's it I think... it's not a perfect layout... but it's a work in progress that's being always improved... I have the rudder pedals as well, so I left the twist grip to perform a menial task... remember sticks in real life don't twist ;) the X52 is a very complex stick, so don't expect to have a complete and greatly practical setup overnight... it takes time to identify which commands you use most frequently and how you set them is largely a matter of personal preference... anyways, I hope my little list helps... Cheers

Traditionally FSMs are made ONLY with script... using a 'switch' structure where each case in the switch is a state... as in : switch(state){ case 1: state 1 behaviour; check for conditions that lead to other states; break; case 2: same as above and so on and on.... break; } What BIS has done was create a graphical interface through which you can build your FSM in a more visual way... the scripting is still there, but the FSM editor lets you focus on the behaviours and frees you from worrying about the bureaucracies of doing the same thing with code alone... I didn't know about this editor... it's quite awesome!! that's why ArmA is the best game ever!! Cheers

24 and counting.... I'm now past the age where you look forward to your birthday.... Cheers

7:30am here (GMT - 3), and Steam is still too busy... everyone decided that tonight was the night to play through apparently :p Thankfully it's only that... I was kinda worried when I first saw the message... thought something had gone wrong with my setup Cheers EDIT: Still too busy... Argh... why did I buy the Steam version??

Hello, One thing I would like to suggest for an upcoming patch, is regarding the lights on vehicles... more specifically the panel lights on helicopters as it is, the panel lights in some vehicles will blind the NV goggles to a point where it's not possible to see out, which makes flying at night impossible... this is not completely unrealistic... but it becomes a problem since it's not possible to turn off the panel lights at night... the lights command (L key) does not affect the panel lights. The NV goggles adjust themselves automatically depending on lighting conditions, but the panel lights (especially in the Mi-8) will fool them into thinking there's more light than there really is, so all we see is pitch black outside, and the dials of the instruments in the cockpit. My suggestion then is to make the lights key affect the panel lights on all vehicles, to enable flying 'dark' with NV goggles on. Or, if possible, to add a 'Panel Lights' command so we can turn it on or off independently from the main lights. Cheers

Hmm, Gdtmodhdr could work... nice! it's more a workaraound than a fix, but it might just work Cheers

Yes, 2x"E" is lean right lock (unless you're on a vehicle, in which case it's fast forward) this evasive forward command is unmapped by default if I'm not mistaken Cheers

I think a missile warning system would be welcome on a few select aircraft, sich as the SU-34, F-35 or Cobra, and countermeasures really should be on top of the list of feature requests... currently, aside from preventing a launch, there is really little one can do to avoid being hit by AA... I'd like to think I have some hope of escaping the missiles, however remote... about the AA itself, I think it's fairly well implemented... the previous posters said it right... AA is meant to deny airspace, and it does... so it works. It's quite fun to coordinate anti AA missions to allow the aircraft to provide air cover when clearing a city in MP... and without AA, it would indeed turn quickly into BF :p Cheers

Well, Utes has a hell of a lot less objects in it too ;) the terrain mesh doesn't really affect performance that much as to warrant cutting it out... something like optimizing the grass texture would have a far larger effect in performance than cropping real estate. One thing I've been meaning to ask though, did anyone ever notice the huge deserted islands that surround Utes? they stretch far off the map, and seem to go on and on forever... Cheers

ArmA I had a patch released once that decreased the default FOV... apparently BIS felt that it was too wide before... ArmA II seems to have carried on the new, narrower FOV... at times it does feels a little claustrophobic... but also opening the FOV via the 2xMinus key may be too much, and there will be distortion around the edges... What I did has solved the problem for me, but it's admittedly impractical for anyone without a HOTAS stick... what I did was map one of the joystick axes to control FOV directly. THe result is that I have no fixed FOV anymore, and am able to set it as I like at any time... I've noticed that seeing the FOV as too narrow or too wide is mostly a matter of being used to one ir the other... today, I left my FOV wide open during the whole game, and actually didn't notice it... other times, the difference between fully open FOV and right-click zoom FOV seems too big and it annoys me a little... so I close up the FOV again... anyways, what I'm trying to say is that FOV is largely a matter of taste anyways, so set it as it makes you happiest... it's pointless to discuss what the optimal setting is ;) Cheers

When you browse the troubleshooting forum, it's easy to think that the game is broken beyond all repair... or that people complain too much, but you must keep in mind that not everyone is having every problem at once... most will suffer from one or two problems from the whole, but ALL will be posted at the forums... Bugs and crashes are common with PC games... PCs are rarely completely alike, and even then, at a software level, no two machines are the same... for a canned game, it is easier to force the game to keep stable... then again, most games are not as flexible as ArmA... I for one think BIS has done a remarkable job on the technical aspects, especially when one considers what is possible to do in this game. What people like the OP fail to realize is that ArmA, straight out of the box, is little more than a platform upon where the community will build. The default missions and even the campaign are but demos of what can be done in this platform. They are no standard upon which to judge the whole. Anyways, if one is so limited as to not appreciate the possibilities this game offers, he is probably better off playing mindless Battlefield anyway... ArmA has no mercy for those trying to wing it like in an FPS... but is immensely rewarding to those with enough patience to breathe and do some planning, and enough attention span to stick to your plan once you get into it... Basically, this is not an FPS, it's a military sim... if you were expecting to gun down enemies rambo style, go play something else. Cheers

Hi, something that i've been noticing and it's getting more and more annoying is the fact that AI gunners don't seem to respect my orders anymore... I usually fly attack helis on MP, and I always use an AI gunner with me... in ArmA I this technique worked perfectly... now it seems the gunners have a mind of their own... if the gunner wants to switch to the machinegun right when I'm in the middle of a dangerous missile run, he doesn't have any problems doing so... it's very annoying when I just get that missile lock, I press fire, and discover that my gunner switched to rockets when I wasn't looking... is this normal behaviour? or is the AI flawed in this aspect? Cheers

Thanks guys!!! This surely helps a lot!!! ArmA 2, IMO, is the best game around for triple monitors... It's not often that a game comes along offering full TH support... let alone with options :D most games work with triple head mostly because they just happen to, and not because of any intent on making them work... ArmA is the only series that actually shows some effort put in for us TH users! Big hands up to BIS on this respect!! One thing I would like to suggest though, is to put in a video option to set the geometry culling cone wider, since if you look to the far sides, you can see trees and building appearing and disappearing is plain sight (this should happen outside the viewable range, and does, if you have a normal monitor, which is not the case here ;) ) Cheers

The simple fact that analogue throttle does not affect rotocraft, added with the fact that the old AI-driven throttle overrides the analogue one, means that this whole effort in making direct throttle is a fail... the way it is, unless you have 2 joysticks, you need to remap your controls every time you want to switch from a heli to a plane!! this whole fix is a complete fail until they do something about it... I was really looking forward for this feature above anything else... now I¡m just disappointed... I've made the most out of it anyways... I mapped the analogue throttle to the thumb rotary switch on my X52... I use it as a taxiing throttle I really hope a fix comes along shortly Cheers