tpw

I agree. My Armamark went from 2100 to 2350 after applying the oktane v2 patch. And, the depth of field effect is back. Well done!

The simple act of being able to look around, not in the direction of travel, and see ones own virtual body in Arma2 is just so compelling and realistic, and probably one of the things I like best about this game. It's really starting to grate when I switch back to various other FPSs only to find that my gun magically follows my eyes at all times, and/or I'm a disembodied head on a stick with no shadow. The only other game I've played recently that comes anywhere close to the Arma2 freelook is Mirror's Edge (a very stylish and interesting game in my opinion) - I wonder why more FPSs don't incorporate this game mechanic?

Hey, nice to have started a Mirror's Edge love fest :) The game may have had a few shortcomings (literally - it's too short), but it definitely had some innovative and exhilarating gameplay, a very stylish design, and great music and atmosphere. Maybe someone can port Faith over to Arma2...

Hi Oktane Your modification definitely removes the annoying blur, but I notice it also kills the depth of field effect (which I like).

I think so. Bummer hey?!

I'm pretty sure your steam game "licences" are non transferrable. I think it's part of the reason publishers love them as it prevents 2nd hand games sales, which they can't dip their greedy hands into.

I'm in 2 minds about steam. It's pretty much worked flawlessly for me for a couple of years. I don't play any of my steam authenticated games online so I usually just start it in offline mode and there's no drama. It's got a nice front end to download games and content, usually for cheaper than retail. And while none of us are happy about the various annoying anti-piracy DRM measures that just inconvenience us as legitimate users whilst causing the pirates zero hassles, steam is probably one of the least worst... On the other hand, I do get a bit uneasy about having so many of my gaming eggs in one basket. It does aggravate me to buy a physical copy of a game only to get home and find out that I need bloody online access to steam to make it work. If steam servers go temporarily belly up, then as you say it can be a pain in the arse to wait. If someone hacks my account or steam decides that there's something dodgy going on, then the onus is on me and not them to prove otherwise to regain access to my games (and this kind of thing has happened to others many times). Worst of all, if steam itself goes belly up, then I'm potentially in a world of shit, with no access to many hundreds of dollars of games I've paid for in good faith. My real gripe is that steam is basically at the leading edge of the concept that you don't actually "own" the software you pay for, which personally I have a problem with.

Hi all. I've searched the FAQs and can't find an answer, so sorry if this is a dumb question. I just can't get random civilians/vehicles/animals spawning using the appropriate modules on user maps such as Japahto or Panthera. They spawn just fine on Chernarus/Utes. Is there something I should be doing? It gets pretty lonely running around completely deserted islands :)

Arma 2 - great software, great developers, great community. They all deserve kudos and it's nice to see people periodically praise them. I second tractorking too, it's perfectly possible to enjoy more than one game, they all have their merits.

No, I'm getting noticeable performance boost on XP32 too.

I had a problem where my dodgy wifi dropped out just as the install via steam was getting started. When I restored it and tried to install again, steam tried to download the whole thing. I had to uninstall to remove all local cached stuff, and then it installed again from the DVD no problems.

Some really interesting discussions here. plot issues aside, my take on the value for money thing is this: - All retail PC games are overpriced in Australia, with most new titles in the A$80-$100 range. MW2 and Arma2 both cost me $100. Arma2 does offer unusually high value for money in whatever mode you care to play it. - Most FPS single player campaigns are in the 6-10 hr range nowadays. Games running much longer than this tend to become repetitive (eg Far Cry 2). I'm shit at games, so in reality a 6 hr campaign takes me a hell of a lot longer :) - Given that I'm looking at $10/hr of gameplay, then I'd prefer if the campaign was memorable in some way - innovative / intense / exhilarating / interesting plot / interesting twists / graphically envelope pushing / great design etc. The games I've enjoyed the most recently have definitely been memorable in some way (eg Mirror's Edge, Crysis Warhead, Dead Space, MW2, ). Others have cost me the same and I've found them pretty forgettable (eg Fear 2, OFP:DR) I like to compare computer games to books (my other main hobby). The average new book costs me $35 and is finished in a few hours of solid reading. Good books I'll go back and reread, the same as good computer games. Arma 2 is like a whole bloody library. MW2 was a very exhilarating and enjoyable few hours and I'll definitely revisit it.

Thanks mate. I'm having a bit of trouble finding documentation for all of the SLX PBOs, so sorry for asking stupid questions.

I installed the SLX stuff yesterday, and it's a very impressive set of changes to Arma2, thanks Solus. One bug I've noticed is that I can't look through binoculars as they seem to get raised to my cheeks instead of my eyes. Basically I get a close up view of the top of the binoculars instead of through the lenses.

The latest couple of betas have been a pretty noticeable improvement (fps and/or smoothness) for me and quite a few others, so I'm pretty sure 1.05 will result in an overall performance improvement. Maybe not a 100% boost, although a man can dream...

If I could have helped you I would have said something :p Seriously though, I sucked at the campaign and could only get through it using one of the walkthroughs. Try one of those threads.

I've installed Vopsound and really love it. I spend most of my time patrolling around on foot, and the footfall noises are so much more realistic. The various bullet cracks actually make me flinch (in a good way :) ) My only observation, and it might not be Vopsound related, is that if I'm in a chopper, I can hear a bird chirping in the cockpit with me, even if flying at 500m. I'm pretty sure he didn't climb in with me... Anyone else experienced this? Apart from this slight glitch, it's an essential mod, thanks!

You'll generally get higher FPS in armory or editor mode than campaign mode, because they have far fewer CPU intensive 3D models, scripts and AI events running. I can get 40-50fps on an empty Utes, and 25fps in one of the Utes marines scenarios.

Well, I know they made Aus$100 from me (well probably 50c or so after the shop, distributor, tax office etc had their cut :) ). Considering that the hours_of_enjoyment/$ ratio of Arma2 is probably higher than the vast majority of games currently being sold, I think BIS deserve a decent profit from the game.

The beta patches are a massive improvement already - I can't go back to playing with 1.04. I think a few more weeks will be worth the wait.

Hi Magenta Your box is not that differently specced to mine (E6750/8800GT) and I got decent enough framerates at 1440x900 (~25-35fps, but obviously nowhere near what I get for most of my other games) after fiddling around with it a bit. The real killers for me are AA (I use none) and Terrain/Object detail (I use normal for both). Nearly everything else is on very high. For our computers, the game seems to be mostly CPU limited. The trouble is, you can read any number of posts on this forum from people with higher spec computers (i7/GTX285) who still suffer from poor frame rates, and you might turn out to be one of those unlucky ones. The other common complaint is stuttering, no matter what the frame rate. There are a number of posts showing it being due to the almost constant hard drive access Arma2 uses to stream textures. Many people have reported elimination of this problem by installing > 8Gb RAM, creating a RAMdisk, and running Arma2 from there. The much smoother performance makes it seem like the frame rate is higher. My advice before you run out and buy a new box or RAM is to read these forums for various performance tweaks, and try out the latest beta patches (or wait for patch 1.05 in a few weeks), which certainly run a fair bit better for me. Good luck!

I'd be all over a native linux port like a cheap suit, not so sure about wine. I've got a few games to run under wine, usually the Open GL based ones (eg Doom 3 and variants) do OK, the DX ones (eg Half Life 2) suffer a bit. I'm happy (I use that term advisedly) to get 25-30fps running Arma2 under XP, but 10fps under wine would be unbearable.

Hi all. I just thought I’d say gday and pass on a few of my comments about this amazing game. You've probably heard them all before but I just need to vent some of my enthusiasm :) (mods, please move this to where you think is appropriate) I‘m a fan of PC FPS and open world/sandbox FPS games (esp Crysis, Far Cry 2) in particular, and like many people was intrigued by the concept of OFP DR and its promise of a massive open world, graphical fidelity and gameplay realism. Several weeks ago I ordered it on Steam and while waiting for it to download I started reading various threads on various forums which showed it deviating radically from the initial promises, and which tended to compare it unfavourably to a game I’d never heard about before - Arma 2. Out of curiosity I clicked a few links and ended up here on this forum, and after reading a bit and looking at a few pix and videos was so impressed that I went straight out and bought it. Having no real preconceptions I just started playing both games, and in the 3 weeks since I’ve probably racked up a sum total of about 2 hours on OFP DR (unlikely to increase much further) and at least 100 hours on Arma 2. Basically, I’m completely hooked. Not really being interested in MP, I’ve played most of the way through the SP campaign, and spent a lot of time playing around in the editor and trying out various mods and performance tweaks. The (long) single sentence summary of Arma 2 for me so far: an incredibly ambitious, immersive, intelligent and flexible game, far more realistic than anything I’ve ever played before, graphically and sonically stunning, and with amazing developer and community support to fully realise its potential and ensure its longevity. But also, as noted by just about everyone here: I find Arma 2 somewhat buggy and unoptimised, and compromised by framerate and texture issues and substandard voice acting which detracts from the immersion. Some of the issues are addressable/being addressed by BIS, some by the community, none of them will stop me from enjoying the freedom of having my own world to play in. Although it’s a milsim, I get just as much of a buzz using the editor and just going bushwalking, driving or flying in an empty Chernarus, admiring the beautiful scenery and the obvious artistry and skill that went into crafting and coding it. I’ve only ever used the 1.04 version and haven’t encountered a lot of the earlier frustrations regarding AI, logic, mouse, stability etc. I think there’s a lot to look forward to in this game: further patches from BIS to improve performance and gameplay; checking out more mods and user missions; developing skills in the game and the editor; maybe taking the plunge online; and hopefully having something useful to contribute to this forum. My wife will NOT thank BIS. PS My system P5K/E6750/8800GT/2Gb/WinXP32. Getting 30-35fps at 1440x900, 2000m view distance, most settings very high except for no AA.

Thanks for the online tips Mandrake5 and others. I'm pretty sure that eventually I'll do a bit of online co-op stuff, but not until I can play well enough to not look like a twat. And given that I spend a lot of time just messing around in the editor rather than actually fighting, that could take a while :)

Great great work Wiper. When I'm not in the editor, this is the SP mission I play.