ladlon

Ya, I play (pretty much exclusively) Cipher and the Flashpoint (both versions) mods... and often as a lone wolf (although sometimes with one or two AI teammates, just for a change once in a while). So, usually, I don't wrestle with that commanding issue. If you memorize the more common command sequence to their number sequences (ex. 1-4-2), then I imagine it could go a lot smoother than going through the physical menus. Still definitely not a deal breaker for me in any way. They get so much right, that it's really not terrible when things sometimes go wrong in a session. Ha! Funny you mention the Falcon4 manual, as it's sitting right behind me. Ya, those where the days, eh! I guess the lack of full documentation thing is becoming very common. Same thing seems to be happening in sports games. I recently got myself a cheap copy of Fifa9, and it practically has nothing in the manual. And even with the hints and tips scattered in the game interface itself, it still doesn't explain all things (and always assumes you know what all the various move/kick names... like 'ground cross'). Ah, well... I guess that's what Google and Wikipedia are for... :D

Actually, ya, I agree... The one 'gripe' I have with Arma is that the control scheme can sometimes lead to frustrating 'misunderstandings'. I completely understand (and appreciate) the open, modular system they have in place, and it makes sense for expandibility and compatibility, etc... But, that said, I certainly have had many experiences where I spend 5 minutes just trying to get (say) one of my crew in a vehical as a gunner, and another in the back... or have them move to a certain spot on the map. Always human error, to be fair, but nonetheless frustrating. It often becomes a frantic comedy of errors, where it's like 'NO! Wait! No, YOU stay there! YOU go over here! WAIT!!! What are you doing!?! NO! Don't get on that motorcycle! Will you please lie down so you won't get shot! HEY! Where are you going now! ARGH!!!!' (Again, please know that I love this game... probably my favorite of all time, and I'm not saying the game is 'broken'... just that sometimes the control system can 'motivate' human error..... (am I saying this carefully enough? hehehe). The context sensitive menus can sometimes be your worst enemy (...ex. you neglect to specify a team member before going through all the command trees, etc). Not that I have a solution... It's a ridiculous amount of commands that they have to address, so it's not like the 'screwed up something easy' by any means. The fact that the AI can generally navigate and act on the world as it is impresses me to no end. Playing with human teammates, it's all good, and it's a simple matter of you saying what you want, and the human understands (and makes natural assumptions, etc). When dealing with the computer AI, there's SO many details that have to be specified, that we take for granted. I don't imagine the interface will ever get a full overhaul, as (beyond being a lot of work) it would also mean throwing off all those who are used to the system for years. Even then, I'm not sure what would be a better system. It seems the best solution is for us humans to adapt to the software, instead of the other way around, as it's ultimately easier, I think! Anyway, that's just my 2 cents (plus tax and exchange rate) ---------- Post added at 11:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:28 AM ---------- Oh, one other thing... as far as 'accessablity' (in the sense of it being easy to learn), one sore spot with Arma has always seemed to be the 'lack' of a proper (complete) manual... which has puzzled many users. Granted, a complete manual for the game would probably be the size of a phone book! But, on the other hand, it's hillarious how there are STILL people out there who don't know how throwing a grenade or using a grenade launcher truly works in the sim! Even recently, when I asked about it, I found there's a lot of people saying, 'Ya, I still don't really know...'. It's an odd thing, the (apparent) lack of full documentation... but, something that we pretty much accepted, as it's a beast of a sim that keeps growing and evolving anyway. The experience of the game is well worth the researching and experimenting anyway!...

Looks fantastic, guys! I was pleasantly surprised to see Arma3 announced on this site today (...I haven't been here in quite a while). I'm still playing Arma2 all the time, and am praying that you never start leaning towards catering to the 'action' crowd. I like Arma because it is unscripted, open world, and realism based. I actually LIKE the fact that things aren't orchestrated so that there is never 'long moments of nothing happening'. To me, that is what makes Arma great, is the fact that it's all happening, real... A session CAN be me laying in the grass, with 'nothing happening' for a long time (...but, the beauty is that I don't KNOW whether anything will happen with each passing minute!). I truly appreciate the game that allows me to think, plan, consider, worry... as opposed to 'entertaining' me with continuous action so I 'don't get bored'. There is nothing 'boring' about lying under bush cover, worried that there may be enemies nearby that you haven't spotted yet! Keep up the excellent work and support, and I will continue supporting your product and applauding your efforts! Cheers!

I'd like to voice my opinion on this as well. I'm a HUGE Arma fan. I loved Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2, and still think they are great, too. But, I was turned off of Battlefield 3 due to the lack of bots. I kept looking at COD, but really dislike the frantic pace of it. No, for me, my favorite, by far is Arma (Arma2, Operation Arrowhead, etc). As some have stated, it IS the realism that is what makes it for me. The non-scripted, open world. The fact that things aren't choreographed (...as 'nice' as that looks, it sometimes makes things predictable, as you KNOW that it won't be quiet for too long, whereas with Arma, you truly don't know how things will be with each minute). Like others, I too actually enjoy hiding in the grass... worried about my next move... PLANNING things out, THINKING it through... CONSIDERING my options... Even the 'dull' moments are great, as they are really part of the experience... In Arma, 'dull' moments are often 'tense' moments. In fact, this is one of the reasons I don't think I would enjoy COD and similar titles, as there is no real stratagy, planning, thinking things through.... but, instead, seemingly just fast paced run and gun (which to me is dull, in long stretches). Certainly, there is a place for that sort of thing, and I'm by no means writing it off as 'bad'. I'm sure a lot of us still enjoy having a Rambo moment, or causing lots of explosions, or living out an 'action scene'. It's all good. BUT, I TRULY hope that Arma never begins catering to that, and strays from it's realism base, as it really is about the only game/sim that does cater to that. There are plenty of 'action' titles out there, so there really is no need for Arma to make the HUGE mistake of trying to please everyone (because you ultimately will end up pleasing no one). I think there are plenty of us 'realism' fans. I just noticed Arma3, and I can't tell you how excited I am about that! Looks fantastic, and I am 100% buying it when it becomes available... both because I totally love the series, and also because I want to support the development team, who not only create an amazing product (and one that just keeps giving and giving, with so much depth and features). I can't wait for Arma3, and will continue playing Arma2/OA for many years. No ill will to the original poster. I see the point you are making, but I strongly feel that Arma's strength is that it IS the (seemingly) only realism based military sim (and a great one at that), while there are plenty of other action based games out there to satisfy the 'other crowd'. Cheers!

There's a ton of user made missions which you can download, but also, I think what you may be after is something like Cipher, the Flashpoint series (ex. Flashpoint: Takistan) and Guerilla Warfare... which are all randomly generated missions, so infinite replay value. I play Cipher and the Flashpoint series exclusively, as I like randomness. They are both great. Cipher gives you a very specific mission, where a briefcase with secret documents is hidden in a randomly placed 'hot zone' (enemy area). You have to make your way over there (and it gets very dangerous as you enter the perimeter of the enemy zone), and then try and find where the briefcase is... upload the data, and then escape to an extraction zone. The Flashpoint series is a bit more broad, giving you a random, ongoing war zone overall. You can get missions to go to a random part of the map, if you want an objective, but otherwise, it's mostly just a battle and survive, which is cool too. This one has loads of options (game modes, game settings, etc), and when you die, you become a rabbit, and can (safely) observe the continuing battle, and spawn back into nearby units whenever you wish. Both are highly recommended (by me), if you want something that is dynamic/random. User made missions, obviously, will be less (or not) random, but will arguably be more focused and 'choreographed'. Hope that helps!

I had an old 'random mission' scenario in Arma2 that I created, involving the Secop module and ambient combat. I recently purchased the Combined Operations package (....you can't just get Operation Arrowhead on its own in Canada...), and opened the file up in there. Seeing that there are now some additional modules, I started tinkering. I added the Simple Support module to my session's map. First thing is, it connected to the Battlefield Clearance mod icon... Is that supposed to happen? Should it not link to my squad? Secondly, although it worked just fine when I previewed the scenario, what it seemed to also do is prevent me from responding to any Secop mission requests.. Normally, you have a Accept/Deny Secop menu in the Communications menu as a result of missions being radio'd in to you, but that has been now replaced with the Simple Support's menu. Is there anything I need to do to get these two to work together? (I'm all patched up to the latest versions of A2 and OA)

Hi, Tomsonb.... I'm still trying to get an answer on this: Sorry if this has been addressed already, but I was playing as a sniper in Flashpoint: Takistan, and inevitably ran out of ammo for the M107(?). The friendly vehicals did not carry the approriate ammo, and there were no working 'call support' features... so, I'm wondering how you re-arm as far as ammo (sniper).

Although it may sound really stupid initially (and to some, I guess, permanently!), I was thinking it would be great (stratigically) to have the map be able to be tilted a bit so you get a good sense of the elevation. Granted, a map is a map... and should be flat, and I totally respect that. If we are simulating a paper map, then, ya, for sure... it should be just as a real map. Also, yes, the elevation markings should be sufficient to indicate the elevation... to those who are comfortable reading real map elevation markings. So, this suggestion is just that... a 'throw this idea in the 'when we have tons of time and nothing better to do' pile' type of thing... more for people to really plan out their stratagies, as opposed to a simulation of a map. I agree, it is not something that real soldiers would have, and on that basis alone, it could be rightfully pooh-pooh'd, and that would be that... no arguement. As with all my suggestions, I'd want it to be OPTIONAL... as not everyone wants that obviously, and I'm not trying to push it on anyone. Just sayin'..... Starting a conversation... Enjoy shooting it down. :p

I know this has been said to death (and rightfully so), but I wanted to take a moment and express my own thanks and 'applause' to both the Arma2 team and all the makers of the mods I am currently using. Arma2 is really an incredible piece of work on its own, not only in the incredible feat that it accomplishes (for the most part!)... controlling what truly is chaos! The open world and complexity of the various elements boggles the mind, as far as how many things (that are normally taken for granted) have to be considered and coded... yet the team really managed it. The AI has been criticized by some, but personally, I've been impressed, for the most part. Sure, you get some WTF moments, but considering the complexity of the world and all the things each unit has to interact with (convincingly), it's amazing that it accomplishes so much already. The sim is incredible value, too... Even to this day, I 'discover' new parts of the sim I haven't explored yet. Just as an infantry simulator alone, it's impressive, but throw in the huge variety of vehicals (air, land, water), and it's even more impressive. Granted, it's not (for example) a full flight sim... but what IS there is immersive and entertaining. Flying a copter around the vast world alone is quite an experience... and I still remember my surprise and the 'wow' factor with each new vehical I discovered... 'What? You can fly an A-10?! Huh?! You can fly that BIG plane sitting there, too!?!' And then there's the Armoury, and how that even throws mini-missions at you... and lets you try even civilian vehicals, if you feel so inclined.... and have a nice drive through the country (which is so beautifully rendered, it's actually worth it!)...giving you even more options... and the multiplayer... and so on. Heck, it's also a rabbit simulator! Then, of course, all the mods... making the experience even more incredible. I've just installed a few, and played a session... complete with a TrackIR... and it's nothing short of stunning. The immersion is amazing... the tension, the battle around you... The people who immediately wrote Arma2 off as 'a boring lay in the grass' really didn't give it a chance. The amazing amount of wow moments are surprising, considering that this is not some pre-scripted piece of animation that the player walks through (...you know the games I'm talking about!). So, ya, it's been said many times before... and arguably schmaltzy.... but I really want to applaud the Arma2 team and the modders. It's great to see a game of solid quality, value and depth. ...now, I'll get back to asking about issues people already asked about 100 times before, and other annoying posts. Cheers!

I almost never tried Arma... I was always interested in it, but assumed it was too hard core for me. Not that I don't like hard core (quite the opposite, I love sims), but that I thought it was out of my league... that only skilled/knowledgable military type people would be able to comprehend and/or survive in it. So, I just admired it from afar. But, one day, I noticed the demo for Arma1, and figured 'why not?'.... At first, it was obviously intimidating, overwhelming, and killed me fairly quick... as expected. But, after a bit of trial, I was somewhat in control, and certainly was impressed. So, I bought Arma2 (which came out a few months after I tried the Arma1 demo), and I absolutely love it. It's a sim I play very often, and keep coming back to. The amount of content and variety (campaign, instant random missions, armoury, multiplayer, etc... plus the variety in the vehicals, locales, etc) are just staggering for the regular price you pay. Unlike seemingly so many games out there these days, this one actually seems to want you to have fun and do whatever you want to do, however you want to do it, and just keeps giving and giving (rather than being the usual linear, confined, do-it-our-way-or-forget-it frustrating crap I'm seeing now). Plus, the support actually seems to care about the quality of their product, and addresses it even AFTER you have paid for it. Don't see much of that these days... And it just keeps getting bigger and better... yet stays tight and solid quality.

That's actually true... I think a lot of people out there WOULD like Arma2 if they gave it an honest try. I know I've introduced a few people here to it, and they love it. Same with the TrackIR... They were skeptical at first, at best, thinking that it would be just a gimick with no real merrit... but were blown away by the experience it creates. I think too, that there are a lot of people who would like it if they give it a try that are on the OTHER end of the spectrum... instead of them thinking it's too boring or not arcade enough, many (like myself initially) may totally respect it, but feel it is 'out of their league'... that only a skilled 'military' type person would survive for more than a minute. I know I always had an interest in Arma, but just thought it was too hard core for me. Not that I don't like hard core, but that I wasn't skilled enough (or would be completely lost in all the info/techniques I assumed I would need to know). My first Arma experience, with the Arma1 demo, only a few years ago, was certainly intimidating... I felt much like a person would in a REAL military event... overwhelmed, awkward, lost, etc. But, very quickly, it went from a 'merciless insta-kill within a minute or so' type of thing, to 'still very dangerous, but I have a bit of a handle on what I am doing'. Now, after playing Arma2/OA for many months, it's far more 'easy' (in the sense of me understanding what is going on, being comfortable with the controls, etc). The danger is still there, but now I last for a very long time, and play long sessions often. It's interesting looking back at how intimidating and foreign it was initially, and now it's 'fun'. Kind of reminds me of how I felt using animation/3D modelling software for the first time vs how I am with it now. There's lots of reasons why it's not as popular... but, as mentioned, it's great to see that it is, nonetheless, extremely popular (within the group of people that know about it)! The support and community are impressively active and productive, and the longevity of the sim is unarguable. Definitely an impressive amount of content for the price of one game.

Hi. I've asked this before, but now that time has passed, and I've upgraded to Combined Operations (plus installing all the latest patches), I figured it might be justified to ask again... Based on what has already been added/improved in Combined Operations, what mods (at this point in time) are still highy recommended/necessary? I ask because some previously favorite mods may be obsolete, as they either have been added to the core program, or the core program improved/fixed what the mod was originally addressing. I'm currently running some of the basics like Zeus AI, LandTexture, Little Birds, Fast Rope, Saku Light FX, GL4, SLX, CSM2, and @wict (whatever the heck that is... I can't remember!). Haven't lept into ACE2 year, but will sometime. Any of these no longer relevant (with an up to date patched Combined Operations)? Anything better that would replace any of these? BTW, I'm not after unrealistic (or CPU killing) fx stuff, or silly things... Just mods that make things 'better' in a realistic way (ex. improve sound or visual fx quality, improve voices, add appropriate features, etc). Currently, frame rates are very nice. Graphics are super. Audio seems fine (although jets sound like they could have a bit more 'umph'...) I HAVE noticed an odd LOD(?) issue since patching up recently... Even though I seem to remember reading that LOD issues have been fixed in the last patches, I'm finding I have some trees that are virtually cubes until I approach... Maybe that's a data loading thing, and my drive needs defragging... Don't know... As usual, any feedback or opinions on any of these things is always welcome!

Okay everybody... We are no longer allowed to participate in this thread we've all been enjoying... It displeases NoRailgunner, and throws his universe out of balance.... hehehe... (Thanks to all those who 'spoonfed' me!) :rolleyes: See ya in the next thread, NoRailgunner! ;) (You know I'm messing with ya...)

Hello again, DMarkwick! Seeing a lot of you lately! For sure! Opinions will vary... But, I'm just getting an idea of what is popular, as well as opinions of mods. Getting some great info. Ya, at this point (after the most recent mod installs), I'm now more or less focusing on imporovments to the interface, I think... Looks like there's some mods for that out there, and some have already been suggested here. One issue that pops into mind that always drove me a bit nuts was that the squadmember icons on the map do not identify WHO it is... even just with the team member NUMBER, at least (referenced to the team portraits at the bottom HUD). So many times on the map, I'd be looking at a generic soldier icon, and be wondering who it was... If the guy is a specialist, and you only have one of that type, you can tell by the unique icon...otherwise, you (for example) choose a random team member number (while doing (say) a move order, and HOPE it's the guy you are looking at on the map! ...unless I'm missing something here! Just seems odd that there SEEMS to be no connection between the team pics on the main view vs the unit icons on the map view. I was always thinking that even a tool tip type thing (showing you the team member info) when you hover over a map unit icon would be great.

Hi, NoRailgunner... 'SUGGESTED mods for Combined Operations these days' ....because I'm asking what other people like, not asking info about each mod. :rolleyes: I HAVE been doing the searches, and checking new mods as well... I'm just seeing what poeple like these days... and what they feel of my list might be redundant or improved upon with other mods. If there would be, say, some sort of poll thread asking 'What's the best sound mod these days?', or 'What's the best fx mod?', etc... that would be part of what I'm after as well... but I couldn't find one, so I'm just asking here instead. Thanks for the link. I've been checking out that section. ---------- Post added at 07:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 PM ---------- Hi, SeaVee... Ya, those last four are new to me. They look pretty interesting! I'm going to give the Truemods a go, actually... Those look like something that might be of use to me too. JSRS and WarFX were really great recent additions to my mod list... plus, I'm also flushing out some of the older mods... like SLX... which only recently seemed to kick in (update thing?), reveal themselves, and make me want to uninstall them.

HA!!!! Too funny!!! One of my posts ended up in that Macadam Cow Arma video (above) as a quote!! Wow, I feel all imporant and stuff! Great vid! Really tells it like it is. That should be their official marketing video! I'm sold...again! And I already play it frequently!

I'm a huge fan of Arma2 myself! So much offered in one game/sim... looks great, and just continues to grow and improve. Just stunning, and incredibly immersive. I posted my praise in the 'Just wanted to say Thank You BIS!' thread... http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=90092&page=15

Hehe... Ya, I already saw the pics of heavy objects sitting on the key. Just saying it would be a nice addition to have a built-in toggle in one of the patch updates.

Not as 'luxury' as it sounds... Just a way to not have to hold down the W (or Q or E) key down as you are driving. Some way to toggle it 'on' so you don't have to keep pressing it through the whole drive. Not a biggie... but it would be a nice option.

Ya, I got rid of SLX recently (as I really disliked the constant screaming of injured guys, plus the frequent "F**K...", plus, after watching vids on what it does, I wasn't really keen on the gore effects (..sure, they are fun/cool, but it's not really my main focus in Arma2). GL4 I also installed quite a while back (along with SLX), but wasn't really sure if I was seeing any of its effects... The initialization text would appear (when I would start, say, a Cipher mission), but I was really not sure if it was truly working or not. I recently removed it, but reactivated it a few days ago (after installing JSRS and WarFX, as I was reading that people said it was worth having in, even with WarFX activated too). Right now, I'm definitely seeing/hearing a difference with JSRS and WarFX installed (explosions being quite big and dramatic, and sounds being more 'elaborate')... and loving it. No fps hits that I can visibly see. Still going like silk so far. I'm not even sure if I'm currently running GL4... but I know I have yet to see any of the effects that I'm expecting to see (buildings on fire, artillery shake)... and as for the AI enhancements, they are hard to spot. I'm still not entirely sure how GL4 works, as far as playing something like Cipher (random mission generator mod)... I see the initialization, but really don't know if I need to do anything more to have them running during a session (or if they even WOULD work within one!) I'm looking into each mod that people here are suggesting, and evaluating whether it's something I want or need. It appears that Acre is a cool teamspeak radio thing, but I play offline single player, so (for now) that's not required. As mentioned in my original post, I'm also curious if any of the mods I currently have are now obsolete (due to updates to the core A2/OA app, or mods I put in later). I certainly don't want redundant (or even conflicting) mods. Keep the suggestions coming, including anything you feel I should get rid of (due to redundancy, or because you know of something better)!

I'll look into those (...I've heard of JTD smoke quite a while ago), but I don't want to bog my frame rate down. I'm still really evaluating what hit the WarFX is giving me... It seems fine so far, although I did have a moment where it became a slide show (...granted, I had a helicopter and a tank both blasting away at the small hut I was in, eventually turning it to rubble!)

It's very strange how some people are getting horrific frame rates, yet (for example) I was getting very smooth results (at good detail levels) with my lowly dual core and 2 gigs of ram... I was using (until recently) the beloved NVidia 8800 card, which I think was the main reason it was going so smooth. Now I've got a GTX 460. But, ya, strange how others with a good system are having (in some cases) really bad performance... I guess that's the thing with PCs... so many combinations, not just of hardware, but fragmentation, background apps, etc. I wish I could offer some words of advice, as I can imagine how frustrating that must be. I hope you guys find solutions soon. Sorry I can't help... Oh, one thing you might want to try (...sorry if this has been mentioned), but I think I read somewhere to put shadows to very high.... While that seems counterintuitive, the logic is that in doing so, your graphics card takes over for it, as opposed to your CPU. I tried it myself, and found no FPS hit (...in my case, I was getting good FPS as it was, so it wasn't like it would improve, only (possibly) slow things down... which it doesn't appear to). Not sure if it's all true or not, but it worked for me... Might apply to other settings as well... where putting it higher in fact improves things. Worth a try.

Thanks, guys... I've installed JSRS and WarFX, and am very happy with both! I'm going to dive into ACE at some point... Just trying to get to a certain level of skill in Arma2, as I suspect the additional realism of ACE2 will hand my butt over to me! If I can get some sort of launcher app happening that will allow me to quickly/non-destructively add/remove ACE2 from my Arma2 install, then I'd be more inclined to jump in. Just seems the ACE2 install is a bit complex, at first glance.

I was being half-serious... but still feel they are based on realities. Yes, there ARE people out there who care about that stuff. I'm not a unique snowflake... (Tyler Durden told me this...) I don't consider myself (or anyone on the 'arma side') superior to those who are not... just looking for a different thing. Similarily, I like racing games that are racing sims... where you actually have to keep control of the vehical, apply brakes, consider inertia, etc... whereas some people prefer (what I consider) 'pinball racing', where you just point the car in the direction of the road, bouncing off of everything, and never using the brakes. For some people, acheivements are everything... which is truly scary, to me at least. It is the first question that comes out of their mouth, and the lack of it can mean immediate dismissal of the game by them. I HAVE heard people complaining about guys going too slow in Arma, or that you can't jump (...to which some Arma users will rightfully point out that in real life, you can't jump with a full military pack on you). I frequently hear people (including reviewers) focusing on the music that plays in games, as opposed to more important things (in my mind, at least). That's one I really don't get, as they can just play whatever music they want on their mp3 players as it is. Some people want a 'game' (where they can take on an army themselves, and be supermen), others want to sim, filled with dangers and limitations. Some people play Minecraft to explore and create... others to destroy (grief)... while others think the whole game is completely stupid and pointless... and yet others who think it is brilliant (...I'm one of those). Again, different target audiences... and when I see what is currently 'big' as far as videogames, I DO see a trend towards chaotic, button mashing, achievments, and 'virtual unstopablity'. Not bashing, really... though I'm sure they bash me and others like me as people who are into 'boring things' or 'weapon data geeks'... (both of which I'm not). So, do I think those are factors? Yes, in some cases, yes... Not all, but then again, defining a list that is the reason for ALL people not choosing Arma is an impossibility, as everyone has their own motivations, preferences, etc. I'm just putting in my views on what may be the factors... not that it's fact... I cannot know. I can only guess. For me, a big part of it was that it's dynamic and random, whereas many of the other games are scripted. BTW, I love Battlefield1 and 2...

Why is it not more popular? Well, it's been touched on several times, but to me, I think it comes down to this: 1) It's not a tightly choreographed 'movie' that ensures every second of battle is like a Hollywood film... It's dynamic and real... so you get your moments of 'nothing' (although that IS really a part of a true war sim), and things happening 'when they happen', rather than carefully choreographed to flow from one 'set piece' to another. Arma is a realistic sim, not an 'interactive movie' 2) Being real, it 'conflicts' with what the general public consider real (based on their Hollywood references). So, guns will sound 'lame' or fake... Soldiers won't run fast enough... Things are 'difficult'... and the Rambo method will result in 'the game being stupidly difficult or confusing'. 3) You can't bunny hop. 4) You don't get acheivements. 5) It doesn't play contemporary crap music while you play. 6) It doesn't guide you. It's a true open world, which doesn't 'funnel' you to your path. Overall, too, your objectives and 'proper course of action' is not spelled out for you. 7) Documentation has always been a weak point... with features not documented or properly explained... or, documentation being scattered all over forums or other websites... sometimes buried. 8) The interface is a bit frustrating. Hard to say what the solution is there... It could be improved/changed, but then those who are used to it will get tripped up. 9) The AI and/or commands can be frustration... So many times, I command my guys to go somewhere, and they end up boarding a car that isn't visible on the map... or I waste a lot of time trying to get my guys in the right positions within a vehical. Definitely a frequent amount of 'mis-commands' happening... partially due to the interface, partially due to the AI, partially due to human error... 10) A fun as it is, the vibe you get initially is that it's a serious, hard-core sim that will completely humiliate you. Given a bit of time, you quickly get a handle on it, and find you are surviving quite long, and really have a handle on it. It's a choice between a 'sim' (which shows itself to be capable of incredible 'Hollywood-like moments' and tons of fun if you give it a chance) or a completely 'engineered to be a fun rollercoster/Hollywood movie' GAME.... it's like chooseing between a living documentary of war vs a slick action film about war. Many of the general public choose the action film. So, do you adjust things to gain the praise of that other demographic? I certainly hope not... because then you lose this unique, intelligent, deep sim that rises above the disposable war games that just come, and then are replaced by yet another disposable war game... and so on. It is like a high level flight sim in a world of 'jet games'.