jpinard

====note==== Do NOT use the latest NVidia beta drivers. They break the in-game anistropic filtering. ====note==== As some had already mentioned there's a performance hit in Operation Arrowhead. Not just in Takistan, but also running Chernarus/Utes missions with the OA launcher. This thread is to help people get performance closer to vanilla ArmA2 1.07. Some may wonder why Chenarus would run slightly slower with OA than Vanilla ArmA2. The reasons I can identify are below: * OA allows us to set the audio sample number. By default it is 32. ArmA2 only allowed 16. ~cpu hit. * Graphic additions to the game. These include SSAO Post Processing, extra camera shake, muzzle flash, and a host of other improvements. ~graphic card hit. * Armor and ballistics has been overhauled. ~cpu hit * Game doesn't yet have A2 v1.07 enhancements. ~cpu/graphic hit. All in all, for a new release the game is in pretty good shape and no doubt when it's upgraded to match A2 v1.07, adds LMA & x64 we'll be flying :) I'l keep this up-to-date, and if the bold red text (below) is diffcult to read let me know and I'll change it. -------------------- Performance Tips Below: -------------------- 1. Set Post-processing to Low to somewhat match ArmA2's High PP settings. 2. Stop using a RAM Drive. 3. Don't use maxmem, winxp, cpucount, or exThreads switches if you have a dual-core or quad-core processor. ---edit--- Until BIS gets the OA code up to v1.07 I'm going to suggest people use the following parameters in the launcher: Dual-Core processor: -nosplash -cpucount=2 -exThreads=1 Quad-Core processor: -nosplash -cpucount=4 -exThreads=7 Hexacore processor: -nosplash -cpucount=6 -exThreads=7 (I'm not sure if the -winxp and -maxmem values are still required for XP users, for most people the answer would be "no") 4. I always suggest gamers turn off Hyper-threading technology (aka HTT) as it almost always decreases game performance. This isn't as necessary now since the game shuts down more than 4 cores and you specify the # to be used above... but I still suggest it be turned off in the BIOS. 5. Turn VSYNC OFF <--- this alone makes at least a 5 fps difference and makes the game much more responsive. 6. Play with "rendered frames ahead" values and match it to your ArmA2 OA config file. (0-8 are valid figures) 7. Windows Vista and Win 7 users - For optimum compatibility make sure you're running as an administrator... Right click the new icon, go to the compatibility tab, check-mark "run as administrator" box. You will need to redo this after Securom sends you SN activation number. 8. NVidia SLI is not working by default. You may need to rename the executable "arma2oa.exe" to something the NVidia card will try and enable SLI for. For example you can trick it by using Crysis name "Crysis.exe" instead of "armaoa.exe". See post #8 for more details :) http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1662345&postcount=8 9. You will need to setup a new graphics executable in your NVidia or ATI/AMD control panel (see example below). Click for large pic: http://www.jeffpinard.com/OA_graphic_settings.jpg

According to community Awards, this was ranked the #1 campaign. but since I can't understand Slavic/Russian I can't figure out if it was translated to English too. Is it? http://www.arma2.com/community-awards-2009_en.html Campaign СВОБОДРhttp://arma.at.ua/news/2009-03-15-750 Thanks! :)

What I'd like the mission to do is: If Blufor kills 5 or more Civilians they lose the game. I can't quite seem to get the syntax right. This is what I have: Activation: Blufor - once Condition: !alive civilian count => 5 On Act: Hint "With so many civilans killed, the populace rises up against you and HQ is forced to pull you out. You have lost the mission."

So Take2/Firaxis has settled on $5 per Civ price-point. EA/Maxis charges on average a dollar per unique item. For the core production of these elements it's about 2-3 days work for their dev teams. Testing is almost unnecessary as they're such basic elements. So when people complain about DLC here, I'd really like you all to look at the rest of the industry and understand how much value BIS is offering compared to the competition. You don't have to like DLC, but I'd hope you'd appreciate the amount of work that goes into it compared to what a lot of other studios deliver.

I'd like to get better immersion by upping my difficulty level to "Veteran", but wow is it hard! Without the map showing where I am and the identified enemies, I'm blind... and not having TAG information I'm constantly shooting friendlies. So I was hoping some of you who have made the transition to Veteran can give us advice on how to be more effective. Also - does the mission maker have to integrate something special for GPS to work? I made some test missions and when I bring up the GPS nothing functions.

Hope to be back soon, hospital.

"Give a man a fish he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." ^^That's^^ the idea for this thread. Not just an easy answer, but help guide us in finding and executing the information already available - primarily by using BIS's scripting reference: http://www.arma2.com/comref/comref.html or better: http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Category:Scripting_Commands_ArmA2 -------------- I'll start things off. Question #1 I'd like to have a set of units blow up when Blufor hits a specific waypoint. I looked up "damage" and found this: object setDamage damage Operand types: object: Object damage: Number Compatibility: Version 1.50 required. Type of returned value: Nothing Description: Damages / repairs the object. Damage 0 means the object is fully functional, damage 1 means it's completely destroyed / dead. Note: this function is identical to setDammage. It was introduced to fix a spelling error in the original function name. Example: player setdamage 1 Category: OFP I have 3 units I want to destroy. Based on the Wiki I went the basic route and figured the waypoint action section should look like this: truck1 setdamage 1 && truck2 setdamage 1 && truck3 setdamage 1 The game won't accept it. When is the && preferable? Question #2 - Would it be possible, instead of naming each unit to be destroyed, make a trigger that is synchronized to destroy everything in the encircled area once the player hits the waypoint or trigger area? If so can you give me a hint of what to look for in the BIS scripting wiki?

I did some searches but nothing really seemed to fit what I want to do. I have 15 civilians in a group, they're coming from all over the city and I want them to not just go by the church, but to go inside (hopefully all of them). I'm not used to working with buildings at all, so any help would be great. Thanks guys and gals! :)

Looks like we can't delete vegetation and that would apply to the benches as per this thread? http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=98454&highlight=hideobject So, the church will have a few indoor plants and benches. Should work good :)

Excellent, I'm getting closer! Just 1 remaining issue. 1. I need to remove two benches that are normally in the courtyard of the church. But the ID #'s are obscured by the the old church building. How can I see those ID #'s or get them? <--- I could see the last 3 digits and was able to figure it the rest based on the other ID"s in the area. 2. The replacement church doesn't want to face the direction I want it to, no matter how I rotate the game logic icon. Any tricks to overcome that?

Holy cow, if this works I will be one very happy bunny. Gonna try it right now. ---wonderful, works!--- Is there a way I can destroy/remove the old church and have this one plopped down in its place (ie. not exploding of course)? If not, I guess this town will have 2 churches :)

I just realized I made a very stupid mistake. I'd started this work in the larger town with the white church (Chernarus) and since the church was side-on to where I was testing I just assumed it was enterable. To my dismay, it's not :( Now I have to recreate the entire scenario in a totally different town. So dumb on my part. ST_Dux - I think your script is eactly what I'll need. I think if I had everyone go to the same point inside the church it might create issues (I'd like to have up to 25 civilians go in). ---edit--- None of the "open churches" are in a landscape which fits my mission and the perspective needed. Is there any way I can replace the church in Stary Sobor with the one from Novy Sobor?

I concur wholeheartedly. We really appreciate what you do :)

Just curious. It'd be nice to get the AN-2 to take off from lat grassy area or a highway.

I'm unfamiliar with that so will definately look it up!

Wow, you guys are pretty darn talented. The helo sounds arre very impressive. On a volume level comparison, is it just a tad louder than BIS's defaults? I think their default aircraft sounds (except afterburner) are too low, but some mods go a bit too far in cranking it up. I think what I'm concerned with is the treble (higher pitch that's the engine noise) being a bit hard on the ears. I hope that dens't sound insulting, because the sounds are beathtaking. I mean, I can almost see the chopper gears churning through the sound! Amazing.

I concur, HOWEVER, it's not due soley to groups. Takistan they drive just fine all over using almost no waypoints and driving via road. However when the threat level goes up, they start making the weird detours around invisible objects. So it's not just groups, but threats (which are sometimes quite far away) that's influencing erratic driving behavior. (including other people on roads, slowing down when there's no chance for collision because they are opposing roadways).

Where is this video?

I want to support ACE and I want to support BIS. I will do what I can to accomplish both. ACE team, what would you have suggested BIS do for revenue? Full expansion pack been better? Cheers all, sorry for the drama. The above question means no disrepsect and is a nice non-rhetorical question.

I should note I'm changing my stance on one effect. Desert heat and fatigue. I love them now.

Maverick - you're an overclcoker so you probably already ran tests with this, but I finally had my first crash when our A/C died. Next time I was in the game I ran Realtemp and got an audio alarm my video card was overheating. First time I'd ever seen this. I have m NVidia profile to run max performance all the time (for ArmA2:OA), but I'm considering changing it to "adaptive". I have a theory, in that maybe the extra PP effects are creating extra strain on the video cards causing them to get a little too hot. I don't overclock my video card (not sure if you do either), but it's something to think about. With extra cooling I haven't had the issue as the ambient temps in my house are down.

I did a lot of testing and the more clock speed you add, the more AI you can run. It's an exact linear increase in regards to the resulting frame rate. With slower cpu speeds the AI just doesn't have time to be as smart about reacting to human player. Also, if your draw distance is low you may be crippling the competitive nature of the AI. Quad core processor at 4 GHz is really nice.

Wow, I managed to write a post that sounded fantastically hypocritical. Big fail on me. Let me just defend myself a bit so I don't look like a complete moron (I really am a dork I can't hope erase much). You say two totally different things. You state unequivocally you will not support DLC. Only the possibility you might consider supporting freeDLC. The way you state it, is a defacto statement in that you don't agree with their revenue model. Otherwise the free stuff wouldn't be a consideration either. Then you say people can contribute. So if you get a contributor, that means you support it? Or are you sticking with "the decision to not support payable DLC?" And I wasn't saying you should be expected to add support for it. But honestly it appears to me like politics are playing more of a factor than you lead on. People love Ace2. It's fantastic, and you ARE influencing a loss of sales. There are other forums where people are posting your quotes "We will not support payable DLC" so some have written, "Don't buy it, ACE won't support it". And the response of the team may be, "It's not our problem how people interpret what we say". I mean, unless you know the dev's only work 1 hour a week and drive around in Ferraris', I'm assuming this DLC is necessary for their operation. So why not say, "Buy it and come join our team so we can integrate it"? Am I the only one who sees this as slightly confusing? So thats why i wrote what did, because I thought you were closing the door on any future interoperability because you said so twice and other ACE members have said that in other posts. I feel dizzy :p

^^^ exactly why I'm so upset at people. Then they blanket it in "but mp, mp, mp!!!" I'm sure BIS will make a simple filter that allows you to join a game based on what add-ons you have. A2 default, OA, Brit DLC. If you have all 3 you can join any. No big deal. Thunderbird, I've been quite ill this week having a lot of trouble breathing (pneumonia), it makes me much more emotional, and at times like this I just can't seem to keep my mouth shut when I feel an injustice is being done. :p character flaw. --- Quick Question for BIS. Is there any chance the enemy AI will be able to use mortars too with the new DLC? Doesn't even have to be advanced, but just Line of Site like the other artillery pieces? I know they'd have to mostly aim straight up in the air, but it'd be really cool to see them pumping out mortars into your area as soon as you're within spotter range without fancy scripting. Cheers all and sorry for my rants. :)

You don't want to support the engine development? We would have nothing without BIS, and expecting them to work for free and release content for free is short-sighted. Look at Silent Hunter 5 - their forums. We have an opportunity to support the good guys in the game industry and you thumb your nose at a very reasonable revnue model. Additionally, there's a lot more to the DLC than just a couple of units. BIS gave you the opportunity and flexability to mod their game and correct me if I'm wrong, they've helped you on many occasions. How many developers do that - on a personal level no less? I almost sounds to me, like the Ace team is on a power trip trying to dictate terms to BIS. Could be more honest and just say, "It's too much extra work to integrate their new stuff." There's nothing wrong with that statement as you've already done amazing loads of work. Honestly, I am continually appaled and disappointed when I see end-users demand mod-makers do stuff for them. I will be the first to support you and cut them down. But taking the stance that DLC is wrong is short-sighted and ludicrous as it applies to BIS's model. This is their livelihood and they have to make a living. I'm guessing you all have other jobs and do this for fun (or the challenge). So it's unfair to expect them to sacrifice their salaries (which probably suck) to continually release free content. Especially when there are so many assholes out their who could buy the game that are pirating it. Xeno - sorry to preach. You're good guys.