SeaVee

Take a look at Sakura Chan's non-blinding sun mod: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=80846

SETI - Search for Extra Terrestial Life - Here ya go: http://tinyurl.com/y9bq3do Re overclocking i-7 920 specific but its an overclocking video I found on youtube from HardOCP and which taught me how to get my rig to 3.8GHZ - in about 10 minutes time and its been rock solid stable for over 3 months now: On CPU intensive game like Arma2 OC can make a HUGE difference.

Vanilla Arma2 vers. 1.05 with NO mods Resolution = 1680X1050 i7 920 overclocked to 3.8GHZ (hyperthreading disabled) ASROCK X58 Deluxe motherboard 3gb Corsair Dominator DDR3 @ 1574mhz Pair of NVIDIA GTX 260 in SLI Win XP32 NORMAL All settings at NORMAL except anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering set to LOW. ALL settings on VERY HIGH:

I have a Zalman9700 CPU cooler and it works great. I am overclocked on my i-7 920 to 3.8GHZ and its rock-solid. Temps never get above 43-44C even in intense prolonged periods of Arma2 agaming. In "regular" non-gaming PC use (web browsing, etc.) it sits around 37 to 39 degrees C. I do have plenty of cooling fans in the case however, in addition to the Zalman. This is the second CPU I have that uses a Zalman (the older PC is using the Zalman 9500 - a little older version). Zalman is excellent for air cooling solutions (ggogle it or look at the many positive newegg reviews on these). Make sure to follow the instructions carefully (as with any aftermarket CPU cooler) when attaching the cooler mounting bracket to the back of the motherboard and the cooler itself to the CPU. Also pay attention to the the proper application of thermal compound on the CPU - do NOT overdo it.

Thanks so much for having taken the time to do this manual. VERY helpful. This, in conjunction with Voice Activated Commands has dramatically speeded up my learning and enjoyment of the game.

Tomshardware has an extensive review of the new GTX480 and 470. No Arma2 benchmarks sadly... but a great review. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-480,2585.html

I just discovered an inexplicable but welcome increase in FPS when changing NVIDIA's "threaded optimization" option in the NVIDIA control panel for the Arma2-specific settings. When I set it to AUTO, I got 14 FPS in Benchmark 2. When set to either ON or OFF as opposed to AUTO, my FPS was 16 with the same benchmark... Tried it back and forth several times and the FPS gain/loss is repeatable each time. Going from 14 to 16 FPS is a 15% improvement. I have an I-7 920 overclocked to 3.8GHZ so for users without multi-core CPUs this may not apply or be an option. I am running NVIDIA's 197.13 drivers and also twin GTX260 cards with SLI and Physx enabled. Also running XP32. I've read that Arma2 is NOT multi-threaded so I have no idea why this option would have an effect on FPS. Maybe the NVIDIA setting is something specific to the GPUs rather than the game .exe? At any rate why would AUTO drop FPS while ON or OFF boost it? The FPS results above were run with ALOT of Arma2 add-on mods which are certainly more demanding on the system than plain vanilla Arma2, specifically: "C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2.exe" -mod=@CBA;@sthud;@ACE;@ACEX;@sakusun;@HiFi_ACE;@HiFi_Air;@HiFi_SFX;@HiFi_Vehicle_Weapons;@HiFi_Weapons_Long;@WarFX_Particles_Beta_1.41;@GL4 -nosplash -world=empty The mods make a big difference in FPS in an intensive, system straining benchmark like this. In regular gameplay where there is rarely, if ever so much going on the FPS hit is not nearly as bad. And for me the improvements are more than worth it. If I run the same graphic settins but no mods on a bone-stock plain vanilla Arma2 my FPS rises to 23 in Benchmark 2 - thats nearly a 40% difference from 16FPS. Dropping GL4 alone from the mods above makes a 4 FPS difference for me for example in that benchmark 2. Ace2 is about a 2-3 FPS hit. My in-game video options settings: Also in NVIDIA control panel I have: Vsync & Triple buffering = forced ON In "regular" singleplayer gameplay versus Benchmark 2 I am getting a low of around 42FPS and the majority of the time 55-60 (with Vsync on I am maxed at 60FPS as that is my monitor's refresh rate). PS: I had posted this in the "NVIDIA owner's threa" but it will get buried there and not sure many will see it so I made a separate thread.

My mistake - I meant to say I've read that Arma2 does not apparently take advantage of or has potential conflicts with Intel's Hyperthreading technology.

What kind of FPS do you get when running the Benchmarks 1 and 2? You can find the benchmarks in the Single Player>>>Scenarios menu - scroll down near the bottom. Run one and then the other. It will launch a game sequence of about a minute and a half and at the end show your avg. FPS. The FPS of the aircraft carrier in the opening menu is not really at all indicative of in-game FPS. The benchmarks are not necessarily either as they are extremely intensive scenes that in a regular game-play you are unlikely to encounter -ever or certainly not with any regularity. The benchmarks however do give a good indication of how the PC will perform in very demanding (from a PC resource standpoint) scenes. If you get decent FPS there you should get much better FPS in most actual gameplay situations, assuming you kept the same video options. These are also useful for tweaking the various video options, then re-running the benchmarks seeing which options have the biggest impacts on your FPS.

drivers 197.13 What is CPU count and how/why disable hyper-threading? The benchmark FPS are ALOT lower (by about half) vs what I get in my regular single player gaming.

See my prior post (6th above). Just ran a bunch of benchmarks (vanilla Arma2 patched to 1.05 no mods) on my rig with SLI on/off, Physix On/OFF, vsunc forced ON/OFF. No material differences in FPS (22-23 in Benchmark 1 and 24-25 in Benchmark 2) on the following settings so at least with these visual settings the game appears to be CPU-limited on my rig versus GPU-limited. In "regular" single player gaming I get consistently lows in the low-mid 40 FPS and about 85% of the time between 55-60 (with Vsync on which I prefer). My rig: i7 920 overclocked to 3.8GHZ 2GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 WinXP32 GTX260 SLI (driver 197.13) ASROCK X58 motherboard Corsair HX850W PSU Creative Audigy 2ZS (mobo sound disabled) 42" LCD 1920X1080 @60Hz TIR5 Voice Activated Commands (VAC) Had TIR5 and VAC running while benchmarking too.

I bet the card is not your bottleneck. The cheapest thing you can do is get a GOOD aftermarket CPU cooler and additional case fan(s) as applicable and OC the CPU. Two caveats - I am not sure how inherently overclockable you Q9550 is from its stock settings so if they are not OC-friendly disregard this. If it can be done modestly and safely, make SURE you learn HOW to OC that properly and don't go overboard. I think ARMA2 is more CPU-intensive than GPU-intensive if you have already a pretty good card (which the 260 is). The older HDD is also part of the issue here for you I think. I have an i-7 920 overclocked to 3.8GHz and a pair of GTX260 in SLI. Tonight when I get home from work I'll do comparative benchmarks of the game disabling and enabling SLI and post results here.

What is needed on these and other similar Arma 2 forums is some kind of a "quick start" thread, written for the technically challenged and have it stickied. Focus on initial setup, basic controls and getting started, include embedded youtube tutorials - all in ONE place. Over at the Ubisoft IL2 combat flight game forums Bearcat99 did just that, "The Nugget's Guide" or some such and it was/is incredibly helpful. I'd do it but I'm still just learning Arma2 myself. If no one steps up then maybe in a few months when I'm more seasoned and can write about this with some semblence of credibility I'll try to.

I just discovered an inexplicable but welcome increase in FPS when changing NVIDIA's "threaded optimization" option in the NVIDIA control panel for the Arma2-specific settings. When I set it to AUTO, I got 14 FPS in Benchmark 2. When set to either ON or OFF as opposed to AUTO, my FPS was 16 with the same benchmark... Tried it back and forth several times and the FPS gain/loss is repeatable each time. Going from 14 to 16 FPS is a 15% improvement. I have an I-7 920 overclocked to 3.8GHZ so for users without multi-core CPUs this may not apply or be an option. I am running NVIDIA's 197.13 drivers and also twin GTX260 cards with SLI and Physx enabled. Also running XP32. I've read that Arma2 is NOT multi-threaded so I have no idea why this option would have an effect on FPS. Maybe the NVIDIA setting is something specific to the GPUs rather than the game .exe The FPS results above were run with ALOT of Arma2 add-on mods which are certainly more demanding on the system than plain vanilla Arma2, specifically: "C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2.exe" -mod=@CBA;@sthud;@ACE;@ACEX;@sakusun;@HiFi_ACE;@HiFi_Air;@HiFi_SFX;@HiFi_Vehicle_Weapons;@HiFi_Weapons_Long;@WarFX_Particles_Beta_1.41;@GL4 -nosplash -world=empty The mods make a big difference in FPS in an intensive, system straining benchmark like this. In regular gameplay where there is rarely, if ever so much going on the FPS hit is not nearly as bad. And for me the improvements are more than worth it. If I run the same graphic settins but no mods on a bone-stock plain vanilla Arma2 my FPS rises to 23 in Benchmark 2 - thats nearly a 40% difference from 16FPS. Dropping GL4 alone from the mods above makes a 4 FPS difference for me for example in that benchmark 2. Ace2 is about a 2-3 FPS hit. My in-game video options settings: Also in NVIDIA control panel I have: Vsync & Triple buffering = forced ON In "regular" singleplayer gameplay versus Benchmark 2 I am getting a low of around 42FPS and the majority of the time 55-60 (with Vsync on I am maxed at 60FPS as that is my monitor's refresh rate).

ARMA2 is the Thinking Man's game. For that matter so was OFP and Arma... "Thinking Man's" - I wonder how many, if ANY Arma2 players are females?

Not sure if this is the appropriate place to pose these questions and if not I apologize but... I am interested in the Zeus AI mod but also have read all the good things about the GL4 AI mods. I've read how to run GL4 WITH Zeus by turning off the AI Difficult in the GL4 userconfig. My real questions however are: What are the basic differences between GL4's AI mods approach compared to the Zeus AI mods? Can one really perceive a meanigful difference in overall gameplay experience using one mod versus the other? Are the nuances just subtle differences or is it truly noticeable? And yes I am already sure its BIG difference for the better over "stock" Arma2 with either mod. Is one really "better" than the other or is it more a matter of personal taste with each having strengths and weaknesses?

if you downloaded from the VAC website its only free for 30 days. Then it needs a purchased registration code. One time cost of $18. Absolutely worth it IMO even if you use it in Arma2 alone. I'm also going to be set up a profile for some of my flight games too. The possibilities are almost endless.

Try SCROLL LOCK or PAUSE BREAK.

Ok thanks everyone I got it installed and running. Fantastic effects - great work. One question, maybe I'm imagining it but it seems my avatar runs much faster than before and the stamina effects of ACe2 are muted when using GL4. Does GL4 override that and if so is there a way to disable that? Again, maybe I am imagining this but I just ran the same mission twice one with GL4 and Ace2 and one with Ace2 only and with GL4 the player seems to run faster and not tire.... :confused: Maybe its the Bacardi and coke however. :) EDIT: NEVERMIND. I just restarted the mission completely and the stamina is the same with or without GL4 running. AWESOME MOD this GL4 and the radio chatter adds alot to the immersion. THANK YOU!

Can this be used in conjunction with Ace? If so I'm confused because in the GL4 SFXE readme for the installation it says: "Copy the "@GL4" folder into your Armed Assault 2 root directory. Drag the "UserConfig" folder from "@GL4\UserConfig" in your Armed Assault 2 root directory." I already have a "Userconfig" folder in my Arma 2 root folder at this address: C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\userconfig\ace When I try to drag the GL4 user config to C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2 Of course windows prompts that there is a folder with same name etc. Am I dragging it to the wrong location or am I supposed to overwrite the existing folder? Sorry for the completely rookie, premature newbie question and this may have already been asked and answered but this thread is 140 pages long with over 1,300 posts... I did do couple of searches but nothing obvious comes up. Thanks for the help if available.

Having the enter command is great on VAC. You can look at a vehicle, building, etc. or whatever the context command is highlighted on and speak enter rather than hit the enter key. What is the "Force Move" command?

OK, I got this working now OK. Thanks also for the hand holding. The VAC saved profiles are save in (in my case with WinXP32): C:\Documents and Settings\Rick\Application Data\VAC\Profiles Assuming the default Arma 2 keys, you can either open the profile with the VAC Builder and do it using that interface or open the VAC profile with Notepad and copy and paste the following in: <command name="Red Team Move" phrase="Red team Move" category="Team"> <key extended="SPACE" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/> <key value="[[" extended="NONE" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/> <key extended="ENTER" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/> <key value="91" extended="NONE" extended2="NONE" pause="100" repeat="1" duration="200"/> </command> For the other team colors, copy and duplicate the set above but subsitute the red "1" above with: 2 - for the green team 3 - for the blue team 4 - for the yellow team 5 - for the white team In my profile I also added a voice command for "ENTER". I used two different words/phrases to activate it- "enter" and "over there". When I order a team or individual unit to move, I first speak, for example saying "red team move" and then move my cursor/crosshair where I want them and speak the words "over there" and it works great. Oh my does this VACthing make the game and controls soooooo much easier and more fun and intuitive! Thanks again!

What are the Arma2 default keys for the ones highlighted in red above? This is for the "red team move" command in Fish44's revised VAC profile. For users with the default key settings we need to open the profile in numpad or with the VAC builder and change these to match our Arma2 profile commands for the same actions - I think. I looked but do not know where to find the "profile file".... We'd need to do the same steps for each of the other team colors.

If you get are going to buy a new motherboard you need to first be sure it is compatible with the CPU and RAM (system memory) you have or are planning to use. Then there is the power supply unit you have/will use. For any of the decent modern graphics cards you probably need at least a 500W PSU and from a decent manufacturer.

Take a look at the VAC (Voice Activated Commands) thread. I just got it set up and it makes controlling the squad ALOT easier. http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=96773