OMAC

Obviously, but the point of not raising the time limit is that after that is done, getting through the mission will be easier than before, so the "fix" is like a cheat. The 45 min limit is a clue from BIS that all objectives can be cleared in that time or less - you are doing it wrong if you take too much time - try and figure out a new strategy. However, anything BIS can do to make A2/OA more user friendly is fine with me in general. Play through the A2 scenarios - many of which are ridden with mission design bugs, and I'm sure you'll agree, if you don't already. Another caveat is that artificial time limits and spawning enemies should be used with great, great caution in mission design, which BIS generally does. Freedom Fighters has both with a vengeance, plus design bugs, making it unplayable. Spawning in particular is the most bogus and unrealistic pile of crap, especially for a mil sim like A2/OA, where realism is the whole point. Spawning should be purged completely IMHO.

I will check out your spoiler after I replay the two missions.

Wow. I did take out the mortar in the past mission, but did not meet the doctor, as I neglected to visit the market where he was (just visited the field hospital where several PMC guys were lurking around their SUV). Looks like I'll revert to the last mission and replay both. It sure would be nice to get support in taking out the armor, but I was able, desperately, to take them out myself. Thanks for the info!

Have any of you guys ever completed the "Convoy" objective that pops up near the end of the mission? There are some enemy vehicles approaching the area from the SE, and you are supposed to go get them. I have been way too busy with other things to go after this objective, which cancels out a few minutes later with the radio reporting something to the effect that the vehicles have broken through somewhere, but that the intersection is clear of enemies. This is a killer mission. I've played through successfully 3 times on Veteran, all objectives completed (except Convoy which has been cancelled). I can't go on to the next mission as this one is so tough and fun that I keep playing it to try out new tactics. I never found a second mortar site, only the one in the first valley - when I destroy it, the Mortar objective completes, so I have moved on to other things and never gone after the second mortar, which I never would have known exists if it wasn't for this thread.

Something is wrong with the "extended hud info" in the PMC scenarios. In 03 Provision, the green hud info at lower right regarding how many cargo crates you have picked up also disappears if you load a saved game after exiting CO and restarting it.

Playing PMC 1.01 within CO 1.59 + 79600 beta patch. Veteran skill. In the PMC02: Reaction scenario (single player), the cool directional indicator for enemies at the bottom center of the screen vanishes if I load a saved game or an autosave. In these saved games, one of my squad has been killed, the other injured but moving. Does anyone else see this? Is this normal, or a bug? In the dense mist and rain, any means of detecting enemies is vital.

This is interesting. I saw this in the PMC 1.01 changelog: * Fixed: CP08A - Player was not able to access helicopter gear menu. http://www.gamemecca.net/forums/showthread.php?87836-Arma-II-Private-Military-Company-Updated What the heck? It looks like one is STILL not able to that, at least when trying to load weapons onto the chopper. I am playing 1.01. :confused:

Playing PMC 1.01 within CO 1.59 + 79600 beta expansion In the PMC03 Provision scenario (sp), there is an autosave after the supplies have been dropped. If the game is exited after the autosave occurs, and then the autosave is loaded, the game becomes locked. See this shot: It locks when you are sitting in the truck, the info window at upper right. Hitting space will not clear it, and you can't do anything and have to exit the game. The controls work (esc, space, middle mouse, F keys, etc.) but you can't move the truck. No sounds are playing as they should. After reverting, one can play the scenario normally, and revert to the autosave normally. But if you exit the game and try to reload the autosave: LOCK! What is causing this? This is the second strange issue I have found with the PMC freebie scenarios that I believe came with the 1.57 patch.

Making a manual save after the autosave during your first run-through, before all hell breaks loose in the ground recovery operation, solves the problem. Then you can quit the game to go to the bathroom or something, come back and fire the scenario up again normally. Going back to the pop-gun AKs after all the awesome PMC hardware is a real drag. I never want to see an AK again!

I agree. However, thermal scopes are the solution, and they exist. Not having them available is frustrating, to say the least. On the other hand, soldiers do not always have them available, either, I guess. Play Reaction and see how hard it is in the mist with no scopes. Then get the reward and play it with scopes - the enemy doesn't stand a chance. You will see that the dir indicator (when it is visible) doesn't help you very much at all, especially in all that misty vegetation. Still, I think it's cool, and I'm glad it's there (when it's there - it's vanishing must be a bug).

I saw the dir indicator (available in default Veteran skill with extended hud info) as a "6th sense" related to peripheral vision/hearing and/or those of your squadmates, if any. It is not incredibly important either way. Thermal scopes are what is important, and are desperately needed in Arma 2 campaign and scenarios, even for seeing enemies in the woods. Spotting enemies is the most difficult thing of all in A2/OA. On regular and easier difficulties, which I never use, there are floating hud icons for them, as there is in high command mode even in Veteran. Those icons are totally unrealistic, and make the game quite easy. Without them, I still think that enemy ai vision is better than the player's - it's often like they have thermal scopes and you don't. I didn't have any problems with the dir indicator in Infiltration, but then I never exited the game, restarted, and loaded a saved game. That caused the indicator to vanish in Reaction.

What? Wow! That's cool! I just played through the scenario for a second time not knowing that. I had no idea that rewards existed in A2/OA/PMC. Looks like I'll have to play it through a third time. It will be a massive, sweet luxury having those sights. The enemy AI in that scenario is awesome, making it brutally hard (without the sights). Some roving guys silently circle around behind you in the mist, or lie prone waiting for you in silence, completely concealed by vegetation and mist. I do have doubts that you are concealed by vegetation from enemy AI. I think that if you are "spotted" they can see you even through vegetation, whereas you cannot see them. I know there was a recent fix that made the ability of enemy AI to see through mist similar to the players'. The directional indicator is not present if you load a autosave or saved game after starting a new game session. Without quitting the game session, if you just quit PMC and return to the main game selection screens, and then load a saved game, the indicators are still there. Thank you for the reward!!! :bounce3: EDIT: SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!! Those sights are just what the doctor ordered. That is the best reward I have ever received in a game!!!!! PMC is F____G AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BIS, you should start making more PMC (and A2/OA/BAF) levels for purchase - I will buy them all!!!

Of course the damn thing wouldn't be needed at all if THERMAL F_____G SIGHTS were available in the scenario!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: Leave it to BIS to not have the sights available when you really, really need it.

Thanks. I agree that M$ may be the only ones that can fix it, but for me the problem definitely has something to do with AToC in A2/OA 1.59, at least for the most part. With AToC=0 the CTDs (and "Display driver xxxxxxx stopped responding" error in Event Viewer, but no popup) generally go away. When the CTDs happen with AToC enabled, sometimes they will recur even with AToC disabled unless I reboot. Before A2 1.59, I only rarely got the NVIDIA error, sometimes in A2 and sometimes with Windows Media Player - I had thought that the problem had something to do with NVIDIA drivers, among other things like timing, etc. So, for me, GTX 295 SLI + 266.58 driver + A2/OA + 1.59 + AToC = CTD after a few minutes of play, every time.

Thanks, but ntune only supports nForce, not GeForce. (What the heck is nForce, anyway? Very old card series?) And it doesn't work on Win 7 (it was released 3.5 years ago). So, it still looks like software from NVIDIA is unavailable for fan control for NVIDIA GeForce cards. I find that hard to believe. :confused: But it's moot since EVGA Precision works GREAT! :bounce3: ---------- Post added at 06:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:47 PM ---------- I just got an e-mail from BIS saying that my A2/OA license and forum privileges have been revoked for blasphemy. ;) ---------- Post added at 06:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:51 PM ---------- So you never had any CTDs using SLI with A2/OA, just with other games? Who is M$?

If the problem is mainly to do with SLI/Crossfire, it is interesting to note that A2/OA is the ONLY game in which the problem occurs with my GTX 295. With Crysis, BFBC2, Far Cry 2, Deadspace, Bioshock, COD:MW, Quake4, Doom3, etc, etc. - No CTDs. So, it looks like the A2/OA graphics engine has a problem with SLI, eh?

Apparently NVIDIA System Tools does not support fan control for GeForce GPUs, only overclocking and temp monitoring. It does support full control of nForce GPUs. ??? http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools_6.06.html

Liquidpinky: Thanks a lot for the info. I enabled an auto fan control profile, and will keep Precision running while I play games. =WFL= Sgt Bilko: Very useful info - thanks. I wonder if the new dual-cpu GTX 590 will experience those errors? Tom_Pynchon:"Have you checked the NVidia website for normal or safe temps for the 295 at idle and full load?" Ah ha! I've never seen those - I'll try and find them. Do you know the URL? Googling shows people have some idle speeds around 69-70 :j: and generally higher temps all around. One person said that the 295 can handle up to 120, but an NVIDIA person once said that high 80s are near the "upper end" of the safe temp range. It is good that BIS is adding cool new graphics tech in the new patch, but those CTDs are bad news, and few people seem to like the AToC effects. BIS has mentioned some bugs in the AToC implementation also. Thanks for all the useful info!!!!! :)

Thanks for the info, Tom. The idle temp on the fanless card of my 295 averages about 57-59 deg C (about 55-56 for the card with the fan). My system is air-cooled only. Do you suggest NVIDIA system tools to regulate the fan speed? Or EVGA Precision? I have never messed around with fan profiles. What cables should I check? After blowing away fine dust with compressed air, A2/OA runs at least 4-5 degrees cooler. BFBC2 at maxed settings runs in the high 80s. Those temps are pushing it, but everything seems to run pretty well. As I wrote above, I think it was the 1.59 AToC that was causing the CTDs which were the primary subject of this thread. Turning AToC off has made the CTDs go away and enables me to run at settings in post #12 quite nicely. Higher temps in the 270 drivers are all I need! :mad: I'll be sure to watch out for that. Thanks for the heads-up. Edit: I've never liked Nvidia system tools, and it doesn't seem to do much. I just installed Precision, and will post back if I can crank up the fans and lower my temps! Edit: That Precision is AWESOME. Cranked the fan up to 55%, and idle temps went down by about 4-5 degrees! Do you suggest that before starting A2/OA, I start Precision and crank up the fan, or should I have Precision start when Windows starts and constantly run the fan at higher than normal speeds. The default idle speed is 41%.

Yes, I know. Whining sometimes works, eh? The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Open Season, although very difficult to get through in 45 minutes (until you figure it out), is a piece of cake compared to Badlands and Dogs of War.

I have avoided the 270 beta as the rel notes don't say anything about improvements/fixes for 200 series cards. For your awesome 560, though, I am not surprised at all that you have better performance: GeForce GTX 560 Ti: Up to 461% in Dragon Age 2 (SLI 1920x1200 8xAA/16xAF, Very High) Up to 241% in Dragon Age 2 (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF, Very High) Up to 19% in Just Cause 2 (SLI 2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF, Concrete Jungle) Up to 13% in Just Cause 2 (1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF, Concrete Jungle) Up to 6% in Far Cry 2 (SLI 2560x1600 8xAA/16xAF, Max settings) Up to 5% in Call of Duty: Black Ops (1920x1200 noAA/AF, Jungle Map) Up to 5% in H.A.W.X. 2 (SLI 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF, Max settings) Up to 4% in Call of Duty: Black Ops (SLI 2560x1600 4xAA/16xAF, Jungle Map) Up to 4% in Civilization V (1920x1200 noAA/AF, Max settings) Up to 4% in Left 4 Dead 2 (SLI 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF, Outdoor) Up to 4% in Metro 2033 (SLI 1920x1200 4xAA/16xAF, PhysX on) My poor ol' 295 flagship is being left behind. :(

For what it's worth, I agree with Dwarden here. To hell with Steam - release PC patches AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! PLEASE!!!!!!! We NEEEEED those patches! Steam = STEAMING PILE of ____

The 1.59 release notes say that AA must be enabled for AToC to work, but Hanzu, citing dev posts, says otherwise: http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1890019&postcount=13 266.58 - GTX 295. All my system specs and drivers are listed in the first post of this thread: http://forums.bistudio.com/showpost.php?p=1888599&postcount=1 Many people are posting about various troubles with AToC. Your awesome new single-gpu card may be able to handle it cleanly.

That's what I did - doesn't work.

For Steam users, that may be good, but I'm not one of them. After the compressed air, my card is running 4-5 deg cooler! However, I set AToC to 6 (with AA set to low), and the CTD/nvlddmkm error returned. AToC = bad news. I also see no visual advantage of having AToC set to 7 and AA disabled (as some have suggested). Hardly any smoothing visible, and potential for grim CTDs is greatly increased, at least for my setup.