WCG

OK, thanks. I'd missed that. Those things will definitely help!

Yeah, I found the spotters, after a few plays of the mission, so that wasn't really my question. (I do appreciate the reply, though - all of the replies, in fact.) I was just wondering about that picture-in-picture thing. It didn't seem useful in that vehicle showcase, either, but I could at least use the 3rd person view for that. OK, how about another stupid newbie question? I decided to try multiplayer (unsuccessfully, but that's another story) and I'm wondering how I tell who is where on the map. In one (attempted) game, #1 ordered #4 (me, apparently) to regroup on him, but there were soldiers scattered all across the map. How do I tell which is which? Is there a way to tell, other than just announcing to the world, "where are you?" In this particular case, #1 was a bot supposedly (that's what another player said, at least) and issued a constant string of nonsensical orders. I didn't stick around much longer, since it was so confusing. But I did try to see where #1 was, without success. Is that something I can tell from the map? Or is there some other way to determine these things without asking? (In the games I've tried, there's usually so much noise from the NPCs that it's hard to find room to ask anything at all.)

OK, thanks for the explanation!

Thanks. I've got the video settings set ultra-high, but maybe it's my eyes, because I can't see much of anything in that window. I just wondered if there was something I was missing there.

For those of us who didn't play Arma 2, could you explain what a "LIFE mod" is, please? I saw this in the single-player missions, but I don't have a clue what you're trying to do. Thanks.

Thanks! That worked. I just hadn't gone far enough, since I didn't have a clue what to do with the server settings.

Um, how do you play this in single-player? (Sorry if that's discussed here somewhere. I did look through half the messages before deciding just to ask.) Yes, I followed the instructions and put SPWholeLottaStratis.Stratis.pbo into the "MPmissions" folder, rather than into the "Missions" folder. Then I started the game and went to "Multiplayer." But then what? I don't see it anywhere. I assume this must be a dumb question, or you would have spelled it out. But I don't have a clue what to do next. And I'm getting just a bit bored with playing the Infantry Showcase over and over again. :)

In the "Showcase Infantry" mission that comes with the game, when you're given an assignment to eliminate the spotters, after awhile you get a picture in a picture and someone says they're 'patching in an online feed' (or something like that). What is that supposed to tell me? I know that someone has spotted the spotters, but that picture doesn't seem to tell me anything at all (although it's very hard to make out what it's even supposed to be). Is that supposed to give me a clue as to where they are? That's all I was going to ask, but while I was reading the rest of the posts here, someone said: How do I tell if it's a better weapon than what I've got? Is there any way to compare them directly? Thanks!

You are right, of course, but the original post was by someone who'd played Arma II extensively. So it didn't seem like he was looking for a completely different kind of game. Now me, I've never played any other Arma game. I would have bought Arma II for the Day Z mod, if only it could have been played single-player, but I wasn't interested otherwise. I'm still not interested in multiplayer games, and I'm not particularly interested in military stuff, either. But I was so impressed at what I'd seen of Arma III that I just had to buy it. I'm still impressed by it. There's not much game there for single-player fans, not yet, at least, and there might never be. But that's OK. I knew what I was getting into. I like sandbox games, and I love the fact that you can approach problems so many different ways. Really, it seems like, if you can think of a solution, you can probably do it. I may never play this much, but it's still an incredible game. And it's only in alpha!

Um, this is a game. If it were real, I wouldn't be playing it (certainly not after the first time I was killed!). But there's no reason why people can't have different preferences, and I hope there are enough options to make (almost) everyone happy.

Thanks, all. As it turns out, this video from SideStrafe is what I really needed: The information on video settings is interesting, but what I really needed was shown at the start of that video, a way to enter the empty game world just to experiment with the controls. Before, the game wouldn't even pause when I had the map open, or my inventory. And since there are a million different commands, it was really hard to see what each of them did. It didn't even occur to me to try the editor, since I figured that was advanced stuff, and I just wanted to learn how to play the game. This will make a big difference!

Wow! Thank-you! That video was hugely helpful to me, not so much for the video settings (which was informative, don't get me wrong, but the default was working fine for me), but for a way to enter the game and experiment with the controls. When I tried to play it, the game would continue even when I had the map or inventory open, so I couldn't take my time and learn what did what. I'd already found Dslyecxi's videos, which were also very helpful, but SideStrafe is really a life-saver with that one. Thanks!

Thanks for the replies! I think I understand enough to get me started. I was using X to stand and Z to lie prone, but I didn't realize that X would take me to crouch if I was already standing - things like that. And I did have a First Aid Kit in my inventory, but I thought it said I could only use it on someone else. And yeah, my guy was groaning so much it was getting annoying. :) But I didn't think to try scrolling the mouse wheel while I was in inventory (that doesn't seem intuitive, not for me, at least). I did understand to scroll the mouse wheel to switch weapons, but although I was supposed to have a pistol in inventory, I never seemed to get that as an option. Well, I'll have to play around with that some more. I'm already playing at the lowest difficulty setting - I'll likely never change that - but I didn't look at the individual settings. So if I can get a white rectangle around friendlies, I'll do it. :) I'm not sure about that stance stuff. In most games, I'm doing well to walk and shoot at the same time (without hitting anything, usually). I have to look at my notes to remember what key to press, and then look at the keyboard to press it. So for me, the simpler the better. (I'm quite a bit older than the typical gamer, and none of this comes naturally to me.) But this will be a BIG help. Thanks much!

I know this is in alpha, so I'm not expecting a tutorial. But I'm struggling to figure out anything. I know it's funny, but I can't even tell who I'm supposed to be shooting and who's on my side. Sometimes, there's a red box around the enemy, but usually not. When I tried that infantry showcase, everyone on my side died very quickly, so I started shooting everyone I saw. But do friendly troops respawn? It really was pretty funny, since I was never sure if I was murdering my own allies. And I can open up the inventory, but... what then? I can't figure out how to do anything there. When I open the inventory from a dead soldier, I can't even figure out how to take anything (not that I know why I'd want to). Also, how do I tell how badly I'm wounded? And what can I do about it? My character sounded like he wasn't feeling very well (either that, or he's a real wimp), but that's all I could tell about it. And, apparently, he can't use a first aid kit on himself. (I don't know how you use it at all.) Finally - for now - could someone explain what those numbers are at the top right of the screen. Yes, I know they have something to do with my weapon and its ammunition, but that's about it. It looks like a lot of information, but most of it doesn't tell me anything. Even when I shift through different weapons (the 'F' key), that doesn't seem to help. Oh, one more thing: Is there a crouch command? I can figure out how to lie down and how to stand up, but nothing in between. When I'm lying down, I can't see anything but grass. When I stand up, I tend to get shot. :) But maybe crouch isn't implemented yet? There wasn't a key listed in the commands. No problem, if so. Yeah, I haven't played any of the other Arma games, because I'm really bad at this stuff. (I've set the difficulty to "Recruit," and I'll probably never change that.) But these things might get me started. Thanks.