vran.

Some nice Soviet era islands for OFP/CWA with new buildings, stuctures, etc. Links: Real Kolgujev USSR island Red Square is a reality in OFP. :)

Teaser trailer: Doesn't show much apart from the fact it will be a proper Doom game and not a CoD want-to-be. The first two games are still very playlable, iconic shooters, and the third one, although it went into a slighty different direction, was also an enjoyable and visually amazing game for it's time. Alongside Wolfenstein 3D, Doom is regarded as one of the first titles to shape and popularize the first-person shooter genre which eventually diversified into several sub-genres. Although if you're looking for tactics and realism you're looking at the wrong game - Doom is all about massive carnage and plays more like Arcade 'run and gun' games, only from a first-person perspective. The appeal are the heavy weapons, the tough monsters, the rocking soundtrack, the diverse levels, the carnage, the struggle when playing on higher difficulty levels (running out of ammo, looking for health packs), the community created content and so on. Doom is rightfully respected as one of the fathers of the FPS genre and also responsible for popularizing the PC as a gaming platform. Of course all this is written for those who are new to the series which I doubt many here are. :)

I think this mod deserves more exposure as it's really ambitious. Basically the idea is to re-create the first Mafia game in OFP so if you're a fan of OFP and Mafia, you should check this out. The page and download link for the mod is located here (to read in English press the USA flag on top): http://arma-cwa.ru/mafia-in-ofp.html It also comes with a few nice missions which sadly weren't translated into English so you'll have to figure it out to progress in the game (here is hope for an English translation :p ) and there's a few funny bugs but it's a nice attempt to bring Mafia to OFP. The guys are also making a campaign for the mod which is nearing completion.

Having played all major ArmA titles (OFP with it's expansions/ArmA CWA, ArmA 1, ArmA 2 & Arrowhead, ArmA 3), which of them was/is your favourite? For me, my fave is (surprise surprise ;) ) OFP aka now called ArmA Cold War Assault. This game defined the military tactical battlefield shooter in my eyes and despite some pretty dated graphics and odd bugs remains my favourite in the series. The missions and campaign were great, superb and tense atmosphere and believable scenarios. Even the characters had a personality to them (Kozlovsky, Guba, Troska, so on). But there was much more to the game as the in-game mission editor and a thrieving modding/addons making scene provided more than enough value and continued existence. I was more of a SP player in the past times but eventually I also started playing MP (rather late which I regret a little) and messing with mods. Despite some technical obstacles, OFP/CWA remains a true classic game that still is being played thanks to solid gameplay mechanics and tons of community created content for it. OFP's successor in spirit (let's not stain the good name of the game with the awful Dragon Rising shall we? :p ), ArmA Armed Assault, left me with mixed feelings. On one hand, the graphics were greatly improved and the game also had modernized gameplay mechanics which are still in use today (3D iron sights, leaning, swimming and so on), but it felt quite sterile and without any character when compared to OFP. It felt more like a very advanced modification of OFP for modern times. Not that there would be something inherently wrong with that concept, it's just that it didn't feel very absorbing. At this point I also believe the community changed a little because ArmA was marketed strictly to 'hard core realism' enthusiats rather than the more universal appeal of OFP (which was also played by '3D shooter' fans). ArmA II improved upon Armed Assault in various ways and felt like a more 'complete' game. But I personally didn't like it that much. The interface was odd to me, the control mapping likewise and the game had hideous graphics with all the blooming and blurring going on. It also felt really drab with odd graphical glitches. I also didn't like the shaking camera and generally the game felt like someone was trying too hard to make it 'super realistic' (which it wasn't really). The single player campaign was a mixed bag. Better than Armed Assault's one but still not quite up to OFP standards. The MP part also left me unimpressed. As a mainly co-op player, the co-op missions in A2 all felt like a big chore. Like playing a CTI/Warfare mission in co-operative style. I wasn't part of any clan so I didn't get to experience the smaller, more focused co-ops in this game. The Arrowhead expansion added more new stuff to the game and was okay but nothing that I would be overtly interested or excited for (felt like a glorified A2 mod :p ). The campaign showed some improvements though, and was short but enjoyable. ArmA 3 took the series into another setting with a more futuristic feel to it. This didn't resonate with many players of the series but I personally think it was a good thing that BI shaked things up a bit and not just rehash the same thing over again. The gigantic mediterranean Altis is also impressive, one of the best modeled terrains I have seen. The movement mechanics and control were improved from A2 and the game feels more 'natural' to me. One of the issues with the game was a lack of content at release period, but with continued support BI provided more content to the game (in the form of commercial DLC but better than nothing :p ). As a long time player of the series, I continue to be impressed with the advancements to the core engine and A3 was not a different story. Things like the ability to dive, picture in picture and improved physics are all nice to behold. While some things would still need improvement, I believe BI is a company with a Vision which accompanies the creation and development of their games. This Vision may not be in tune with everyone but it most certainly means that they attempt to incorporate ambitious and progressive elements into their game. So there is no surprise that the new chosen terrain, Tanoa, already looks very promising. This continued support and a healthy addon/modding scene means that A3 is a very worthwhile game for fans of the series that takes it into new directions. The single player campaign is also pretty good and I would say A3 is already my fave ArmA since OFP/CWA. So if I had to make a quick list I would say: 1. ArmA: Cold War Assault (Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis + Red Hammer + Resistance) 2. ArmA 3 (+ DLCs) 3. ArmA 2 (+ Operation Arrowhead) 4. ArmA: Armed Assault What about you, which is your fave and why? I'm posting this here because most of us are here because of the ArmA games but if this belongs more into the gaming subforum then the thread can be moved there.

Looks like you guys are making Episode 3 come true, in a Greek, open-world, squad-based tactical and realistic fashion. :)

Steam Machines are not officially out yet, they will be released in autumn. And I think they have a chance at getting success since all pre-orders are already reserved. I think Steam Machines could appeal to a more mainstream audience who don't want to bother with putting together their own PC but would still like to enjoy the higher fidelity, options (customization, mods, etc) and the more in-depth type of games (simulators, strategies, MMO, etc) it offers. It was said that games like Total War and Civilization will support Steam controller which is supposedly the best substitute for a mouse and keyboard. Maybe Bohemia will opt to support it too and port ArmA or Day-Z over. It could be the 'PC console' done right. Half-Life 3 not happening has more to do with Valve's own direction btw. They became more a software distribution service company and are now entering the hardware platform arena too and they also said that they are more focused on online MP games now.

Here's some more games which could be seen as 'true sandboxes' - From Dust, Black & White 2 (first one is better imo), Sim City, Cities: Skylines, Spore.

OFP fits your description perfectly. :p You can make almost anything in it if you really want to, despite some engine limitations. Otherwise there's a lot of open world, sandboxy games out there, as mentioned the likes of TES, GTA, Fallout, Far Cry and so on. And if you don't have a problem with childish themes, Minecraft and Lego Worlds.

Yes and this is the reason why CPU development somewhat slowed down in recent few years. First quad cores were already available a good ten years ago (remember Intel Q6600 and AMD Phenom line), what has been improved in the meanwhile were clock speeds, SIMD instructions and larger 3rd level cache memory. Not unimportant improvements but they can only go so far with the speeds on affordable/viable cooling solutions and large cache memory ups the production costs significantly. One would expect by now 8 or more cores would already be established and well supported but this is not so. As you say, majority of games only make use of quad cores, some even only dual cores. Maybe this will change when DX12 comes out and also due to many games these days being developed also for the consoles which have very slow but 8 core CPUs, effectively forcing developers to make better usage of multi threading.

Well my first ever system was the ZX Spectrum but my first game console was also the NES, aka Family Computer. Real fun system in it's time and it's still fun to play in a nostalgic fashion (you can't beat Mario Bros. 3, Contra and Jackal ;) ). It's interesting to think Nintendo had a great success almost the same time as Apple and that both CEOs had almost the same fate. And although in recent times Nintendo aren't commercially as successful, they still have a passion for their thing, as you say a gaming-oriented company for all ages.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/13/tech/nintendo-ceo-satoru-iwata-legacy/ Apparently it was bile cancer. Like many others, I too was growing up on Nintendo games, although the last Nintendo system I had was the GameCube, before switching almost completely to PC gaming. The man was reponsible for the Wii and DS family of games consoles which made gaming accessible to practically everyone.

edit: nevermind, I've seen you know of it well (post can be deleted)

Of course more fps is always better. Not sure why this is debated. Although you sometimes go for less fps in exchange for more graphical detail. If you guys didn't care about graphics you'd still be playing OFP... ;)

Really nice update of the models, textures, lighting and intro scenes. But I must ask, will there be some material settings for surfaces and models too? Because I feel your mod would really benefit from some extra visual flair. :)

I have no such issues, no. I use 1.99 version though (loaded via FWatch exe but this addon doesn't make any use of it), not 1.96.

Indeed, a super fast clocked single core CPU would be best solution for A3. The speeds you mention aren't far fetched, though, I highly doubt you could OC a processor to those levels and not burn it, even using liquid nitrogen. :p edit: I correct myself, looks like Bulldozers could indeed be clocked to those speeds. Practical usage of such OCing is questionable however.

I tested the addon and Soviet tanks attack it normally. It seems it could be your issue for which I don't know the cause.

Worked for me. I once made a mission about mechs attacking North Korea (yes I know... ;) ) and the tanks fired at me.

I would hold off getting a AMD for ArmA because it does not support them well. It was proven on there with evidence that ArmA 3 only makes use of four cores from the total of eight cores the FX 8350 has. But for most other things more cores = better (if the program or game supports it).

Yeah this is true, A3 MP code not designed for large player counts and resource heavy missions or mods. Will have to wait till next gen ArmA for improvements in that direction, maybe then large scale battles like in Planetside 2 will be possible. DX12 should bring some performance improvements though.

I don't understand how a nation that used to be the cradle of European/Western civilization in the ancient times and has so much things (water, islands, tourism, good climate the whole year) can be 'broke' in today's times. I guess there is just too much corruption at the state level or the crediting/debt system simply doesn't function. I don't buy the notion that the Greek people somehow imposed that upon themselves. That would be underestimating a whole nation. Worth noting is that most Southern (& Eastern) part of Europe is full of corruption and 'under the belt' business. It would be better if the Scandinavian/Nordic model would be followed, where corruption rates are said to be low and individual freedom valued.

SW in OFP (2 parts):

Nevermind (delete post please).

I think ArmA 3 could be the last 'traditional' ArmA game as we know it. I think the series could evolve into a more massive sandbox simulation game that will simply provide the tools to the player to make his own type of gameplay and scenarios. So the game could be played as either a dead-on realistic military simulation or something else entirely, be it life simulation or space exploration theme. But this is just my vision. :p