Arma 3 hands on @ Gamescom 2012!

Could tell it was an experienced player, taking cues from forward AI and getting low, particularly getting low. Blasted COD twitch kiddies whine and call that 'noob camping' right before they are ventilated in A2. :)

Particles still have that same ol' scaling problem up close, hope they don't have max limits like A2:OA. As it is now, even the largest particle can only grow so far and not cover the entire screen, so they look as if they shrink when you run or fly through the fully developed plumes of smoke. I can live with it, looks good 90% of the time. Would be nice to have a solution to sometime later in a patch. Thanks for the intel Papanowel, hope you had fun.

Hi all,

I would like to point out that the movement animations are looking very good, they seem smooth and very responsive.

Although, I can't even believe that, after another iteration of the game, still lacks almost all other types of animations other then non-movement related...

Will we need to wait for another iteration of the game so we can have units actually opening a door on a vehicle and get inside, instead of the same old teleport thing?

Why do the NVGoggles still pop-up in front of your eyes and out?

Why does the units still crouch like they are resting or something, when you make actions like deactivate a mine and/or pickup stuff?

Why do units still magically chance zeroing with some kind of invisible hand?

Why does that odd head movement that allows you to see inside your own neck still hasn't been fixed?

Not to mention all the other animations that simply have not been showed, such has medical and dragging, carrying animations, get over objects, grenade throwing (still stuck while doing so), etc. Will these get some attention too?

On another note, why does the technology/system behind the animations seems pretty much the same? The transitions still look as odd as in Arma 2? Like the get prone/stand or running and hit crouch.

Also, wasn't there plans to have some kind of semi-procedural animations for legs like when on uneven terrain/surface?

To add my 2 cents, I always find AI mounted machine guns have pinpoint accuracy on targeting the cockpit. T72s expecially. Armour on a chopper isn't much use when the pilot can be killed so easily. I know the dsvk was designed with a dual anti-infantry/anti-air role in mind but in Arma they're so effective you can look at T72s as AA units.

Or any coax mg in the hands of the AI for that matter.Even on medium skill(0.50) some opfor riding with their crappy technical could headshot the pilot 1000m away,slight exaggeration but I lost count how many times I lost AI air support due to this.Hope I don't see this freak show in community alpha.

Thanks for uploading the video, the particle effects look great!

Did movement feel more fluid than in Arma2?

Like neokika said above, it is clearly more fluide than A2 ;)

@Riouken I guess you never realized there are other choppers in A2CO too,hmm something called Hind and many others.Apaches aren't the only ones with missiles.:j:

It's ok,you still have plenty of time to discover them until A3.

You should learn the difference between anti-materiel and anti-personnel.

No joke you say that 50cal anti-materiel round in the engine block takes out a heli, maybe because that is exactly what it is supposed to do. They have specific Anti-Air versions of the DSHK - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MITRALOZ_12.7_mm_KA.jpg

Just like a stinger, those weapons are DESIGNED to shoot down aircraft. Are you saying that they should not be able to?

---------- Post added at 10:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:08 AM ----------

The point you Shagulon and Riouken seems to miss was that my post wasn't about how a chopper goes down from mg fire,but about the AI.Specifically the part where they drive and pilot.I expected some more cover on this issue and wanted see if there was any improvement on how things work this time(better driving,hover command for gunships when engaging etc).

GC was a good occasion to show if they improved things AI-side but I can only say I had a deja vu when I saw those gunships attack the airfield.

While I will agree that the AI are far from perfect. What game has better AI simulation on this level?

I think BI is doing exactly what they should do, then need to polish the game and give us the tools to really push the envelope with the game. ie.. the already mentioned tools to alter the reload animations and the new config viewer. Hopefully they have other tools made for us as well.

That was weird, kinda like how the volumetric clouds react to movement.

That's particle physics, already confirmed via other videos. Refer to http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/oymbet/arma-iii-gc-2012--tech-demo-walkthrough--cam- Helo's rotor displacing missile smoke trails.

I´ve just gotten back from GC. I´ve tried the A3 demo there, but you can barely scratch the surface in the 10 minutes or so that you get playing. Most of my time was spent talking to Gaia, which was revealing. I learned quite a few interesting things about the AI, the dev pipeline and the new gameplay oriented design.

What I saw in the tech demos was fun. Replacing optics/lights works really neatly, reload animations are smooth, and the new posturing/character handling feels great too. You can actually shoot on the move now and be reasonably accurate within 30 meters or so. I actually didn´t get to test -a lot- of the things I wanted to look at for lack of time (simply too many things to do), but I got a look at the Infantry showcase, the new CQB course, a handful of weapons (MX, Tar-51, Vector and P07.). Gaia also showed me snippets of the press-only showcases, which nicely portrayed the enhanced particle effects.

The visuals by the way are fantastic. The framerates were in the moderate upper range (20+ depending on the scenario you tried in my cases), and the infantry showcase stuttered pretty badly due to the computers overheating inside their cases.

The physics I didn´t get to see, due to time constraints, aside from a few ragdoll flipflops and flying handgrenades (they work better now, btw). I have to note, though, that the gunplay is improved in general, since it´s more speedy and less clunky, due to the new gunmod features and animations, you also feel more attached and involved with your weapon.

Sound is tip-top, aside from a few samples that I like because of personal taste (handgrenade explosions for example). I asked also wether I could have a look at the editor, but that wasn´t possible at that point unfortunately. However, I learned that they are working on improving the existing editor to make it work better, similar to the way they expanded the Editor in TOH, except specifically geared towards Arma (obvsly). The 3D editor will stay for sure, it seems, so we can stay hopeful that once time and resources become available, it will start to be developed further too.

What I learned about the AI was pretty surprising. The gist of it is that previously, the AI was being expanded instead of being properly configged, while now they are specifically working on making the configs work out so the AI stop making baby mistakes. (Snipers getting stuck with their handguns out, or soldiers refusing to throw grenades, for example. The AI in A3, as far as I could see, now use grenades very often when they are trying to get at an opponent they can´t directly see.)

The animation system as well as the control scheme are also in flux now. The scheme used at Gamescom was basically the usual Arma 2 layout, with some keys added to accomodate the new movement features (ctrl +w/s to peek up, duck down in increments from any position, for example.). BI have developed several layouts, it seems, and I would expect them to visit them upon the community in the forthcoming alpha (which I forgot to ask about: I didn´t make a list. :( ), to see which way works best for the players.

As far as mission design goes, gameplay will trump screenplay. Contrary to most big games studios (thinking specifically of the COD developer types here), BI are fully aware that they are making games, not movies, so they are trying to create cool missions first, before trying to tell a convoluted story. OFP:R and Arma were mentioned as examples, as well as a handful of other titles from the past that did it right.

That´s about all I can think of right now. I didn´t really plan because it turned into a last-minute decision to go there, and in the end I spent most of my time at BI talking with Gaia and another dev from the Carrier Command team (Sorry I forgot your name, sir) about gamesdesign and games in general, and the relation of everything to BI´s games. Suffice it to say, I am looking forward to how Arma 3 will turn out. I am a little more hopeful now that it´ll be great, but until I see and can participate in the alpha, and see the outcome of that, I´ll hold back my verdict.

Oh also the textures are great.

Cheers, Insta.

Hi InstaGoat and thanks for reporting this in :)

I'm confused by what you mean here:

What I learned about the AI was pretty surprising. The gist of it is that previously, the AI was being expanded instead of being properly configged, while now they are specifically working on making the configs work out so the AI stop making baby mistakes. (Snipers getting stuck with their handguns out, or soldiers refusing to throw grenades, for example. The AI in A3, as far as I could see, now use grenades very often when they are trying to get at an opponent they can´t directly see.)

Basically I thought that the AI being better configged then expanded was the gist BI had been telling us? Are you just confirming this here or was something else surprising?

Thanks for the preview, CTRL+W/S confirmed for duck, lean over - sweet.

Gaia also showed me snippets of the press-only showcases, which nicely portrayed the enhanced particle effects.

Could you expand on this? What examples were you shown, what were the initial expectations of what would happen and the resulting impression afterwards? If particle physics is confirmed, then this feature is up there with ragdolls, underwater expansion and animation revamp!

As far as the press-only showcases, the ones I saw were an infantry combat showcase focusing on the engineer unit (which was quite stuttery due to the boiling comps) and the supports showcase. There specifically, the command interface for calling the shots: it uses the drop down numbers menu, but you just point at the map, click trough the menu and the rounds get fired on target. They are non-scripted, but are actual in-world shells (so basically they carried on with the system they started for Arma 2). What was noticeable (also well visible in some of the videos that seem to be out there showing the arty) was that the rockets glare was now visible way out into the sky, instead of disappearing like they do in A2. The impact FX were pretty nice, as far as I am concerned, but I am pretty sure that those will change during the devprocess as more community feedback comes in, especially once the community alpha starts (Which I unfortunately also forgot to ask about.).

About the infantry, I also learned that the types of protective gear you can wear will influence where and how much damage you take upon being hit. That means that bodyarmour and helmets are no gimmicks, but have actual gameplay impact. The only thing that´s not implemented right now (another nice to have but not high on the list feature) was working HUD glasses.

There´s also new general HUD features being implemented for various units, regarding their specialty professions so to speak. For example, engineers can lay mines and can (provided the difficulty feature is enabled) see where they have placed their mines via HUD overlay. Their non-engineer teammates can´t, however, so the engi will need to communicate his minefield positions with his teammates. There are a variety of mines, which apparently can also be set down in different modes, movement trigger, radio triggers and I also saw a booby trapped house door using a tripwire. All in all, those were pretty exciting to see.

What´s also interesting is the new gear system, which is pretty nice to see in the videos we´ve gotten from E3 and Gamescom so far. It takes a bit getting used to, but you get used to it faster than the old system, which is good. There´s new highlight features, and you can see pretty well how heavy your loadout is, and where you´re carrying your gear. For example, in the current iteration you can carry a single mag on your person, and a number of mags on your chestrig (didn´t test how many, but I would expect at least as many as you can in Arma 2). I wanted to check wether your loadout changed the look of your vest, but unfortunately I got too caught up in playing to actually pay attention to that. If they are using memory points like for the rifles, for example, one could easily imagine different ammo causing different pouches to appear on the rig. Modders could, probably, go as far as limiting which pouch can be used with which vest (ie, MOLLE compatabillity).

Well again, basically what I initially said. I was told that one problem with developing the AI so far has been that new features had been added, while old ones basically were carried over. As old developers went and new ones came, documentation was neglected, so at times, the people currently working on the AI themselves don´t know what part does what. The result of that is the AI in Arma 2 is as clunky as it is sometimes: it´s not because it is bad, it´s just that it is made of lots of parts that were left unadjusted. So, what they are doing with Arma 3 is apparently one big spring-clean trough the AI framework, building and confirming documentation, constructing up-to-date tools to adjust and test the AI, and iron out the bugs.

That said, what I saw from the AI was okay, solid work as far as Arma goes. They react not faster, but smoother and more consistently. I didn´t see -much- though, and I couldn´t do any controlled tests like I did with my AI boxes I have on youtube, so the verdict is still out on this one.

If I remember anything else, I´ll post it here as it pops up, or if you have more questions I might be able to answer.

Cheerio

Insta

Edit: plug again. Derp

Thanks InstaGoat, that was very informative. I wish i could be there, but i'm getting a tan on the French riviera :p

Thanks for the info InstaGoat.

Its looking pretty good to me especially considering there's still quite a lot of development time.

One thing that I've noticed with the various videos is that there is hardly any recoil on the weapons.

At the moment its looking a bit boring because its quite easy to spray bullets at an enemy and mow him down.

I understand the "trained soldiers can control their weapons" thing but it needs some player skill to control the recoil.

Edit: selfcensorship omg. Wasn´t sure that the AI things were correct the way I laid them out, removed them just to be safe. Wrong statements can cause PR problems, and I don´t want to be the source of a potential faceplant for my fav company 8(.

Also lol no experience with relaying stuff like this, I´m not even sure I´m allowed to talk at all. :P

You're not responsible for marketing of ARMA III or Bohemia's public relations.

I'm sure BI will kindly inform you or remove themselves any stuff you aren't "allowed" to tell, but I'm also sure they've taken into account that many people who don't feel the need of "loyalty" towards BI will be playing their tech demo and asking them questions and will be willing to relay forward what they while playing saw and how they intepreted it on sites and forums which BI doesnt have any kind of censorship access to.

I'm sure there's also alot of people interested in the developements of the AI in arma here and it would be pretty convenient if you just were willing to tell what you saw and what it looked like to you to full detail instead of forcing "self censorship" upon yourself.

You're not responsible for marketing of ARMA III or Bohemia's public relations.

I'm sure BI will kindly inform you or remove themselves any stuff you aren't "allowed" to tell, but I'm also sure they've taken into account that many people who don't feel the need of "loyalty" towards BI will be playing their tech demo and asking them questions and will be willing to relay forward what they while playing saw and how they intepreted it on sites and forums which BI doesnt have any kind of censorship access to.

I'm sure there's also alot of people interested in the developements of the AI in arma here and it would be pretty convenient if you just were willing to tell what you saw and what it looked like to you to full detail instead of forcing "self censorship" upon yourself.

You´re right. However, my major concern isn´t just the company, but the people I was talking to. I don´t want to get anybody in trouble :P

But that´s not the topic of this thread. At bottom, what I heard surprised me in a way, but it also didn´t, especially in the light of the massive changes that happened when OFP2 was cancelled and BI left Codemasters and started working on Game2 and Armed Assault. For me, it´s positive news, because it means that instead of just slapping more things on, they are working on fixing what´s inadequate or downright broken right now, or at least figuring out ways to find the spots where the problem actually lies. The AI is an important part, and every AI addon I don´t need to use means that they made one step closer to where the AI should be in terms of abillity and difficulty.

But that also means that, I think, we can´t expect complex tasks to be performed by the AI yet (automatic placing of portable heavy weapons, automatic minelaying and demining, use of backpacks, automatic sharing of ammo, etc, all the things mods like ASR do for Arma 2 right now, basically.). But, I am hoping for a positive suprise later in this regard. As far as current total potential of the AI, I´ll wait until I manage to get into the alpha and actually test them in a controlled setting myself.

You should learn the difference between anti-materiel and anti-personnel.

No joke you say that 50cal anti-materiel round in the engine block takes out a heli, maybe because that is exactly what it is supposed to do. They have specific Anti-Air versions of the DSHK - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MITRALOZ_12.7_mm_KA.jpg

Just like a stinger, those weapons are DESIGNED to shoot down aircraft. Are you saying that they should not be able to?

While I will agree that the AI are far from perfect. What game has better AI simulation on this level?

I think BI is doing exactly what they should do, then need to polish the game and give us the tools to really push the envelope with the game. ie.. the already mentioned tools to alter the reload animations and the new config viewer. Hopefully they have other tools made for us as well.

I know some of those guns have versions for AA,but I doubt the crappy UAZ in-game was carrying the AA version of the 12.7mm.

One round put the Hind out of business,I tested the same 12.7mm mg on Apache and Cobra,multiple rounds in the engine block didn't put them down,simple as that.Which brings me to the point where AI air support is pretty non existent for a big part of factions in A2CO(basically anyone else besides the US and Russia).

Also I see you quoted my post on the last page but you missed this part:

MI-24:

"The body is heavily armored and can resist impacts from .50 caliber (12.7 mm) rounds from all angles, including the titanium rotor blades.The cockpit is protected by ballistic-resistant windscreens and a titanium-armored tub."

Now it's pretty logical that sustained fire from .50 or 12.7 will get them down eventually but that wasn't my point.

My point was the AI isn't sloppy but on some areas it's so bad that you simply can't overlook it.And no I don't expect them to be perfect,I expect them to do their job.

In scenarios the AI rears it's ugly part like me and others said right here,the gunship support gets destroyed in the first minutes because they can't keep safe distance when engaging and fly exactly over the enemy in straight line,or some AI low tech mg gunner on ground acts like Vasily Zaytsev and puts round after round in a chopper from 1000m,or some motorized column is stuck in some craphole because some bunny crossed the street or they can't make a turn in a village and reaches its target after it's too late and so on.

It was acceptable when Ofp was released because it was something new,it was acceptable in Arma 1 because maybe they still didn't had enough experience,it was also acceptable in A2 when it was released,but it's no way acceptable in 2012 and with A2CO 1.62.So I think you understand why I raised my eyebrow when I saw in the GC A3 video the same shit like I saw thousands of times before.That small scene where the AI gunships attack the airfield exactly the same way like they did in the past made me very suspicious of how much they did improved the AI piloting&driving.

What I learned about the AI was pretty surprising. The gist of it is that previously, the AI was being expanded instead of being properly configged, while now they are specifically working on making the configs work out so the AI stop making baby mistakes. (Snipers getting stuck with their handguns out, or soldiers refusing to throw grenades, for example. The AI in A3, as far as I could see, now use grenades very often when they are trying to get at an opponent they can´t directly see.)

Thanks for the report InstaGoat,but did you catch any glimpse of how AI drives&pilot besides the infantry stuff??

Well again, basically what I initially said. I was told that one problem with developing the AI so far has been that new features had been added, while old ones basically were carried over. As old developers went and new ones came, documentation was neglected, so at times, the people currently working on the AI themselves don´t know what part does what. The result of that is the AI in Arma 2 is as clunky as it is sometimes: it´s not because it is bad, it´s just that it is made of lots of parts that were left unadjusted

Well that sounds like a programmers nightmare...

Also explains why they don't want to reveal or go into their plans for AI- as a streamlined, working foundation has to take precedence. Good luck BI!

Another interview of Ivan Buchta, this time for InGame.de:

This is a good one Lord Buchta! Very informative and very high quality! Thx arigram!

Well that sounds like a programmers nightmare...

Also explains why they don't want to reveal or go into their plans for AI- as a streamlined, working foundation has to take precedence. Good luck BI!

I know why people are so eager to see improved AI, but BIS aren't even through adding features and functions, all of which must be accessible to the AI. So other than some general cleanup and tweaking of the existing stuff I don't expect drastic changes until after the public alpha when a feature freeze is instituted.

(thanks for the info InstaGoat! )

I agree, the interview was very enjoyable and informative, thanks L.I.!

Will we need to wait for another iteration of the game so we can have units actually opening a door on a vehicle and get inside, instead of the same old teleport thing?

Why do the NVGoggles still pop-up in front of your eyes and out?

Why does the units still crouch like they are resting or something, when you make actions like deactivate a mine and/or pickup stuff?

Why do units still magically chance zeroing with some kind of invisible hand?

Why does that odd head movement that allows you to see inside your own neck still hasn't been fixed?

Not to mention all the other animations that simply have not been showed, such has medical and dragging, carrying animations, get over objects, grenade throwing (still stuck while doing so), etc. Will these get some attention too?

BI could spend years perfectly motion-capturing all those little animations, right up to the point where the game because a corridor shooter because they ran out of funds making cosmetic additions instead of improving and expanding gameplay. Just my two cents, but I hope it's worth $20 to BI.

We are getting contradicting reviews regarding the fluidity/clunkiness of the new movement system and the opposing reviews are coming from dependable arma veterans. I wish I could have made to Gamescom to decide for myself, it's going to feel like an eternity waiting for the Community Alpha.

lets just say that some people really want to have a system where avatars are going to automatically adject their stance whatever they come behind to and with the additional effect where the weapon would rest on that weapon on the object, which is a good idea, then again, easier said then done. And there are people who think want that "press X to stick to the wall" stupid thing should come as a part as well, which I totally against.

lets just say that some people really want to have a system where avatars are going to automatically adject their stance whatever they come behind to and with the additional effect where the weapon would rest on that weapon on the object, which is a good idea, then again, easier said then done. And there are people who think want that "press X to stick to the wall" stupid thing should come as a part as well, which I totally against.

That "stupid" part was introduced with SMK mod, by a guy who now works for BI. I don't see anything stupid about it. Would you like it if your avatar turned his back whenever you approached a wall? You can't have everything automatic, that would result in chaotic movement most of the time. Modifier key is welcomed IMO.

We are getting contradicting reviews regarding the fluidity/clunkiness of the new movement system and the opposing reviews are coming from dependable arma veterans. I wish I could have made to Gamescom to decide for myself, it's going to feel like an eternity waiting for the Community Alpha.

That "stupid" part was introduced with SMK mod, by a guy who now works for BI. I don't see anything stupid about it. Would you like it if your avatar turned his back whenever you approached a wall? You can't have everything automatic, that would result in chaotic movement most of the time. Modifier key is welcomed IMO.

One thing that I've noticed with the various videos is that there is hardly any recoil on the weapons.

At the moment its looking a bit boring because its quite easy to spray bullets at an enemy and mow him down.

I understand the "trained soldiers can control their weapons" thing but it needs some player skill to control the recoil.

It is stupid as there really have do not have use other then initializing all those other move, not to mention that it is actually lethal to do that(You ain't looking for "work", nor you are ready to due with it under this state, and I don't think I really need to repeat all those ricochet problem IRL here)