Old and new shortcut switches that make it run better

How to apply:

1. Right click on Arma2 shortcut

2. Properties

3. In target window after the closing quote mark add switch(es) like this:

"C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2.exe" -nosplash -world=empty -maxmem=2047

So far:

-winxp, use it in Vista/W7 to enable multi-GPU support

-nosplash, skip those splash screens

-world=empty, doesn't load as much stuff for menu, starts faster

-maxmem=2047, allows game engine to use more RAM (2047 is hardcoded maximum atm, anything higher falls back to 2047). Make sure you have at least 3-4Gb for this to work.

-window, windowed mode

-noCB, turns off multicore drawing, slow down rendering but may resolve visual glitches

-cpuCount=X, change X to a number equal or less than numbers of available cores. This will override our autodetection.

Changing affinity on the fly is definitely not good, because worker threads are spawned on the game initialization,

and by lowering affinity later you cause threads competing for cores.

The best way to simulate dual core on quad core is to use -cpuCount=2 when you run the game

and then change the affinity to 2 cores to make sure additional cores can never be used when some overshedulling happens.

It might be also possible to set the affinity in the OS before you launch the process, that would work as well.

Non-performance related:

-mod=XYZ where XYZ is modfolder in "C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\"

-profiles=profiles - will store profile info and missions in main C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\Arma 2\profiles folder

Keep adding new things you discover...

The old maxmem argument from Arma 1 works too, i.e:

-maxmem=4096

seems to stop texture loading lag for me which only started happening after patch 1.01

The old maxmem argument from Arma 1 works too, i.e:

-maxmem=4096

seems to stop texture loading lag for me which only started happening after patch 1.01

Thanks, Ohara also confirmed. And there are reports from people with 6+ Gb of RAM showing that this helped to improve the game.

Maybe this should be a sticky!

Do i have to separate these to add multiple commands, or is it ok like this:

"C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2.exe" -nosplash -maxmem=2048

?

Do i have to separate these to add multiple commands, or is it ok like this:

"C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2.exe" -nosplash -maxmem=2048

?

Afaik you´re right on!

Stick me please

Maximal allowed value for -maxmem is 2047. Anything above is clamped to 2047. If anyone seems any difference between 2047 and 4096, you fell a victim of wishful thinking.

Will you be fixing this issue in further patches Suma ?

please add to:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA:_Startup_Parameters

Will you be fixing this issue in further patches Suma ?

To do that they would need to make a 64-bit version of ArmA 2.

2GB of RAM is the maximum a 32-bit application can use as far as I know.

To do that they would need to make a 64-bit version of ArmA 2.

2GB of RAM is the maximum a 32-bit application can use as far as I know.

that's 3 gigsa for a 32 bit system.

This question is better answerd by a Dev, but anyone that KNOWS for sure is welcome to reply. TIA!

"-maxmem=2047, allows game engine to use more RAM (2047 is hardcoded maximum atm, anything higher falls back to 2047). Make sure you have at least 3-4Gb for this to work."

Ok I have 4Gb Ram Installed and wondered if using "-maxmem=2047" will increase the amount of memory used by ArmA II. Does the game use less than 2047 by default if I do not use that startup param?? What is the hardcoded minimum or default amount if the param is not used?

that's 3 gigsa for a 32 bit system.

Isn't it only with PAE /3GB switch enabled? By default it's 2GB.

Im pretty suprised there is no arma64 exe, 64 bit os's are being used much more now than 32 bit of late and 4gb ram is the standard in most builds now. crazy stuff... They could release a 64 bit exe for us pretty easy I believe..

Im pretty suprised there is no arma64 exe, 64 bit os's are being used much more now than 32 bit of late and 4gb ram is the standard in most builds now. crazy stuff... They could release a 64 bit exe for us pretty easy I believe..

64bit will give you benefit of addressing more than 2-3GB of ram for application. If devs feel that it's plenty, I don't see a reason to compile it in 64bit and then make sure everything else working properly. I'd rather have BIS spend time on tweaking/improving one PC version.

please add to:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/ArmA:_Startup_Parameters

Yep, just added. I haven't started Arma2 specific section - just added "(Arma2)". Feel free to move around.

Cheers.

So the -cpuCount should not be touched unless you want to limit cores? If i use dual core then the game will detect and use that?

Alex

Thanks very much, this thread saves ALOT of searching/new threads for all the people about to get the game within the next 24 hours.

+1 vote for sticky

72;1314929']So the -cpuCount should not be touched unless you want to limit cores? If i use dual core then the game will detect and use that?

Alex

That's correct, by default the engine is multi-core aware and the load will be split among the available cores. In rare circumstances you might want to limit to 2. Single core will struggle with Arma2.

Isn't it only with PAE /3GB switch enabled? By default it's 2GB.

The -cpuCount=X does not appear to work?

I'm doing some testing and the demo version is still using 2 cores... I want to see how it would run with 1 core etc....

Yapa

This question is better answerd by a Dev, but anyone that KNOWS for sure is welcome to reply. TIA!

"-maxmem=2047, allows game engine to use more RAM (2047 is hardcoded maximum atm, anything higher falls back to 2047). Make sure you have at least 3-4Gb for this to work."

Ok I have 4Gb Ram Installed and wondered if using "-maxmem=2047" will increase the amount of memory used by ArmA II. Does the game use less than 2047 by default if I do not use that startup param?? What is the hardcoded minimum or default amount if the param is not used?

I would like to know aswell. Could someone answer this?

I would like to know aswell. Could someone answer this?

and me too!

I would like to see a x64 version added, i payed good money for my ram, let me use it :)

Not to mention Arma 2 generally runs like crap.