1881

Thanks for the replies. I’m using combined operations from the latest steam sale. I’ve been able to solve most of my problems by using the beta patch, switching video memory to ‘default’, adding in some lines to the shortcut specifying my number of cores and threads, and reducing settings. System specs is i7 920 and ati 4890.

I’ve played a few coop scenarios in a local server and it hasn’t hung yet, the fps is decent, and I was able to fix the lag issues by always hosting (for some reason whenever my friend hosts it is not smooth at all). Now we just have problem of sucking terribly.

1882

Good to hear.

Still, i warn you that the Harvest Red campaign, for the pace and tone it does have, imo it doesn’t make good coop material: story focused, big slowdowns in the action, parts where you only have to drive and talk to people, little action, etc… The OA campaign and coop single missions should be better for that. The new PMC campaign will permit also 2 coop.
And of course there are hundreds of user made coop misisons.

1883

Yeah thanks. We were actually thinking of starting the OA campaign instead as we are unable to get the original ARMA 2 content recognised with the beta patch.

1884

Wait, what?
You shouldn’t have problems with it. How are you launching the game exactly?

1885

I followed the readme instructions. Added the beta exe as a non-steam game into steam, added the -mod instructions in the target location, and told it to “start in” the main operation arrowhead directory. It detects the british dlc just not the base game.

1886

Mmm weird. I have the original Arma 2 (retail, non Steam), and installed over it the Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead retail. The installation detected the Arma 2 folder for me. When it finished i had the “Combined Operations” version, which it is really the two games installed in the same folder, and executing the .exe of the Arma 2 OA, which can read and use the original Arma 2 content.

The beta patch is a more recent update of the OA .exe (which as i said, also can use the original content) stored in a folder called “beta” (instead of the main folder, to not overwrite the non-beta version, so you can use both), with additional sub-folder inside which is to be launched in the game as a mod.

It’s something like this (from memory): “c:\games\arma2\beta\arma2oa.exe -mod=beta”

I don’t use Steam.

1887

Well, Timsfker, you can drop using the beta patch, because we have already a new official one.

1.56 UPDATE

Includes the new multiplayer Armorry, ARMEX, for free.

EDIT:

Data

  • Add: more camo (replaceable textures) selection for OA vehicles.
  • Fixed: missing shadows and heads in distance LODs for some OA characters.
  • Added: MP Armory.

Engine

  • Improved: -exThreads=3 now default for dual cores. <= They finally got it right, i said it some time ago.
  • Improved: -cpuCount defaults improved for 6 or more than 8 CPUs.
  • Fixed: No more LOD blending issues (esp. with vegetation).
  • Fixed: Ignored collision with some vehicles.
  • Improved: AI cover selection improved a bit.
  • New: Video options VSync selection.
  • Fixed: Character collisions with stones often resulted in flying or being stuck. (http://dev-heaven.net/issues/12043)

BAF changelog 1.01-1.02

  • Added portrait and wounds of PMC operatives
  • Fixed CM immunity of missiles
  • Missions have new headers
  • Adjusted sensitivity of Her Majesty’s soldiers
  • Music tracks have their respective names displayed
  • Adjusted values of many items in armoury
  • L111A1 sounds better on Jackals
  • Backpacks are now useable in editor
  • Fixed names of IEDs
  • Many weapons are now able to hold compatible magazines designed for other weapons
  • Snipers have learned how to handle AS50 correctly
  • US flyboys adjusted HMD for Apache and BAF pilots are now able to aim unguided missiles better
1888
  • Adjusted sensitivity of Her Majesty’s soldiers

Yeah, I noticed they would burst into tears every time they had to shoot an enemy. :)

1889

Ha ha, good one! I copied and pasted so fast i didn’t notice that one.

Also, PMC is released.

It seems the previous patch permit to play the campaign for free, but with a seriously low quality in graphics/audio.

1890

The Steam version of Combined Arms has to perform some blackflips.

1891

This game is such an unoptimized buggy mess. It’s kind of absurd that it sells as well as it does. The campaigns are so absurdly obtuse, even the most grizzled PC gamer scratches their head in befuddlement. Is it a bug? What am I supposed to do?

My favorite so far was the mission in OA where I had to use a UAV that was “attached” to an APC. There was zero explanation on how to accomplish this… they just said “hey go over to one of your APCs and there’s now a UAV terminal on it!”

So, I walk over to every APC. I get either the “gun” prompt, which opens the APCs’ armory, or I can get in back. In back, there’s nothing to do but get out. I ran around for 30 minutes trying to figure out how they expected me to use the UAV. I then resorted to go online. All the responses were “use the middle mouse to select the UAV”. This didn’t help at all. Middle mouse on any APC resulted in the above two actions. Then, one time, I accidentally, moved the mouse wheel while standing at the rear of an APC. The option to use the UAV terminal appeared in a list.

MOVE THE MOUSE WHEEL? Really? How did they possibly ever think anyone would figure that out? It is never taught to you through a tutorial or ever explained. No other game has ever used this convention. Seriously, what were they thinking?

It also runs like complete garbage on my high end system (2.66 quad core, 5770, win7 64, 4 gig RAM). I have to turn everything down to normal or low to get any sort of decent frame rate out of the thing.

It’s so goddamn frustrating because when the game is actually doing what it’s supposed to do, it’s fantastic.

1892

Moving the mouse wheel just open the action menu (like middle mouse button if there isn’t any other contextual action already chosen). All the “actions” like: open or close door, take gear, speak with someone, use an uav terminal, put a satchel charge, take intel, disable an ied, drag a wounded soldier, etc are in the action menu. I wonder how the hell you played more than 60 minutes into the game without knowing the action menu. :P
It actually makes sense to use the movement of the mouse wheel to open the action menu because the action menu is scrolled and used with the wheel (it’s just a vertical list of stuff and you highlight one), so the same thing that is used to scroll on the list, it’s also used to open it if it’s hidden, so you don’t need an extra key (because we all can agree the game doesn’t need more keys).

So, the PMC campaign is full free, without needing to buy the DLC. Strange. The cutscen videos are very compressed and the textures of the npcs are in low resolutions, that’s the bad part of not paying it, but still, strange to offer it for free.
The quality is kind of average, i hoped it for better.

1893

Of course I know how to use the action menu

How do you open the “action menu” if there is a context prompt icon other than scrolling the mouse wheel?

This is where it all breaks down. You are taught to push the middle mouse button to get the action menu, or to press middle mouse button to do a context action. It is never explained that a context action may have other actions that you can do when a context icon appears (nor does the context icon do anything to indicate this).

You just naturally thought “oh, there’s a context icon, and pressing the middle mouse button causes me to do that action immediately instead of getting the action menu. I obviously just need to scroll down on the mouse wheel when looking at a context icon to reveal the action menu instead of pressing the middle mouse button”?

1894

Dunno, i know the action list since Operation Flashpoint. :)
Are you sure it’s not mentioned in any of the several tutorial missions?

1895

Tragedy fingers
I began to hate my finger
It won’t let me play game again…

1896

I’m pretty sure it is. As well as the manual. page 3.

1897

Reported!

This person is just posting the same thing every time.

1898

So is PMC worth $10? I only have base ARMA2 but it looks intriguing. What’s new and fun lately with this game?

1899

It depends of your graphic whorism, you see, as the whole DLC is already for free, with the last patch, campaign included. The difference is the texture quality of the two new vehicles and two new weapons, the npc models, and a new little scenario called Shapur.

I am already in the fifth mission, a 2 man sniper mission where you have to disable armor with a anti material rifle (hittin the engine block using FLIR scope) while your mate cover you against infantry. It’s hard but nice mission, where you have to think before act, with stealth but tension, action and trying to lose contact with the enemy from time to time.

The 4th mission was a more simple gunner mission, using a mounted minigun on top of an armored SUV (badass!), but with the addition of having an Predator UAV in the sky to check for enemies around you and using Hellfires. The 3rd mission was a normal MOUT infantry mission with snipers on roofs and stuff, but with a M32 (6 barrel grenade launcher) on your hands.
And i don’t want to talk about the 2nd mission because it was incredibly stupid (veryyyy short, and somewhat bugged if you don’t resolve a situation in a specific way). :/
All the missions for now are normal grunt infantry missions, without heavy vehicles or leading yourself.

1900

Finished PMC. It was a 12 mission campaign (with the last mission having two alternatives, so techinically there are 13 missions), but with 3 of them too short to be callled “mission”, so it was really a 9 mission campaign.
Three or four of them good, four decent ones, and one or two missions that were… less than decent. Like the my final mission, which was pretty underwhelming. Most of them were 15 minutes affair, so it’s not a long campaign. BTW, for an ArmA campaign, it’s pretty scripted, there were some missions and some specific moments where things happen because it was planned that way (say… you are hit always in the rotor in a point of a chopper mission).

VA was a bit grating, the plot wasn’t nothing to write home about, except you can choose the outcome, and there is clue (maybe) for future Arma games.