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[Anton Sugar]

Official ARMA 2: OA site

Basics
ARMA 2: OA is the standalone expansion to the milsim game by Bohemia Interactive, ARMA 2.

ARMA 2 was/is the spiritual successor to the Operation: Flashpoint series. ARMA 2 was essentially "buggy but beautiful", and OA intends to provide a newer, richer experience while also correcting a lot of the original game's bugs and missteps.

Main Features

New Playable Content
New story campaign for both SP and MP gameplay. Wide range of new tutorials, single scenarios and multiplayer modes.

Massive Game World
Three brand new Central Asia-style large maps including expansive urban, desert and mountainous terrain featuring a fully destructible and interactive environment.

Extra Units and Vehicles
Multiple factions for all sides including US Army, United Nations, Takistani Army and Guerrillas making a collection of 300+ new units, weapons and vehicles.

Ultimate war experience
Fully integrates with the original Arma 2 for unmatched warfare simulation.

Unique Gameplay Elements
Detachable backpacks with equipment, advanced weapon optics, material penetration modelling, remote real-time simulation of Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAV) and much more

The following information is edited slightly and taken from this post (recommend you check it out, lots of info): http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=83717

Overview:

Three years after the confl ict in Chernarus, portrayed in the original Arma II, a new fl ashpoint in the Green Sea region heats up and coalition forces led by the US Army are sent to Takistan to quickly restore peace and prevent further civilian casualties.

Players will enlist into various roles within the US Army, from basic infantrymen, through special operatives, to pilots and tank crew in this new installment in the award winning line up of military simulators for PC from Bohemia Interactive.



Features:

Takistan 160km² 160 square km of Central Asia modeled with extreme precision using real world data

Zargabad 70km² 70 square km of extremely realistic environment including full areas of dense urban CQB conflicts.

New Factions: German KSK, Czech Army, the Takistani Army and local militias

Over 100 new vehicels and over 80 new Weapons For example Sweet Stuff like the AH-64 Apache, MH-47 Chinook, AH/MH-6 Littlebird, Stryker varianten, M3 Bradley, T-55, BTR-60, M113, UH-1H, FN FAL, FN
SCAR variants and many more

New Sound Engine

Grafics and Engine Optimisations

Functional Infrared Lasers and Lamp torchs

FLIR

Countermeassures for Planes and Choppers

Firecontrolsystem for Tanks

Fully functional Backpacks

Controllable UAVs

Ability to zero your Gun

Random Town Generator If you are tired of playing in the same enviroment again

Nearly all Buildings enterable

Better Performance compared to Arma2

Factions:
BLUFOR
-US Army
-Delta Force
-German KSK
-Czech Army
-UN

OPFOR
The local takistani Army, local Militias

System Requirements

Minimal system requirements:
Windows XP or newer
Dual Core CPU
256 MB RAM & Pixel Shader 3.0 or better
DirectX 9.0c or newer
9 GB free HDD space

Purchase That Shit
Best of all: $40 for the game
Vendor List
Digital Distribution: Sprocket, Steam

Also, while you do not need ARMA 2 to play Operation: Arrowhead, you can buy the Combined Arms package (which includes BOTH) for $50: http://www.arma2.com/buy-arma-2-combined-operations_en.html

Demo
Not YET released

DennisK4 Unnecessarily Large GIFs
This is all IN-GAME:
http://images.gonzb.com/d/327899-1/OP1.gif - ROLLIN

Screens

Video
ARMA2: OA Night Ops
Takistan Army Deployed
Alliance Forces Deployed
Death from Above: Apache attack chopper

Buy ARMA 2 and/or OA if you like:
-Any other B:I mil sim (ORIGINAL Operation: Flashpoint, ARMA, ARMA 2, VBS, etc.
-Trekking several kilometers, dying from a single bullet, and willing to try again
-Archaic UI's
-AMAZING community mod support
-Battles with hundreds of soldiers, vehicles, and aircraft
-Flying planes, helicopters, tanks, APC's, and single speed bicycles

 

[EviLore]

Yeah I just picked up Arma 2 + Arrowhead for the $50 bundle price on steam. I figure maybe it's been patched enough now ;b

 

[Dennis]

Good job on the OP, Mr. Snrub.

I am just going to highlight one of the important features:

It really does integrate completely with ARMA 2 and opdates that game with the new improvements.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Yeah I just picked up Arma 2 + Arrowhead for the $50 bundle price on steam. I figure maybe it's been patched enough now ;b

The 1.07 patch for ARMA 2 got me 10 more fps and a lot less stuttering/LOD issues.

Also, I recommend EVERYONE check out the town generator: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gyVO7BZIss&feature=player_embedded

 

[slamskank]

Could we make a meetup thread for this in the online forum, or perhaps even better, make a list of steam ID's in the OP? I want to get back into Arma 2 and will be wanting to play this with GAF folks.

ID - spicy cho

 

[Dennis]

Yeah, I just going to pimp this screenshot.

 

[19Kilo]

So I guess this is a little confusing to me. Does OA include all of the vehicles and weapons from the vanilla game (e.g. for use in the editor)? In that case, the only reason to keep the vanilla game around is for the single player campaigns, or no?

 

[Amneisac]

"and if yes... mate... we're going to show them who's the fucking boss!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FlVL5jy4Rc#t=28s

Just in case someone hasn't experienced ARMA II's oscar-worthy voice acting. Of course I don't fault the radio chatter, I understand why that sounds so fucked up.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Sounds like anyone hoping for a vastly improved SP component may be a bit disappointed:

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2010/06/29/arma-ii-operation-arrowhead-review/

The campaign is very short and pretty buggy as per the course for a Bohemia Interactive game, but provides a wide variety of missions, including an airborne infantry assault, armoured convoy escorts and special ops infiltrations.

Given that the Arma franchise is all about cooperative multiplayer and user-generated missions the poor quality of the campaign isn’t too big of a problem – it merely serves as a gentle introduction to the new features of Operation Arrowhead.

Not all bad, though:

Still, the cynic in you might be wondering why you should pay £17 for Operation Arrowhead when modding sites such as www.armedassault.info have links to more than 450 free addons that add very similar units. The answer to this is that Operation Arrowhead also includes a large number of new scripts and functions, plus a new thermal imaging engine, developed from VBS2, the military version of Arma II that various armies around the world use to train with.

Another new feature allows players to adjust their sights manually to, for example, account for bullet drop, greatly increasing the realism of long range shooting. Many vehicles have now been upgraded with countermeasures too, though they are still just as vulnerable to a dedicated suicide bomber with a satchel charge.

Conclusion (they gave the game an 8/10):

Operation Arrowhead doesn’t fundamentally change the gameplay of Arma II, so it’s still a very unforgiving milsim. If you’re expecting to run and gun and live then forget it, in a milsim such as Operation Arrowhead you have to think like a soldier to survive.

What Operation Arrowhead does deliver is over 300 new units, buildings and weapons to battle with and several key improvements, such as a much more realistic thermal imagining engine.

It’s a shame that Bohemia Interactive was unable to improve performance and fix many of the annoying AI issues that all too often bring a single-player mission to a shouting, keyboard bashing conclusion, but at under £20, Operation Arrowhead is a well priced way of enhancing and expanding one of the PC's most challenging and tactical FPS games.

I'm curious about their comments on performance. All I've heard is its much more forgiving on your system than ARMA 2's CPU-hogging foliage.

 

[Anton Sugar]

"and if yes... mate... we're going to show them who's the fucking boss!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FlVL5jy4Rc#t=28s

Just in case someone hasn't experienced ARMA II's oscar-worthy voice acting. Of course I don't fault the radio chatter, I understand why that sounds so fucked up.

:lol :lol :lol

Yeah, I don't know where they get these guys.

 

[Treo360]

So I bought and played Operation Flashpoint with my Dual Shock 3 emulating a 360 controller and I felt right at home, I want to get this, does it support controllers well?

 

[Red Blaster]

I've got a woefully outdated machine (P4, 8500GT, 2GB Ram. It sucks, I know) but it could run ARMA1 at acceptable speeds on the lower settings. Is ARMA2 way more taxing than the 1st game?

 

[EviLore]

So I bought and played Operation Flashpoint with my Dual Shock 3 emulating a 360 controller and I felt right at home, I want to get this, does it support controllers well?

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, you mean?

Unlike Dragon Rising, Arma 2 is not a console port. It's a simulation and there are lots of key bindings, so it's meant to be played with kb+m.

 

[Treo360]

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, you mean?

Unlike Dragon Rising, Arma 2 is not a console port. It's a simulation and there are lots of key bindings, so it's meant to be played with kb+m.

Yeah Dragon Rising. Oh okay, KB&M it is then.

 

[iam220]

I'd probably pick this up at some point but not at $40. Vanilla ARMA2 is doing a good enough job of satisfying my milsim fix.

I've got a woefully outdated machine (P4, 8500GT, 2GB Ram. It sucks, I know) but it could run ARMA1 at acceptable speeds on the lower settings. Is ARMA2 way more taxing than the 1st game?

Yes. Stay far away from ARMA2 with those specs.

 

[Wanace]

This looks really cool, I like the setting a lot better than the original ArmA2. Tempted to buy but I'm going to hold off til a price drop.

 

[Anton Sugar]

I'd probably pick this up at some point but not at $40. Vanilla ARMA2 is doing a good enough job of satisfying my milsim fix.

I'm sort of in this boat, but I'll most likely buy it later this week once I hear some more impressions.

 

[EviLore]

I'm sort of in this boat.

So it's just me and Dennis at this point, eh!

 

[Walshicus]

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, you mean?

Unlike Dragon Rising, Arma 2 is not a console port. It's a simulation and there are lots of key bindings, so it's meant to be played with kb+m.

True, but the vast majority of what you need can be mapped to the 360 [or PS3 emulating a 360] controller. I used that setup for a long time while I was trying to get into the vanilla Arma 2, hoping it would make the game more playable than KB+M.

Personally I just couldn't get into it - hated it even and sorely regret purchasing. Poorly optimised, badly designed... But then I have a number of friends who love it to bits and still spend hours on it a week. One spent a fair bit of money on a Track IR setup which works quite well apparantly.

Point is, it's definitely not a game I'd recommend buying on a whim - demo it thoroughly beforehand.

 

[gregor7777]

How difficult is this to play for someone without milsim FPS experience? I guess I'm asking about the learning curve.

EDIT yeah I should play the demo

 

[Dennis]

True, but the vast majority of what you need can be mapped to the 360 [or PS3 emulating a 360] controller. I used that setup for a long time while I was trying to get into the vanilla Arma 2, hoping it would make the game more playable than KB+M.

Personally I just couldn't get into it - hated it even and sorely regret purchasing. Poorly optimised, badly designed... But then I have a number of friends who love it to bits and still spend hours on it a week. One spent a fair bit of money on a Track IR setup which works quite well apparantly.

Point is, it's definitely not a game I'd recommend buying on a whim - demo it thoroughly beforehand.

This is very typical. Either people get really into the game, warts and all, or they simply give up on it.

It is really unlike any other fps, because, well...its a mil sim, really.

You have to enjoy the one-hit-your-dead "realism" of the game. And thats exactly why I love it. It is so much more immersive to me than other shooters.

I use the ACE 2 mod. It is even more hardcore than vanilla.

But, yeah, steep learning curve and patience and what have you.

I also use a flightstick and TrackIR 5.

No other game gives you this Infantry simulation gameplay.

The vehicles are good to too, though not as sim as something like DCS Black Shark.

The modding community is fantastic.

 

[Walshicus]

Dunno, I love MilSim but from the intermediate level between strategy and tactics - just got frustrated with the bugs and clunkiness. Did have fun for the first few weeks being my team's helicopter pilot though.

As I say there'll be a lot of people who buy this as their worst purchase of the year, and a lot of people who'll skip what could be their best purchase of the year. Very divisive game!

 

[Anton Sugar]

So it's just me and Dennis at this point, eh!

Dude, I didn't even know it was RELEASED until today! Sort of blind-sided me, I've been spending money on this damned Steam sale. For some reason I thought OA was coming out this fall.

Personally I just couldn't get into it - hated it even and sorely regret purchasing. Poorly optimised, badly designed... But then I have a number of friends who love it to bits and still spend hours on it a week. One spent a fair bit of money on a Track IR setup which works quite well apparantly.

Point is, it's definitely not a game I'd recommend buying on a whim - demo it thoroughly beforehand.

Very true--you either love it because of what it does/is trying to do (massive game world, huge battles, simulation, dynamic world) or hate it because of what it fails to do (beautiful but outdated game engine, shitty character animations, bad physics system, bugs, etc.).

Essentially, if you can get past the shoddy presentation and appreciate the game, you'll fall in love. If you can't get past that, you'll love it.

But the demo, comparably, sucks--really a bad indicator of the full game, unfortunately.

How difficult is this to play for someone without milsim FPS experience? I guess I'm asking about the learning curve.

EDIT yeah I should play the demo

If you play the demo and THINK you might enjoy it, you probably would, because the full game performs so much better and has tons more content.

One underrated feature in ARMA 2 is the dynamic War module. Place it in your map/mission, and depending on the settings you chose, the world around you generates BluFor and OpFor units who fight on their own and may cross your path.

 

[Fersis]

This game looks so awesome...
Im ashamed of my 5 years old PC.

 

[Zenith]

So I guess this is a little confusing to me. Does OA include all of the vehicles and weapons from the vanilla game (e.g. for use in the editor)?

no, the official site lists which units are in which game.

 

[Dennis]

I know I have been cheerleading the game, but I am not blind to its many flaws.

But the game is so insanely ambitious in what it tries to be, I can't help but love it.

If only this kind of only-possible-on-PC game could have the budget to be really polished.....

The game demands patience and a willingness to overlook any initial frustration and the overall clunkiness.

 

[Haeleos]

But the demo, comparably, sucks--really a bad indicator of the full game, unfortunately.

Downloading the demo on Steam now. Can you explain why it's a bad indicator so I know what I can excuse?

 

[EviLore]

Downloading the demo on Steam now. Can you explain why it's a bad indicator so I know what I can excuse?

The demo ran at like 5fps regardless of the settings I used, when I loaded it up on my rig (i7 + 5870) a few months ago to do a performance check. The demo clearly hasn't been updated/patched at all and looks to be broken on some system configs, because it ran fine on the older specs I had when I played it at release.

So yeah, not representative of the game in its current state, and the demo didn't even work at all on a friend's system recently, so don't dismiss the full game if you run into those issues with the demo.

 

[Cobra84]

Downloading the demo on Steam now. Can you explain why it's a bad indicator so I know what I can excuse?

I don't think it has been patched at all. The current 1.07 patch is barely the same game as the original 1.00 version. 1.07 has less bugs, better AI, and a better framerate.

 

[EviLore]

#1 game on Steam, and isn't even discounted. Surprising.

 

[Dennis]

#1 game on Steam, and isn't even on sale. Surprising.

Well, goddamn that is good news.

I hope GTA IV has sold very well on PC by now. Yeah, I want RDR and GTA IV: Vice City on PC.

 

[19Kilo]

no, the official site lists which units are in which game.

Cool, thanks. Combined ops it is

 

[Reno7728]

I know this isn't the real Arma2 topic, but rather than bumping the Ot, i'll ask this in here.

I just jumped on the sale, are their any mods, campaigns etc. that you would say are an essential download?

 

[Anton Sugar]

Yeah, what EviLore said. If you want some indicator of how the game looks/plays, you'd be better served going to Youtube:

Fucking EPIC A10 vid
Blizzard gameplay (weather mod)
Airstrikes
Video from a custom made island
Longbow tribute
Gameplay from THE mode, ACE 2

 

[Anton Sugar]

I know this isn't the real Arma2 topic, but rather than bumping the Ot, i'll ask this in here.

I just jumped on the sale, are their any mods, campaigns etc. that you would say are an essential download?

From the other thread:

There are a lot of good mods, so it's really just pick and choose. Some of the more major ones:

ACE2: http://forums.bistudio.com/forumdisplay.php?f=91
Best mod out there, think of it as a gameplay/overhaul mods. Lots added, lots tweaked, lots new: http://ace.dev-heaven.net/wagn/Documentation

CBA: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=78622
Modding tools, required download for a lot of the larger mods for ArmA II.

Namalsk Island: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=87834
Island inspired by the STALKER games.

Group Link 4 FX: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=92269
Good collection of FX tweaks/improvements

CAA1: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=84782
Allows you to use original ArmA islands and mods. The islands from ArmA, for the most part, look and play GREAT. Whereas the ArmA II islands might give you 30-45 fps, these are a rock solid 60+ fps.

Zeus AI: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=89970
GREAT AI improvements with this mod!

WarFX Particles: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=89685
Amazing addition of particles for explosions and fires, looks great at night!

Shacktac Fireteam HUD: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=96791
Shacktac is a community-based tactical gaming group, and came up with this simple but extremely useful HUD for managing your squad.

AC130 Script: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=99545
This one is just cool.


There is also an amazing smoke mod that I can't find at the moment. JTD smoke or something. Lots of stuff to choose from, check the forums here: http://forums.bistudio.com/forumdisplay.php?f=91

 

[Treo360]

This is very typical. Either people get really into the game, warts and all, or they simply give up on it.

It is really unlike any other fps, because, well...its a mil sim, really.

You have to enjoy the one-hit-your-dead "realism" of the game. And thats exactly why I love it. It is so much more immersive to me than other shooters.

I use the ACE 2 mod. It is even more hardcore than vanilla.

But, yeah, steep learning curve and patience and what have you.

I also use a flightstick and TrackIR 5.

No other game gives you this Infantry simulation gameplay.

The vehicles are good to too, though not as sim as something like DCS Black Shark.

The modding community is fantastic.

Cool, so can you play it as a Mil Flight sim too? I have DCS:BS and I take that out for a spin every once and a while.

 

[Dennis]

I know this isn't the real Arma2 topic, but rather than bumping the Ot, i'll ask this in here.

I just jumped on the sale, are their any mods, campaigns etc. that you would say are an essential download?

Most of the mods aim to make the game harder and more hardcore. I would not mess around with mods just yet. Do the bootcamp, this is one game where you don't want to skip the tutorials.

There are a lot of extra missions, maps etc when you are done eith game proper. You can also make yourr own missions.

Here are two very good resources:

http://forums.bistudio.com/forumdisplay.php?f=9

http://www.armaholic.com/index.php

 

[Dennis]

Cool, so can you play it as a Mil Flight sim too? I have DCS:BS and I take that out for a spin every once and a while.

Its not a dedicated flight sim, but it has a ton of helicopters, planes, tanks etc.

 

[Treo360]

Its not a dedicated flight sim, but it has a ton of helicopters, planes, tanks etc.

GIF

Sold. 4

Fuuuuuuuuck
10 hours to go though before it's done

 

[Dennis]

DEM GRAPHICS

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

Anyone know what the ~7GB update for ARMA II was for last night and what it had to do with OA's release?

Edit:

^ Can those oil rigs be destroyed/lit on fire? That would be awesome.

 

[Reno7728]

Thanks for the modding advice guys

 

[Anton Sugar]

Anyone know what the ~7GB update for ARMA II was for last night and what it had to do with OA's release?

Edit:

^ Can those oil rigs be destroyed/lit on fire? That would be awesome.

Ah, so it was a patch? I wondered wtf was going on.

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

Ah, so it was a patch? I wondered wtf was going on.

I think it was a patch, it was almost the size of the damn game. :lol

The changelog on Steam was very vague: http://store.steampowered.com/news/4000/

 

[Zenith]

hi-res shots or gifs of the L-39 in action?

 

[MickeyKnox]

Forking over too much cash for rent this week (both roommates skipping town) but come next week this WILL be mine.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

Cool, so can you play it as a Mil Flight sim too? I have DCS:BS and I take that out for a spin every once and a while.

the sim part is from the overall big picture. each part, like the flight model for jets and helis, which make up the picture aren't that advanced. there's a bit more to it than flying a heli in gta4 for example, but not that much more.

I think it was a patch, it was almost the size of the damn game. :lol The changelog on Steam was very vague: http://store.steampowered.com/news/4000/

probably the 1.07 patch. and yeah I think the arma2 steam version still has to redownload pretty much the whole game to patch. blame steam

 

[Dynamic3]

I don't know whether to buy this and the OG Arma II, or just this. In terms of MP and custom games, does this include everything that the original has and more, or am I still going to need the original for certain vehicles, guns, models etc.?

 

[Darklord]

I ended up not really liking ArmA 2 but...I kinda like the desert theme and those gifs...maybe, just maybe I'll buy it.

I'll see if it's worth it for the single player.

 

[Caesar III]

I'm thinking about getting this as well since its only 24€ here I did not continue playing the first one because of the bugs and the damn big patches I needed to download (fuck my connection) but it's tempting *think think think