-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Arma 3 Alpha - March 5th - 25 Euros
- Thread starter Jackpot
- Start date
Krappadizzle
Member
So true. It is top tier lighting. It looks fantastic. It's the absolute first thing I noticed when I first booted it up.
I think that that is absolutely a reason to go to the official forums. Got let the devs. know that some of us actually like the things they've implemented. Some people come up with the most asinine suggestions on how the game should be "better." I think a lot of people, especially from the new younger generation expect a lot of hand holding and don't want to take the time to learn new conventions and hate Arma as a result. Those people have no clue how much more rewarding it is to learn the systems and then play the hard missions. They just want to get in quickly and see explosions. Granted I'm guilty of that too, but not when it comes to Arma. BF3, CoD, Serious Same, absolutely. Arma III? I'm just happy if all of the squad make it home.
Broder Salsa
Banned
Downloading now. Never played an Arma game before though so will jump into a random match first and learn a bit, but I take it you guys play reguarly together? I'm up for mumble action.
Spat_triate
Member
Broder Salsa
Banned
I'm on it. If there's any other good tutorial videos out there please do share.
Thanks for the videos, but they really aren't tutorials on how to play the game. The videos are just highlighting new features in Arma 3.
Anton Sugar
Member
I think this community guide is better.
Otherwise, I'm not aware of any specific how-to vids, though this is great: CHKilroy's 45 minute look at the Alpha (goes over a LOT)
Well, if you want some help I can show you the ropes with controls etc. we're both Danish and I have a TS3, so should be fairly straight forward.
SJRB
Gold Member
I can't believe the UI is still as terrible as in Arma II. The whole inventory management menu is still awful, especially when looting crates.
It's also pretty bugged, I can't remove weapons from crates but I can place them. So when I accidentally placed my sidearm in it, I couldn't get it back. Had to respawn.
Also, I was hoping there would be hostile NPCs walking around in multiplayer. Playing with 24 people on this huge, HUGE island is.. well, pretty boring. Not to mention literally NO ONE is a teamplayer. In fact, they'll shoot you in the head and loot your corpse.
Island itself is 10 times better than the drab and dreary island from Arma II.
It's also pretty bugged, I can't remove weapons from crates but I can place them. So when I accidentally placed my sidearm in it, I couldn't get it back. Had to respawn.
Also, I was hoping there would be hostile NPCs walking around in multiplayer. Playing with 24 people on this huge, HUGE island is.. well, pretty boring. Not to mention literally NO ONE is a teamplayer. In fact, they'll shoot you in the head and loot your corpse.
Island itself is 10 times better than the drab and dreary island from Arma II.
thank you sir, I will definitely watch both right now.
A note in advance, the controls might seem ridiculous, but you DO get used to them.... eventually
ScaryMovies
Member
A short gameplay vid I uploaded to YT. It was mostly just to see how performance was while recording with FRAPS, but thought I'd post it in case any of you wanted to check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHDQApV-8Ls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHDQApV-8Ls
Anton Sugar
Member
Pretty sure this is dependent on the mission/game mode you're playing.
That has nothing to do with the game. That's the mission / scenario type, someone creating a bad mission certainly can't be blamed on the game.
SJRB
Gold Member
I was doing an OPFOR vs BLUFOR vs INDEPENDANT with randomly spawning objectives.
Anton Sugar
Member
Yeah, this. On the official forums, they have a subforum dedicated to user missions, including SP, COOP, and MP.
Of course, you still need to find a competent group of people to play with.
Broder Salsa
Banned
Would definitively be up for that sometime during the weekend, too tired to learn properly tonight i think.
Syphon Filter
Member
Moar screens:
om nom fucking nom
wtf that looks ridiculous,will beat crysis 1 and take the new crown. anyone agree?
SJRB
Gold Member
I suppose you're right. I was watching some streams on Twitch and most of them were playing Wasteland, so I jumped on the first Wasteland server that had an open slot. Hell if I know if the mission was scripted badly haha.
I'll look into some other servers to see what's what.
Oh no, I wasn't up for it tonight either. Just shoot me a PM and we can work something out, do a few co-op scenarios and I'll run you through all the joys and quirks of the ArmA series.
Syphon Filter
Member
Which is the first Arma? is it gold edition or cold war assault?
Cold War Assault is the original "Operation Flashpoint", ArmA Gold edition was the first game when the series changed name, basically ArmA 1 plus its expansion.
EDIT: Well OFP also had a "Gold edition", so might be different games we're talking about.
Krappadizzle
Member
Yeah, be sure to establish voice comms with someone willing to show you the ropes. I had to give my buddy a crash course lesson two days ago as he had never played an Arma game either. It took me about 45 mins. to get him familiar and decently comfortable with them. Just be aware that there is a lot to learn, so don't get too frustrated with the control scheme. It will become second nature once you get it down and you'll feel like you have too little control in other games. Freelook alone I've missed in any other shooter, didn't think something so seemingly trivial impacts your game. The ability to aim one way and just glance over your shoulder makes you so much more effective.
Krappadizzle
Member
Yeah, it's not Arma III's fault that wasteland has problems. It's a mod of an Alpha with constantly evolving code. The looting of trucks in wasteland is a pain in the ass. You have to move the truck and then you can loot it. Just be aware, that a lot of the modded games will run into issues. Just be aware of that and you'll have a better experience.
Krappadizzle
Member
Might set up a small group tomorrow night at around 21:00 CET for anyone in Europe that would be interested, a custom mission I downloaded which appears to be both challenging and fun. I can host but if anyone has a dedicated machine or a server it would be preferred, so the least amount of people take a performance hit.
Krappadizzle
Member
What missions? I've downloaded about 10 so far. A couple have been a ton of fun.
Now now. Everyone
GIFSoupCalled Striking Back - Mission One. Diver insertion, find a supply drop, clear village and move onto destroying objective. Fairly straight forward and has some nice CQB in the first village.
I'm Eastern NA but I'll still play if I'm not lagging everyone else too badly.
Krappadizzle
Member
Yeah. Oh god. We tried that with a couple of GAF the other day. Stay organized, and head on a swivel. That initial insertion is probably the toughest part. A ton of fun. I'd love to try again as we weren't successful.
It's not because I don't like our friends across the pond but my main concern is the lag, as it drags down the experience for anyone on the server usually and then you have one guy bouncing about.
Maybe if the server was dedicated on a good connection it would be possible but right now, looks like I'll be hosting unless someone has something to offer in EU.
Spat_triate
Member
This might be too deep down the rabbit hole for series beginners but it is an invaluable resource for people interested taking the time to dig a little deeper. Its for Arma 2 but the basics are largely the same.
Syphon Filter
Member
yea it's confusing. I am looking at ARMA: Gold Edition and ARMA: Cold War Assault. I am guessing it's one of them.
Technically, it's ArmA Gold (if you're looking at Steam.) The progenitor to ArmA was the original Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, which in 2011 was reclaimed by Bohemia Interactive and called ArmA: Cold War Assault. It's technically been given the name ArmA 0 by some, if that helps. So it's ArmA: Cold War Assault, ArmA Gold, ArmA II, ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead, and now ArmA III if you're looking at full blown full releases. Cold War Assault has been remade both for ArmA I and ArmA II, if that helps you wanting to play that entry with more updated material.
Cold War Assault was the first, then Arma Gold.
Honestly I'm glad Bohemia changed the name of the original game since Codemasters absolutely shit on the brand. It's much more at home under Arma.
Bought it, E8400 and HD4850 be damned!
Quick result: singleplayer infantry showcase runs just fine. Maybe 25ish. I understand that's a completely deceptive test though as this showcase has almost nothing going on and multiplayer makes things even worse.
Been hounding New PC GAF all day for hot-fix upgrade suggestions.
One thing to note: this game is dastardly hard, as it should be, but my headless chicken nature isn't helping. I dabbled in the tutorials in the Arma II demo, but I never found them that satisfactory beyond teaching the controls. Tactics, good practices, etc. seemed to just be assumed prior knowledge rather than something the game would teach.
What's the best way to learn this stuff? My entire squad and I are getting consistently mowed down in the infantry showcase before we even reach the village boundaries.
Quick result: singleplayer infantry showcase runs just fine. Maybe 25ish. I understand that's a completely deceptive test though as this showcase has almost nothing going on and multiplayer makes things even worse.
Been hounding New PC GAF all day for hot-fix upgrade suggestions.
One thing to note: this game is dastardly hard, as it should be, but my headless chicken nature isn't helping. I dabbled in the tutorials in the Arma II demo, but I never found them that satisfactory beyond teaching the controls. Tactics, good practices, etc. seemed to just be assumed prior knowledge rather than something the game would teach.
What's the best way to learn this stuff? My entire squad and I are getting consistently mowed down in the infantry showcase before we even reach the village boundaries.
Did a dirty Rambo run of that showcase and posted it a few pages back. Might contain something useful for you, or not
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPG_gsKBqIs
Syphon Filter
Member
wait so where does ARMA: Combat Operations fit?
Chronologically? Cold War Assault takes place in the 1980's, Combat Operations (ArmA Gold) takes place in 2007 and 2008, ArmA II takes place between 2009-2013, and ArmA III takes place in the 2030's.
Is that what you were asking for?
Syphon Filter
Member
I mean in terms of release. According to steam the gold edition is armed assault with an expansion.you said it was combat operations though.
Delusibeta
Banned
Sequel to Operation Flashpoint Cold War Crisis, which for IP purposes got introduced to the ArmA franchise a couple of year back.
It's both. ArmA Gold is the name of the 'Complete' edition of ArmA I, which has gone by the name Armed Assault and Combat Operations. Make sense?
Syphon Filter
Member
yea,thanks. i'll start with gold.
I think inventory management has been improved tenfold. Ignoring alpha issues (and super-ignoring Wasteland where most of the issues are - not Arma's fault) the underlying design is solid IMO, and answers most of the complaints from Arma II.
The greatest disservice it does to itself right now, is the poor visual feedback when moving things around. I have a feeling that when they finesse this, it will become much more intuitive and appear to work better - even if the actual functionality is no different.
For anyone struggling with it, I threw together this little guide for some friends the other day. It all seems kinda obvious in hindsight, but doesn't feel that way when you first use it.
- General gear (ammo, meds, misc items) goes into your clothing / vest / backpack (1, 2, 3).
- Click one of these three storage 'tabs' to see the contents. In the pic, the clothing tab (1) is selected, and the contents of it listed below (4). There is also a little capacity bar directly beneath the clothing, currently showing at about 25%.
- In the left pane (6), right click any general items and they will autofill available slots in (1) (2) and (3). (Rapid right-click to quickly fill any available slots with ammo = win)
- For weapons and tools (5), you need to left click and drag items across into the relevant slot.
- Bonus function in the left pane: You can select the Ground tab and dump stuff there instead of in the crate / vehicle / whatever. No more running away and re-opening gear just to dump junk items on the ground.
You can drag items (including weapons) between storage areas and slots. The main difference with Arma II here, is that you currently cannot quick-swap a primary weapon [edit - with one in your backpack] by dragging the new one on to it. You can only drag into an empty slot, so you have to move the primary out first. Having the ground accessible is very handy here, if you don't have spare slots for the operation.
The left pane does need more visual tweaking than the rest. It's easy to get confused switching between ground & crate, getting in and out of a dead guy's backpack etc. Again, making it look clearer will make it feel better.
Good guide, the inventory system can be a little complicated for newcomers like me. Also, are you sure you can't replace your main weapon by dragging a new one on top? I think I've done this various times.
Hmm, wasn't working for me in the editor, but it could have just been a bug.
[edit] Actually, when dragging in from a crate, the swap has worked for me. But not dragging from backpack.
Incidentally, this medic's pack sure holds a lot of weapons.
