Bohemia Interactive today announced their plans for the upcoming PC-exclusive tactical military shooter game, Arma 3™. From next week onward, Tuesday March 5th, all are welcome to try out the authentic military gameplay and assist in the game’s development by participating in the Arma 3 Alpha. The Alpha will feature a limited amount of playable and sandbox content, receive regular updates and remain accessible until Arma 3’s Beta starts – which is expected in the second quarter of this year. The full and final version of Arma 3 is scheduled for release in Q3 2013.
Featured in the Arma 3 Alpha are four showcase missions (Infantry, Vehicles, SCUBA and Helicopter), a limited subset of weapons and vehicles, two multiplayer scenarios, the powerful scenario editor and modding support. The 20 km² island of Stratis, which is positioned right off the coast from Arma 3’s main destination ‘Altis’ (270 km²), will form the backdrop of the Arma 3 Alpha.
To participate in the Alpha, people can purchase the Arma 3 Alpha (24.99 EUR/19.99 GBP/32.99 USD) or Arma 3 Digital Deluxe Edition (39.99 EUR/34.99 GBP/49.99 USD) on Steam. Extras in the Digital Deluxe Edition include a digital soundtrack*, digital maps*, digital tactical guide*, and a Steam Gift of Arma: Cold War Assault (formerly known as Operation Flashpoint™: Cold War Crisis). Both versions include access to the Arma 3 Beta plus a digital copy of the complete game upon release. The price of each edition will increase once the Arma 3 Beta and final game become available.
Those who would like to sponsor development further, also have the option to purchase the Arma 3 Supporter Edition (69.99 EUR/59.99 GBP/91.99 USD) from Store.bistudio.com. Besides the additional Arma development support, this edition ships with all the extras from the digital deluxe edition, a Steam Gift of Arma X, all future Arma 3 DLCs, a special forums medal and the opportunity to have their names featured in the game’s credits. The full overview of editions, and their conditions, can be found on Arma 3’s new website.
Last but not least, Bohemia Interactive also intends to release a free, limited version of the Alpha, named Arma 3 Alpha Lite. The Alpha Lite will be available one week after the initial Alpha release, on Thursday March 14th, and does not include a multiplayer component and modding support. Access to the Alpha Lite is invite-only and can be obtained from people who have purchased the Arma 3 Alpha. Invites will also be randomly distributed via the Arma 3 social channels and as giveaways by selected media outlets. The Arma 3 Alpha Lite expires on June 15, does not provide access to the Arma 3 Beta and does not include a copy of the final game.
The Alpha has been announced and yet again we go to war, both in-game and trying to get the game running smoothly. Some people had massive performance issues with ArmA 2 whilst others had very few. The engine does suffer from a lot of performance issues
however the users also have a few misconceptions regarding the performance issues like seriously underestimating how CPU heavy the game is. Hopefully we can work out most of the issues and help people get a pleasant experience.
The thread will run through the Alpha, Beta and then we should have some solid experiences to work from come retail release in Q3 2013.
Enjoy.
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OS: Windows Vista SP2 / Windows 7 SP1
CPU: Intel Dual-Core 2.4GHz / AMD Dual-Core Athlon 2.5 GHz
GPU: Geforce 8800GT / Radeon HD 3830 / Intel HD Graphics 4000
GPU Memory: 512 MB
DirectX: 10
RAM: 2GB
HDD: 15GB
HDD ( Alpha ): 10GB
Other: Internet connection and Steam account to activate
OS: Windows Vista SP2 / Windows 7 SP1
CPU: Intel Core i5-2300 / AMD Phenom II X4 940
GPU: Geforce GTS 560 / Radeon HD 7750
GPU Memory: 1GB
DirectX: 11
RAM: 4GB
HDD: 25 GB
HDD ( Alpha ): 20 GB
Other: Internet connection and Steam account to activate
Game is extremely CPU intensive and Steam can take up a few CPU cycles, here's how you squeeze more out of your CPU;
about performance drops caused by STEAM and how mitigate them
from my own experience this is what eats most CPU from highest to lowest
1. STEM friend-list (even while online, just closing friend-list saves most CPU usage)
2. STEAM chats (the more of them active the worse the overall load)
3. STEAM updating (as uses checksums it needs some CPU and I/O, so make sure nothing is updating)
4. STEAM overlay
5. STEAM IM (switch yourself to OFFLINE for lowest CPU usage)
6. STEAM website (if you keep website open and minimize, it still keeps playing the flash animations for example, so ideally you visit e.g. your profile page as last)
+ then set STEAM to lower priority than arma3.exe
Potential performance fix for some:
This is not guaranteed to work for everyone. For me personally it gave me a nice 10-15FPS boost on average, others also report a 10FPS boost while some don't see any difference.
On my 3930k, my performance in the main village went from 30-40FPS to locked 60 and a slight dip when looking at the airfield. It also removed my stuttering when doing quick turns. It didn't work on my friend's i5 2500k.
So I'd like some feedback on the fix, which CPU, is HT enabled and did it help the FPS at all.
Disable CPU Parking:
http://www.coderbag.com/Programming-C/Disable-CPU-Core-Parking-Utility
Restart PC.
Try the game.
How to install ArmA on a RAMDisk: ( Thanks to BadTaste105 )
Game does a lot of loading off the HDD, which in some cases can cause stuttering or LOD thrashing - If you don't have a RAID / SSD setup, a RAMDisk might be a solution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CKbbqOpeIE
• Recommended System Memory - 10-12GB+
• ArmA 3 must already be installed on one of your HDD's
Other performance suggestions:
- View distance is the game's biggest killer. A touch of the slider can mean the difference between 60 and 40FPS. A good tip is to find a spot where you can see lots of mountains then open the Video options and drag the slider down to a view distance you find acceptable. Those massive view distances are rarely ever used, as they are far beyond engagement ranges. That will net you a nice FPS boost.
- Lower some of the options that has to do with the island itself, ground detail etc. just a notch or two. The difference is minuscule in some cases but will net you a nice 3-5FPS. Remember you can find a nice view and tweak the options 'live' as in settings change immediately.
- Don't lower the shadow detail. In some cases it can actually cause a performance hit.
Official ArmA 3 Site
Screenshot Gallery
Video Gallery
BIS Forums
Buy the Alpha (From BIS - Do that, they see maximum amount of the profit and you get a Steam key!)
Alpha Hub ( Place where the update information regarding the Alpha, patch releases etc. )
Revisions:
1.1 Added white stroke on text for NeoGAF Dark Theme users
