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#3555609 - 04/13/12 02:25 PM [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside  
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 400
Comet Offline
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Comet  Offline
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Greetings.

This has been probably asked and answered repeatedly, but I have to make sure.
I have to know whether I'm the idiot, or it is the game that it's too difficult.

I just got ArmA. The first title. A gift from a dissatisfied customer. Just not the kind of game
he likes. I knew it was the "tactical" sort, and I do like the tactical sorts.
Installation, patching (to 1.18), graphics settings -> all smooth. And no, I don't become a bird nor do
I experience other weirdo trickeries I've been reading about.
But the sound is kinda sucky, and the controls are unintuitive. I have endured much worse in other
games, though. I can make it work.

And... I think I have it running on the easiest difficulty level (Regular?) - if there is one.

Then how is it that I die and die and die, and not two times in the same way and not two times for
the same "mistake"? This game is making me believe that I'm some kind of idiot who can't mind his
own business for the sake of staying alive.

I die. I die a lot. I spend more time at the reloading screen than not in actual game.
I went through the hell of installing and patching a game, and all I'm playing is a Loading Screen.
It's not fun.
Do not think that I'm the kind of rusher that charges at the enemy screaming Rrraaaaaah!!!, and
bulletting left and right 'til I'm the last thing astand. No. I take my time. I look around. I count
the enemies, I take note of bushes and buildings. I examine my gear to see what's what. I look at
the map, trying to figure out a good escape route, or also what's the places to avoid because it's
too easy to ambush me if I head that way.
And when I think I got some plan that might actualy work, that's where the game outsmarts me.
Eventually I become a receptacle for bullets. Their Situational Awareness is something legendary.
When I manage to evade their assault is feels so much like PURE LUCK. Because if I repeat the
session, the outcome is almost always You're Dead.
Am I playing Dungeons & Dragons applied to military? Or is there some skill factor involved that
depends entirely on me - as I would expect since *I* am controlling the dude with the gun?

I've been a soldier, and I know all too well what a single bullet can do. So don't go there, thanks.
I also know what happens when you open fire on a bunch of soldiers. They don't all take cover to fire back.
Some will just cover to cower and never come out of hiding in terror of getting a bullet themselves.
And others will just start sweating like prostitutes in a church and be unable to aim straight should
you even walk up to them with open arms.
The soldiers I see in this game all look like consumed professionals, who endured a dozen firefights
each. That's not real-life like at all.

I'm totally not having fun with it. For much less I have uninstalled games that I desired a lot
more than this one. And I don't know what's keeping me from eradicating its presence off my hard
drive.
Actually today I got real close to do it. But here I am, in hope to find a VERY GOOD reason not to.

So do your best and try to give me that very good reason.
Just don't tell me to play multiplayer. I don't have time for multiplayer - period.


I never finish anyth
Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#3555630 - 04/13/12 03:08 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
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gatordev Offline
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So you're not enjoying a game and you want people to convince you that you should be enjoying it?

Personally, I had a hard time getting into Arma 1 single-player. Even MP had its issues with the AI. I'd move on to other things that make you happy, and if you are interested in the idea of Arma 1, I'd give Arma 2/Operation Arrowhead a try. It's a much better game (although the campaigns will continue to be weak).

#3555640 - 04/13/12 03:31 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: gatordev]  
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Posts: 400
Comet Offline
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Comet  Offline
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Originally Posted By: gatordev
So you're not enjoying a game and you want people to convince you that you should be enjoying it?

Exactly that.
The assumption being that if many are liking something that I don't, then maybe they know
something I don't. I'm just making sure of it, before I trash what might be a worthy title.

So far the sole worthy thing is the graphics. The audio is questionable. The controls too are.
The realism is excessive and in the wrong places - while in other places it's just as unrealistic
as any arcade wargame.
The only good thing done about Realism That Is Not Realistic, is the ease with which you can operate
a vehicle. It is appropriate because if you play the "pilot", you're supposed to be an expert of
the thing. ArmA's vehicles are perfect in this regard.


I never finish anyth
#3555668 - 04/13/12 04:09 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
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Rakov Offline
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I loved OFP. I love ARMA 2. I only played the Demo for Arma 1. ARMA 2 seems much more polished, however, again, I only played the demo for ARMA 1 because it turned me off. It was clunky, ugly... I really was scared that BIS was done for.

ARMA 2 is fantastic I think. Maybe its just ARMA 1? Try the Free ARMA2 or Demo...

#3555676 - 04/13/12 04:22 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
Joined: Oct 2004
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von Kinderei Offline
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von Kinderei  Offline
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,481
Christiansburg,Virginia

Try some add-on mods and see if that helps ...

http://www.armaholic.com/list.php?c=files



vK ~

#3555700 - 04/13/12 04:57 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 19,794
adlabs6 Offline
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Tracy Island
Originally Posted By: Comet
Originally Posted By: gatordev
So you're not enjoying a game and you want people to convince you that you should be enjoying it?

Exactly that.
The assumption being that if many are liking something that I don't, then maybe they know
something I don't. I'm just making sure of it, before I trash what might be a worthy title.


I never played any of the single player materials to completion, other than the training course.

All of my time with ArmA and it the later titles in the series has been multiplayer. Playing a quality coop mission with a team of serious players is, for me, and excellent gaming experience.

Left to 100% single player, I'm not sure whether I'd enjoy it.


WARNING: This post contains opinions produced in a facility which also occasionally processes fact products.
#3555748 - 04/13/12 05:49 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
Joined: Sep 2010
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sparks50 Offline
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sparks50  Offline
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My best experience with SP in Arma 1 was probably with truemods or some other kind of AI adjustment to ease down on the head-shooting, a sound mod, and perhaps The Cause campaign.
It says something about the priorities of a developer when some guy from Australia can make a much better campaign almost all by himself..

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.ph...n-%28revised%29

http://www.ofpec.com/missions_depot/index.php?action=details&id=189

Last edited by sparks50; 04/13/12 06:04 PM.
#3555772 - 04/13/12 06:31 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: adlabs6]  
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 696
Rakov Offline
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Rakov  Offline
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Originally Posted By: adlabs6
Originally Posted By: Comet
Originally Posted By: gatordev
So you're not enjoying a game and you want people to convince you that you should be enjoying it?

Exactly that.
The assumption being that if many are liking something that I don't, then maybe they know
something I don't. I'm just making sure of it, before I trash what might be a worthy title.


I never played any of the single player materials to completion, other than the training course.

All of my time with ArmA and it the later titles in the series has been multiplayer. Playing a quality coop mission with a team of serious players is, for me, and excellent gaming experience.

Left to 100% single player, I'm not sure whether I'd enjoy it.



Free ArmA is compatible with what you guys run right? Maybe Cosmo could give THAT a try?

#3555960 - 04/14/12 02:15 AM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 400
Comet Offline
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Comet  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 400
Hello everyone


@ adlabs6:
Multiplayer isn't an option for me. I don't have the time for it, nor the possibility to stay
online for the time required.

I'm sticking with the game a little more. I don't really know what keeps me at it. Maybe I'll
find out if I keep playing. Oh, I just don't know.

For now I have stubbornly concluded the auxiliary mission in which you have to destroy 4 armors
(parked and unmanned) by night. And you are solo. I've also done the secondary (optional) objective
of stealing secret documents from a nearby enemy camp. Two hours and eight minutes of hell. At least
the debrief started with the words "Phenomenal job, soldier!" - I'd have preferred a promotion,
given the fact that I've done the job worth a team of commandos.

After trashing their armors (the primary objective) there was this helicopter buzzing around,
actively searching for me. It wouldn't go away. I grabbed a couple of M136 anti-armor rockets from
an ammo crate, then loaded the rocket launcher I began the mission with, and fired a rocket at the
helicopter during a very low pass.
Much to my surprise: I hit the thing dead-on, the helicopter starts spitting smoke, quickly drops
altitude, then gracefully lands about 150 meters behind me, and cuts the engine.

TBH, I was expecting it to explode in a fireball above my head - considering the anti-tank rocket
it received under the belly. But it was satisfactory anyway.
What wasn't satisfactory, instead, was the incessant saving I was forced to do after each kill.
I lost count of how many times I reloaded frown



@ sparks50:
Thanks for those links. I'll dive into them and see if there's anything I can use. I'd be happy
already if I could *humanize* the AI's reactions a little bit (make them think slower and be less
aware, in general). I definitely need some sound mod as well, but the priority remains the AI.



@ Rakov:
Free ArmA? Haven't heard of it. Would you elaborate?
Oh, and it is Comet, not Cosmo smile - thank you very much.


I never finish anyth
#3556142 - 04/14/12 02:20 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 400
Comet Offline
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Comet  Offline
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Man, there's so much stuff to try out at this link...:
http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.ph...n-%28revised%29 (thank you again, sparks50)

... that I have no clear idea where to start. Apparently there's no such thing as an AI mod like
the one I'd want to see. Right now I'm downloading the last ACE package, hoping it's compatible
with 1.18 (it should be). I'm also getting the VOP sound mod, specific for the ACE mod.
Let's see if by pairing two things meant to work together I can get a better feel for it.

Oh dear, there goes my bandwidth for this month. I'm downloading over a GB of stuff.
My memory goes back to my first pc videogame: Frogger... on my green monochrome monitor. It would
fit in about 90 KB - I should still have the floppy around, hehehe. Probably gone unreadable by now.
Ehh, life was so easier back then blahblahblah


I never finish anyth
#3556151 - 04/14/12 02:44 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 27
sparks50 Offline
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sparks50  Offline
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 27
ACE and SLX is kind of a gamble in singleplayer vanilla missions. The AI wont be able to use some of the medical stuff etc.

Last edited by sparks50; 04/14/12 03:37 PM.
#3556181 - 04/14/12 04:22 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 19,794
adlabs6 Offline
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adlabs6  Offline
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Tracy Island
Originally Posted By: Comet

@ adlabs6:
Multiplayer isn't an option for me. I don't have the time for it, nor the possibility to stay
online for the time required.


Gotcha. Then a good place to start is looking for the very best single player missions and campaigns you can find. I know from experience that some of the included missions and campaigns can have major bugs. We once tested some of the ArmA2 4 player campaign missions in multiplayer, and had to ultimately quit due to bugs that made completing the missions impossible.

Places like Armaholic are a good place to start your search. All the best!


WARNING: This post contains opinions produced in a facility which also occasionally processes fact products.
#3556210 - 04/14/12 05:14 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 20
Cadmium77 Offline
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Posts: 20
I'm an older gamer so I'm a cranky intolerant gamer but at the same time I'm amazed at the progress in computer technology so I'm of mixed feelings. I didn't bother with Arma1. But I did get Arma 2.

The only game that is a competitor to Arma2 is the Total War series. I like Arma2 better than Total War and that's saying a lot. Well there's Steel Beasts Pro PE and Black Shark and Flaming Cliffs 2 as well so that's not fair. There's some very good games out there.

I like mostly creating my own scenarios or going to Planned Assault's website and letting the computer create scenarios for me. Online can be pretty good too. The guys that play here are good and so are the guys and United Operations.

Arma 3 is going to be unreal

Buy Arma2 and just learn all the controls, learn how to make your own scenarios on the mission editor. Research real tactics and real historical events and recreate them in the editor.

Endless fun.

Oh yeah and install the ACE mod. Excellent stuff.

Also when you make scenarios put yourself in command of an entire company. Hold back like a company commander would with a couple medics in your entourage to repair you when you're down. Then deploy your forces on objectives. Watch the amazing AI action. I get newsreel moments doing this. But then you'll need to know not only all the command keys for your own movements and actions but the movements and actions of the company, platoons fireteams and soldiers you command. this is not an easy game to learn but the work will be rewarding if you make the effort

As many have said; this is the original Ghost Recon on steroids.

Last edited by Cadmium77; 04/14/12 05:29 PM.
#3557103 - 04/16/12 01:49 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 400
Comet Offline
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Comet  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 400
Joy!!! dance

I've been able to complete 3 missions in a row, have my fair firefights with the AI, and die less
than 15 times in total (at some point I was experimenting to see how far I could push my luck,
having just noticed the new AI *human* behavior). I still have to be tactical, take cover and
-in general- move away after firing (or they'll come for me soon), but the impression that I'm
against a bunch of humans is now strong.
Suddenly the AI soldiers have lost their Terminator's sensors array and the Robocop's aim - they
take some moments to *realize* that I've entered their field of view, and when they open fire they
can miss me, and the likelyhood for this to happen increases with the distance between me
and them (as in real life).
Collaterally this introduces a thing called Suppressive Fire (I assume the BIS guys never heard
of it), which the previous AI would never enact since the moment they pulled the trigger it was
to score the sure-kill.

Previously, in fact, I'd be shot at the head in the instant I became visible. And the AI would only
open fire when certain to hit me, no matter the distance, my aspect, whether or not I was running
sideways... It was totally bot-like.

The solution requires no mod. A simple edit of my .ArmAProfile to tone down the AI skills does it.
Taken from this page here, originally linked by sparks50...
Code:
class Difficulties
{
    class regular
    {
        class Flags
        {
            // blah blah don't care
            //  .
            //  .
            //  .
        };
        skillFriendly=1.000000;
        skillEnemy=0.500000;
        precisionFriendly=0.500000;
        precisionEnemy=0.030000;
    };
    class veteran
    {
        class Flags
        {
            // blah blah don't care
            //  .
            //  .
            //  .
        };
        skillFriendly=1.000000;
        skillEnemy=0.600000;
        precisionFriendly=0.500000;
        precisionEnemy=0.030000;
    };
};

skillEnemy and precisionEnemy are the relevant fields.

I'm rapidly falling in love with ArmA.
(missing emoticon) (missing emoticon) (missing emoticon)
*Why don't we have an all-hearts emoticon on these boards?* >_<#



As for the ACE mod, I've tried it and have decided against its use. I think they've gone too far.
ACE mod is no mod. It's a total conversion to morph Armed Assault into Advanced Combat Environment.
Not what I asked for. I installed ArmA to play ArmA, not an alternative game called A.C.E.
ACE mod enters my trash bin, soon to be emptied - and that's definitive.

Besides, the mod has problems with The Armory. Upon loading many ACE items a black console shows
up reporting some failing script code with a C/C++ syntax. And the Binoculars don't work anymore confused
All I see is my character bringing the Binoculars in front of his eyes, but the screen doesn't
change into Binoculars view, and I'm blinded by a 3D model of the Binoculars occluding the
entirety of the screen. So much for wanting to look far! rofl

Also I don't like the whole concept of not knowing how many bullets I got in the magazine.
Their "the magazine feels light" / "the magazine fels heavy" is plain bullcrap. I'm the guy that
has shot the bullets, and I know how many I'm left with. Or do we run on the assumption that I
wasn't taught how to manage my reserves? Even if I forget -for any reason- I can always remove the
magazine and count the beans in no hurry whenever I want.
But of course the ACE guys didn't like the handy numeric reminder at the top left of the screen.
Any HUD-like information had to be removed in the name of realism... too bad that in so doing they
also negate me the possibility to pick up a magazine off a body and know how many bullets I got in
it. Their arbitrary concept of realism is fluky at best.
And finally, ACE mod changes the beautiful front end menu, by removing any 3D preview of the game
world, replacing it with a savorless piece of paper with some scribblings on it from people I don't
care about.
This mod really brushes me the *wrong* way.


The VOP sound mod I downloaded along with ACE mod, instead, is very nice. It improved the audio
experience beyond my wildest expectations. I wonder if it can get even better than that? I'll look
at the other sound mods around just for comparison. But so far the VOP sound mod makes my day hands
down.

Now I'm off to look for other, tiny, mods meant to improve small aspects of the game. Things like
having the expended bullets' casings stay around, for example.

Be well salute


I never finish anyth
#3557282 - 04/16/12 06:52 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 696
Rakov Offline
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Rakov  Offline
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 696
Cosmo!

http://www.arma2.com/free

Arma 2 free!


Textures will be low, but should play like a Comet! ;P

#3557698 - 04/17/12 12:31 PM Re: [ArmA 1] Campaign - rant inside [Re: Comet]  
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 400
Comet Offline
Member
Comet  Offline
Member

Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 400
Damn it man, now you got me thinking. ArmA 2 looks stunning.
But searching for system requirements, this is all I've found:


ARMA 2 Minimum System Requirements
  • Processor: Dual Core CPU for Intel or AMD
  • Memory/RAM: 1 GB
  • Video Card: Nvidia Geforce 7800 / ATI Radeon 1800 or faster with Shader Model 3 and 256 MB VRAM
  • Hard Disk Space: 10 GB
  • Operating System: Windows XP or Windows Vista


ARMA 2 Recommended System Requirements
  • Processor: Fast Dual Core CPU or Quad Core
  • Memory/RAM: 2 GB
  • Video Card: Nvidia Geforce 8800GT or ATI Radeon 4850 or faster with Shader Model 3 and 512MB or more VRAM
  • Hard Disk Space: 10 GB
  • Operating System: Windows XP or Windows Vista


And it's vague about the CPU.
What's a Fast Dual Core in their book??
My CPU is an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 GHz. Pretty damn solid, if you ask me. But is it *fast* enough
to meet & beat their recommended requirements?

At any rate I'll first complete ArmA 1's campaign, them let the Summer (and its daunting hot weather)
pass. Then I'll look at ArmA 2. One dish at a time wink


I never finish anyth

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