Arma 2 Free, Arma 2 being given away for free

PogMoThoin

In case anyones interested, BIS have just announced they are giving Arma 2 away for free, it doesn't have the campaign, but it has enough to give anyone a trial to see if they like it or if their pc can run it well. It has full armoury, editor and multiplayer with dedicated servers available. Its a great one to try out in coop with your friends, lots get hooked. It will be available in the next few days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mgao249jNg

Main Features

Free Military Simulation

An authentic and accurate battlefield simulation, including bullet ballistics & deflection, material penetration and more. Unique and comprehensive AI combat-system for large-scale battles.

Free Armory

A comprehensive range of 300+ weapons, units and fully-usable armed or unarmed vehicles across air, land and water classes.

Free Unique Multiplayer

A wide variety of multiplayer game-modes are possible - from a range of co-op and PvP modes, to total mayhem! Many of them are ready to deploy from the get-go, while others can be created using the built-in mission editor, or freely downloaded from the Internet. Deploy user-made scenarios and play together on the same premium game-servers, as long as they don't depend on additional content not available within the already huge armory of over 300 authentic modern weapons, units and vehicles.

Free Dedicated Servers

Software for dedicated servers is available for users to host freely wherever and however they like across Linux and Windows OS platforms. Multiplayer with large-scale maps for 50+ live players and hundreds of AI units. User communities can host any type of games they like, the way they like - private or public - with stock game modes or custom ones, for the maximum number of players their hardware and connection can support.

Free Creativity

Quick mission templates, a powerful, built-in, easy to use SP/MP mission editor, and advanced scripting.

http://www.arma2.com/free

Spear

It also lacks high res textures and mod support, but I certainly hope this gets it the attention it deserves.

PogMoThoin

Spear wrote: »

It also lacks high res textures and mod support, but I certainly hope this gets it the attention it deserves.

:rolleyes: Watch the video in HD, its not bad

dreamers75

Arma without mods wouldnt be very good.

PogMoThoin

dreamers75 wrote: »

Arma without mods wouldnt be very good.

We all were in awe of Arma 2 before the mods came along making it even better. You can knock hours of fun from the editor alone. For someone who has no idea what they're getting into, this opens the door and is a great way to drum up interest in Arma 3. I think its a great move, the full game is only 15 quid if they want mods:
http://www.sprocketidea.com/joomla/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=30&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&vmcchk=1&Itemid=57

I don't see any other devs out there giving away free games, others are killing support for theirs after a few months as they move their attention to something new.

Duggy747

Hmm, always wondering what this game was like to play. I'll give it a whirl for da craìc

Maximilian

dreamers75 wrote: »

Arma without mods wouldnt be very good.

Don't most servers run without mods? I always found annoying getting kicked off for running sound mods and the like. Oh and my aimbot of course.

dreamers75

Maximilian wrote: »

Don't most servers run without mods? I always found annoying getting kicked off for running sound mods and the like. Oh and my crashbot of course.

fyp

Good thats it free and for only 15 blips cant go wrong.

We should get a server for this game

Spunge

Tried this a few years ago but the character movement just felt so horrible and shítty, is it just me or what ?

PogMoThoin

Spunge wrote: »

Tried this a few years ago but the character movement just felt so horrible and shítty, is it just me or what ?

No, you've not tried this, you may have tried the original demo (which is a laggy unoptimised pre-release stutterfest mess) or the original game. The game itself is nothing like it was at release, its got many optimisations, improvements and changes through patches, they've even tweaked the animation speeds in the last official patch in march, its still getting beta patches. Unlike other developers BIS support their games for many years and don't abandon the bugs.

If you have the original game, patch it up to date and see how it plays, all the multicore improvements in Arrowhead were ported back to Arma 2 through patches

Maximilian

dreamers75 wrote: »

fyp

Good thats it free and for only 15 blips cant go wrong.

We should get a server for this game

We should get two servers and then have an argument about the fact that there's two.

Gonzovision

We getting 2 servers?

Nice

Grayditch

I take it you need a monster PC to even think about playing this?

PogMoThoin

Grayditch wrote: »

I take it you need a monster PC to even think about playing this?

I wouldn't think so, its at lower resolution detail than the original. Why not try it and see.

Grayditch

Cool, I might give it a bash

Fanny Cradock

I bought this game during the Steam Christmas sale and I've never played it

cherryghost

It's rather good. I bought Arma II on release day and thought it was the biggest pile of crap ever. Very very buggy, uninstalled it after a week or so. Games been patched a few times since then and when Póg convinced me to reinstall it with the patches, I was in awe. The game had been fixed in so many ways, it was very playable.

Give it a try, and give it some time. Or join up with the lads on the Tactical Forum. Was on for a while not too long ago, was good fun

PogMoThoin

The campaign probably still has some, BIS don't make good campaigns. They try too hard and end up with something very big and usually broken, they don't play out like they should and the voice acting sucks. Most people don't bother with the campaign, I've not bothered with any of them, but I loved the small scenarios, this is where the game really shines

dreamers75

PogMoThoin wrote: »

The campaign probably still has some, BIS don't make good campaigns. They try too hard and end up with something very big and usually broken, they don't play out like they should and the voice acting sucks. Most people don't bother with the campaign, I've not bothered with any of them, but I loved the small scenarios, this is where the game really shines

User made campaigns i posted on the TS forum are very good, recomened them.

Sticky_Fingers

I don't think my computer can run this so I won't be downloading it. With regards to the developers releasing buggy games I bought Arma 1 and it was a glitchfest that was a totally unplayable buggy mess without the application of massive patches. While I applaud the devs for not abandoning their games after a few months I think it is pretty poor of them to try and flog obviously broken, unfinished games in the first place. Perhaps Arma 3 will be different and be somewhat playable on release day but I doubt it very much.

B00MSTICK

Just a bump to let people know that its available for download now.
www.arma2.com/free

Genghiz Cohen

Glee

PogMoThoin

System requirements:

---

Minimal PC System Requirements
• Dual Core CPU (Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz, Intel Core 2.0 GHz, AMD Athlon 3200+ or faster)
• 1 GB RAM
• GPU (NVIDIA GeForce 7800 / ATI Radeon 1800 or faster) with Shader Model 3 and 256 MB VRAM
• Windows XP
• 5 GB free HDD space

Recommended PC System Requirements

• Quad Core CPU or fast Dual Core CPU (Intel Core 2.8 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ or faster)
• 2 GB RAM
• Fast GPU (NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT or ATI Radeon 4850 or faster) with Shader Model 3 and 512 or more MB VRAM
• Windows XP or Vista
• 5 GB free HDD space

I'm installing this now to see how it looks and plays, will report here

Seifer

I really wanted to like this game when I tried the demo but just found it too buggy. I will pick up the free version over the weekend and try it out.
Is there an in-game friends list? Or do you guys just meet up on a regular server?

PogMoThoin

Seifer wrote: »

Is there an in-game friends list? Or do you guys just meet up on a regular server?

We've not been playing, but keep an eye on this thread, may be something happening shortly. I'm itching to get back into it, just don't have thwe time to run a full time server
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056308639

Spear

The original OpFlash is now ArmA: Cold War Assault, and free for any previous owners of OpFlash.

http://www.bistudio.com/index.php/english/home/news/projects/235-arma-cold-war-assault-announced

dreamers75

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=121098

BIS allowed a mod team to port the entire Cold War Crisis to Arma 2. Wont work on the Arma Free version. full campaign to follow.

Its very well done same island with updated textures and buildings.

Spunge

Game seems like it could be fun but:

- im getting like 20-30 fps max on 3Ghz C2D + 6870 + 4GB RAM on lowest possible settings

- feels horribly awkward transitioning from walk to run etc. Well the whole movement just feels awkward in general

dreamers75

Spunge wrote: »

Game seems like it could be fun but:

- im getting like 20-30 fps max on 3Ghz C2D + 6870 + 4GB RAM on lowest possible settings

- feels horribly awkward transitioning from walk to run etc. Well the whole movement just feels awkward in general

Something not right there, i get High with that exact setup.

latest drivers etc and leave the Video Memory at high or low dont use Default.

cherryghost

Or its locked FPS

dreamers75

cherryghost wrote: »

Or its locked FPS

Doubt it the game is a beast to run and scales up well.

po0k

but you can* lock the FPS to a range, like a variable v-sync of sorts.



*from the OpFlash vintage at least

PogMoThoin

Spunge wrote: »

Game seems like it could be fun but:

- im getting like 20-30 fps max on 3Ghz C2D + 6870 + 4GB RAM on lowest possible settings

- feels horribly awkward transitioning from walk to run etc. Well the whole movement just feels awkward in general

You should definitely be able to max it with antialiasing on normal, viewdistance on 3000. Set 3d resolution to the same as your monitor

Spunge

i turned off v-sync in my driver, that got rid of the mouse lag.
Could it be that i was playing on a heavily populated server ?

PogMoThoin

Spunge wrote: »

i turned off v-sync in my driver, that got rid of the mouse lag.
Could it be that i was playing on a heavily populated server ?

That could be it.

Spunge

Ok, i just ran the game on very high settings and i had GPU-Z running at the same time and i was getting 20ish fps (just below what id get on all low).

But it was showing GPU load @ 0%.
Is this some sort of crazy CPU bottleneck ?

PogMoThoin

Spunge wrote: »

Ok, i just ran the game on very high settings and i had GPU-Z running at the same time and i was getting 20ish fps (just below what id get on all low).

But it was showing GPU load @ 0%.
Is this some sort of crazy CPU bottleneck ?

Turn post processing and antialiasing on low. Most people don't like PP any higher than low, one of its effects is motion and radial blur which can be nauseous.

Run it again then

PogMoThoin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=726FBtiYPWE

BostonB

How do you get the original older game? Is their a link somewhere? I have ARMA2 somewhere, it ran so slowly I never played it.

Spunge

Think i'm just gonna give up. Runs too crappy online.

oh well.

PogMoThoin

BostonB wrote: »

How do you get the original older game? Is their a link somewhere? I have ARMA2 somewhere, it ran so slowly I never played it.

You have the cd key? All you'd need is the .iso or the lend of a disk

BostonB

Just checked and I have the original disc and key but its Arma not Arma II. I was hoping to get the original Operation Flashpoint. Lost my copy of it years ago.

PogMoThoin

BostonB wrote: »

Just checked and I have the original disc and key but its Arma not Arma II. I was hoping to get Operation Flashpoint. Lost my copy of it years ago.

You can buy Combined Ops for €25 direct from the developer
http://www.sprocketidea.com/joomla/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=33&category_id=2&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&vmcchk=1&Itemid=57

OFP isn't available anymore

5uspect

I want to love this game but the controls are just awful at times.

I'm currently trying to remap the aircraft controls to my xbox controller with limited success. Any tips to get them under some sort of control?

BostonB

PogMoThoin wrote: »

You can buy Combined Ops for €25 direct from the developer
http://www.sprocketidea.com/joomla/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=33&category_id=2&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&vmcchk=1&Itemid=57

OFP isn't available anymore

Pity ARMA is too slow on my laptop. OFP was ok.

PogMoThoin

5uspect wrote: »

I want to love this game but the controls are just awful at times.

I'm currently trying to remap the aircraft controls to my xbox controller with limited success. Any tips to get them under some sort of control?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=61200348

5uspect

PogMoThoin wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=61200348

Thanks, that's fine but I'm having trouble with setting up secondary things like freelook.

I'd like to use the left thumbstick as cyclic and right as collective controls in helis with left and right bumpers as rudder. For fixed wing I'd probably use triggers as analogue throttle (and maybe even collective too). So far so good this seems to more or less work.

I would also like to use the right thumbstick as freelook activated by clicking the stick. However I don't be able to set up a freelook toggle. I need to assign a freelook on key and a different freelook off key.

It's a similar story for autohover. it's two key assignments rather than a simple toggle.

dreamers75

5uspect wrote: »

I want to love this game but the controls are just awful at times.

I'm currently trying to remap the aircraft controls to my xbox controller with limited success. Any tips to get them under some sort of control?

Why Seriously?

Game uses almost every key and then X2 , some people have had success maping a controller but makes no sense why anyone would do it.

5uspect

dreamers75 wrote: »

Why Seriously?

Game uses almost every key and then X2 , some people have had success maping a controller but makes no sense why anyone would do it.

It makes perfect sense, a controller is a much more natural way to fly.
I want to fly a helicopter the way you fly a real one, not learn to play the piano on my keyboard.

Also, the tutorial is doing my head in. It's completely hopeless for the stated purpose. It tells me to use the action menu to complete some task but the action menu hasn't been explained at all and it isn't listed in the controls.

Why do I need to navigate a complex menu system to select a weapon from a box? I've just spent ten minutes trying to select a Javelin in AT training and then get shot in the head by some NPCs for my trouble. Grrr :mad:

This game reminds me so much of a CAD package called ProEngineer. It has an absolutely hideous context menu system where you get lost trying to do the simplest thing. Every other CAD package can manage the same tasks easily (even other packages from the same company) but ProE wants you to hunt through a million different menus before it will let you do anything and then it won't let you exit out of them easily if you change your mind.

Hopefully I can find some decent youtube tutorials that explain these menu's clearly.

TomCo

What's the best way to get into online play (guides, servers etc)?

I've had the game for years but I just don't understand the multiplayer aspect. I just join a game and spend the next 20mins running towards a random town (sometimes following someone) before being shot.