Which Arma game??

peanutismint · 13 Oct 2012 at 20:21

I'm just getting back into PC gaming for the first time in about ten years. One of the game series that has encouraged me into this is the Arma series. I'd love to test out my new system using the game, also love the look of the DayZ mod! But upon clicking the site I see a myriad of different versions of/addon packs for the main game (which by now seems to be 'Arma II').

I'm just wondering whether there's one clear winner when it comes to choosing the best 'missions' pack, or are they not standalone??

Also, does anybody know how close they are to releasing Arma III? Should I get Arma II anyway to play DayZ etc or am I better off waiting for Arma III to come out? Or will that not play DayZ??

Lots of questions, I know! Just very excited to have PC gaming back in my life!

SkeeterUK · 13 Oct 2012 at 21:04

I was given arma combined operations on steam by a mate which is arma 2 and operation arrowhead. We play the ace mod and acre for teamspeak and a few others which are compatible like jsr sound mod and some effects mod. Arma 3 i dunno when that will come out due to some of the devs being detained in Greece at the mo. I think it was slated for next year sometime but could be pushed back now.

You need to get the Six updater which is like a mod manager and launcher as well.

Ace mod btw is like a more realistic version of arma 2. Apparently its the best one to get.

MarkeR · 13 Oct 2012 at 21:18

ARMA II combined Ops mate!

Or even ARMA X Gold, which includes all DLC as well apart from the newest Czech Army version!

Then as above, get six..

Mods
ACE and all extras.
ACRE for use with Teamspeak
JSRS sound mod
BlastCore Visuals
ShacTack Mods. All of them

GLT missiles for single player air missions
Loads of mods and addons you can get..

I recommend checking Armaholic.com and the download sections for mods/addons.

Also check the official BIS forums for work in progress and brand new releases!

Enjoy it mate, ARMA is probably the most in depth game I have ever played!

I use ARMA II launcher, which allows me to easily organise my mods and startup paramaters. Use six as above to d/load some mods like ACE, CBA etc to keep them up to date!

peanutismint · 13 Oct 2012 at 21:24

Hahah wow sounds good; I'm getting that tingling sensation in my balls like I'm getting into something massive...... too much information???! Hahah same thing happened the day before I downloaded Minecraft after months of laughing at friends and now I'm obsessed! I may be late to the party but what a party!!!

Okay, so sounds like the way forward is 'Combined Ops' and then a buttload of mods...will check out this 'six updater' (thanks SkeeterUK!) and will feed all of those aforementioned mods into Google to work out what each one of them actually is!!

Just been talking to friends re. TeamSpeak; remember it being around when I used to play the original Unreal Tournament (showing my age here!) but didn't know if it was still a 'thing' or whether more games have incorporated their own chat servers. I've been well and truly spoiled by system-wide chat thanks to the likes of Xbox Live!! Seems to be a truly nicer clientele of people on PC tho.... So nice to play Battlefield with people who laugh with me when I display my utter lack of any shooting skill rather than calling me 'fag' and 'noob'........

Thanks guys! Will possibly/hopefully see some of you on the servers soon!! Will undoubtedly use the tag 'peanutismint'......

Kosmiche · 13 Oct 2012 at 21:33

Get Arma II Combined Ops to begin with, you can still use all the expansion content that you pay for in multiplayer, but with reduced quality textures.

The single player side of it doesn't interest me personally so I was content with running the reduced textures.

peanutismint · 13 Oct 2012 at 21:58

Eames said:
The single player side of it doesn't interest me personally so I was content with running the reduced textures.

Oh wow I didn't even know there was a single player aspect?? That's cool! Right I'll have a go tomorrow.....

Have added my current recently-updated system specs to my sig if anyone's interested - interested to see how the game runs!! :-)

Davedree · 13 Oct 2012 at 22:21

I had arma ii I think and I didn't enjoy it, But the other night my friend showed me the DAYZ MOD, and Now it's got me interested again !!!

peanutismint · 13 Oct 2012 at 22:54

Yeah that's what's getting me interested in it too!! But it seems from online vids that I need to be in a group of friends to fully appreciate it??!

Witcher1979 · 13 Oct 2012 at 22:58

peanutismint said:
Oh wow I didn't even know there was a single player aspect?? That's cool! Right I'll have a go tomorrow.....

Have added my current recently-updated system specs to my sig if anyone's interested - interested to see how the game runs!!

Yeah single player is a bit of a snore fest, I have all the expansions as well. Arma comes to life online, don't just get sucked into DayZ though, try arma games modes as well, you will not be disappointed. When you first try it goto video options, from memory you have two setting, screen res and 3D res? Either way set them both to your screen res otherwise it will look blurry and horrible.

pecnarf · 13 Oct 2012 at 23:09

their a big pack on steam that has all arma init. so if wish to play arma,arma 2, arrowhead, pmc , arma gold (classic operation flashpoint with all offical expandion packs redone with arma engine) etc it worth getting that pack instead of the other one that just has arma2 and arrowhead. as for arma 3 last i check it was slated for released sometime between middle of second quater to late thrid quater of 2013, but could be push back due to legal issues over Greece incident.

SkeeterUK · 14 Oct 2012 at 00:14

Btw i run arma 2 with ace mod with pretty high fps at 1080p and most settings very high, just dont adjust the view distance leave it about 2500. Keep video mem to default as i think theres a bug that if u set it to anything other than default it limits the vram usage of ur card also post processing to normal, and somit else to normal or low i cant recall which atm. U can get away with normal aa and use fxaa high or medium with sharpener.

Btw i noticed if u have ambient occ (perf mode) on in nvidia panel (maybe diff for ati users) that u get this horid shadow flicker all over the place so turn it off if u notice it and if u can in ati drivers for u.

peanutismint · 14 Oct 2012 at 00:56

Cool, thanks for the tips guys! Will give it a try.....

jakspyder · 14 Oct 2012 at 01:41

ArmA3 is still a fair way from release. No sooner than Q1 2013 and as late as Q3+

Arma2 combined operations is what you want. This includes arma2 + arrowhead (expansion) and is 100% required.

The DLC packs (BAF, CZ and PMC) are all optional. you can play without them just at lower quality. (IE the PMC units will be low quality but available) so that is purely down to personal preference and if you are willing to pay.

Even though I dont find these DLC packs to really add a lot as we use custom mod units and weapons anyway. I love BI as a company and want to support them.

As for mods that obviously depends what you are looking for. DayZ the fun shooty and fairly unrealistic play.

Or ACE2 the hardcore realism tactical play.

The mods are all free so you can browse and download them at your leisure.

Ones I personally use.

ACE2+ACRE (essential together when playing online)
Collection of maps and custom units specific to the clan I am in

Design Mastery Skies and lighting - Visual addon
JSRS sounds - Sound addon that improves a huge range of sounds, amazing.
Instant viewdistance - allows on the fly view distance changes
RSLO - allows you to instantly load pre configured loadouts for access.
ShackTac HUD - allows you to view fireteam members on a hud in a 25m radius.

+ probably some others I'm forgetting.

TS3 is essential to work with the ACRE mod. ACRE (Advanced combat radio environment) is a mod+ plugin combination that works in conjunction with TS3. The plugin allows TS3 to translate all the 3d positions of the people ingame and simulates real voice/radio communications through teamspeak.

So 30 people in 1 TS3 channel. All using the ACRE mod and all in the same ArmA2 server. You and I are stood next to each other and everyone else is 300m away. you can hear me and I you just fine. If we move apart our voices get quiet until we can no longer hear each other. To communicate over longer distances there are several radio options from the shortest range fire-team walkie talkie to the full backpack long range radios.

Mountains, buildings, distance and altitude as well as the type and frequency band of radio you use will effect signal strength.

This one mod has perhaps superseded ALL others as being the #1 most essential mod for realism and tactical play.

The radios work and function just like their real counter parts and can be somewhat daunting and their advanced features are fairly unknown by most but they are still easy to pick up for beginners as long as someone can give you a quick run through of how to alter channel, power etc.

VERY COOL mod.

in addition ACRE will translate the 3D positonal audio meaning if someone talks from your left you hear him to your left and so on. SO WIN.