ARMA3 Out in September 2013

DCS World Flaming Cliffs 3, Virtual Battlespace 2, Train Simulator 2013, CityDrive 2.0 and Microsoft Flight Simulator X don't agree

Not to be a bugger but dyslexi's videos kinda suck for that they don't cover everything properly, you may instead want to watch these to better understand Arma 3 and it's awesomeness in full - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mmvcj_jZXw , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug2oXbdJu5E , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-fZJm7mhfk , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jgtykj6KfU

I couldn't find all of the videos that I liked though, but try Arma 3 acre, arma 3 co op beta acre as searches in YT and tick the HD button, you should get plenty fo awesome footage.

The problem, as always is that they will expect a 10 year old dell to run it

The problem, as always is that they will expect a 10 year old dell to run it

Well, it IS possible to run a3 with lower spec systems. Someone once told me that if you can run arma 2 you can run arma 3 as well.

Contrary to what many say, ArmA 2 is well optimized, it only chews on resources because there are so many objects present and the world is open which means an insane amount of computations. For example, ArmA 2 and i believe 3 as well, don't actually shoot bullets when weapons fire, what you see may be a tracer but the real impact is done clientside in sync with server and computed by the game engine to include humidity, pressure, wind, gravity pull, armor, nearby object bending, etc, almost everything that could affect a bullet and only then do hits register (spark a hit effect) after they synced with the server. Even BI doesn't talk openly about how many amazing features Arma 2 packs. Another example is the real sky in A2, or that the geo locations are absolutely accurate to that of real world, so if you have a terrain in the Arctic, the sun will be present only for a period of time, depending from time of the year, and no matter how hard you try this, the real coordinates input in the terrain determine things. Another is seasonal heat on the terrain, in summer the ground will be hot on thermals while in winter cold, again, determined by date and time. I know a lot of secrets about A2's engine, so if you want to know I can list it.

Anyway to get back to the topic. I have two test systems for a reason. The main reason that is, is to test my own graphics and apps I make for compatibility with older hardware, and then test beta applications and games by other vendors so I learn new things.

If I could manage to play ArmA 2 CO on both dual and single core test systems with around 20 and 30 frames respectively then I believe people won't have trouble running ArmA 3, since most gamers today have a decent hardware, assuming their systems are in a good shape that is. The only possible letdown can be physx. A3 as of yet doesn't do GPU emulation of this even for Nvidia cards, BI promised however to patch this in the future. From experience, I can say that Physx can eat a lot of performance, unless tweaked with proper drivers for your CPU/GPU or disabled altogether, the new physics in A3 are a very welcome addition actually.

For example, ArmA 2 and i believe 3 as well, don't actually shoot bullets when weapons fire, what you see may be a tracer but the real impact is done clientside in sync with server and computed by the game engine to include humidity, pressure, wind, gravity pull, armor, nearby object bending, etc, almost everything that could affect a bullet and only then do hits register (spark a hit effect) after they synced with the server.

Afaik vanilla Arma2 (inlcuding CO) does not account for windage when calculating shoots, that's an ACE feature. So I highly doubt that humidity and pressure are calculated. And I guess armor is only calculated for vehicles, since afaik body armor is not present.

For example, ArmA 2 and i believe 3 as well, don't actually shoot bullets when weapons fire, what you see may be a tracer but the real impact is done clientside in sync with server and computed by the game engine to include humidity, pressure, wind, gravity pull, armor, nearby object bending, etc, almost everything that could affect a bullet and only then do hits register (spark a hit effect) after they synced with the server.

Afaik vanilla Arma2 (inlcuding CO) does not account for windage when calculating shoots, that's an ACE feature. So I highly doubt that humidity and pressure are calculated. And I guess armor is only calculated for vehicles, since afaik body armor is not present.

As I said, BI won't mention all of the features their engine truly comes with. They have good reasons to be mum on the topic.

It is real that humidity and pressure are calculated as many other preferences including windage. What ACE does is enhance the existing parameters whilst adding tools for metering (wind directions etc) ACE didn't invent these features but build upon them. All of the ArmA 2 and now A3 dynamic missions are built on existing modules that came with vanilla package, except that in missions like domination and wasteland mission makers simply tweak parameters and create scripts that utilize these modules properly thus enhance the overall experience, they didn't invent them, capturing flags, random ai spawns, interactions, even objectives, it's all vanilla stuff. (F7 by default in editor is the modules key)

As for the armor, you are mislead there as well, ArmA 2's engine does compute these, a clever scripter by name Murcielago in the armaholic forums released a Real Damage script (It's not even a mod) that adds proper body hit detection, armor for infantry (also per body parts) and corrects damage per units for different ammo, the script also utilizes proper computation of distance, temperature, pressure (it even adds the chest breaking effect and choking) body piercing etc. How is this even possible?? It's very simple, BI implemented this in the engine but never fully utilized it. Let's not forget that arma series are a simulator GAME while their main sim product is VBS aka Virtual Battlespace which is the real thing sold to countries across the globe, ArmA series are a recruitment tol, ie, they hope to inspire you to go to war. Arma series engine uses VBS features but they are watered down for your average gamer, this is a bad thing if you are into real simulators but a very good thing if you are into relaxing teamplay where you do need to think but also chill and have fun.

Some features that ArmA 2 has, and even ArmA 1 (I won't list all, there's too many):

-True bullet calculation to include wind, temperature, pressure, distance, caliber, angle, armor, etc. Computed via engine, doesn't use bullet impact physics in game like other games do.
-Seasons, sure enough A2's vegetation doesn't change like you may expect, but the weather does according to seasons set by the editor. This will in turn slightly but still noticeably change water color, water transparency, water reflection, sky dimness, cloud density, tree luminescence (A2 does drop extra tree shadows mixed with ground textures) in addition the ground in A2 has different temperatures during different seasons and weathers, this can be easily seen with thermals in OA but A2 vanilla has these features as well, I remember there was a mission somewhere on armaholic where you try to survive during a cold winter alone, you seek hot spots and light fire also find water and food in order not to die, the mission maker used vanilla parameters albeit cleverly via scripts. So for example, if you run through a meadow during spring you may leave footsteps behind but they won't be noticeable much, in summer it's even harder to notice this due to drier air, yet when it rains the footsteps are clearly visible and persist for longer (A2 Free has issues with these though) the same is for vehicle tracks and animals cast these as well.
-ArmA 2 has modules that make it an extremely useful sandbox, you can add civilians, civilian traffic, wildlife, ambient combat, etc. Just what these do? They are 100% dynamic, so for example if you add civ traffic and civs, they will, in real time use vehicles that are assigned to them, houses that are assigned to them, they will switch lights in houses, react to your presence, talk with other civs (about in-game events, never a random giberish) and even cook or do other things in their houses (without animations sadly) they have their roles so priests visit churches (in real times as in real life, nothing is faked) farmers will drive their tractors near fields, hunters will patrol village outskirts with their off-roads, etc. There's simply so much. Civs also have general tolerance ratio, so if you upset them they will be more negative toward you and your team, they will remember your faction, and if they travel to other villages they will spread the word accordingly, so if you earn a really negative reputation civs will be scarce, and some may even steal your weapons and turn into guerrillas then fight you off if the ambient combat module is properly synched.
-Other modules add lots of cool features. There's a module called Surrendering. Did you know you can make ai surrender? And they will do so by morale according to their ranks, ammo count, member injuries. Some may fake surrendering, some may retaliate, other may flee their team mates and betray. Combine this with module parameters and scripts and you can build SWAT 4's interactions.
-The ArmA 2 world (terrains) live a life of their own, they are in real life coordinates, they have real time and date (you can change this however) and they react dynamically to for example wildlife and even combat, a grenade can burn grass, and leave marks, this will soon recover but then there a mushroom may pop up after it rained, the larger the explosion the bigger the impact. And the cities, even without modules have buildings that have special functions so for example churches have proper timing for bells, ALL clocks in ArmA 2 are accurate (according to mission time) you can see these in town centers. Factories open and close gates accordingly (civs use these to work even) and they use their parts accordingly as well so you may expect chimneys to billow smoke if civs are nearby "working".
-The weather is dynamic by itself, it's random, unless specified by scripts, there is sometimes fog even(Volumetric, A3 didn't invent this, Bi just made A3's clouds volumetric fully thus increasing the sky density and making it way more realistic) moon density/coverage also determines how lit a night will be, and it also determines wildlife density spawning and many other things, including how sharp/dim water will be, or how strong a reflection is.
-Speaking of water, it has advanced effects that are really really hard to see, if you manage to stay low just above water surface you can see full water reflection and refraction as well as depth and water gradient coloring (by environment)
-Dynamic particles are everywhere, say you lit up a car, it will burn as long as there is fuel in it, and it may explode according to parts it has, so an armed vehicle has a much higher chance of injuring anyone standing nearby than a civ vehicle that will explode several times albeit with a smaller radius of shrapnel effecting anyone.
-Weapons have advanced computation as well, shotguns for example have real bullet spray computation the moment you fire them off, the bullets aren't just randomly generated, they travel according to environment, so I noticed that in the open with m104 there's a much larger bullet spray when it's overcast (probably windy) than indoors at the same distance.
-Speaking of weather, it affects everything, sadly it's barely visible if ever. The only time it's visible is on trees and foliage, the wind is computed and spread dynamically but the two don't really align. My guess is BI did this to save on resources. However, ACE utilized this vanilla feature and made trees and foliage bend to the gusts of wind that were already in the game but weren't fully simulated.

And there's so much more, I can't even remember. Surprised? Not many know of these actually.

ArmA 3 is great and no doubt it's BI's next gen release, I will absolutely get it, but just so you know if you do see some of the features I mentioned above in A3, remember, they aren't new. Reminds me of when BI told on E3 how the sky is pitch black during night with no moon and how the stars are corresponding that of the real world, people took it as a new A3 feature which is not even near true, even A1 had this for a long time now.

Sorry for a very long reply, but I hope it was a fun and useful read

I agree that Arma2 is a great game. Nevertheless here is how sniping works in my version of vanilla A2:CO:
- grab a sniper rfile
- set the zeroing of the scope to the according distance
-> bullet will hit the center of the reticle, always
(just tested it again with an M107 over 900 meters)
The only factor that may make a difference is shooting up/downhill. There is absolutely no influence of wind, not to speak of the other factors that you mention.

Mb you are right that the engine supports all these stuff. But nevertheless the vanilla game itself doesn't. Mods are necessary.
It's like:
you: "Hey I have a great racing car over here."
me: "But there are no wheels, no instruments and the drivers seat is missing."
you: "Irrelevant, the engine has 1200hp."

About the seasons: yea I started to learn some astronomic basics already to calculate how dark a night actually is depending on location, date and time (given a clear sky). Useful for special operations

The sniper's bullet is calculated with all the stuff I mentioned. The reason you can't notice it almost at all (not your fault whatsoever) is that A2 engine by default is tuned to have "easy shot mode" on, that is, all of the calculations are done albeit softly. What ACE does for snipers is it uses these features, tweaks it's parameters and viola, all of a sudden snipers are realistic. The same is with many other features within A2/A3, BI purposely dumbs these down so people can get used to them and actually play the game. It is like SWAT 4 vanilla bullet spray, it's really bad but realistic, and then you use SAS mod's feature, what SAS mod did for SWAT 4's bullet spray, ACE did for A2 in every feature it has.

If arma series used all the features they come with properly, it would be called VBS and only a tiny fraction of people would actually play this. In fact, BI uses arma series not only as a recruiting tool but as a testing ground for their VBS series. Soon when VBS 3 goes out, it will probably have all what A3 has.

About the night, try to learn to navigate the night by the stars only, it's fun, if you can master this then nothing else will stand in your way

Recently bought and gave the ARMA 3 Beta a shot.. Gotta say I like what I see so far. Game runs smooth on my 2.2ghz dual core and looks very nice, even on lowest settings. Certainly quite different 'feel' to it control-wise from ARMA 2. Getting between 25 and 30FPS. Not too shabby