Co-op chaos 8pm AEDT (?) TUES 19thDec. Meet in TeamSpeak.

[Dr_Eyeball]

Thanks for organising this. Nice turn out. Almost the whole division! Almost missed it with the late announcement.

- Does anyone have a link to that coop map pack that was used? It's probably worth trying some of those missions in advance and picking the best ones.

- I started work on some infantry based combat missions similar to the GRAW co-op maps. If they export to MP properly in the Save dialog, we could try something like that.

- At times I had trouble working out where the human players were, so that we could group up properly. Need to work on that somehow, otherwise it will lessen the MP experience.

- One reason for this is that at times I led a separate group of AI players in order to bring them close to the front line, so that we could choose to respawn in them without having to travel the full distance each time. That meant splitting away though.

- Quite a few crashes in some maps, but none at all in others. I wonder about the causes. The RHIB boats were a major problem for me. (CTI is also very buggy in general too.)

It's interesting how the logistics make up half of the fun.

[Stompya]

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

[ScopE]

Originally Posted by Dr_Eyeball

... Nice turn out. Almost the whole division! ...

- Yeah Doc I'd be interested to see some home-grown missions. Didn't play GRAW co-op but did do SP... obviously you liked the co-op design.

- ID'ing human TOG-mates. I thought about this too. Is this the sort of mod that the OFP/ArmA community would/could tackle?

Logistics of assault. What's that? ( ) I've really got to learn to wait and plan, myself. But I was aware of the TS dialog healthily discussing approaches to the 'front'.

[Stompya]

Yer, we were doing well, infiltrated the outskirts of the city, figuring out next move, bloody chopper lands 100 yards away from us and 2 rambos go running into the city guns blazing, they lasted about, hmmmm, 2 seconds? All of a sudden us sneaky guys were being buzzed by enemy chopper and spec forces were hunting us.

That AI isnt half bad, I was pinned down in front of a house, one went running around the house while the others fired at me, I figured he'd gone off in wrong direction, next thing I was shot in back of head.

Love how there is no quick way to swap ammo/weapons from crates to vehicle, would take a coordinated effort from a team to do that quickly.

[ScopE]

I enjoyed the maps/missions we sampled that didn't have a massive travel distance to engage.
Mind you; it meant that when you do get to the destination, you're very conscious of not getting shot, so to that end it keeps the player's mental tension high and I think it translates to exciting atmosphere and gameplay.

But maybe whilst we're all getting to know ArmA, we maintain a list of favourite maps suited to the number of co-op players we typically have fielded? (I think you're suggesting that above, Doc?)

[jeansy]

just played a quick game with clint this arvo

i can see this being a long term game with a lot of bf2ers who are sick of the kids in the bf2 migrating over

im in more more games with out a doubt

[Spectre8]

I've going away on a holiday in early Jan, but when I return, I'll beef the system, and get this monster game fired up. It's bloody torture hearing this!

One of the main thing's that's really getting to me about BF2, is the wall of grenades you run into. And mainly, the gung-ho approach of most players. It's as if a life means nothing but two points... I much prefer games (like ArmA) where the simulated life has some sort of value, where you'll do anything and everything to keep it alive! If that's a long transit, then that's fine!! It keeps people honest!

Great to hear the AI working well at this stage!

Keep the games going, keep the dialog going! It keeps me interested, and gives me hope!

[ScopE]

Originally Posted by Spectre8

...
Keep the games going, keep the dialog going! It keeps me interested, and gives me hope!

Ah well if you say so, Spec. ...
Here is a bit of an exchange I had with Clint today after PM'ing him and Stomp:

Originally Posted by ScopE

cc Stompya

Cheers Clint.
The funny thing is, I was following you around because I was convinced you knew EXACTLY what you were doing! And nothing you say now can change my mind.
I'm very 'tentative' when playing a new game... (Right up to the point where I stoopidly run out into the open and get my head blown off.) My ArmA controls feel all over the joint currently and I haven't even been playing BF2/2142 regularly so I feel that my 'situational awareness' in-game is seriously lacking.
But yeah; that honestly was a heap of fun.
As I said over TS, just playing Co-op with a bunch of TOGgers took my attentions completely away from the engine/technicalities/idiosyncracies of ArmA, and my enjoyment hugely increased.
(I can also see already that despite the roughness of things currently, the sheer scope for the ArmA community to pump out missions and content paints a huge replayability factor into this game.)

...

Cheers,
ScopE

Now Spec this may get annoying but I'll say it again like a broken record ...
ArmA is going to demand some patience from newcomers.
The engine isn't optimized, and it currently sucks the average mid-high end system dry, with not much to show for it. Think of it as an investment in your time, and I reckon you'll enjoy it for what it is.

[Spectre8]

Excellent! Thanks again!

I've got an AMD 64 3500+, will have 2 or 3 gig of DDR RAM, and currently have a 6800GT PCI-E GPU. That can and will change at some time, but not immediately... any guesses how it'll handle ArmA??
I'll grab the demo as soon as is humanly possible and give that a good thrashing, both before and after the RAM upgrade... but the GPU? Any ideas?

[ScopE]

Originally Posted by Spectre8

... but the GPU? Any ideas?

It might just cope (i.e. >=25 fps) with ArmA settings at 1024x768, but everything at low settings, no AA. It'll look pig-ugly but it'll run.

Brace y'self... I reckon you would want to be saving for an 8800 (if you're already at a PCI-E mobo) to get any gratification from the appearance of the engine in its current state.
But you never know; BI might have optimized it so well by March that it will be worth delaying any commitment to $$$/hardware.

Hmm... Gotta give you something more concrete:
My rig...
DFI SLI mobo (but only one vid card mounted)
AMD 3500+ (no o/c currently)
2 x 1Gb OCZ Performance RAM
1 x XFX 7800GT factory overclocked to 450MHz/1050MHz, further o/c'ed to 480/1110 (but I think there's more in it).

I am trending frames-per-sec on my Logitech G15 lcd display (which works rather beautifully using the FRAPS G15 applet included in the current FRAPS version):

The 7800GT gets me an extremely steady 35-41 fps in one of the early SP campaign missions, in a sandy/open/sparsely-treed environment with few buildings (ie. undemanding in ArmA terms).

ArmA settings @ 1024x768 are mostly "Normal" except "Low" Blood and "Low" Post-processing, with a draw distance slider set at 1200metres.

At 1280x1024 I get pretty well the same 35+ fps !!!, but with "Low" AA.

Last night on ArmA co-op with the TOG homies, I wasn't running any FRAPS/fps read-out, and to be honest I found it all quite playable in many virtual ArmA environments (ocean, open fields, sparse trees, denser scrub trees).

BUT, tonight after SP I then briefly logged onto an MP server and spawned into some quite dense bush.
The fps plummeted to 15-20 !

Hopefully that paints a better hands-on picture for you, Spectre.