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Windows Arma 3 - Alpha

Discussion in 'Gaming' started by Jedra, 26 Feb 2013.

  1. Jedra

    Jedra Supermodel

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    The Arma 3 alpha is opening soon...

    www.arma3.com

    Alpha starts on the 5th March!!
     
    Last edited: 26 Feb 2013
  2. benji2412

    benji2412 <insert message here>

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    I do hope this game is everything I want it to be!

    Mainly, fun to play with friends. We had such a laugh messing around on Arma 2.
     
  3. Jedra

    Jedra Supermodel

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    Well, at least there is an alpha this time. No doubt there will be the usual teething problems with BI games, but they are a dedicated bunch and will fix them. One of their aims this time was to make it a lot less buggy than when Arma 2 came out - hence the delayed release and the alpha.

    See you on the battlefield!
     
  4. suenstar

    suenstar Collector of Things

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    Looking forward to messing about and having a taste of the new game.
    I'll be hunting for as many bugs as possible so they can get ironed out.

    I hope the Alpha state doesn't discourage any potential buyers though, I know far too many people who play an Alpha and then take that as what the final product will be. :(
     
  5. Jedra

    Jedra Supermodel

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    There will always be these people. However, I think that most people will get it - it's not as if they are doing 'a WarZ' - this thing HAS been in development for well over 2 years already and a lot of the the technology they are using has already been trialled in both Take On Helicopters and the Arma 2 betas.

    The only issue being is that to play the multiplayer Alpha you have to commit to the full game, by paying £25. This may be seen in some quarters as money grabbing, but I don't think it is considering the development time already put in.

    Personally I will be going whole hog and throwing as much money at BI as they will let me. In this day and age, their are not many developer/publishers like them left. They work hard to support their game and their community involvement is huge.
     
  6. dolphie

    dolphie What's a Dremel?

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    I want it so bad I searched for it on steam just to check its not up early. It's not :(
     
  7. B_HERB

    B_HERB What is this..A CENTER FOR ANTS?!

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    Been curious about this game for a while now....I think I'll have go at it for the 3rd installment. My previous computer couldn't handle A2 but I've since upgraded:rock:
     
  8. Guest-23315

    Guest-23315 Guest

    Seriously looking forwards to this.

    The videos from the last few E3's make it look damn impressive.
     
  9. longweight

    longweight Possibly Longbeard.

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    I really wish that I had the time for this :(
     
  10. benji2412

    benji2412 <insert message here>

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    You might not like me for saying this, but I really disliked the feel of the game engine when on foot. I thought it wasn't very fluid and for some reason the weapons were either too realistic or the server was buggy and they weren't registering hits. It's a to each their own though as to whether you like the game engine I suppose.
     
  11. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    Lets hope its not like Arma 2 was on release even now the game is patched alot more than it should be for my liking.

    Arma 2 on release for those that did not play it was a mess the weapon hit engine was broken we shot each other in the head at point blank range and still did not register a hit.

    Game also suffered due to the requirements to get the game going at a decent fps with decent distance on, To this day you need a top end pc to get the draw distance much passed 2km.

    Problem with playing an Alpha release and ive played a few games that were Alpha / Beta is that people expect rather large changes when going from one to the next.

    Star trek online was slaughtered because the Beta everyone tested was what went live on release. ( including the bugs)

    I wont be playing the alpha, played arma2 beta and thought our comments were ignored, me and a few m8s posted a tonne of bugs for them with screenshots and reasons it was bugging and we were ignored most of the time as they all still made the live game.
     
  12. Jedra

    Jedra Supermodel

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    It is a shame that this was your experience. I have been part of the community on the BI Forums for a long time now and my experience was the opposite, but with provisos...

    1. Any major bugs in the betas (where something breaks) are usually fixed extremely quickly, normally the same day.

    2. Anything that is open for discussion usually requires a consensus of opinion before it is looked at. Popular items on their issue tracker normally get looked at at least. Given that there are so many issues on there though, they do have to prioritise.

    There are lots of annoying little bugs and tweaks that seem to get missed (especially with config), so they opened a project to allow the community to fix these (The community configuration project).

    All in all, the effort that they continue to put into what is quite an old game is pretty good I think.

    Having said that, you are right - the original release of Arma 2 was not very good at all. A lot of the problems were resolved with the release of Operation Arrowhead, but that still did not allow them to recover from the bad press they got after the Arma 2 release. As I said in a previous post - they acknowledge this and that's why they are running the alpha - it will give them chance to iron out most of the big stuff before the main release. Will everything you or I report get fixed? I doubt it, but you can bet that this time they will be listening. Arma 2 never really recovered from the initial reviews, and it was only DayZ that brought players back in huge numbers.

    Having written a number of mods for this games (as well as Take On Helicopters) I can tell you that it is flipping huge and extremely complex. The Real Virtuality engine does not rely on set pieces and other tricks, everything is simulated as accurately as possible. True, there is a lot of legacy stuff in there and some of it is not as efficient as it can be, but their aim was to try and sort that out for Arma 3.

    Fan boy? Me? Oh yes ;-)
     
  13. dolphie

    dolphie What's a Dremel?

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    I think with Arma2 it was less about ignoring people and more about them just being unable to patch it all in time for release. And then the release was one of the buggiest things ever, and really harmed the reputation of the game. The campaign especially, is so laughable (or cry-able I suppose).

    But I think they learned their lesson and often when I see interviews about Arma3 they are talking about how they want to make it a lot more polished this time. And the game also looked playable last summer, so almost a year later and it's still not in beta, I think it's safe to assume they are really taking their time with it this time. Should hopefully be a lot more slick. If they want to attract more of the BF3 type crowd, it really needs to be.
     
  14. adzc1987

    adzc1987 Minimodder

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    They are going for a "Minecraft" model, which is why you pay for alpha, if you look at the different prices on the site you will see that it will increase in beta and a further increase on the retail release.

    Im looking forward to this I cant wait for all the stuff the community will come up with!
     
  15. will_123

    will_123 Small childs brain in a big body

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    Cant wait for this! Full editor support from the start is great. ARMA 2 was a bit of a state when it released, this alpha should prevent that from happening again.

    Going to keep my 7870 until the game is released then upgrade to something that can push 60+ FPS in this. Hopefully it maybe slightly more optimised by then.
     
  16. adzc1987

    adzc1987 Minimodder

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    From what i have heard, yes it was, but didnt bohemia throw themselves into it and fixed things quickly etc...

    This is why i like BI they actually give a damn!
     
  17. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    It was not fixed till the expansion was released, they fixed alot of bugs and stuff yes but the actual game was very broken pre the first major patch (3-5months after release) and the release of the expansion enough by this time the damage was done.

    The initial reviews destroyed it. Some sites like bit tech scored it highly for what it offered whilst not penalising it for been bug ridden.
     
  18. suragh

    suragh Derp

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    Want to buy!
     
  19. will_123

    will_123 Small childs brain in a big body

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    Yes, totally. Wasn’t trying to knock ARMA2 its one of my favourite games and they continue to patch and make the game better. Very good devs.

    I don’t think that was the case it was given lots of updates prior to the expansion. Many really shortly after the game came out. Some with fixes other containing extra content.
     
  20. suenstar

    suenstar Collector of Things

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    Can't say I've seen many bugs from the Arma 2 Beta being in the released game.
    What sort of bugs were you experiencing that weren't being fixed rollo?


    Finally got around the looking at the pre-order options.
    I will definitely be going for the Supporter Edition, partly for the free expansions but also for ArmaX to add to Steam.
     
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