Arma III Advice

[solops]

It has been years since I had an FPS game as they are not usually my cup of tea, but after listening to my son play and reading stuff here about it, I broke down and bought Arma III w/ all DLC at 60% off....I hate the Steam summer sale....

Anyway, I need some help with mod stuff. I plan on playing vanilla for a bit, but I am intrigued by what I read here, particularly by comments on DayZ and KotH. Which mods are "best"? Which of these is a server? What mods do you have to play on a particular server? Where do you get this stuff? I looked over the Steam Workshop and got confused. DayZ was listed, but had no ratings, which seemed odd. So, if I want to fight Zombies, what do I get? If I want to fight Nazis or Soviet era type, what do I get?

I live in the country and have satellite internet, limited to 15 gigs combined upload+download per month before my connection turns into a pumpkin...though I do have unlimited usage between Midnight and 5AM. Plus my son says our ping sucks, ranging from 1000 to 3000, so I am not liable to do much online multiplayer stuff.


OK, comments welcome and desired.

[Skoop]

You definitely scored, arma franchise is one of the greatest fps of all time. 

I don't play dayZ but I think you download it as a package then activate it with the launcher.  There's online servers dedicated to the mod that you can play on, might even be able to play sp as well.  There's also wasteland which is survivor game like dayZ but with out the zombies.

If you want Cold War, theres rhs.  If you want Vietnam, the VTE(Vietnam the experience), if you want WWII there's iron front in arma3 or I44.  The options are insanely limitless.

You should check out the WLA (whole lota altis) dynamic mission, has really cool sp action.  I used this mission to get used to helos because it uses the whole map, you need helos to get around. 

I'm just barely scratching the surface here, you can get mods from armaholic, use sixupdater for automatic ease of use, or use the included arma launcher to activate the mod folders once you install them. 

You'll definately get your money's worth.

[Toonces]

I went with the Day Z standalone, so I can't help you with playing it in ARMA 3.  It is MP-only anyway, although I read that they're going to create a single player version.  No more details than that, that I've read.

ARMA 3 vanilla is pretty darn cool.  I don't know that you need to rush out and start modding it.  If you do, though, the RHS mod is really cool.  If you go to the Planned Assault website you can create random-ish missions and import them into ARMA 3 to play. 

Finally, there are just a butt-ton of SP missions in the workshop, many dynamic.  If you spend some time searching you'll surely find some that suit what you are looking for.

Take it nice and slow; the game is massive and there is a lot of content that comes with the stock install.

If you go MP, which with your ping is probably not feasible, the King of the Hill servers are super fun, but you're going to eat up bandwidth doing that.

[undercovergeek]

theres the new Blood royale one too - good RPS description

[Bardolph]

With a ping that high you aren't going to have much fun online. Fortunately ARMA is a wonderful toybox of tactical combat. There are tons of offline or local coop missions available to download, and the editor is very simple to use and it is incredibly easy to create simple missions on the fly. I've spent hours just messing about in the editor, plopping some units down somewhere on the map and getting into firefights. I've also spent hours learning to fly the various helos and planes, practicing long distance shooting etc.

[MengJiao]

I
ARMA 3 vanilla is pretty darn cool.  I don't know that you need to rush out and start modding it.  If you do, though, the RHS mod is really cool.  If you go to the Planned Assault website you can create random-ish missions and import them into ARMA 3 to play. 

  I agree about vanilla.

  I've played ARMA 3, mostly vanilla for years in the editor.  You can randomize a lot of stuff without much trouble.  Lately I've been looking at
some small terrains in the workshop, but I'm happy with very small battles against the AI.

[Jarhead0331]

http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=13004.msg338319#msg338319

[solops]

Jarhead, you are a cruel man...posting mod pics like that and no download links? Are the mods available yet? If there were links, I missed them.

How is the bunker coming?

[Jarhead0331]

Jarhead, you are a cruel man...posting mod pics like that and no download links? Are the mods available yet? If there were links, I missed them.

How is the bunker coming?

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?177321-The-Eridanus-Insurrection-An-Arma-3-Total-Modication

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=25231

[Jarhead0331]

Check out this one too...

http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=12502.0

[jomni]

For the lazy, Planned Assault is a good way to quickly cook up missions.

www.plannedassault.com

[solops]

Thank you all for the comments and advice. The links to the various websites will be invaluable over the coming years. After getting nowhere with the Arma3 karts, I ordered a game controller, the first since I had an Apple IIe. I suspect it will be better for Arma3 that my mouse.

[Jarhead0331]

Thank you all for the comments and advice. The links to the various websites will be invaluable over the coming years. After getting nowhere with the Arma3 karts, I ordered a game controller, the first since I had an Apple IIe. I suspect it will be better for Arma3 that my mouse.

What!?? No!!! Do not play ARMA III with a game controller! Arma karts is a stupid gimmick, it's the one product put out by Bohemia that I refuse to buy. The rest of the game is hardcore and in my opinion, a controller will hold you back. A mouse and keyboard together with a good flight stick is the way to go with this game. There is no way you will be able to shoot precisely with a game controller. It will probably frustrate your whole experience.

One thing I learned with this game is that fps is extremely important to success or failure. I recently upgraded my video card and it is like playing a new game. It used to be extremely hard for me to spot and accurately hit targets at medium to long distance. The new video card has changed all that. I've been able to enhance detail which helps with spotting and the improved fps helps with finer control, especially with precision marksmanship, and even with some aspects of rotary flight.

[solops]

OK, words of wisdom. I already have a flight controller, so that is covered. What setting do you use for distance visibility? My son says that if they see a helicopter then they usually die, so I suppose spotting is vital in many ways. I have not found the best video settings yet. My rig is not bad, but the video does have limits. I built a desktop w/ i7-4770, a single Nvidea 2GB GTX-770 and 16 gigs RAM. Any recommended minimum framerate? I am guessing 50-60...?

BTW, on helicopters...I am guessing the kids get popped due to thermal imaging, since they try to take cover as soon as they spot the helo. Do the grunts have thermal blankets to hide under like a forest firefighter, or something like that? There is soooo much to this game.

BTW, my "kid" is 17...does that make me old?

[Pete Dero]

What setting do you use for distance visibility?

Doesn't the distance setting only change how far terrain features (trees, ...) are displayed ?
I'm not sure if is has any impact on other objects (tanks, helicopters, soldiers ...).