My experience with ArmA 2

[Donatti]

When I first bought this game 3 days ago, I was somewhat disappointed with its perfomance, and overwhelmed by the huge amount of controls there are in the game, the complex gameplay mechanics, and the pronnounced learning curve.

The thing is that, I gave the game a 2nd opportunity and kept playing, and today, 3 days after I acquired it, I'm really starting to enjoy it as it is, a military simulator. I'm beginning to master the controls (only a little), I've done several tweaks to the game and overclocked my CPU to 3,6ghz (it's an Intel core 2 duo E8400 @3ghz, now @3,6ghz) so the performance has improved vastly, and I feel like I'm starting to know how to play it, and thus enjoying it.

A summary for the people who are still thinking if they buy it or not would be:

If you do, remember that this game is HARD to master, you will need several days or weeks only to adapt to its gameplay and controls, but when you do, you will be part of the most realistic and satisfying videogame military experience ever.



My specs and FPS before the overclock and tweaks:

Intel core 2 Duo 3Ghz
Geforce 8800gt
2 GB RAM DDR2
Windows XP 32 bits

FPS: 29 average, quite unplayable.


My FPS after the overclock and tweaks:

Intel core 2 Duo 3Ghz --> 3,6Ghz

FPS: 42 average, very smooth. Most of the details are set in High, the rest in Normal. No AA, No anisotropic filtering.

[Dwarden]

please try public beta build if you experience some performance issues ...

[TehRealDeal]

Mind posting your resolution and possibly how to OCed? I'm debating doing it myself as my duo at 2.53GHz isn't terribly happy with me about playing this game >.>

[Donatti]

please try public beta build if you experience some performance issues ...

How can I try a public beta build, if my ArmA 2 (steam version) is newer than the build? The beta installer won't let me continue.



Mind posting your resolution and possibly how to OCed? I'm debating doing it myself as my duo at 2.53GHz isn't terribly happy with me about playing this game >.>

Of course. My resolution is 1280 x 1024.

Here is a very complete guide on how to overclock a CPU: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/oc-guide.html

I suggest you read it thoroughly, as overclocking may lead to some voltage / temperature problems (not necessarily, but I don't want anybody's CPU to get screwed up).

[TehRealDeal]

Many thanks Donatti! I'm also running at 1280 x 1024 just because I still find the game looks fantastic (compared to 1920 x 1200), plus settings can be bumped up a bit. I'll take a look at that guide and mention how it goes for me.

-Shame, BIOS restricts me from even viewing the information to overclock. Not sure what to do so I guess I'll leave it for a day when I buy a mobo that can OC or if a way is found to "unlock" my BIOS. Great tip though mate!

[Dwarden]

Mind posting your resolution and possibly how to OCed? I'm debating doing it myself as my duo at 2.53GHz isn't terribly happy with me about playing this game >.>

sry misread and though you got ARMA 2: OA

[thinkr]

Wow thats a new one some of you rookies build computers, go cheap on the processor's and then expect all your games to work, you would think by now you could recognize the trend for the last 5 years has been pc video games are PROCESSOS intensive!!!!

Not your graphic intensive, sheesh stop complaining you just end up looking special. If you read on the internet a little guess what every recent video game is very dependent on the processor, now take a lucky guess how StarCraft 2 will work on your core 2 duo LMAO!!! ok maybe i'm being a bit drastic but still too many people don't realise the processor's have been needing to catch up to video cards for the last 5 years, consider that in your new build $300 for your Processor $100-150 for your video card Good Luck!

[Donatti]

Wow thats a new one some of you rookies build computers, go cheap on the processor's and then expect all your games to work, you would think by now you could recognize the trend for the last 5 years has been pc video games are PROCESSOS intensive!!!!

Not your graphic intensive, sheesh stop complaining you just end up looking special. If you read on the internet a little guess what every recent video game is very dependent on the processor, now take a lucky guess how StarCraft 2 will work on your core 2 duo LMAO!!! ok maybe i'm being a bit drastic but still too many people don't realise the processor's have been needing to catch up to video cards for the last 5 years, consider that in your new build $300 for your Processor $100-150 for your video card Good Luck!

Wait... step by step:

1) Are you saying an Intel core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3,6Ghz isn't good? It's much better than lots of Quad cores out on the market.

2) "If you read on the internet a little guess what every recent video game is very dependent on the processor"

My computer is nearly 5 years old. When I bought it, it was one of the best out on the market. Who are you calling a "rookie who builds PCs and goes cheap on the processor"?

3) I am not complaining about not being able to run ArmA 2 perfectly. I just stated that, in my opinion and after having read lots of other people's experiences, this game's performance isn't totally polished. I had to tweak several things and overclock my CPU in order to have a decent gameplay (which in my opinion, is 40 stable FPS), while I am being able to run GTA IV without any kind of lag/FPS problems.

I know ArmA 2 is more complex than GTAIV, but still, both are intensive CPU demanding games.