Is ArmA the new PR?

[Menigmand]

Sorry for asking a dumb question, but I've been out of the loop for about a year since the latest patch for PRBf2 came around and knocked out my computer.

Now I'm back on the forums, but all the news items seem to be about something called PR:ArmA. And I'm surprised to find there have been no new patches to PR since I left back then.

Has ArmA become the new favoured platform for the PR gameplay, or is anything still going on with the game on the old BF2 engine?

(I've been digging around on the forums to find something that tells me what the relationship is between the two versions (?) of the game, but I'm still a bit confused...)

[gazzthompson]

No its not, PR:BF2 will still be developed.

[Menigmand]

Thanks for the answer - where can I read more about the comparative differences betwen PR:Bf2 and PR:ArmA?

(apart from here: https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f440-p ... -faqs.html)

Surely there must be some big difference, or nobody would have bothered to build up the mod again from scratch on the other engine.

Never played ArmA, but I might pick up on it if that's where the action is these days...

[sparks50]

The Arma engine and the BF2 engine is quite different. I guess you would have to try it to get a feeling of how.

[Menigmand]

The Arma engine and the BF2 engine is quite different. I guess you would have to try it to get a feeling of how.

Sure thing, would just be nice with some impressions from the people before I go out and buy the game (or download it, or whatever kids do these days)

[dtacs]

The major differences include (but are not limited to):

• An entirely new engine, which has many advantages over the Refractor 2 engine used for BF2. Including more players per squad/fireteam/platoon, and more spots in vehicles. It also has numerous performance advantages and allows for more in-depth vehicle/weapon models and gear.
• Huge maps which cater for a more realistic experience allowing more cache locations and areas of interest, the downside being development time increases for each map.
• A different ballistics system including ricochets and actual deviation based on where the crosshair is pointing.

Never played ArmA, but I might pick up on it if that's where the action is these days...

The action is still firmly in PRBF2, and will most likely remain that way regardless of the popularity of PRA2. Its a chunky engine that whilst having advantages, can be very frustrating to deal with. It simply doesn't possess the fluidity and speed that PRBF2 can offer.

[gazzthompson]

You wont here much of the differences between PR:Bf2 and PR:ArmA because well, not much has been released concerning PR:ArmA other than whats in the news feed.

A good, obvious place to start would be the differences between ArmA and BF2 as these will obviously still be present in the differences between PR:Bf2 and PR:ArmA

[Menigmand]

Thanks a lot, dtacs, that was exactly the kind of briefing I needed. Thumbs up.

[Sgt. Mahi]

Go watch some Arma II gameplay on youtube it will give you a good idea and there is a demo for Arma II you can download if you want to see it first hand.

I'm a huge BF2 R fan but I don'tt think I will ever get use to the Arma II's engine and it's "flaws"... BF2 R has the right balance of teamwork, tacticts and arcady game that I like. Sometimes less is more although BF2 R would be awesome if the engine could allow a little more realism like ballistics and such.

[sparks50]

The demo is pretty outdated at this point, I would suggest the free-to-play version instead.

Arma 2 free - Arma 2 Official Website

[Jigsaw]

Thanks for the answer - where can I read more about the comparative differences betwen PR:Bf2 and PR:ArmA?

You'll have to keep an eye on the News and Highlights sections of the forums as PR:ArmA2 has not been released yet, and there is limited information available to the public at present.

PR:BF2 is still very popular and very well populated, whilst it has been a while since the last patch it is still being worked on extensively.

[K4on]

The action is still firmly in PRBF2, and will most likely remain that way regardless of the popularity of PRA2. Its a chunky engine that whilst having advantages, can be very frustrating to deal with. It simply doesn't possess the fluidity and speed that PRBF2 can offer.

well said.
i guess a lot of players will be disappointed, if they exspect something similar to bf2: pr but with better graphics.

arma2 engine can never provide a fluently arcade like gameplay as bf2: pr does atm.
pr:arma2 is going to be more like a simulation.

in the end u will have two games wearing the pr dogtags, but with different gameplay.

[LithiumFox]

well said.
i guess a lot of players will be disappointed, if they exspect something similar to bf2: pr but with better graphics.

arma2 engine can never provide a fluently arcade like gameplay as bf2: pr does atm.
pr:arma2 is going to be more like a simulation.

in the end u will have two games wearing the pr dogtags, but with different gameplay.

At this point, honestly, I almost prefer ARMA 2 over PR....

[Pantera]

Short answer is We are trying to take the unique PR experience that changed BF2 to the ArmA game and its OA engine.

Long answer is Arma is....complicated. This is going to be for the very mil-sim oriented people. Ive been playing PR: BF2 since it was called PRMM, and lemme tell you, its like nothing ive ever played before.

[Nebsif]

well said.
i guess a lot of players will be disappointed, if they exspect something similar to bf2: pr but with better graphics.

arma2 engine can never provide a fluently arcade like gameplay as bf2: pr does atm.
pr:arma2 is going to be more like a simulation.

in the end u will have two games wearing the pr dogtags, but with different gameplay.

I only played the demos (vanilla + OA) but I got the impression ARMA tries to simulate too hard.
Its difficult to explain, but its more like watching helmet cam footage on apache clips rather than being a soldier or controlling one.

Things u dont really have to pay attention to IRL, like walking thro a door with ur weapon or breaking an animation/action in the middle are too clunky in ARMA.
Also the lack of decent animations breaks the immersion for me, not just the reloads but also ur weapon disappearing from the screen each time u sprint with super human speed, or just seeing a tiny part of it with a huge scope in ur face when standing. Yes soldiers dont run with their weapon infront of their face while sprinting, but IRL u FEEL it, u can smell the gunpowder when u fire etc and thats why even PRBF2 and RO2 have the weapons always on screen in "unreal" proportions.

I hate when I play a game and I have heavily rely on my own imagination to complete the experience. "Its not woodoo magic, hes reloading the weapon" "That retarded zombie with a rifle is a challenging taliban soldier" "Its not a flat boring texture with buildings on it, its a city"
Kinda like kids do "Im not shouting pewpew and aiming my plastic gun on a carton box, im firing at a dude", too old for that.

Map size also comes at the cost of quality and attention to detail.. its all about the balance between realism and fun for me (=PR;BF2, RO). Even PR can be reaaaaally boring with 64p on 4km.
Disclaimer: I know that u see everything thro the eyes of the player model in A2 and how the engine works etc, also watched most TvT and other vids in the A2 section.

EDIT: If youre in doubt.. just buy it today, 50% discount on steam for 24h!!!!!! (combined ops)

[LithiumFox]

I only played the demos (vanilla + OA) but I got the impression ARMA tries to simulate too hard.
Its difficult to explain, but its more like watching helmet cam footage on apache clips rather than being a soldier or controlling one.

Vanilla is ****. ACE is where it's at mate. biggest things you can do: Turn down your head-bob, turn down your mouse smoothing.

Honestly, it's fun once you realize how the characters react. (and some of the mods add so much)

Things u dont really have to pay attention to IRL, like walking thro a door with ur weapon or breaking an animation/action in the middle are too clunky in ARMA.

That was worded horribly... um... a lot of games have you pay attention to things you don't normally have to IRL. Like stats. Why the fuck do i need to look at how many kills, teamwork points, and capture points i got on a battlefield. .... just sayin.

Also the lack of decent animations breaks the immersion for me, not just the reloads but also ur weapon disappearing from the screen each time u sprint with super human speed, or just seeing a tiny part of it with a huge scope in ur face when standing.

The scope issue is actually because of an FOV based on how big your screen is vs how far away you should be sitting. there was a diagram, but it uses a LOT of math to figure this out.

Honestly, press the kp "-" key twice on some ironsighted/cqb scoped weapons. It'll fix your issue.

Yes soldiers dont run with their weapon infront of their face while sprinting, but IRL u FEEL it, u can smell the gunpowder when u fire etc and thats why even PRBF2 and RO2 have the weapons always on screen in "unreal" proportions.

Actually, i like the weapons down. Feels less like CoD or Counter-strike. This is an issue of you being used to a staple in other FPS's.

Plus, how many games give you separate HEAD motion. (pressing the left ALT key lets you move your head separate from your body.)

More of an opinion, personally, most people i've heard like that feature. Less stupid. More realistic.

I hate when I play a game and I have heavily rely on my own imagination to complete the experience. "Its not woodoo magic, hes reloading the weapon" "That retarded zombie with a rifle is a challenging taliban soldier" "Its not a flat boring texture with buildings on it, its a city"
Kinda like kids do "Im not shouting pewpew and aiming my plastic gun on a carton box, im firing at a dude", too old for that.

Which is why we created mods to fix that issue. And what settings do you have your game at? Cause.. honestly.....



I'm pretty sure this looks better than PR. (took that screenshot myself. No editing other than cropping.)

Map size also comes at the cost of quality and attention to detail.. its all about the balance between realism and fun for me (=PR;BF2, RO). Even PR can be reaaaaally boring with 64p on 4km.

Actually, a lot of the maps are very very very well done.



From far out the LOD's do suck, but thats with any game. Up close i do remeber seeing trash (like in PR.) and in buildings you have furniture and such. (unlike most of PR interiors)

Really, it just depends on how you play it. It's not really about just the imagination, it's also the mission itself, the people you're playing with, how you're playing it, and what map you're playing on.


Also... a lot of the AI mod's tend to make the ai a BIIIIT less retarded.

So yes, we have learned OA and A2 by themselves suck.. a lot.

but with ACE and other mods.. it gets better.


which is why i hope PR does a really epic job this time... <3

[Rudd]

ArmA2 is a good game, with alot of features that BF2 lacks, and with alot of problems that BF2 also lacks.

I, like many here are looking foward to the PR:ArmA2 release, our collegues in the team are producing a great new experience for us all.

BF2, despite its shortcomings is still going strong thanks imo to the modding community.

And as Pantera pointed out, I suspect that the less mil sim-loving players will want to stay with the BF franchise

[Nebsif]

This fallujah? ~03;00 exactly my point, completely flat terrain with bazillions of buildings, feels "fake".. PR fallujah has an urban, falluj'ish warzone atmosphere. CBA to rant too much.. it just lacks detail, sure its huuge but since when quantity > quality, especially when u cant have more than 200 players (reliably).

[Sgt. Mahi]

Actually I thought that looked pretty awesome. I think ARMA looks great except one thing... The animations of the soldiers... ugh!

[hobbnob]

This fallujah? ~03;00 exactly my point, completely flat terrain with bazillions of buildings, feels "fake".. PR fallujah has an urban, falluj'ish warzone atmosphere. CBA to rant too much.. it just lacks detail, sure its huuge but since when quantity > quality, especially when u cant have more than 200 players (reliably).

the PR team have created their own Afghan Village map. It's nowhere near as big as usual arma islands and it's got much more detail, as seen in the latest Mini update.