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Arma 2

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Revision as of 07:34, 14 October 2014 by Garrbot (talk | contribs) (misc. fixes)
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Arma 2
Arma 2 cover
Developers
Bohemia Interactive
Publishers
505 Games
Got Game Entertainment
Engines
Real Virtuality 3
Release dates
Windows June 17, 2009
Arma 2 on Wikipedia

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).
Arma
Arma: Cold War Assault 2001
Arma: Armed Assault 2006
Arma 2 2009
Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead 2010
Arma Tactics 2013
Arma 3 2013
Arma Reforger 2022

Key points

Online multiplayer for Arma 2 and Arma 2: Free has stopped working on May 31, 2014 due to GameSpy services being shut down.[1] Use Master Server Browser.

General information

Official forum
GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions
Steam Users' Forums

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Developer website
Icon overlay.png
Error: key type '{{{5}}}' not recognised
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
Amazon.com
DRM details are not known
Retail only.
Icon overlay.png
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Error: key type '{{{5}}}' not recognised
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
Retail
DRM details are not known
DRM: SecuROM.[2] Removed in Patch v1.05.[3]
Icon overlay.png
Error: OS parameter cannot be empty
Combined Operations includes both Arma 2 and Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead; some mods (e.g. DayZ) require both games.
Product keys for Arma 2, Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead and digital versions of Arma 2: Combined Operations optionally activate on Steam.[4]

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
British Armed Forces Requires Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead
Windows
Private Military Company Requires Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead
Windows
Army of the Czech Republic Requires both Arma 2 and Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead.
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

Digital distribution versions are already patched; for other versions use the patches below.

Skip intro videos

Instructions

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

Template:Game data/row
System Location
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/33900/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

Template:Game data/row
System Location
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/33900/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud

Video settings

Video settings.

Template:Video settings

Field of view (FOV)

Instructions

Some suggested FOV values in radians[5] for typical setups are:

Setup Type fovTop fovLeft
1920 x 1080 at 90 FOV 1.03 1.83
1680 x 1050 at 90 FOV 1.13 1.80
2560×1600 at 90 FOV 1.13 1.76
Range finding by using certain scopes like the PSO scope might not be accurate anymore when playing on a non-default FOV.

Input settings

Input settings.

Template:Input settings

Audio settings

Audio settings.

Template:Audio settings

Network

Multiplayer servers can optionally use BattlEye anti-cheat protection.
The Steam version of Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead is being transitioned from GameSpy to Steamworks (currently available as a beta).[1]

Multiplayer types

Type Native Notes
LAN play
Online play
In-game server browser doesn't work; use Master Server Browser.

Connection types

Other information

Launch parameters

Start-up parameters for the ArmA series are quite complicated due to the engine. An extensive accounting of the available parameters can be found here.

Graphical tweaks

  • Set the 3D resolution and the interface resolution to exactly the same value. The value isn't as important, because no matter what, if the numbers don't equal, there will be performance loss. Ideally, both values would be set at 100.
  • Set Video Memory to "Default". By default (confusing, but keep reading), Arma II will cap the VRAM at an unspecified value. This value is actually lower than the "Default" option in the settings, but will still be named "Default".
  • Texture Quality is dependent on the amount of RAM in your system, but due to the tweak above, it is safe to set the option to higher values.
  • Disable VSync.
  • For a higher frame rate and reduced input latency, turn off the fancy options, like smoothing and head bobbing. To turn off motion blur, either download this mod or set post processing settings to "Very Low". This does speed up camera movement, so experiment to your liking. you can also use your NVIDIA Control Panel as shown here to increase you frame rate.
  • For faster rendering, turn on PPAA instead of the normal AA (Anti-Aliasing).
  • To trick the engine into using all the power that your system has, add these commands to your startup parameters:
-maxmem=[yourmemory]
-maxvram=[yourvidcardmemory]
-cpuCount=[availableCPUcores]
-exThreads=[number] (The number varies. 1 if you have a two cores, 7 if you have a four or more.
Feel free to experiment with this setting to see if anything grants you higher performance.)

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) XP, Vista
Processor (CPU) Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz, Intel Core 2.0 GHz, AMD Athlon 3200+
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 10 GB
Video card (GPU) NVIDIA GeForce 7800
ATI Radeon 1800
256 MB of VRAM

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/33900/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (33900) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References