ArmA: Armed Assault: Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting FAQ

This article's main purpose is to document common problems and solutions to fix those problems in ArmA. If none of the problems here describe your situation then please check the BI TroubleShooting forums.

System Drivers

Stay current! Make sure you have the most recent drivers available for your hardware. Older drivers often contain bugs and can cause various performance issues and bugs while playing the game. Hardware manufacturers often work to improve performance through driver updates.

General

• Update DirectX

Note: you may need to reinstall DirectX even if you already have 9.0c or Windows Vista - the most recent DirectX 9.0c release is from December 2006.

Audio

• Install OpenAL updates
• Update Creative Audigy drivers
• Update Creative XFi drivers

Video

• Update ATI drivers
• Update nVidia drivers (Windows Vista users see note below)

Patches & Updates

Patches contain various bug fixes and other improvements.

Patches and updates for Armed Assault can be obtained on the ArmA website.

Note When you apply an official BI patch, make sure you have all the original game files intact, if you've altered any of the official game files the patch is prone to failure. (Such as the language patch by SickBoy).

Demo as Dedicated Server 1.03

BIS released build 5110 of ArmADemo.exe on the 28th December to address a problem with the dedicated server code in the original multiplayer demo.

Patch Issue 64bit systems and v1.02

Upon patching users would get the message ...\sara.pbo not found. Here are to fixes that have proven to allow installation for most users.

• Temp fix 1:

Right click the file (patch), then Run as... select the administrator account in the bottom and type in the correct password. Then hit Enter. Patch should apply.

• Temp fix 2:

If you have a software life Virtual PC or VM Ware or a second PC with a 32 bit OS installed...Install ArmA on it, patch it, put the whole ArmA folder on an external storage device or a DVD or whatever an copy it over the original Arma folder on your 64-bit OS PC. --SniperAndy (requested by hoz)

A fixed patch v1.02 that addresses this issue will be released by BIS in the near future. Until this patch is ready please try using one of the above workarounds.

Install Issues

ArmA won't install from DVD

I put the ArmA DVD into the drive and nothing happens. Opening explorer and clicking onto DVD drive returns nothing.

Solutions

• If the game won't install try setting the DVD's region code to 2. Checking the instruction manual or manufacturers website for your DVD should tell you how to make such a change.

• Update DVD drive firmware.

Sound Issues

OPENAL32.DLL Error

When trying to start ArmA you receive an error Unable to open dynamic link OPENAL32.DLL

OpenAL Error

Solution Download latest OpenAL installer from the OpenAL Website, install it and reboot the computer. This should fix the issue.

Graphical Issues

D3DX9_30 Not Found Error

ArmA fails to start with D3DX9_30 not found

Solution Download the latest version of DirectX 9.0c from Microsoft[1]. As of writing (Dec 2006), the December 2006 version includes D3DX9_30.DLL.

This solution also applies to Windows Vista - the installation of DirectX 9.0c (Dec 2006) corrects this problem.

Display adapter does not support format D24S8 for X8R8G8B8

Go to your display properties, open the troubleshooting tab, and set the Hardware acceleration to "Full".

ATI

The Armed Assault demo v1.03 may not run with ATI cards in Crossfire mode. If attempting to run the multiplayer in crossfire mode, the program may start up but hang before loading any graphics but the mouse pointer. If this happens, Esc can be used to end the program. Upon exiting, windows claims that the error was caused by memory not being able to be written. The Armed Assault report file will allude to a driver problem. Turning off Crossfire will allow you to load the demo and play normally. - Plaintiff1

Nvidia RC2 Drivers on Windows Vista RTM

The RC2 drivers (96.85) released by Nvidia are actually not as good as the latest set from WindowsUpdate, despite the WU set being dated earlier. At time of writing (30 Dec 06), WindowsUpdate provides version 7.15.10.9746, but only if the RC2 drivers from Nvidia are uninstalled and the RTM drivers re-installed.

Issues with the RC2 drivers and Armed Assault include:

• unusable flashing map
• visual artifacts whenever menus are present on screen
• poor performance

Solution

Install the latest Nvidia drivers from Windows Update.

The Nvidia drivers will not be replaced by doing a "Update Driver" check at this time, perhaps because they are dated later than the Windows Update drivers despite being earlier versions.

To get back to the WindowsUpdate set from RC2:

• Open Device Manager
• Open display adapters, and open properties for the GeForce card to the Driver tab.
• Uninstall the driver, or you can roll back if it's an option. This will dump you into VGA compatibility mode.
• If you uninstalled the driver, use the "Scan for hardware changes" button in the top menu bar to re-scan and install the default driver.
• Use the Update Driver button to check Windows Update for the newer build (7.15.10.9746, dated Aug 22(!?))

Towards January 30 2007, it seems likely Nvidia will offer an updated set of drivers for most of its cards, for the launch of Windows Vista.

See Also

• ArmA: Bug List
• ArmA: System Requirements