ArmA: Armed Assault: Beta Patch 1.12

WARNING: THIS IS AN INTERIM PUBLIC BETAVERSION. IT'S NOT A FULLY TESTED STABLE RELEASE. USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. DO NOT CONTACT OFFICIAL SUPPORT WITH ANY PROBLEMS USING THIS PATCH BUT USE ONLY STANDARD COMMUNITY CHANNELS TO GIVE US FEEDBACK.

THIS BETA VERSION IS RELEASED FOR PUBLIC BETATESTING PURPOSES ONLY. YOU STILL SHOULD BE ABLE TO RUN THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE GAME.

THIS BETA CAN BE STARTED ONLY WHEN RUNNING THE NEW BETA EXE VIA SPECIAL SHORTCUT CREATED DURING PATCH PROCESS IN YOUR MAIN ARMA WORKING FOLDER.

Copyright © 2008 Bohemia Interactive. All rights reserved.

This application will update your ArmA: Armed Assault / Combat Operations installation with a Beta folder and shortcut to launch the beta version.

YOU CAN BUY AND DOWNLOAD ARMA: GOLD EDITION VERSION 1.08 NOW (THE ORIGINAL GAME ARMED ASSAULT / COMBAT OPERATIONS INCLUDING THE OFFICIAL EXPANSION PACK QUEEN'S GAMBIT) DIRECTLY FROM DEVELOPERS AT SPROCKETIDEA.COM

DOWNLOAD MIRRORS

TBD

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

ANY ORIGINAL VERSION OF ARMA 1.08 (Note that some of the fixes were included in the 1.08 hotfix already).

Visit updates section at armedassault.com to update your ArmA as necessary.

October 2006 DirectX 9 runtime is required (d3dx9_31.dll) and patch installer will update your system with it automatically if you don't have it installed.

OpenAL will be updated during the patch process to version 2.0.3.

HOW TO INSTALL THE BETA

Run the patch exe to apply the patch setup automatically (you may be prompted to choose your exact version in some occasions).

It will install all beta content to a mod folder "Beta" and shortcut "Launch Arma Beta Patch" to your ArmA directory (default is C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA or C:\Program Files\Atari\ArmA).

BATTLEYE

This patch will automatically offer you to install anti cheating software for online games to your ARMA working folder. If you decide not to install Battleye, your patch still will be working but you may not be able to join game servers that will have installed Battleye software for increased anti cheating protection.

It will install all BattlEye content to a folder "BattlEye" (default is C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA\BattlEye). If BattlEye was installed, it will be securing online sessions hosted on your server (requiring all clients to have BattlEye also installed) unless it is disabled in server config using line "battlEye = 0;"

NOTE: BattlEye itself will be run from ARMA's application data folder (default is C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Local Settings\Application Data\ArmA\BattlEye) to have write access in order to be able to download/install updates and/or create logs and other BE-related files.

HOW TO UNINSTALL BATTLEYE

There's an uninstall application exe UnInstallBE.exe installed in the BattlEye installation folder that allows you to remove BattlEye from ARMA.

HOW TO UNINSTALL THE BETA

There's an uninstall application exe Uninstall_ARMAPatch_1_12_beta.exe included in the patch archive that allows you to remove the beta folder and associated shortcut from you game directory.

HOW TO RUN THE BETA

You can still run your existing ArmA normally by using the existing shortcuts and as far as we know, the beta shouldn't interfere with your game, so even after you installed the beta you should be able to install this beta patch normally.

To run the beta version, you need to start "Launch Arma Beta Patch" in your ArmA game directory.

If you need to run ArmA another way, and you still want to run the beta, make sure to start the ArmA.exe from the beta subfolder with working directory set to the normal ArmA directory and also with command line option -mod=beta

1.12 HIGHLIGHTS - MAIN NEW IMPROVEMENTS AND FIXES

• Fixed problem with connecting to server

• Fixed problem with BattlEye disconnecting users

• Further improved recoil

• Newly adjusted default field of view

1.11 HIGHLIGHTS - MAIN NEW IMPROVEMENTS AND FIXES

• Fixed compatibility issues with Vista x64 platform

• Voice over net and multiplayer related fixes and improvements

• Fixed Out Of Memory problems caused by exhausting 32b virtual address space

• Significant optimizations with large view distances

• AI bridge pathfinding much improved

• Fixed some bugs in the AI target recognition both visually and aurally

• Improved airplane turn dynamics simulation (including improved rudder simulation)

• Fixed clipping issues with 16:9 or TrippleHead displays

1.09 HIGHLIGHTS - MAIN NEW IMPROVEMENTS AND FIXES

• Significantly smoother gameplay on Northern part of Sahrani (up to 100% increase in frame rate depending on scene, video settings and graphics card)

• Combat AI improvements

• Voice over net and multiplayer related fixes and improvements

• New anti cheating methods in multiplayer (including optional www.BattlEye.com depending on server settings: if enabled, be server and be client dlls will be used and automatically updated to your computer)

• Fixed compatibility problems caused by various copy protections used

• Fog is rendered correctly on DX10 generation cards

• New scripting functions (string manipulation, multiplayer synchronization)

SPECIAL THANKS

• Dslyecxi and Shack Tactical for their invaluable support with VON testing
• the entire ARMA community for testing 1.09 and 1.11 beta

ENGINE CHANGELOG

5164  - Fixed: spinning in select() on Linux Dedicated Server
5164  - Fixed: Handling of invalid CD keys on dedicated servers improved
5164  - Fixed: Signature verification timeout significantly relaxed.
5164  - Fixed: System audio mixer settings no longer changed by ingame volume options.
5164  - Fixed: Vehicle channel no longer transforms to a side channel when not in the vehicle.
5164  - Fixed: assignToAirport did the same as landAt. Now it assigns for purpose of future getout commands.
5164  - Fixed: MP: Player driving motorcycle could die suddenly with no apparent reason.
5164  - Fixed: Building ruins were not visible for JIP-ed players.
5164  - Improved: UI - better detection of focused buttons
5170  - New: Scripting: Full object orientation can be set now using new function setVectorDirAndUp
5170  - Fixed: Handling of duplicate CD key improved
5170  - Added: Improved anti-cheat measures
5170  - New: Command line argument -ranking=... was removed. MP mission statistics can be written to file specified by logFile entry in the server config.
5170  - Fixed: Memory leak on dedicated server (several KB per a mission played).
5170  - Fixed: leader, AI tanks subordinate to a player sometimes did not open fire against some enemy tanks.
5170  - Fixed: AI was not able to fire over sandbags unless the enemy came very near.
5170  - Fixed: Recoil was working badly (moving in unexpected directions) when fps was low.
5170  - Fixed: AI was able to pinpoint enemy by ear after seeing him for a while.
5170  - Fixed: Fixed: Fog on DX10 cards (nVidia 8800, ATI X2900) was too dense.
5170  - Fixed: AI was sometimes unable to move when seeing enemy very near.
5170  - Fixed: Error when loading a save from a complex mission (containing a lot of variables).
5170  - Fixed: Possible crash caused by malformed resize scripting command.
5175  - Fixed: Chat message length limited to 150 characters
5175  - Added: After 3 wrong attempts to log in as an admin further attempts are ignored for some time
5175  - Fixed: Reduced loading time for large textures.
5178  - Fixed: Default handling of different data detected was stricter then intended, resulting in a kick of players.
5178  - Fixed: Dedicated server sometimes crashes after downloading Squad.xml.
5178  - Experimental: Depth only pass used to reduce pixel shader load on some GPUs.
5178  - New: Improved Voice over Net packet re-translation (voice is re-translated when no direct Peer to Peer connection is available or to spare some network bandwidth).
5179  - Fixed: VoN loudness is sometimes not matching selected voice channel (too quiet on Global channel or too loud on Direct channel).
5180  - New: BattlEye protection integration
5180  - New: Better NAT traversal for VoN.
5180  - Optimized: Reduced GPU load of shore area rendering.
5181  - Fixed: NAT traversal for VoN makes dedicated server crashing.
5184  - Fixed: AI units in safe mode could randomly stop
5190  - Fixed: Bad object ID after loading a game - caused frequent crashes when loading Rahmadi Conflict saves.
5191  - New: publicVariable now works for all types of variables
5191  - Added: function addPublicVariableEventHandler
5191  - Fixed: Airplanes bombing laser designated targets.
5193  - Changed: aiDispersionCoef now used scaled by unit skill, high skill units always having low dispersion.
5194  - Fixed: Airplanes with tail wheel were placed with the tail in the air when mission was started.
5195  - Added: functions toUpper, toLower, toArray, toString
5196  - Fixed: Airplanes standing on the ground sometimes oscillated (observed esp. with DC3)
5196  - New: Added difficulty option VonID (VON ID), allowing to see in-game who is currently speaking over the radio.
5196  - New: Added difficulty option DeathMessages (KILL MSG), allowing disabling of XXX killed by YYY messages.
5196  - Fixed: Improved dynamic range handling for vehicle interior sounds (reduces their loudness)
5196  - New: Added difficulty option NetStats (MP SCORE), allowing disabling of scoreboard functionality.
5198  - Fixed: Dead players can no longer talk or write to in-game players unless they are admins.
5199  - Fixed: Further reduced virtual address space usage. Should reduce frequency of out of memory errors.
        Use command line switch -vm108 to mimic the behaviour of 1.08 version if the new scheme does not work for you.
5201  - New: Command line option -noPause to allow the game running even when its window does not have a focus.
5203  - New: Option to mute individual players in the Players screen (key P)
5203  - Fixed: Thrust vectoring was not transferred in MP, causing warping of hovering airplanes.
5203  - Fixed: Possible crashes with VoN used with HW acceleration.
5203  - Improved: Some ingame .rpt messages removed or clarified to make them more useful
5205  - Fixed: MP "Head bug" - when two players were boarding passenger space of the vehicle simultaneously, one of them
        might end outside of the vehicle with no control over direction of his character.
5207  - Problem was with mouse movement adaptive filtering, which handled badly transition from fast to slow motion, causing the fast motion to leak into the slow motion region.
        A barrier was placed to rejected samples so that sample once rejected is not considered in any more computations.
5207  - Fixed: When fast moving with mouse, cursor sometimes jumped once more after turning was stopped.
5207  - Fixed: Players in Seagull mode cannot hear direct speech of others properly.  
5209  - Fixed: When switching VON channels quickly, the VON ID indication could still show the old channel.
5209  - Fixed: Improved handling of situations where graphical card VRAM is completely exhausted.
5209  - Fixed: In some complex MP missions the memory space for network messages could be exhausted, resulting in CTD.
5209  - Fixed: Direct speech inside vehicles was not hearable often.
5209  - Fixed: Tank which crew has ejected might sometimes continue spinning forever.
5209  - Fixed: Seized by trigger was mission a hint in the mission editor.
5209  - Fixed: nearTargets returned position more accurate than known by AI.
5209  - New: nearTargets now returns approximate assumed position accuracy as well.
5209  - Fixed: Bad weapon selection by some armored units when engaging some target types (e.g. Mi17 with FFARs)
5209  - Fixed: Sometimes AI might wrongly favor audible information over a visual one after not seeing the target for a while.
5209  - Fixed: AI was unable to destroy empty targets on Destroy WP using full auto weapons (mguns, cannons).
5211  - Fixed: AI detected IR / radar targets very late compared to human players. 
5211  - Improved: AI: Better weapon selection when target is far away.
5211  - Fixed: Label on map with map info enabled sometimes revealed real target location even when it was not known.
5211  - Fixed: Improved airplane turn dynamics, including improved rudder dynamics model and fixed auto coordination.
5211  - Fixed: Improved recovery from "VB Lock failed, E_OUTOFMEMORY" error
5212  - Fixed: Further reduced virtual address space usage.
5213  - Fixed: AI tank/APC/ZSU ballistics computation when firing at distant targets.
5213  - Fixed: MP freeze opportunity fixed. 
5214  - Fixed: ArmA is now compatible with Vista x64 with 4 GB RAM.
5214  - Fixed: Possible crash when moving fast with high visibility set (like in airplane).
5215  - Fixed: Possible low framerate when rendering with a large viewdistance (introduced in 5180)
5217  - Improved: Water rendering now uses LOD for finer wave animation and better performance with large viewdistances.
5218  - Fixed: VoN - VOID channel indication.
5218  - Fixed: VoN - mouth is moving but no voice is heard.
5218  - Fixed: VoN - voice crackling reduced.
5219  - Fixed: Possible crash in scene loading when mission was started.
5219  - Fixed: Improved handling of missing or old OpenAL32.dll
5219  - Optimized: Improved grass LOD selection with high terrain detail settings.
5220  - Fixed: Night sky background was too black, now slightly brighter.
5224  - Optimized: Faster texture loading when starting mission with large view distance.
5225  - Fixed: Several crash opportunities with malformed addons.
5226  - Fixed: Improved text clarity.
5226  - Fixed: VoN - Unable to hear other players issue.
5226  - Fixed: Reduced AI eye sensitivity during night time.
5227  - Fixed: MP: Head movement for players in cargo is now visible.
5229  - Fixed: Improved AI pathfinding on bridges.
5231  - Fixed: VoN - Direct channel volume is louder now.
5231  - Fixed: Parts of terrain were sometimes clipped with wide viewing angles.
5231  - Fixed: Objects were sometimes disappearing with wide viewing angles.
5232  - Fixed: Dynamically added static object might sometimes be disappearing when viewed from some angles.
5232  - Fixed: Some object shadows could be incorrectly ignored when corresponding objects were occluded.
5232  - Fixed: VoN - P2P connection was not established sometimes.
5232  - Fixed: Reduced network traffic caused by hovering seagulls.
5234  - Fixed: For players in driver and gunner position of the vehicle, obsolete network transfer was generated
5240  - Fixed: More than 64 players can use VoN now.
5241  - Optimized: Reduced CPU load of shore area rendering. 
5241  - Fixed: Too large update messages (caused by unusual weapon setups) were not sent. 
5241  - Fixed: Paused streaming sounds resumed from a bad position after Alt-Tab or after resuming the game from pause. 
5241  - Fixed: Parameter -nopause caused some sounds not to advance when the game did not have a focus. 
5242  - Fixed: AI can spell the whole alphabet now.
5243  - Fixed: Cargo is involved in chat on vehicle channel now.
5243  - Fixed: Direct communication chat enabled inside vehicles.
5245  - Fixed: AI unable to board boats in water(introduced in 1.11)
5246  - Improved: Mouse ballistics allowing for more precise aiming.
5248  - Fixed: NAT negotiation failed issue while connecting to server.
5248  - Fixed: Memory management not called regularly on dedicated server, could cause excessive memory allocation.
5249  - Changed: -vm108 option no longer supported.
5249  - Fixed: Reduced commit charge, esp. on dedicated server (DS now assumes -maxmem=512 by default).
5249  - Fixed: Grenade launcher did not respect soldier animation, always fired in the straight direction.
5248  - Fixed: UTF-16LE files which caused dedicated servers shutdown on Linux are readable now.
5249  - Fixed: Reduced recoil for slow ammo, like Mk19 grenades.
5252  - Fixed: Data loading when entering a mission or after Alt-Tab now does not stop the simulation + communication (could cause BattlEye timeouts).
5252  - Fixed: Force feedback + iFeel recoil effects now stronger and more reliable.
5252  - Fixed: Recoil curves are now less dependent on framerate.
5252  - Fixed: Expression stack overflow handling was not reliable. Fixed by making expression stack size unlimited.

DATA CHANGELOG

All data changes are included in HotFix.pbo, HotFix_QG.pbo, HotFix_DBE1.pbo, ui.pbo and language.pbo

(Important: Beta patch doesn't fully support Queen's Gambit, to test the specific Queen's Gambit fixes, you need to copy manually HotFix_QG.pbo and HotFix_DBE1.pbo to your addons folder. There will be no automated uninstall process supported for Queen's Gambit beta addons)

* FIX {RECOIL}: recoil for all hand weapons were reworked.
* NEW (AMMO): ballistics reworked introducing air friction specific values for each bullet class
* FIX (AMMO): AT4 and RPG7 reduced HIT strength and changed ballistics
* FIX (AMMO): Improved Javelin missile precision.
* FIX (AMMO): land mines - increased indirect hit range and reduced hit value
* FIX (AMMO): Grenades and Flares deflection reduced to half
* FIX (WEAPONS): Unloaded Javelin will not show optics attachment to avoid view blocking in most of the moves.
* FIX (AMMO): count of ammo is changed (M113).
* FIX (AMMO): Cobra cannon ammo changed from AP to HEI
* FIX (AMMO): Sabot rounds no longer produce large explosion effects
* FIX (WEAPONS): GAU-8 fixed rate of fire
* NEW (WEAPONS): Added unguided rockets salvo for AI.
* FIX (WEAPONS): Weapon ranges tweaks. Increased minimum range hit probability.
* FIX (AMMO): reduced secondary explosion range (destroyed vehicle blast range)
* FIX (AMMOBOXES): added some weapons and magazines to existing ammoboxes.
* FIX (ANIMATIONS): Improved turning around with launcher.
* FIX (WEAPONS): Improved M16A2 reload time (faster).
* FIX (VEHICLES): Increased structural armor value of several vehicles to give the crew more chances for survival.
* NEW (DATA): reworked grass clutter on Northern Sahrani, New Sahrani designed for smoother gameplay experience
* FIX (LOCALIZATION): various localization fixes
* FIX (ANIMATIONS): some problems with ladders introduced in 1.08 (stuck on ladders, problem when going from knelt or prone on a ladder, healing when knelt with rifle or launcher)
* FIX (LOCALIZATION): mission M13 is localized to all languages
* FIX (RUSSIAN): several missing translations in the Russian version, UI.pbo is modified to prevent an error message displayed in Russian version of the game when entering Single mission    directory
* FIX (DC3): Eject speed is correct, improved get in and get out time, now it's possible to get out.  
* FIX (HILUX, DATSUN): Game doesn't fail when using this car in ARMA without Queens Gambit mod.
* FIX (OILFIELDS): Improved animation.
* NEW (GUI): BattlEye filtering in multiplayer games list.
* FIX (ANIMATIONS): Crew in cargo can move with head.
* FIX (WIND CLUTTERS): Wind clutters are now without fire and view geometry.
* FIX (WEAPONS): M4 replaced by M4A1 in ammoboxes and in crews and pilots.
* FIX (RESPAWN WEAPONS): fixed respawn weapons and magazines.  
* FIX (M4A1): now use fullauto fire mode instead burst.
* FIX {RECOIL}: recoil and smoke disabled for vehicle mounted grenadelaunchers, grenade shells will be no longer visible in flight
* FIX (SOUND): added sound for unguided rockets launch and flight
* FIX (AMMO): added GP25 rounds to SLA Weapons Crates 
* FIX (ANIM): slower Oil fields derrick animation
* FIX {ANIM}: improved weapons swaping.
* IMPROVEMENT {GENERAL}: default infantry FOV values adjusted.