FROM: Project Lead
TO: Arma 3 Users
INFO: Firstlook AAR, Documentation
PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

This past weekend the two Dutchies in the development team visited Firstlook expo in The Netherlands. It was great to meet up with some of the Dutch multiplayer communities (like Tangodown), modders (e.g. the lads behind Arma 3 Life) and individual fans. Kudos to MSI Europe for hosting us. Thanks for visiting and helping to support the game!

We did two main stage demos on a huge screen and audio setup - and it felt great! The crowd probably suffered temporary hearing loss when Korneel van 't Land ambushed the audio technicians by firing the Slammer cannon at maximum volume! The smoke machines kicking in on stage when we threw smoke grenades in-game was a nice touch also. The first part of the demo was an introduction to those new to Arma, but we concluded with a few upcoming content teasers. Confirmed to arrive with the first campaign episode: the Rahim CSAT marksman rifle with DMS marksman optic, 4-five pistol with MRD optic, and the Zubr revolver with Yorris optic. We also showed concept work for the CSAT CAS airplane and a new AAF IFV - part of the additions scheduled for the other two episodes.

Eager players will have observed we are approaching the four week mark after release. First contact with the campaign will happen this month, but it needs a little more time to polish and get final voice acting in. The exact release date for the 'Survive' episode is going to be published this week. As per usual, we'll be staging (part of) the content on devbranch first.

INTELLIGENCE

Version 1.02 on main branch was hotfixed with a new executable to address the most common cause of a multiplayer crash. We know there are still other circumstances for a similar crash. Investigations continue and some of the crash opportunities have already been addressed on devbranch.

BattlEye server 1.177 has introduced handy tools for admins to load script and event filters specific to certain scenarios.

OPERATIONS

In case you were wondering why devbranch activity is a little lower than normal: we are on yet another data lock - this time for the first campaign episode. General bug fixing continues, but we are more cautious about making changes in the core game - wanting it to run well as a stable platform for the campaign.

Now autumn is upon us, we've taken on the challenge to improve our in-game rain a bit. Devbranch users were confronted with early prototype work by accident but umbrellas were swiftly deployed. It's looking very promising, so keep looking up at those clouds for the proper reveal when it's ready!

LOGISTICS

Various devs have been busy with documentation and other forms of support for modders. Dental encoder zGuba has posted a 101 guide for tank configuration on the Community Wiki. Designer Druid continued by explaining the parameters for the wing vortices effect on fixed-wing aircraft. And finally, as of today on devbranch, a different method of configuring weapon attachments is supported (backwards compatible).

FROM: Project Lead
TO: Arma 3 Users
UNIT: Main Branch
ACTIVITY: Hotfix: 1.02 (Multiplayer stability)
SIZE: ~16 MB
CHANGELOG

ENGINE

Fixed: Common multiplayer instability related to PhysX simulation (ragdoll versus respawn) in patch 1.02. Please allow some time for all servers and clients to update - issues may persist if either isn't yet updated (they are able to connect to each other).

FROM: Project Lead
TO: Arma 3 Users
INFO: Patch released, Hotfix expected, Light Shafts
PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

The first post-release patch was released last Friday. It sported a long list of miscellaneous fixes and improvements, but also significantly increased Altis performance for a group of players out there (not everyone). They especially benefit from this during large-scale scenarios where a lot of AI units are maneuvering across the terrain. The Artificial Intelligence work that did not make it into release, was also included in this patch ... and said work is still on-going. Unfortunately the patch also caused a multiplayer instability related to PhysX simulation. It has proven hard to debug since it involves external libraries. Our programmers have finally found useful debugging information, and once they have a confirmed fix, we hope to hotfix 1.02. Apologies to those not able to enjoy MP at the moment.

We look forward to seeing visitors of Firstlook 2013 expo in The Netherlands this weekend! To those unable to attend: we will share teasers of future content here next week as well.

INTELLIGENCE

Devbranch has received the first version of a fancy new graphical feature: Light shafts a.k.a. Crepuscular rays. We're still tweaking the settings for various weather types. Along with the adjusted lens flares, they enhance the feeling of being basked in strong sunlight very nicely. Special kudos go to programmer Lukáš Bábíček, who developed this feature for Arma 3 in his spare time as a hobby project - and offered it to us to release!

This week's Workshop spotlight is shared by designer Vladimír Hynek. He had this to say about 'Infantry' by Binkowski: "It's a great mid- to close range combat mission, enhanced by its own voice acting and music, which really helps to make the experience more immersive. Commanding your unit wisely and gathering weapons from enemies is the key to victory."

OPERATIONS

Final MOCAP for the first campaign episode was finished, processed and plugged into the game. It's awesome to see the characters come to life! The last bit of voice acting is being recorded in the next few days, including several full new British English Radio Protocols. Look for an announcement of the exact release date for episode 1 during next week.

LOGISTICS

While the bulk of the team is busy with general fixes and the aforementioned campaign, some team members have begun preparing tools for release. We intend to bring out several packages as Steam tools. The aim is to gradually update and enhance them - starting with the basics to get going. Our Community Tools package will eventually offer updated versions of things like binarization, PBO file packing, the Oxygen modeling tool (with PhysX LOD support), Visitor for terrains, many supporting tools, as well as sample data. Which of these get in the initial suite is not clear right now. We'll keep modders updated on progress.

The stand-alone Windows Dedicated Server package is to feature heavily compressed data (the server does not need visual / audio fidelity). It will be free for anyone to download and distribute. We're also working on a Linux Dedicated Server, but we expect it may take the longest of these three releases.