Arma 2: Project Reality final release date 2e September

[winchesterdelta1]

I think this needed its own topic again. Cause it wil finally come out. Not that i can play it righ now... But than you guy's can tell me in this topic how it is :p

 

 

It has been a long 18 months since the initial concept of Project Reality: ARMA 2 was announced and today the Project Reality Team is proud to announce that work has finally concluded on its first release. The final release date has officially been set for Project Reality: ARMA 2 v0.1 BETA:

 

Friday, September 2nd, 2011 at 18:00:00

PRT (Project Reality Time) / UTC (Coordinated Universal Time)

 

What started as a mere concept has now progressed to our first public BETA build. As was expected for a new mod, with an all new team, developing a new concept, we have experienced a lot of turbulence over the past 18 months. Most of the community may think that we have been developing PR:ARMA2 fully for 18 months now, however realistically there has only been about 9 months of actual development work. Although there have been several changes within the team, multiple developers leaving and joining, the Project Reality: ARMA 2 team is now very solid, dedicated and reliable.

 

 

Project Reality: ARMA 2 v0.1 BETA Trailer

The Project Reality Team has created the following trailer to showcase many of the various features and changes you will find in the Project Reality: ARMA 2 v0.1 BETA release. So, dim the lights, grab your popcorn, sit back and enjoy the show!

 

Project Reality: ARMA 2 Mod v0.1 BETA Trailer

 

Project Reality: ARMA 2 v0.1 BETA Release Information

During the PR:ARMA2 v0.1 BETA development cycle, we have released many highlight news post showing off a number of new assets. Unfortunately, many of them have not been included in the v0.1 BETA release. However, we would like to assure all of you that while some assets have indeed been included, the ones that weren't are now planned to be in future releases. Project Reality: ARMA 2 intends to be in this for the long haul and just like the Project Reality: Battlefield 2 mod, we plan on consistently developing new releases, improving and progressing each of them from their previous builds.

 

 

As Project Reality v0.1 is a BETA, and is quite a small build, there will be no preload available for this release. It will be available to be downloaded and installed one of two ways. For a simple installation we will have a self-installer, and for die hard ARMA 2 fans, you will be able to download the files to self-install. We strongly advise all users to use the self-installer method to avoid any potential problems.

 

In order to prepare for the Project Reality: ARMA 2 release, please ensure that you have ARMA 2: Combined Operations installed and running the latest v1.59 OA patch, as it is required to play the PR:ARMA2 mod.

 

 

 

New Additions to the Project Reality Team

The Project Reality Team would also like to take this opportunity to welcome the Turkish Faction Mod Team and the ANA Faction Mod Team to the Project Reality family. These two teams are now fully embedded in the PR Team, so watch out for future updates regarding these new factions for the Project Reality: ARMA 2 modification.

 

 

As always, be sure to stay tuned in to the Project Reality website for more information and updates regarding the upcoming Project Reality: ARMA 2 v0.1 BETA release. Cheers!

 

 

 

- The Project Reality Team

[winchesterdelta1]

Its finally released...

 

 

The award winning Project Reality Team is proud to announce the official release of Project Reality: ARMA 2 v0.1 BETA!

 

After countless hours of development, thousands of code changes and an intensive testing period, we are pleased to announce the general availability of the Project Reality: ARMA 2 v0.1 BETA modification. You can download and install the mod one of three ways. The easiest way is via a self-installer.exe. The second is to use Desura, a powerful digital distribution application. The final and most difficult way is to download a ZIP to manually install. To avoid any potential problems, we strongly advise all users to use either the self-installer.exe or Desura to install the mod.

 

Thanks to several direct link providers, there are a number of mirrors available to download Project Reality: ARMA 2, including a torrent. You can find all of the download links and information here:

 

 

Please note that you must have ARMA 2: Combined Operations installed and be running the ARMA 2: Operation Arrowhead v1.59 patch in-order to play the Project Reality: ARMA 2 mod.

 

First BETA Release

This initial release is a BETA, and therefore should NOT be considered a final product. It should also be noted that this is v0.1 of a brand new mod on a new game engine and should not be compared in anyway to the Project Reality: BF2 modification. The aim of this BETA release is for the PR Team to get quality feedback to ensure that we are progressing in the right direction with the PR:ARMA2 mod.

 

Most of the current work we have is sitting at around 80-90% complete, but is simply not ready to be included in this initial BETA release. With that said, a lot of content has been removed and in some cases placeholders have been implemented so that we can concentrate on the more important gameplay aspect of the mod to ensure we get it right first.

 

 

As with any BETA release, the quality of future releases now lies with you, the community, and the feedback you provide. As is normal with any Project Reality release, we will not take on any feedback for at least 2 weeks. This time period will allow players to adapt and fully understand the PR:ARMA2 gameplay concept before commenting. Therefore, the feedback forums will remain locked for the next 2 weeks.

 

 

New Features and Changes

While this release is primarily focused on BETA testing, you can still find some new Project Reality additions and features in the PR:ARMA2 v0.1 BETA release.

 

• Unique UI overhaul.
  
• British Soldiers (MTP).
  
• Unique PR Gameplay Concept for ARMA 2.
  
• Various PR game modes.
  
• New vehicles including the Warrior IFV, Chinook, Merlin, and the Apache AH1.
  
• v1 Basic PR Sounds FX, environment and weapons/vehicles.
  
• PR:ARMA2 music, composed by Project Reality.
  
• PR Statics Object Pack.
  
• PR FX.
  
• PR Squad Awareness HUD (SAHUD).
  
• PR rear view Mirrors.
  

For a complete, comprehensive list of all the new features and changes in PR:ARMA2, please view the following forum thread:

 

View the Full Project Reality: ARMA 2 v0.1 BETA Feature List

 

 

Known Bugs and Issues

Over the last 6 months of development, the v0.1 BETA build has undergone extensive testing by our official testing team and as can be expected in a first release, there are already some known bugs. With that said, all players are encouraged to make themselves aware of these known bugs so that they we do not get repetitive bug reports. All currently known bugs are listed in the following forum thread:

 

View the Project Reality: ARMA 2 v0.1 BETA Known Bug List

 

 

Project Reality: ARMA 2 Mod Support

If you encounter any problems while installing and/or playing PR:ARMA2, please check out the Project Reality Mod Support forum. If your problem has not already been posted by someone else or is not in the above known bug list, please do not hesitate to start a new thread asking for help. We will do everything we can to provide you with a solution, but we can't do anything if you don't ask first!

 

 

Project Reality: ARMA 2 v0.1 BETA Servers

For this BETA release, we will not be publicly releasing any server files. This will ensure that the official servers are populated and therefore will provide us with better overall feedback. Once the BETA has finished, we will open up server license applications as usual.

 

The following organizations/communities have kindly agreed to provide servers during the v0.1 BETA test and are classed as the Official PR Servers for the duration of this BETA phase:

Alpha Networks

Official PR v0.1 Beta Test Server [@PR]

Rusty In Places

- Official PR v0.1 Beta Test Server [@PR]

Tactical Gamer

- Official PR v0.1 Beta Test Server [@PR]

Kellys Heroes

- Official PR v0.1 Beta Test Server [@PR]

TV2 Battle.no

- Official PR v0.1 Beta Test Server [@PR]

BigD Gaming Community

/

AEF

- Official PR v0.1 Beta Test Server [@PR]

If you are in the market for a new game server to host Project Reality: ARMA 2, look no further than PR's officially endorsed server provider, Alpha Networks. Alpha Networks will be providing Project Reality:

ARMA 2 game servers to the public at highly competitive prices, as well as dedicated servers, and first-class customer support.

 

 

Project Reality: ARMA 2 v0.1 BETA Credits

The Project Reality team would like to take a moment to thank those that have assisted us throughout this development cycle and therefore all credits in this release can be found here. PR: ARMA2 v0.1 BETA Credits

 

 

In conclusion, the Project Reality Team would like to extend the usual thanks. First and foremost, Alpha Networks, for providing the Project Reality development team with critical test and build servers. Without their support, PR:ARMA2 v0.1 BETA would likely have never happened. We would also like to thank the entire PR community, the wider ARMA 2 news community and last (but certainty not least!) Bohemia Interactive for supporting Project Reality over the past 12 months.

 

We hope you enjoy this release and we look forward to the feedback everyone provides!

[winchesterdelta1]

Review from one of the players (Incognito84):

 

I just played on the TG server for a few hours. I know it's early but here are my first impressions.

 

I was expecting it to be quite buggy. I'm a seasoned Arma2 player with lots of experience in UO and having seen how buggy most Arma2 releases are (especially at first), I assumed that PR: Arma2 would be barely playable with it's Beta 0.1 release. This was reinforced by the fact that the team itself was urging everyone not to expect too much from the first release.

 

What I found was that not only was it not any buggier than vanilla Arma2 or any of the other mods, it is significantly more responsive and streamlined. The menus and interface are... finished. They're sleek, easy to use, intuitive and the best from both the PR: BF2 and Arma2 worlds. Things that wouldn't have made sense were cut. It's very obvious that the team put a lot of thought into the presentation and accessibility of PR: Arma2.

 

It cuts down the fat without cutting out the essentials. It's Arma2 highly streamlined. Bohemian could learn from this.

 

That being said, all of the interaction menus, contextual menus, the scoreboard, the squad menus, the main menu and everything else is just perfect. I can't imagine how they could make it any better.

 

The actual gameplay itself -- having been a long time player with the UO community before making this transition -- seems very refined. They haven't added much by the way of resources but to be honest, I don't care. Right now there is enough. The gameplay and core mechanics are the most important aspect of this release and THEY ARE SOLID. There is always room to improve but it feels to me like the bulk of the core gameplay is settled and the only thing ahead of the team is adding resources, game modes and tweaking. Nothing needs a re-do or overhaul (though I imagine it will get that anyway).

 

Having played a lot of disappointing Arma2 PvP that just didn't pan out, I was pretty skeptical going into this release, especially seeing as how PvP always ended up with the UO community. Well, I'm a convert. Every squad I joined was knowledgeable and played well. The enemy squads mirrored that. We stormed the Overwatch objective in Zargabad, first by engaging the enemy from a distance and then moving in and flanking once it was cleared. Before we could capture the objective, their reinforcements arrived and thousands of bullets came pouring into the building. Those of us who didn't die had to retreat and organize an effort to take it back. I've never seen so much teamwork and tactical squad movement occurring naturally within Arma2 before. Elsewhere in the Arma2 community, the tactics and realistic behaviour are enforced by very active moderation from the community itself. In PR: Arma2, it just happens because the mod was designed to facilitate that and essentially make working together your only option for success.

 

Anyway, I have no complaints. PR: Arma2 is everything I thought it would be. Above that, it's a lot more stable and solid that I was expecting from the first release, especially considering how much effort the team put into not getting people's hopes up.

 

Congratulations. I can't wait for 0.2!

[asparagin]

Can you play this also with OA or you need CO?

[winchesterdelta1]

Can you play this also with OA or you need CO?

 

You need CO.

[skeemo]

New vehicles including the Warrior IFV, Chinook, Merlin, and the Apache AH1.

 

Just to be correct here, an AH1 is not an Apache.

 

An AH-1 is an (Super-)Cobra.

An Apache is an AH64.

 

This should be right, if you call it Project Reality, shouldn't it ?

 

Nevertheless, looking and sounding good.

[winchesterdelta1]

Just to be correct here, an AH1 is not an Apache.

 

An AH-1 is an (Super-)Cobra.

An Apache is an AH64.

 

This should be right, if you call it Project Reality, shouldn't it ?

 

Nevertheless, looking and sounding good.

 

To be more clear its the British WAH-64 Westland Apache AH-1. So Apache AH-1 is correct if you talk about the british version.

You should know this if you consider yourself a Simm fan right?

[winchesterdelta1]

Also some known bugs:

 

When you DO report a Bug, please try to make the title very clear what the Bug is, this will help all the community in the long run.

 

 

 

1. Warrior FV510: When wrecked the rear door and interior show no damage.
   
2. Merlin: Low resolution interior.
   
3. Chinook: Bad looking specular map in some lighting conditions.
   
4. Missions: Some confusing slot names (e.g. AT Rifleman, Grenadier). Ignore these descriptions - your role is determined by the limited kit you select once in-game.
   
5. Missions: 'Floating' bunker towers on Iron Forge.
   
6. Inventory: When selecting a backpack some magazine slots become unusable. Exit Armaments and go back in to get those slots back.
   
7. Airlifting: When airlifting some objects (e.g. Jackal) the hook does not align well with the harness.
   
8. Forward Outpost Container doesn't disappear when destroyed. Also this container does not disappear if being airlifted and the chopper is destroyed.
   
9. Some entries within the 'rose' menus wrap to two lines, but you cannot see the 2nd line. Hover mouse pointer over the entry to read the full text.
   
10. Mirror view: exiting a vehicle whilst in mirror view will not return you to 1st person view. Also occurs if dragged out of vehicle when injured.
    
11. Airlift: occasional issue where airlifted cargo will not leave the ground, or will be dragged along the ground. Release cargo and try again.
    
12. Destroyed FOB cannot be seen by JIP players.
    
13. Some destroyed buildings appear intact to JIP players (know ArmA2 bug, reported to BIS).
    
14. Grenade or shell will only cause tinnitus to the player that threw nade/fired shell (localisation issue).
    
15. Airlift: Pilot cannot attach airlift cargo if someone else attached the cargo rope to the chopper. The pilot must attach the rope.
    
16. Restraining a player leaves them stuck in an animation. Restrain serves no purpose at the moment, so avoid its use.
    
17. The Serpent's Spine: Objective Hill has a flag placed in the middle of the road.
    

[winchesterdelta1]

A good review i think will be interesting to read from Dslyecxi:

 

Source: http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f440-pr-arma2-general-discussion/102537-what-i-think-pra2-arma2-how-were-all-same-side-ultimately.html

 

 

 

I've been poked and prodded to give my thoughts on PRA2, both from BIS fans and PR fans, so here we go. Apologies for the long-winded nature of this in advance. Mods, if you think this should be in another post instead of standing on it's own, feel free to merge it.

 

To start with and set the tone for the rest of this post - I can't see a drawback to PRA2 being around in the ArmA community. I know some get very touchy about it (on both sides), but I just can't see it through those eyes.

 

Technical

PRA2 brings more people into the ArmA community, even if some of them will stick with PR and not venture out into the broader realm of what the base game provides. More people is more money for BIS, more money for BIS ensures that the series continues. The series continuing is what I care about - not the success or failure of any given mod. ArmA gives us a platform to do with what we want, which cannot be said for the majority of similar games these days - hence PR:BF2 being for BF2, and not BC/BC2/BF3. It actually goes one step further than that - a major step - and allows you to define the experience to be whatever you want. Some take that and make "Chernarus/Taki Life" with it - some do Domination, or Evolution, or AAS, or whatever. Some go full milsim, some full silly. Private communities spring up with their own mission making teams - not professional developers, just enthusiasts who want to craft something for their friends to enjoy. Mods are made as all-encompassing things ala ACE, while others focus on specific aspects - say, a set of MP missions with some supporting features, ala PRA2. Others are simply vehicles/characters/etc, or small universal gameplay features like our own ShackTac HUD or STmovement addons. This is very cool, and anyone who wants to support it - whether they be milsim or PRA2 fanatics or TakiLife RP'ers - is ultimately a friend of BIS, and by association a friend of mine.

 

The current popularity of PRA2 is not a surprise, either - the PR community is a big one, and what with it being based on BF2, there is an understandable desire to seek out future platforms for which to bring the experience to. ArmA is an obvious choice there, moreso when - as noted above - the primary platform continues to be released in no-mod iterations. The fact that the PR team has a good marketing aspect (PR's PR?) doesn't hurt things, either - I enjoy the way in which updates are posted, hyped, and how expectations are built up by the developers. It's clever, polished, and cleary nets good results. With that being said, I have not enjoyed watching the drama in the PR BIF threads, and it bothers me most when one side tries to paint the other as the sole source of all woes. There is a mutual respect that is lacking, and the fanboys on both sides do little to improve the situation by going for the throats at each opportunity.

 

The impact on ArmA

Now, to the next question of "PR's impact on ArmA?". I see it as this - PRA2 is a set of MP missions (plus features/content) that are very focused on providing a specific and known type of gameplay (roughly: BF2PR ported). Most critically, it has a playerbase that is comprised largely of players who are intimately familiar with BF2:PR and all the intricacies of that, that engine, etc. Those players are coming into an engine that behaves differently - particularly netcode and other related aspects - and they represent a potential leverage-able force for good. Their expectations are to have an experience that (hopefully) meets the basic gameplay of BF2:PR, and when those expectations are not met (e.g., desync or VON issues or whatever), they can be a large and vocal drive for change. I see that as a great thing for the community at large. Noone sane on "the ArmA side" is going to complain if the netcode is fixed up. Noone will complain if VON is looked into and addressed. Tweaks or even features that support the PRA2 goal in ArmA are truly good for the whole community. That is one major aspect of how I view PR's impact on the ArmA scene - one of expectations, frustrations, and out of that, a push for positive change. I am very hopeful, but time will tell as to the extent of the changes we might see in part because of PRA2 and the influence it has.

 

What do I think?

The other aspect of it relates to a question I've been asked by many - namely, what do I think of PRA2? As the leader of a long-running OFP/ArmA/ArmA2/OA community, one which has crafted it's own experiences for years, I am used to playing missions that are great fun, but - and this is the critical point - they are usually not public-friendly. They work when built upon the foundation of our memberbase, but would not necessarily function if that were removed from the equation. Other, similarly-structured groups would most likely be able to get the same or similar enjoyment from them (or in reverse - if we played missions from another, similar community), but putting them onto a public server would result in a probable cluster. This is not an indictment of the ArmA playerbase or anything of the sort - it's just a reflection that due to the open nature of ArmA and development for it (in the mission sense of the word), it is entirely possible to craft experiences that fit very well one niche (organized, disciplined group), yet do not necessarily work when taken out of that niche.

 

PRA2 takes an approach that comes from BF2, or many other 'modern' team-based games - which is to say that it attempts to create an environment that is easy to understand, relatively standardized and constant, encourages teamwork/teamplay through the mechanics of design, and allows for one to hop in, play, and hop out - without requiring a lengthy time commitment to get the maximum effects. The presentation is tailored to this in all respects - a single easy exe download, polished training videos, a good manual, good interface changes in-game, and then the actual missions themselves which seem to do a fairly good job of keeping things focused and moving.

 

I find all of that to lead to something that is positive and welcome in the community. I don't want to qualify that too much - PRA2 is a good thing. Having a well-developed MP adversarial experience that is easy to hop into, play, and hop out of - that's good. That's very good.

 

The significance to an OFP/ArmA vet

This all leads up to my next bit, which is specifically addressing the significance of PRA2 to those of us who have been playing ArmA for a long time, back to ye olde OFP. For me, PRA2 serves the same purpose as PRBF2 - it is not my ideal experience in ArmA (which I feel I've already found through other means), but it is something I can see myself playing from time to time when I want to do something different. I do not mean that to sound dismissive, as it's not my intent - it's just that PRA2 does one very, very specific thing, and ArmA, for me, is a much bigger sandbox than that. PRA2 has sectioned off a part of that sandbox and built a neat sandcastle in it, arguably with more pizazz than most other mods out there - but some of want to build our own sandcastles, or maybe not even castles - maybe landscapes full of zombies, or cops and robbers, or hostile territories full of platoons worth of enemy AI, or well-crafted engagements that naratively move far out of the typical "Kill all humans, capture all the things" gameplay that many are accustomed to in modern MP games. Experiences that offer rich and frequently amazing emergent gameplay that just doesn't fit into the more tightly restricted structure found in BF2/PR/BC2/insert other similar game here.

 

That last point I want to emphasize - ArmA2 is an incredible sandbox that allows for rich narratives to be created, ones which are often far out of the norm of what most games allow. When you are able to experience those kinds of missions with large playerbases of like-minded people, the gameplay is unmatched. There are plenty of people in this community who know the truth of that - TacticalGamer, for instance, was able to provide an experience to a journalist worth writing an article about.

 

That is what ArmA is to me - far more than just one section of a sandbox. That doesn't trivialize the accomplishments of PRA2 both current and future, but it helps to let anyone who has only seen certain aspects of A2 to appreciate the views of players who have had a longer romp through the sandbox and have had time to build up many, many sandcastles in all sorts of crazy awesome layouts. When anyone from the PR community stomps around proclaiming PRA2 to be the "end all, be all" of the ArmA series, or to "redefine everything - AGAIN", or similar rhetoric - it's hard to take that with a straight face, and it gets the hackles up of many. It frequently comes across as insulting, which I don't think the PRA2 community would do if they better understood what so many of us play these games for to begin with. For someone like me, the distinction between PRA2 gameplay and AAS gameplay (which has been around for some time) is fairly muddy. There may be major differences (and I'm sure there are), but those differences feel small in comparison to the scope of what else is available in the overall sandbox.

 

Closing thoughts

PRA2 is a good thing, I've said that many times above. PRA2 offers a good, focused experience. ArmA is a large sandbox, and that's a portion of it. I'm sure what I've written will rub some the wrong way unfortunately, but I hope that there are also some out there who, through reading this, can better appreciate the love that many of us share for ArmA and the experiences that it has allowed us to craft dating all the way back to 2001 and the release of the original Operation Flashpoint.

 

What would be a really cool end-state would be if the PR fanboys and the BIS fanboys could come to a mutual understanding of each other, and from that, a mutual respect. Perhaps my idealism and optimism have gone too far there. Perhaps the rivalry and antagonism in both directions is inescapable, inevitable.

 

 

 

Perhaps... not.

Edited September 4, 2011 by winchesterdelta1

[Eddie]

Just to be correct here, an AH1 is not an Apache.

 

An AH-1 is an (Super-)Cobra.

An Apache is an AH64.

 

This should be right, if you call it Project Reality, shouldn't it ?

 

Nevertheless, looking and sounding good.

 

Right, because the whole world uses the US designations for military equipment.

 

Apache AH-1 is the British designation for our version of the Apache.

[joey45]

^^

The Eagle F1 would of been great if we dropped our pride....