Reporting bugs with Beta Campaign

[Yapab]

Hi,

We just started playing the campaign (mission Manhattan) again with the beta patch 58899 as 1.03 was unplayable because of lag/desync issues after resuming a game.

This is what we have found so far:

1) Lag / desync issue is much less than before, however after resuming I still see the host and AI/world jumping from place to place (catching up). I can fix this with the exit process I have done before in 1.03.

2) My friend the HOST is getting a lot more crashing then before... actually in 1.03 it would not crash at all. Now its crashing every game within 20 or 30 min.... the crashes produce different errors which are

2a) out of memory, crash to desktop
2b) warning: preNLOD format in object:ca\plants2\tree\t_quercus3s.p3d, screen lockup and then crash to desktop
2c) cannot load mipmap: ca\chernarus\data\layers\s_017_00ico.paa
2d) graphics lockup which was fixed with alt-tabbing.

3) I didnt have any crashes as the host, however my game crashed with a black screen after clicking "exit" on the menu when trying to quit the game!

4) After resuming game the client STILL does not have the correct markers on the map.

5) Tasks are not synchronised, for example we had finished 2 tasks and the client had 0 tasks finished and still had to report to the sergeant.

The crashing is something new as both our games had never crashed before... maybe we got 2 or 3 crashes in all our gaming hours. But now the host seems to crash with various errors constantly.

The desync/lag bug is still very annoying for me the client... it kills gameplay.

For example, we were in the APC and approaching one of the enemy camps/infantry groups. I was driving and my friend was on the gun.

As I approached them my friends turret was still facing the other way... then I noticed the enemy getting killed with dying animations... yet there was no sound of gunfire, the turret was not firing....

My friend ended up killing all 9 enemy infantry without me hearing 1 shot or seeing any bullets/smoke etc... very annoying!

I will be submitting a smaller report with arma2.RPT to dev-heaven.

Yapa

[BF2_Trooper]

I'm not on the beta patch yet, but the moment a third person entered our Manhatten session almost all the things you just described started to happen. Especially with the APC turret desynching. Were you playing from a SAVE as well?

I appreciate you testing this for the rest of us, and wish you luck. I think more testing needs to be done on the campaign coop since it's one of the most fun features of ARMA2 IF it actually worked!! Hopefully we can make a real patch out of this beta. Also, were you playing coop from saves?

[Yapab]

This happened with only two players, host and client.

And yes it seems to only happen badly after resuming a saved game after dying.... once we revert the problem is not there until we save/resume.

The fix to get it to sync back (unlag i guess) is to do these steps on the client:

1) Hit Esc to bring up menu
2) Click abort
3) Click disconnect (this does not disconnect you from the host)
4) Click "ok" to join back

The game will now sync files from the host again and the desync/lag issue is 90% solved, however it's still there with the host jumping by small amounts when moving.

Yapa

[BF2_Trooper]

Have you noticed any improvements with other COOP game modes? Such as Superpowers or any custom missions?

[ShaiCZ]

In the Manhattan mission, when hunting for the rebel camps in the two red areas, at one point, a radio (?) starts broadcasting as if into my headphones. A russian vioce seems to be reading news of the day (only thing I understand of the speech is "NAPA"). The broadcast goes on and on, wherever I go, whatever I do. Pretty annoying...A bug?

Another one, reported many times before with 1.03: although the commanding officer in the Manhattan base promises me artillery support for all the time, I could only use it once and than in disappeared.

[BF2_Trooper]

One other thing to look for. Everytime I join a saved game my time is never Synched to the host's time. In Manhatten, everytime I join, I always start at 11:30 am. It doesnt matter how far into the mission we've gone, my time always reverts to 11:30 am if I join at any point in the saved game. The Host's time always continues on from when the mission started.

[Blake]

Concerning lag/desync issue the single most important lag culprit seems to be Ambient Animals and Ambient Civilians module which populate Chernarus with wildlife and civilians in campaign missions. If they are removed manually by editing mission files everything runs pretty much lag-free for me.

[ShaiCZ]

Summarizing gameplay issues that have been driving me crazy lately (patch 972):

1) Throughout the whole Czernarus, in every single village, a radio broadcast is echoing about the attack on the Red Square in Moscow. (mission Manhattan) in some cases even like 10 times simultaneously - very annoying

2) Incredibly often, my team get smashed by the heli when getting out (as the chopper "slides" and the men are jumping out, ALWAYS, at least ONE of them gets smashed and has to be healed)!!!

3 I cannot give orders or communicate with my team when a communication is under way (with Starforce, Shaftoe, or Madoxx). Especially when landing in a hot area when I need to jump out and start fighting / commanding, every second is worth a million.

[BF2_Trooper]

Concerning lag/desync issue the single most important lag culprit seems to be Ambient Animals and Ambient Civilians module which populate Chernarus with wildlife and civilians in campaign missions. If they are removed manually by editing mission files everything runs pretty much lag-free for me.

Well they need to fix that WITHOUT removing Ambient A.I., otherwise ARMA2 gets downgraded to OFP2. :D

[Yapab]

Just did about 14 hours in Manhattan with the latest beta.... the lag/desync bug is still present.

However it only occurs if my friend is hosting... if I host the campaign it does not lag for my friend.

I have a faster connection but he still has 40kb/sec upload and when i'm hosting the game never uses more than 20kb/sec... so there is still some bug related to his system.

Tasks are still not synchronised, the client can now see all the tasks but to them none of them are completed! Map markers and positions/notes are STILL not synced on the client.

Can also confirm all 3 bugs reported by Shaiz above, especially not being able to give commands during a comm transmission which can be very annoying and deadly.

Yapa

[Blake]

Well they need to fix that WITHOUT removing Ambient A.I., otherwise ARMA2 gets downgraded to OFP2. :D

Definately. But the only way to fix it for multiplayer is to remove them as they cause lag. They should include separate MP version of the campaign in the menu which would not have lag-causing modules.

[ShaiCZ]

Still not fixed, although reported many times: in Manhattan, when all missions are completed and I get back to Manhattan, Shaftoes is dead on the ground:o((

Beta ´972