Take On Helicopters Beta Patch 95741

[DnA]

Beta patch rev. 95741 released (1.05 required!)

Changelog:
Spoiler:

show spoiler

[95406] Improved: Servers can set vonCodecQuality 11..20 for improved quality (wideband). Ultrawideband 21..30 will be possible in 1.63. The new setting requires a recent client on the talking side, server and listening clients can be any version.
[95308] Improved: MP: Custom game types no longer displayed as Unknown in the server browser.
[95307] Changed: Default matchmaking filter now shows only servers with ping < 100.
[95285] Fixed: Possible crashes after closing the game in MP (Alt+F4)
[94918] New: command unit addMagazine[name, ammoCount]
[94912] Fixed: Video memory detection on W7/x64 sometimes wrong because of bug in IDirect3DDevice9::GetAvailableTextureMem.
[94886] Fixed: Possible gear item duplication (private https://dev-heaven.net/issues/36648)
[94761] TBB 4.0 update 5, (tbb40_20120613oss, http://threadingbuildingblocks.org/ver.php?fid=187)
[94699] Tweak Reinhard tonemapping pars
[94629] Fixed: Wrong magazines are removed with weapon in briefing gear.
[94206] Fixed: Disabled channels can be bypassed in briefing screen (https://dev-heaven.net/issues/33906)
[94049] New: terrainIntersectASL command
[94049] Fixed: terrainIntersect reverted to ATL
[94001] Fixed: "enableItemsDropping = 0;" now even for MP clients
[94001] New: moonIntensity command
[94001] New: sunOrMoon command
[93989] Changed: When dropping weapon unrelated magazine will not be dropped
[93958] New: Dropping items while swimming can be disabled with "enableItemsDropping = 0;" in description.ext
[93945] New: In gear added bars with ammo count
[93945] New: setGearSlotAmmoCount, setIDCAmmoCount, gearIDCAmmoCount, gearSlotAmmoCount gear commands
[93897] New: AToC & PPAA added into UI video options
[93841] Fixed: AI using NVGs as binoculars after dropping their primary weapon (https://dev-heaven.net/issues/27297)
[93821] Changed: Authentication Timeout is distinguished from bad CD key
[93812] Fixed: Restrict gamma value set by profile
[93809] Fixed: Restrict brightness value set by profile
[93722] Fixed: Effects of setDamage to buildings different on clients and server (https://dev-heaven.net/issues/23915#change-136685)
[93701] Fixed: Changing gear in briefing screen is not working reliable in MP (https://dev-heaven.net/issues/16421)
[93680] Optimized: MP: attachTo no longer sends a message when the attachment does not change.
[93672] Fixed: Unable to access AI soldier's gear in map
[93670] Fixed: Prone units stop engaging (https://dev-heaven.net/issues/32475)
[93664] Fixed: Damage of buildings synchronization in MP after JIP (https://dev-heaven.net/issues/25659, https://dev-heaven.net/issues/23915, https://dev-heaven.net/issues/18492)
[93657] Fixed: Target is no longer stored in the long-term target list when forgotten for the second time (https://dev-heaven.net/issues/27895)
[93654] Improved: Tone mapping
[93652] New: Scripting functions visiblePositionASL and nearestBuilding position
[93648] New: Scripting functions ASLToATL and ATLToASL to convert between coordinate systems.
[93624] Changed: Scripting function weaponDirection returns a primary weapon direction when empty string is used as a weapon name.
[93622] New: Scripting function eyeDirection.
[93598] New: Scripting functions eyePos object and aimPos object
[93583] Fixed: Player-created markers not synchronised with JIP clients (see https://dev-heaven.net/issues/6337)
[93575] Fixed: StringLoad command reads unicode
[93570] Fixed: Player-made map markers disappearing in MP under certain circumstances (https://dev-heaven.net/issues/32160)
[93542] New: MP Statistics screen (key I) contains the Server hostname
[93528] Fixed: Max distance for DirectChat raised from 20m to 40m
[93415] Fixed: empty weaponHolder is not deleted when used by remote player
[93398] New: System chat like player connected/disconnected switched to CCSystem=6 channel. New configuration opportunity disableChannels[]={chan1,chan2,...}; in mission description.ext file possible.
[93294] Fixed: Multiple Object not found problems such as Server: Object 6:4 not found (message 124)
[93276] New: terrainIntersect command
[93273] New: lineIntersects, lineIntersectsWith commands
[93156] Changed: increased gear MP messages priority
[93146] Fixed: LOD blending
[93120] Fixed: JIP connecting players less affect other players network bandwith
[93117] Fix: Crash: https://dev-heaven.net/issues/31784 - caused by fix: "LOD blending not working reliably (rev. 93017)
[93017] Fixed: LOD blending not working reliably
[92956] Fixed: Sound: Music often stop playing after window focus is lost and regained
[92925] Fixed: switching backpack with dead unit in MP
[92821] Fixed: Joining unit in the vehicle to a different side group did not change the perceived side of the unit.
[92781] Fixed: SelectPlayer makes direct communication unreliable (see https://dev-heaven.net/issues/30991)
[92754] Fixed: scaling icons with grenade cursor
[92706] TBB 4.0 update 4, (tbb40_20120408oss, http://threadingbuildingblocks.org/ver.php?fid=185)
[92705] Fixed: Possible crash when in out of VRAM conditions because of a race condition.
[92679] Fixed: A Javelin missile often did not lock a target when playing with a Veteran or harder difficulty (https://dev-heaven.net/issues/28865)
[92612] Fixed: SelectPlayer in MP can break the Direct Chat or cause other MP issues.
[92582] Fixed: AI detection after load
[92463] Fixed: AToC ATi 77xx
[92071] Changed: Observer RPT messages now once per 60 sec, https://dev-heaven.net/issues/29985
[92061] Fixed: AtoC on nVidia for CSAA
[92059] PPAA pars tweak & SMAA use color edge detection method

This beta patch contains many recent merged fixes and technologies from Operation Arrowhead. It is not a full patch Release Candidate and does not contain the data fixes previously released in the 1.06 RC. We'd like to make sure the EXE is stable before we release the Downtown patch and Rearmed.

[OMAC]

Seems stable to me. Saw rare cockpit flicker, which I also saw in ACR recently, flying the Hind in the campaign. Still no ATOC in the video control GUI? Here is my beta command line:

"C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\Take On Helicopters\beta\takeonh.exe" -mod=Hinds;Noisecontrollers;Beta -nosplash -winxp

Note that the -winxp eliminates CTDs for my SLI setup, which I only learned a few months ago basically by accident (I assume that -winxp works with ToH also). I can still get momentary freezes, but instead of CTD I get a pause, then black "Receiving..." screen, then back to normal. With it and the new exe, my performance has improved somewhat (see updated signature).

-----------------

Note that these freezes are caused by "video hardware error." Probably related to 200 series NVIDIA cards.

[twisted]

Very great to see the latest arma2 changes here! Will test this evening.

edit - its working wonderfully. looks great, runs sooo smooth (well except for noticably increased tree pop ins like the arma2 patch as well). only thing i found a little wierd was just once when setting to rain _10% from left approx) i got not dark clouds overhead just whispy clouds up high but still rainy.

[Jedra]

Whatever you did - I like it! Massive frame rate improvement for me - I am even getting 60fps in downtown Seattle - never used to go above 30. I kept checking my video options just in case I was running 50% 3D resolution by mistake!!!!

[CMay]

This patch vastly improves ToH's performance. Using a GTX 275 I used to have to run ToH with shadows disabled, the resolution lowered to 1280x720, low visibility, low object distance, low object detail, etc. Now I've got shadows on Very High with the resolution at 1920x1080, etc in the middle of downtown and it finally looks similar to the marketing screenshots while running beautifully.

I've run into an issue with it though. Was flying around on Seattle for over an hour, tweaking my settings to get the most out of the engine when I decided to go try out South Asia. Bad idea. Once I loaded in South Asia (with a mission time of noonish) the helicopter was clearly there and controllable, but the screen was entirely black. Decided to give up that plan and go back to Seattle, but now Seattle was extremely bright like an HDR blowout. The ground was white and only if I could turn the camera just right would things kind of look normal, then sometimes it would turn black just like South Asia. There was no normal slow fading between these brightness levels like you'd expect with HDR, it would just flick between these states.

Decided to try restarting ToH, but the issue persisted. Tried restarting the video driver, but the issue still remained after starting ToH again. It's as if loading South Asia set a variable somewhere that ToH then stored and now it is always too bright or infinitely dark. The closest thing I've seen to it is if you try adjusting the color bit depth of ArmA 2 to something less than 32bit, everything will be too dark. Grabbing at straws, I tried changing the HDRPrecision which did not help.

In any case, if I just go back to running the current stable patch on Steam then everything works fine. The second I run it with -mod=Beta, the issue returns. Unfortunate too, because it was soaring beautifully and being more amazing than ever for that hour. When a new stable version of this+Rearmed gets released it will be a good day.

Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to test if it'll help you pin down the issues. Thanks.


EDIT:

When beta 96166 came out I ran the beta uninstaller for the older one, then went in and manually deleted all of the unnecessary/beta directories and installed the new 96166 beta patch. Everything seems to be working fine now.