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Nicholas

How to change between stable Arma 3 Alpha versions & release candidates @STEAM client

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NOTE: Using the development version of the game could hamper your experience with the game, with some unfinished assets available. However, we would greatly appreciate your feedback. Feedback can be submitted at feedback.arma3.com.

Want to be apart of the ArmA 3 development builds? Follow these 5 simple steps:

1) Open Steam and go to your game library

2) Right click on ArmA 3 Alpha, click Properties

3) Click on the BETAS tab

4) Click on the drop down menu, choose development - Development Build

5) Click Close

Congratulations, you are now in the development build of the ArmA 3 alpha!

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Edited by Nicholas

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Greatly appreciated. I'm new to steam and quite baffled by it, so any guide is well welcome

Ps- Would you happen to know how to send somebody the alpha invitation? Once they go green there will be many to circle around and I imagine I can't be the only one whos got no clue whatsoever ;)

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Or try to look into the game directory for arma3_quick-start_guide.pdf - it is going to be set as a game manual soon(Valve-time) :icon_twisted:

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Thanks pettka, I didn't even notice the PDF in the directory. Added some information from the PDF into the first post.

Edited by Nicholas

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Can someone explain what this is exactly? Does this mean we are pushed updates and patches as soon as they come out?

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can you revert back anytime?

didntz work btw. the game crashes at start.. steam didnt download sth. when I checked the dev build

Edited by tremanarch

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This method leaves much to be desired. Before this Steam DRM, we could concurrently run development versions and "stable" versions. This appears to replace the original version because Steam does not have a robust update system because they wish to forcibly ram updates down your throat!

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This method leaves much to be desired. Before this Steam DRM, we could concurrently run development versions and "stable" versions. This appears to replace the original version because Steam does not have a robust update system because they wish to forcibly ram updates down your throat!

Cry some more.

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This method leaves much to be desired. Before this Steam DRM, we could concurrently run development versions and "stable" versions. This appears to replace the original version because Steam does not have a robust update system because they wish to forcibly ram updates down your throat!

And you just switch it off if it is broken and it gets the right exe again.. The same way it works with other games that do it (and have more players than ArmA) like TF and CSGO.

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Seriously. Steam doesn't cram anything down your throat. You can OPT OUT OF ANY UPDATES WHATSOEVER.

I do this with Skyrim because SKSE updates sometimes days behind patch releases rendering the game useless until they update.

DROP IT.

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can you revert back anytime?

didntz work btw. the game crashes at start.. steam didnt download sth. when I checked the dev build

Working perfectly fine for me. I just played for a few hours with the development build.

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Seriously. Steam doesn't cram anything down your throat. You can OPT OUT OF ANY UPDATES WHATSOEVER.

I do this with Skyrim because SKSE updates sometimes days behind patch releases rendering the game useless until they update.

DROP IT.

Not knowing that much about Steam, is it still possible to have a regular install (with its own desktop shortcut) and a beta install (with its own desktop shortcut) at the same time? My bandwidth doesn't allow for casual updates of large amounts of data.

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Working perfectly fine for me. I just played for a few hours with the development build.

Are you sure you are using the development build, because enabling/disabling this option doesn't do anything for me, no new files are downloaded (I tried with verify game cache and restarting steam).

What is your build number in menu?

Maybe it's a placebo effect that it is running better.

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Not knowing that much about Steam, is it still possible to have a regular install (with its own desktop shortcut) and a beta install (with its own desktop shortcut) at the same time? My bandwidth doesn't allow for casual updates of large amounts of data.

I don't think so. Bohemia Interactive would have to do something similar to what Tripwire Interactive did with Red Orchestra 2. Tripwire Interactive had two versions of Red Orchestra 2 on Steam, one was the beta version and the other was the stable game. This allowed you to participate in the betas as well as have the stable release.

---------- Post added at 01:33 ---------- Previous post was at 01:31 ----------

Are you sure you are using the development build, because enabling/disabling this option doesn't do anything for me, no new files are downloaded (I tried with verify game cache and restarting steam).

What is your build number in menu?

Maybe it's a placebo effect that it is running better.

Yes, I am using the development build. You might not see any changes because they may have not uploaded anything to the servers. I have v0.5.102571

Edited by Nicholas

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I already passed to it yesterday, finally I understand what this means!

Happy to help the developers, but could someone explain what this option exactly does? Does this mean the game will be automatically hotfixed as the developers upload different versions of it? What's the difference with the normal patching system?

Yay!

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Yes, I am using the development build. You might not see any changes because they may have not uploaded anything to the servers. I have v0.5.102571

v0.5.102571 is normal version (what everyone runs), so you have just enabled the development build version but you too are waiting for it to be updated.

You are not running on a newer build.

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v0.5.102571 is normal version (what everyone runs), so you have just enabled the development build version but you too are waiting for it to be updated.

You are not running on a newer build.

I didn't believe I was, as there were no updates to perform when I opted into the development build. I know that they can update the game as much as they want, hopefully they will start using it soon.

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The default version will get updated only after we put it through internal QA (it's still an Alpha, but we'd like to make sure those updates at least allow you to start the game ;)). The Development branch will soon become a frequently updated branch by all of our developers: programmers, encoders, artists, designers and more. This may cause it to not work one day and work very well the next, it may contain experimental features, a sneak peak at new content, etc. If you do not want to bother with the risk of a more broken version, you're advised to stick with the default. The Alpha Hub will become the source of updates and hopefully changelogs. I believe the first publications to this branch are coming up later today.

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The default version will get updated only after we put it through internal QA (it's still an Alpha, but we'd like to make sure those updates at least allow you to start the game ;)). The Development branch will soon become a frequently updated branch by all of our developers: programmers, encoders, artists, designers and more. This may cause it to not work one day and work very well the next, it may contain experimental features, a sneak peak at new content, etc. If you do not want to bother with the risk of a more broken version, you're advised to stick with the default. The Alpha Hub will become the source of updates and hopefully changelogs. I believe the first publications to this branch are coming up later today.
Will activating the developement option actively help you guys?

Yay!

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Will opting out of developer build reinstate the standard alpha or do I have to delete everything and re-download again?

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