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SiC's Tactical Gaming Refuge!

Sic, the guys at XAM are trying to finance a server, so with a bit of luck & €s things might improve for on-line play.

Just tried out the OFP conversion using the XAM mod island, its better than the original !

EDIT: well done for the site, never played Swat 4, I might just pick it up...
 
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Well there is a variety of gamemodes.
Some servers are CTF, some are DM (and suck), others are TDM, but most servers will be co-op games.
Of these co-op games, the most servers will usually run Evolution, wich basically has you and your buddies clearing out a whole lot of towns on the island, and i really do mean a whole lot. Next to that, there are also side-missions that can be taken on etc. It's pretty impressive, but if you join it chances are you wont find anyone unless your there from the start, or figure out how to join a squad and actually have them pick you up.
Usually, i'd say dont bother unless you are there from the start, or have some people you know, and team up with them (wich Nimsky and me used to do on these servers, just our 2-man squad taking on side-missions wich is totally fine).
If you want, you can join the co-op group we made here on the forums (found in social groups, link to steam group can also be found) or add me on xfire: sicdisaster so we can arrange a co-op session sometimes :)

If you take a look at the custom missions/plans page on my website, you'll find a link to the XAM 1.4 mod at my custom mission for ArmA.
What it exactly does is update a whole lot of graphic effects like smoke, fire, explosions, dirt in your face when you jump to prone from a sprint, dirt in your face after you've been to close to an explosion (comes with ringing ears and flashing of the screen), to screenflashes when bullets go by real close (fear effect, kind of resembles blinking your eye i guess).
It also changes allmost, if not all sounds for weapons. And honestly, they sound so damn great (especially m4 rifle) i dont want to go back to vanilla ArmA :D
It also adds a few custom islands, and desert camo-vehicles.
They added radio's to helicopters with old vietnam-era rock tunes and Wachner's classing assault song among others:p
Also comes with adjusted difficulty settings, you have a minor realism setting leaving ArmA pretty much as is, but on extreme simulation setting the mod takes away ALL gamey indications.
Outlined targets (when your given one by the commander for example) disappear, as well as mission markers so you'll have to read a map, if a soldier calls out a soldier at 3 o'clock the little clock in wich you can see that 3 o'clock doesnt pop up anymore and other stuff i cant think of right now. Basically, if you want to know something, you'll have to actually gather that information yourself instead of just getting it indicated and hinted at for you.
Oh, and i didnt even mention bleeding and first-aid. Those might not be the most realistic things in some people's opinions but it hardly happens anyway. Think of a shot to the arms causing you to bleed but still able to operate your weapon, you'll have to stop the bleeding by binding etc.
A patch for use if you want to play 1.09 beta is also available at that download link.
All in all, it really is an impressive mod and you wont be let down by it.
Below the mission file you can see a video showcasing the mission, using the desert camo vehicles, a custom island, different camo skins for units (far more realistic-looking) and you can hear a lot of the improved sounds :)


Thanks for the very elaborate post dude! This will help a lot.
 
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yep keep it up.

Genuinly inspired by your work to get back into tactical games, I played a decent bit of tactical in Ravensheild this weekend on the 'SAS' server-
I generally search for advisarial games with hostage pilot or whatever or coop with hostage or mission. Something other than shooting for the sake of it basically but theres not much that isnt that.
Anyway, they were running the meat packing plant nerve gas mission, and I was pleased to find they used the map drawing for planning and all that. There assaulting techniques are all well thought out and detailed and they have some interesting stuff on thier website- apparently they also run a SWAT4 server i may check it out too.

Also played a vietcong coop mission on the 6th sense server - it was awesome- i hope you find a copy SIC 'cos i think you'd love it if you played with this level of tactics + comms. The 3d voice works pretty well - its the best sound i think in any game, and the atmosphere is second to none.
 
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Good to hear that Dogbadger :)
I've been looking around on an internet store here in Holland, i found Vietcong + Fist Alpha for 15 euro's.. Probably gonna buy it there, when i sold another game i own but dont like/play anymore.
Though i wonder what kind of co-op it has to offer, since i remember the level from the demo to be fairly linear. Is it open to tactics or is it the same each time?
 
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Good to hear that Dogbadger :)
I've been looking around on an internet store here in Holland, i found Vietcong + Fist Alpha for 15 euro's.. Probably gonna buy it there, when i sold another game i own but dont like/play anymore.
Though i wonder what kind of co-op it has to offer, since i remember the level from the demo to be fairly linear. Is it open to tactics or is it the same each time?

Well obviously many co-op levels that are taken from the game are linear to some extent, some very much so. But even in these, there is so much cover and such dense foliage, that re-runs don't feel that repetitive.
Doesn't matter anyway, as there are 180 custom maps in my vietcong folder, vast majority being co-op, and plenty more i have yet to dload (6th sense holds 280-odd IIRC)

Most of the coop are very much open to differing routes, be they maze-like gorges, thick jungle or open fields with villages. There is also some urban stuff, some of which is very well made. In fact, considering it's not a popular well known game engine there's an incredible amount really.

When your pinned down in the jungle, crouched in cover, tring to figure out and discuss where the fire is coming from it's very tense and atmospheric. When people communicate in 3d voip and thier lips move- or gesture as they use a voice command bind, it greatly adds to the immersion.
The weapon sounds are the best i've ever heard, and when your under fire you really get shaken up and the effect is great.

But if you get i suggest you go though the single first, at very least the origional game - because asides from being really good, you'll get a real feeling for the characters, whose models and voices feature in co-op.
 
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This thread has definitely inspired me to install some of my old tactical shooters.

I reinstalled OFP with both expansions and i think Resistance is the best game i have ever played! The only problem i have is the friendly AI makes me want to kill myself. It makes tank missions extremely frustrating so i end up jumping in a tank solo and take on driving and gunning on my own.

I may reinstall GRAW2 as i have not finished it yet. Why is their no love for the GRAW series here? It may not be 'realistic' but its still very tactical with a bastard difficulty level.
 
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This thread has definitely inspired me to install some of my old tactical shooters.

I reinstalled OFP with both expansions and i think Resistance is the best game i have ever played! The only problem i have is the friendly AI makes me want to kill myself. It makes tank missions extremely frustrating so i end up jumping in a tank solo and take on driving and gunning on my own.

I may reinstall GRAW2 as i have not finished it yet. Why is their no love for the GRAW series here? It may not be 'realistic' but its still very tactical with a bastard difficulty level.

I've got no love for GRAW2, because A: they added a health system, B: They line out enemies on your hud, and i freaking hate that, C: They took away my 3 teams and replaced them with just 3 soldiers, D: the uniforms look like they are tailored for Rambo, shoulderpads with skulls on them and all, but that is just a minor annoyance compared to the first 3 things i mentioned.
As for it being tactical, i kind of feel like disagreeing with that. It leaves you with some options sure, but not that many and a lot of the levels really do feel very linear.
Next to that, and this is personal, i loved the first Ghost Recon and they made to many changes to the game for GRAW to be a good sequel, and the lord knows how i hate people messing up other's series.
It's gone to mainstream and simple, as simple as that.

But aye, Resistance is a very good campaign, it's just damn difficult :D
Dogbadger, i think i'm going to have to order vietcong tomorrow :eek::D
 
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SiC do you know if there are any high detail weapon model replacements with 3D iron sights for OFP/Resistance?

Well not 3d ironsights, but i do know that the FFUR mod updated the ironsights and they look far better, more detail instead of the 'block IS' OFP uses.
They are still 2d though.
Also makes some other changes, some i like, some i dont. Biggest dislike is they nerved the weapons a bit to be less accurate at long distance, wich makes you miss more, but the enemy also. I understood they did that to have longer firefights.
 
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You could download the GRAA mod. It is a mod that lets you configure it to your liking. It's slightly problematic online, because other people have to have the same setting as you, there is a special settings-file for online usage etc. pp. but almost no one uses that mod anyway since it just steals options and features from other mods and compiles them into one single small mod that lets you chose what you want and what you don't want.
I only play alone or with my brother so I love it.:)

You can make it change the characters for better looking ones with much better animations (and you can also lean then) and that also changes the weapons and the iron sights. No 3d iron sights though. I don't know if there is any mod that has them. The only ones I know change the sprite from that black shape to something that could be a screenshot of 3d iron sights. Same here. There are some other things, like a crouched sprint, the ability to pick up stuff from a prone position, the ability to throw grenades while crouching and being prone, with fitting animations for each, and some other tweaks I can't remember now.
They also have that increased recoil and an option for increased spread that you can use to let firefights take longer but as everything else this is purely optional! I changed it so the recoil is higher (exactly like in FDF, except that MGs keep their old recoil because the AI wouldn't hit anything with them then) but I kept the old spread and the old iron sight "sway".

I also activated the new third person camera view. The regular third person cam is somwhere far behind the character and only very slightly off-center. The new one is practically a clone of the one in Ghost Recon 2 and Summit Strike. It is much nearer to the character and you are looking over his right shoulder. That cam is more immersive in my opinion and it doesn't give you that much of an advantage as the old one (though there still is one of course).

There is also an option that reduces the free-aim area to zero on the x-axis. Blasphemy!!! No, it works really well. I activated that once to take a look and I'm not going to change it back.:)
The gun still does everything it did before. It wobbles around when you run or walk for example and the little dot is still pointing where it shoots, just like before. The only difference is that your crosshair is in the middle of the screen (middle on the x-axis, movable on the y-axis) and that makes movement feel smoother, for me at least.



Give it a try if you have the time. You can also take a look into the Operation Flashpoint thread at the top of the page. I posted a link to the screenshot thread there where you can see two screenshots of the GRAA mod in action on winter islands.

Be sure to post some screenshots or something there too!
 
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Argh!

FFUR mod dicked up my game and somehow screwed my save points. It ended up only letting me launch the mod and not vanilla OFP without it crashing. I do use a no CD crack as i can never be arsed putting the CD in the tray, maybe this has something to do with it. Anyway i only wanted the iron sights, high res textures and foliage. I am not really interested in the added realism.

Never mind, the game can be easily whizzed through by speeding up the time and my tactics worked well. Good job this game is so good otherwise i might not bother.

I'll also check out the mod you mentioned at some point Murphy. Thanks for the info.
 
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Argh!

FFUR mod dicked up my game and somehow screwed my save points. It ended up only letting me launch the mod and not vanilla OFP without it crashing. I do use a no CD crack as i can never be arsed putting the CD in the tray, maybe this has something to do with it. Anyway i only wanted the iron sights, high res textures and foliage. I am not really interested in the added realism.

Never mind, the game can be easily whizzed through by speeding up the time and my tactics worked well. Good job this game is so good otherwise i might not bother.

I'll also check out the mod you mentioned at some point Murphy. Thanks for the info.

Missions do have problems when you try to 'resume' them, as the mod uses different configurations wich arent recognized in the save as you used to play regular OFP.
However, starting a new mission should work just fine, since all info is loaded new and fresh instead of old savegame data... If that doesnt happen, i'm a bit confused to the how and why, sorry to hear it messed up.
(i did notice how FFUR takes up a lot of computer resources, sometimes itll run like **** at 20 fps or something, on a computer that plays ArmA on highest :confused::D)
 
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Missions do have problems when you try to 'resume' them, as the mod uses different configurations wich arent recognized in the save as you used to play regular OFP.
However, starting a new mission should work just fine, since all info is loaded new and fresh instead of old savegame data... If that doesnt happen, i'm a bit confused to the how and why, sorry to hear it messed up.
(i did notice how FFUR takes up a lot of computer resources, sometimes itll run like **** at 20 fps or something, on a computer that plays ArmA on highest :confused::D)

It worked fine with the mod but i wanted to resume my vanilla campaign and have the mod to screw around with. Soon as i loaded vanilla it threw the 'Windows has encounted an error' crap.

Never mind as i speed ran through the up to the point where i was yesterday (ch
 
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