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Bohemia Interactive have put out Virtual Programming's latest update of Arma 3 [Steam] for Linux, it includes 64bit support and finally fixes the texture issue I had.

Note: The Linux version of Arma 3 is still considered experimental. There is no SteamOS icon on Steam due to this, but it is fully playable.

The problem I had, was that I couldn’t select textures above Low and sometimes Normal. This is due to the way OpenGL works with 32bit applications, but no more! I still find it strange not many others saw the issue, but the 64bit built works perfectly allowing me to change all the graphical settings. For me, this is such a massive change that I can now actually play the game.

The Linux version previously sat at 1.64 since December 2016, so this update is a pretty big one for us. Both in terms of the time it took to come out and what’s changed. We’re now at Arma 1.70, but we are still lagging behind the Windows version, so you might have trouble finding people to play with online.

To be honest, the amount that has changed between 1.64 and 1.70 is insane in terms of the changelogs. The game has gone through literally hundreds of tweaks and trying to parse them into anything meaningful for an article was a bit of a nightmare. In the end, I gave up, because if you’re into Arma 3 you’ve likely kept yourself up to date anyway.

However, here’s a few cool things I found when browsing through the updates: It has a new audio engine for footsteps, Ambient Occlusion was overhauled, 64bit support, sounds for vehicles colliding with water, improved airplane audio, Sounds when getting in and out of helicopters, Rain sounds on car surfaces while inside of the vehicle and the list just goes on and on. Seriously, I don’t think I can overstate just how big of an update this is for us.

You can see what’s new in Arma 3 1.70 here, we also jumped past the 1.68 update so take a look there too. Also, since we’re now on Arma 3 - 1.70, this also means the Jets DLC will be compatible expanding the game even more for us (VP confirmed this).

Performance does seem better than when I originally tried it. There are some big dips when new areas are loading in, but they do seem to eventually smoothen out. Apparently that's an issue in the Windows version too. Some areas do have quite low performance unless I turn down quite a few settings, but it is much more playable than it was before.

Tip: If you have more than one monitor, you should be able to move it around using this as a launch option:

--eon_force_display=*monitor*Where *monitor* is a number.

Good work from Virtual Programming. Hopefully they can get some of the newer updates out a little more quickly, but that likely depends on Bohemia Interactive too, since ultimately they control what happens with it.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Furor Sep 14, 2017
Quoting: m2mg2
Quoting: FurorI can't wait until is officially supported and in sync with the Windows version. Anyway, this is a great update!

Probably won't ever happen, but it's better than nothing.

Well they made available this big leap in the updates roadmap (64 bits, bugs ..) and some months ago commented in their "Arma 3 - Scanning The Horizon 2017" that will keep on supporting updates for Linux and Mac, with an announcement later this year.

Link to the video

I don't want to dream on that yet, but I didn't lost all my hopes :)
Brisse Sep 14, 2017
Quoting: Crazy PenguinNo, it is still behind the Windows version, which is 1.76 if I get this right. Linux/Mac are 1.70.

Correct. 1.76 was just recently released on Windows together with the Laws of War DLC. The Mac/Linux ports are thus three major patches, and two DLC's behind. IIRC, what we have right now is what Windows had early 2017. I think we are about 6 months behind.
nadrolinux Sep 14, 2017
Great info, especially that in the last time I play often in ARMA3 with my brother (COOP).
Peapoll Sep 14, 2017
The jet DLC works fine, but Tanoa (APEX) no longer works with the 1.70 update.

Everything else seems to work, but when you try to run APEX it throws you the message "Please switch off the game, wait until steam downloads the DLC and start the game again". Steam never do. Switching to the legacy branch or reinstalling does not solve it.

There's a thread about the issue here if anyone have something to add to it:
https://forums.bistudio.com/forums/topic/210513-17-released-but-no-access-to-apextanoa/


Last edited by Peapoll on 14 September 2017 at 10:08 pm UTC
neowiz73 Sep 15, 2017
got to get this soon then, it looks like a really nice FPS/Simulation.
TheRiddick Sep 15, 2017
This is great, I was originally at ends with BIS developers but their investment in getting a Linux version done is quite impressive, now that its got 64bit the patches should appear faster. I understand moving from 32 to 64 for Linux would have been why this patch took so long, once its in parity with windows it will open up a HUGE amount of multiplayer potential for linux players.

This is one of those games where you can jump into the map editor and literally just make any game style you want, you can even replicate PUBG to the tee in this game!

I'm just not sure how well ARMA3 works with 64-100 players, it can do it but last time I heard the game still frame-rate caps people to the servers performance level, meaning if the server can only process information at 15fps then that's what people play at, quite nasty. Maybe they fixed that?


Last edited by TheRiddick on 15 September 2017 at 12:46 am UTC
SuperTux Sep 15, 2017
Checking their Discord chat it seems they're aware of the Apex issue and will be fixing it (seems a few files aren't downloading from Steam).

Really happy they've continued to update their Linux version :).
TheRiddick Sep 15, 2017
Yeah, am a bit surprised they are continuing with ARMA3. I honestly thought they ditch it by now for a new product like ARMA4 or something. If they do make A4 I hope they can make the physic and netcode work well, also allow for terrain editing such as a voxel based system, that would allow their engine to last for quite some time.

ATM you can't really have caves or tunnels in ARMA3, not unless the entire terrain mesh has a separate model slapped on top, which is not ideal and doesn't allow for easy/seamless map making.


Last edited by TheRiddick on 15 September 2017 at 4:39 am UTC
evergreen Sep 15, 2017
Quoting: Kithop...did they finally fix HID support? Like, can I use a controller to fly a chopper without right trigger being double-mapped to yaw right and 'fire guns', with no way to remap it? :p

Better yet, can I use my G27 wheel+pedal combo to drive ground vehicles and my X52 Pro HOTAS for flight and mouse & keyboard for on-foot without them all messing each other up, like I can under Windows? ;)

I guess I'll have to test these at some point and report back. I can live with being a bit behind the Windows version in terms of raw features/patches, but that was an absolute deal breaker for me playing under Linux. What's the point of having a HOTAS + wheel if I can't use them, etc.

Did you try it? Did they implement Joystick support on linux too? I'm also waiting for joystick working.
14 Sep 15, 2017
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I'm really happy about this! I just bought Arma 3 Apex Edition on the last sale. A couple of my Windows buddies agreed to switch to the legacyports version. It'll be nice that we won't have to be as far behind patch wise and that we get 64-bit!
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