FROM: Project Lead

TO: Arma 3 Users

INFO: #MakeArma submissions closed, Launcher updates, Vortex Ring State

PRECEDENCE: Flash

SITUATION

We've entered the next big phase of the Make Arma Not War contest. The deadline for submitting entries has elapsed at midnight, and it's time to determine the finalists. You can still contribute to this by voting for your favorite Singleplayer entries! Do so by logging into the website using your Steam account, finding the relevant entry, and pressing the 'Vote' button. The recent Steam Free Weekend and huge 50% discount were at least in part organised to get more players to check out entries and vote. You managed to set a new peak of concurrent Arma 3 players during the weekend. We know not everybody is too happy about this new 'demo' approach, but now the dust has settled, we'd like to welcome all new players to the front lines. Enjoy the wealth of content, official and user-made alike!

INTELLIGENCE

People trying out the Arma 3 Helicopters sandbox content on Dev-Branch should now see it 'unlocked' if they are supposed to already own it (DLC Bundle or Supporter Edition). Producer Jan Kunt took the issue to Valve and together they worked out a way to 'pre-release' the DLC without actually opening the Steam store page. We are now preparing to stage the full payload to both Dev-Branch and Release Candidate branches. The content is undergoing heavy testing, driving certain Creative Directors slightly mad.

The winner of Captain Miller's "I Want You To Vote" competition is EnzaitHuse. His splendid video shows some spectacular scenes and makes us all want to play and vote. Also check out the runners up for more cool videos and funny posters.

Bohemia Interactive has launched its new website this week. The face-lift should be easier to read and navigate, work well on mobile devices, and generally just look better!

OPERATIONS

We have decided to indeed delay the introduction of Vortex Ring State simulation. It's a great feature which forces you to re-think and re-train your landings, but it needs more time in the oven. We are not able to easily branch the technology for the main branch and Dev-Branch. Therefore, the feature will be disabled even on Dev-Branch until Helicopters DLC (1.36) is out. We'll continue testing and tweaking after that.

At some point in the future we will want to try to make the Arma 3 Launcher the default launch option in Steam again. The previous attempt was reverted due to some people facing technical compatibility issues. We think most of these should now be resolved. Check out the troubleshooting page for more information and possible workarounds. Please let us know if you still have technical issues with the launcher (it not starting, its window being invisible, etc.).

LOGISTICS

Speaking of the launcher: we are close to supporting local (non-Workshop) mods. It's quite possible this feature will arrive in the update after Helicopter DLC - and on Dev-Branch ahead of that of course.

Did we mention your Singleplayer finalist vote in the #MakeArma contest is very welcome?