
# Hotfix for crashes on Official Game Master Eden servers

Attention soldiers,

We've released a Hotfix for crashes on Official Game Master Eden servers in the form of a Workshop mod.

In order to join Official GM Eden servers, a download of this mod to your client is required. This mod disables any save attempts in the Game Master Eden scenario if active.

We're sorry for the inconvenience. This is a temporary solution and will be fixed in our next update.


Hotfix for crashes on Official Game Master Eden servers


# ATTENTION

Welcome to our sixth Dev Report!

In the last issue, we informed you about having to delay last week´s update to this week. All should now be in place as the update went public on June 29th. You can see what was changed and fixed in the Intelligence section below. Thank you for sticking with us through the growing pains of Early Access; we value your essential feedback and all of the community content you are producing!


## INTELLIGENCE

This delayed update brought a number of fixes and tweaks. Regarding multiplayer, we corrected network replication of vehicles during movement which was causing them to jump forward and back, as well as generate broken dust and exhaust effects. AI should be behaving better due to fixes too. There will be no more failing to open doors when too close or seeing players through smoke on Dedicated servers. Those using Workbench might be happy to hear that we added a texture compression configuration for UI textures without compression and road dielectric reflectance to satmaps.

You can read a more detailed changelog for this week's game update on our  **[webpage](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/news/june-update-29)**.

  
## OPERATIONS

First, we want to acknowledge issues we are approaching with the utmost attention and care. We are first and foremost working on network traffic and connection stability - we added more logging, which should help us find the remaining issues. In the last game update, we delivered a number of optimizations and fixes towards these connection issues. This is still our main focus and we are looking forward to any feedback you provide in regards to network and connection problems, as every report the community provides helps us with identifying and fixing them.

Overall, we want you to know we are meticulously processing all of your feedback. Approximately half of what has been reported to us has been resolved. Unfortunately, some of your suggestions are not going to be realized in Arma Reforger as they are out of the game's scope, but we will be considering them for Arma 4.

In regards to 32 players servers for the Xbox version of the game, we have been conducting internal tests and also ran limited public tests. Few servers with 32 limit were used to capacity by the community, but from the feedback and data we gathered, we decided to run a few of those server instances per region.

Continuing with short term tasks we are working on, we are fixing the collision of the task list and the map controls. Detection of blocking objects when building compositions in Conflict is being improved, as well as Navmesh modding.

Some other tasks worth mentioning:

-   Mod deletion support.
-   More visual improvements of the Voice over Network (VON) UI, which will be more compact and have better icons.

For long term tasks, we are improving ragdoll and death animations, expanding functionality of weapon inspection, and merging attachment compatibility mod into vanilla data. Don’t expect these in the next update, but further down the line.
  

## LOGISTICS

We released our first  **[Arma Reforger Community Radar](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/news/comrad-1)**, or COMRAD for short. Check it out and see a curated selection of the amazing content that has been pouring out of the community since Reforger's early access launch.  
  
We salute you, Arma community!


Dev Report #6


# New Updates for Steam and Xbox #6

Attention soldiers,

We're going to update the Steam and Xbox versions of the game.

The Steam version will be updated on Wednesday, 29th of June. There will be **server downtime between 12:00 - 15:00 CEST.**

The Xbox version will be updated on Thursday, 30th of June. Some of the official Xbox **servers will be unavailable between 12:00 - 15:00 CEST.**

Arma Reforger 0.9.5.90 changelog:

## Multiplayer

- Fixed: Network replication of vehicles during movement, causing vehicle to jump forward/back, broken dust and exhaust effects
- Fixed: Removal of an entity from replication did not properly remove all of its associated bump tasks
- Fixed: Issue with moving dead bodies corrupting the replication spatial map
- Changed: DoorComponent streaming data optimization
- Changed: Slightly optimized streaming of big amounts of network data when moving quickly through the world
- Changed: Improved logging of replication issues

## Game

- Fixed: AI failing to open doors when too close
- Fixed: AI was able to see through smoke on Dedicated Servers
- Fixed: Placing a waypoint or faction objective in the sky is no longer possible
- Fixed: Hiding the interface in Armavision hid also player overlays, f.e. player tags or blurred faces
- Fixed: Weapon item previews were cropped in the inventory when dragging
- Fixed: Server list scrolling and displaying of proper data
- Fixed: Mods should be now downloaded for hovered-over servers; this should prevent crashes from missing mods when joining
- Fixed: Equipping sounds not playing
- Fixed: Right feet had a misconfigured health hitzone damage multiplier
- Fixed: Changing weapons and stance at the same time could get characters stuck without a weapon
- Fixed: Workshop did not show that a mod update was available until the user opened mod details page of that mod
- Fixed: Aiming ADS sensitivity multiplier set in the gameplay settings will not affect freelook anymore
- Fixed: Bases randomization in Tutorial is now fixed, and there were minor changes / tweaks to controls
- Fixed: Adding bleeding from the Game Master context menu sometimes did not add bleeding for no apparent reason
- Fixed: Weapon inspection can no longer occur in vehicle compartments
- Fixed: Xbox web browser opening
- Fixed: InventoryItemComponent would trigger some events even while its entity was being deleted (fixes a crash involving flashlights on deleted characters)
- Fixed: Possible crash in CanSwapItemStorages
- Fixed: Occasional crash in the server browser after updating the list
- Tweaked: Fragmentation damage increased
- Tweaked: Pop-up notification layout: size, color, transparency, frequency
- Tweaked: Moved a Conflict spawnpoint in Quarry; AI no longer spawn inside walls
- Changed: Curves for flashlight visibility during daylight, as well as performance tweaks
- Changed: Strapped flashlights now provide a more consistent angle of illumination when holding weapons
- Changed: Enforced interrupted weapon switching while jumping
- Changed: Creating a group of soldiers directly inside a vehicle is no longer possible
- Added: Servers loading indication in the server browser
- Added: 'Clear Destroyed Entities' - a toolbar action in Game Master that deletes all dead soldiers and destroyed vehicles with one click
- Added: Spacing between waypoints placed by a Game Master for multiple AI groups at the same time
- Removed: More redundant task notifications

## Workbench

- Fixed: Procedural Animation Editor - Using a smoother node does not interrupt preview anymore, preview values on signal nodes are saved
- Tweaked: Allowing to use sRGB color format for mouse cursors
- Tweaked: Terrain satellite mask is now used for simulating road roughness
- Added: Road dielectric reflectance to satmaps
- Added: Prepared a texture compression configuration for UI textures without compression

## API changes (for modders)

- Fixed: BackendAPI.IsActive() and IsRunning() results were incorrect
- Added: BackendAPI.GetCommTestStatus()
- Added: GarbageManager::Flush script API
- Changed: JsonApi improved logging


New Updates for Steam and Xbox #6

#COMRAD 1


# ATTENTION

Welcome to our fifth Arma Reforger Dev Report!

First, we must inform you that we were unfortunately unable to deliver an update to the game to you this week. We found an issue that could in some instances cause crashes of the game, so we decided to postpone the update to next week. However, this means you will get more fixes in the next patch along with the ones that were intended for this week. We thank you for patience!

## INTELLIGENCE

This week we released a minor update of the Arma Reforger Server Steam App launch options. Previously, you had two “Play Dedicated Server” options that had now been removed. They were replaced by a single “Server Hosting Docs” launch option that will open server hosting documentation and examples, available at this web page [here](https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_Reforger:Server_Hosting).

We also removed some unused official servers and some scenarios as it won't be feasible to support them all with lower server numbers.

## OPERATIONS

Let's start with updates that will most likely be delivered in the next patch:

We fixed regression caused by network optimization, which caused vehicles to at times move in a jarring way, seemingly without interpolation.

We are still working on optimizing network traffic and fixing remaining network issues. Some of these problems remain elusive, so part of the work is about improving logs and diagnostic tools. Updates to logs are likely in the next update, while traffic optimizations however are a long term issue that will take more time.

- We are adding a way for Game Master to clear all destroyed entities. Such function was available through a community mod, which we have used as inspiration. We recognize that it's useful tool to have as part of the game, and we thank you for showing us this.

Other noteworthy updates for next week:

- Spacing of waypoints when ordering multiple AI groups in Game Master. That should help a bit with AI bunching together on the way to or on the destination point itself.
- Notifications in Conflict are going to be less frequent and they will take less space. The transparency will also be adjusted to fit darker scenes.
- Fragmentation damage of explosives will be increased.

Finally, here are some long term tasks that will be included in future updates:

We recognize that generating navmesh for your large coop scenarios can be a pain, to save both your time and our disk space - we are working on new methods to modify the navmesh for your scenarios. There will be the ability to save only modified data for your objectives area. The rest of the navmesh would be loaded from vanilla data. This method should also work with multiple combined mods.

Last week, we informed you about working on transparent and adaptive UI brightness controlled by the scene brightness. We are on the right track and hopefully will be able to deliver a solution next week.

We also talked about updating the task system so modders can more easily create a new task without having to modify the task manager. We have made progress, and the new system is already working in single-player. Internally, were going to convert the actual tasks to fit the new architecture and adjust their multiplayer behaviour.

Adding support for multiple save slots, and community dedicated servers for Xbox are also planned for future updates.

## LOGISTICS

Our [Community Wiki](https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Category:Arma_Reforger) is a massive archive of useful information for you as a player, server host, and as a mod developer. We are constantly adding more documentation, and you can browse latest documents [here](https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Special:NewPages?namespace=5050&tagfilter=&username=&size-mode=min&size=&wpFormIdentifier=newpagesform).

For those of you who are soldiering on Xbox, we are testing 32 player Xbox servers internally, and depending on the results, we will enable them for public, but in a limited amount at first.

Please note that we monitor your feedback daily and thank you for your ongoing help and support! If you have any feedback to submit, you can do so [here](https://feedback.bistudio.com/project/view/66/).


Dev Report #5


# Removal of unused official servers

Attention soldiers,

We'll do another server culling this week to remove unused Official Reforger servers. We'll also get rid of some scenarios as it won't be feasible to support them all with thinner server numbers.
Unnecessary servers will be shut down gradually over a period of 1-3 days and there should be minimal to no impact on your play during this process.


Removal of unused official servers


# Update of Arma Reforger Server Steam App launch options

Attention soldier,

The two "Play Dedicated Server“ options will be removed. A new "Server Hosting Docs“ launch option will open this web page with server hosting documentation and examples: [https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_Reforger:Server_Hosting](https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_Reforger:Server_Hosting).


Update of Arma Reforger Server Steam App launch options


# ATTENTION

In this fourth Arma Reforger Dev Report, we will address the latest changes - both major and minor ones - from this week's game updates on both PC and Xbox platforms. We will also share some more short and long-term plans for the game, and will also outline for you some known issues.

## INTELLIGENCE

First, we would like to present to you the most important fixes from this update.

We have optimized network traffic for characters and vehicles, so if you've experienced kicks caused by flooding network messages, this should be of help. Furthermore, connections in Multiplayer should now be more stable as we fixed some edgecases related to authentication.

We also have some good news for terrain modders! We hope they will have a better time modding since we made a big pass on issues related to terrains in World Editor, and a number of fixes for road generation. Also, Everon has been through a big makeover; floating objects, broken doors in one bunker and lots of other issues were fixed in this latest update.

As was promised in the last Dev Report, Voice Over Network (VON) was greatly improved in multiple ways:

- The direct speech from non-friendly characters no longer clutters the display.
- Enemy nicknames are no longer displayed in radio transmissions.
- The voice loopback issue was hotfixed - the speaker won't hear them self over the secondary radios anymore if they speaks on the platoon channel.

Last but not least for the important updates, you can now bind your mouse buttons!

As for the minor updates, drivers will be pleased to hear that we improved BTR-70 and Ural gear shifting. This should lead to better vehicle performance and therefore a more enjoyable ride. Speaking of more pleasant activities, we fixed ladder usage in churches, so gaining sniper/scout positions in bigger towns should now be easier!

If your modding has been hindered by a weaker GPU, you might like to hear that with -EnableWARP CLI parameter, Workbench should work for you too.

We listened to your feedback about some weapons feeling too slow, so we have made the Aim Down Sights (ADS) speed quicker for most of the weapons. Please let us know if the speed changes are _too_ fast!

Other noteworthy minor updates:

- The throwing speed of all grenades was decreased.
- Remnants randomization in Conflict game mode - they should be a little less predictable now.
- We removed the unused red markers on the map when playing Conflict in solo mode.
- The G key for dropping items is not clashing with the VON menu anymore. Dropping of items was moved to X key.

## OPERATIONS

There are still a number of other fixes and updates we are hard at work on. First, let's show you the ones that should be delivered in the next update.

We are going to temporarily lower the number of the official servers for the PC platform, since PC players are mostly playing on community run ones.

Regarding Xbox players, we will have servers for 32 players – this is where we will definitely need your critical feedback, soldiers!

We also will increase the fragmentation damage of the explosives and remove compression from cursor textures, as it causes them to at times not appear or work properly.

More short-term tasks include:

- Stopping weapon/item preview images from being cropped when using drag'n'drop in the inventory.
- Improving the popup notification layout - size, color, transparency, and frequency in Conflict.
- Improving the building of compositions - stop them from being blocked by AIs.

Let’s now take a peek at our long-term plans for Arma Reforger that won’t appear in the next update.

One of the issues that is taking a lot of our attention is the task system. We are improving the architecture to support modding more since now it's difficult for modders to create a new task type without modifying the task manager.

We also plan to add support for multiple save slots for solo play in game modes that support them, such as Game Master and Conflict, as we are looking for a way to let players preserve their creations and return to them later. This is a feature we had already wanted in Arma 3 Zeus.

Another thing we are working on is transparent and adaptive UI brightness that is controlled by scene brightness.

We are also making steps towards allowing people to host their own modded community dedicated servers for the Xbox platform.

## LOGISTICS

You might have read about executed fixes in this week's [update](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/news/june-update-15). We want to address two items from the changelog that are unfortunately not completely fixed. First is the fact that the reshuffling of inventory bug is still in the game, and we are working on a fix. The second is the update status of mods in Workshop should work better, but there is still use case when it does not show up, and we will investigate this problem further.

Among other known issues is also the Save & Load feature for solo play of game modes not working properly in a certain situations. We are also aware that vehicles interpolation in multiplayer games is now broken. You may notice vehicles jumping/jerking when observing them from non-driver perspective, and also excessive dust effects, sounds, and passenger animations, such as g-force reactions. This is a regression caused by some of our recent changes in previous updates, and we will fix it as soon as possible.

Be assured, soldiers - we are listening to you and are infinitely thankful for your feedback and support!


Dev Report #4


# New Updates for Steam and Xbox #5

Attention soldiers,

Another update for the Steam and Xbox versions of the game is incoming.

The Steam version will be updated on Wednesday, 15th of June. Some of the **official servers will be unavailable between 12:00 - 15:00 CEST.**

The Xbox version will be updated on Thursday, 16th of June. Some of the **official Xbox servers will be unavailable between 12:00 - 15:00 CEST.**

Arma Reforger 0.9.5.73 changelog:

## Multiplayer

- Fixed: Finalizing connections while they are being established could crash the game
- Fixed: Dedicated Server shutdown issue
- Tweaked: Network traffic optimization (characters and vehicles use half of the previous version's traffic on average)

## Game

- Fixed: Binding of mouse buttons
- Fixed: _TagMainIdle_ was missing from _IdleTurnMaster_, possibly causing excessive idle-to-move transitions and crashes
- Fixed: Potential crash in AI movement
- Fixed: Map contours were not always aligned with other map data properly
- Fixed: An unused map descriptor in small Conflict scenarios would be visible
- Fixed: Ladder position on church prefabs
- Fixed: Incorrect colliders on certain walls
- Fixed: A hidden dialog on top of the main menu that would prevent interacting with it
- Fixed: _RegisterRemnantsPresence_ access out of bounds
- Fixed: Vehicle and turret inventory slots can no longer be drag-and-dropped
- Fixed: Damage state event for vehicles
- Fixed: Enemy direct speech UI is not visible anymore
- Fixed: Searching for scenario-specific servers did not work
- Fixed: Server Browser would get stuck on the addon downloading screen if a multiplayer session required a newer version of the addon
- Fixed: Server Browser cache may have become corrupted in some cases
- Fixed: Default character animation state is always a bit different now, so characters do not look like clones after spawning
- Fixed: Animations could crash the game in rare situations
- Fixed: Environment feedback was processed and a pass of fixes was applied to Everon
- Fixed: Randomization of base callsigns
- Fixed: Completing the Tutorial communication stage with an invalid condition
- Fixed: Calling _Identity.GetFullName()_ could crash the game
- Fixed: Mod version checking would not work correctly
- Fixed: Mods did not show 'update available' until a user requested data explicitly
- Fixed: Scrolling in the Workshop while loading addons could lead to a game crash
- Fixed: Multiple crashes in Workshop
- Fixed: Workshop could get stuck if you opened and closed it in quick succession
- Fixed: Incorrect links to the Reforger Wiki in the main menu
- Tweaked: BTR-70 and Ural gear shifting
- Tweaked: Lowered throwing speeds of all grenades
- Tweaked: Lowered ADS toggling time on all weapons
- Tweaked: Minor memory allocation optimization for AI perception
- Tweaked: Receiving on a second radio while transmitting on platoon channel
- Changed: Remnants randomization in Conflict (should be a little less predictable now)
- Changed: Keybind to drop an item from the inventory changed to the X-key
- Added: Wreck models for various vehicles
- Added: Static models of various vehicle wrecks used on the map
- Removed: Radio menu hint removed from _VonDisplay_

## Backend

- Fixed: Access tokens would not refresh properly, possibly leading to failure of communication with the backend
- Fixed: Workbench would get switched to Edit Mode in case of failure of communication with the backend

## Enfusion

- Fixed: Script compiler issues
- Fixed: Unknown classes at the end of a parent scope are now correctly skipped when reading containers

## Workbench

- Fixed: Multiple crashes related to terrain and roads
- Fixed: Terrain tool would stay available even after deleting the terrain
- Fixed: Road/flatter layer would remain even after deleting the terrain
- Fixed: Missing the road/flatter heightmap layer in some cases
- Fixed: Roads were not always updated when sculpting terrain after its deletion/creation or undo/redo operations
- Fixed: Incorrect list of surface materials in some cases
- Fixed: Terrain deletion undo could corrupt memory with invalid terrain edit info
- Fixed: Terrain entity renaming after undo/redo could cause loading of the terrain again
- Fixed: Crash after disabling a hidden entity
- Fixed: Crash after resetting a widget slot
- Fixed: Crash when deleting a point in the spline tool
- Fixed: Overriding layouts in addons would result in duplicated widgets
- Changed: Terrain tool's maximum sculpt strength changed to 5000
- Changed: Layout Editor can use prefabs from packed data now
- Added: WAV file overriding in mods
- Added: Starting Workbench with _-EnableWARP_ CLI makes it possible to run even without a D3D12-capable GPU
- Removed: Obsolete navmesh prefabs


New Updates for Steam and Xbox #5


# ATTENTION

In the third Dev Report, we again aim to inform you about the past and upcoming changes in Arma Reforger's development.

## INTELLIGENCE

Vehicle driving should run more smoothly with an added fix that corrects vehicles moving forward and possibly even flying when a driver disconnects. Another important fixed issue regarding driving is that you can now use quick slots from the passenger position. That means you can finally use the map while not driving and help the driver navigate.

When wounded and in need of bandages, you can now find them in HQ tents and help yourself or your fellow soldiers. You will also find that your weapons will not stop bullets anymore. Items in arsenal should have also stopped reshuffling when you pick them up!

Other noteworthy changes:

- You can use # character in server names again.
- A sandbox solution for spawn protection was added.
- Various saving and loading issues were fixed.

Many of these fixes are recorded in [the minor update changelog from last week](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/news/june-update-7). We are gathering and processing your feedback and we thank you for your valuable input.

## OPERATIONS

We are still working on network instability issues causing kicks. Thank you for your patience. In the update, there is a fix for the authentication stage that should help with connecting to servers, especially those that are almost full. We also added more logging, so further diagnosis of network issues should be easier for us.

We also have identified a couple of traffic optimizations, which are being worked on now and should be available in upcoming updates. We are very thankful to you, the Arma community. You are actively helping us to find these complex issues. If you are hosting Dedicated Servers for Arma Reforger, make sure to join our [official Discord](https://discord.com/invite/arma) and share your experiences there.

Issues with terrain making in Workbench are mostly fixed internally; they should be available in a next update. You will also notice that in Conflict, there will be less UI task notifications, shorter voice messages, plus smaller and more transparent UI.

There are also a few Voice over Network (VoN) updates to be found in the next build. They should make your experience with radios better. Direct speech from hostile characters will not clutter the screen anymore, enemy nicknames will not be displayed in the radio transmissions, and speakers will not hear themselves over the secondary radios when speaking on the platoon channel. You can also disable VoN notifications on servers.

Further highlighted changes:

- We will add transparent and adaptive UI brightness (controlled by the scene brightness).
- In the task system, we are improving the architecture to support modding more.
- We are improving the building of compositions - not being blocked by AI characters anymore.

## LOGISTICS

On Monday, we had an unfortunate 7 hours long downtime of our official servers. We managed to restore them and we have also found the cause. We are working on a fix. Network-related issues caused the servers to hang, and they had to be restarted manually. We are sorry for the inconvenience. This kind of situation is exactly why we've released into Early Access first. We thank you tremendously for your patience. The issues will be solved during the coming weeks, so that servers which are disconnected from our online services should gracefully shut down.

We are also aware of the issue with randomized objective names. We added the randomization of base code names, but during later testing, we found out a problem with synchronization over the clients leading to different code names on each client. We are working on it!

Last week, we've released an example mod: _[Hexcavate](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/news/mod-hexcavate)_. We hope you had some fun with it and were inspired to create your own mini-games!

We are saying it again and again, but it needs to be said: thank you for your support and feedback, always! We are on the road to Arma 4 together.


Dev Report #3


# Something Different

Back in April, before the Arma Reforger announcement, a small team in our Amsterdam studio held a week-long game jam. Their mission was to create a small game as a mod. The result is **_Hexcavate_**, and today we've published it to the game's Workshop for all players to try. We hope it demonstrates how far beyond the original vision of the game you can take the [Enfusion](https://enfusionengine.com/) engine and its [Workbench](https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Category:Arma_Reforger/Modding/Official_Tools) tool suite. And it may offer a fun little singleplayer distraction, both on PC and Xbox!

![You can enjoy Minesweeper-like tactics!](/content/news/mod_hexcavate/you_can_enjoy_minesweeper_tactics.png)

You may be wondering why we're doing this now, when there are still issues to iron out in the main game. Don't worry, this isn't taking away any developers from the Arma Reforger development team. Their full focus is on the game itself and making sure it continues to become better and better with each update. For a little bit more background: our Amsterdam studio has in recent years split its focus between Arma 3 Live Ops and Arma Reforger development support. And since not all of the team members had much experience with Enfusion yet, one of the jam's goals was to help them learn the tools and scripting. There's simply no faster way to do so than to create an actual game. Other goals were to test and validate the modding pipelines, and also a bit of team-building and fun together.

Welcome to Hexcavate, an archaeology Minesweeper-like with depth.

## Dig Deep

Our only briefing for the game jam was to create something inspired by the classic [Minesweeper](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minesweeper_(video_game)>) game. After some brainstorming on the first day, we settled on a direction that would use the theme of archeology. You'll be excavating historical artifacts from multiple layers of terrain. But beware of the obstacles! If you're not careful, you'll accidentally destroy a precious discovery. And your sponsors are known for their tight control of your budget, so don't run out of cash.

We'll leave it at that, just go and play for yourself! In Arma Reforger's main menu, visit the _Workshop_ and search for _Hexcavate_ by _Bohemia Interactive_. Download the mod and then you can start the scenario directly from the item details. Or you can go to the _Scenarios_ menu and start it there. A quick information guide will greet you at the start. You can view it again from the pause menu.

To gamepad players we have good and bad news. The good news is that the game can be fully played on gamepad and it even uses rumble! Unfortunately though, we didn't have quite enough time to add proper control hints (except for a page in the guide). The camera controls should be quite intuitive, using the thumb sticks to move and rotate, and the triggers for zooming. The A-button will dig up a tile and the B-button marks it as a hint to yourself. But here comes the slightly confusing part: selecting the artifacts you're excavating. Use the d-pad to select the artifacts at the bottom of the screen (on PC you can just click them). Then use the left shoulder button to confirm excavation, or the right shoulder button to cancel. Perhaps we'll find some time in the future to improve this, but for now there are other things for us to do.

![Dig your way through Hexcavate.](/content/news/mod_hexcavate/dig_your_way_through_hexcavate.png)

## Unsolved Mysteries

So now you've played your first round of Hexcavate and you're curious about some of the technical details? What does this mod demonstrate?

- The ability to rapidly create a small game, even one quite unlike the main Arma Reforger experience
- The use of a level that is programmatically generated (meshes and materials), instead of a more typical Arma terrain based on a heightmap
- The power of Enfusion scripting, since no C++ programming was necessary for these results
- The rapid creation and import of custom art assets from third-party tools, with a hexy visual style throughout
- The flexibility of the sound and particle effect editors, by re-mixing base game effects and quickly creating new ones

We know this mod doesn't bring you anything particularly useful within Arma's military gameplay, but we hope it inspires creators as to what's possible. Just imagine what could be created given a little more time and experience. In fact, we're already seeing the impressive first results on the Workshop. If you're keen to learn more yourself, be sure to check out our ever-growing [documentation](https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Category:Arma_Reforger/Modding), the [sample mod sources](https://github.com/BohemiaInteractive/Arma-Reforger-Samples), or join community channels like [Discord](https://discord.com/invite/arma). And by all means, open Hexcavate in Workbench to peak behind-the-scenes (it's published under the [Arma Public License](https://www.bohemia.net/community/licenses/arma-public-license)). Just keep in mind that it was created during a game jam, so we know the code tends to be hacky and rough. It's perhaps not a showcase of best practices! We'll likely not develop Hexcavate much further, but we will try to keep it functional after future game updates.

![Become an archeologist and find interesting pieces.](/content/news/mod_hexcavate/become_an_archeologist.png)

Have fun digging!


New example mod Hexcavate


# New updates for Steam and Xbox

Attention soldiers,

We are going to update the Steam and Xbox versions of the game.

The Steam version will be updated on Tuesday, June 7. There will be **downtime of the servers between 12:00 - 15:00 CEST.**

The Xbox version will be updated on Wednesday, June 8. There will be **downtime of the servers between 12:00 - 15:00 CEST.**

Arma Reforger 0.9.5.66 changelog:

## Game:

- Added: Spawned player protection
- Fixed: Compartments or HitZones may have been not initialized properly in some cases
- Fixed: Character heads clipping through the roof when climbing inside buildings
- Fixed: Vehicles which were left empty are now put to sleep to save performance
- Fixed: Vehicles would be left in undefined state if their driver’s game session terminated unexpectedly (“the flying vehicle” issue)
- Fixed: Various pathfinding and navmesh generation tweaks and crash fixes
- Fixed: Possible crash when releasing radio frequencies
- Fixed: Deploy menu wouldn’t close properly after deploy was requested
- Fixed: Camera when using weapons on tripods wasn’t aligned correctly
- Fixed: Items in inventory or arsenal was reshuffling when picked up
- Fixed: AIs could get stuck when performing some of the requests
- Fixed: Character could get pushed under the terrain
- Fixed: Camera shake no longer runs on headless build
- Fixed: Wrong LOD settings on some equipment
- Fixed: Building task no longer created outside of small bases
- Fixed: Players would not have a group after using "Quick Deploy" in faction screen
- Fixed: Quick bar could not be used on passenger seat
- Fixed: Game no longer tries to localize server names, can contain “#” now
- Fixed: Unpenetrable weapons
- Changed: Editable entity pipeline was made a part of game data to improve modding workflow
- Changed: GM can no longer finish the scenario, it could result in undefined server state
- Changed: Base randomization
- Changed: XP bar reflects kills now
- Changed: Conflict HQ tents contain medical boxes now
- Tweaked: Zeroing on M249, RPK74, PKM, SVD, M21
- Tweaked: Latrine destruction
- Tweaked: M21 optics position

## Replication:

- Added: Authentication timeout added to ensure connections slots do not remain stuck in authenticating state due to unexpected backend issues
- Changed: Improved issues diagnostics
- Fixed: Animation state synchronization

## Engine:

- Fixed: Allow rendering on GPU adapters with no connected output (this should help mostly on mobile devices with multiple GPUs)
- Fixed: Crash when an incompatible material was selected
- Fixed: Particles could crash the game in certain situations

## Known issues:

- Base callsigns are not consistent between clients. Please use town names instead.


New updates for Steam and Xbox


# ATTENTION

Welcome to the second **Dev Report**, in which we'll inform you about our most recently conducted development ops for _Arma Reforger_. You'll also find various highlights of upcoming changes / updates which are currently in development or will be in the near future.

## INTELLIGENCE:

We are well aware of the issues in multiplayer, and these have our utmost priority to resolve. We've already applied multiple network-related fixes and improvements in the recent updates on both platforms. Our main focus here is to improve network traffic and fix desynchronizations during gameplay, since those are the primary cause for the disconnections you may have experienced. Our secondary objective is to improve connectivity to servers and the usage of mods.

Various other noteworthy changes are:

- Fixes to rendering artifacts while using Picture-in-Picture weapons scopes or the inventory menu (these should also fix some flashing textures, bright artifacts, and very dark building interiors)
- Added inverted control options on gamepads and fixed audio issues on Xbox
- Improved cancelling of binding input actions on PC

Many of these fixes were also communicated in the [minor update changelog](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/news/june-update-1) on the 1st of June, whereas others will arrive in upcoming updates. We've also spent significant time on processing your valuable [feedback](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/feedback) from many channels, and we've generated a plan with improvements to be made in more updates. One example is a fix for a very annoying bug which causes items to be reordered in containers as you try picking them up. Op preparation should become smoother with that in place.

We'd also like to thank server admins for helping us with diagnosing issues. This has for example led to one fix related to player counts on servers. That too should help with some of the connectivity issues, especially on higher cap servers.

## OPERATIONS

We're of course continuing our investigations of multiplayer issues in the public version of the game. Thanks to your ongoing reports, we've already identified various new bugs to target next. Our primary focus is still on the stability of multiplayer sessions, for both players and servers.

Some other things on our hit list:

- Fixing the saving upon exiting and the continue-feature
- Fixing enemy nicknames being visible in direct speech communications
- Fixing the incorrect first-person camera position on AI characters
- Adding better spawn protection for Conflict and other game modes

## LOGISTICS

We've received a lot of questions on when we'll restore Xbox servers to their higher player limits. We'll be increasing those limits on the official servers as soon as we solve the most pressing networking issues. We want to avoid causing more issues at the same time as trying to identify, reproduce, and fix the current ones. Having said that, it's our intention to get more of your enjoying Conflict together on Xbox as well.

Another frequent request was to open forums sections for Arma Reforger. After removing some technical obstacles, we're happy to invite you back to this [familiar community watering hole](https://forums.bohemia.net/forums/forum/401-arma-reforger/). As with the other places you are all actively discussing the game, we'll do our best to read through your discussions, reports, and suggestions. Even if you may not always get a direct answer, please know that we have plenty of devs lurking and absorbing everything.

Have you also kept track of the flow of modding documentation dropping on the [official wiki](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/wiki)? We know you are hungry for all the information you need to make your creations, and you've already arrived at some great crowd-sourced intel. Just keep in mind this is just the very beginning of this new era of Arma modding. Of course we'll continue to deploy more official documentation and improved existing pages.

Finally, you may recall us mentioning an upcoming new official example mod _"**Hexcavate**"_&nbsp; in our last [Dev Report.](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/news/dev-report-1) We plan to deploy it to the Workshop next week. Expect a tiny singleplayer game, built as mod to Arma Reforger, quite unlike the game itself. And please note that this effort has not taken away any core developers from fixing issues. We'll have more details in a little blog alongside the release.

As always, we thank you for all of your patience, support and feedback. This next generation of Arma has only just begun, and we're sure it's going to be a wonderful journey together!


Dev Report #2


# June 1st Update

Attention soldiers,

We are going to update the Steam and Xbox versions of the game.

The Steam version will be updated on Wednesday 1st of June. There will be downtime of the servers between 12:00 - 15:00 CEST.

The Xbox version will be updated on Thursday 2nd of June. There will be downtime of the servers between 12:00 - 15:00 CEST.

Arma Reforger 0.9.5.61 changelog:

## Game

- Fixed: Rendering artifacts related to shadow cascades
- Added: Smaller Conflict scenarios available in the Play and Scenarios menus
- Fixed: AI in Idle behavior was not checking its surroundings and now does
- Fixed: Explosives containers in Conflict would contain regular items instead
- Fixed: Changed the faulty background in the _PlayerTile_ groups layouts
- Fixed: Magazines would stay attached to hands when a reload was interrupted by the equip action
- Fixed: Crash in inventory when dropping a vehicle inside a turret
- Tweaked: Ural upshift RPM increased to 1250
- Added: Option to change the gamepad Y-axis orientation
- Fixed: Potential character teleport under the surface when exiting a flipped vehicle
- Tweaked: AI perception at night
- Fixed: Mouse aiming of turrets became unreliable with high FPS
- Tweaked: Collisions and destruction of certain small props, walls and environmental objects
- Fixed: Steam platform saves are now gracefully freed
- Fixed: Potential crash when closing Game Master mode
- Fixed: The vicinity would not get refreshed when proxy clients manipulate items inside a storage hierarchy
- Fixed: Skipped paths in the climbing test for valid climb-over points (climbing through a window)
- Fixed: Suppressing sprint when going into ADS with binoculars or another gadget
- Fixed: Potential crash on exit related to UI
- Fixed: Collision of cars with gate bars could sink the cars under the terrain
- Fixed: Characters killed (or players disconnected) while inside a vehicle could end up stuck next to the vehicle or sitting on the road
- Fixed: Improved door contact detection
- Fixed: Item gestures would not be possible with the character in a throwing stance
- Fixed: Weapon equip actions are now checking the availability of gestures to prevent delayed pickups
- Fixed: Binding keys can now be cancelled by pressing the Escape key
- Fixed: Equipping a weapon could potentially crash the game
- Fixed: Changing the model of an animated items could potentially crash the game
- Fixed: Radios would not be returned to the radio pool on disconnecting
- Fixed: Players could get stuck during the Tutorial scenario when building a bunker
- Changed: When a player gets banned, the duration of the ban is displayed to them
- Tweaked: Localization strings and phrasing

## Xbox

- Fixed: Password entry on the virtual keyboard
- Changed: TV audio is no longer muted when headphones are plugged into the controller

## Multiplayer

- Changed: Improved the ACK system to reduce resend rates and bandwidth spikes when the server streams a new map regions to players
- Fixed: Clients are now handling disconnection from the server during a world reload
- Tweaked: Optimized the transfer of fire action in turrets
- Hotfixed: Graceful return from an online session to the main menu on resuming from being suspended
- Fixed: Sanitized _ServerCommandHandler_ in case the player is no longer available
- Fixed: Improved the network frames acknowledgement mechanism
- Fixed: Network streaming or disconnecting could potentially crash the game
- Changed: Animation data from owners (rather than the server, as it previously was) is now played on proxies by default (this can be disabled by _-noForwardOwnerAnimations_ on the server)
- Tweaked: Improved smoothness of characters in multiplayer

## Rendering

- Hotfixed: Rendering artifacts visible on some surfaces when using scopes or the inventory
- Hotfixed: Building interiors going suddenly pitch black
- Fixed: Clutter not being removed by decals
- Fixed: Flickering clutter when removed by decals and flickering decals

## Enfusion

- Fixed: An incorrect sub-scene name could be shown in the scene tree
- Changed: BattlEye is now always loaded from the game installation folder

## Workbench

- Tweaked: Height resampling is default now when importing a height map in World Editor
- Fixed: RDB cache showing files not present in an addon
- Added: The current backend environment is shown in the status bar now
- Fixed: World Editor - Crash when trying to save a world into a read-only folder
- Fixed: Ignoring "Armature" bones from Blender
- Changed: Forbidden use of Workbench as a replication client
- Tweaked: World Editor - Better default camera position
- Fixed: World Editor - Crash when displaying an entity's context menu
- Fixed: Changing properties of _DecoratorEntity_ in Behavior Editor could crash Workbench

## Backend

- Fixed: Crashing for some people when they are manipulating the server browser
- Removed: Local rating update in Workshop
- Changed: Backend - Dedicated Server shutdown invoked in 3 seconds, after a heartbeat fails 3 times
- Tweaked: Manifests of old addons are now properly removed when updating
- Fixed: Backend - When room registration fails, a server now properly shuts down
- Fixed: Sometimes servers would not be visible in the server browser after disconnecting
- Changed: Improved error reporting of service-related issues


June 1st Update


# ATTENTION

Welcome to the first _Arma Reforger_ **Dev Report** – an ongoing series to inform the community of our team’s recent operations and developments, as well as ongoing efforts to continually improve the game in the future.

Arma Reforger has launched into Early Access and is now available on [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/1874880/) and [Xbox Game Preview](https://www.xbox.com/en-us/games/store/arma-reforger-game-preview/9nkckd1wndq0), our first game in the Arma series to be made available on console for nearly 17 years! Our team is already actively monitoring all feedback coming in from the community and has begun prioritizing and working on update deployment for all platforms.

## INTELLIGENCE

We’ve have loved seeing so much interest from players getting back into the series (or being introduced to it for the first time) with our first release on our new engine, Enfusion. Though, there were unfortunate issues that we have already begun to address. Many of these problems were communicated in our [Known Issues](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/news/known-issues-0-9-5) Dev Blog, along with some useful workarounds. We’ve dealt with a large number of critical issues already in our [first Steam update](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/news/may-19th-update) and a [subsequent Xbox update](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/news/update-may-25); however, there is still much work to be done.

## OPERATIONS

One of our biggest focuses at the moment is working to resolve any remaining critical or blocking performance issues for players. In particular we’re working to solve the reoccurring disconnection issues, random players being kicked with session errors, and other various server and client crashes.

Of course there are plenty of other fixes and changes you can expect in the near future, such as:

- Fixing render glitches when using scopes;

- Workshop administration features; and much more…

For our gamepad users, we will be adding options to change gamepad y-axis orientation and several other control improvements.

## LOGISTICS

Many of you have inquired about our official [Bohemia Interactive Forums](https://forums.bohemia.net/) pages for Reforger. Rest assured, they will be live very soon for players to share and communicate knowledge regarding the game.

For something a bit different, we plan to release a new official example mod soon to the public Workshop called “**Hexcavate**.” Some will have spotted this Workshop item already during our announcement livestream. It is the result of a short in-house game jam from some time ago. This might be particularly interesting to players and content developers alike, as it may offer another example of how far you can push Reforger modding.

We have a long journey ahead of us, but we want to thank all of you for your continued support. All players’ feedback is especially welcome in the [Feedback Tracker](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/feedback).


Dev Report #1


# Minor update for Arma Reforger for Xbox

We are going to update the Xbox version of the game. There will be downtime of the servers between 12:00 - 15:00 CEST.

**Arma Reforger 0.9.5.51 [Xbox] changelog**:

- Fixed: UI: Temporarily disabled tooltips (not used in the game at all) as a hotfix for a crash during game exit
- Tweaked: Proper handling of a download error for a bug where there were no files to download
- Changed: Raised the maximum connection limit in _RplNet_ to 256 in order to match server config limits
- Fixed: Added missing view geometry to several models
- Fixed: Typo in the Instagram web link
- Fixed: M88 injured materials were still using the wrong texture
- Fixed: AI sometimes did not see players in very dark areas, even up close
- Fixed: Possessed AI had bad collisions
- Fixed: Broken character movement when changing items while prone
- Fixed: _GameConnection_ got stuck when _PrepareReload_ happened in a state other than _Ready_
- Fixed: Crash when a world reload happened just as the stream was being prepared
- Fixed: Deletion during loading not properly modifying _RplScheduler_'s spatial map
- Fixed: _EnableStreaming(Node)_ not working properly with layering
- Changed: _RplScheduler_'s budgeting considers the amount of streams the client has open when opening streams
- Tweaked: Improved replication / _RplScheduler_ / BattlEye logs in order to reduce spam and improve informational value
- Fixed: Stretched character arms when using the mounted turret on M1025
- Tweaked: Horizontal aim limits on M1025 turret to match aimspace values
- Fixed: Conflict: Levitating fireplace
- Fixed: Conflict: Levitating radio in Lamentin


May 25th 2022 Update


# Minor update for Arma Reforger on Steam

We are going to update the Steam version of the game. There will be downtime of the servers between 12:00 - 15:00 CEST.

Arma Reforger 0.9.5.51 [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1874880/) changelog:

- Fixed: Inherit prefab in addon action disabled on read-only data

- Fixed: UI: temporary disabled tooltips (not used in game at all) as hotfix for crash during game exit

- Tweaked: Proper handling of download error for no files to download bug

- Changed: Raised max connection limit in RplNet to 256 to match server config limits

- Fixed: Crash when number of adapters in system was over 4

- Fixed: Added missing view geo to several models

- Fixed: Typo in Instagram link

- Fixed: M88 injured materials are still using telnyashka texture

- Fixed: AI sometimes don't see players in very dark area, even from upclose

- Fixed: Possessed AIs collide have bad collisions

- Fixed: Broken character movement when changing items in prone

- Fixed: GameConnection stuck when PrepareReload happens in state other than Ready

- Fixed: Crash when world reload happens just as stream is being prepared

- Fixed: Deletion during loading not properly modifying RplScheduler's spatial map

- Fixed: EnableStreaming(Node) not working properly with layering

- Changed: RplScheduler's budgeting considers the amount of streams client has open when opening streams

- Tweaked: Improved replication / RplScheduler / BattlEye logs in order to reduce spam and improve information value

- Fixed: stretched character arms when using mounted turret on M1025

- Changed: horizontal aim limits on humvee turret to match aimspace values

- Fixed: Campaign MP - Levitating fireplace

- Fixed: Campaign MP - Levitating radio in Lamentin


Minor update for Arma Reforger on Steam


# May 19th 2022 Update

We are going to update the Xbox version of Arma Reforger today. There will be downtime of the servers between 13:00 - 16:00 CEST.

Arma Reforger 0.9.5.44 [Xbox](https://www.xbox.com/cs-cz/Search?q=reforger) changelog:

- Fixed: The respawn menu could cause several characters to be spawned

- Fixed: Camera collision in 3rd person view

- Fixed: Kicking players out of a session when replication restreams static items in a streamable hierarchy

- Fixed: Crash during replication caused by items inserted during loading

- Fixed: Some AI pathfinding issues in the Game Master scenario

- Fixed: Script compiler causing a vector out of index crash

- Fixed: Texture memory leak and possible crash when deallocating

Later today we will also update the Steam version of the game. The downtime of these servers will be between 16:00 - 19:00 CEST.

Arma Reforger 0.9.5.49 [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1874880/) changelog:

- Fixed: Connection issue related to initial backend packets

- Fixed: Crash when backpacks are stored inside each other

- Fixed: Character stuck in a falling animation

- Fixed: Multiplayer kicks caused by streaming of certain nodes

- Fixed: Loading/saving settings

- Fixed: Services for addon publishing linked to Workbench

- Fixed: Alpha blending on the M923A1 truck and several other asset materials

- Fixed: Server browser - items were hidden, filtered

- Fixed: Respawn selection menu

- Fixed: Fire mode not being animated on certain weapons

- Tweaked: Main menu music

- Tweaked: Bohemia account processing on different platforms

- Tweaked: License and readme files


May 19th 2022 Update


# Known Issues 0.9.5

This list is a sampling of Arma Reforger's most obvious known issues, as well as several workarounds. Also visit our [Feedback Tracker](https://feedback.bistudio.com/) for other reported issues.

## Versions:

- Steam: 0.9.5.44
- Xbox: 0.9.5.42

## Issues:

- When you customize your settings and leave the "Settings" menu, some of the settings are not properly saved and instead reset to their defaults.

- If you cannot see any servers in the "Multiplayer" browser, wait for a minute and "Refresh" the browser. Or try going back to the main menu and then back to the "Multiplayer" browser. If servers still do not appear, restart the game.

- If you cannot find a specific server in the "Multiplayer" browser when accessing it from the "Play", "Game Master" or "Scenarios" menus, then access the "Multiplayer" browser directly from the main menu.

- (Xbox) If you only see servers of one specific type (Conflict or Capture & Hold), but no other modes, select the "Scenario" column in the top bar (to the left of the "Search" field) to switch to the other server types.

- Sometimes when you try to connect to a server with required mods, the game will automatically try to download necessary updates for such mods. This process may get stuck at 0%. If this happens, first try to manually update the mod(s) in the "Workshop" menu. If that is not possible, restart the game. If that also does not help, go to the "Workshop", delete the older version of the mod and download the proper version. Then try to connect to the server again.

- Sometimes when you report a mod in the "Workshop", another one gets removed from your local Workshop catalogue.

- The game client sometimes crashes when connecting to a server.

- The game client's performance sometimes drops below 10 FPS and remains there. Restarting the game should solve this.

- When you keep getting deployed at a spawn point that you did not select, try selecting the desired spawn point by clicking on it on the map.

- When you get kicked from a server, try to connect to a server with a lower ping or with a smaller population.

- When you deploy into a multiplayer session and you cannot interact with anything or anyone, try disconnecting from the server and reconnecting again. There is a possibility the issue will persist regardless.

- When you are in a multiplayer session and you can move normally but other clients either see you as stuck or cannot see you at all, then open the interrupt menu and "Respawn".

- When you play the "Tutorial" and you are not able to figure out how to perform certain actions due to incorrect or missing hints, open the "Settings" in interrupt menu. Under the "Controls" tab, check how to do the specific action you want to perform. You can also inspect the "Field Manual" for helpful information.

- Respawning in singleplayer may also spawn many AI characters at the spawn point.

- (Xbox) If you join a Dedicated Server A running Capture & Hold, and from this server you join Dedicated Server B running Conflict or Game Master, and finally you disconnect from the server B to the main menu, you will then be unable to navigate in the main menu (lost focus) until you restart the game.

- Other players' characters and vehicles in a multiplayer session may appear laggy and will be very hard to hit because of that. This is caused by network issues, usually on the server side.

- When you are playing in a multiplayer session and the server crashes, you may lose your progress after a restart of the server.

- When a Game Master session is finished, the server may not restart. A regular restart of the servers is planned.

- Some actions are done twice upon a single input. For example, the inventory opens and immediately closes again even though you may have only pressed Tab once. This is likely caused by custom key bindings. Revert back to the default key bindings to solve this issue.

- AI characters may see their enemies through some obstacles where they should not.

- When you are looking at some roads, then open the inventory and close it again, you may see visual artifacts on the ground.


Known Issues 0.9.5


# Interview with Ján Dušek, project lead

<p class="text-xl text-white">From Audio Lead in Arma 3 to Project Lead in Arma Reforger, Ján Dušek led this installment to its release and is overseeing its development. Come meet one of the founding fathers of Arma Reforger.</p>

![Photo of Ján Dušek](/content/news/interview_jan_dusek/dusa.jpeg 'Ján Dušek')

**Hi Jan, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about yourself?**

Hello, my name is Jan Dušek, I am the project lead of Arma Reforger and have been with Bohemia Interactive for around 12 years already. During that time, I went through various roles, mainly sound design and music, video editing, and with my background in physics, I was participating on development of our audio engine.

**Tell me, how do you feel about releasing the game you’ve seen grown for so long?**

You mean grown from scratch, right? (laughs) It was a very long and challenging journey we’ve been through. It’s the most difficult discipline to start development of such a complex project from scratch when at the same time the game engine is in development too, and in addition to that, Arma came to consoles for the first time! We went through a lot of prototyping, R&D, struggles, and of course mistakes from which we have learned a lot. But it was not only a game which was in development. We started with a few people and in 3 years have grown into a team of almost 150 developers. Last, but not least, our workflows and pipelines went through massive evolution as well. You see, it was extremely challenging on all fronts. I am very proud of what we have achieved so far, so I feel totally excited about the release!

**Arma Reforger is presented as a creative platform with vast array of options of playing or modifying it, can you tell us what does that mean specifically?**

Arma Reforger is a package of features, assets, playable content, tools, and services. You can either play our official game modes with your friends, start exploring your creativity by playing first with Game Master, dive deep into Enfusion and start modifying/creating game assets, or creating more complex mods using Workbench – the tool we are using for development as well. And in the end, you can share your creations with others using our internal Workshop solution.

**Why are you releasing the game in Early Access? What changes can be expected in the future?**

No Arma game can be created without a community. Arma Reforger is a foundation to Arma 4 and we really want community to be with us as soon as possible to give us feedback from the very beginning. Yes, the game we are releasing to Early Access has limited scope and of course there are problems, but it’s already solid to play with. We are very honest here.

In 1.0 you can expect content expansion of both features and assets, but more important for us is to focus on optimization, stabilization, fixing, and improvements of the core features. The foundation has to be solid.

**Arma Reforger is being released on Xbox, the first Arma game from the series. Since Arma was always on PC, how did you manage to transfer the experience to Xbox and how is it different for console players compared to PC players?**

Well, it was very challenging, as with everything in Arma development. The key for bringing the same experience to console players is in simplification of controls but preserving the experience as much as possible at the same time. We’ve been through a lot of iterations and we are still not done yet. No matter how great design you have, everything is about playtests, where the ideas are proven right or wrong. So hopefully console players will give us feedback too! In some cases, the experience is even more fluent on consoles, especially when you can benefit from an analog controller.

**What do you think is the most exciting feature of Arma Reforger?**

I think the environment itself! Thanks to the brilliant Enfusion engine and, of course, whole amazing team of Environmental designers and artists! Already in Early Access we have achieved really impressive audio-visual authenticity and immersion. Here we will definitely be focusing on much broader interactivity with environment. We want people to enjoy the game as much as possible just by walking around. I am also personally very excited for simulation of vehicles, which is already much better than in our previous titles.

**So you are leading the development of the game as a project lead, what does your role entail?**

The role of the project lead can be really different in different projects, but more importantly it’s changing through the project development phases. In the beginning my main goal was to literally start a development from blank canvas with just a few developers. The goal was to deliver a prototype of new complex Arma project on new engine and deliver a first prototype in 40 weeks! After 4 tough months, the team did an amazing job and we were playing the first multiplayer deathmatch scenario for the first time, the milestone was called “The First Blood.” This is how it started.

Now, after 3 years we not only have a solid foundation for Arma 4 with huge potential. We have a big and strong enthusiastic team, so my role now is to maintain and reinforce the team, as well as to maintain a direction of game development, sharing the vision, unify, and play the role of a dentist, fixing whatever does not work. And much more, for instance I am still personally involved in the creation of our beautiful soundtrack.

**You worked as an audio lead for Arma 3, how was that shift from being a lead of part of the project to being a lead of the whole project for you?**

Complexity of my agenda grew exponentially, but otherwise, absolutely no change in my thinking happened. I was always devoted to Bohemia Interactive and Arma specially, since my first day, so no matter what I am doing I want our games to be the best we can make them to be. I always considered myself to be a service for the team and project and this will never change.

I even benefit from my other skills, for instance I’ve composed music for all my life, so maybe the leadership has something in common with it. When you compose the music, it’s also a complex matter. You need to decide which players are leading the melodies and which players are in their “teams” so everything is well coordinated, otherwise nobody will ever listen to it.

**Arma Reforger is an incredibly complex project, developing new game (platform) and a new engine simultaneously, how did you approach managing such large matter?**

An incredibly complex project is incredibly challenging to manage, but at the end everything is about hierarchy and iterations. In the very beginning we started with multiple brainstorms about what direction we wanted to go, what Arma 4 should be about from all points of view and started processing it. After some time, we simplified this complexity to a hierarchy of game systems and relationships between them and started creating feature teams which were changing every milestone, simply because we did not have enough resources. Regarding planning the situation is reversed; you must start simple and add complexity to planning only if the previous step worked. So the hierarchical approach is the key. But again, evolution of our project management, like everything else, will never end.

**What were the most significant differences between developing Arma 3 and Arma Reforger, besides creating new engine, from your point of view?**

Those are totally different stories.

Firstly, Arma 3 release was an evolutionary step from Arma 2 on stable engine on PC only with relatively small but stable team of developers. Brilliant and complex Arma 3 as we know it is a result of several other years of further iterations, additions through all the DLCs, but still on stable engine and one platform.

Arma Reforger is a different challenge. We had almost nothing in the beginning, not even a team. We had Enfusion engine in some state of development, we had some assets from our other games to play with, but nothing really worked yet. So development of Arma Reforger was about building up a team hand in hand with the game itself, staring from implementation of core game features step by step from scratch, and of course, it was about setting up close cooperation with brilliant Enfusion developers.

Regarding the technical aspects of development, everything is different in Arma Reforger than in Arma 3: different engine architecture, authoritative server, Enforce scripting language. It has been built on a completely new technology.

But nothing from this really matters. We have created Arma again, because we are following the legacy, it’s about passion, about love, things shouldn’t just work, it needs to have something deeper in it otherwise it will die. It’s not in the technology; it’s in the people – in all our amazing and passionate developers that love working on this amazing project so much.

**What makes Arma “Arma” according to you?**

Complexity and authenticity created by people who are totally passionate about it.

**Thank you Ján for the interview! I have only one question left, what is your favorite Arma moment? Be that in the game or development.**

I have three!

First was when I’d seen amazing positive feedback on Arma 3 audio upgrade several years ago. Then I fully understood how much passion for Arma is in our beloved community.

Second was when I heard my composition, This Is War (Arma 3 main theme) played live by the orchestra for the first time.

And the third one? Arma Reforger release!

Arma is far from just being a game.


Interview with Ján Dušek, project lead


# Capture & Hold

<p class="text-xl text-white">Arma Reforger's First Official Mod</p>

## Seizing the Initiative

Together with the Early Access / Game Preview release of Arma Reforger, we're also sharing with you our very first official mod, Capture & Hold.

Available for download via the in-game Workshop, it marks our first foray into the Enfusion modding scene — and it's completely free for all to enjoy! But what's it about? Quite simply, it's a multiplayer game mode where two groups of players must secure sites and defend them for as long as possible. In other words, it's about achieving tactical superiority of an area, combining the action packed deathmatch with the classic gameplay of a 'capture the objective' scenario.

![Factory battle](/content/news/capture_hold/cah_screenshot_factory.jpeg 'Factory')

But that's not to say Capture & Hold lacks tactics! Indeed, without teamwork, you're probably going to suffer some. Communication, just like real-life, is key, and group cohesion will make all the difference. Plus, it's not just one mission. There's plenty to choose from, with differing objectives and strongpoints. Teams will have to adapt and exploit the terrain to their advantage; what works for one battlezone might not for another. In this way, you'll begin to experience Arma's authentic combat through trial and error, honing your skills against other players. It might mean a learning curve, but it's a good follow-up to basic training!

Moreover, you'll be pleased to hear that Capture & Hold is fully compatible with Game Master and although the rubric of the game mode cannot be changed, you can add assets, AI units, and tweak the environment parameters, such as the weather and time. In fact, if you really want to, you can use Workbench to create something similar, with your own rules. If nothing else, we hope that this official mod will act as a 'proof of concept'. To show you what's already possible using Enfusion's tools. We don't doubt that your collective creativity and passion will quickly surpass our own humble efforts here. Like you, we're learning as we go!

![Military base](/content/news/capture_hold/cah_screenshot_milbase.jpeg 'Military base')

Capture & Hold will also enable the curious modders among you to look beneath the hood — just open it up in Workbench and begin exploring. You'll soon see what's what and how it functions. In this respect, we're rather hoping it will supplement our documentation. After all, getting hands on with things and taking them apart is a great way of seeing how everything fits together.

On the whole, we spent some time on Capture & Hold to support the initial scope of Arma Reforger's playable content. But more than that, we wanted to reconnect with our memories from prior game modes, and to see what was still fun and what was less so. And that's actually how all this came about — it started as an internal playground for combat mechanics. In this regard, your feedback is warmly welcomed and will play an essential part in our decisions going forwards.

Finally, we also needed to know that generating user content is achievable, using the tools we're sharing. Through Capture & Hold, we built an add-on and published it, without redirecting major resources from the core development of the game.

That last point's important because we believe that individuals and smaller modding teams should be able to accomplish something similar. Creating content and uploading it on Arma Reforger's Workshop should never mean you need a dizzying number of people with expert skillsets... unless of course, you're dreaming big!

Capture & Hold is free and available to play now. Just launch Arma Reforger and download it from the in-game Workshop. [Be sure to tell us what you think!](https://reforger.armaplatform.com/feedback)


Capture & Hold


# Talk with our creative director Ivan Buchta

<p class="text-xl text-white">Passionate, experienced, and with a keen eye for detail, our Creative Director is responsible for the vision of Arma Reforger. Meet Ivan Buchta whose job is to channel the team's creativity and create an immersive world.</p>

![Photo of Ivan Buchta](/content/news/interview_ivan_buchta/ivan.png 'Ivan Buchta')

**Hi, Ivan! Tell us about yourself!**

I am just an Arma developer! [Laughing]

**Aha! A humble one! Go on, give us a bit more...**

Okay - okay. I am one of the many people at Bohemia Interactive who have contributed to the development of the Arma franchise.

After some modding on Operation Flashpoint, I joined the ranks of Bohemia Interactive. That was in 2006. Since then, I have taken part in developing a lot of the titles in the Arma series - from Arma: Cold War Assault to Arma 3. I've also worked on some of the expansions in varying roles. Mostly I've been involved with the settings, environments, and sandbox features of these games. Thanks to my background in environmental sciences, I've been able to assist in making them more authentic and interesting.

**You are now in the role of Creative Director - what does that job entail?**

Being a creative lead for an Arma game encompasses setting up the vision, as well as expectations of quality, and promoting them throughout the team while simultaneously providing a good service in directing the content - the 'look' and 'feel' of the game - towards our intended goals. I have to rely on the contribution of many departments and individuals of various specializations and must do my best to keep their particular efforts concerted during the whole development process. Sometimes it means being strict and even going against the team's general opinion. And sometimes it's about humility, and letting other people's creativity shine and work its magic.

**What did you do to make Arma Reforger feel authentic and to convey the feeling of 'being there' for players?**

The most obvious areas we focused on relate to the game's art and environment. These were carefully crafted based on our team's huge experience with authentic landscapes and realistic art, supported by extensive research. We also paid special attention to an elaborate soundscape and the implementation of all of the great assets, attempting to capture the 'feel' of particular weapons, vehicles, tools, and so on.

We also wanted to avoid excessive guidance for players. Our intention was to keep interfaces clear and minimalist, and to provide players with practical tools (e.g., compass, map, radio) instead of extra helpers. I hope this will leave more room for players to roleplay as soldiers and encourage them to pay attention to where they are, what they see, and what their objective is.

**Arma Reforger's Everon has been reimagined based on the original terrain featured in Arma: Cold War Assault. How did you approach recreating Everon in the brand new Enfusion engine?**

Enfusion technology and the accumulated knowledge of making authentic landscapes in meticulous detail allowed us to create a spectacular and immersive virtual world. This greater fidelity called for a richer definition of our goals. There was simply many more things to define and design for the terrain to feel as authentic as we wanted. We had to interpret the original design and to make sure all of the newly introduced features played well together.

Our current approach to making virtual landscapes is very different from the pioneering work of the original Arma: Cold War Assault team, and there's a lot more to address these days too: narrative design and 'flavor' aspects, arising from the setting - much more fidelity which brings in many must-have features - light sources, a 'nightscape', sound design, toponyms, and things like signage.

**What would you say is the most important part of this new Everon?**

The most important goal was to maintain the 'soul' and atmosphere of the original Everon - to preserve the general topology and to make sure the iconic places, remembered by players from the original, were present. Veterans will certainly recognize the terrain and its many landmarks, from the airfield in the north to the castle ruins in the south.

But on the other hand, we didn't hesitate to add or make changes - especially where they would contribute to the world's general usability. The major enrichments are the mountain pass with the road connecting Durras and Régina, the brand new village of Villeneuve north of Le Moule, and Pinewood Lake, which occupies the formerly flat area south of Montignac.

**What is your favorite place on Everon?**

There are a couple of seemingly common-looking spots which I keep coming back to, mainly because they look so real. But I have to admit, there are too many stunningly beautiful and memorable places on Everon to name them all. It often seems to me that our artists and environment designers achieved something truly special with the island, adding to every place something lifelike and special.

**Were there any differences in the process of creating a world for Arma Reforger compared to prior Arma installments?**

It was probably not very different from the later phases of Arma 3's development, in which we adopted a more deliberate and controlled process with clear goals. In Arma Reforger, we've leveraged our past experience and sought more opportunities to present players with hints regarding the background of the game world, as the sandbox-orientated Conflict and Game Master game modes don't provide much room to tell Everon's story.

I also have to add that compared to the past, Everon is more of a collaborative effort. These days I rely on many other people, who have done their parts tremendously well - be it research, design, or art. I advise and talk to people, rather than taking a direct and firmer role in the creative process. This allowed me to enrich the creation of Everon at a higher level, employing Concept Artist, Josef Surý, as well as inviting our game urbanist, Konstantinos Dimopoulos, for consultations.

**As a keen player of Arma games, do you feel there's anything in Arma Reforger you didn't manage to address well as a developer?**

I am happy to say there are no real showstoppers. I appreciate everyone's efforts to bring their best to the project, and while there are areas I would love to see improved or reworked in the future, I regard their current state as a necessary step to discovering the right way forward.

**What was the greatest challenge for you as a Creative Director when working on Arma Reforger?**

My role is chiefly about influencing and convincing colleagues to follow the game's vision. Therefore the greatest challenges were those relating to communication.

**Everon is inspired by the reality of 1980s Czechoslovakia with plenty of Czech signs, while there are French local names and some French and even English signage. Why and how did you combine them?**

We intended to preserve the legacy of the original terrain from Arma: Cold War Assault - all we knew was that the village names were French and the locals had Czech names, suggesting they spoke Czech. From there, we attempted to create a plausible explanation for a Czech-speaking diaspora with French roots on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, which is exactly as hard as it sounds!

As the original architecture and signage were inspired by Czechoslovakia (or Czech countryside of the 1990s), we decided to keep borrowing from 1980s Czechoslovakia, which was also consistent with the rural landscape we aimed to recreate.

**Parts of the team went for several field trips, there was a lot of research and gathering references in the field. How was this research used in making the game?**

This had been addressed on several levels; landscape and natural authenticity, era-specific architecture and props, and by the definition of a general aesthetic for the fictional visuals - e.g., various in-game brands.

The landscape had to be understood and interpreted by the environment designers, who were gradually exposed to Bohemian landscapes on dedicated field trips. Particular items like houses or props were researched, and the art researchers worked hard to find out as much as possible and to accurately describe them.

These are steps in the process of creating assets to make sure they are correct for the setting. But success depends a lot on communication of the vision to the team and the general understanding of goals.

**What do you regard as the greatest feature of Arma Reforger?**

It's very hard to say, as there's simply too many things which make the Arma player in me very excited. I'm very happy with our designers' work on making the core infantry experience more authentic (climbing obstacles, radio communication) and I'm equally happy with the new environment technology (e.g., rain and wetness, streams and lakes, vegetation movement in the wind), and I appreciate the effort put into the more ambitious aspects of the multiplayer gameplay.

I also believe the usability of our Enfusion tools should receive some praise, as they're a blessing for us and a great feature for the Arma modding community.

**Everon is full of elaborate details which will look familiar to Czech and Slovak players who remember the end of the 1980s. Do you also intend to share a bit of the historical reality of your homeland with the world through this?**

The primary goal is to present the setting of a fictional world and the Armaverse as a whole, and to base it on a solid historical background. But I'd be very glad if this would spur some interest in modern history among the players of Arma Reforger.

**You've said before that your degree in Environmental Sciences and passion for nature and hiking help you in your work - were there any particular instances where these helped you for Arma Reforger?**

My background certainly helps me to cope with the high demand for authenticity, as well as the depth of the game's rules - to understand and interpret the reality in a way that's beneficial for the project. I particularly regard the broader context and understanding of the relationship of natural science and the humanities as useful for inventing plausible environments and gameplay. My education also helps me to find and interpret facts and to provide particular types of expertise to the team.

In Arma Reforger, it allowed me to suggest the basic natural features of Everon and to assist with the research of a variety of topics, related to both the environment and the gameplay.

I'm not alone though. Most team members have either hobbies or educational backgrounds, allowing them to contribute beyond their development roles, and I support this synergy. We have flying geeks designing airfields, urbexers and military history enthusiasts contributing to the environments, a colleague with an MSc in History adding insights, and even a Norwegian in the company, to design the Atlantic coastline properly.

**As a keen reader who focuses on a variety of game genres, did you use some of your reading experiences to enrich the story of Arma Reforger?**

Arma Reforger's initial release doesn't contain any 'flavor' items. or books scattered around houses, but I would like to introduce items in the future, hinting at a vibrant Everonian literary culture and the island's strong national identity. We have invented several fictional authors, one of them inspired by my favorite Czech-German writer, Karel Klostermann.

Scott Alsworth, our Narrative Designer (with degrees in Classical History and Literature), has an interest in Jan Neruda, which also permeated into Reforger's narrative. And indeed, Neruda's state even appears on Everon.

When we design ficitonal brands, I often feel inspired by the specific Czech humor of the Theater of Jára Cimrman - a fine blend of language jokes with a dash of black or absurd humor; it's something which has occasionally emerged in Bohemia's games since Arma: Cold War Assault.

**You often say that empathy is an important trait to have as a game developer, and to be able to get into a player's shoes. How does this relate to Arma Reforger?**

I think a lot about the user's experience when playing games, be it Arma or some other title. As a player, I often get confused or lost, and I try to understand and remember those moments, in order to avoid them in our own work. One of our mantras is 'keep the player informed', and I believe no matter how complex a game situation may be, we should always hint to the player about the opportunities available, or directions they can take to overcome particular challenges.

Mind you, it's not about holding the players' hands though, either. It's about treating players fairly. If Arma delivers a gritty combat experience, it's our duty to make sure the player is able to figure out how to fight efficiently. If players lose, it must not be because they're battling controls or interfaces, or because we failed to tell them about an important gameplay mechanic. We want players to eventually be rewarded by beating fairly complex situations based on their experience and skill.

**Thank you for all the great insights, Ivan! One last thing; what did you enjoy most during Arma Reforger's development?**

Being involved with a single project for several years means you come away with a lot of stories. Some of them are good, some of them are quite amusing, and some are a bit more sobering or not entirely enjoyable. It's probably too early for my favorite memories to materialize. But I can say that Arma Reforger has been a rare experience of team synergy and cooperation. There are many 'development heroes' who have contributed to the game, a lot of talent - and although this may sound like the usual PR speel, I really do mean it. After years of working in close cooperation. it's my colleagues that have left the lasting impression.

Besides this personal aspect, there's a lot of cool things we did as part of the development process. Research, field trips, teambuilding. There's one moment which truly stands out though, and resonates with those good ol' Operation Flashpoint vibes... during the photoshoot for our key art, I arrived at our first location, walked through some forest on a dirt road, and then, suddenly, a scene opened up in front of me - a vision, straight from how I imagined our game. I saw a column of US vehicles, surrounded by American troops, all in their woodland uniforms, veiled by the a low-lying mist. I didn't care that the mist was artificial, or that there was a photographer and his crew, with a backstage, and a bunch of fellow Bohemians. For that moment, I was just amazed by the atmosphere, which was so close to what I'd always wanted to achieve in Arma!


Talk with our creative director Ivan Buchta


# Welcome to Arma Reforger!

<p class="text-xl text-white">Boots on the ground, Arma Reforger's here! Get ready for unforgiving Cold War combat in an expansive and visually stunning open-world.</p>

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It's time to return to the mid-Atlantic island of Everon — a 52km² microstate, which many of you will remember from Arma: Cold War Assault. This iconic terrain has been reimagined and faithfully restored, undoubtedly becoming our most photorealistic and beautiful environment to date. Thanks to new possibilities, made available through our next-gen Enfusion engine, we have recreated the jewel of the Malden Islands for a 1989 setting. So gear-up, set out, and explore! Take in the many sights and vistas. The glittering ocean bays, lakes, and rivers. The forests, hills and pastures, animated by the shadows of rolling clouds. There is so much to discover!

But what's an Arma game without conflict? Arma Reforger's Conflict game mode returns players to war. Join US or Soviet forces in a dynamic, multiplayer, team versus team scenario. Build support structures and defenses, oversee logistics, and capture key objectives by working together. To survive and overcome the enemy, you'll also have to rely on your wits and fieldcraft. Make no mistake, your map and compass will be every bit as important as the rifle in your hands.

In addition to this, Arma Reforger's playable content is supported with a real-time mission editor; Game Master. In this titular role, players can curate events, set tasks, and dynamically respond to other players on the battlefield, setting down challenges, compositions, and more. No combat encounter will be the same and if you're one of those in the midst of the action, you'll have to think fast to stay alive.

Last but not least, for our talented modding community, there's a lot of new tools available. In fact, we're sharing the very same technology used to make Arma Reforger — giving you an enormous amount of creative freedom. All these programs are collected on one site known as Workbench. Although only accessible to PC users, addons can be published on Arma Reforger's exclusive mod repository, the Workshop, for everyone, including console players, to enjoy!

And remember, all of this is just the beginning of the evolution of the Arma franchise. It's going to be an exciting journey, and we're glad to have you with us!

For more information, or if you have any questions, please visit our [FAQ page](/faq). If you want to download Workbench, check our [Dev Hub](/dev-hub).

Explore Bohemia Interactive’s webpages that present the past, present and future of Arma. <a href="https://armaplatform.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Arma Platform</a> congregates all the Arma titles, easy access to the games themselves and information. <a href="https://arma4.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Arma 4 web</a> will outline the upcoming title in the future. Discover more about our new engine on <a href="https://enfusionengine.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Enfusion website</a>.

For more news and updates, be sure to follow Arma Reforger on <a href="https://facebook.com/armaplatform" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/armaplatform" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://youtube.com/armaplatform" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://instagram.com/armaplatform" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://tiktok.com/armaplatform" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">TikTok</a>, Steam and Xbox.


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