Arma 2

Arma 2

Developers
	Bohemia Interactive
Publishers
	505 Games
	Got Game Entertainment
Russia	Akella
Engines
	Real Virtuality 3
Release dates
Windows	June 17, 2009
Reception
Metacritic	77
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, Expansion pack
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	Action, FPS, Shooter, Tactical shooter
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Contemporary
Series	Arma

Arma
Arma: Cold War Assault	2001
Arma: Armed Assault	2006
Arma 2	2009
Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead	2010
Arma Tactics	2013
Arma 3	2013
Arma Reforger	2023

Warnings

GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).

Arma 2 is a singleplayer and multiplayer first-person action, FPS, shooter and tactical shooter game in the Arma series.

General information

Official forum

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM DRM. Custom DRM code known as FADE may sabotage the game in several ways. Both removed in patch v1.05.
Steam		US release.
Steam		ROW release.
Developer website (unavailable)
GOG.com (unavailable)		Combined Operations.

Combined Operations includes both Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead; some mods (e.g. DayZ) require both games.

Product keys for Arma 2, Operation Arrowhead and digital versions of Combined Operations optionally activate on Steam.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name	Notes
British Armed Forces	Requires Operation Arrowhead
Private Military Company	Requires Operation Arrowhead
Army of the Czech Republic	Requires both Arma 2 and Operation Arrowhead.

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest official patches for retail versions of the game are:

• Arma 2 (base game): Patch v1.11.
• Arma 2 (with expansions/DLC): Patch v1.62 (requires Patch v1.60).

(DIGITAL RELEASES ONLY) Patches 1.63 and newer broken the scripting in the official single-player campaigns and mods due to the introduction of new script interpreter. The only way to fix those is to downgrade back to version 1.62
(can be done though Steam > Library > Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead > Properties > Beta > "1.62 - Older version of the game").

Skip intro videos

Use the -nosplash and -skipIntro command line arguments

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\ARMA 2\ArmA2.cfg %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ARMA 2\ArmA2OA.cfg
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/33900/pfx/

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\ARMA 2\*.ArmA2Profile %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ARMA 2\*.ArmA2OAProfile %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ArmA 2\Saved\
Steam Play (Linux)	<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/33900/pfx/

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		Use ArmA FOV Changer.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)		The game has a selection of pre and post process AA.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS		See Run the game at screen refresh rate.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		Rendered image uses SDR color space. In-game HDR option refers only to HDR Rendering.
Color blind mode		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Range finding by using certain scopes like the PSO scope might not be accurate anymore when playing on a non-default FOV.

Input

Input settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Keyboard and mouse prompts
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

DirectInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Nintendo controllers

Other controller(s)

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Input prompt override
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Czech				Retail only.
German				Retail only.
Russian				Retail only; download for digital versions.
Spanish				Fan translation; download.

Network

Multiplayer servers can optionally use BattlEye anti-cheat protection.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		128
Online play		128	The official GameSpy service has been shut down; use the official replacement. The Steam version of Operation Arrowhead automatically points to this new master server.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
UDP	2302-2305

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support

3D modes	State	Notes
vorpX		G3D Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Devices
Tobii Eye Tracking		Use Tobii Game Hub. Supports head tracking.
TrackIR		Supports: Yaw, Pitch, X, Y, Z.

Issues fixed

Run the game at screen refresh rate

Changing refresh rate[citation needed]
Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\ARMA 2\. Open arma2.cfg in Notepad. Change refresh=60; to the desired refresh rate.

Audio crackling

Set default audio and communication devices to same device[citation needed]
Open Sound in Control Panel Set Default Communication Device and Default Device to the same device.

Manifest Unavailable on Steam

delete appmanifest_33910.acf in steam apps folder
Verify game files Relaunch

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9, 9Ex

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Multiplayer	GameSpy
Anti-cheat	BattlEye

Command line arguments

See list of available command line entries for Arma 2

Graphical tweaks^{[citation needed]}

• Set the 3D resolution and the interface resolution to exactly the same value. Ideally, both values would be set at 100.

• Set Video Memory to "Default". By default (confusing, but keep reading), Arma II will cap the VRAM at an unspecified value. This value is actually lower than the "Default" option in the settings, but will still be named "Default".

• Texture Quality is dependent on the amount of RAM in the system, but due to the tweak above, it is safe to set the option to higher values.

• For a higher frame rate and reduced input latency, turn off advanced options like smoothing and head bobbing. To turn off motion blur, either download this mod or set post-processing settings to "Very Low". This does speed up camera movement. Nvidia Control Panel can also be used to increase.

• For faster rendering, turn on PPAA instead of the normal anti-aliasing.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum		Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP, Vista
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz, Intel Core 2.0 GHz, AMD Athlon 3200+		Intel Core 2.8 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
System memory (RAM)	1 GB		2 GB
Storage drive (HDD/SSD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce 7800 ATI Radeon 1800 256 MB of VRAM Shader model 3.0 support		Nvidia GeForce 8800GT ATI Radeon 4850 512 MB of VRAM