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Arma: Cold War Assault

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Arma: Cold War Assault
Arma: Cold War Assault cover
Developers
Bohemia Interactive
macOS (OS X) Virtual Programming
Linux Virtual Programming
Publishers
Codemasters
Retail re-release Sold Out Software
Engines
Real Virtuality
Release dates
Windows June 22, 2001
macOS (OS X) March 14, 2017
Linux March 14, 2017
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 Cold War
Series Arma, Operation Flashpoint
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Arma: Cold War Assault guide on StrategyWiki
Arma: Cold War Assault on MobyGames
Arma: Cold War Assault on Wikipedia
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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 2022

Warnings

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

Key points

Originally released as Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis.
Many bugs in the game may be game-breaking. It's highly recommended to use the latest version of the game.
Free upgrade from Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis to ARMA: Cold War Assault.
Not optimized to run on modern hardware. Highest video settings will cut your game performance.[1]
GameSpy online server browser has been shut down.[2] Use Master Server Browser.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
GOG.com Support Page
Steam Community Discussions (Windows)
Steam Community Discussions (OS X/Linux)

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Disc check (requires the CD/DVD in the drive to play)
 SafeDisc 2 DRM[Note 1].
Custom DRM code known as FADE may sabotage the game in several ways.
Both removed in later patches.
Windows
GOG.com
DRM-free
Windows
Mac App Store
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macOS (OS X)
Steam
DRM-free after installation through Steam client (notes may include more details)
Windows
Steam
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macOS (OS X)
Linux
SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
ARMA: Cold War Assault doesn't include the Red Hammer expansion, which was developed by Codemasters.

Monetization

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Operation Flashpoint: Red Hammer
Windows
Operation Flashpoint: Resistance
Windows

Essential improvements

Patches

A universal patch that upgrades any retail version of Operation Flashpoint to ARMA: Cold War Assault can be downloaded here.
An unofficial patch that improves performance and adds new features, however it requires patch 1.99 and can be downloaded here.

Skip intro videos

Launch the game with -nosplash parameter[5]

Adding the Red Hammer campaign

If you have a retail copy of Red Hammer campaign, you can add it back to ARMA: Cold War Assault.
Re-adding Red Hammer campaign[citation needed]
  1. Either open a folder where Red Hammer expansion is installed or go to a root folder of a CD with expansion pack.
  2. Then go to a folder AddOns and copy a file VoiceRH.pbo to a folder AddOns in ARMA: Cold War Assault folder.
  3. Go to a folder Campaigns either in a folder where you have installed Red Hammer expansion or on your CD.
  4. Copy a file redhammer.pbo to Campaigns in ARMA: Cold War Assault folder.
A retail copy of expansion is required for this; Red Hammer expansion is not available digitally.

Game data

External general settings.
External general settings.
In-game difficulty settings.
In-game difficulty settings.

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\ColdWarAssault.cfg[Note 2]
<path-to-game>\Users\<user-id>\UserInfo.cfg[Note 2]
macOS (OS X)
Linux $HOME/.local/share/vpltd/ArmaColdWarAssault/ColdWarAssault.cfg
~/.local/share/vpltd/ArmaColdWarAssault/SavedGames/<user-id>/UserInfo.cfg
It's unknown whether this game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux. Please fill in this information.
UserInfo.cfg contains user-specific settings.

Save game data location

System Location
Windows <path-to-game>\Users\[Note 2]
macOS (OS X)
Linux $HOME/.local/share/vpltd/SavedGames

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
GOG Galaxy
Steam Cloud

Video

In-game video settings.
In-game video settings.

Graphics feature State WSGF Notes
Widescreen resolution
 
 See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor
 
 See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen
 
 See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD
 
Field of view (FOV)
See Widescreen resolution.
Windowed
See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See Windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

  • External advanced video settings (Performance).

  • External advanced video settings (Effects).

  • External advanced video settings (Textures).

  • External advanced video settings (Details).

Widescreen resolution

The game detects widescreen resolutions but stretches everything from 4:3 by default.
Fix aspect ratio[citation needed]
  1. Launch the game.
  2. Modify any options and quit the game.
  3. Launch ArmA FOV Changer.
  4. Select the game and configuration file.
  5. Adjust the FOV slider or tick the "Auto" option.
  6. Save changes and launch the game.

Windowed

Using -window argument causes major issues with the mouse cursor.[6]
Force windowed[citation needed]
  1. Download and run DxWnd.
  2. Click on Edit, then Add.
  3. Set the name and executable path.
  4. Set the window position and size.
  5. Set Desktop for borderless fullscreen windowed.
  6. Click on DirectX tab, set DirectX8.
  7. Click OK, then File and Save.

Input

In-game control settings.
In-game control settings.

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Only usable when flying.
Controller remapping
Axis can be natively used only in aircraft.
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

In-game audio settings.
In-game audio settings.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Effects, radio, music.
Surround sound
Up to 7.0 output[7] May require DirectSound 3D restoration software.
Subtitles
Setting under Difficulty options.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support
EAX 2.[8]
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Czech
Czech Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and Resistance retail. Radio voices still in English.
French
German
Italian
Polish
Local retail release only. For digital versions download this.
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
12
Online play
12 The official GameSpy service has been shut down; use the official replacement.

Connection types

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

Issues fixed

Never use "Very high" terrain quality setting, nor exceed 1200-1300 visibility.[9]

Low framerate

Use d3d8to9 or dgVoodoo2

Low server count

Downgrade to patch 1.96[citation needed]

Frequent crashes or out of memory errors

Launch the game with -nomap parameter[10]

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 8.1
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Multiplayer GameSpy

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) Vista 7
Processor (CPU) AMD Athlon XP 1800+ MHz
Pentium III 1133 MHz		 AMD Athlon X2 2.5 GHz
Intel Dual-core 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM) 1 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 800 MB 1 GB
Video card (GPU) Riva TNT, GeForce 256, GeForce 2
Rage 128, Radeon
16 MB of VRAM
DirectX 8.1 compatible 		Nvidia GeForce 8600GT
AMD Radeon 3650
256 MB of VRAM
DirectX 9.0c compatible
macOS (OS X)
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10.8 10.8.5 or newer
Processor (CPU) Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E7600 3.06 GHz or faster
System memory (RAM) 2 GB 4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 800 MB 1 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia equivalent
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO
256 MB of VRAM 		Nvidia GeForce 9400M G
ATI Radeon HD 4670
256 MB of VRAM
Linux
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) Fedora 25, Ubuntu 16.04, SteamOS, Mint 18 (64-bit OS required)
Processor (CPU) 64-bit 1+ GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz
AMD equivalent
System memory (RAM) 2 GB 4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 800 MB 1 GB
Video card (GPU) latest Nvidia or Mesa drivers
OpenGL 3.2+ compatible 		Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 with 512 MB VRAM
AMD Radeon HD 7850 with 1 GB VRAM
Despite official system requirements, game does not use OpenAL nor is XP supported on at least the Cold War Assault upgrade.

Notes

  1. ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[3] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[4]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References