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[size=4] Freeze/Crash Permanent Fix[/size]
the one thing that made all this trouble was a file named:

Quoted

aa3_edata.client.fmap

which is located at:

DeployVersion: UsArmy/Americas Army3/Binaries/
SteamVersion: Steam/Steamapps/Common/Americas Army3/Binaries/

[old fix]when i delete this file, i can get in any multiplayer server without any freeze.

so whoever got the same problem, try deleting this single file and see if it helps.

o btw, you gonna have to delete it after every time you play in a server. so if you leave a server you gonna need to exit game delete file and go in again.

please report if it helped or not.

seems like this fix is helping many others in both Deploy and Steam version , which is great.
[/old fix]

[UPDATE]
ok so tx to SHutch and SoldierOfTruth, we found a permanent fix for this problem. what Shutch did was taking the aa3_edata.client.fmap file from his friend which never had problems with the game. and as soon he replaced his file with his he had no problems.

he was kind enough to upload it for share. so i downloaded to try and it works perfectly , no more need to delete or exit game to go in servers. ( now i must worn you, inside the file its only gibrish and no one really knows what it contains, i personally doubt its something important BUT I DONT REALLY KNOW).

he hosted it in rapidshare i uploaded it to a direct link which you can find here:

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/5/23/1…ata.client.fmap

just copy and paste it in the the binaries folder and it will work.

**not taking any responsibility of dmg which it may or may not cause to .... anything? ^^

if you do not trust this file its understandable, just ask someone you trust with a working file to send you his file version.

[UPDATE]
just dont forget DO NOT GO IN TRAINING, as the dev requested.


[size=4]Simple Engine Smoothing][/size]

[Engine.GameEngine]

bSmoothFrameRate=True

The game engine is capped to a maximum framerate, as determined by the value of the MaxSmoothedFrameRate variable (see below), which is 62FPS by default. This is done by the developers to prevent FPS spikes and thus provide smoother performance. However, by setting this option to False, you can completely remove this FPS cap. Keep in mind though that if you then find your framerate varying a great deal and causing jerkiness, this option is best set back to True. Uncapping your FPS doesn't increase overall performance as such, i.e. if you got 35 FPS in certain areas with the cap, you'll still do so without the cap.


Update: As of the 1.1 Patch, you can now also adjust this setting using the in-game 'Framerate Smoothing' option found under the Advanced Video Settings.

MinSmoothedFrameRate=22
MaxSmoothedFrameRate=62


[size=4]CREATING/MODIFYING AA3 SHORTCUT:[/size]

1) First, and possibly one of the easiest and best tweaks, is modifying the shortcut. If you haven't done so already, navigate to the AA3 binaries folder (X:\Program Files\USArmy\America's Army 3\Binaries\), and right-click on AA3Game.exe, then select "Send To -> Desktop (create shortcut)". Now you have a shortcut to directly start AA3, without the AA3 Deploy app. This results in quicker starting of AA3, as well as saving some RAM/CPU by not having AA3 Deploy running in the background.

2) Next, we are going to work a little magic on the shortcut, by adding a DOS command to start AA3 in High Priority mode. Right-click on your AA3 shortcut, and select Properties. Under the Shortcut tab, click in the Target box, then move over to the beginning of the path text (should read: "X:\Program Files\USArmy\America's Army 3\Binaries\AA3Game.exe").

3) Next, paste this before that path: X:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c start "runhigh" /high.

4) The full path should read: X:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c start "runhigh" /high "X:\Program Files\USArmy\America's Army 3\Binaries\AA3Game.exe"

Bonus:
Other priority values:
/normal
/abovenormal

Setting processor affinity, for those that have multi-core CPUs:
http://www.techenclave.com/gui...17.html


[size=4]AA3 CONFIG MODIFICATIONS:[/size]

1) First, navigate to your AA3Game\Config folder (X:\Program Files\USArmy\America's Army 3\AA3Game\Config). Open up AA3Engine.ini, with Notepad or a text editor of your choice. It's advised to make a backup of this file before editing! You can simply do a find (ctrl+f) to get to the referenced settings.

2) There are several options you can disable to boost performance.
[Engine.Engine]
bDynamicDecalsEnabled

[SystemSettings]
DynamicDecals
DynamicLights
DynamicShadows
LightEnvironmentShadows
CompositeDynamicLights
MotionBlur
DepthOfField
AmbientOcclusion
Bloom
UseHighQualityBloom
Distortion
DropParticleDistortion
MaxShadowResolution <- Lower this by powers of 2- ie, if it's 512, lower it to 256.
ShadowFadeResolution <- Same as above



[size=4]Other things that can be done to boost performance & kill lag:[/size]

In AA3Engine.ini find the line (should be near the top that reads)

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DebugEXEName=Debug-AA3Game.exe

change it to read

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DebugEXEName=

in the BaseGame.ini file (located at USArmy\America's Army 3\Engine\Config\BaseGame.ini ) and AAGame.ini file (same place as the AA3Engine.ini file) find the line that reads

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bDynamicNetSpeed=true

and change it to

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bDynamicNetSpeed=false

[size=4]More Helpfull Tweaks to fix framerates & lag[/size]

Step #1) Nvidia users need to download nHancer.
(Sorry ATI guys, I have nothing comparable to link you to)

Step #1.A) Before starting work in nHancer, click the radial button named "Global" at the top.

Step #1.B) After installing nHancer, goto the compatbility mode tab, and change the "Anti-Aliasing compatbility" to 0000041: Unreal Engine 3. This works around Unreal3's inability to produce AA properly, and allows crisp textures with AAx8 on.

Step #1.C) At the bottom of the "Compatibility" tab check the radial button for "Multi-Core Support", this will FORCE AA3 beta to use Multi-Core support (dual-core, or Quad-Core) when rendering textures/objects.

Step #2) In the nHancer program (still nvidia people), goto the "Optimizations" tab, and check "High Quality", "Trilinear Optimzation = On", "Aniso.sample optimization = on", "Negative LOD BIAS= clamp", and "Force DXt3 [OpenGL]= On".

Step #3) (Still Nvidia users =P) Set your Anti-Aliasing as high as you want depending on your card's settings. I have a 280GTX, so my gettings are "Combined = 32xS". Set "Enhance in-game AA setting" UNCHECKED, "Gamma Correction" checkbox checked, and Super-Transparency AA checkbox checked(these three settings are for high end cards, as you might lag with anything below an 8800).

Continue, by setting your Anisotropic Filtering to however high you want, mine is 16x...again 280gtx here happy ! My vertical-sync is forced ON, along with OpenGL triple buffering happy ! I also have ambient occlusion set to FarCry2, just for visual appearances sake, again I'm still fiddling with Ambient Occlusion as it adds soft shadows around objects in-game. You might want to fiddle with other settings as well IF you want to.

Step #3) Close nHancer, and it should goto your desktop tray.

Step #4) (woot Ati people can do something now!!) Find your "USarmy" folder in C: drive, or w/e you installed it.

Step #5) Once inside USArmy folder, goto America's Army3/AA3Game/Config.

Step#6) Open AA3Engine.ini with notepad, making sure to UNCHECK "always open with notepad" if your computer doesn't already know to open .ini's in notepad.

Step #7) While in your AA3Engine.ini, ctrl+F and type/copy "DebugEXEName", you should find it near the top with something like "DebugEXEName=Debug-AA3Game.exe", make sure to delete ONLY the part AFTER the "=" sign.

Step #8 Cool Ctrl+F again, inside AA3engine.ini, and type/copy "bSmoothFrameRate". You should find it again, somewhere near the upper half of the ini. Change this from "bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE" to "bSmoothFrameRate=FALSE".

Step #9) Ctrl+F again, and search for "MinDesiredFrameRate". It should be somewhere close to the middle. Change it from "MinDesiredFrameRate=32" to something more desirable IF you have a card stronger than a 7900GT Nvidia!

Step #10) Ctrl+F again, and this time type/copy "MotionBlur". It should be somewhere near the bottom. Change it from "MotionBlur=True" to "MotionBlur=False". This has been known to be a MAJOR contributor to the massive lag, since this has not be optimized at ALL and causes WAYY too much lag when you move. Hopefully, if they wish to keep this feature for launch, they'll optimize it so it happens correctly.

Well, that's it for now kiddies happy ! Tweak with these settings a bit to find your own optimum settings grin ! I'm now getting 60-100fps in-game with minimal stuttering. Now, my only issue is fixing this MASSIVE latency issue with shooting/being shot >=(!

[UPDATE]: For clarifying purposes ONLY. Do NOT do steps 1-3 if you are NOT running an Nvidia card HIGHER than the 8800 series. nHancer does NOT support anything older unfortunately.

Additionally the section above, since the nHancer part was aimed FOR people with strong cards that are having unbearable difficulties with lag in AA3.0, and was intended for quality enhancement only.

For pure performance increases do the following:
-Set Texture filtering to "High Performance"
-Set Trilinear optimization to "On"
-Set Aniso. sample optimization to "On"
-Set Negative LOD BIAS to "Allow", reset to "Clamp" if you experience odd/bad/flickering textures at a distance (or in Foggy areas).
-Set Force DXT3 (OpenGL) to "On"
-Increase "Prerender Limit" by one or two if you experience stuttering. Leave default if AFTER you do everything it runs smooth.
-Set Anti-Aliasing to "Off"
-Uncheck Enhance in-game AA, Gamma Correction, and Super-Transparency.
-Set Anisotropic Filtering to 4x (helps with rendering unoptimized objects are a distance better, this is merely a personal touch....leave it to "Off" if you want 100% performance with hits to visual quality xD!)
-Set V-syn to "Off" off
-Set Force Tripple Buffering to "Off"
-Set Ambient Occlusion "Off"
-Do everything else that doesn't conflict with these notes grin !


-DraGa

[Updated]: Fixed a thought process error I had originally writing the guide. (Thanks to LordDunce for pointing out my sillyness).

[UPDATE]: Latency Improvement!!

[size=3]Honorable Mentions:[/size]
+R3APERVI for suspecting it helped
+_TSSquad_DeadJosh , for starting a large test to see if it actually helps
+SharpShooter, for testing...
+=sWc=General, for testing...
+WildGunsTomcat, for testing...
+Justice, for testing...

Step #1) Go to:
USArmy\America's Army 3\AA3Game\Config\AA3Game.ini
I took this info from the
USArmy\America's Army 3\Engine\Config\BaseGame.ini

Step #2) Ctrl+F inside above ini's for "bDynamicNetSpeed".

Step #3) Change bDynamicNetSpeed=true to bDynamicNetSpeed=false.

Step #4) Ravage servers with your less laggyness grin !

Noticable improvements:
-Mount objects nearly on command (instead of 4 times to get onto things)
-Less bullet lag, almost every bullet registers
-Weapons bug out slightly less



[size=3]I also suggest:[/size]
([size=1]These next tweaks may corrupt CVAR files. If you're using it, do it as a last resource, only if the previous tweaks didn't help[/size])

In AA3Engine.ini set
DepthOfField=False (helps with scopes and sights)
Bloom=False
UseHighQualityBloom=False
SpeedTreeLeaves=False
SpeedTreeFronds=False
FoliageDrawRadiusMultiplier=0.000000 (gets rid of most stupid grass that totally blinds you but gives NO cover)

You can turn up your desired framerate to your monitors refreshrate, if you have the power for it
MinDesiredFrameRate=60.000000

Quoted

In AA3Engine.ini set
DepthOfField=False (helps with scopes and sights)
Bloom=False
UseHighQualityBloom=False
SpeedTreeLeaves=False
SpeedTreeFronds=False
FoliageDrawRadiusMultiplier=0.000000 (gets rid of most stupid grass that totally blinds you but gives NO cover)

You can turn up your desired framerate to your monitors refreshrate, if you have the power for it
MinDesiredFrameRate=60.000000

Quoted

Originally posted by LithiuM^ / .iNt.

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Originally posted by kill4100
Major Performance Tweaks Here »» http://forum.americasarmy.com/viewtopic.php?t=300051

You copied/pasted that from the Beta forums. Skillz u gotz. I know you gave credit....but the most important person, Faded, is missing from that list. He was the original author.

Quoted

...You copied/pasted that from the Beta forums. Skillz u gotz.

Quoted

Originally posted by Prada
Hey thanks http://www.tweakguides.com/ ,or wait I mean thanks to all of the people that copy/pasted info from there and took credit!

Quoted

Reporting that game still crash after i replaced original aa3_edata.client.fmap whit one you provided.

I got all drivers up to date.
My spec.
Gigabyte EP35 DS4
E8400 @ 2x3.00Ghz
8800GT 512MB
4GB RAM
X-Fi ExtremeGamer