JJ Cakes

I joined 3 other players and Ivory (thanks!) showed me the ropes.  The mission was to destroy a downed UAV and there were 4 enemy squads patrolling the area and some armor.  Much different play style from the vanilla servers, we broke off when engaged several times when we were in poor cover and/or too many squads were alerted.  I don't think I fired my weapon for about the first 30 minutes while we maneuvered around.
 
Best part was when an enemy squad stumbled onto us around around 100M away and I had a full belt of machine gun ammo ready to go.  Get some!
 
The helpfulness of the players on that server isn't overblown, everyone went out of their way to help this utter noob.  There is a bit of a learning curve for TFAR and ACE, but it's not that bad.
 
All in all, I really like it.  Like I said, the play style is different, much more careful, much more deliberate with actual teamwork going on.  I also like the chaos of the vanilla servers, but if anyone is looking for a change of pace EU #3 is worth giving a go.  Gauntlet will feel familiar to I&A, no huge surprises there and of course there's new gear to play with.
 
 

Here's the contents for arma3.bat, that's to launch Arma w/ no mods:
 
 
Here's the contents for arma3mod.bat which launches Arma with the modset from the AW public repository:
 
 
You can see where I'm lowering the priority of the Steam apps in those .bat files.

I don't know if this will help anybody, but I can't really run the AWE modset unless I dedicate 1/2 my 8GB RAM to Arma using the following startup option:
 
-maxmem=4095
 
I know it's really reserving the full 4GB because if I accidentally start Arma twice, the second instance complains about inability to allocate memory and exits.  4GB is what 32-bit Arma can address without paging, so I don't know if going higher helps or if Arma even supports it.  If I don't do this, the AWE modset causes Arma to just be really unresponsive, even when I'm not connected to a server and just on the main menu page.
 
Other command-line options I use are:
 
-nologs -nosplash -world=empty
 
The first gets rid of some useless HDD/SSD writes, the other 2 speed up booting a bit.
 
The other thing I do, and I think it helps a bit is I raise the priority of the Arma process using the wmic utility.  I put the following in a file called armawmic.bat on my desktop:
 
wmic process where name="arma3.exe" CALL setpriority "128"
 
What that does is set the CPU scheduling priority of Arma to the highest you can get without preempting system processes which would just cause crashes.  Here's a link about the priority:  https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa393587(v=vs.85).aspx
 
So I fire up Arma from ArmA3Sync, and as soon as I see Arma is starting to load, I double-click the armawmic.bat file to raise the priority.  You have to wait until Arma is running before you run the .bat, you need arma3.exe to actually be running before the priority can be increased.  If I'm running Arma for the vanilla servers I have a .bat that starts Arma, pauses for 15 seconds and then runs wmic.  You can see how to do that here: https://7cav.us/threads/arma-3-performance-tweaks-often-overlooked.11378/ 
 
But change this:
 
5. this time add arma3.exe to the end of this but inside the quote
should read: /I "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3\arma3.exe"  
To this:
 
5. this time add arma3battleye.exe to the end of this but inside the quote
should read: /I "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3\arma3battleye.exe"  
Otherwise Battleye doesn't start, you can't join AW servers which is sorta the point.  Note: You still use arma3.exe for wmic.
 
I also have some lines in my .bat files that lowers the priority of other processes.  Basically anything Steam is trying to do in the background.  I set those to "Below Normal" (16384).  You can use the task manager to see if anything non-essential is chattering away and lower its priority.
 
If anyone wants me to post up the guts of those startup files, I'd be happy to do so when I'm on my home machine.
 
The wmic utility isn't a magic bullet, but it does seem to smooth out FPS.
 
This is overly verbose, the tl;dr; for wmic is: create that armawmic.bat file.  Start Arma however pleases you, double-click the .bat as soon as you see Arma starting to load up.
 
If anyone has any other tweaks that have helped out Arma performance, I'd love to hear them!
 

I'm posting this because I have terrible luck syncing with the AWE repository using ArmA3Sync since I keep having the issue that the sync stops for no reason and it won't recover.  But the repository is just an FTP site so you don't necessarily need to use ArmA3Sync to get it.  You can use an FTP client and from my experience, they're far more robust plus they get better download speeds. 
 
I hope this is detailed enough, and unfortunately there's a bunch of FTP clients out there so I can't explain in detail how to use each of them, but FTP is FTP so maybe just learning your client is enough.
 
Happy FTP-ing, if you have questions ask and I'll try and help!
 
1) Get an FTP client.  I use CoffeeCup Free FTP.
 
2) Open up ArmA3Sync and check the repository to see what you're not up to date with.  They'll be the mods with a yellow triangle in front of them.  Leave this app open, you'll need to reference it once you FTP into the server.
 
3) Determine where your AWE mods are.  For me, they're under:
 
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3
 
This is going to be the destination directory when you're FTP'ing the modset.
 
4) Fire up your FTP client and navigate to your destination directory which is usually the left window for most FTP clients.  If you have mods already, you'll see all the "@" directories in there.
 
5) For the server you're going to be downloading from, put in:
 
ftp://mods.ahoyworld.net
 
6) Connect to the server, and once you can see the remote directories double-click on:
 
Enhanced
 
And you'll see all the mods, they start with the "@" symbol.  They're actually directories.
 
7) Now back to ArmA3Sync, that's going to tell you what mods you are out of sync with because of the "!" in the yellow triangle.  Click on those directories on the FTP remote side of things and click whatever it takes to download them.
 
Sometimes you can multi-select by holding down "CTRL" so you can select everything you're out of sync with and queue them up all at once.
 
8) Wait.  Last AWE modset update was 10GB so I set Windows 10 to never power down or go to sleep.  Just turned off the monitor and went to bed so that could happen at night.
 
9) Once everything has been downloaded, run ArmA3Sync again to make sure there are no complaints.  I did the FTP method for the latest 10GB update and ArmA3Sync was totally happy with it, there wasn't any post-FTP work to be done.
 
10) Profit!  OK, no profit, but if ArmA3Sync was a thorn in your side, at least now you have the AWE modset!
 
 

I joined 3 other players and Ivory (thanks!) showed me the ropes.  The mission was to destroy a downed UAV and there were 4 enemy squads patrolling the area and some armor.  Much different play style from the vanilla servers, we broke off when engaged several times when we were in poor cover and/or too many squads were alerted.  I don't think I fired my weapon for about the first 30 minutes while we maneuvered around.
 
Best part was when an enemy squad stumbled onto us around around 100M away and I had a full belt of machine gun ammo ready to go.  Get some!
 
The helpfulness of the players on that server isn't overblown, everyone went out of their way to help this utter noob.  There is a bit of a learning curve for TFAR and ACE, but it's not that bad.
 
All in all, I really like it.  Like I said, the play style is different, much more careful, much more deliberate with actual teamwork going on.  I also like the chaos of the vanilla servers, but if anyone is looking for a change of pace EU #3 is worth giving a go.  Gauntlet will feel familiar to I&A, no huge surprises there and of course there's new gear to play with.
 
 

Did another mission Saturday night, this time capturing a truck on the Fallujah map.  More helpful players and digging the variety of maps an missions over on AWE.

I joined 3 other players and Ivory (thanks!) showed me the ropes.  The mission was to destroy a downed UAV and there were 4 enemy squads patrolling the area and some armor.  Much different play style from the vanilla servers, we broke off when engaged several times when we were in poor cover and/or too many squads were alerted.  I don't think I fired my weapon for about the first 30 minutes while we maneuvered around.
 
Best part was when an enemy squad stumbled onto us around around 100M away and I had a full belt of machine gun ammo ready to go.  Get some!
 
The helpfulness of the players on that server isn't overblown, everyone went out of their way to help this utter noob.  There is a bit of a learning curve for TFAR and ACE, but it's not that bad.
 
All in all, I really like it.  Like I said, the play style is different, much more careful, much more deliberate with actual teamwork going on.  I also like the chaos of the vanilla servers, but if anyone is looking for a change of pace EU #3 is worth giving a go.  Gauntlet will feel familiar to I&A, no huge surprises there and of course there's new gear to play with.
 
 

I joined 3 other players and Ivory (thanks!) showed me the ropes.  The mission was to destroy a downed UAV and there were 4 enemy squads patrolling the area and some armor.  Much different play style from the vanilla servers, we broke off when engaged several times when we were in poor cover and/or too many squads were alerted.  I don't think I fired my weapon for about the first 30 minutes while we maneuvered around.
 
Best part was when an enemy squad stumbled onto us around around 100M away and I had a full belt of machine gun ammo ready to go.  Get some!
 
The helpfulness of the players on that server isn't overblown, everyone went out of their way to help this utter noob.  There is a bit of a learning curve for TFAR and ACE, but it's not that bad.
 
All in all, I really like it.  Like I said, the play style is different, much more careful, much more deliberate with actual teamwork going on.  I also like the chaos of the vanilla servers, but if anyone is looking for a change of pace EU #3 is worth giving a go.  Gauntlet will feel familiar to I&A, no huge surprises there and of course there's new gear to play with.
 
 

I joined 3 other players and Ivory (thanks!) showed me the ropes.  The mission was to destroy a downed UAV and there were 4 enemy squads patrolling the area and some armor.  Much different play style from the vanilla servers, we broke off when engaged several times when we were in poor cover and/or too many squads were alerted.  I don't think I fired my weapon for about the first 30 minutes while we maneuvered around.
 
Best part was when an enemy squad stumbled onto us around around 100M away and I had a full belt of machine gun ammo ready to go.  Get some!
 
The helpfulness of the players on that server isn't overblown, everyone went out of their way to help this utter noob.  There is a bit of a learning curve for TFAR and ACE, but it's not that bad.
 
All in all, I really like it.  Like I said, the play style is different, much more careful, much more deliberate with actual teamwork going on.  I also like the chaos of the vanilla servers, but if anyone is looking for a change of pace EU #3 is worth giving a go.  Gauntlet will feel familiar to I&A, no huge surprises there and of course there's new gear to play with.
 
 

I joined 3 other players and Ivory (thanks!) showed me the ropes.  The mission was to destroy a downed UAV and there were 4 enemy squads patrolling the area and some armor.  Much different play style from the vanilla servers, we broke off when engaged several times when we were in poor cover and/or too many squads were alerted.  I don't think I fired my weapon for about the first 30 minutes while we maneuvered around.
 
Best part was when an enemy squad stumbled onto us around around 100M away and I had a full belt of machine gun ammo ready to go.  Get some!
 
The helpfulness of the players on that server isn't overblown, everyone went out of their way to help this utter noob.  There is a bit of a learning curve for TFAR and ACE, but it's not that bad.
 
All in all, I really like it.  Like I said, the play style is different, much more careful, much more deliberate with actual teamwork going on.  I also like the chaos of the vanilla servers, but if anyone is looking for a change of pace EU #3 is worth giving a go.  Gauntlet will feel familiar to I&A, no huge surprises there and of course there's new gear to play with.
 
 

I joined 3 other players and Ivory (thanks!) showed me the ropes.  The mission was to destroy a downed UAV and there were 4 enemy squads patrolling the area and some armor.  Much different play style from the vanilla servers, we broke off when engaged several times when we were in poor cover and/or too many squads were alerted.  I don't think I fired my weapon for about the first 30 minutes while we maneuvered around.
 
Best part was when an enemy squad stumbled onto us around around 100M away and I had a full belt of machine gun ammo ready to go.  Get some!
 
The helpfulness of the players on that server isn't overblown, everyone went out of their way to help this utter noob.  There is a bit of a learning curve for TFAR and ACE, but it's not that bad.
 
All in all, I really like it.  Like I said, the play style is different, much more careful, much more deliberate with actual teamwork going on.  I also like the chaos of the vanilla servers, but if anyone is looking for a change of pace EU #3 is worth giving a go.  Gauntlet will feel familiar to I&A, no huge surprises there and of course there's new gear to play with.
 
 

I joined 3 other players and Ivory (thanks!) showed me the ropes.  The mission was to destroy a downed UAV and there were 4 enemy squads patrolling the area and some armor.  Much different play style from the vanilla servers, we broke off when engaged several times when we were in poor cover and/or too many squads were alerted.  I don't think I fired my weapon for about the first 30 minutes while we maneuvered around.
 
Best part was when an enemy squad stumbled onto us around around 100M away and I had a full belt of machine gun ammo ready to go.  Get some!
 
The helpfulness of the players on that server isn't overblown, everyone went out of their way to help this utter noob.  There is a bit of a learning curve for TFAR and ACE, but it's not that bad.
 
All in all, I really like it.  Like I said, the play style is different, much more careful, much more deliberate with actual teamwork going on.  I also like the chaos of the vanilla servers, but if anyone is looking for a change of pace EU #3 is worth giving a go.  Gauntlet will feel familiar to I&A, no huge surprises there and of course there's new gear to play with.