G0D

Okay, so i opened up the game using the beta... well, i got the most ugly messed up thing ive seen yet. just a bunch of gray bars, a backwards loading screen and some blinking lights with a black background... I used my task manager to force shut down the program, and when i did i noticed something... im running a 64 bit windows 8 laptop. but as i was closing the program, i noticed that the arma II beta file i launched was running 32 bit. could that have any effect? Anyways, im reinstalling arma 2 and arma 2 OA and beginning fresh. hopefully i can get better help from there

Well now im getting that error which wont even allow me to run arma altogether. im trying to backtrack because i saved the expansion\beta launcher over the main directory ArmA2 launcher and didnt keep a backup of the ArmA2 main directory launcher... how can i counter this?

See, this is the problem I'm having. Everyone downloaded via Steam. I downloaded via amazon, so i cant play with steam. The beginning of your directions are standard as i've found on most every help site. But unfortunately step 3 and step 6 are different because i dont use steam... I've tried following those directions and used my standard directory file instead of the steam one, but no avail. [edit] okay so i did everything you said. i modified a few things. 1) instead of saving in steam, i saved in my c:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia\Arma2 OA (or something like that). all paths linking to it are correct. 2) i copied the beta OA launcher from the file you said. But i modified it and instead of going into steam, i made ashortcut to my desktop from the file and posted the code you gave me. my "target" for the file now says this- "C:\Program Files (x86)\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead\arma2OA.exe" -beta=Expansion\beta;Expansion\beta\Expansion -nosplash -mod=@Dayz Is that correct? [edit 2] So, i tried running that shortcut file. unfortunately i didnt save backups of anything.. so i may be screwed. now, when running either of the AO launcher files (shortcut\main file launcher) I get an error that says "error no entry 'bin\config.bin/cfgdifficulties/recruit.recoilcoef.' " and has me hit the ok button. when i do, the game starts to load, black screens and says " error creating direct3d 9 graphical engine" and then crashes and exits the game" ... ffs ILL PAY 10$ CASH VIA PAYPAL TO WHOMEVER HELPS ME STEP BY STEP VIA SKYPE AND GETS THE GAME WORKING

Okay, so by vanilla do you mean ArmA 2, or ArmA 2 AO and single or multi? single i can play on both, multi works on neither. I dont really know how to check paths, or what that even means... if you were to explain i'd catch on fast like i usually do. I believe you are talking about the directory where my files are kept, and if so i've made sure all paths are right. The Beta is simple enough, although im not sure how to check my current version, so im not sure if 1.60 came standard and im sure if i have it, accidentally reinstalling and adding it again will just complicate things further. I just finished the beta 1.62 OA patch, im not sure where exactly i should add the file. As far as the launcher... i think thats a little complicated for me. remember, im brand new and know pretty much nothing, if you cant tell lol. Im going to watch the videos you sent via the link. But i can probably gaurantee ive seen them. i've scoured the net for 6-7 straight days trying to figure out how to fix this. I purchased the game via the ArmA 2 download on amazon.com. It was the official downloadable content with product/cd keys, so i know it was legit.

Im sorry for the noobish post, but for the last week straight ive spent hours upon hours trying to get not only dayz, but ArmA 2 multiplayer to run and work. I've followed about 15 different guides, but to no avail. To begin, i've downloaded all content in the order im supposed to. I bought the ArmA 2 Co (AO and ArmA II) pack. So no steam here. I've tried using six updater, six launcher, steam, regular windows, dayz commander, everything. ive followed guides on each process. The main thing i get is an error when joining a server stating " ....pbo, ...pbo file" and so on are not compatible and require deletion or another addon. Ive tried following every step i could find to fix this, but nothing helped. I've deleted and reinstalled every single file multiple times. Right now, im stuck on the ArmA 1.62 update. i know what your thinking "just update the damn thing through the site". unfortunately, that doesnt work either. Not only does it do the same thing ArmA 2 launcher does, but theres multiple different guides on where to put it, how to run it, what to add. But almost ALL of them revolve around steam. I know this is going out on a limb, but if anyone is willing to skype, per say, and screen share and watch me do everything or at least look at what i have atm, I would really deeply appreciate it. I swear im going insane not being able to play.