What is the Beta Patch?

[Nottrueuser 0]

Hello everybody!

At the moment I am still playing with the 1.6.0.1 update, partly because of bugs which are in 1.7 and partly because until now I didn`t want to mess with the "Beta Patch", because it doesnt make sense to me. Please answer the following seven questions to help me and others understand what the Beta Patch is, and why is it used.

I would be grateful if you would keep my 1-8 structure and repeat the 8 points in your answers.

1. What exactely is the Beta Patch?

2. What is it adding/modifiying in the game?

3. Is it obligatory to have it installed, to be able to play the 1.7 and 1.7.1 Updates for DayZ?

4. Why is it usefull for DayZ?

5. Will we get further updates NOT requiring the install of the Beta Patch?

6. The word "Beta" irritates me: there are hundreds of builds of this patch, latest being 93666. Why is it still a Beta? What makes it being a Beta?

7. Can I uninstall the Beta Patch once it is installed?

8. Are the bugs in 1.7 resolved? (ocean spawn, when ghillie suit on, et cetera)

Thanks in advance,

Nottrueuser

[Jmoney 0]

I'm no expert, but I'll try to answer your questions from experience (playing with dayZ v1.7 and latest Arma2 beta patch for a while now).

1. What exactely is the Beta Patch?

Bohemia periodically releases beta patches to ARMA series games. They do not become official updates until they are tested AFAIK.

2. What is it adding/modifiying in the game?

Depends on the patch I guess. You can check the changelog for a particular beta patch here: http://www.arma2.com/beta-patch.php

The good news is beta patches doesn't modify the original install, so you can run both the patched and non-patched versions of the game whenever you feel like it. Installer creates a separate shortcut to launch the beta patched version of ARMA2. You could still run the official version of the game using your old shortcut.

3. Is it obligatory to have it installed, to be able to play the 1.7 and 1.7.1 Updates for DayZ?

I believe it is recommended. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I know that the combination of 1.7 DayZ + ARMA beta patch are required on some servers.

4. Why is it usefull for DayZ?

Improved performance, less bugs, less lag.

5. Will we get further updates NOT requiring the install of the Beta Patch?

Dunno.

6. The word "Beta" irritates me: there are hundreds of builds of this patch, latest being 93666. Why is it still a Beta? What makes it being a Beta?

Come on, you're playing ALPHA version of the DayZ Mod... Beta is one level more stable (in theory). Beta means it is still in testing / continuous improvements.

7. Can I uninstall the Beta Patch once it is installed?

I think you can still play the unpatched game after you install the beta patch. Don't know about removing the beta patch.

8. Are the bugs in 1.7 resolved? (ocean spawn, when ghillie suit on, et cetera)

Some yes, some know. I know the ghillie suit is still a problem in 1.7. Check out the announcements for each release under announcement section of the forum for details. Here are the details of the upcoming 1.7.1 patch that should fix some more problems: http://dayzmod.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=10353

Hope this helps

[Wüstenfuchs (DayZ) 105]

1. What exactely is the Beta Patch?

ArmA 2 developers release beta patches so that users can test and give feedback of these new fixes and features before an official patch is released. You can download ArmA 2 beta patch here: http://www.arma2.com/beta-patch.php

2. What is it adding/modifiying in the game?

- Fixed direct communication channel

- Increase of direct communication text range from 20m to 40m

- Ability to remove some communication channels

- Traffic / server / crash fixes.

- Read full changelog here

3. Is it obligatory to have it installed, to be able to play the 1.7 and 1.7.1 Updates for DayZ?

1.7.0 no

1.7.1 yes

4. Why is it usefull for DayZ?

For example to fix the direct communication, so that you can reliably talk to people near you. It also allows the removal of global channels. More info and discussion about voice and text chat here: Voice & Text Communication

5. Will we get further updates NOT requiring the install of the Beta Patch?

No. After 1.7.1 the beta patch will be required, until the full patch of ArmA 2 1.61 is released.

6. The word "Beta" irritates me: there are hundreds of builds of this patch, latest being 93666. Why is it still a Beta? What makes it being a Beta?

They want to make sure that the fixes and features are fully working before releasing a full patch. It wouldn't make sense to release a full patch several times per week.

7. Can I uninstall the Beta Patch once it is installed?

Yes. It can be uninstalled by just deleting the beta folder under the Expansions folder in your ArmA 2 folder.

8. Are the bugs in 1.7 resolved? (ocean spawn, when ghillie suit on, et cetera)

You can see the change log of the upcoming patch here: Pending Update 1.7.1 Details

[c.chris.perry@gmail.com 17]

1. What exactely is the Beta Patch?

Patches released by BIS that patch ARMA 2 and OA' date=' they are beta because they aren't full releases yet

2. What is it adding/modifiying in the game?

Many of the recent beta patches have been DayZ focused, adding line-of-sight stuff, fixing TONS of netcode/server stability issues, etc

3. Is it obligatory to have it installed' date=' to be able to play the 1.7 and 1.7.1 Updates for DayZ?

[/quote']

1.7: No, but HIGHLY recommended, the servers running 1.7 DO require the beta patch on the server side, but may not on the client side (admin preference). Running a non-beta client will greatly decrease the server experience for everyone on the server though, as the backwards compatibility of the netcode causes big desync and crashing issues

4. Why is it usefull for DayZ?

Read 2.

5. Will we get further updates NOT requiring the install of the Beta Patch?

Probably not' date=' looks like the next update, 1.7.1 requires it, as it seems to fix zombie line-of-sight issues, which are features only included in the beta patches.

6. The word "Beta" irritates me: there are hundreds of builds of this patch, latest being 93666. Why is it still a Beta? What makes it being a Beta?

It is beta because the features are still being tested, and BIS isn't ready to make it a full release, they must have new features they are still working on, slated for release with the final patch, and they are rolling out the ones that they are finished with to be tested.

7. Can I uninstall the Beta Patch once it is installed?

Yes' date=' it doesn't even modify your current installation, just adds a separate beta folder with the updated files.

8. Are the bugs in 1.7 resolved? (ocean spawn, when ghillie suit on, et cetera)

I've never had these issues, odds are they are usually because of server desync, or someone running 1.7 w/o the beta patch.

[Nottrueuser 0]

Thank you very, very much Jmoney, Wüstenfuchs and blackfuse!

Your answers were very complete, very helpful and now my confusion about the Beta Patch is gone. I have rarely seen such a great approach and support to people`s problems on other forums.

Awsome DayZ-Forum is awsome :P