how many is too many? (max group size)

[D_P_]

hello all,

Does anyone know what the max group size is in Arma?
Also - how many objects can I place in my mission before it lags?
Arma brags of having hundreds of units battling at the same time...does this mean I can place hundreds of objects in my mission?
Oh yeah, 1 more thing - do different objects lag more than others?

...the things they didn't bother to teach us in school 

thanks in advance~DP

[h-]

Does anyone know what the max group size is in Arma?

I remember reading somewhere that the group size can be 100+ units.

There was a limit for the group size at least in version 1.02, it was a bit over 100 IIRC but it seems they have gotten rid of it:
Started testing this and got bored after 530+ men in my own group 

There is a rock solid limit though, you can have 'only' 144 groups per side.
That is for example 144 530 unit infantry 'groups' (76320 men, and over, depending on what is the limit of the group size  ) or just 144 single soldiers..

Of course there might be some sort of limit number that goes down depending on how many groups you have on the map, or depending on the types of units in the group but I'm just guessing here..

Also - how many objects can I place in my mission before it lags?
...
Arma brags of having hundreds of units battling at the same time...does this mean I can place hundreds of objects in my mission?

No-one can answer those questions precisely because it all depends on many factors, for example:
- Your PC (how 'powerfull' it is..)
- Viewdistance and other graphics settings in ArmA (which at least should be in correlation with the above point)
- the detail of the object(s) and the size of the textures used

do different objects lag more than others?

Yes.
Like above, objects with more detail and bigger texture sizes are more likely to 'lag' more than those with less detail and smaller textures (among other things)..

And P.S.
Don't start asking questions regarding your PC specs because OFPEC is editing site only and such discussions are not to be had here

[Brandon]

how many objects can I place in my mission before it lags?

1. Please remember that everyone's pc is different. 1 person's computer could lag with 3 units, and others with 3000.
2. Please think of the future searchers. When they think about asking what the unit limit's are on ArmA.. They may do a search for "Unit Cap Size" and not find anything because your thread title was very indescriptive. As I suggestion I recommend changing the thread name to something a little more "to the point". 

[D_P_]

thanks for the prompt responses~

@h - thanks for the info, this info will be very useful in future missions. I am more of a artist than a programer, so alot of effort goes into creating the right "mood" or "stage" - but often (back in ofp daze) this would result in too much lag cause of all the crap i stuffed into the mission  I guess I'll just have to put the missions out there and see what works for everyone.

@Brandon - if someone's pc lags with 3 units.... maybe they should be playing ofp instead? ...as for the heading of my thread - i prefer to entice answers out of you all with my cryptic and mysterious headlines...
but being as poor as i am - i took your advice anyway~thanks m8

[Cheetah]

My computer is maybe one of the worst to play ArmA with but good enough to do so in low settings. I can manage to get a lagfree mission if I keep the number of objects down. Less objects means more soldiers which is better in most of my missions so far (I like the idea of being a small piece of the bigger thing). My mission Last Hope (found in the beta forum) has around two companies on the map (~250) soldiers and it is still playable.

Hopefully this gives you somewhat of an idea of the limits for low end specs.