This is a keybind you will not accidentally press. I use Ctrl-E, pressed twice, to toggle eject. Note that if you use the F and V binds I use, you’ll want to ensure that ‘Get out’ and ‘Eject’ are changed, as well as any other potentially conflicting binds. If you’re prone and you press ‘up’, you’ll go to a crouched state. Simple enough, right? The only thing to remember is that if you’re prone and you press prone again, you’ll stand up. If you’re standing or crouched, and you press ‘toggle prone’, you’ll immediately go prone. Again, this is a kind of awkward name for it – it’s more like ‘toggle prone’. V is bound to a control called ‘Go prone’. You can basically think of it like a ‘toggle crouch’ bind that you’d see in other games. What this does is toggle between standing and crouched. F is bound to a control called ‘Up’ – nice and cryptic. I use F and V for my stance up and stance down respectively. Next, let’s look at the actual control binds. If in doubt, just keep it off. Smoothing should be turned off as well. For even more responsive mouse controls, turn “VSync” off in the video options. Mouse acceleration – turn it off, unless you’re positive that you want it. Freeaim is a feature for those who are nostalgic about a time when the ArmA controls were just plain bad – leave it there, it’s the past. The short version is that freeaim in Arma3 is one of the worst control decisions you can possibly make. This is where your weapon moves independent of the screen until it reaches an invisible boundary, at which point your view turns with it. For one, if you’re coming from an Arma or DayZ background, you are probably familiar with the concept of freeaim. There are a few things that everyone should have standardized. Try it and see, or just give the defaults a go – your choice. These are not the defaults, and I’m not saying they’re perfect, but they’re what I use, and I really like this setup.
Here I’ll cover my personal preferences regarding control bindings. Bohemia has put a lot of effort into improving the movement mechanics, animation system, and mouse control of Arma3, and I think anyone who wasn’t happy with it before will be pleased to see these long-desired changes.
Please feel free to share this and the companion video around to anyone who might have thought that Arma2 was a clunky game to play – because it most certainly was, and Arma3 is very different in that regard.
I will attempt to update this to reflect those changes going forward, and keep a note of when and what was changed. Please note that this is a description based on the initial Alpha release – expect to see the Arma3 controls evolve to some extent as it moves closer to release. This piece is a companion to my Arma3 Alpha Movement & Shooting overview.