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Yes. The best solution is a high-framerate camera (PS3Eye, does not need to be high resolution) with the IR filter removed (though honestly high-framerate is not required, but the PS3Eye is just super cheap), and making your own 3-point IR-LED or reflector clip, usually done cheapest with a baseball cap (so, buying 3 IR-LEDs either connected via battery power supply, or building a USB one (though this has strict voltage), and attaching them to 3 static points on the hat, or building something to attach them to your headset), then use a program like Freetrack or Opentrack (Opentrack is my fav) which already have software built for tracking those 3 points and translating it to movement in ARMA.
It's just as good as the TrackIR system, but way cheaper if you buy and build it all yourself.. Just takes a bit of setup time and a bit of work. There are good guides online, however, so as long as you can buy the parts and follow the guide you want to follow, you can build a setup very easily.

Or if you're both really lazy and frugal, you can go with someone like these guys who pretty much do all the work for you with removing the IR filter off of PS3Eye camera, plus 3d-printing a pretty nice clip for the LEDs. They also have a modified version of opentrack to work specifically with their builds, though I'm not sure what's different about it. Still ends up being a lot cheaper than the TrackIR that does the same thing, but I would still recommend building your own if you're up for it. It's really not a hard process at all.

It works stupidly well, and makes things like flying and landing choppers and planes 100x less risky. You get a whole lot less blind spots. It's also pretty neat to be able to keep your crosshairs at one target, while looking in a different direction to watch another target.

1. To be honest, I've never been able to make it through a singleplayer campaign due to bugs, so i just started jumping into multiplayer matches and really began to enjoy the game. If you let people know that you are trying to learn how to play correctly, they will be generally patient with you. If you want someone to play with sometime, send me a message.
   
   
2. That is the mission with mortars landing all around you right? The person you are trying to locate is dead on the second floor of a building that has several crows circling above it.
   
   
   
3. I use a cheap logitech joystick. Cheap but it has plenty of buttons, 3-axis stick, and works pretty well. There are some keymappings you will want to change for better vehicle handling. Again, just send me a msg if you want some help setting things up.

Check to make sure that the controller is actually working on PC by calibrating it or using it in another game. Make sure all of your keys are bound correctly.

If the problem is actually on ARMA's end, I'd just recommend getting a joystick for flight. IMO it's much better than a controller, and has many more buttons.

A good and cheap joystick is the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro. Me and two other friends have it, and we love it. Only $35 and gives you a lot of functionality.

The newer thrustmaster T16000m setup is a really good choice.

Stick and Throttle Amazon Link

That's the throttle and stick for roughly $100 which is a great price, the package with the pedals is closer to $200.

I have the stick alone that I got for ~$50 and it's pretty great, looking to get the matching throttle now. Also, personally I don't think pedals will make a big deal in ArmA but I'm no pro, so hopefully someone else can help you out there.

You should take a look at r/hotas, there's good help there.

It all depends on how you consume Arma as to how necessary a mic is. Most of the public game modes will be quite playable without your chatter although voice comms do make it a lot easier to gain friends. You can still join TeamSpeak channels without a mic, you just can't talk back (obviously).

If you join almost any group, milsim or otherwise, you will need a mic to get anything done.

Any microphone your PC will recognize will be suitable. Here is just one example.

I would think that would be a nightmare. You're going to want a stick. The T-Flight HOTAS is fairly inexpensive and works pretty well. The only thing that really annoyed me with it was that it had a catch in the center of the throttle. If you have any mechanical skills, and maybe a dremel, that's fairly easy to remove.

Probably the least expensive stick I'd go for would be this one.

But if you're serious about enjoying the flying the T-16000M is well worth the $102.

Saitek X52. No forcefeedback, but the springs are stiff enough for me. I love using it with arma. And cheap. Kind of. $100.

http://www.amazon.com/electronics/dp/B00030GSJY

I went from a Dell keyboard to a Logitech G19 to my current corsair K70.

If this one gives out i'll probably go back to a cheap rubber dome keyboard.
Tbh for gaming in my personal view keyboards make bugger all difference.

With the G19 the screen was good for seeing who was talking on TS but that's about it, the screen didn't get much in the way of support and no one used it. After a while you get to know voices anyway.

The 36 macro keys were only ever used for saving scripting commands that were commonly used in game which ended up becoming redundant after the group I was in started saving those scripting commands as short snippets (e.g #createvehicle 'RHS_M1A1')

Go with your budget but I'd suggest getting something like a TrackIR if you want to improve in Arma or a comfy mouse ratehr than a keyboard.

The Thrustmaster T Flight is probably your best best for a joystick and throttle at that pricerange.

I have this one, it's cheap and works great. It's as cheap as it gets with separate throttle and rudder controls. Makes it way more fun IMO, and is less than $20 more than the Logitech Extreme 3D. Worth it.

27'' Dell http://www.amazon.com/Dell-UltraSharp-U2711-27-inch-Widescreen/dp/B0039648BO

Great Monitor, got it a few years ago and loved the picture ever since.

I know this gets brought up in literally every thread about headsets, but seriously: buy a nice pair of headphones and a clip on mic.

I had the Logitech G35s and while I loved them, they had horrible sound reproduction. Fake 7.1 is not worth it. When they broke I bought the Sony MDR-V6 for $60 and a Zalman Zm-1 Mic. It's kind of a crappy mic, honestly, but it's cheap and it works. There are other mics out there that are more expensive and I can point you in the right direction if you'd like.

But those headphones are excellent for the price. Much much better than the G35s and they were cheaper too. If you listen to music at all, the Sonys are infinitely better.

Based on a recommendation I bought a Speedlink Black Widow Flightstick - perfectly functional for casual use and out-of-the-box compatible with Arma 3.

Get these:

http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Stereo-Gaming-Headset-TM-YB100A/dp/B001FY7LBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375982232&sr=8-1&keywords=yapster

They are less than $15 and provide GREAT sound and recording quality.

I didint mean the really expensive hotas but this one http://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-T-Flight-Hotas-Flight-Playstation-3/dp/B001CXYMFS

It is the most complete package to me, not only for flying but also for driving since you have ruddercontrols on the throttle for steering.

With this joystick you get everything you need at a very good price.

Another option you have for throttle/pedals is the Thrustmaster hotas x, I use it just for the throttle and the pedals, which I use the bar on the throttle. It fills the two niches nicely for me, but I still fly with the mouse. It has enough buttons for all the needed heli interactions like gear, CM, sling, sling assistant etc.

You can buy and build a model of it instead. it will be not only way cheaper but better quality.

Back when I was looking for a Headphone+mic combo, people recommended the Zalman and the Koenig.
I eventually went with the Zalman.

I would rcommend also buying the cheapest notebook light You can find, cut off the USB connector and tape the cable around it. This way you can put it around your neck and due to the flexibilty of the lamp adjust the mic better to your mouth.

^This is of course not mandatory, you could simply clip it at the headphone cable ;)

ask at /hotas, but i'd rec the cheaper thrustmaster hotas 4 (it has minimal deadzone (upgraded electronics board) compared to hotas x) or the 16000m fcs (has hall sensors) is also a good choice (but I don't like all the buttons on the stick base) :( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kXmbkwVyTQ

The x56 is also worth a look but its pricey. But it does have a thumb hat on the stick for games like star citizen and elite dangerous for 6 DOF. not critcal for arma 3 though.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LX398IE

of course you could buy a hotas x/4 and upgrade to hall sensors, and add more buttons and and a teensy 3.6 like I'll bet doing, but if you will be keeping the hotas x vanilla, check out joystick curves which may help reduce the deadzone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqzoJPCZM0w



Sadly there is not perfect hotas out there, all of them have many pros and cons, you have to watch many youtube reviews and decide what you are willing to live with VS the cost.

What about buying a little numpad instead. You could sit it on a laptop table beside your chair. I bought a laptop table off craigslist for ten bucks, you might be able to find the numpad for cheap too. Something like this..
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=&cs=cadhs1&sku=A3126606&dgc=ST&cid=3852&lid=5635587&acd=123088137920560&ven1=s49ZqCiX2&ven2=,
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B0017285TS/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?qid=1457530663&sr=8-7&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=laptop+table&dpPl=1&dpID=41jC2ThhLvL&ref=plSrch

The CH Products Fighterstick.

Edit: Thats also the one I'm using and I'm a fan. It doesn't have a spring for recentering, so it feels very light moving the stick, which might need some time getting used to.

That's what I have and it works just fine for me. Link

Cheap Hotas all the way.

These: http://www.amazon.com/CH-Products-Pedals-Simulator-300-111/dp/B0000512IE

Watch this and read this.

And practice... practice.... practice...

I think most would say the Thrustmaster T.16000 combo. I dont have experience with it myself but have seen nothing but good recommendations for it and I can tell you that the X55/56 WILL fall apart after awhile. Got fed up with that one and went all out for the expensive stuff.

grab an x52 pro. I fly CAS and aircav with mine and I'm literally using it right now to pilot a long distance survey run in Elite Dangerous

I'm using this bad boy over here