Arma Reforger 1.8 Lets Grass Hide You and Gives Specialists More to Do

The update also adds AI vision obstruction, deployable razor wire, new smoke options, and Xbox Play Anywhere support for a single purchase across Xbox consoles and Windows PC.

0 12 4 minutes read

A soldier treats a barefoot teammate beside a rock in a wooded area in Arma Reforger.

Arma Reforger Update 1.8 is now live, bringing a new concealment system, faster specialist actions, expanded fortification tools, and a long list of technical fixes. The official Steam announcement also confirms that the game is now available through the Microsoft Store with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

That means one digital purchase can be used across Xbox consoles and Windows PC. The release follows June’s 1.7.0.54 patch, which focused heavily on stability, vehicles, AI behavior, and modding.

Far Hide makes long-range concealment more useful

Update 1.8 introduces the first version of Far Hide, a system aimed at reducing the advantage players gained when grass stopped rendering at long distances or under lower graphics settings. Characters lying in vegetation should now blend into grassy areas more effectively, including at distances of around 750 meters.

The concealment changes also affect AI. Grass and camouflage nets can obstruct AI vision, giving players more ways to break line of sight and making it harder for AI soldiers to spot and track them.

Arma Reforger soldier fires from a grassy position

Specialists work faster in their assigned roles

Squad roles now have clearer practical benefits. Medical personnel can examine and treat injured soldiers faster and load casualties into vehicles. Logistics personnel handle supplies more quickly, vehicle crews repair, rearm, and refuel at a faster pace, and engineers build structures and deployables with improved construction speed.

Field fortifications also require less setup clutter. Players only need one available item to begin building, with the rest of the required materials taken from their inventory. Razor wire can now be deployed directly by players, giving engineers another way to block routes or guide infantry toward an ambush.

The PKMN can also be mounted on the 6T5 tripod with or without the 1P29 optic.

Arma Reforger soldier prepares fortifications overlooking a field

Gestures and smoke give squads more ways to coordinate

New tactical gesture animations let teammates communicate without using voice chat. Loiter animations add a few quieter moments between firefights, including sitting down, doing pushups, or taking a smoke.

US Army grenadiers now have underbarrel smoke grenades in several colors, while smoke mortar rounds remain useful for longer. The changes give squads more options for hiding movement, marking positions, and covering an assault when visibility starts working against them.

Arma Reforger soldier raises a hand signal beside a rifle at night

Death, barefoot movement, and admin tools receive changes

Running without boots can now injure a character’s feet and carries a small chance of causing a stumble or fall. Deaths also cost 30 rank progression points, although a player killed by friendly fire does not lose rank progression. Dying will not turn a player into a Renegade.

Server administrators gain more control through the Player List. They can move their camera directly to a player and promote or demote players from the same menu. MOB construction is also no longer blocked simply because enemies are nearby, so hostile fire alone will not prevent construction.

Arma Reforger 1.8 Patch Notes

Alongside the gameplay changes, Update 1.8 includes crash fixes, memory and pathfinding work, VoN updates, and other optimizations. The complete list is available in the 1.8 Update changelog.

Far Hide helps conceal distant characters against areas covered by grass, so lying in a field should no longer make you stick out like a sore thumb to someone watching from 750 meters away. There may still be some tweaks we would like to make as we continue developing this feature, but we hope this first implementation helps reduce the advantage players had from vegetation no longer rendering at longer distances or when lowering graphics settings.
Grass and camo nets can now obstruct AI vision, making vegetation and camouflage more useful for breaking line of sight. AI should have a harder time spotting and tracking players now.
Medics can inspect and treat wounded soldiers faster and load casualties into vehicles. Logistics personnel can load and unload supplies faster, while vehicle crews can repair, rearm, and refuel vehicles more quickly. Engineers also receive faster construction speeds when building structures or deployables.
You no longer need to throw an entire collection of sandbags onto the ground before constructing something (like sandbags). Having one available to begin deployment is enough, with the remaining required items taken directly from your inventory.
Players can also now deploy razor wire themselves, giving engineers another tool for blocking points or funneling infantry into more favorable ambushes. The PKMN can now be deployed on the 6T5 tripod, with or without the 1P29 optic.
New tactical gesture animations provide additional ways to communicate visually with teammates, as well as more casual loiter animations that give you something to do during the calm of battle. Sit down, do some pushups, or take a moment for a smoke before everything inevitably goes wrong again.
The US Army also receives underbarrel smoke grenades in several colors, giving grenadiers another way to screen movement or mark locations. Smoke mortar rounds have also been adjusted to remain effective for longer, making mortar-deployed smoke a more umore useful option for covering an assault, or at the very least making everyone less certain about what they’re actually shooting at.
Running around without boots can now damage your feet and carries a small chance of causing your character to stumble and fall. So maybe think twice before charging barefoot across Everon.
Dying now costs 30 rank progression points, giving you another reason to value your life beyond the long walk back from spawn. Deaths caused by friendly fire will not penalize the victim’s rank progression, and dying will not cause a player to become a Renegade.
Admins can teleport their camera directly to players and promote or demote players through the Player List.
MOB construction is no longer prevented simply by the presence of nearby enemies. So being shot at is no longer considered a valid excuse to stop building.

Update 1.8 gives Arma Reforger’s infantry fights more room for careful movement, teamwork, and battlefield improvisation. Share your thoughts on the patch in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, Telegram.

Powered by the new Enfusion engine, Arma Reforger lets you fight for supremacy over 51 km2 of incredible island terrain in an authentic Cold War setting, or create unique scenarios in real-time with the Game Master curation mode. Return to Everon, the war-driven microstate from the hit game that started it all, Arma: Cold War Assault.