_PC_
Ran across a reference to Starforce copy-protection on the Boing Boing site. OMFG...had no idea there were so many (potential FFC interest) games on their "infection" list. I highly recommend all of you take a look at the known list AND do the check in your Hidden Devices to make sure this $#@! piece of crap isn't on your system! Checkout the "Boycott" link graphic on the lower right panel here.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Reflecting On The Past
_FFC_
Out of curiousity I searched through my old Forum posts and found this one. So that means the F.F.C. has existed "for real" (ie, on a real rented server) for well over a year now! Damn...have to mark this on my calendar so we can celebrate the next anniversary. lol
Looking back at our old archived blog, I noticed an Oct 2005 post o'mine that went like this:
"Oh, I did read some stuff about CoD2 and apparently CombatStats is gonna support it in the next version. The AWE pros weren't too hot about the release of CoD2...not impressed with the gameplay and seeing the switch from OpenGL to DirectX as a sellout to Micro$oft since the game will be a launch float for the Xbox 360. I'll reserve opinion for now...hope they're wrong."
To address some of that....I haven't been updating stats for CoD:UO mainly due to the player name changing. Frankly it's a PITA to manually do the stats updates anyway, and having to search/replace on player names when folk change'em on a whim just adds to it. Personally I don't care much about rankings, since it all depends on how much ya play more so than your skill. The stats are kinda interesting at times but now with the addition of CoD2 I'd have to maintain seperate tracking too. So unless someone really cares about them I'll leave this status quo.
As for CoD2 itself, yes there are some things to nitpick about it. Yes it sucks that IW (InfinityWard) sold us PC players out by releasing an Xbox360 port of CoD2 for the PC. Thus the key assignment weirdness and lack of OpenGL support. Which is why crank'n the graphics down (from DX9 to DX7) is pretty much a requirement for those of us without bleeding-edge hardware....I mean think about it...the Xbox360 is a triple core 3.2GHz "PC"....no wonder it can handle all those full-blown DX9 routines with no sweat!
IW also has yet to release a map-editor, thus the reason you won't see custom map files on our server or on the publics. Possibly this editor will be released with the rumored patch update due out this Spring. Meanwhile there are a lot of pissed off players and admins out there since this was supposed to be included on the DVD release.
So far, with the "Raiders" mod, I still like CoD2 a lot and am enjoying the better graphics and slight variations on the gameplay. I think it's great to be able to switch between it and UO...keeps things interesting. One can only hope that IW steps up to the plate and addresses some of the community complaints with a decent and stable patch in the near future.
Out of curiousity I searched through my old Forum posts and found this one. So that means the F.F.C. has existed "for real" (ie, on a real rented server) for well over a year now! Damn...have to mark this on my calendar so we can celebrate the next anniversary. lol
Looking back at our old archived blog, I noticed an Oct 2005 post o'mine that went like this:
"Oh, I did read some stuff about CoD2 and apparently CombatStats is gonna support it in the next version. The AWE pros weren't too hot about the release of CoD2...not impressed with the gameplay and seeing the switch from OpenGL to DirectX as a sellout to Micro$oft since the game will be a launch float for the Xbox 360. I'll reserve opinion for now...hope they're wrong."
To address some of that....I haven't been updating stats for CoD:UO mainly due to the player name changing. Frankly it's a PITA to manually do the stats updates anyway, and having to search/replace on player names when folk change'em on a whim just adds to it. Personally I don't care much about rankings, since it all depends on how much ya play more so than your skill. The stats are kinda interesting at times but now with the addition of CoD2 I'd have to maintain seperate tracking too. So unless someone really cares about them I'll leave this status quo.
As for CoD2 itself, yes there are some things to nitpick about it. Yes it sucks that IW (InfinityWard) sold us PC players out by releasing an Xbox360 port of CoD2 for the PC. Thus the key assignment weirdness and lack of OpenGL support. Which is why crank'n the graphics down (from DX9 to DX7) is pretty much a requirement for those of us without bleeding-edge hardware....I mean think about it...the Xbox360 is a triple core 3.2GHz "PC"....no wonder it can handle all those full-blown DX9 routines with no sweat!
IW also has yet to release a map-editor, thus the reason you won't see custom map files on our server or on the publics. Possibly this editor will be released with the rumored patch update due out this Spring. Meanwhile there are a lot of pissed off players and admins out there since this was supposed to be included on the DVD release.
So far, with the "Raiders" mod, I still like CoD2 a lot and am enjoying the better graphics and slight variations on the gameplay. I think it's great to be able to switch between it and UO...keeps things interesting. One can only hope that IW steps up to the plate and addresses some of the community complaints with a decent and stable patch in the near future.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
More About CoD2
_FFC_
As you may've noticed, we're now playing CoD2 on a regular basis. Those of you who don't yet own the game (well...what's WRONG with you?? ;) should really pick it up....it's running in the $40-$50 range but is worth it IMO. Be sure to get the DVD version if you have a DVD drive. Not a lot new but the SP is very good, and the graphics are excellent (if your hardware is up to it) while the "Raiders" mod I've installed on the server adds quite a few fun twists.
We'll occasionally switch back to UO but having a blast with CoD2 right now. You can tell which game is running on the server (UO or CoD2) by checking my "FFC Server Monitor" page. Also, be sure to checkout the Tweakguides link as there are some helpful tuning tips for CoD2. Both links are found in the "links" section in the right-hand panel of this blog.
Oh, I did turn down some of the mod extras today (like weather effects, bombers and so on) to see if that reduces the hardware/bandwidth load for the laggy among us...you know who you are.
Edit: I took my own advice and played around with the Tweakguide settings. Man o'man!...improved my FPS (Frames Per Second) from a lowly 18 avg to a mighty 70 avg with peaks in the high 80's!! And this is at 1280x1024@75Hz with Antialias at 2X and most other graphics settings at Normal.
The secret? Change your Render Method Preference (under Options, Graphics) from Auto (or DX9) to DX7. To quote from the TG article "...basically DX7 mode has far less of the 'atmospheric' features of DX9 mode, but still looks fine nonetheless, particularly given the performance boost it provides." Whoa...they ain't kid'n on the boost! Moves smooth as butter now.
The other thing I did was change the COM_HUNKMEGS from it's lowly default of 160MB to 512MB (since I have 1GB of RAM). Best way to apply these settings is via a script, and detail on that can be found here. (That whole r_picmip routine didn't do squat for me but ya don't have to use it). I'm gonna see if I can find the vars for setting the Render Method so I can autoexec that each time I start the game....doesn't seem to keep the settings between game sessions.
As you may've noticed, we're now playing CoD2 on a regular basis. Those of you who don't yet own the game (well...what's WRONG with you?? ;) should really pick it up....it's running in the $40-$50 range but is worth it IMO. Be sure to get the DVD version if you have a DVD drive. Not a lot new but the SP is very good, and the graphics are excellent (if your hardware is up to it) while the "Raiders" mod I've installed on the server adds quite a few fun twists.
We'll occasionally switch back to UO but having a blast with CoD2 right now. You can tell which game is running on the server (UO or CoD2) by checking my "FFC Server Monitor" page. Also, be sure to checkout the Tweakguides link as there are some helpful tuning tips for CoD2. Both links are found in the "links" section in the right-hand panel of this blog.
Oh, I did turn down some of the mod extras today (like weather effects, bombers and so on) to see if that reduces the hardware/bandwidth load for the laggy among us...you know who you are.
Edit: I took my own advice and played around with the Tweakguide settings. Man o'man!...improved my FPS (Frames Per Second) from a lowly 18 avg to a mighty 70 avg with peaks in the high 80's!! And this is at 1280x1024@75Hz with Antialias at 2X and most other graphics settings at Normal.
The secret? Change your Render Method Preference (under Options, Graphics) from Auto (or DX9) to DX7. To quote from the TG article "...basically DX7 mode has far less of the 'atmospheric' features of DX9 mode, but still looks fine nonetheless, particularly given the performance boost it provides." Whoa...they ain't kid'n on the boost! Moves smooth as butter now.
The other thing I did was change the COM_HUNKMEGS from it's lowly default of 160MB to 512MB (since I have 1GB of RAM). Best way to apply these settings is via a script, and detail on that can be found here. (That whole r_picmip routine didn't do squat for me but ya don't have to use it). I'm gonna see if I can find the vars for setting the Render Method so I can autoexec that each time I start the game....doesn't seem to keep the settings between game sessions.
Monday, January 23, 2006
CoD2 Mod now a GO!
_FFC_
Welllll..alrighty then! Spent hours & hours trying (and finally succeeding!..more on that uno momento) trying to get mods to work with the "Call of Duty 2" server setup. The AWE mod that we're used to is still beta and incomplete comparitively, and I just never could get it to work right.
Soooo, I put on my geek camo and went "mod hunt'n". Found the Raiders mod which has many of the same features and a few additions. Makes sense since it's developed and supported by many of the same folk that do AWE. I won't bore ya with the list of features...click on their graphic at the bottom of this post if ya want more details. But "the good stuff" like cookable 'nades, sprint'n, healthpacks (YES!), laserdot, secondary weapons, and so forth are back in style.
I'm still tweak'n here and there but most things are in place and look good! It does need to download a couple client-side files and I can't figure out how to redirect the downloads (yet) so live with the short initial DL when you connect. OR you can download the folder ahead of time, with the two client files there-in and drop that whole folder (keeping the "rcmodv4" name) into the root of your "Call of Duty 2" folder.
Personally, with the mod, I think CoD2 really ROCKS altho' it can't compete vehicle-wise with CoD:UO. So we may switch back/forth periodically. But IF you don't own CoD2 yet..well times a waste'n brother!
Frag ya later....M
Welllll..alrighty then! Spent hours & hours trying (and finally succeeding!..more on that uno momento) trying to get mods to work with the "Call of Duty 2" server setup. The AWE mod that we're used to is still beta and incomplete comparitively, and I just never could get it to work right.
Soooo, I put on my geek camo and went "mod hunt'n". Found the Raiders mod which has many of the same features and a few additions. Makes sense since it's developed and supported by many of the same folk that do AWE. I won't bore ya with the list of features...click on their graphic at the bottom of this post if ya want more details. But "the good stuff" like cookable 'nades, sprint'n, healthpacks (YES!), laserdot, secondary weapons, and so forth are back in style.
I'm still tweak'n here and there but most things are in place and look good! It does need to download a couple client-side files and I can't figure out how to redirect the downloads (yet) so live with the short initial DL when you connect. OR you can download the folder ahead of time, with the two client files there-in and drop that whole folder (keeping the "rcmodv4" name) into the root of your "Call of Duty 2" folder.
Personally, with the mod, I think CoD2 really ROCKS altho' it can't compete vehicle-wise with CoD:UO. So we may switch back/forth periodically. But IF you don't own CoD2 yet..well times a waste'n brother!
Frag ya later....M
Sunday, January 22, 2006
CoD2 Up...Mostly
_FFC_
Finally got some attention from the hosting TS folk so have the CoD2 server up and running right now. I'll work on the AWE stuff later on but at least the server is private (same password to connect as our UO server) and I *think* the maps I left in the rotation aren't too largish.
Will be busy watch'n the playoffs this afternoon but maybe catch ya'll at the usual time later today?
GO BRONCOS!
Finally got some attention from the hosting TS folk so have the CoD2 server up and running right now. I'll work on the AWE stuff later on but at least the server is private (same password to connect as our UO server) and I *think* the maps I left in the rotation aren't too largish.
Will be busy watch'n the playoffs this afternoon but maybe catch ya'll at the usual time later today?
GO BRONCOS!
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Maps Maps Maps
_FFC_
I setup another rotation of a half-dozen mostly brand new maps (so new several had no player reviews yet...now that's NEW!). These are UO maps and a couple support jeeps and/or tanks! My thought is that we have enough regular players now to expand out to a little larger field of battle. Won't spoil the surprises for ya but these have some interesting twists and could be serious fun (now there's an oxymoron ;).
I'm also still looking for a way to limit the weapon loadouts (on a per map basis) to just pistols & satchels. Apparently not a lot of demand for that as haven't found anything solid yet. Just turning off all the other weapons don't work, as without at least one selection in the loadout you don't get in the game. Hmmmm....
Should be on a wee early again today...hope to frag ya then!
I setup another rotation of a half-dozen mostly brand new maps (so new several had no player reviews yet...now that's NEW!). These are UO maps and a couple support jeeps and/or tanks! My thought is that we have enough regular players now to expand out to a little larger field of battle. Won't spoil the surprises for ya but these have some interesting twists and could be serious fun (now there's an oxymoron ;).
I'm also still looking for a way to limit the weapon loadouts (on a per map basis) to just pistols & satchels. Apparently not a lot of demand for that as haven't found anything solid yet. Just turning off all the other weapons don't work, as without at least one selection in the loadout you don't get in the game. Hmmmm....
Should be on a wee early again today...hope to frag ya then!
Monday, January 02, 2006
More More More New Maps!
_FFC_
As the previous new map rotation was well-received, I put together a second one of all new maps which we tried out for the first time last night. Had one map that was being "contrary" but got it working today (the Indust map). Sometimes the map filename does not match what the actual load name is, so I have to peek inside the file to get the correct name...such was the case with this one.
Anyway, after playing through most of them yesterday I adjusted the weapon-loadout for a couple. Waaaaay too many grenades fly'n in that small "Peak" map, and too much artillery in the "SideSnipe" one, so those got limited. Need to have at least some pretense of realism, wot?
Speaking of playing, really happy to see more players show'n up regularly along with the newer members (FATRGR), Mearmoff (now aka Hockaloogy), our old pal Kato, and Shooter (presumably released from the stockade ;). Think we actually had 8 players for awhile there...awesome!
For those of you who might be off work/school today, maybe we can have an early game as I may have to head down to Denver this evening. Meanwhile, hope you all had/have a Happy New Year!
As the previous new map rotation was well-received, I put together a second one of all new maps which we tried out for the first time last night. Had one map that was being "contrary" but got it working today (the Indust map). Sometimes the map filename does not match what the actual load name is, so I have to peek inside the file to get the correct name...such was the case with this one.
Anyway, after playing through most of them yesterday I adjusted the weapon-loadout for a couple. Waaaaay too many grenades fly'n in that small "Peak" map, and too much artillery in the "SideSnipe" one, so those got limited. Need to have at least some pretense of realism, wot?
Speaking of playing, really happy to see more players show'n up regularly along with the newer members (FATRGR), Mearmoff (now aka Hockaloogy), our old pal Kato, and Shooter (presumably released from the stockade ;). Think we actually had 8 players for awhile there...awesome!
For those of you who might be off work/school today, maybe we can have an early game as I may have to head down to Denver this evening. Meanwhile, hope you all had/have a Happy New Year!
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