version 2.5 is planned ?

[nomad]

Hello community, is a version 2.5 is planned? if so when?
The servers are scarce, the players too: (

[Scuzzy]

Originally Posted by nomad

Hello community, is a version 2.5 is planned? if so when?
The servers are scarce, the players too: (

Yes. There is currently a 2.41 release being worked on to fix some minor bugs. Planning for 2.5 began in June of 2009 and is slated to be the Steam-Works release on the HL EP1 engine. There is no tentative release date for 2.5 at this time. There will more then likely be a post-2.5 OB release, but plans for this have not yet been worked out.

Scuzzy

[squeek.]

Originally Posted by Scuzzy

Planning for 2.5 began in June of 2009 and is slated to be the Steam-Works release on the HL EP1 engine.

This is not necessarily true.

But, 2.41 is next, and as Scuzzy said, it'll be composed largely of bug fixes. It'll be released very soon (as always).

[chilledsanity]

I realize I'm a very small minority, probably the ONLY person who cares about this, but if FF goes to Steamworks and there's no measures for being able to watch old demos, I think I'll quit permanently.

I've become too much a demo junkie and love being able to record highlights. FF is a competitive game and one of the few multiplayer games that has events worth recording and going over. Having a mod that can be updated without warning, breaking compatibility with demos essentially kills that.

[CHURCHMOUTH]

you could always keep a copy of the old FF on ur harddrive for those old demos..

[KubeDawg]

yeah, just rename your FF directory, restart steam and you're good. You'll have 2 copies on your hard drive, but with the massive storage capacity these days, it shouldnt be that big of a deal.

[moosh]

2.5 should feature the teleport.


Seriously guys...




c'mon...








Or just give the engie a buildable helicopter.

[GenghisTron]

When2.41WillOut

[chilledsanity]

Originally Posted by CHURCHMOUTH

you could always keep a copy of the old FF on ur harddrive for those old demos..

Originally Posted by Kubedawg

yeah, just rename your FF directory, restart steam and you're good. You'll have 2 copies on your hard drive, but with the massive storage capacity these days, it shouldnt be that big of a deal.

No, see this only works with the way it is now. I can't seem to find it, but I remember an old thread where a dev was talking about how the beauty of steamworks is that they can make a minor update at any time and have it go through. If it works this way, demo recording is fucked.

Right now, if 2.5 was released this evening, anything I recorded in 2.4 would not be in jeopardy. I have the installer downloaded and could always go back and view it again. But say we were on steamworks and a dev decided to make a minor update to fix a HUD issue and it affected the client.dll. Unless I made a backup copy of the entire game ahead of time, that's it, I'm fucked. Not only will I not know when the game will be updated, but I have no way of accessing the previous version if I haven't backed up at that point.

Moreover, I don't know what files have changed. So say there are a string of 5 minor updates that amount to 800k worth of changes, pretty small right? Not if I want to playback demos. I have to have a separate copy of the game for each update (assuming I was vigilant enough to make backups in the first place). So that's at least 5GB of backups I have to make for those minor changes. It's totally a losing battle at this point.

Granted, I understand the advantages of having steamworks, but it's basically the death or demo recording in my eyes.

[GeoKill----->]

I got a question... does this happen in tf2 demos... hl2 demos.. other steamworks mods? etc...

[chilledsanity]

Yeah absolutely, TF2 is probably the worst offender possible with 100 or so updates since release. For non-steamworks games it's not really an issue since you can always install the older versions.

[Sh4x]

Could you maybe extract the .dll only and keep them all in a special folder?

[Scuzzy]

Increased Playerbase + Ease of Updating + Huge Distribution Audience > Viewing Old Demo

[nomad]

hi moosh, teleportation would be his great, boost the sentry gun upgrade or 2 is not really top since 2.4: / (french sorry Primus= nomad)

[immortal]

chilledsanity, i totally understand your point, im also a demo-junk, but i got to agree with Scuzzy.
There's a big chance of faster updates and bigger player base. Those are mandatory! Watching demos is secondary.

AND we can help giving ideas on how to create detailed worklogs of the updates and making it possible to people download the older file versions so you can watch demos.

Moreover we can start thinking about developing a Demo Player software, just like compLexity Demo Player.
this software works with any HL1 engine game, such as CS, TFC, DOD.
no matter what the version of your Demo, if it is a Steam Version(doesnt matter the protocol, 45,46, 47) the software will create a copy of the original demo file, update it to the actual protocol and play it in-game..
it is a very cool and simple, yet powerful and useful software.

[immortal]

Originally Posted by nomad

hi moosh, teleportation would be his great, boost the sentry gun upgrade or 2 is not really top since 2.4: / (french sorry Primus= nomad)

s'il vous plaît écrire en français et je vais vous aider Ã* traduire en anglais

Sorry, i didn't understand the whole message, try to post in french and i'll try to translate (i know a little bit of french)

[stray kitten]

Originally Posted by immortal

s'il vous plaît écrire en français et je vais vous aider Ã* traduire en anglais

Sorry, i didn't understand the whole message, try to post in french and i'll try to translate (i know a little bit of french)

I knew there was something off kilter there.

[Carrots]

2.5 should be released with the orange box or advertised on steam..

[mervaka]

Originally Posted by chilledsanity

I realize I'm a very small minority, probably the ONLY person who cares about this, but if FF goes to Steamworks and there's no measures for being able to watch old demos, I think I'll quit permanently.

I've become too much a demo junkie and love being able to record highlights. FF is a competitive game and one of the few multiplayer games that has events worth recording and going over. Having a mod that can be updated without warning, breaking compatibility with demos essentially kills that.

i know this takes up more space, but if they're important to you, could you dump the output to a video?

[chilledsanity]

Originally Posted by immortal

AND we can help giving ideas on how to create detailed worklogs of the updates and making it possible to people download the older file versions so you can watch demos.

I'll believe it when I see it. I mean currently even the changelogs aren't always accurate. I remember the fiasco about the buff to the pyro in one of the patches that people were denying existed because it wasn't listed until Credge went in and proved it.

Originally Posted by immortal

Moreover we can start thinking about developing a Demo Player software, just like compLexity Demo Player.

I doubt this will ever happen. I'm cynical however.

Originally Posted by mervaka

i know this takes up more space, but if they're important to you, could you dump the output to a video?

Yes, but it would have to be IMMEDIATELY after the round to be safe, which would tie up the computer for the same amount of time. Also at 1280x720, that's about 4.7GB per minute. So say I have a 30 minute game, that's 140GB of space I need to have free on my system (yes it can be compressed, but you still need to output it first) v. a 20MB demo. Also this is assuming I get all the shots I want the first time when I record.

I mean here's a question, would you like to have to do 3 hours of editing and encoding after every 20 minute game you play?

On top of that, in demos you can fly around to see what was happening. So if you heard something insane around the corner, but never saw it while you were playing, in the demo, you can see what was really happening.

You can also edit out sounds (like the 2.4 announcers), textures (like change the skybox), lighting and fog for the map (if you recompile the bsp and don't change anything else it's still compatible). So I could make a dustbowl demo take place at night with crickets chirping, even though the original round itself was played normally during the day. Demos have a lot of advantages.


I understand most people don't care about this and I realize Steamworks has advantages that outweigh the minority. I just wanted to make my rant about it because it's one of the most important features to me and basically translates to the death of the mod for me personally.