Q and A #1

[Implode]

Note from Ihmhi: Circuitous has posted in Implode's stead as he is spending the weekend with his family currently. Mucho thanks to Circ.

Big ups to everyone who's been posting questions.

In order to take this at a manageable pace, we'll be answering (at least) 5 questions a week.

We're starting off with some good ones we received early on. Look back next week for even more.

First up, we've got a question that's been seeing a lot of debate on the forums...

Question 1 (Kubedawg):
Will the hard cap stay implemented as a feature if most people end up not liking it? If there is no hard cap, could you explain what changes are being made as far as movement goes for all classes in general?

Answer (Circuitous):
The hard cap is being applied as a fix to the issue of skimming (retaining speed from conc and weapon jumps) - in testing it has worked well, but if the overall opinion of it is decidedly bad once it's released, then obviously we'll look to make some changes to it.

There has been very little in the way of negative feedback to the hard cap [in the beta] so far, so we'll see how that works out.



Question 2 (Nuk3m):
Will there be a release of more classic maps, like rock2, schtop, coming in 2.2?

Answer (Circuitous):
Yes, many are in the making and will be released in subsequent patches.



Question 3 (Drain Bamaged):
How's the conversion to the Orange Box Engine going, what features are you going to use from it, besides motion blur?

Answer (trepid_jon):
Nothing has been done to the Orange Box version of FF since we finished the initial conversion and made the dev journal, but I think the main feature we'll use is its particle system. Trails, impacts, events, maps, and so forth should receive quite a few visual improvements in terms of particle effects. It will be nice having Steam avatars in the scoreboard as well, but maybe we can integrate those avatars into other areas of FF, like the chat menu, "physically" in the world, during gameplay moments, and/or whatever else we can think of. We also think vgui videos can be utilized well in FF, allowing us to put videos in lots of menu places. More robust map overviews, for instance, as well as interesting concepts like like little picture-in-picture video hints, tutorials, and commentary.



Question 4 (Myersjr):
Will there be a training mode included in 2.1?? I have heard talk that there will be...

Answer (Squeek):
The base for the training mode has already been completed. Constant changes to the mod are holding us back from releasing it to a perticular patch. A few more additions need to be made before we are comfortable before releasing it. Expect it in 2.3 and hope for it in 2.2.



Question 5 (RocketRunner):
Are the rockets for the Soldiers RPG going to change in any way?

Answer (trepid_jon):
Radius has been decreased to compensate for the harder bhop cap, and now rockets also emit dynamic lighting



Any discusion on these answers can be posted below on this thread. All questions and concerns will be answered. Any additional questions should be asked here: http://www.fortress-forever.com/foru...ad.php?t=16481

[Tsukasa]

Originally Posted by Implode

and now rockets also emit dynamic lighting

Uhh... Don't you need orange box for that? Dynamic lighting in ep1 isn't really dynamic at all and is just a giant performance hit iirc.

[Circuitous]

Haven't noticed a performance hit usin' 'em myself, and of course they can be toggled off.

[trepid_jon]

Originally Posted by Tsukasa

Uhh... Don't you need orange box for that? Dynamic lighting in ep1 isn't really dynamic at all and is just a giant performance hit iirc.

Quite a few things already use dynamic lights in FF. And like Circ said, there are also lots of dynamic lighting options in FF, including an entire DLights menu in the Fortress Options for people who have computers that can't handle the greatness that is dynamic lighting.

[greenday5494]

well, it's really not dynamic, it just makes things lighter on walls, it doesnt make shadows and move around and shit like, um, ALL current game engines do. i also noticed that in the Orange Box, the shadows are pretty much exactly the same, except for the flashlight and the env_projectedtexture, which is only allowed one per map, which INCLUDES the flashlight

[trepid_jon]

Not really, it actually is dynamic lighting. It's just that we don't have dynamic shadows. I guess you could argue they're the same, but yeah...not really.

If you fire a rocket down a dark hallway, the hallway is lit up. If you fire a flamethrower into a dark corner, the corner is lit up. That's a form of dynamic lighting.

[greenday5494]

yea, i guess, but what I'm getting at is that source itself is outdated, by valve. they really need to update it. Hell, an N64 game, Zelda ocarina of time, had better reacting shadows, it moved with the fairy around you and the lights in the level.

[Tsukasa]

Yeah, well, blame Gabe Newell. He built it this way because according to him you can take any new technology and drop it in-place to the Source engine.

Which is somewhat true, most of the popular mods are on Source, and Orange Box has some better graphical technology. LUA is on top of FF as well. It's kind of like a tower of duct tape if you ask me though. I prefer engines that were built with the future in mind from the get-go (crytek engine 2, aka Crysis).

[greenday5494]

dont you mean CRY engine 2

anyways

he wanted to keep the source engine low-requirments, but i concur about the tower of duct dape. i mean, look at TF2. and the Source Engine. it's so damned bloated, it takes MORE memory up than CRY ENGINE 2! it cant even alt-tab correctly. At least FF can. FF=less bloated.

[Nezumi]

And anyway, even TFC had d-lights on the rockets, so I hope to hell that we can too. (and we do :P)

[Tsukasa]

Originally Posted by Nezumi

And anyway, even TFC had d-lights on the rockets, so I hope to hell that we can too. (and we do :P)

Speaking of things TFC has that I wish FF did, I want to rebuild the person-tall wall of detpacks and have them all go boom at the same time.

Screwing around was so fun in TFC. We don't have nearly enough admin tools/mods in FF =(. (LLama cage, build level while people are playing, spawning random shit/SGs into the world, NeoTF, that mod where points = credits and credits = glows, noclip, etc)...

[reaper18]

we need a screeny of said Dynamic lighting!

[squeek.]

Originally Posted by reaper18

we need a screeny of said Dynamic lighting!

Watch the 2fort video. Notice when the soldier shoots a rocket at a scout at the top of the spiral. Yeah.

[chilledsanity]

Greenday more or less has it right, I like the "tower of duct tape" description. I don't know what the first game to have dynamic lighting was, but I know Rune had it, which came out in 2000 (notice the shadows):

[theqwert125]

Did anyone else read that as 'rockets also emit dynamic lightning'?

[Circuitous]

Originally Posted by chilledsanity

Greenday more or less has it right, I like the "tower of duct tape" description. I don't know what the first game to have dynamic lighting was, but I know Rune had it, which came out in 2000 (notice the shadows):

Dynamic Lighting != Dynamic Shadows

[df`]

Trufax: Quake 2 has dynamic lighting on rockets.

[trepid_jon]

The next step (hopefully I get it done for 2.1) would be dynamic lighting on ICs and ignited players.

[Gwarsbane]

I can just picture it now, everyone making shadow puppets on the walls after a pyro ignites someone. LOL

[Nezumi]

Originally Posted by Circuitous

Dynamic Lighting != Dynamic Shadows