Features

[BlackHat]

Okay guys, let's start with features - Give me a list of all the features that your ideal, dream-world FPS admin console would have.

[rudedog]

I'll start the conversation going.

My dream server would include:

- Ability to babysit the server automatically, without any human intervention, without the need to run any additional applications on another computer. see www.autokick.com but we need this server sided.
- Ability to ban a player for a specific time
- Ability to kick a player (x number of kicks = ban)
- Ability to share kicks and or bans with other admins
- Ability to kick players if they TK ( set a threshold say 3 TKs in 3 minutes = kick)
- Ability to kick or refuse connection from players with high ping

A way to get info to your clients
- A way of broadcasting messages from the server in game via time delay (see my Message center). Placement, delay, text size, all things we can not do currently
- Server provider or clan graphic like BF2 in ingame browser
- Server info page like HL2 (HTML based) Upon joining. The client sees this page first and has to click a button to "get in game" Graphics and text work well for this.

Anticheat
- Some type of strong anti cheat (punk buster is ok, but we need something a bit better)

OK let's side track a bit on A/C. currently Punkbuster is a joke and bypassable by anyone who really wants to. You need something a little better. I've always said, companies like EA/Acticision/Valve needs to invest in their own A/C and not an off the shelf solution. You could also use this A/C across all your FPS type titles not just MOHA. ok rant off but I could go on with this.

content:
- A way to change maps (we can currently do this with quake based rcon)
- A way to execute a custom cfg file ( we can already do this again with quake based rcon) but how about a customer cfg file for a set amount of time. Say exec a custom.cfg file for the weekend
- a way to restart your server from rcon. Normally you need to restart the server when adding custom mods. ( we can kill the server but never restart it)

- This is a start and the short list, one thing I would like to say is that we don't need all this but the ability to add it via our own mods.

right now we have to piggy back mods because we can't run them separately. We need a way to run many different mods together. For instance we hook a file now and if you run say my message center you can't run a rifles only mod unless you combined them yourself. Give us a way to hook our mods independently, which again is a topic on it's own.

[GaSplat]

Admin/rcon roles (at least two) with configurable capabilities. So an admin can do anything (mess with speed, gravity, turn on and off weapons,etc., but rcons are less empowered and handle kicking smaktards and choosing from preconfigured map and gametype rotations as an example.

turnning weapons on and off

user configurable execution of pre-existing scripts/configs (exec command)

Define a tag (like for a clan) and flip all player with that tag to a designated team and all others to the other team

easy kick and ban (temporary) and ban (permanent)

ability to "whisper" (pick a player id and easily send a private message) - mainly for rcon - not for interplayer comms

set nade limits for next map starts

reset/restart maps - without a full reload

freeze and unfreeze all players (useful for matches and ensuring everyone is "in" before starting the map).

configurable TK impacts with levels of escalation (I think Halo had a nice feature where you could go from warn to kick to ban depending on how often they do it within a given period - this carried over between connections so it could span kicks)

auto team balancing

easy config of map rotations with per map setting of gametype and other variables (allowed weapons, max nade count, etc - hey, make that per side (only attacker gets rocket, defender gets MG), maybe even max slots per side or max weapon type/class per side to help even up those unbalanced maps or gametypes.

dmflags functionality without the math (let the interface do the math, I'm trying to frag here, not practice calculating my powers of 2)

Alot of this stuff is already there, just some is easier than others. I guess graphical drop downs are all the rage now, and it is nice both since I am a slow typer and many "assistant admins" don't get command lines and scripting but can still kick smaktards

But this is the most important:
Lots of really ominous warnings on how cheaters will be disemboweled so everyone feels safe (just kidding)

And thanks for asking. I'm sure others will cover all the stuff I overlooked in my initial hip shot answer. :)

[GaSplat]

AAAAHHHHH Rudedog beat me to it!

heh heh.

Oh yeah, don't forget the ability to autodownload so maps and mods can be added without killing a server's popularity. Preferrably with the download being redirectable.

The ability to redirect a connection to another server (for full servers for example) is a nice to have for those larger groups. Maybe set the level for redirect so you can balance servers or help feed players to a newly established server from an existing one.

[rudedog]

Lots of good stuff there Gasplat.

How about different levels of rcon access for clan members.

level one - broadcast messages/change maps
level two - broadcast messages/ change maps/ kick /
level three - broadcast messages/change maps /kick / ban /

and so on.

I'm in the middle of company so I forgot many things.

[rudedog]

auto downloading of maps or even the occasional mod is a must.

But you must be able to differentiate what needs to be downloaded an what does not.

In the past, you would connect to the server and download all the maps even if you where just playing the first couple, if that at all.

It would be great to be able to control on your side how you download your content

1 - all content that needs to be downloaded from server at connection
2 - content pertaining to each map as it's loaded (which would mean you would join a little later then everyone else on said map

The admin could have control over this by enabling or disabling this type of download from their server.

[robert]

First of all, many thanks to Blackhat for asking for input. Compared to some other game development teams/management this is really a revolution which I really appreciate a lot.

The most important thing is (if you'd ask me) the abillity to add our own admin functions. For example, Python in the BF2 engine is really cool, it gives admins the chance to do basically everything they like. This ofcourse, should be combined with the possibility to execute remote rcon. If MOH:A would just have these two things (support for whatever scripting language that is well documented on the net + remote rcon) I would be very happy as it would make the game very customizable.

Please do not add ranking features. We've seen this in BF2, and if you'd ask me, it kind of changed the game experience in a negative way. Where it was intended to encourage teamplay, it's practically only people trying to get their personal rankings up. The existance of a ranking system made it for non-ranked servers almost impossible to get populated, while the best games are often played on these servers where it's about having a good game, and no 'personal awards' or 'scores' are involved.

Based on MOH's history is probably not necassary to mention, but please have Linux dedicated server files and provide those the same support as the Windows files. We've recently seen how the lack of this can destroy a community (no comments needed).

Please add support for custom kick messages. Many (competitive) games do not support this. It's so annoying when people reconnect to your server because the only message they get is something like 'You have been kicked by an admin'. Just a notice ingame is not enough, we need to have it in a popup message (client sided) when the player gets disconnected.

I agree with all the features that my fellow admins have posted before. My biggest wish is what I describe in my first paragraph (scripting language), as this basically gives the community the opportunity to script whatever they like.

[GaSplat]

Ooooh, a real scripting language with documented objects, collections, cvars, etc. Mwahahahaha. That would be truly awesome as the community could much more readily develop all the tools it needs and hasn't even thought of yet. Oh no, I just wet myself.

[robert]

Ooooh, a real scripting language with documented objects, collections, cvars, etc. Mwahahahaha. That would be truly awesome as the community could much more readily develop all the tools it needs and hasn't even thought of yet. Oh no, I just wet myself.

Yeah, in my opinion, if MOH:A would just support that from release day, a lot of people will be happy. Just look at the python support in BF2, it's awesome as it gives a lot of opportunity's to build your own tools.

[BHC_PaNiK]

tactial play.no more run and gun.
HUGE multiplayer maps
technical service help for linux and windows based o/s's
when patches are released.. both o/s(linux and windows) released @ the same time.. no more waiting weeks for linux to be released.
anticheat(punkbuster)etc right out of the box no more waiting around for patches
10-12 multiplayer maps to start out when the game is released
weapon limiter (multiplayer)based on number if clients

[BoSBrian]

Ah, but I've not seen one of the most important.....

A dedicated server exe

So we don't have to upload gigabytes of data on release day instead of playing like everyone else!!!

It should run in console mode, none of this "run a dedicated server" from the menu stuff.

And hats off for asking our input! Well done.:salute:

[[TPG]MoFo]

tactial play.no more run and gun.
HUGE multiplayer maps

Run and gun should not be eliminated. Maybe a game mode/type that allows tactical team play, but not at the expense of the good ole run and gun.

It's a small thing, but I would like to see some sort of client IP redirect functionality built into the game...similar to the forwarding function in MOHCI. This would be helpful for admins with multiple servers like we do. 1 server is full, client is forwarded to the second and so on.

Don't know if anyone has already mentioned but TK punish function and reflective damage functionality.

[BoSBrian]

Almost forgot....

Please none of this "ranked" server stuff.

[U-z-i Kidding]

Hello Blackhat good to see you and thanks for taking the time to ask for our input.

I really would like to see a community undivided by means of making everybody update to the latest patches released.

As we know patches are there to generally fix content and add on bits and pieces but whats the point of them when it divides the community each and every time one is released. One version for all would help to alleviate the splitting that we see.

Also linux binaries would be at the top of my list.

If game/patches are released I would like to be able to ask my host to update my linux bins on day of release. I'm sure whatever format people are running on their servers, they all would appreciate the opportunity of not being left behind and having to wait forever and a day to get the game up and running and updated as necessary.

Last but not least the functionality of being able to turn everything on/off/limit that the server uses.

In game icons, timers, vehicles, planes etc. Being able to set a number of vehicles/planes per map would be a great addition and not something that has to be written in via mods.

Enough from me anyway and thanks.

[TheLini]

A lot of very good suggestions there..

Linux support out of the box is probably one of the most important ones in there, and please give it as much support as the windows version of the game gets, no waiting around waiting for the linux patch, get them out when the main client patch is done, remember the huge serverbase running linux, it includes most if not all of the big serverops and they wont patch their windows servers till the linux servers are at the same version.

Another good suggestion is NOT to include a ranking system, I have to say it destroyed BF2 for me, yes it has made EA alot of money, but it's nearly ripped our clan apart because individuals got more interested in their own scores rather than actually enjoying the game and playing it as a team. But the other thing is that it made it impossible for the non-ranked servers to get populated, which is a killer for how I have operated over the last 5 years. (RANT OVER ON THAT :rolleyes: )

Different levels of admin would be welcomed, preferably from a built in user interface too rather than having to use command line (cli is not a prob for me, but it is for some users :p ).

Auto admin, like autokick would be invaluable.

http:// auto redirected downloads is a must.

Modding Tools ok it's not really dedi server related, but it is very important to release mod tools as close to game release as possible, to try to get the mappers and modders making fresh content.

I would like to be able to edit the map rotations without having to reset the server and have mutiple gametypes in rotations and time limits in rotations. Some maps are bigger than others and dont always lend themselves to the same time limits that others have.

Sorry to repeat stuff, but I think its important that as many people as possible say exactly what they want even if it has been said before, so that we can guage how popular features would be.

[Avarell_Dalton]

Kicking players for not responding to admin (or other players as well) can be a bit rude so my suggestion is a way to perhaps freeze that specific player, make him invunerable during freeze and be able to send a message he cannot miss. This is a newbie problem mostly so it feels very important not to scare players away from the server but to help him.

Another wish is a stand alone server monitor program like the anticheat programs out now for the moh serie

I'm behind all the other posters suggestions but if you're gonna realize them all i feel this may result in a much higher prize for the game which is out of the question. Ok, the hardcore moh gamers will pay the prize if they know they can play in an cheat free game but will the mass?

Perhaps a stand alone server software sold seperatly is the solution? Prize perhaps around $30 but if it's gonna cost, you'll have to support it really good.

Game modes as someone mentioned, no more run 'n gun, spray 'n pray is absolutely wrong, this is a aspect of the moh you cannot remove, we have to be able to jump in to a game for a short period of time for some fast action when you have an hour to spend. Urban maps is a must too, 20 snipers in a huge forrest doesn't comply to the moh soul and spirit. O.T i know, sorry ;)

More O.T, you must release the programs worldwide at the same time, perhaps as predownload so that we non american admins can compete with all the american servers about the gamers.

Thanks for your time

[robert]

Selling licences for standalone is definitly a no-go, this will make gaming even more expensive (think about prices GSP's will have to ask for servers).

Give admins the opportunity to make their own admin tools (see the other thread).

One thing I would like to add: a chatbuffer. Some variable that can be called to retrieve the latest x amount of chatmessages. Cool for banned words (cursing), in-game admin commands (hell yeah) and chatlogs.

[Ghost Dog]

- Classes/squads and force people to join one, MOH lacked teamplay and this is how to fix it :) .

- In-game admin menu with all of the features requested above (kick settings, auto messages, maprotation, playerlist,... -> if an admin changes one of these settings, display an automessage).

- Ability to download maps/mods from an in-game menu where you can choose what to download.

- VOIP!! This is a must, gameplay is soooo much better when people communicate :salute: .

- Realistic blood and bulletholes in models (players also, I like to check where I shot someone).

- Autobalance with the option to keep clanmembers in one team.

That 's about everything I can think of now... if more pops up, I 'll let you know.

[rudedog]

Selling licences for standalone is definitely a no-go, this will make gaming even more expensive (think about prices GSP's will have to ask for servers).

Give admins the opportunity to make their own admin tools (see the other thread).

One thing I would like to add: a chatbuffer. Some variable that can be called to retrieve the latest x amount of chatmessages. Cool for banned words (cursing), in-game admin commands (hell yeah) and chatlogs.

In a way I agree but only if we can be guaranteed continued support that includes linux with new features and great A/C I could see that as a one time 15-20 US$$ fee - TOPS!.

I mean 0day releases of map glitch fixes as they are found, exploits as they are released, network code enhancements- often, and A/C updates

This would also mean priority linux support from EA for GSPs. Maybe a GSP site lic.

[robert]

In a way I agree but only if we can be guaranteed continued support that includes linux with new features and great A/C I could see that as a one time 15-20 US$$ fee - TOPS!.

I mean 0day releases of map glitch fixes as they are found, exploits as they are released, network code enhancements- often, and A/C updates

This would also mean priority linux support from EA for GSPs. Maybe a GSP site lic.

Personally, I won't bother paying a fee *if* that means a better way of support. However, when I look at it from a wider view, I'm afraid this can cause a serieus barrier for the community to grow. Still, there's a very big percentage of younger people that just won't be able to afford it (and/or willing to pay it - why would they of other games are free (BF2141, ETQW, UT2k7, etc))

What they could do though, is let (certain) people donate (on voluntary base of course) to provide better support. At the same time, this group of people can/should be functioning as beta tester or whatever. At least; they should actually notice that something's done what they pay for.

Ah well, just me brainstorming while it's 30+ degrees Celsius, who wants to brainstorm with me? ;)

[[TPG]MoFo]

I absolutely agree NO Ranked Server stuff. It has destroyed hosting potential for the little guy and it costs clans too much. I can't even host a ranked server on either of our dedicated machines. As for the class/squad comment Ghost, I disagree with this. Again, if they incorporate a gametype that compliments this type of tactical play, then great, but don't force it. There are plenty of games that are class/squad based i.e. BF2. I will play those games if I want that, but the original MOHAA was not squad based and was still a blast to play. Just my 2.:)

[BritishBulldog1]

Guess I've come in late to this one, somehow the email found it's way into my spam box :confused:

Anyway, i agree with most of what has gone before, but I will detail some of the admin functions that I have in Heat of Battle that I feel would be really good in MoH:A

1. Pause game: pauses the game whilst waiting for everyone to join
2. Pause player: pauses a particular player
3. Resume: Resumes the game from the moment of pause
4. Switchteam all: switches all players from one team to the other
5. Switchteam player: switch an indvidual from one team to another
6. Timeout player+amount of time: places a player into a "sin-bin" for a specific period of time
7. Cwarn player: Places a large message right across the middle of the screen of a specific player
8. Csay: places a large message across the centre of the screen for ALL players

Then we have the "fun" functions for the miscreants. This includes the ability to set a player on fire, hit them with a mortar round, slap them once or multiple times, give them "shell shock" or totally disarm them so they have to find a dropped weapon. There should also be the ability to chain these commands if required.

This type of work could even be "contracted out" to a modding team.

Have the ability to restrict points to obtaining objectives or only awarding kill points within designated area's of the maps. Certainly remove kill points for spawn killing and to have the spawn area (where they are fixed) protected. Remove the ability to shoot in the protected spawn area to prevent the accidental TK'ing when people just "have to" test their weapons. An "invisible" wall that allows the players through, but not bullets and nades surrounding protected spawn area's.

Redirection capabilities if the server has a patch that the player doesn't have, as well as for maps and mods.

Enough "gamestate" as well as the SDK for the modders.

The ability to turn features on or off to allow the server admins to configure their server the way they want to. This obviously includes things like xhairs, friendly fire, vehicles, bunny hopping, running and gunning and weapon limitations.

Can't think of too many more, so I think that will do for now.

BB1

[rudedog]

Never too late BB :)

Thanks for the input.

By all means guys. This particular thread post is a start. Feel free to create other thread to elaborate on your specific idea, suggestion, complaints and or how you really feel about MOH:Airborne's admin functions.

This is the place to offer suggestions and ideas that will not fall on deaf ears, something a lot of us are not accustomed too anymore.

Refreshing isn't it :)

[GaSplat]

An early comment was to include VOIP. server should have it configurable to be either open (everyone hears everyone) or team (team only hears teammates with spectators as a third team) or proximity (if close enough on the map, you hear them - regardless of side).

That could really help the team play - much more so than classes. Classes simply means that when the clueless grab a key class their team is screwed. If you have a class based you almost have to let the team members vote kick a player to the rifle/fighter class so someone with a clue can play a key role. I would prefer that if classes are available, it be an option. And by all means, don't make it so only one class can heal or one class has ammo, as that is the pits. Make it more like a weapon load out than a capability. Okay for a class to have an advantage, but regular players need to be able to do anything as well - sometimes a server doesn't have enough players to cover all the classes.

[Ghost Dog]

MoFo']As for the class/squad comment Ghost, I disagree with this. Again, if they incorporate a gametype that compliments this type of tactical play, then great, but don't force it. There are plenty of games that are class/squad based i.e. BF2. I will play those games if I want that, but the original MOHAA was not squad based and was still a blast to play. Just my 2.:)Maybe you 're right about the classes, MoH doesn't really need them but it would be nice to have em as an option. Squads is a must have though imho, in WW2 noone ever fought alone unless forced to... problem with MoH is that people always rush to get the highest score and thereby forget about teamplay. A squad still doesn't force one to play together, but I think people might do more effort to play as a team.

An early comment was to include VOIP. server should have it configurable to be either open (everyone hears everyone) or team (team only hears teammates with spectators as a third team) or proximity (if close enough on the map, you hear them - regardless of side).I like this although the first option should only be used at warmup :D . The last option sounds great though, being able to hear your enemy speak to squadmembers... imagine you get to sneak behind an opponent and yell something at him before you slit his throat :p .

[BlackHat]

imagine you get to sneak behind an opponent and yell something at him before you slit his throat :p .

I'm sorry, but that would just be f'ing cool. :D

[dirt_mcgirt]

Me and all of my buddies have missed the "Liberation" MP gametype MoH had back in the Allied Assault expansion pack days.

That was a lot of fun and we'd love to see MoH Airborne bring it back!

=ITW= Dirt McGirt

[rudedog]

The ingame server browser needs to be robust and well thougth out but mainly FAST

Please don't let the guy who did the BF2 game browser touch this one ;).

We need server filters that work, including ping. It would be nice to be able to sort by multiple columns, ie: 1st sort by ping then map name this way I can find the lowest map by ping.

Also give as much info as possible in the in game browser. type of game, number of clients and so on but also what mod they are running. Maybe a miscellaneous column for the server admin to offer notes. also make the text resize able for different rez. I would like to see as much data without scrolling from side to side.

Do not allow colored text or special characters in the browser as everyone will try and get their name at the to of the list which is annoying as hell.

[Killing]

From a large GSP standpoint key features are:
* Fully configurable via command prompt / command line including ALL ports used.
* Public or documented query protocol so that the servers can be monitored.
* Multi server / single install compatible.
* The ability to disable any automatic crash restart if it exists ( enables correct external monitoring ).
* Redirect download support ( http ).
* Built in anti cheat e.g. punkbuster.
* Public or documented rcon protocol ( allows integration with web control panel's ).
* Optimised bandwidth usage ( not like BF2 which uses 8Mb/s for a 64 player server ).
* Linux and Windows dedicated server options.
* No GFX card or CD requirement for dedicated server.
* Standalone dedicated server ( no client install required ).
* Optimised CPU usage. The higher the CPU the more it costs to run, the more it costs to run the fewer clans can afford to rent servers which in turn means lower player numbers ultimately culminating in lower sales.
* Documented server settings, sounds obvious but often there are is no real documentation for servers.
* Stability, a stable server is vital for happy gamers.
* Good inbuilt admin e.g. Client GUI and / or webadmin is nice to have.
* Easily extensible by moders, this adds significant longevity to a game and as such can dramatically increase sales.
* Map loads which don't spike CPU for any significant time, this prevents multi server installs suffering "lag" due to map changes.

[robert]

* Optimised bandwidth usage ( not like BF2 which uses 8Mb/s for a 64 player server ).


This is so true, the bandwidth usage of BF2 is insane. I don't know if this in the scope of this thread, but it would be great if MOH:A will not use as much datatraffic as BF2 does.

[TS]

My Only feature right now is something on paper saying they "EA" will stay with the game and not drop it like PA.

[rant off]

[[ELS]WRX Boy]

The ingame server browser needs to be robust and well thougth out but mainly FAST

Please don't let the guy who did the BF2 game browser touch this one ;).


I couldn't agree more!


On the serious side, here are some things on top of my list. Some of which I saw but strongly agree with so I will repeat them.

- Dedicated Server exe file with a list of the files needed to run a mp server so I don't have to upload hundreds of megs of useless info to my game server.
- Per map and gametype configurability (like that added to COD:UO with the 1.51 patch)
- TK punish options (kick, ban, freeze, torch, etc, and all automated with admin configurable settings)
- Language/Cursing monitor built in and admin configurable for what is allowable and what is not (we run a kid friendly server)
- Different options for health regeneration (like 1) healhpacks, 2) ability to heal oneself like a medic, 3) a medic player class)
- Kill-cam or some sort of anti-camper system
- DO NOT use a rank system like in BF2
- Different admin/rcon levels would be nice (I fear what some of my clanmates do to the server sometimes :) )
- Server side only files (like the _svr_ tag in COD:UO)
- Redirectable downloading is a must


I'm sure you are already aware of it, but the list of complaints over at IW Nation from the early release stages of COD2 would be a good place to look for more ideas.

And, like others have said, THANK YOU for asking. Your interest in our opinions goes a long way.

EDIT: Forgot one that talking about MOH:PA reminded me of, player side not admin, but give the player the ability to use whatever controller they want to use to play the game (ie: joystick, gamepad, keyboard, etc.) Fly a plane with a friggin mouse... oops, rant over

One of my biggest complaints about ALL mp games, as a player, is the drastically different perspectives from one player to the other. Most noticable in the COD kill-cams where you will be just barely peeking around a corner and get shot only to see that 3/4 of your body was visible to the opposing player. This drives me insane, and no I'm not type A... :)

[MajorWoody]

Few of these may have been covered...

- A dedicated stand-alone server build
- A Linux dedicated server build (release WITH the game and updated with all patches for simultaneous release).
- Server specific patches -- In other words, a zip file with the patches in it we can extract on a server (which may have never had the setup run on it).
- With server patches, make them actual patches, not complete new installs of the server.

On the A/C front -- PB is a workable solution. Please don't do what IW did and *not* include something with the release because you can't find or build something better in time. If it comes down to it, we'd rather have PB on release day than a promise of the "greatest anticheat ever" with a "future" patch.

Any clues on the engine you're using?

[rudedog]

Several people have brought up something that is very important and overlooked not only by EA but many other developers.

Patches and how they are packaged.

Because, EA doesn't offer dedicated server packages,( hopefully you will change that) thus we have to install the game locally and upload all the files, many times several gigs.

When a patch comes out, we get a exe installer. This install needs registry entries to work. Sense we uploaded all the files without "installing" them we don't have registry settings on our servers, not to mention, Linux does not use a registry.

What then happens, we need to install the patch locally on a windows box, and then try and figure out what the devs changed, and then upload those files to our servers.

What we really need is a patch that is packaged for dedicated servers (windows and linux). We also need a specific list of files that where touched in the readme.

[BlackHat]

Just letting you guys know that I typed up and submitted a 2-page word doc just now to the multiplayer producer with probably about 98% of the stuff in this thread - the server-related stuff. Keep it coming.

[rudedog]

Thanks Blackhat. Please encourage feedback to our questions/comments.

I bet we would all like to elaborate if needed.

[BlackHat]

Thanks Blackhat. Please encourage feedback to our questions/comments.

I bet we would all like to elaborate if needed.

definitely. It was a lot of stuff, but Tom knows that he can ask questions if he needs clarification. He's very familiar with this stuff already, though, so I'm sure he will know exaclty what most of you want/mean by this stuff :) And keep them coming. Tom's really interested in hearing what people want for this.

[rudedog]

Communications is a big part of being a server admin.

I want to be able to let everyone know the rules for my server without having them have to leave the server and look at an external web site:
- Server graphic in the in game browser (see BF2 which does this fantastically)

- A click though welcome page (html based with transparent background to see the game play behind it) after joining the server but before "jumping in game". This should be shown only once, when the client first connects to the server. Cool feature would be clan members who join the server with a password would bypass this "nag screen".

- Broadcast messages in game via the server itself. time delayed messages with optional location, size, color and "time on screen". All from a cfg file built into the game.

[BlackHat]

Communications is a big part of being a server admin.


I want to be able to let everyone know the rules for my server without having them have to leave the server and look at an external web site:- Server graphic in the in game browser (see BF2 which does this fantastically)

- A click though welcome page (html based with transparent background to see the game play behind it) after joining the server but before "jumping in game". This should be shown only once, when the client first connects to the server. Cool feature would be clan members who join the server with a password would bypass this "nag screen".

- Broadcast messages in game via the server itself. time delayed messages with optional location, size, color and "time on screen". All from a cfg file built into the game.



all of those made it into the Doc :)

[GaSplat]

Day of Defeat Source has a nice click through rules page capability for initial connection. Don't know how easy it is to edit, but it works for those who figured it out.

[Mike Nomad]

From a large GSP standpoint key features are:
* Fully configurable via command prompt / command line including ALL ports used.
* Public or documented query protocol so that the servers can be monitored.
* Multi server / single install compatible.
* The ability to disable any automatic crash restart if it exists ( enables correct external monitoring ).
* Redirect download support ( HTTP ).
* Built in anti cheat e.g. PunkBuster.
* Public or documented RCON protocol ( allows integration with web control panel's ).
* Optimized bandwidth usage ( not like BF2 which uses 8Mb/s for a 64 player server ).
* Linux and Windows dedicated server options.
* No GFX card or CD requirement for dedicated server.
* Standalone dedicated server ( no client install required ).
* Optimized CPU usage. The higher the CPU the more it costs to run, the more it costs to run the fewer clans can afford to rent servers which in turn means lower player numbers ultimately culminating in lower sales.
* Documented server settings, sounds obvious but often there are is no real documentation for servers.
* Stability, a stable server is vital for happy gamers.
* Good inbuilt admin e.g. Client GUI and / or Webadmin is nice to have.
* Easily extensible by modders, this adds significant longevity to a game and as such can dramatically increase sales.
* Map loads which don't spike CPU for any significant time, this prevents multi server installs suffering "lag" due to map changes.


I quoted Alex's post for a reason. These items make the most sense to me along with a number of others presented. The one disturbing factor I noticed is that most everyone is obsessed with having absolute control over users. In the five years I'm running multiple servers, I can count on one hand the times I've encountered an unruly user. Let's bear in mind that the vast majority are joining the server to enjoy the game and have fun.

In reality, for "hall monitor" duties we need a kick with admin notice as to why and an adjustable length of time for the duration of the kick from say, a minute to a full ban. To waste lines and lines of code for minutia kick routines and reasons is crazy. Somebody is outta line? They're gone!! Its that simple.

Also, the previously super annoying arguments between pubbers and comp players. Must be nullified by offering configurable servers for both types of gameplay. Period. No workarounds, no excuses. This must be addressed.

Options, Options and more options. Make certain that nothing is hard code limited. Make all game features optional via CVARS in one or more .cfg or .ini files. I saw where who said stop run-n-gun and just as fast another jumped up and said why? Bottom line; OPTIONS make all this admin optional.

We are, the majority here I hope, heavily experienced FPS dedicated game providers and administrators. I am my own ISP/GSP I own a hosting company and see both sides of the street quite clearly. As such, we must always lean toward providing the very best gaming experience for the players. The players come first, for without them we have nothing.

So far all I've seen is how to make an Admin's life easier. CVARS, .ini files, .cfg files and scripts are what we are all about. We really do not need this built-in and that built-in etc., we need options and simplicity. Let's remember the kiss principle, the more involved or complicated the system controls become, the more time Admins will spend solving "problems". Keep it simple silly!

The KISS Principle is king.

[Mike Nomad]

An early comment was to include VOIP. server should have it configurable to be either open (everyone hears everyone) or team (team only hears teammates with spectators as a third team) or proximity (if close enough on the map, you hear them - regardless of side).

That could really help the team play - much more so than classes. Classes simply means that when the clueless grab a key class their team is screwed. If you have a class based you almost have to let the team members vote kick a player to the rifle/fighter class so someone with a clue can play a key role. I would prefer that if classes are available, it be an option. And by all means, don't make it so only one class can heal or one class has ammo, as that is the pits. Make it more like a weapon load out than a capability. Okay for a class to have an advantage, but regular players need to be able to do anything as well - sometimes a server doesn't have enough players to cover all the classes.

Have you ever seen the way VOIP works in RO??? Its an example of simplicity and efficiency. It defaults to a public channel and a team channel. Of course, other channels may be added. Game volume is dampened (selectable) when VIOP is in use. In short, its excellent. I've seen nothing better, that includes TS, Vent and all the others.

[Avarell_Dalton]

In the five years I'm running multiple servers, I can count on one hand the times I've encountered an unruly user.

To waste lines and lines of code for minutia kick routines and reasons is crazy. Somebody is outta line? They're gone!! Its that simple.

Make all game features optional via CVARS in one or more .cfg or .ini files.


So far all I've seen is how to make an Admin's life easier. CVARS, .ini files, .cfg files and scripts are what we are all about. We really do not need this built-in and that built-in etc., we need options and simplicity. Let's remember the kiss principle, the more involved or complicated the system controls become, the more time Admins will spend solving "problems". Keep it simple silly!

The KISS Principle is king.

Well Mike, you sound like a experienced admin, you have this and that and been a so and so since forever. To be honest with you, it sounds like you\re telling us how things should be done, you knows best, all other has to accept that...

Well this is the [Official EA] MOH:Airborne Dedicated Server Discussion > Features thread. I honestly believed that we were supposed to brainstorm but you're telling us now that the way to do everything is by changing cvars and editing cfg files... Oh excuse me, i would preffer a gui, why stick to the 80's?


And who am i to tell you youre wrong i guess you wonder, well my online story is only five six years, ive been admining game servers for almost all that time, i run my own clan nowadays, i see a problem in manageing the servers all by my own and i cant expect every clan member to learn every console command, cvar, cfg file there is. Oh, and im swedish and dont know every word in your text, perhaps i missunderstood you, you tell me

[robert]

*Sigh*

If Mike's suggestions are being brought into practice by EA, it's just a matter of time before there's many GUI's, admin tools, mods and stuff available that you can download.

Mike is right. Let EA spend their time in the things that they are good at and provide us the tools to let us do the things we (the community) is good at: making (admin) stuff for ourselves we think is useful.

[rudedog]

Last time EA spent a lot of time on a gui it amounted to launching a server and not controlling a server.

Let us have everything "switchable" and give us the hooks to make our own GUI admin tools.

But this is good, we need this type of debate to think of things we normally would not.

[Avarell_Dalton]

Im not trying to be a smartass but look what Blackbart started the thread with

Okay guys, let's start with features - Give me a list of all the features that your ideal, dream-world FPS admin console would have.

I would surely be hurt by reading "don't try to make something you anyway mess up"

My ideal admin console _is_ graphic, it's not messing with plain text in cfg files. I know the community made good admin tools erlier but that isnt what BlackHat asks for here. im a 100% sure he wants us to brainstorm and perhaps someone comes up with that "so cool feature" airborne will be a success just because of that. ok, if everyone said "just leave it as in good old allied assault, thats the way they perhaps make it.

For example, someone comes up with the idea to be able to "vibe" a player through console and everyone says, "Hey, why hasnt anyone thought of that before?" (that would actually be a cool thing, brainstorming when its at its best ;) )

[Lod]

Would be nice to have some kind of feature that logs a player on the server and remembers him/her. Then the next time they join it can welcome them and thank them for returning. :)

[rudedog]

Lod, you could take that one step further.

The server would recognize the player and his playing time on the server. Then you could make room for siad player if he had more playing time then someone else.

This would encourage people playing on your server.

Hey BH wanted out of this world feedback. :)

Now that I think about it, this may be a bad idea - need to think about it more

[Lod]

Lod, you could take that one step further.

The server would recognize the player and his playing time on the server. Then you could make room for siad player if he had more playing time then someone else.

This would encourage people playing on your server.

Hey BH wanted out of this world feedback. :)

Now that I think about it, this may be a bad idea - need to think about it more

That idea sounds good, I like it.

This thread is a refreshing change for the community. The RedOrchestra Devs have got the right idea too. Its good to see feedback before a game is released.

Excellent ideas/suggestions on here so far.

[Ghost Dog]

Lod, you could take that one step further.

The server would recognize the player and his playing time on the server. Then you could make room for siad player if he had more playing time then someone else.I think that 's a great idea and I 'm pretty sure it 'll enhance the gaming experience.

[ButchCassidy]

I would just like to add my congratulations to EA and the Airborne team for taking such a pro-active and refreshing approach towards it's fans and the future player base of Airborne.
This type of support is exactly what a great many Admins and players have been hoping to see for a very long time.
Communitcation, participation and Information all are essential for breeding a good healthy community and the product loyalty that comes with it.

For the smart and visionary companies this is the future of gaming.
Customer loyalty can only be fostered by support and that loyalty will always lead to repeat buisness.
As we have seen very recently a lack of support from a Developer will eventually come back to bite them in the arse.

With this type of participation becoming available so early it can only bode well for the future of not only the game but for EA in general.

Well done Blackhat and all at EA / MOH.Airborne

[BlackHat]

Lod, you could take that one step further.

The server would recognize the player and his playing time on the server. Then you could make room for siad player if he had more playing time then someone else.

This would encourage people playing on your server.

Hey BH wanted out of this world feedback. :)

Now that I think about it, this may be a bad idea - need to think about it more

It would also discourage anyone from ever picking up the game anew. If I wanted to jump on one of your servers, but kept getting booted in favor of folks with more time, I'd never get any play time, thus I'd never get any better, never get to WORK at getting better (which takes logging in some time), and I'd simply not play. That's not a way to propogate a game.

[BlackHat]

I would just like to add my congratulations to EA and the Airborne team for taking such a pro-active and refreshing approach towards it's fans and the future player base of Airborne.
This type of support is exactly what a great many Admins and players have been hoping to see for a very long time.
Communitcation, participation and Information all are essential for breeding a good healthy community and the product loyalty that comes with it.

For the smart and visionary companies this is the future of gaming.
Customer loyalty can only be fostered by support and that loyalty will always lead to repeat buisness.
As we have seen very recently a lack of support from a Developer will eventually come back to bite them in the arse.

With this type of participation becoming available so early it can only bode well for the future of not only the game but for EA in general.

Well done Blackhat and all at EA / MOH.Airborne

thanks for the kind words. Now go tell all the admins you know to get over here and put their two cents in! :)

[CH_Avenger]

How about a very simple in game function for admins.

Bring up the in game scores which lists both teams scores etc. As an admin signed into rcon this score table can now become customizable allowing the admin to drag players to certain teams for balance/drag them to the time out corner box in spectator/drag them to the temp ban box/drag them to the kick box/drag them to the ban permanent box/etc....

Very basic but aslo very useful. Each item could then be configured in the server setup like 2 minutes for timeout, temp ban is for 3 days.

Everytime these actions are done there could be a log entry created which takes a snapshot of their IP/ GUID/ and/or Playername etc.... This could then be tracked and reported as necessary.

[Ghost Dog]

As an admin signed into rcon this score table can now become customizable allowing the admin to drag players to certain teams
I like your idea 'cept for this part... no one likes to be dragged from one team to another, this should happen either randomly or based on your score.

[rudedog]

I like auto balance and I don't like auto balance.

I wish auto balance had some type of AI, wouldn't it be cool it the server could tell how each player is doing? If the server sees one team has 8 players and the other team has 10, the server moves the player over to the other team that balances each teams abilities not just size.

Why move the worst player over if the smaller team has other players with bad scores, it should move a better player over to try and even the teams not just in physical bodies but even the teams in talent as well.

again all toggle able via the admin.

[U-z-i Kidding]

I apologise now for my ignorance as I have never played a MoH game before so have not personally been a server admin and added content to stock. But I would like to ask how the modded content works?

If CoD2 is anything to go by, clans that purchase a clan server from a server host in the UK have terrible trouble in using the fs_game command because they don't have access to it.

If only purchasing a clan server some server hosts are either incapable of setting up mods or charge for editing these lines and adding modded content. Obviously this harms the little clans as the clan servers don't come cheap.

If MoH works the same way is there any possibility of implementing a system that would allow little clans to be able to add content without even having to edit the command line and without adding it to the main folder, if that is what's used?

Maybe an empty folder written in the game where you automatically add the modded content or maps too could serve this purpose?

[aftermathgamers]

Current MOH games dont use the fs_game (dont know about PA) because EA kindly broke the download system, so we never needed it because it was upto the client to put mods into there folder

[Mjrpain]

- Ability to ban a player for a specific time
- Ability to kick a player (x number of kicks = ban)
- Ability to share kicks and or bans with other admins
- Ability to kick players if they TK ( set a threshold say 3 TKs in 3 minutes = kick)
- Ability to kick or refuse connection from players with high ping

A way to get info to your clients
- A way of broadcasting messages from the server in game via time delay (see my Message center). Placement, delay, text size, all things we can not do currently


- a way to restart your server from rcon. Normally you need to restart the server when adding custom mods. ( we can kill the server but never restart it)


hI aLL i'M The founding member of snipersuk for MOHPA, alot of what rudedog has stated here has probably already been identified,i didn't have time to read 6 pages soz, most of these rcon are used and added manually to the server.cfg in PA, hence i set a 5 tk limit and that will result in 60 minute ban if anyone triggers it,set ping levels for connection keeps bandwidth good, also we kcik or ban for time limits aswell,message broadcast are done through a pk3 file added into the main folder and a script to the cfg, I've also managed to lock out everyweapon apart from the sniper , reducing the run level will in turn stop the runners, if they run they would only move at a holster speed and no faster,but i'm sure you guys already heard all this and hopefully all these will be implemented in AIRBORNE,

[bullet-worm]

Glad to see you found your way here Blackhat! :P

You are definitely in the right spot to get information from real experienced server admins here. A lot of us have been admins of servers since Allied Assault and before!

At one point I had a post over at the EA forums, though it is missing now:

Suggestions from a seasoned admin
I have been a FPS player since the early days of Allied Assault. I have also done a bit of modding for Allied Assault and Spearhead, and do a LOT of modding for CoD, CoD: UO, and CoD2. As such, I have some common sense, valuable advice about multiplayer gaming as it involves running servers. I say common sense, yet just about EVERY game that has come out has dropped the ball on at least SEVERAL of the very important points I am about to make.

I don't know how far along the multiplayer server coding has gotten, but I hope that someone from EALA will take notice and look for any missing-links to what I am about to say.

Here are some of the biggest issues which I have found to be critical in mutliplayer gaming:

1) SERVER ADMIN OPTIONS!
Problem: Some players want shotguns, others think shotguns are terrible. Both claim they wont buy the game if you dare go against them. Same goes for vehicles and other weapons. Simple solution: Server Admin OPTIONS.

My point here is this: Make the multiplayer game VERY customizable straight from the box. Everyone gets what they want this way. Give server admins the ability to turn weapons and as MANY options of/off via config file. With weapons, it is usually even better if weapon limits can be set so that a maximum number of a type of weapn can be chosen before they are no longer available.

2) Mapping/Modding Friendly
Get the tools out VERY fast (if not with the release of the game). A month or two after release would be acceptable. I understand Crytek is far surpassing this by actually providing the modding tools to some modders BEFORE the game even is released... excellent! Just plain excellent!

3) Make sure the game works well with mods
A) Autodownloads with HTTP redirect (instead of downloading a map from a server tieing up bandwidth, the client connects to a server-defined location to download a map, usually a clan web-site)
B) The ability to have a large number of mods on the server (i.e. 40 custom maps) without any negative effects.
C) Custom maps should ONLY download as they are required, as in, when the actual map is running.

4) Anti-Cheat
I don't care if it is in- house or PunkBuster, just something to keep the Google-search hacker off balance.

5) SUPPORT
This means, if there is something wrong with the game that has been found after release.
A) Awknowledge the issue.
B) After internal discussion, release a statement of your plans on if the problem will be resolved and if so, a general idea of when to expect it (i.e. "the next patch".
C) Followup occassionally (one every couple of weeks?) with status on anything planned to be fixed.

6) Modding support
The modding community usually supports itself pretty well. However, sometimes there are issues that are raised that NO ONE in the modding community knows how to deal with. Or sometimes there are tools the modding community could REALLY make use ofthat just are not available, but could be added in a future patch.

Modding support means having someone who knows the engine keep in touch at least once or twice a week with the modders preferably in a modding-specific forum where the modders do all of their communications. Even if that place is not here, I can guarantee the modders will find a spot to congregate and share ideas and solutions.

7) "Net Code"
Nothing will kill a game faster than jumpy, skippy players these days. We are PAST that era in online gaming. Optimize, Optimize, OPTIMIZE the net code to the bone.

8) Server Browser
It HAS to be filterable/searchable. With THOUSANDS of servers, there really must be a way to organize them. The ability to add servers to a list of FAVORITES is really helpfull as well.


Like I said, not exactly server-admin specific. Here are some adders for server admin specifics:

1) GUI Rcon interface - Clients could be given a graphical user interface that could essentially be "point-n-click rcon commands." Things like a kick/ban interface, map rotate, map restart, map selection, weapon enable/disables... It could all be made point-n-click...

For the map selection, an auto-populated list of maps could be made available via a drop-down list, and possibly even a thumbnail-size image of the map's loading screen.

2) This has already been mentioned, but it is INVARIABLY the first mod made for just about every game created in this genre: Some form of message center that can display pre-defined messages to the clients.

3) The second most-demanded admin function that has ALWAYS had to be modded into the games of this genre: Weapon Limits.

This does not mean the ability to simply turn weapons on/off, but to specify a limit on the number of each weapon available before the weapon is no longer available to be selected. Sniper Rifle limits is one of the most popular examples, where servers can limit sniper rifles to 'x' number of snipers per team.

4) Include clan tags as a seperate piece of player information, so that the player enters his name and clan tags (if any) in seperate fields. This will become VERY usefull for modders to be able to determine players who are in the same clan. Trust me, there are MANY applications for it. lol

(I guess that is more of a modders request than an admin request, but I assure you the admins would be the one to really benefit)

5) AFK (Away from Keyboard) detection and resolution - If a player is alive but sitting completely still for too long, a warning could be issued to that specific player, and if the player still does not move, the player can be removed from a team and placed in spectator. Also, if a server is FULL, a timer can be used to remove players from the server who are just sitting in spectate, thus making room on the server for an actual player.

worm

[Barstow]

To start, let me agree with Dirt:

Me and all of my buddies have missed the "Liberation" MP gametype ... we'd love to see MoH Airborne bring it back!

=ITW= Dirt McGirt
Maybe it was because it was the first MP game mode I played online, or because I liked the teamwork required, but I miss Lib a lot too.

Interestingly, Lib turned out to be one of the least-favorite game modes among most MOH players and I believe that was one of the main reasons for the dropoff in MOH:BT MP popularity, which at least contributed to the dropoff in MOH MP popularity in general. Lib had a tendency to lag, but I think it lost popularity for a different reason.

The Mefy freeze-tag mod became one of the most favorite game modes. This is interesting because if you think about the two (Lib and F/T), they're almost identical except for two things: in F/T, individual teammates can be 'freed' and (MUCH more importantly, IMHO), frozen players can still participate, to an extent, by spec'ing their teammates. They're not stuck in jail mooning and jumping on top of each other, having no idea what's going on in the game. This was especially important for noobs who, because they're noobs, would spend the majority of each game in jail (read: bored).

As for other modes, I also like the HQ and BAS modes in COD a lot and would love to see them in MOH. The 3P "Countdown" mod in MOH is pretty cool (I like being able to move the radio). Take a look at those, please.


In the interest of answering the original question, here are some admin console functions (and related) I'd like to see.

- A function that easily controls how Spec works for modes like Lib, i.e., to allow/disallow spec and control which team one can spec.

- Some way to clear the game log (e.g., qconsole.log) without restarting the server, for us Stats-o-holics who like to control how stats are collected. And while we're at it, maybe some easier-to-parse in-game logging that's conducive to stats generation, including location of hits (arm, head, etc.) where applicable. The SP game kept track of these, so it seems like it ought to have been possible in MP as well (in COD/MP it is).

- Some way to just turn logging on/off without restarting with a different set of CLI options.

- If the rcon interface is changed, please provide a CLI application that can send commands to a running server from within a shell script in Linux or batch file in XP (like 'moh-rcon' / 'moh-rcon.exe').

- PLEASE connect the console to the clipboard so we can copy/paste from/to the console.

- A function to query the file list (including name, date, size) of the PK3s (or equivalents) on a client connected to the server.

- A function to query the current weapons settings on a client connected to the server (to detect no-recoil and similar hacks).

- A "SysInfo" function to report on all processes running on a client connected to the game server (to detect external aimbot apps, etc.). This of course is a dicey one, but my philosophy is that if you've connected your client to a game server, you should be willing to make this information available.

- True Screenshot capability, i.e., direct a player's game to take a screen shot, reduce the resolution to a manageable JPG, and return to the admin console for display. Knowing this can happen at any time would, IMHO, make many hax0rs think twice and, at least, give admins the evidence needed for kicks and bans of skin-mod cheaters.


In general, as far as an ideal admin console goes, I'd look at the third-party efforts that were developed in lieu of what we never got from EA for MOH and COD - e.g., AutoKick, Foresight, etc.

:cool:

[MajorWoody]

TThe Mefy freeze-tag mod became one of the most favorite game modes. This is interesting because if you think about the two (Lib and F/T), they're almost identical except for two things: in F/T, individual teammates can be 'freed' and (MUCH more importantly, IMHO), frozen players can still participate, to an extent, by spec'ing their teammates.
Freeze tag also has frickin laser beams (http://frickinlaserbeams.ytmnd.com/)!

[Barstow]

LOL!!!!

But thankfully, no SHARKS!!!!

:cool:

[Lod]

I had a quick look to see if this has been mentioned but couldn't find it.

Any chance of having a language filter included, so that we can enter 'badwords' and autokick/ban players for language abuse?

Thanks. :)

[rudedog]

I brought that up Lod, the need for a good chat filter like BazookaJoes filter for AA.

I like the auto kick + filter idea. Say kick player after 3 warnings.

It always comes down to all the great community driven content over the years and the ideas are free!

[Lod]

Yeah Rd, we got a chat filter running on our BF2 server. Its part of modmanager i think!
Anyway, it works a treat. Lets hope we can have something similar for moha.

;)

[andiehuk]

Not sure if this was mentioned already but how about a similar centralised demo function like BF2 has.

[rudedog]

Not sure if this was mentioned already but how about a similar centralised demo function like BF2 has.

Can you exsplain andiehuk? Do you mean the way you can record demo's in BF2 and host them on your server?

[ButchCassidy]

I am just wondering now just how much of this will make it in the initial release.

We know the new engine for the game is most likely the Unreal 3.0 engine and its a pretty tasty peice of work if not probably the best commercial engine available at the moment and I believe in the wake of vista has been updated to support DX10 as well and at last we have an FPS engine that will support multi-core multi-threading CPU's.

After doing some extensive homework and also being an admin for a hugely popular Red Orchestra server which uses UE 2.5
I can find no reason why a huge amount of the requests in this forum regarding Airborne could not be met with the use of this game engine.

Unreal engines come with a huge host of built in Admin features and a web admin page to use them all.
On top of that the SDK is usually very good if a little long winded and there is a massive amount of information and support already available to modders and mappers on the web right now for previous engine versions so i can't see that changing much as long as Airborne is made to be moddable.

For those of you who want see what this baby can do then visit http://www.unrealtechnology.com/html/technology/ue30.shtml

The only limitation i can see is the server size but this engine supports 64 players!!
But of course this could be limited by content and and many other variables.
None the less it is very encouraging to see it fully supports a large scale multi-player version.

Heres the Networking section from the epic site.

Internet and LAN play has been a hallmark of Epic's past competitive games such as Unreal Tournament 2004. The Unreal Engine has long provided a flexible and high-level network architecture suitable to many genres of games.

Internet and LAN play is fully supported on PC and all console platforms.

Unreal Engine gameplay network programming is high-level and data-driven, allowing UnrealScript game code to specify variables and functions to be replicated between client and server to maintain a consistent approximation of game state. The low-level game networking transport is UDP-based and combines reliable and unreliable transmission schemes to optimize gameplay, even in low-bandwidth and high-latency scenarios.

Client-server model supporting up to 64 players as provided. Also supports non-dedicated server (peer-to-peer mode) with up to 16 players.

Supports network play between different platforms (i.e. dedicated PC serving console clients; Windows, MacOS and Linux clients playing together.)

All gameplay features are supported in network play, enabling vehicle-based multiplayer games, competitive team games with NPC's or bots, cooperative play in a single player focused game, and so on. Support for auto-downloading and caching content, including cross-platform compatible UnrealScript code. This feature enables everything from user-create maps, to bonus packs, to complete game mods to be downloaded on the fly. In-game server browser GUI for finding and querying servers, keeping track of favorites, in-game chat, etc.

A “master server” component is provided for tracking worldwide servers, providing filtered server lists to players, etc. Worldwide game stats tracking system.

Please note that we don't provide a server or networking framework suitable for massive multiplayer games. Though such a task is a multi man-year engineering effort, several teams using the Unreal Engine have done so (including Sigil Games Online for Vanguard and NCSoft for Lineage II), demonstrating the feasibility of using the Unreal Engine as a MMORPG game client and tools pipeline, integrated with a proprietary server component.

And here is the the UE3.0 wiki which is packed with even more information about the game engine that Airborne is rumoured...lol.. to be using.

http://wiki.beyondunreal.com/wiki/Unreal_Engine_Versions/3

AND TAKE A LOOK AT THE GAMES LISTED TO USE THIS ENGINE IN THIS WIKI....NONE OTHER THAN....MEDAL OF HONOR:AIRBORNE....CO-INCIDENCE OR JUST A GOOD GUESS?

As many have said before if EA get this right it could be a groundbreaking game for the WW2 fps genre possibly even more so than the much loved original..

[BlackHat]

Aweome info, and just FYI there's no rumor about it. We're on UE3.

[ButchCassidy]

Your welcome Blackhat....I thought it may interest everyone to have some idea of just what the UE3 engine is capable of and that's an aweful lot...lol

[Avarell_Dalton]

Perhaps, or hopefully a little too late for a feature request but since i found it most interesting here it is anyway.

If the servers can run in pure mode, wouldn't it be nice if a player that connects instead of just being kicked gets a choice to see what files are unpure and an option to deleted them ingame? That is of cource if the files is red dot files or similar. If it is modded std files kick him, who wants him on the server anyway?

This scenario only adapts if pure is what i think it is, no orphean files in install directory

[Avarell_Dalton]

And now i came up with one other thing. A nice feature would be that when you set up a server you can also put in the clan homepage as a value and the thought with this would be that users browsing xfire, ASE or similar should be able to click it as an url in any other program. Yep, game browsers would have to edit their software, i'm aware of that.

[rudedog]

As far as your last idea (which is awesome)

I've also let them know about that feature. If anyone has setup a DOD server you know how cool it is to have a HTML based page before they enter your server.

This way you can have links to sponsors, rules, clan sites, and or forums

again great idea, and I do hope they implement something like this.


Take BF2's server/clan graphic to the next step!!

[Avarell_Dalton]

You're making me blush here :D Thanks!

[valhallaweaser31]

rudedog and gasplat said it all, we have asked for this for along time we will see if EA takes our advice, definatly have server download maps like valve is setup, ea need a interface like steam for patches where it updates game as soon as you log in. meduim size maps if there is no vehicle gameplay no point of running around huge map to find someone to kill. No gay bunnyhopping like what killed bf2, before you release the game fix all exploits. Make jump only available to get over objects or disable jump and shoot. Take all your mistakes from bf2 and dont do it in this game i think this is eas last chance for the moh series so i hope they step up.

[Avarell_Dalton]

Take all your mistakes from bf2 and dont do it in this game i think this is eas last chance for the moh series so i hope they step up.

I guess that would be like asking a book writer to not write as another book writer at the same publisher.
MOH:Airborne developer - EALA,
BF series developer - Dice (Digital Illusions)

[Wolverine]

I guess that would be like asking a book writer to not write as another book writer at the same publisher.
MOH:Airborne developer - EALA,
BF series developer - Dice (Digital Illusions)

Ahhh yes, but with the same money controllers (EA Execs) calling the shots. Any dev studio that is owned by EA does not have free reign to do as they wish when it comes to certain features.

You can bet that there are features that Corporate has set in stone for MOH-A whether the dev team likes them or not. Some of them are cookie cutter "my game has what the other guys game has" items and some are money makers like ranked servers. Hope like h### I am wrong on that last one.

[Avarell_Dalton]

Yes, I suppose game publishers sets up more specific guidelines than book publishers but regardless of that the distance between EALA and Dice is a bit bigger than you might think even though both are in house. Speculations from my side since i don't know the business but that's my believe anyway. I doubt EA has a "black list" counting all the "do not put in any game".

[rudedog]

I would also assume that each business unit is run independently and are in somewhat competition with each other to be EA's best/favorite unit

I've always wondered why you didn't see more sharing of assets between EA's dev teams. How many Thompson models can you make? I would also assume it would be cheaper in the long run to make one really good one and share it between any dev who needed one in game. But you don't see that for some reason. I would also assume this would somewhat speed up the development of said game

[RaDioAcTivE]

This may have been mentioned in here somewhere already but it'd be nice to see the ability to utilize one set of ban, kick and "player management" files for multiple servers.

So if you run 4 servers on one box a ban on one server can automatically carry over to the other servers if you wanted to have it set up that way.

[ButchCassidy]

Posted by Blackhat :May 3, 2007 6:00 PM

- There's no prone in Airborne. It just didn't fit the gameplay very well. Besides, this is a game about verticality. When your opponent gets a bead on you from 2 stories up, prone isn't giong to make a difference

************************************************** ************

Talk about living in the past?
So this statement regarding Prone is complete rubbish?


Ask JPaq #2
Will MOH:Airborne have Ironsights and prone stance or not?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From Ben – There’s been a lot of talk in the EA MOH:Airborne forum regarding Ironsights and prone stance being in

MOH:Airborne. Would you please clarify whether or not MOH:Airborne will have Ironsights and prone stance or not?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Yes, we will have both iron-sights and prone in Medal of Honor: Airborne (we actually had both of these in Medal of Honor: European Assault). There are a variety of reasons for this decision, so I’ll take each feature on its own.

For those that aren’t hip to the lingo, “iron-sights” refers to the ability for the player to hit a button and bring the currently held weapon closer, allowing for finer control and better accuracy.
It’s similar to “Aim Mode” from the first Medal of Honor on PS1 (although the original PS1 controller did not have analog sticks, you had to use the D-pad for everything—hence, you had to stop moving if you wanted to aim/shoot. Does it make me old that I remember this?).
Anyway...iron-sights (and the peak/lean ability while in iron-sights) gives the player more skills to master.
More player skills means we get to design a greater variety of enemies to challenge those skills.
We’re also taking advantage of iron-sights for our weapon upgrade system-- a few of the planned upgrades enhance the weapon by increasing zoom and accuracy while in iron-sights mode.
The intended result is a deeper gameplay experience with more player choice. We want the gamer to play the way he/she likes to play.

Prone refers to the ability to lie flat on your belly while attacking the enemy. In real battles, prone is a necessary position for fighting. We use it to add a strategic decision layer to the gameplay through risk/reward.

The risk for going prone is that you move very slow and can’t dodge enemy attacks very well.
The reward is that you are more difficult to hit (we actually shrink your collision volume), and your weapon is more accurate.
Again, we’re focused on providing the player with as many choices as possible. You don’t need to use prone to survive the game, just like you don’t need to use iron-sights. However, there are certain situations that will be easier for the player who has mastered these skills.

I’ve been lurking in the forums and it appears this has been a hot topic recently. Hope this provides some clear answers for y’all.
Looking forward to the next question!

JPaq

Discuss at the official MoH forums
What do you want to Ask JPaq?
************************************************** **********



NO PRONE = BIG MISTAKE...Sorry but this game is not the 6 year old Allied Assault it's Airborne with the new UE3 engine.
If you wanted to appease those who prefer to play with NO Prone then make it an option in-game or on a server but don't remove it completely!!

No prone is such a poor idea that it could be a multiplayer killer.
I can understand the dropping of vehicles (barely.. Guys your using the UE3 engine it supports vehicles?) in order to make a more Infantry based game but to roll back your gameplay to something that is totally out of date beggars belief.
So as Sniper you stand up or kneel but you can't lay down...lol

Every major shooter over the least few years has included Prone because that's how soldiers react when the S**t hits the fan they hit the dirt.

So much for realism!!

Can we please have some Clarification on this Blackhat?

[Busterking]

Wow, no proning WOULD BE a huge set back.

Please confirm that it ain't so?

[OldDog]

NO PRONE = BIG MISTAKE...Sorry but this game is not the 6 year old Allied Assault it's Airborne with the new UE3 engine.
If you wanted to appease those who prefer to play with NO Prone then make it an option in-game or on a server but don't remove it completely!!

No prone is such a poor idea that it could be a multiplayer killer.
I can understand the dropping of vehicles (barely.. Guys your using the UE3 engine it supports vehicles?) in order to make a more Infantry based game but to roll back your gameplay to something that is totally out of date beggars belief.
So as Sniper you stand up or kneel but you can't lay down...lol

Every major shooter over the least few years has included Prone because that's how soldiers react when the S**t hits the fan they hit the dirt.

So much for realism!!

Can we please have some Clarification on this Blackhat?

Uh, excuse me? No prone? Really? Uh, EA Gentlemen, in the dictionary under "Prone", it reads "Infantry" (or should, if it doesn't).

[Whiskey]

Honestly, I can live without the prone feature. The diving/flopping/proning in BF2 immediately upon encountering an enemy was really annoying, IMO, and led to all sorts of silly stuff. It became less real, not more. I'm fine with crouching, and the peek/lean/ shoot-from-behind-cover feature.

[sgTsTuFz]

I can understand the dropping of vehicles (barely.. Guys your using the UE3 engine it supports vehicles?) in order to make a more Infantry based game but to roll back your gameplay to something that is totally out of date beggars belief.

um, whats this about "dropping the vehicles" ?

no vehicle models at all ? or just no driveable vehicles ?

[Whiskey]

um, whats this about "dropping the vehicles" ?

no vehicle models at all ? or just no driveable vehicles ?

No driveable vehicles.

[tetra]

server command needed by mod most popular on old moh (freeze-tag) :

FuncBeam (func_beam) for make laser
function for freeze player
function for hide show player object
function for make solid not solid player object
function move to x y z
player var for have name ping team state weapon and useful infos in mod
isalive player
addkills player
bindkey to action
isfire player

all is documented in game module classes of the sdk for modders from spearhead

and command cvar useful

maplist format

map,gametype map,gametype

sv_maplist "mohdm1,tdm mohdm2,dm mohdm3,lib"

cvar for activat 3d view possibility withot set cheats 1

flood_msgs - not implmented currently (default 4)
flood_persecond - not implmented currently (default 4)
flood_waitdelay - not implmented currently (default 10)
crosshair - whether or not the crosshair is on (default 1)
logfile - whether or not to turn on console logging. All console output is dumped qconsole.log with all info for we can make player stats
password - password needed to connect to this server
sv_privatepassword for private slot and when password user can connect also with sv_privatepassword
sv_privateClients - number of reserved client slots to reserve on the client
sv_realism realsm or not
var for admin choose if player can zoom with weapon or only sniper can ( that is a lot of player don't like pa!!!!! and stay on spearhead and allied assault)

// Toggles friendly fire
set g_teamdamage 0

// Team Kill Warning
// Amount of team kills before the player is warned
set g_teamkillwarn 1

// Team Kill Kick
// Amount of team kills before the player is kicked off the server.
set g_teamkillkick 2

// Team Kill Ban
// Amount of team kills before the player is Banned off the server.
set g_teamkillban 3

command sets for add infos in getinfos command of server

set g_forcerespawn "1"

that all who i would be very happy if hey are in airborne.

thanks.

[Grim]

No prone option kill this thread?

Seriously though maybe we could get an update now that the news is starting to trickle in from E3 etc..

[MajorWoody]

No prone option kill this thread?

Seriously though maybe we could get an update now that the news is starting to trickle in from E3 etc..
Check back next week after Rudedog gets his hands on the Multiplayer version.

[OldDog]

Check back next week after Rudedog gets his hands on the Multiplayer version.

Will he be prone, standing, or kneeling?

[MajorWoody]

Will he be prone, standing, or kneeling?
He'll be peak-n-leaning :p

[Whiskey]

He'll be peak-n-leaning :p

And re-spawning. ;)

[OldDog]

He'll be peak-n-leaning :p

I heard they were going to Ft. Bragg...that's not where the Airborne School is (or wasn't anyway)...it's at Ft. Benning. Bragg is the Special Warfare Center. Did they, after 60 years, move the Airborne School to Bragg?

[GaSplat]

Bragg is home of the 82d Airborne Division. Hence its airborne affiliation. Special Forces are also there. Benning is still the home of the Airborne School.

[OldDog]

Bragg is home of the 82d Airborne Division. Hence its airborne affiliation. Special Forces are also there. Benning is still the home of the Airborne School.

Thx, GaSplat, that clears that up for me. I have an affinity for Benning, and am glad the School wasn't moved.

[Wolverine]

Blackhat I would like to know why it seems you have decided to turn your back on this site.

The server admin segment of your fan base is very VERY important. We are the ones who will spend the long term money on servers. This equals newcomers to the game will have access to many quality servers and EA reaps the benefits of this.

I wanted to think that you are simply busy. Problem with that is that you post almost daily at certain other sites.

I sure hope this is not a revenge thing as that would be counterproductive to the long term relations between server admins and your team.

Please reply.

[rudedog]

http://www.totalairborne.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7549

[MajorWoody]

http://www.totalairborne.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7549
Can i get "backsies"?

[Wolverine]

Blackhat I would like to know why it seems you have decided to turn your back on this site.

The server admin segment of your fan base is very VERY important. We are the ones who will spend the long term money on servers. This equals newcomers to the game will have access to many quality servers and EA reaps the benefits of this.

I wanted to think that you are simply busy. Problem with that is that you post almost daily at certain other sites.

I sure hope this is not a revenge thing as that would be counterproductive to the long term relations between server admins and your team.

Please reply.

So yesterday I see blackhat checking out the site. Viewing moha related threads. He starts to reply to a thread then changes his mind and leaves.

Guess ya just can't come up with anything worth reading that don't sound like BS eh?

And I don't wanna hear that "I am busy" crap either. I know fairly well where you post in the MOH community and how often.

I am sorry to the good people of this site for being so bold with my words but I see some really childish s##t going on here. If that is the way the MOH:A team is gonna run things then I will be all to happy to avoid their product and to help everyone I know understand how they work.

Jim does not deserve to be crapped on like this and neither does this very large and dedicated community of his!

[Busterking]

I think BH is stressed out, specially after the MP fiasco.

He decided to limit his postings where he knows attacking posts will get deleted which is unlikely to happen here.

It's called facing the music, some are not good at that.

[rudedog]

No one is attacking BH personally and I would absolutely not let that happen.

I just wish he was around here seeing as I voiced my concerns to my members a bit more then everyone else.

Granted, our focus here is more on the admin side of things and TBH there was none at the summit.

You would have thought he would come here letting us know what they where doing personally.

To me that was a big let down.

[Avarell_Dalton]

From what i've learned at other forums you can not get an answer from BH if he doesn't have one. He just doesn't reply. Very unpolite in my country but perhaps standard procedure in others.

[Wolverine]

Well I would hope he has the ability to answer why he seemed to cut off ties to this site, that should be within his scope of ability.

And no, I sure don't mean anything personal by calling the guy out. If he is taking it personal then perhaps being in a people job is not the best choice.

[ButchCassidy]

I personally have no axe to grind with him as I don't even know him as a person but others say he is a very likeable fella.

The only issue I have is in his role as community liason he tends to put up smoke screens to cover up a lot of the failures that are now coming to light with regards to the MP version and by that I mean he never truly answers the tough questions put at him.

He was responsible for promoting all the community feedback but instead of answering straight forward questions now that all has been revealed, like why was so much missing from the summit, he either ignores it or states a cop out that not everything on the list could possibly make it in.
Well I think everyone already knew that.

The biggies like why was their no dedicated stand alone server ready, Why does the game only support 16 players, what happened to the requested original OBJ mode, what happened to all the requested server options.
Why are their only 6 maps these all seem to be ignored or he again infers they were always just an option and the devs were never going to include much of the community stuff.

I don't pay him, EA do and in that respect he does a fine job at keeping the community pretty much in the dark about the big issues that effect the whole overall MP experience.

The latest snippet to tell all the Admins about a 7GB upload of the game again was a perfect example of how not post that type of news.

After all the fall out from the MP summit and the claims from other sites he frequents more often about how "Hard the team are working to get everything we want into the game" we get "oh by the way there's no stand alone server it's a 7GB upload"...lol

You can't escape the feeling if you have been following this game for over a year like I have that the MP side is just not ready.
And BlackHat is simply firefighting due to the fact that MP is not anywhere near what was expected from this title.

Maybe patches will fix it maybe they won't but I don't expect any great shakes from this team as so far they have not impressed me with either the content or functionality of the MP side of Airborne.

In the words of Barnham "You can fool most of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time"

[OldDog]

I agree with Butch. I don't know Blackhat personally, either, but he seemed to me to be a well-meaning guy as well. My take on this is that there was a meeting early in the process for MOH:A where they discussed how they can address this 'community' (as they style themselves) that gave Activision (and EA, vis a vis PA and Breakthrough...I still have a difficult time typing or saying those two) such a hard time. Someone at the meeting came up with the idea of having a 'community' rep to keep the 'community' quiet during the development cycle. Well, it worked, if you'll notice. All of us were slavering at the mouth over the 'details' of the game, and the fact that someone was listening to us. Whether, or not, our suggestions got into the game was moot...these people are trying to sell a product, that's all. Well, we've got our game...7GB upload, no admin tools, but there it is (wowee, it has anti-cheat, so there's one for the home team). Whose fault is it? No one's, not really. Certainly not Blackhat's. EA marketing? No, they're doing their job which is to shovel virtually anything out the door as fast as possible for the least cost and generating the largest revenue. Ours, for being so naive? Maybe (I include myself here, btw), and maybe we won't be so naive in the future. But, what does it buy us, either way?

I think Butch also nailed it in another post (http://www.fpsadmin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=52399#post52399) today: he said that there is a resurgence in the PC-based online gaming market, due to all the gear that has been produced recently (Dual and Quad, kick-ass video, etc.). What I think EA tried to do with this game was to 'shovel' something out that met both the console market and the resurgence of PC gaming. Unfortunately, when you go for a 'something-for-everyone' solution, you end up with mediocrity in all of them.

[rudedog]

I've replied to Butches great post with my own rant over this whole mess.

http://www.fpsadmin.com/forum/showpost.php?p=52405&postcount=19

this will be posted on the front page, as well as sent to Blackhat via email.

I think I'm getting too old for this soap opera type stuff. I just want to play good FPS games on the PC, is that too much to ask?

[Busterking]

I think I'm getting too old for this soap opera type stuff. I just want to play good FPS games on the PC, is that too much to ask?


I think we'll all be impressed with the COD4 MP.

Thank God it's being released just a few months after this MOH:A fiasco.

I'm buying MOH:A but after what I have read about it, looks like it's going to be mostly for the SP. Too bad they couldn't include Co-op at least. Would have been some fun since I don't have much hope in their MP.

Every time you voice your opinion on the other MOH:A site, you get accused of not knowing what you are talking about by the fanboys.

I'm just being honest with my opinions and I certainly would like also a good FPS games on the PC, and I don't think I'm asking too much by what COD4 is going to be like!

Makes a BIG difference when you dedicate and entire dev team to MP. Too bad EA didn't do this. They are now rushing an unfinished product out the door with promises of patches. And we're suppose to be grateful for this.

7GB for a dedicated server.... now that's a slap in the face.

[ButchCassidy]

Lol.. this thread was started by Blackhat over a year ago.
When we get play Airborne I would love to see just how many of the features posted here have actually made it into the game...lol

[Mike Nomad]

There is no doubt that the Single Player Demo is nice.... sure it needs fixin's but then the game isn't in release yet. Yes, there's still remnants of mouse lag... I'm sure it'll be fixed. The two mods out for the Demo make the gameplay more interesting, of this there is no question.

WHAT ABOUT AIRBORNE MULTIPLAYER?

My main concerns lie with the Multi-Player side of the game;

Where is the MP DEMO?
Where is the in-depth info about MP?
What features does the MP side of Airborne offer?
What's the configuration options for Dedicated Servers?
Why all the deafening SILENCE when it comes to MP?Truly, this is all an ominous sign offered by EA's continued silence and stonewalling of all but the "favored few" who did everything in their power to HIDE the truth from the users about what occurred at the summit.

It appears that this platform just like other platforms has its fair share of ass/kissers too. They were among the ONLY ones who were sent the latest beta copies. The beta that's to be only for finding "showstopper" bugs. That's fine but what isn't being said speaks far louder than what has been said.

Was this "highly exclusive, sunset beta" done to truly help the PC platform version or was it a gesture of SPITE against those who were honest and truthful? What good can a beta for a program in RC Final status do in a scant few weeks maximum? The answer is relatively nothing. In all likelyhood the program has by now gone gold and has made RTM. It quickly becomes far easier to believe this gesture was of a vicious, ugly and spiteful nature designed to take a cheap shot at those who admirably stood up and spoke TRUTH.

The two-faced, backstabbing phonies.. will all be known soon.

Has our society gone so deeply askew and our social values depreciated to the point where we now reward liars, phonies and charlatans instead of those whose levels of common decency and strong principles are above reproach?

A typical statement by one the "Evangelists".... Definitely, truth is not a consideration.
I believe in both of these products, and I'm doing all I can to get the direct, correct info out to people. AND, I f'ing LOVE Medal of Honor, and after the past failures, I see real hope for this title...SP for sure, MP will take some time, but if current plans are followed, it will be a success as well.
Think about it for a moment... read between the lines, Correct Info or, mindlessly repeating exactly what he's told to say by EA? This guy is condoning "leading the consumers on" in hopes of an improved product later on, (pie in the sky), down the line. AFTER EA HAS EVERYONE'S MONEY! That is so wrong.

As with CoD4, I believe we are seeing the last gasp of marketing designed to wrench the remaining profits from the PC market as EA either makes the full transition to the console market or simply milks the PC MOH Series for every last buck.

Whatever is in store for the PC platform along with all that's really happening, by the end of November of this year, all our questions will be answered.

[Wizz]

Butch I couldnt have said it any better. After reading your post and to find out that there is no "OBJ" gametype is also not good.

16 players max
6 maps, 3 remakes from mohaa
7 gig to upload to ded srv
no obj gametype

Well I do plan on getting the game, have to because of my job. But to be honest, I was hoping for more players on the server. More maps and so on.

Lets just hope that EA pulls the ol rabbit out of the hat "before" the game hits the stores.

[Mike Nomad]

.....<snip> In the words of Barnham "You can fool most of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time"

Butch, that was a great post ... I only quoted the above to clarify it was Abraham Lincoln who said that, not P.T. Barnum.

P.T. Barnum's famous quote is: "There's a sucker born every minute!" ;)

In any case, I believe we have before us the incarnation of a typical Circus/Carnival Sideshow Carny (EA) very busy hawking us into buying Airborne... Oh, how I''ve been letdown by this thing.

I was had with CoD2 ..it ain't happenin' again.

[Avarell_Dalton]

Damn, away for three weeks and all hell is loose. Trying to catch up with the ongoing mess isn't that easy.

First of all, fpsadmin is my number one fps information source! With that said it's sad to see everyone seems dissapointed in BH's lack of replies/absence here and that he is apparently populating other online resources. My experience of BH is from EA's official forums and as i wrote before, if he isn't allowed to give an answer he doesn't reply at all.

Number two, no objective? Is this for real? It must be a hoax!

Number three, all maps seen so far are remakes, this just can't be all mp maps...

So, we've gone from "looking really great" to comparison to PA? PA is almost like cursing in church. Tell me i'm wrong! BLACKHAT, TELL ME I'M WRONG!!!