UT3 Engine/UT3 Demo

[theMechanic]

well, i was going thru the UT3 demo setup, and everything is there, that is, everything that isn't in MoH:A, clan tags, stay logged in, etc etc etc.

thats what i was waiting for to see.

[GaSplat]

Some companies go the extra mile to include the tools you need to run your servers, and then some go the extra mile to turn around and hack it OUT of the engine! Go figure. :hand:

[Wizz]

Agreed

Its all there and I can do with it what I want. It plays very well and get this its a beta demo. Its not even a full blown demo but a beta demo. It plays just as good if not better as a beta demo than what the retail version of Airborne does. Had zero problems installing it, so far zero problems playing it.

[OldDog]

Some companies go the extra mile to include the tools you need to run your servers, and then some go the extra mile to turn around and hack it OUT of the engine! Go figure. :hand:
This is what I meant in a previous post I did awhile ago...it takes some serious effort to REMOVE that stuff from the engine. I don't get it.

[rudedog]

While I have not had a chance to play with this demo I was really hoping the stuff themachanic said was NOT in the game so we could give EA some slack.

As much as I bitch and moan at EA, I really wanted this game to be a huge success.

Funny thing is, with out a doubt I absolutely love and enjoy WWII style games, but after playing HL2 E2 (30 minutes or so), modern combat is not that bad. I mean I think it's more about a realistic setting that I like over a futuristics setting with lasers, monsters, and or spells and witchcraft.

I would still prefer WWII, but modern combat is second on my list.

[OldDog]

I've been playing HL2:E2 as well...the new SOURCE engine is really fine...and, the great thing is that they have tailored it so that virtually any decent system can still play it...see this Anandtech article: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3122

I've also been playing the CoD4 demo, and it's pretty awesome. Had some problems starting it (my system is due for replacement this holiday season), but, after updating my Nvidia drivers, telling the installer to "go ahead" on DirectX 9C (even though it was already installed), and lowering my reso a bit, it worked fine. I'll buy this game, and, RD, I heard somewhere that someone is working on a WWII mod for it. Like you, I have always preferred the WWII genre, but with no decent new MP games available, perhaps we have to bite the bullet (figuratively speaking, of course).

That said, I'm spending my entire weekend on HL2:E2. I've been waiting for it for 2 years. Actually, my HOPE is that I'll be spending the entire weekend...E1 was a big disappointment...too short.

[Wizz]

This is what I meant in a previous post I did awhile ago...it takes some serious effort to REMOVE that stuff from the engine. I don't get it.


Its called console's. Everything about Airborne reaks of XBOX360. Sorry to say it but it does. It smells like a well used xbox360 and thats what we got. I always thought that CoD2 was a port job but this Airborne game takes the cake in that dept. It made CoD2 look like a true PC game hands down.

What EA sold us was a console game.

[OldDog]

What EA sold us was a console game.
Agreed, but the amount of work needed to remove (or disable in some way) the Unreal engine features, even on a port, boggles the mind. It would have been a lot easier, I would think, to leave the stuff in place and give it to us as a "you customize" MP engine. Hell, I would have been ok with that...so would the modders. There would have been a flurry of them coming up with all kinds of admin tack-on goodies.

[Wizz]

Agreed, but the amount of work needed to remove (or disable in some way) the Unreal engine features, even on a port, boggles the mind. It would have been a lot easier, I would think, to leave the stuff in place and give it to us as a "you customize" MP engine. Hell, I would have been ok with that...so would the modders. There would have been a flurry of them coming up with all kinds of admin tack-on goodies.

And I agree 100 plus percent. And you are so correct in saying that it took alot of work to remove all the features especily the server part and player name handling code.

Alot was ripped from Airborne and thats a shame.

[theMechanic]

i doubt if it wa an intentional thing, most likely they didnt know what they were doing.
you can see some similarities between the two, which is wierd.

[OldDog]

i doubt if it wa an intentional thing, most likely they didnt know what they were doing.
Good point...I didn't think of that...lack of knowledge/experience with the engine makes a lot of sense. They probably disabled what they didn't understand, or, rather, weren't given TIME to understand. The latter is more likely, given the pressure the devs were probably under.

[theMechanic]

heres a funny one, i started a dedicated server with the demo, its in there.
and guess what, it generated a server log file, again, unlike moha

its designed to login with your gamespy id, which means GS support WAS in there, but they changed it to their login system

[slngsht]

...I heard somewhere that someone is working on a WWII mod for it.


If you didn't know, there is one already. Day of Defeat Source is the WWII mod for Source. It's multiplayer only, so if you are mentioning something else, I apologize.

[Wizz]

heres a funny one, i started a dedicated server with the demo, its in there.
and guess what, it generated a server log file, again, unlike moha

its designed to login with your gamespy id, which means GS support WAS in there, but they changed it to their login system

Speaking of servers. The Linux dedicated server was released last night. So now GSP's can host demo UT3 servers.

And yes I do agree that more than likely they EA dev team didnt know how to do the engine coding correctly or just didnt have the time. Either way you slice it tho its a console game. Console came first and features were ripped/disabled just to get it on the console platform quickly.

Also remember this, EA swapped game engines in the middle of Airborne's developement cycle. Why they did this I have no idea, but to do it in the middle with a brand new game engine is just asking for trouble.

[Mike Nomad]

......<snip>Also remember this, EA swapped game engines in the middle of Airborne's developement cycle. Why they did this I have no idea, but to do it in the middle with a brand new game engine is just asking for trouble.

They did it to accommodate Micro$oft and the cross platform thing with the xbox360 deal.... more console concessions. Only this one killed a game instead of making it more successful.

[rudedog]

I think you're 95% correct Mike, even though EA would never admit to the side of the story.

I bet EA would say something like, we where not able to do "airdrops" with the previous engine so we changed it to a more robust engine which would accomplish our goals.

However their number one goal was console in mind. I don't care how much EA stated they had separate teams working on each platform. The final game shows that.

However, Mike I have a feeling that MOHA is selling well on console, the platform of choice for EA, but I can't comment on that side of things because I don't play the console or know anyone who does.

While I really want MOHA on the PC, don't string me along like this. Next time they should skip the PC side of things and just leave it as a single platform release.

I wonder what the PS3 guys will be getting, that is a platform and engine they've never coded before. Look at that sports game EA released on the PS3, a total disaster compared to it's xbox counterpart.

Glad we are not called, ps3fpsadmin.......

[OldDog]

If you didn't know, there is one already. Day of Defeat Source is the WWII mod for Source. It's multiplayer only, so if you are mentioning something else, I apologize.
I was talking abut a WWII mod for CoD4, but thanks.

[rudedog]

granted the game is not out yet, but Heat of Battle is going to support CoD4

http://www.fpsadmin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13180

[OldDog]

Aha! I knew I read it somewhere...and it was HERE. What can you expect of an OLD dog, anyway?

[BillyBeag]

just take a look inside the files for the airborne demo, inside there is lots of xbox360 settings. There is no way this was developed by separate teams, I have held off on buying the game until I was sure my clan was going to support it, and the chance is they may but I don't think I am going to bother.
This is a real shame, I have been following the development of Airborne since the first announcement and tried to keep the clan updated with the news too, but I really don't want to buy it and be even more frustrated with all that could have been..

[MajorWoody]

This is what I meant in a previous post I did awhile ago...it takes some serious effort to REMOVE that stuff from the engine. I don't get it.
Yes and No. Airborne isn't using Gamespy for their backend -- EA brought that inhouse. So, it's not all pre-packaged for them. It's EA's first non-gamespy game.

Not trying to defend them, just saying that this might be part of it.

[The_Comfy_Chair]

I've been thinking about this debacle of a server and it seems that it may owe a lot to the anti-piracy movement and some cross-title implementations for EA products (Shades of Bio-shock).

EA recently hacked together a new user interface and login system for their site. I forget exactly where I was reading about it but it was stated that it is now one unified system that tracks and controls users for the games and the forums.

I believe that when EA was doing Airborne they wanted to integrate this system into the game and control user logins and therefore act as anti-piracy all in one - control the logons - limit the game online and offline to registered users only and therefore control the piracy.

I noticed while running a server - and several others have noticed this as well; that players were constantly dropping from the server due to loss of connection/login to EA servers. You also can't play multiplayer with the same CD-key on two different computers - even on different servers - because you cannot log into EA system more than once with the same registered user. And now their ridiculous login scheme is finishing the job by constantly kicking even the legitimate customers from servers due to loss of contact with the EA servers.

If they retained the Unreal Multiplayer code they would not be able to fit it into their new login / tracking / user control system and would therefore lose the control over the users and their keys... so they hacked together their own incredibly shitty server and client and prevent you from logging into a game any other way than through their crapass login system - no x-fire, no gamespy - ONLY through EA.

...and THAT'S my conspiracy theory of the month!

[Bonecase]

UT3 rocks loving the demo!

Airborne sux im still playing it but not sure if anyone else will be soon was only 101 people on last night when I logged in.