MEDAL OF HONOR: AIRBORNE - PC MULTIPLAYER PREVIEW & EXCLUSIVE UPDATE
INTRO
In mid-July of 2007, members of the PC and Console communities were
invited to Ft. Bragg, NC, home of the 82nd Airborne Division of the US
Army, to get a hands-on preview of the multi-player (MP) modes of EA's
upcoming game, Medal of Honor: Airborne (currently targeted to ship on
Sept 4, 2007 in North America for PC & Xbox360; November for PS3).
This preview will focus on the PC platform only. While the PC version
showed a lot of promise and potential, there were a few nagging issues
that hindered the full gameplay experience and enjoyment of the game.
Through a bit of luck and good timing, I was fortunate enough to be
able to drop into the EALA studios a few weeks later and get another
look at the game after these issues had been addressed. I will write
this article as a culmination of the two sessions, with some call-outs
to where things have changed.
MP is often largely based upon the single-player (SP) framework, so for a refresher on some items, you can read my earlier SP
preview. I'll do my best to only skim over items/features that were already talked about in that article.
MULTI-PLAYERThere's a lot to cover in discussing
the MP mode of a game, so I'll try to break it down into smaller
headings to keep this from getting out of control and for better
organization. You can also use them to skip to the sections that
interest you the most, instead of having to read the whole thing.
Graphics/Environment; Audio; PhysicsThe game
flat-out looks great. For whatever reason, still screenshots just don't
seem to do it justice. Textures everywhere (walls, weapons, character
models, etc) are rich and detailed, and make everything stand out more.
Lighting is quite good as well, especially the stark contrasts between
the bright outdoor environments, and the dimmer, often-shadowed indoor
venues. Again many of the still screenshots so far show a strange
"glow" on some objects, but I didn't notice this, or at least didn't
notice it as much, when in-game and playing live. Your character's
body-type/gear are determined by the primary weapon class you choose to
spawn with…a sniper will look different from an smg'er, for example.
The game will then assign a random head/face to your character from the
database of textures it has for each team; one set for Axis, one set
for Allies. Unfortunately, at this time there is no built-in method to
customize your character's look. As always, you will need a powerful
video card if you want to run everything on max graphics settings, but
things will still look good, and the game still enjoyable, on the more
mid-range settings.
The sounds in this game are terrific; this is something almost
everyone has commented on. From the more subtle background noises of
movement/footsteps and shells going off in the distance, to the "big"
sounds of the weapons and close-by explosions, it all really adds to
the realism/immersion factor. I've never fired these weapons in real
life personally, but those who had commented on how authentic those in
the game sounded. One of the members at the MP summit also confirmed
that a question he had back during the SP event regarding sound
directionality was in fact working properly once the correct
audio/headphone settings were applied. If audio is a big selling point
to you, I think you'll enjoy this experience quite a bit.
During some of the E3 videos, many people were concerned with
what appeared to be some over-the-top physics, particularly in the way
bodies reacted to being shot. Thankfully, this has either been largely
solved, or at least toned way down in PC multi-player. I personally saw
no out-of-place cartwheels or dead bodies moving/flying around
unnaturally. One community member did comment that he saw an instance
of a body part being stretched out during an explosion, and another
where the momentum of a high-explosive round carried a player off a
rooftop to explode in mid-air (this, however, does seem somewhat
reasonable to me). So, while the situation may not be perfect, and you
may encounter some extreme physics moments, again for the most part
things seem to behave in a more or less realistic fashion.
Weapons & UpgradesHere are the weapons that
are in the game at this time, and should most likely still be there
upon release. Note: I'm not a weapons-guru, so I'm using general terms
for some of these so that a majority of people will understand what's
what:
Allies
- M1 Garand semi-auto rifle
- Springfield sniper rifle
- Thompson sub-machine gun
- B.A.R (Browning Automatic Rifle) (machine gun)
- M18 Recoilless rifle (rocket launcher)
- Colt .45 pistol
Axis
- Kar98 bolt-action rifle
- G43 sniper rifle
- MP40 sub-machine gun
- STG44 machine gun
- Panzerschreck (rocket launcher)
- C96 Mauser pistol
As said before, the weapons sound very good, and more
importantly "feel" very good. The smg's are deadly at close-range, and
with the Garand or K98 in your hands, you have the confidence that if
you take the time to line up your shot properly, you will take your
target down. Rocket launchers are powerful and have a lot of "splash
damage" when the round explodes, but they are slow to reload, and can
only be fired in ironsights (aim-down-the-sight) mode. At this point,
there are no smoke grenades; only fragmentation ones. Sniper scopes are
now adjustable, giving various levels of zoom and focus capability
(using the mouse wheel as default), depending on the range of your
target and how precise a shot you need to make. Holding your breath
will steady your aim as well. New to Airborne are brief smoke trails
from a sniper's bullet that remain onscreen briefly (I estimate around
1 sec or so) when a shot is fired. If you're not looking directly at
it, it is almost a flash of movement onscreen out of the corner of your
eye, and when you turn around, it's gone. A cold fear then washes over
you as your brain recognizes that there's a sniper in the area, and his
bullet just missed you. This feature was added due to the more vertical
nature of Airborne gameplay, which testing revealed could give snipers
a greater advantage, making them much harder to spot. While I don't
recall anyone at the summit complaining about this, we could see some
folks in the community, especially on sniper-only servers, not being
too fond of the smoke trails, so a recommendation was made to allow it
to be a server-side option.
Each weapon, including grenades, have the familiar melee/bash feature.
In close-quarters, you can club your opponent with your weapon to hurt
or kill him. Back in SP, a sprinting-melee would be an instant-kill,
but I didn't get a chance to try it out in MP.
Each weapon will have 3 available upgrades; the same ones from
SP. A description of the various weapons and their upgrades, along with
their official names/model numbers has now been posted on the main
Airborne
website.
Clicking on a weapon will bring up Image, Details, and Upgrades tabs
where you can get more information. As of this article, the Axis
upgrades are still "classified". You can still get an idea of some of
the upgrades by viewing the before/after image of each weapon, however.
You can also listen to the sounds of the weapons on the Details tab.
At release, servers will be able to run with either all
upgrades on, or all upgrades disabled. For weapons such as the Kar98
rifle whose upgrade is a grenade launcher, or the STG44 that has a
scope, using the key assigned to Alt-Fire will attach/detach the
upgrade for use. Some upgrades will also add to the melee damage
inflicted upon an opponent.
At the time of our hands-on, the M12 shotgun was not available
as a selectable weapon in MP. This will please some people, and
disappoint others. Feedback was given to the Dev Team, with a fairly
high priority, to implement a system to limit the weapons allowed on a
server (ie. no rocket launchers, or rifles-only). If such a system is
eventually put in, then perhaps Dev will allow the shotgun to be used
at a server admin's discretion. Suggestions were also made to allow a
bolt-action rifle for the Allies, and a semi-auto rifle for the Axis
for proper balance, as rifles-only servers were quite popular in
previous MOH's.
NEW - I can't give out specific details at this point,
however I have seen some of the plans and work-in-progress models for
new content to be released post-launch, and some additional weapons are
part of that plan. Hopefully we'll be using them in-game as soon as
possible after the game hits the shelves.
MapsThere are 6 MP maps slated to be available
out-of-the-box at launch. 3 of these are re-done versions from Allied
Assault: Destroyed Village, one of the best rifle maps of all time;
Remagen, the small-town site of many epic battles in the streets and over control of the central hotel/building;
and The Hunt, a classic objective map featuring a bombed-out main street of death and a huge church and courtyard.
The other 3 are maps converted from Airborne's SP operations: Husky, a night map in a small Sicilian town;
Avalanche, another night map set in Italy amid some Greek ruins;
and Neptune, the inland portion of the Utah Beach invasion during D-Day.
While the 3 re-done maps are faithful representations of the MOHAA
originals, they also have their own twists. Most noticeable upon first
glance are the textures; they're gorgeous. The rubble looks very
realistic. Plain walls now have cracks, exposed pipes, and tattered
coverings. More trees and foliage can also be seen. The overall detail,
intricacy, and quality of textures really stands out. As another member
at the summit wrote, it's like watching regular TV, then switching over
to HD.
The maps are relatively similar in horizontal size as the
originals, but some new routes/alleys/paths have been opened up here
and there, as in The Hunt, to reduce bottlenecks and promote movement.
Flanking maneuvers are now possible where they weren't before. Some old
hidey-holes and camping spots are no longer as safe as they used to be,
as there are some planks and objects that will allow more access points
to them, as in Destroyed Village. Old areas that were just for show
before are now useable, like the clock tower in Remagen. Windows that
were only decoration before can now be shot through. The "verticality"
of Airborne also now plays a part in these maps. Rooftops are totally
accessible to Allies airdropping in, and many if not all of these also
available to Axis by climbing up. So while the horizontal playing field
is roughly the same or slightly bigger, the vertical component adds
quite a bit to each map. And it's an important component too, allowing
players to quickly cross areas that may be hostile on the ground, or
provide sniper cover for their team-mates below, or just to survey the
battlefield and track movement of the enemy.
The 3 SP conversion maps are no slouches either, but I don’t want to
give away too many details on those just yet. Again, verticality will
be an important factor in all of them, as you will now have to be very
aware of what is above and below you, not just to the left and right,
front and back. Husky's small-town setting will have many rooftops and
narrow alleyways to battle in. Avalanche has an abundance of ruins to
use for cover, and an aqueduct system to quickly traverse distances and
fire on unsuspecting opponents below. Neptune features a fortified
bunker system with several levels, as well as a more open field with
trenches and obstacles in front of it. Great graphical detail on these
maps as well.
A small, but important visual aspect to these maps are the
"fairways" - the area surrounding/outside of the playable map area.
Instead of plain, boring textures or a really blurry, foggy space
outside of the border, the Airborne Dev Team has found a way to make
these areas look as if they were part of the map. They are quite
detailed, and help to give everything a larger, more realistic feel.
You can only get a partial feel for them in screenshots, but you really
notice them when airdropping in. It all adds to the immersion, and
they're very well done. It's a really nice touch, and whoever figured
this out did a great job.
NEW - Although quality is almost always better than
quantity, 6 maps, no matter how well done, will only keep people
entertained for so long. Everyone, including the Airborne Dev Team
recognizes this. I'm happy to report that along with new weapons, some
new maps are also already in development, and part of the plan to be
released sometime post-launch. Again, I can't give away specifics, but
they are there and are scheduled to be rolled out in waves as they are
completed. One of them in particular has some very exciting
implications. No timelines are available yet, but some will come sooner
than others. Keep your fingers crossed.
Game-Types
Airborne will ship with 3 game-types out-of-the-box at release: Team Deathmatch (TDM), "Airborne" TDM, and "Airborne" Objective.
The first two are very similar. In Team Deathmatch, both teams
spawn on the ground and compete for kills. The winning team is the one
with the most kills at the end of the time limit, or the first team to
reach a pre-determined kill (frag) limit. In Airborne TDM, the twist is
that while the Axis still spawn on the ground, the Allies now spawn in
the air, and parachute in to wherever they choose on the map. Axis
forces will be able to shoot at the Allies as they drop in, however
there is a form of protection logic in the game. More about that in the
Gameplay section.
Airborne Objective is poorly named, as it has very little to
do with the classic Objective (OBJ) mode we all know from previous
MOH's on PC. It is instead more like BF2's method of flag-capturing, or
COD's Domination mode. In Airborne Objective, there are 3 flags on the
map, the Axis spawn on the ground, and the Allies spawn in the air. 1
flag is in the Axis spawn, 1 is on the other side of the map (referred
to as the Allied spawn/flag for simplicity), and 1 is centrally
located. The flags at either end of the map only need 1 player to
capture them, by standing in close proximity for several seconds. The
flag will change colour (red for Axis, blue for Allies) depending on
who controls it, and there are 3 circular indicator icons at the top of
the screen which change colour in the same way to show
progress/ownership of the flags. The middle flag requires 2 players to
be there at the same time to capture it. The winning team is the one to
capture and hold all 3 flags simultaneously. With players working
properly as a team, and the Allies' ability to airdrop into whatever
area they desire, this mode can be a lot of fun. Teamwork is essential
however, as you won't survive long as a lone-wolf.
NEW - Although the "Airborne"/spawning-in-the-air
feature is a great addition to the game and will serve to give a new
twist on tactics and teamwork, as with the limited number of maps,
having only 3 game-types will get stale for many players relatively
soon. Especially those whose favourite gametypes from the older MOH
versions were not included in Airborne. Once again, there is some good
news on the horizon. New game-types are also part of the plan to add
additional new content to Airborne through future patches and updates.
Details and timelines can't be given out, but again will roll out over
the course of the first few patches. I can tell you that work on some
of the modes has already begun. I think that a lot of people will be
very pleased with the results. I got pretty enthused thinking about all
the possibilities of these new game-types, and how they would interact
with the new maps.
Health-SystemI'll be brief on this one - it's
basically the same as in SP. Your health indicator has 4 segments/bars,
each representing 25%, and blue colour fills up each segment to
indicate how much health is left. If you get injured and lose only part
of a segment, then you can take cover to rest, and that segment will
fully regenerate and fill up again. If you take enough damage to lose
an entire segment's worth of health, that segment will not regenerate.
To get that segment back, you need to grab a health pack from another
player who was killed (when a player dies, he drops a health pack).
Again, lose part of a segment, and you can regenerate it by taking
cover; lose an entire segment, and you need to find a health pack to
get it back. This health system seemed to work well in the limited play
time we had with the game. It will be interesting to see what players
think of it once the game is released.
The Airdrop
Back in my SP preview, I wrote that the Airdrop/non-linear gameplay
along with the Affordance AI was a revolutionary combination that would
greatly affect how Airborne's SP was played (and probably other games
as well). Well the Airdrop also has some significant potential to
impact how MP will be played as well. No longer are you bound to a
single spawnpoint; or a set of selectable spawnpoints; or a living
"team leader" spawnpoint who just as often as not turns out to be a
total n00b. Now, you've got some real freedom to make choices in your
attack.
When playing in the "Airborne" game modes, the Allies no
longer spawn on the ground, but instead in the air. The very first
spawn of the round is aboard the C-47 transport aircraft. The interior
lights go from red to green, and you get the audio cue to "Go! Go! Go!"
to exit the plane. Although I didn't try it myself, other members
reported that you could switch places with other players while in the
plane, thus jumping earlier or later depending on your position in
line. After this initial jump out of the plane, all future jumps in
that round take place with you spawning in the air to save time. Some
have asked exactly where in the sky you will spawn…the answer is that
there is a "jump window" area, and you will start somewhere within that
area. It is somewhat random as to where you will appear, but there is
also some game logic working behind the scenes that will affect your
position.
On the way down in your parachute, you have a lot of control
over your steering. I found that you had more control in MP than I
remembered back at the SP preview. As before, you can drift lazily
down, speed up, flare to slow down, turn Left and Right. I don't
recommend drifting slowly down in a straight line, however, because the
Axis team on the ground can and will shoot up at you, and yes, they can
kill you while in the air. But, it's not that easy. First of all, you
can take evasive action while descending, changing speed, making sharp
turns, etc, etc. This makes you much harder to hit. In addition, there
is a form of spawn protection for the Allies dropping in. Basically,
the higher you are, and the further away from an opponent you are, the
less damage you will take. This helps give the Allies a chance to
survey the battlefield from above to decide where they would like to
try to land before being killed too quickly, and also helps prevent
cheap kills by Axis snipers who would only like to sit back and pick
off people in the air. As the Allied player gets closer to the ground,
and to an enemy, then they become more vulnerable to damage. One of the
reasons for this is the Allied ability to perform a melee-drop-kick on
an opponent (or more than one opponent at the same time!) for an
instant-kill while descending. This is, and should be a somewhat risky
maneuver, so the Allied player is susceptible to being shot while
attempting it with no artificial protection.
While descending, the Allied player will have an expansive view of the battlefield below:
He'll be able to see both Axis and Allied players moving from place
to place, see who is massing at which flag, see if any of his players
are pinned down and need help, etc, and be able to take action on it.
He can come screaming in behind some Axis troops and shoot them in the
back before they can finish off his team-mate. He can land on a
rooftop, rifle the Axis below, then slide down and capture a flag. He
can land in a tower and take out an Axis player who is owning the
battlefield sniping from a high position. He can quickly reverse a flag
that was just captured. You get the idea. Your tactics can now change
both as an individual and as a team, as you now have this increased
freedom to not only land where you want, but to get there quickly
(while being careful not to get shot).
Because of the power of this feature, it might need some
balancing once a large number of people are playing it in the real
world. Several suggestions have already been given to the Dev Team
regarding this as well.
I personally really enjoy the Airdrop, both descending as
Allies, and shooting back at them as Axis. And from all the hooting and
hollering I heard both at the MP summit and EALA, I think a lot of
people are also going to have fun with this feature as well. As I also
said in the SP preview, this feature just can't be done proper justice
with words; once players try it for themselves, they'll see just how
many applications and how powerful it is. And as a little teaser…when I
think about how the Airdrop will interact with some of the new content
planned post-release, then things get very interesting indeed.
In-Game FeaturesFirst, let's get some of the
basics out of the way. When walking, the familiar "head-bob" motion of
past MOH's returns instead of your character just "floating" across the
landscape. It's there, but it's not too extreme. At the MP summit, we
noticed significant motion blur onscreen when you made a quick mouse
movement across a wide field, but this had either been removed or toned
down significantly by the time I saw the game again at EALA. This is a
good thing, as most of us felt it was too much/too distracting. When
sprinting, your weapon lowers/is held across your body, your crosshairs
disappear, and the screen zooms in a bit narrowing the field of view
(FOV). The screen will bounce more than the normal head-bob as your
character jogs across the landscape, complete with louder breathing.
Sprinting was still unlimited when I saw the game last. Although some
may like this, some good arguments were also made against it as well
from the MP summit, and that feedback given to the Dev Team. Again in
SP, a sprinting melee hit would be an instant-kill, but I wasn't able
to try this out in MP. After being killed, the screen goes black and
white, the camera hovers and then rotates above your character's body,
then moves toward the location of your killer in a sort of death-view.
This isn't from the first-person perspective of your killer, however,
so it won't necessarily directly give away his position. In-game
taunts, commands, goal messages, etc, return as in previous versions of
MOH, along with their corresponding audio. At this point, there is no
VOIP built into the game. Those interested in recording their playing
adventures can still use FRAPS to do so, however there isn't a
demo/gameplay recorder built into the software. The popularity of such
a feature was mentioned to the Dev Team, and they took note of it; it
may or may not make it into a future patch or update. There is
currently no spectator mode enabled in Airborne. This was again
mentioned to, and noted by the Dev Team as something useful for in-game
recording for those who enjoy that sort of thing. It stands to reason
that if the classic OBJ game-type was ever implemented in Airborne,
then spectator mode would be a necessary feature along with it for
those who are killed early in the match, and then need a place from
which to watch the rest of the battle.
Gameplay
During the MP summit at Ft. Bragg, there were unfortunately a couple of
issues that cast a shadow on Airborne's gameplay. One of them was a
mouse-lag delay in movement/aiming, the other was generally low
frames-per-second (fps). I have seen the fixes personally, and can
report that these have now both been resolved. In my hands-on test at
EALA recently, mouse movement was crisp and accurate, as it should be.
I had no issues at all in quickly acquiring the target I wanted. The
frame-rate issue was largely improved, and I'll go into a bit more
detail on that in the Performance section.
With these 2 issues out of the way, and no excuses, the question can now be asked - is the game fun? You bet it is.
The game moves along briskly, but not overly fast. Similar to
Allied Assault, I'd say, and a bit faster than Spearhead. If the sprint
is toned down, or made adjustable server-side, then I think that could
affect the game speed quite a bit.
The Airdrop, as said before, is a BIG factor adding to the enjoyment of this game as well. This
video
was taken during the MP summit back at Ft. Bragg. The 2nd half of the
vid shows gameplay in action, and the majority of folks you see talking
on camera were from the PC crew, particularly those at the very
beginning of that segment, and at the very end. Even with the hindering
issues present, the players adapted and were still enjoying the game,
largely due to the Airdrop features.
At EALA a few weeks later, it was even more so. Matt Pruitt
from PlanetMedalofHonor was also there to check out the updated
version, and we heard the yelling and trash talking before we even got
into the room, and once we were in-game, it was on. I was surprised to
spot Patrick Gilmore on the other side of the table with a huge smile
on his face as he was concentrating on his fragging. You can try to
fake having a good time, but it's easy to spot. These folks weren't
faking anything.
After being a good reporter and checking out the issues that needed
verification (while being mercilessly killed left and right, I might
add), I grabbed a trusty Kar98 rifle and went into battle for real.
There were no issues at all in acquiring and quickly dispatching my
targets on the ground and in buildings. I wanted to see for myself how
hard it was shooting down the Allies dropping in, so that was my next
test. I quickly spotted one that appeared a medium distance away and
was drifting more or less in a straight angled line to the ground. Even
with a simple drift downward, the target is still in motion and not a
given to hit. Also remember that there is a height/distance protection
factor in play. It took me 4 hits from the Kar to kill her, the last
one just before she would've disappeared behind a large tree. In
another attempt later on, I was able to kill one in 3 shots, getting
very lucky with a headshot to finish them off. Even so, I had to hurry
to do so. This player didn't seem to be making much of an attempt to
take evasive action either, thus leading to his (or her) doom. Neither
of these targets was very far away, thus not having as much protection;
and I had to hurry or I would've not been able to take them out. I was
pretty satisfied with these results, based on the distance, time I had,
their "soft" descent, and number of hits. Once people become more
proficient at this, the tables may turn, however the Allies will also
become better at taking a more varied path to the ground as well.
Server-side options could also help smooth out any balance issues. Red
"X" icons still appear to indicate a successful hit on an enemy. These
don't bother me personally, although they could perhaps be a bit
smaller. I believe this was another item put on the list to eventually
be made a toggle, either server or client side.
We played on a server that had all upgrades enabled, so I then
pressed Alt-Fire (middle mouse button) to put on my grenade launcher
attachment. My crosshair now changed to a familiar gradient/tree-like
icon in order to judge distance/elevation and pressing fire now lobbed
a nade at my hapless opponent, blowing him to smithereens. Damn, that
felt good. One of the other fellows at Bragg mentioned that he had some
difficulty adjusting to the regular hand-thrown grenades, so I tried
those out next. Now, I've never been a nade whor, uh…master, so I just
kept it a simple test of throwing a nade through a window a short-med
distance away. Seemed OK; they didn't seem to sail on me or anything. I
find most games give a different "weight" to grenades, so perhaps it's
just a matter of getting used to it.
There wasn't a lot of time left, so I switched to the MP40 for
a bit of smg action before the night was up. At close range, that
thing's a killer. It was easy to control and fired in a tight pattern.
Matt was making good progress with a sniper rifle, racking up a number
of kills quite quickly from a rooftop. Seems his opponents didn't look
for the smoke trails.
I wasn't able to find any cover to shoot under using the
peek/lean system, but I did use it over and to the side of a small
object I was hiding behind, and it worked quite well. I don't know if
my opponents saw me or not, but if they did, they didn't seem to show
it and they were dispatched forthwith.
Those of us at the MP summit back in July saw little moments
of fun here and there, as was written in several of the reviews at the
time, but weren't quite sure of what the game had to really offer due
to the problems with shooting. Even though the session at EALA was
brief, it was enough to show that with these issues resolved,
Airborne's MP gameplay could properly shine through. For those who
haven't yet seen it, here's an
HD video of actual PC MP gameplay in action (with scenes from Destroyed Village, Remagen, The Hunt, and Neptune to name a few).
Scoreboard
At the end of each round is now a more expansive scoreboard. Stats
tracked will depend on game-type, but some of the numbers now logged
are kills, deaths, headshots, total points, team points, as well as a
summary/awards screen showing the most accurate player, best
teamplayer, deadliest player, etc, etc. It's a relatively small thing
that other games have as well, but encouraged a lot of chatter and yes,
more trash talk at the end of each match.
PerformanceFor those curious as to the performance
difference in fps between the Ft. Bragg MP summit and my second look at
EALA, here's the lowdown. At Bragg, the lowest spec PC was an AMD +3800
(2.0 GHz) Dual core, with 2 GB RAM, and an Nvidia 7800GTX 512MB video
card. Frame-rate was mostly in the mid 20's to low-30's range. Most of
the other PC's were a bit of a step up using 7900GTX 512MB cards
(similar RAM and processor), and did a little better cruising at a
mid-30's range.
Two of the exact PC's from Bragg were shipped to EALA for
further testing. Optimization code was checked in, as well as more
investigation into proper settings. At my visit to EALA, the 7800GTX
now ran at a steady 40-50 fps, with the 7900GTX running above 50 fps.
The Dev Team mentioned that they were actually still working on this,
and were hoping to squeeze out a few more fps on these cards if things
went well.
The rest of the PC's at EALA were Intel 2.66 GHz duo's, 2 GB
RAM, and on 8800GTX 768MB cards, and ran smoothly at 60 fps with maxed
out settings.
Servers
At the MP summit, 12-player "listen" servers (ie. your PC is the
server, and you play on it as well) were used to demonstrate the game,
as the dedicated servers were not yet functional. A few weeks later at
EALA, we were shooting it out on full 16-player dedicated servers (ie.
the PC running the server is only dedicated to running the server
itself). In speaking with the Dev Team, higher numbers had already been
tested with some success, and they were still working to get as many
players as possible functional for release. They wanted us to make it
clear, however, that specifics would not be released until both the
number of players and the necessary supporting functions (which many of
us forget about, such as changing scoreboards, database sizes,
information transfer issues, etc) were implemented and fully tested.
The game ran smoothly with no problems in a pseudo "real-world"
environment. Basically, the dedicated server and all the PC's were in
the EALA building, but were all connected to each other through the
Internet (ie. not a LAN setup). Latency testing has also been done with
other locations across the USA, with good results even against higher
ping numbers, and is continuing in true "real-world" environments on
the Internet.
There is an in-game server browser that will allow you to scan
for various LAN or Internet games to play, along with filters to help
narrow down your choices.
In regards to dedicated server install, the plan right now
looks as if the entire game (both client and server file