Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Suggestions from our community members for PR:BF2. Read the stickies before posting.
DeltaFart
Posts: 2409
Joined: 2008-02-12 20:36

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by DeltaFart »

Ive done that and it still missed the lock on the first hit
Razick
Posts: 397
Joined: 2007-12-04 01:46

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by Razick »

[R-CON]Wolfe wrote:Theoretically yes, but then again, engineers shouldn't be running around doing CQC.
Then why is he the one to be breaching doors? Bit oxymoronic isnt it?
crazy11
Retired PR Developer
Posts: 3141
Joined: 2008-02-05 00:20

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by crazy11 »

[R-CON]Wolfe wrote:How close are we talking? You have to be less than 1/4 a meter to guarantee a hit; basically the barrel has to practically touch the door.
I have been standing with my gun in the door lock and missed the first shot.
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You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.- Wayne Gretzky
Tirak
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Joined: 2008-05-11 00:35

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by Tirak »

Point blank, as in cannot walk any closer to the door, and yet it still misses the lock at least a quarter of the time. Deviation on the Shotgun really needs to be looked at. It was hard when you had no sights, but at least you could eyeball it to some degree, but now you can't hit the broadside of a barn unless you take the same amount of time a sniper would take to line up your shot.
justman2005
Posts: 59
Joined: 2007-11-24 04:08

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by justman2005 »

sweeet mother of ****.. this thread is god like.. you should be proud man.
the other Steve
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Joined: 2008-09-15 20:51

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by the other Steve »

are you doing such a list by every new mayor release?
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
egcStarki-PaF
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Joined: 2008-09-17 06:53

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by egcStarki-PaF »

WoW ... that was teh best Suggestion Thread long time ago. 8-)

The best points are about VIII. Team Communication

Its most important to advance in that Area coz it lacks a bit of improvement.

5*****
Tirak
Posts: 2022
Joined: 2008-05-11 00:35

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by Tirak »

justman2005 wrote:sweeet mother of ****.. this thread is god like.. you should be proud man.
You should see his earlier works, Warren has a habit of making suggestions and feedback that are full of win :D
the other Steve
Posts: 109
Joined: 2008-09-15 20:51

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by the other Steve »

i cant believe that this isnt stickied
its sad that this get overflooded whit the other suggestions
This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.
Scot
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Joined: 2008-01-20 19:45

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by Scot »

About shotguns, if you don't want them to be 'snipers' or whatever, and guarantee a hit on the locks, make them buckshot!! That way you have a spread of fire and it can't be used as a rifle.
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M.Warren
Posts: 633
Joined: 2007-12-24 13:37

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by M.Warren »

Thank you guys. I really appreciate all the positive support and compliments you've given me.

I'm especially happy to hear that quite a few people had actually read this list in-depth. Something of this size usually overwhelms most readers. I'm glad that the time and effort placed into this compilation didn't go to waste.

Very pleased to see it got recognition aswell to be in the "Sticky Thread" category.

I'm also curious to hear what our PR team members have on thier minds aswell.
the other Steve wrote:are you doing such a list by every new mayor release?
To say for sure that a list like this will be made for every major release depends upon the content of gameplay. I simply felt that there were a handful of issues that needed to be resolved as quickly as possible.

This was also done with the intent to help set a form of practical standards for Project Reality. There are many aspects about PR that may go overlooked simply because of the size of this mod. Proper balancing, refinement and guidelines between aircraft, soldiers and vehicles should have a generalized common rule of thumb.

Take for example, "XI. Maps and The Minimap" and issue # "5. (Major Feedback)" about aircraft runways. Let's say someone wants to make a map that is orientated around Jet Close Air Support. Rather than having to fix every single minor detail as the problem arises and having to wait 4 months for the next patch to come out to fix it. We can simply set a certain standard that before the acceptance and introduction of a new map, that it has actually passed a series of required criteria ontop of what [R-DEV]'s already expect.

Not that I'm trying to be rude, as I cannot manipulate the Battlefield 2 engine and sculpt it into the vision of PR. But at times it feels as if we make two steps forward and one step back. Every 4 months we make progress in correcting the issues in previous patches or builds and something else arises to take it's place.

I'm hoping these guidelines would help raise the bar to either meet or exceed a certain level of gameplay. This is so players can return back to gaming with a clear mind and be generally happier in thier experiences rather than constantly saying to themselves "Why is this like that?" or "What if...?".

I deeply feel that a good modification or game allows players to simply enjoy thier experiences with little regret and a clear conscience. Like years ago when we we're younger and chose to ride our bike for fun. We just got on it and went on our merry way... As opposed to getting up for work and saying to yourself "(Sigh)... Here we go again.".

There are times in PR where I feel like banging my head on the wall. Good gameplay always flows in an effortless fashion and just happens to work out as it should. The only thing that should slow you down is your adversaries on the other team. But hey, I love realistic gameplay, teamwork and coordination just like the next person.

After all this time I think we're beginning to forget that playing a video game is less of a chore and more of a fun experience. But as you can see it is a very, very fine line to walk across. To meld gameplay and reality is a difficult task. We're all enveloped in teamwork and realism to such a depth that we just may have lost ourselves the midst of it all. Maybe it's time we take it back a notch and rethink our views.
Take the Blue Pill or take the Red Pill?

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TJ-XRL
Posts: 110
Joined: 2008-08-16 23:39

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by TJ-XRL »

ReaperMAC wrote:Lets just give the Insurgent Collaborator an iPhone. Then they could use the Google Earth/Map feature to call in arty.
yea then the fin civs wont get in our way they whould be too distacted :firing:
FFLaguna
Posts: 14
Joined: 2007-05-06 17:26

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by FFLaguna »

You forgot that the SAW carry handle obscures a large portion of the screen when zoomed in on the sights. This should be changed--get that handle outta my way!
fuzzhead
Retired PR Developer
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Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by fuzzhead »

Legend:

BLUE = Contact the appropriate DEV to get your suggestion implemented
GREEN = In Agreement / Work In Progress / Needs Improvement
RED = Disagreement / Not Possible / Problems

Although Im not "The Final Word" when it comes to stuff being implemented into the mod, I figure I would reply to your thoughts here warren since you took the time to lay them out in an organised list.

I have not had as much time as I'd like to work on PR stuff, so Warren I really hope you do follow up on what Ive mentioned and PM the ones I mention here. Most of this stuff is within the grasp of changes, so please do PM the ones I've specified with your suggestions.


Well here we go....

Both short range and long range missles such as the AIM-9M, AA-11 and the AIM-120, AA-12 could use some serious rethinking. Currently short range missles have a enormous detection diameter and long range missles have an inadequate detection diameter. Which is apparently and almost logically backwards... This will be explained later. On another note, the overbearing effectiveness of short range missles has nearly eliminated an amount of player ability that was previously required.

A. Decrease the detection diameter of short range missles significantly.
B. Increase the detection diameter of long range missles greatly.
C. All missle detection diameters for both short and long range missles must coincide with thier respective HUD displays.
Yeap sounds good. I still think Jets in Project Reality are critically hampered due to the size of maps and the view distance. 4km is simply too small for a jet in the BF2 engine IMO. If it was entirely up to me, 4km would be the minimum size in order to field a 2 seat attack helicopter and 8km would be the minimum size in order to field a jet. Obviously my opinion on this is not the opinion of all the dev team. PM CAS_117 about your concerns with the jet aircraft and Im sure he can tell you everything he is doing to improve this aspect of PR.

All large scale maps utilizing jet aircraft of any varient requires the out-of-bounds timer set to 15-20 seconds (Currently 10 seconds for jets and 20 seconds for helicopters).
Agreed. This is a strange issue though because they SHOULD be set at 30 seconds on Kashan and Qinling, although it seems to be different than the setting :(
If we can get it to work properly, IMO the timer should be set to 9999.

Currently seen in Fighter-Bomber type aircraft the Co-Pilot may have difficulty delivering laser guided bombs. While the Co-Pilot is looking through the laser guided bomb interface there is a general lack of a sufficient arc to view during attack runs making it hard to maintain a bead on the target.
Again speak with Mr. CAS117 about this as he is the most likely candidate to implement changes on these.

All Fighter-Bomber aircraft need a critical minimum altitude to use Laser Guided Bombs as currently there is none in place and/or an inconsistant defect.
This is definitely an oversight - ALL laser guided munitions should have a minimum travel time before they become active. This will be adjusted in the future if better maps come out which benefit from having Fighter-Bombers. Speak with Mr CAS about getting this corrected.

All Fighter-Bomber aircraft need the Co-Pilot seat altered so the player cannot have a 3rd person camera outside of the plane. Currently the Co-Pilot can have 3 different modes of camera viewing. These camera views are stationary fly-by, chase front, chase rear. Also the Co-Pilots view must be limited to the same as the Pilot; being that he can freelook from inside the cockpit and look rear to watchout for enemy aircraft.
Agreed, this is an oversight, as you can tell the 2 seat bombers were a late addition to v0.8, speak with CAS117 about implementing these.

The U.S. and/or British Harrier VTOL (Vertical Takeoff or Landing) needs to be immediately reverted back to it's previous control state as seen in v0.75 training.
The harrier in v0.8 is heavy WIP and is NOT in a releasable state currently. Direct any vehicle handling comments towards CAS117, we will probably see this aircraft complete in v0.9.

The HC3 Merlin is currently missing a previously existing sound notification. While acting as the Co-Pilot and operating the boarding ramp it appears that the hydraulic actuation sound no longer exists. This minor detail will need to be resolved.
The Merlin Loading ramp is a trivial and whimsical part of the vehicle, and may in fact be causing the "lag" of the vehicle. There is no usefulness in the loading ramp other than to "look" cool, unless we choose to make the entry positions inside the actual helicopter (something most devs opted against). Due to the nature of the BF2 engine, having players freely standing on/in vehicles will almost always kill them, thus having a loading ramp at all will be evaluated and possibly removed in future versions, but the sound of the loading ramp is of no relevance to the dev team, thanks for finding it though.
Attack Helicopters should have the 1st weapon slot as the Radar Off function.
Agreed, makes sense. I think there is a feature like this currently? I could be mistaken though. If theres not its definitely a good idea.

The HC3 Merlin and the UH-1N Huey (Both transport and rocket varients.) need a FLIR (Forward Looking Infared Radar) camera system. Currently these two helicopters posess this equipment as displayed in thier models but they do not play any role in thier use.

Also for aircraft balancing, take note to remove the "laser designation" feature that the Light Scout Helicopters have. This is to prevent players from using Transport Helicopters in a role that they're not specified for.
Agree with giving them "FLIR", the same thing in thats in the scout helicopter but without the laser. But also allow them a normal view as well. Thats a very low priority though, send Falkun a message about it and see if he'd be willing to do it.

I disagree with making the co-pilots mandatory... we already have a problem with not enough boots on the ground, no need to create yet MORE positions in the air. However, I do think that giving players the option to play a co-pilot if they so choose is a good idea, as it brings unique gameplay and further level of coordination, I just dont think it should be forced if players feel its unnecesary to be a co-pilot.

Alter the BTR-90 Rostok
According to our mil advisors, the BTR-90 is a very high-end vehicle that was not signifigantly produced / deployed by any Middle Eastern or Russian forces, and will be phased out of Project Reality in the coming versions.

Rather than simply adding a 30 second delay to all armor turrets, but also add a new feature that prevents users from switching back to the Driver seat from the Gunner position as quickly. This idea was derived from the 3 second timer delay while switching to the gunner position on a jeep's mounted .50 caliber gun.
This kind of delay is not possible (to delay switching). We have tried engine start delays before, but there was issues with that as well as bugginess.
In the end I dont see this being signifigant, I still favour personally a change that forces 2 man armor crews in order to effectively engage targets. Through python, limit the gunner seat so that if there is no player sitting in the driver or cupola gunner, the main gun becomes disabled and cannot fire - - - this would remove 99% of one man tanking, but is still a debateable topic with the rest of the dev team.

Rather than having a smoke screen launcher for the Tank drivers, a new approach is in need of a research. Although Gunners for Tanks already have access to smoke screen deployment, how about Tank (And possibly APC's aswell.) Drivers having access to whats referred to as a "Smoke Generator" created.

Smoke Generators have been discussed by dev team many times before (remember UK Force lives at a Tank Army Base) but until someone developes an effect that does not kill a players PC, renders at all ranges and renders consistently we will have to make do with what we got.
The current smoke screen does not render at long ranges and has consistency issues. The current smoke will NOT ALWAYS show up for players, it all depends on these factors:
- distance player is from the vehicle when smoke is deployed
- direction player is facing in relation to the vehicle when smoke is deployed
- current number of smoke being rendered on screen, after a certain amount the engine will stop rendering additional smoke clouds.
- random chance.

This inconsistency is a major pita and is due to the particle system of BF2, both a blessing and curse to the mod.

The British Challenger 2's mounted Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun does not have a proper recoil animation. Rather than the weapon recoiling as it should, it appears that there are two different Browning M2 .50 caliber machine guns at once. There is a static representation of it while not firing, which also results in a second representation of the machine gun during it's recoil phase.
All 50cal do not recoil nearly as much as we would like... reference FH2 for some good 30cal recoil. This is still unanswered, we need someone with experience with this sort of stuff, our animator Chuc has been unable to solve this yet, contact him if you have any idea how to implement this.
Recommend adding "collision boxes" to the main guns on all armored assets, such as APC's and Tanks. Currently few APC's and Tanks actually have these "collision boxes" and creates an unrealistic advantage for some armor units over others.
Most custom PR vehicles have these, and most new vehicles will be recieving these. We cannot edit vbf2 vehicles, so as more vbf2 vehicles get replaced, this problem will become less and less.
The British Scimitar has a Gunner Smoke Screen deployment issue. Rather than deploying smoke in a uniform and equal fashion, it appears that 2-3 Smoke Screen grenades seem to clump up on the front left hand cornor after deployed from the turret. This also results in a large gap in the Smoke Screen which will occur directly infront of the turret.
Known issue thanks for bringing to attention.

The British Scimitar has a Driver HUD indicator issue. There appears to be a numerical value of 10 or 11 which is ifficult to determine for sure as it's off-screen and hard to see. This can be viewed in the bottom left hand cornor of the screen. It seems to pose no particular use as left clicking, right clicking or attempting to switch weapon types produces no effects to it's purpose.
Not seen this issue before thanks for bringing it up.

Vehicle deployed smoke screens could also use refinement. To help describe and identify these situational uses of smoke screens I needed to utilize screenshots. There are 2 different effects that occur based upon what happens to the grenades.

A. Smoke Screen Airburst Type (Time delayed.) - These are the common result of deploying smoke screens that do not impact with an object or the ground. They appear to hang in the air vertically rather than dispersing out in the air in volume. These results are inconsistant and on occassion vary in large gaps that appear between each deployed smoke screen canister. Other times the smoke deploys properly.

B. Smoke Screen Impact Type - These are not a common result while deploying smoke screens, however they provide a more desireable effect. These grenades generally provide a thicker and significantly better smoke screen as they've resultantly impacted with an object (Trees, rocks, buildings, etc.).

If there was a means to modify the smoke grenade itself so that when deployed they use a similar system to how deployable assets work we would see better smoke screen utilization. For example, razorwire when deployed comes in contact with the ground at a certain point. After it comes in contact with the ground the deployable object itself settles and the actual graphic representation of where the razorwire lays is shown a few moments later.

So, if we could fire these smoke screen grenades similar to deployable assets to have them detonate at a certain point above where it makes contact with the ground, we'd see an improvement in results, rather than having them simply time detonated... Or we could possibly have a mix of both worlds of "deployed impact" type and "time delayed airburst". This is so that it does not fall too far away from the vehicle itself, such as deploying a smoke screen over water where the "deployed impact" type would not function and "time delayed airburst" would come into play.

Here is several sample pictures of the previously mentioned situation.

Current Issue:
Smoke Screen Airburst Type Woodland
Smoke Screen Airburst Type Desert

Smoke Screen Impact Type Woodland
Smoke Screen Impact Type Desert
Agreed there needs to be better smoke system for vehicles, I believe they should create thicker smoke as well as launch further out, last much longer and much thicker, however as the reasons above suggest, there is problems with BF2 particle system, and rendering is not reliable. That being said, Alex is our main effects creator right now so PMing him your suggestion will help your cause.

One-man armor gunning (Tanks and APC's) should no longer be capable of occuring.
Agreed, read above for my response.

The LAV-25 Pirana for the U.S.M.C. forces has a major issue. While traveling through the water it is particularly vulnerable to explosives such as anti-tank rockets. The vehicle itself will take damage as expected, however the explosive charge of the missle projectile will severely injure or kill it's occupants.This issue still exists from the previous version of Project Reality, this was noted on a particular round on "Qwai River".
Strange vbf2 bug related to material types and explosion projectile. Will need to be investigated, Im not convinced that its just the LAV-25, needs extensive testing. In either case, I believe we will eventually be replacing or getting a custom model for the LAV-25 to replace the vanilla model, which may fix this problem if it is in fact an isolated incident (which I doubt)


The British Stormer HVM Anti-Aircraft Vehicle is shockingly unrefined. The player must enter the vehicle from the rear, but when dismounting the vehicle he is released from the forward driver compartment and cannot reenter the vehicle from that point. Thusly the player after dismounting must get out and go around once again to the rear of the vehicle to get back in.

If the user presses the number "1" or "2" on his/her keyboard they will be switched out of the AAV's missle control interface. The player then will enter what appears as a non-existant driver seat with no possible means to switch back to the missle control interface and must exit and reenter the vehicle.

Also the green sighting reticule is horridly disfigured and appears as a blurr of neon-green-mess below the sighting system itself and randomly changes in appearance from time to time. This sighting reticule is also so relatively light in color that it does not contrast well against a brightly lit sky like what is seen on the "Battle for Qinling" map.

This vehicle also lacks an audible tone when a proper lock on is made. An enemy aircraft could possibly be right infront of you and you'll not even hear a sound.

Yeap, its a new vehicle that was put in late in the v0.8 developement process, expect bugs like this to happen to all new vehicles. We will be working on this vehicle as well as other AAV's in the future, however its a low priority vehicle atm due to it being only on one map.


As time goes on it's becoming increasingly noticeable that there is a need for additional asymmetrical balancing in game for Anti Aircraft Vehicles.

Agreed. In my opinion, an AAV should be much closer to the Stormer - that is, a purely ANTI AIRCRAFT focused role. As it is right now, the PLA, MEC and USA AAV's are all used as 1 man tanks that are extremely effective at killing infantry. Basically they are perfect vehicles for lonewolf rambo's after a high kill count. Usually they are too busy shooting at grouped up infantry to notice the enemy jets flying overhead which is the entire point of their existence.

The dev team is still deciding how to approach this situation, but my personal opinion is to pick more role specific vehicle approach to AAV's, which is the Stormer HVM, Humvee Avenger, WZ551 outfitted with 8 AA missles, BRDM Spandrel with AA or simular. So AAV's without the super cannon. If an asymetrical scenario dictates the need for an AAV with both cannon and missles, then that vehicle should be a 2 man vehicle (driver and gunner) like the rest of the armored vehicles. It only makes sense....

Dirtbikes and ATV's veer left or right slightly depending upon last directional input. Requires minor centering adjustments.

Hopefully we can get those new dirtbikes by Flan into the next build. ATV handling is a bit of an experiment by us, needless to say though it is NOT meant to be taken seriously, as matter of fact there is not ATV in PR maps right now other than for a bit of silly entertainment. We dont intend ATV to be a major part of PR, however the dirtbikes will continue to be an element in insurgency.


The British Landrover's mounted Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun does not have a proper brass ejection animation. Rather than the spent brass cases and metal links dispersing to the right of the machine gun, it appears that the ejected materials collide with the gun and end up awkwardly on the left side of the front ironsight.

Known issue, something needs to be dealt with in future but low priority, its a result of the new high poly m2 browning we got from BSS.


The 375 Ural (Chinese and M.E.C. support truck.) needs some minor visual corrections. When the driver attempts to turn left or right the vehicle's front wheels remain pointing forward rather than turning left or right respectively. This does not effect the vehicles driving in any way, just it's visual representation of directional control. This issue has been noticed since the v0.7b patch.

Known issue, may or may not ever be fixed.

Simple vehicles such as Jeeps should be squad orientated vehicles. Any squad utilizing a standard Jeep all they need to do is keep a minimum of one person in the Driver or Gunner position. As soon as both of those spots has been exited it's free game to be utilized by another squad. This is to prevent random players from impeding gameplay progress and is way overdue to be implemented in game as this is not the first time the problem has occured.

Sounds like a reasonable suggestion. IMO jeeps are much less effective than APC's and should have a minimal role in largescale ground operations, they should definitely take the backseat and APC/IFV should be at the forefront.
PM dbzao to see if its possible to implement.

After several testing sessions, it's clear that .50 caliber machine guns appear to be unbalanced between factions, this is primarily aimed at vehicles that utilize HMG's mounted on them. It appears that the Chinese and MEC .50 HMG fires at double the rate of the British and U.S. .50 caliber HMG. However the Chinese and MEC .50 caliber HMG overheats at roughly 5 seconds, whereas the British and U.S. .50 caliber HMG overheats at roughly 6 seconds.

To help bring this into perspective, there are two different specifications for modern .50 caliber weapons. The British and U.S. team uses an identical round. The Chinese PLA and fictional MEC army would theoretically use the Russian varient of a .50 caliber round.

A. Standard British and U.S. .50 caliber round = 12.7mm x 99
B. Standard Russian .50 caliber round = 12.7mm x 108

Although Project Reality has an abstract perspective on overheating weapons. Thermal conditions and rate of fire go hand in hand. Double the rate of fire, double the overheat condition. Also the fact that the Russian .50 caliber round ( 12.7mmm x 108 ) is slightly larger than the standard .50 caliber (12.7mm x 99) round.

Thusly the Chinese and MEC .50 caliber HMG should be able to maintain it's rate of fire and overheat at 5 seconds. Whereas the British and U.S. .50 caliber HMG fires at a rate almost half of the others and thusly should overheat at roughly 10 seconds of consistant fire rather than the limited 6 seconds.

This will give each .50 caliber varient of HMG's its own particular nature of Pro's and Cons. The Chinese and MEC .50 caliber HMG offers higher firepower volume at the loss of longevity, whereas the British and U.S. .50 caliber HMG offers lower firepower volume and increased longevity.

Interesting findings, will need to do some tests and this and see what we come up with. I dont really care for the vbf2 "overheating", I'd prefer something along the line of "weapon malfunction", in that you can fire the weapon for a long time without this vbf2 overheating ever 10 seconds, however if you fire the weapon long enough and an "overheat" does occur, it effectively shuts down that weapon for 5 minutes or longer. Dont mean it will be implemented but thats how I'd rather see the overheating system go towards instead of keeping the vbf2 mechanics (which Im prety sure PR is simular to in that regard)


The return of the Engineer support jeep. The purpose of this vehicle seems elusive and undefined. However, this vehicle does not offer anything other than exclusive access to engineers and a single ammo box primarily for mine deployment. Apparently this vehicle has little use outside the fact for the deployment of mines.

We will probably see a reduction in normal jeeps, thus you will see the use of engineer vehicle increase. They ARE useful currently as they are a guaranteed vehicle for engineers attached to an armor unit can use (esp since they are usualyl readily avaliable.) However in the future maybe the repair system will change for vehicles and the role of the engineer vehicle will shift again.

Mobile vehicle rearm has been discussed within the dev team, I personally think its unnecesary due to the extremely short distances that all PR maps take place in, I think the need to go back to your operations base to rearm is both realistic and good tradeoff to burning through all that ammunition, ammo conservation is a part of tactics in PR now and would NOT be a factor if mobile ammo resupply was introduced again. Theres also the fact that these tiny cars would NOT be able to carry ANY signifigant amount of vehicle ammunition.


To help improve gameplay dynamics it is recommended to increase the amount of soldiers a RIB can carry to 8 people.

Sounds like a good idea.

PM Falkun (the dev team's odd's and end's coding *****) to have this idea brought to light.



The M249 on the RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) has some minor graphic issues and an incorrect shot location.

Hopefully M249 will be replaced with a more suitable mounted weapon in the future (M240), as the current one is impossible to line up the sights properly. Also the RIB could probably use a replacement but is very low priority.

we're ready for Patrol Boats and Light Ships.

Good suggestion. Get modeling. Post your progress in the Community Modding forums like everyone else ;)

The Lee-Enfield Sniper Rifle for the Insurgent and Militia forces do not have a bolt actuating sound, despite that the standard Lee-Enfield iron-sight counterpart does.

Known issue,

bug jaymz about this to fix it (he's tried fixing it he doesnt know why the fuck its not working)
The U.S. M9 and the M.E.C. MR-444 pistols do not have an idle "breathing" animation. However the British L9 and the Chinese QSZ-92 pistols do. Minor corrections will be needed to fix this situation.
Good observation,
PM Chuc this issue to get this fixed.


The TM62 mine used by MEC and Militia forces still do not have an equip sound active. After drawing the mine out for use you cannot hear any sound effects for the fuse / detonator being placed into the explosives carridge.
Known issue.
PM Jaymz to add that clicky sound.
Apparently Molotov Cocktails still have an effect on armor assets. However the damage is lessened, but this proceeds to injure the occupants of the vehicle. Seems odd for Molotov Cocktails to injure and/or kill it's occupants while behind a layer of armor. It is vague and undetermined if this was actually intended to occur or not.

If it is infact true that Molotov Cocktails are to effect armor assets, it would make better sense for it to cause damage to a vehicle and the occupants only after it is below 25% armor rating (health) or is disabled. Currently it seems awkward that a Molotov Cocktail would cause damage/harm to the vehicle or occupants while inside an unharmed and operational armor asset.

If it's possible to alter the effect of Molotov Cocktails against damaged armored vehicles when at 25% armor rating (health) or less, it would serve a more practical approach in the "ambushing" of armored vehicles. Otherwise as is, Molotov Cocktails still need some reevaluating.

Molotov's were never intended to do ANY damage to armor vehicles. Its an on going issue with the molotov's, the engine is very buggy with these things, feel free to give it a try and get them behaving correctly, hope you have a large stockpile of asprine your gonna need it.


A majority of aircraft need to have the Pilot and/or Co-Pilot exit point relocated. There is a significant problem of aircraft colliding with the pilot while in flight or during ejection. This defeats the purpose of even trying to abandon an anotherwise compromised aircraft.
PM CAS117 about this one...


Special reconnaissance units like Snipers and Spec Ops require a high level of subtlety. However, for the Sniper there is still a lack of a supressed sidearm that is otherwise necessary.

Disagree. Dont think Recon units should be engaging the enemy much to begin with - they should be giving intel to command and spotting units, only taking out high priority targets from a long range... dont think there is any need for them to use surpressed weapons... if the enemy is that close, that means your doing it wrong IMO. This is PR not Splinter Cell.

Highly suggest increasing the rate of fire of all Pistols as they're currently lacking the ability to fire in rapid succession. A players ability to mouse click far exceeds its actual shot output making for a very awkward "fire overlapping" situation. Mechanical limitations should far exceed biological potential, a human being cannot pull a trigger faster than a modern self-loading weapon can fire.

The governor on pistols was to restrict the unrealistic hyper-speed at which most players fired at. Pistols in v0.8 are currently the most deadly CQB weapon, I personally dont see a strong need to make them EVEN more deadly than they already are.

Highly suggest increasing the rate of fire to all Assault Rifles, Carbines and Submachine guns as they're currently lacking the ability to fire in rapid succession. A players ability to mouse click far exceeds its actual shot output making for a very awkward "fire overlapping" situation. Mechanical limitations should far exceed biological potential, a human being cannot pull a trigger faster than a modern self-loading weapon can fire.

The governor on assault rifles was to restrict the unrealistic hyper-speed at which most players fired in single shot - often, there was little difference from rapid firing single shot to full auto. There is on going discussion about this amougst the dev team but its generally considered a balanced tradeoff to realistic representation of the capability of these weapons in a single-shot fire mode.

Recommend implementing some form of visual indication to aid a player in determining if his/her Squad Automatc Weapon (Automatic Rifleman) is in an assault state or a deployed state. Not all LMG's can be easily identified by the deployed bipod, as the M249 SAW for example has a majority of the rifle covering it and cannot be seen. Also the PKM has it's bipod constantly deployed as it's used for a handgrip. This may create some confusion and unwanted results in the middle of a combat situation.
Agreed this is needed, albeit its hard to shot hte state of a bipod since its at the front of the weapon and is rarely in sight of the viewpoint of the player. PKM would need a remodeling since its a vanilla bf2 model and the bipods cannot "fold up"

All shotguns placed in game have had thier accuracy level reduced to a questionable level. Currently it seems that the accuracy level on these shotguns completely defeats the purpose of even using the ironsights to aim at a target. Also the use of Slugshot ammunition over 00 Buckshot remains an issue. A shotgun with slugshot should atleast be able to hit a target with the same width of a soldiers chest cavity at 15 meters (50 feet.) frequently on average.

Agreed, shotguns need more accuracy to breach doors, but I do not think they should be used primarily in combat role, rather as a breaching tool. Maybe in future we can replace shotgun with more commonly used breaching tools.


Recoil and muzzle climb to all Assault Rifles, Carbines and Submachine guns seems odd and unnatural when firing a weapon in semi-automatic (Single Shot.) burst, and fully automatic modes. However, this visual representation of recoil is not entirely incorrect. It would be safe to say that a number of users may find themselves in a situation where they'll be saying to themselves "This feels strange, but I cannot exactly pinpoint where." if this is so, they maybe right. The main focus of this detail is primarily the awkward "scooping" or "dipping" motion the weapons have recently taken on. This also negatively impacts consistant followup on shots fired in rapid succession.

A. Semi-automatic mode (Single shot.) - When normally firing the weapon in semi-automatic mode it proceeds to force the rifle straight back against the users shoulder, then pivot up slightly from normal muzzle climb and internal mechanics. This is because of the recoil of the rifle itself from firing, then proceeding to pivot up against the users shoulder because of pneumatic and kinetic energy being dispersed through the weapon and user. However, the user normally DOES NOT need to "fight" or "compensate" for muzzle climb as severely as it is currently represented in Project Reality in semi-automatic mode.

B. Burst and fully-automatic mode - When normally firing the weapon in semi-automatic mode it proceeds to force the rifle straight back against the users shoulder, then pivot up slightly from normal muzzle climb and internal mechanics. This is because of the recoil of the rifle itself from firing, then proceeding to pivot up against the users shoulder because of pneumatic and kinetic energy being dispersed through the weapon and user.However, the user must now actively "fight" or "compensate" for both recoil and muzzle climb as the weapon operates at a consistant rate in burst and fully automatic mode. This is the only time where the "scooping" or "dipping" motion with the front sight is an acceptable occurance when firing the rifle in bursts or fully automatic mode.

To explain this as simply as possible... The recoil of weapons fired in semi-automatic mode should be viewed as previously seen in v0.75 where it recoils and has a slight muzzle climb. But weapons fired in burst mode or fully-automatic mode should have this "scooping" or "dipping" motion after the firing is done. This will simulate the soldier making compensations to counteract the recoil and muzzle climb of the weapon while discharging consecutive rounds.

Changes will be made to recoil on Assault rifles, they are simplified in v0.8 as deviation was the #1 priority and recoil was not heavily modified.

The U.S.M.C. and British plastic "restrainer" could use a more practical sound. Rather than a metallic clank upon striking the target, instead replace with a "cloth" or "thud" like sound.
This alternative "clothy" or "thud" like sound would be abit more practical. As if the soldier is actually striking the target with his fist and provide a generic sound that can be logically associated with almost any surface as opposed to the current and irregular metallic "clank".
Agreed needs to be more material sounds, very very very low priority,
PM Jaymz for your suggestion
The Insurgent Collaborator could use a more refined approach when using the cell phone. Rather than the dialing the phone and having to rely on a normal view to call in for a Morter Strike, I suggest an alternate method.

This method would be to devise a new aiming mode, this mode would have the Civilian Collaborator look directly at his Cell Phone screen and it would produce an image of the target he's trying to call a Mortar Strike on. This would be used to simulate the Civilian Collaborator using the "digital camera" function on his Cell Phone and allow a minor 2x to 4x zoom.

Unknown if this is possbile and not really worth the effort of doing probably.


Recommend refinement of the "CPR Resusitation" animation for the Combat Medic. Rather than using CPR with one single push; see if it is possible to have the animation cycle repeatedly. For example, the Engineers repair ability with the wrench. While repairing with the wrench, the animation will continuously cycle. If this can somehow be implemented into the "CPR Resusitation" animation we would see a more realistic approach.

While this new animation occurs, a small invisible object is theoretically "fired" similar to dropping a field dressing on the ground to shake the body free. This animation will cycle continuously as it "fires" an invisible and harmless object repeatedly each time a CPR chest compression takes place in syncronization.
various problems make this unlikely, although there still might be some refinements to the CPR, were mostly happy with it and it is what it is.... a handy "tool" that basically makes a BF2 bug work favourably in our advantage sometimes.

Destroyable runways should be capable of being repaired by a shovel instead of a wrench. Currently using a wrench to repair a runway is rather awkward. Slightly increasing the time to repair the runway in exchange for the abundant shovel would be an acceptable trade off.

IMO Runways should not be destroyable and should be located NO WHERE NEAR the area of operations, unless its an assymetrical scenario such as Al Basrah.


The Engineer wrench tool could use an animation while it's being utilized. It is understandable if the wrench itself was hidden to cover up the "midair wrench turning" look, but a visual representation must be in place other than the repair icon.

A pratical solution to this should be an animation that allows the player to see the wrench being turned itself. But the particular work being performed is not viewable. As in the player can see the hands of the Engineer and the wrench handle being turned, but the head of the wrench itself is centered below "off screen" and is otherwise not viewable by the player.

I think instead of wasting more time making the wrench look more visually appealing we should search for ways to remove it completely and incorporating automated repair systems, ie where a player drops off a "box" and the box does the repair work.


The Medic bag could use an animation while it's being utilized. It is understandable if the Medic bag itself is able to be viewed by the player, but adding a visual representation should be in place other than the First Aid icon.

A pratical solution to this should be an animation that allows the player to see the Medic bag itself. But the particular work being performed is not entirely viewable. As in the player can see the left hand of the Medic and the Medic bag being held, but the right hand is holding a small roll of medical tape which is centered below "off screen" and is otherwise partially viewable by the player.

Adding a simple cycling gesture of the right hand wrapping tape around an unviewable object would be acceptable. There then would be no need for addtional sound effects as the application of First Aid is already represented by the sound of tape unrolling. An acceptable alternative example of this is the BF1942 Medical First Aid application animation.
PM CHuc your suggestion hes lead animator on he dev team

Friendly Fire is still a continued issue in Project Reality. Sadly, nothing has been done to help prevent this from happening. And so the discussion remains open ended and unconfirmed but it is clear that there is still a need to provide communications over the radio of when a friendly fire incident has taken place.
putting "Friendly Fire" radio command on commo rose is a good idea, just need to stick it in there somewhere, possibly doubling up roger/negative into one place

When the Co-Pilot is using the FLIR interface in a Light Scout Chopper, it should act like the Co-Pilot is using a G.L.T.D. while in the cockpit. Of course the only difference is that the screen is black and white to simulate looking through infared optics.
Good suggestion
PM dbzao to get this implemented

As of the latest v0.8 patch, some of the sounds made over the Radio net for certain teams are different. The largest issue is the "Affirmative, a vehicle is on the way" radio call in particular. Although the radio call itself is not an issue, however the background sound has some intresting side-effects.

For those that are Piloting aircraft and still getting used to the new warning sound indicators, players will notice that the "Affirmative, a vehicle is on the way" background noise sounds nearly exact to the warning sound produced when you're being locked on. I must admit that even I had mistaken myself for being locked on more than several times.

A player that is using the "Affirmative, a vehicle on the way" radio call does not sound the same as one that is received from being broadcasted over the net. This is most easily noticed while playing as the British team on "The Battle for Qinling" map when another player uses the "Affirmative, a vehicle on the way" radio call. You'll see for yourself the next time you are flying a jet and freak out behind the controls thinking an enemy jet is behind you.
Not heard of this before, thanks
PM jaymz about this issue
Add Need Fire Support to GLTD T-rose
Add Need Close Air Support to GLTD T-rose
Good suggestions
PM dbzao for these
Prevention of Squad Leaders and Commanders from spawning or selecting kits other than what is mission critical.
Disagree, let them choose what they want to spawn with, most will gravitate towards the officer kit when they realize how mission critical it is. Plus there would be problems in implements this properly (Same with limiting medics).

Stinger and IGLA AA missle defense system. Currently these AA missle defense systems seem to be lacking the black backdrop while manning the gunner position. When a person sits in these AA missle emplacements, the player will notice the outline of the goggles with no outer "black edge" to simulate looking through an aiming system.
Known issue, may or may not be fixed in v0.85, may require new AA assets or new target reticle. This has to do with a fix for the z buffering issue, which makes some things such as vehicle HUDs screwy (AAV, APC passengers, etc).
Maps such as "Fools Road" and "Assault on Mestia" require team orientated asset location markers for the Militia faction for all stationary gun emplacements.
Agreed.
PM Chuc about getting new icons attached to these vehicles

The stationary British / U.S. Vulcan AA gun needs significant graphic adjustments. Rather than the smoke escaping the barrel and proceeding out and away from it while firing, instead it is directed back at the operator. This makes using the AA Vulcan gun extremely hard to utilize, not only does it lack an aiming reticule to fire at targets with an acceptable accuracy level, it's inhibited by this unusual enveloping barrel smoke.
Fixed for v0.85 I believe?

Recommend reducing the maximum allowable sphere of influence for Firebases and Bunkers (Forward Outpost.) be placed at 300 meters instead. The current limitation of 400 meters prevents adequate deployment of bunkers on small maps.
Disagree. Its precisely because of those small maps that the range should remain small. IMO Small maps should NOT have large amounts of Forward Outposts aka spawn points, as it turns the game into a spam fest. The idea behind 400m rule was to force spawnpoints to be spread out quite far, making them major "objectives" to destroy, and once destroyed can be assured there is no other fixed spawns in sigfigant area. Although this is up for discussion in dev team, I dont see major issue with the way it currently is, Small maps is not an issue IMO and should not be a factor as most maps are 2km sized.

Highly recommend disabling destructable runways in Training mode. This will aid players in being able to focus on taking off and landing in a more suitable environment without the need to worry if it's destroyed. It is destroyed most frequently by friendly players firing weapons from thier aircraft while on the runway rather than an actual enemy attack.
Agreed, except I think there should NEVER be destroyable runways, in fact I think there should never be runways near an area of operations but thats an entirely different topic...

When a player requests support from an Engineer, the icon no longer seems to be displayed on the Map or Minimap interface. However when requesting ammunition from a Rifleman or First Aid from a Medic it is always displayed. It cannot be confirmed or denied but it is unclear if Engineer icons are supposed to appear or not for users operating inside of vehicles.
Known Issue, Not sure why this is no longer working. Needs more testing



As time goes on it's becoming increasingly noticeable to myself that there is a general lack of valuable flora in game.
Agreed, however check out Korengal for an example of how flora can be done RIGHT. OGT and Qinling are very good examples of very poor flora. Check out Sangin for an idea on how it IS possible to get very good and useful flora in a 4km map. Expect much more USEFUL, FULLY RENDERED flora coming in the future, Rhino has made some progress in regard to this, most new maps will be using this, maybe some older maps retrofitted as well.


On the "Muttrah City" map, the U.S.M.C. side cannot reload any of thier APC's or Boats. The Command Post is too far above the waterlevel on the U.S.S. Essex in order to resupply these crafts. Nor has there been any repair/rearm facilities implemented on the deployment ramp for the APC's or Boats to return to as an alternative method.
Known issue, solution will be there in v0.85



On the "Al Basrah" map, there are 2 different versions of clay/cement housing which are generally seen in rural and the suburban areas. These clay/cement houses are 2 stories high and were previously destructable as seen in the v0.7+ builds. But, this is no longer the case as these structures cannot be destroyed by any known explosive. Anti-tank missles, M2 Slams, C4 Explosives and even shells from armor assets cannot punch a hole in these structures.
Al Basrah (and other maps) crashing after each round has been finally nailed down to the high networkable object count on the map. If a map has too many networkables (which includes players, vehicles, ammo caches, destroyable houses, basically anything player can affect physically) then it will cause a memory overload and hangs on the next map load.

So we went through and removed hundreds of networkables, while still trying to retain networkables that affected gameplay considerable. Although its disappointing these buildings are no longer destroyable, Al Basrah does retain a considerable amount of destroyable buildings, unfortunately the 2 story ones use up to 20-30 networkables each, because each "segment" of the house is a networkable in its own right, whereas the single story houses as seen on kashan are just 1 networkable.

This discovery is a hard taught lesson and will affect future static creation, esp when desiging destroyable statics. "Lego" style destroyable statics are simply not an option in the BF2 engine it seems, unless the memory crash due to high networkable counts can be resolved (and trust me many different attempts were tried to get around this crash).


It has come to my attention that there are several issues reguarding aircraft on the "Battle for Qinling" map. It is quite apparent now that the problems resulting from aircraft handling or weight is not the issue, but more of an alternate matter. After continued research and repeated landing attempts it has now come down to the realization that the airfield runways presented on the British and Chinese teams are beyond inadequate.
Agreed. IMO this map plays out much better in AAS16 configuration with no jet aircraft.
However, your free to PM Rhino your thoughts on how to implement a more realistic airport configuration, although dont expect much from him :P





There is a minor problem while accessing the "Deployment -> Join Internet -> Update" server list. After the list updates it still displays Training Servers in the "Deployment" server list. This creates and issue as the "Training" server list is supposed to be accessed through a different menu selection to begin with.
There has been several occurances where players had joined one of these servers and had no clue they were actually on a training server.
Agree this is something that needs to be improved upon, currently dont have a solution but Ancientman is continuing to think of ways to make the browser bend to his will...
fuzzhead
Retired PR Developer
Posts: 7463
Joined: 2005-08-15 00:42

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by fuzzhead »

So Warren, no response for all this?
gclark03
Posts: 1591
Joined: 2007-11-05 02:01

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by gclark03 »

What happened to the sticky?
Jaymz
Retired PR Developer
Posts: 9138
Joined: 2006-04-29 10:03

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by Jaymz »

I think Warren has gone AWOL or something. Anywho, don't worry about the M6 Linebacker issues. It will be replaced with the HMMWV Avenger from USI.
"Clear the battlefield and let me see, All the profit from our victory." - Greg Lake
Rudd
Retired PR Developer
Posts: 21225
Joined: 2007-08-15 14:32

Re: Project Reality v0.8 Improvement Compilation

Post by Rudd »

[R-DEV]Jaymz wrote:I think Warren has gone AWOL or something. Anywho, don't worry about the M6 Linebacker issues. It will be replaced with the HMMWV Avenger from USI.
well cool!

been wanting that for ages, ever since the first training mode :D
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