Project Reality Map Pack 1 Update

[eggman]

Hey Gents,

Here's a sneak peek and an update on the map pack.

NOTE:
You do not need to download the maps from the links provided. An installer will be built and made available prior to beta testing. The links are provided for informational purposes so you can get an idea of the maps to be included.

PROGRESS REPORT:
AAS support coding has been done for all maps except one. Should be complete on AAS support within a day or three. I expect that we'll run a beta test day or two sometime within the next 2 or 3 weeks. Stay tuned for a specific announcement.

BETA TESTING
I want to ensure that all aspects are tested: installer, map installation and loading in game, game play, AAS support, etc. So it would be great of people can participate in beta testing when the time comes. More specific instructions will follow shortly.

GENERAL MAP PACK NOTES
The map pack consists of 8 maps. The maps were selected based on them fitting the PR theme and on attempting to select a broad variety of maps offering different play styles and environments. Final confirmation on acceptance of maps will be up to the PR team members. All of the maps included were done with the express permission of the map authors and the maps remain copyright of those authors.

There were 2 maps I had to drop as I could not get permission from the authors. I will try and get their permission for future map packs. The maps are:
- Operation Power Failure
- Maszarqi Siege

There are also some other great maps in development inside and outside of the Project Reality community. I had to make a cut off at some point and did so with the 8 maps listed below.

Other map packs will be offered in the future. TheRealFritz, GloryHoundz server admin, has volunteered to help us play test future map pack candidates in "non AAS" mode. If the maps seem like a good fit for a PR map pack, we'll add them in as candidates and start the process again.

All maps work in AAS mode for 16, 32 and 64 player configurations. NOTE that the server side files for this will be a seperate distribution. Server admins will have to contact me for the server side files.

Armor has been removed (server side mod) for 16 player maps. Jeeps and HMMVs are still in on 16 player maps. 32 player maps and above remain as per the original map design.

Some minor tweaks have been performed to maps (server side mods only). The nature of the tweaks and/or interesting notes about the maps are:
- CPs take slightly longer to capture than normal (this is intended to require a larger group of people to capture CPs)
- On one of the maps CP radii were made VERY large to attempt at creating an "area domination" style of play. This is an armor and air heavy map that will hopefully result in some good armor battles in a desert setting. Note that this map only has armor at the main bases so there is a bit of travel time to bring armor into the main battlefield area.
- One of the maps has captureable CPs up in the sky. Once captured these CPs can be spawned at as a para drop. The CPs are labelled "Para West" and "Para East". I am hoping that label will notify Project Reality players to spawn as Special Forces as this is the only class in the mod with a parachute. Even with that labelling I'm sure we'll see several SAW gunners dropping out of the sky


THE MAP LIST
1. Strike at Karkand 2; urban infantry focused
http://battlefield2.filefront.com/file/ ... nd_2;52211

2. Steel Thunder; forest, armor focused (good combined arms map in the forest)
http://battlefield2.filefront.com/file/ ... nder;47457

3. El Alamein XXL; desert, armor focused (server side modded to an area domination armor focused map)
http://battlefield2.filefront.com/file/ ... _XXL;48003

4. HeliWar; carrier and island based with a focus on helicopters (also a VERY cool map with some innovative ideas)
http://battlefield2.filefront.com/file/Heli_Wars;53802

5. The Oasis; desert, infantry focused (infantry & jeeps small desert map)
http://battlefield2.filefront.com/file/The_Oasis;47717

6. Jungle Fever; jungle, infantry focused (decent infantry combat map set in a jungle)
http://battlefield2.filefront.com/file/ ... ever;47301

7. CP Abadan; urban, infantry focused (well done urban map)
http://battlefield2.filefront.com/file/ ... adan;53589

8 . Hereford Training Center; military training center, infantry focused
https://www.realitymod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3206


NEXT STEPS:
Watch for an announcement about a beta test day. Responding to the poll about applicable times would be helpful.

T'anks!
egg

[Hitperson]

Will you be adding any other maps as i did not know that there was a consulancy period if there was one.

[NikovK]

I'm trying to get Road to Kyongan'Ni up on Filefront. You'll be able to get it soon enough, I'd think.

[Rhino]

nice work man, give me a date and time and ill bring over a squad or 2 of my clan to join in

YEY For STELL THUNDER!!! Sweet man so glad you put it in

[fuzzhead]

i vote for Road to Kyongan'Ni to be put on!!! its a great map, certainly good enough calibre to be replacing one of those other maps (no offense)!

[JellyBelly]

Im not liking the sound of heli war.

[dawdler]

Im not liking the sound of heli war.

Maybe there are some AA position to stick to instead
On coral sea I hardly even flew a plane, I just kept crashing

[eggman]

HitPerson:
I'm hoping we'll do two or three map packs for PR and will have a period of time for each for folks to offer suggestions. I did post a thread requesting suggestions and took all of them.

I've also discussed with Fritz a process where we solicit suggestions, compile a map list, schedule a NON AAS test day or two to try out the maps as candidates for future map packs. That should hopefully result in a map pack with some great maps.

For this first one.... I'd kinda just like to get one map pack done and released. I also want to validate how I am doing AAS support and get a feel for what people want and how to go about getting the project done. Not only for the sense of accomplishment and enjoyment for others .. but because I am really sick of playing Kubra Dam for 15 minutes while we all vote on Strike at Karkand for the 34th time that day

NikovK:
DL'd and PM'd.

Rhino:
I think Steel Thunder is a very cool map! The AAS CP order is a bit wierd... might need some tweaking. However it's a well designed map in a setting that you don't get to see much of in PR. It kinda feels more like an Ardennes forest map than the typical Middle Eastern feel common in BF2.

JellyBelly:
I am sure some maps will be more to some folks liking than others .. and vice versa. Hopefully there's a good sampling of various play styles and environments. Additionally there are possibilities for server side tweaks that can help alter game play. Before judging any of the maps I think we should give them a good round of play testing. It sounds like choppers are going to get nerfed in 1.2 so it will be interesting to see how this map plays pre and post 1.2. One of the main appeals in that map was adding in the UH60, but it keep crashing for me. As soon as those issues are resolved some server side mods can facilitate a "Little Bird Wars" server side tweak

All:
You guys gotta understand that adding AAS support is tedious and time consuming. Adding it in is pretty easy, but testing it out and resolving glitches on 3 map configs per map can take as much as 3 or 4 hours for a single map. If the map is in flux it can mean that the work has to be re-done (entirely or partially).

With 8 maps in the map pack, that's about 32 hours... add in time to fart about to figure it out and co-ordinate with other folks (Fritz, Requiem, Map authors for permissions, etc) and I've got about 75 hours invested into this over the last 15 days.

I have a family and a very time consuming career. I've been getting this project done by sacrificing other aspects of my life, mostly sleep and gaming time. I was on holidays when I started this out so I had some extra time I was able to dedicate to it... but I'm back at work in a 60 hour a week job.

Once I am pretty sure this all works and there are no problems with it, I'll post instructions on how I went about this and y'all can feel free to create your own map packs. Teach a man to fish kinda thing...

egg

[Noetheinner]

so is this an offical map pack?

[da.SPAWN]

on which server will they be tested, only on GH?

[Harven]

I chose the weeknight... reason being.. the weekend is too far away

[Eden]

Noetheinner - We have permition from Requiem so as far as I know, yes it it. Although eggman knows for sure.

da.SPAWN - It will be tested on the GH server and will stay there if successfull, if other server admins want to run the Map Pack all they have to do is ask eggman about it.

Harven - It actualy probably wont be ready untill the weekend anyway, depending on how far eggman has to go once he is finnished makeing all the map AAS ompatable, I need to download them all and create the installer wich will roughly take a day to download, create & upload the installer.

[eggman]

As far as it being "official" .. I discussed it with Requiem and the intent is to distribute it from the PR website as a stand alone map pack well as with future versions of PR.

We want to do the best job of making sure noone is blocked from playing PR because they don't have maps installed.

There will probably be a 2 week download period before server admins begin to run the maps on their main servers.

You beat me to it! This is confirmed, and I like to thank Eggman & Dedmon for helping out with this. Great work thus far!

Regarding dates....
Sorry I should have been more clear... I was soliciting for a time slot, not a specific date. Seems like Saturdays and Sundays are the most popular.

What looks like realistic beta test days to have these running on the GH Test server is Saturday, January 21 and Sunday, January 22. We'll try our best to have the map pack available for download with the installer and all some time before that, perhaps as early as this weekend (the 15th). Hopefully we'll get an announcement out to folks this weekend and include a link to the installer.

Regarding test servers...
Initially just GH Test Server. Then onto the main GH server whenever Fritz is comfortable and things are all sorted out. I'll do my best to make it as easy as possible to get these maps running on other PR servers as quickly as possible, all server admins will have to do is ask for the files.

I know there are PR players all over the worls who will be interested in playing these maps, but it just might be a couple of week lag before we sort out the issues and get more servers running.

Thanks for all the feedback so far Gents!

egg

[da.SPAWN]

@eggman you should have a look at this map too. i found it today and it is REALY beautifull.
Operation_Greasy_Mullet
and from the readme the most interesting part

Legal BS;

Distribute this as you wish, just notify me for the sake of being friendly.
You will probably have a hard time modifying this map as none of the editor files
are included, although you could get most with Photoshop. If you wish to edit the map
send me an e-mail and either I will do the edit for you or otherwise give you the required
files.

[eggman]

Yes that is an AMAZING map. However it's got some bugs in the beta 2 release and the beta 3 he produced has some kind of significant glitch in it.

The beta 2 release was unplayable on many people's machines due to CPU load.

It's an outstanding map .. possibly one of the best I've ever seen.

Hoping the kinks get worked out so we can include it in a future map pack.

[da.SPAWN]

the release is beta 2.1 and the date from the server.zip file is 12.01.2006 09:13
so it is maybe a newer one you know

[UK_Force]

Ga Knombe Boy - is a very good Mapper, he has done quite a few custom maps for POE (BFV), does anyone know if he is tied up in a Mod at the moment ????

[da.SPAWN]

from the readme

Contact Info;

You may contact me at [email protected] or at http://www.bfapocalypse.com