Satchel

Do you take into consideration to download around 10+ MB just to play a single mission with new units, and do it over and over as new addons appear? I think that is way more confusing and complicated, as a mapper would need to specialiase on units and write according missions for them. Also what about the regular OFP campaign(s) and singleplayer missions? They are left untouched by using this method, you can´t use addons on those currently, like selecting the equipment you want to take into the mission- which is my main point as stated. Soundmods would also benefit greatly from improved mod handling, as it wouldn´t be necessary to modify game core files (that are not meant to be modified) to make those work. Rainbow 6/ RogueSpear/ Ghost Recon, Swat3, Counterstrike, Medal of Honour, and countless other games allow the player to select his gear either in SP or MP or both, also having a good addon structure...Flashpoint is sadly an exception to this.

If you had asked a car manufacturer living 100 years ago about fully automatic machines that replace his workers, because they are  working more reliable, precise and efficent than humans he for sure would have called you an idiot that need to get his act together, it was unthinkable at that time. Today we say, of course it´s science fiction about "Terminators" fighting tomorrows wars, or the curing of  diseases/defects that are uncurable nowadays, but we are on the first step to achive it as it looks. The possibilities are virtually huge, but scary at the same time. "A British university professor has been fitted with cyborg technology enabling his nervous system to be linked to a computer. The ground-breaking surgery on Professor Kevin Warwick effectively makes him the world's first cyborg -- part human, part machine. Although a long way from fictional characters The Terminator or the Six Million Dollar Man, it is hoped that readings will be taken from the implant in his arm of electrical impulses coursing through his nerves. These signals, encoding movements like wiggling fingers and feelings like shock and pain, will be transmitted to a computer and recorded for the first time. Surgeons implanted a silicon square about 3mm wide into an incision in Warwick's left wrist and attached its 100 electrodes, each as thin as a hair, into the median nerve. Connecting wires were fed under the skin of the forearm and out from a skin puncture and the wounds were sewn up. The wires will be linked to a transmitter/receiver device to relay nerve messages to a computer by radio signal. It is possible that the procedure could lead to a medical breakthrough for people paralysed by spinal cord damage, such as Superman actor Christopher Reeve. "

Copy&Paste (As i don´t feel the need to type it all again). It couldn´t be more important concerning addons/mod, so here it is again: "From the first hours of the demo many people posted that the best way to achive a healthy balance is to make every weapon, every vehicle and piece of equipment as close as possible to actual specs. What we have now is a more simplified and in most cases unrealistic setup, where realism or authenticy isn´t that much of a factor. However, one way to get what you want is through modding, everything you have mentioned is possible to create as an addon. The problem is, that it´s an addon, therefore will not work with other missions than in those created by yourself or other people using this specific unit/weapon. This is one of Flashpoints greatest shortcomings; you can´t use addons in regular campaigns or single player missions. Take Rogue Spear for example and how mods are handled there, it´s a way better structure allowing to activate/deactivate mods and use them in every mission, as you can choose the gear you want to take into a mission via the setup/briefing screen. This is a thing i´m really missing in OFP, and the lacking of it really hurts the whole modding environment badly. Just think about it, you downloaded that really high quality addon, looking way better than the original and you want to use it always...now how much people are motivated to design their own missions and PLAY their own missions just to use a specific addon? Pretty boring right, if you know every trigger by his nickname and every single unit on the map with according specs because you created it yourself...and to make a mission just to use an addon- not appropiate in my oppinion. Some people havn´t got the time or a clue how to make missions anyway, they just want to use addons without thinking much about it. What Flashpoint needs urgently amongst those things that will come with Resistance is: A) Improved Addon/Mod handling B) Player can choose for himself and the squad (in SP) Player Class (uniform) Weapons (not bound to playerclass) Equipment for every mission, no matter if campaign, singleplayer or Multiplayer. For vehicles this is a bit more complicated, as they have a great influence on mission balance. So they should be only choosable from the list, if the mission has "Slots" for them divided in classes "Air", "Sea" and "Land", and according sub-categories like "APC", "IFV", "MBT" medium/heavy, "wheeled" Truck/Jeep/Motorcycle, "Rotary Wing", "Fixed Wing" etc..... just as example. The mods/addons have an identifyer that puts them in one of those classes. Just an example how it might work, using this method you could play a campaign a dozen times and more without getting bored, as you can tryout every setup, using new equipment everytime as new mods become available. "

There are quite a bunch of flaws in Flashpoint concerning realism and resulting balance. From the first hours of the demo many people posted that the best way to achive a healthy balance is to make every weapon, every vehicle and piece of equipment as close as possible to actual specs. What we have now is a more simplified and in most cases unrealistic setup, where realism or authenticy isn´t that much of a factor. However, one way to get what you want is through modding, everything you have mentioned is possible to create as an addon. The problem is, that it´s an addon, therefore will not work with other missions than in those created by yourself or other people using this specific unit/weapon. This is one of Flashpoints greatest shortcomings; you can´t use addons in regular campaigns or single player missions. Take Rogue Spear for example and how mods are handled there, it´s a way better structure allowing to activate/deactivate mods and use them in every mission, as you can choose the gear you want to take into a mission via the setup/briefing screen. This is a thing i´m really missing in OFP, and the lacking of it really hurts the whole modding environment badly. Just think about it, you downloaded that really high quality addon, looking way better than the original and you want to use it always...now how much people are motivated to design their own missions and PLAY their own missions just to use a specific addon? Pretty boring right, if you know every trigger by his nickname and every single unit on the map with according specs because you created it yourself...and to make a mission just to use an addon- not appropiate in my oppinion. Some people havn´t got the time or a clue how to make missions anyway, they just want to use addons without thinking much about it. What Flashpoint needs urgently amongst those things that will come with Resistance is: A) Improved Addon/Mod handling B) Player can choose for himself and the squad (in SP) <ul> [*] Player Class (uniform) [*] Weapons (not bound to playerclass) [*] Equipment for every mission, no matter if campaign, singleplayer or Multiplayer. For vehicles this is a bit more complicated, as they have a great influence on mission balance. So they should be only choosable from the list, if the mission has "Slots" for them divided in classes "Air", "Sea" and "Land", and according sub-categories like "APC", "IFV", "MBT" medium/heavy, "wheeled" Truck/Jeep/Motorcycle, "Rotary Wing", "Fixed Wing" etc..... just as example. The mods/addons have an identifyer that puts them in one of those classes. Just an example how it might work, using this method you could play a campaign a dozen times and more without getting bored, as you can tryout every setup, using new equipment everytime as new mods become available.

Some corn fields would be nice, or other high vegetation that conseals the player and his squad...or the enemy.

If the currently hardly existing simulation part of OFP (especially vehicles) would be worked out more detailed and accurate, the netcode would be as capable as Quake or UT, and if the graphics would be brought to nowadays state of the art standard........then it probably would be the best game ever for me..... till the next "best game of all times" arrives, which i forsee to be SWAT Urban Assault, Rainbow6 Raven Shield and Falcon 5 for those genres interesting me. Until then OFP is the best cross-genre game, by combining tactical approach, Arcade Action, very slight simulation approach, role playing. It neither is the best action game, the best simulation game, best tactical game, it´s just the combination of a little bit of everything. What i like most about OFP is the virtually unrestricted and freely roamable area and recreation of terrain, it´s something very essential for a wargame imho and there OFP does a very good job compared to other titles. Although i personally find that jet aircraft are not suited for OFP.

I´m sure that line is related to OFP:´Res. and not some real world swearing into the general direction of the Russian army .

Standard Visibility is to low to conduct efficiant ground attacks with fixed weapons like the GAU-8/A or GSH-30-2 of the SU-25, you never get the time to line up properly and stay on target long enough at the appropiate angle to bring in enough bullets. Although i play FlightSimulation games for quite some years, i almost always end up ramming the A-10 in OFP into the ground or missing the target /bringing not enough lead down because of the increasing steep angle that would be required. On the practical side: Visibility = 600m GS (Ground Speed) = 400 Knts (~206 m/s) Altitude = 300ft 600 : 206 = 2,9 sec Means theoretically, without taking altitude-dive angle relations into account, you have 2,9 sec to setup your A/C, line it up (dive angle, as well as horizontally) and fire on a target, assuming you have spotted it visually at the 600m boundary. This is the ideal base situation that is virtually never met in OFP, practically you have about 1/2 of the time. Flying at 300m gives you even less time to fire on targets, as you can´t continue the proper dive angle long enough or you will hit the mud nose first.

I could only play a couple complete missions yet, but i have to say it´s an awesome game and deserves the rating it got in most reviews. However, the major gripe i have is that you are often required to do acrobatics (jump on tiny platforms, make use of Force speed, Force Push, Force Pull) in order to complete a map. I would liked it better if the player was given a bit more variaty on how to solve a problem. As you can see it isn´t as unrestricted and freely as Deus Ex, there is mostly only 1 strict way to go through a map, you only can get to B if you got to A first etc. But besides that everything else is pretty much amazing, Lightsaber usage never looked this good, it´s easy, intuitive and useful, the player can choose if he wants 1st or 3rd person when using the weapon. There are 3 different Lightsaber combat styles: medium/quick/strong, each having it´s own advantages and suited for different situations. There are also alot of moves and strikes you can do with the Lightsaber. the Lightsaber you get not from the start, and there are also about 9 other weapons the player can use, from the standard imperial blaster rifle to Rocketlaunchers etc. Thermal detonators, mines, Electro goggles, Nightvision device, Attack drones are also part of the players inventory. You can also conrol some drones/robots via termials to enter places where the player can´t go, like a room filled with toxic gases. Along with the force powers this really comes close to the movies; for example you can push an opponent away from you if he gets uncomfortable close. This comes in very handy if you are fighting on a platform that is located above the ground, knocking him of his feet with Force push and eventually throwing him over the edge, just to rise the 2nd opponent up in the air and choke him to death with the "The grip", all while you are going after the 3rd opponent with your Lightsaber. Enemys act really smart on the other hand, they search for cover, flee if they took to many casualties. If you kill high ranking Officers or Leaders of an Stormtrooper squad, the lower ranked troopers tend to scatter or flee or get reinforcements. There was one situation where i attacked 2 Stormtrooper sentries, the 2nd one got away and ran into a room down the floor, i followed him sure of lasergunning him down, but to my surprise as i entered the room where he went, i starred into the muzzles of about 6 troopers that seemed to be waiting there for me. The AI is trying to zero on your positions from different sides if possible, get into your back etc, they are not just target dummies but actively evade your shots. There are clearly recognisable hitzones also, for example 1 shot to the head is almost always enough to kill an opponent, while shots on the arms, legs or torso require more hits to bring them down. There are also great hit or death animations for a game of this sort, enemies clutch the spots they have been hit, or do some midair rolls if they were gunned down while running. they also take some time to recover from serious hits that doesn´t kill them outright, giving you a bit time to aim properly to finish them off. In all this is definitely the best Star Wars game out there, more than worth checking out.

Some multiplayer related: "HF"= Have fun "GJ"= Good Job "NJ"=Nice Job "WTG"= Way To Go "RS"/"R"=Right Side "LS"/"L"=Left Side "->"=Charge/Attack "x"=Stay here/ Hold ground "G2G" or "GTG"=Good To Go "GG"=Good Game "BG"=Bad Game "SUP"=Whats up "AWOL"=Absent without leave "TW"=Tumbleweed

Another review: http://www.gamers.com/game/1015677 "The enemies' death and injury animations are a joy to behold. Bad guys will clutch their neck or gut or other hit body parts, will twist and spin in the air, and, if they're unlucky enough to meet up with your lightsaber, will get their limbs sliced straight off. That's what they get for joining the stupid Empire. " hehehe 10/10 points

I´ve found a first impression article on: http://www.gamespot.co.uk/stories/news/0,2160,2107430,00.html Looks like a winner to me.

If it is anywhere near the original Jedi Knight, i´m certainly going to get it...it really was a great game.

Any reviews yet? In just about an hour i´m going to drive into the city, Jedi Knight II is still on my shopping list.

It sure does look good....but nothing that couldn´t also be achived by the modding community, especially after Resistance has been released (high Texturing possible). For the Hardwarespecs...i assume that they are set this high to ensure fluid operation under all circumsstances, a mil. Sim that is lagging (low FPS) is unsuitable for training purposes. Imagine an Debrief of a F-16 Simlator session, - "Lt. xyz, why did you loose control of the aircraft?" - "Sir, lag got me killed"

Watch the roofs, there is one nasty german sniper i didn´t catch and he killed me over and over. He is picking you off at or beyond the "fog wall" boundary, hardly visible. I took quite some attempts to complete this mission, i only spotted the sniper on the roof as he was reloading his weapon, the motion you can see.

It´s a bit difficult, as the sight for the LAW as for many other weapons is the incorrect one. The range estimation and deflection markings frame is missing completely. The sight we have currently would be more suited for ATGM´s (Guided missiles) but not for unguided ones, where the shooter needs a visual clue on the weapon behaviour/ ballistics and range. As the LAW doesn´t have a stretched trajectory like ATGM´s or rifle projectiles in OFP, nor their range, your aiming point should be higher of where you want to hit, to counter for gravity and short projectile trajectory. When determining range, it´s more guestimation than anything else. If the binoculars had a range estimation frame (which they havn´t sadly) it would be at least possible to get a good guess. If you want to hit moving targets, center your sights on the target and start following it, then stop tracking and count "21", see and remember the distance the target had moved in your sights, thats your amount of deflection you need to lead with. However without having a clue on range it takes alot of practise to get the proper elevation and deflection values. This procedure works best at targets ca 100m away according to the LAW configuration. Right now it´s more a guestimation thing you need to get a feeling for, with enough practise you don´t have to think much about it.

What do you understand by "Do you want the horrors of war", what are the horrors of war for you personally? I don´t think we ascociate the same thing with "Horrors of war", everyone imagines or had experienced something different under this term, and as i don´t want to get banned, i will not post any pictures or links to make you see what real war is about and you dont want to see that in a game or movie for sure. Personally i think that if one thing is obsolete in this game it´s gore, what i would appreciate is OFP getting more realistic in technical aspects like vehicles, weapons. Also as being said random "emotional" chatter would be great to help the atmosphere, in MOHAA everything is scripted, the soldiers on the beach etc., which is fairly easy to do with the flashpoint editor also. What is scriptet in MOHAA needs be automatic/randomized in OFP.

Hmm, BIS has money and a contract within the military industry (software), that´s 2 things speaking for an improved official sound upgrade. It shouldn´t be hard for them to get first class soundsamples of most or all ingame weaponary and vehicles. It just takes a recording team to go out and some sound engineers that work with the recorded material. Unofficial Soundpacks on the other hand rely on taking whatever material of a weapon is available, you can´t be very picky as sometimes only a single video of a weapon is available. If you record live however you get exactly what you´ve searched for. The only one i know of doing this, also on a private inofficial basis, is Meatwater (www.meatwater.com), he did an awesome sound addon for EAW (European Air War), is responcible for the sound in Panzer Elite and IL-2 on a commercial basis.

Blasphemy! Someone get an exorcist, quick...how can you sell falcon4

S_Z, the MP5SD6 and MG3 i believe them to be recorded from RL weapons, but the rest... The M16 for example nearly sounds like 20mm to me. You can compare the sounds if you wish over here: http://www.gulfcoastarmory.com/mgvids.html I also can upload some AK-74/AK-47 and some M4/M16 vids on my webspace if you like. @ixnaymu9, nothing concrete yet, just standing in line as all the others. But there should be also quite some time till the next patch. Currently i´m still working on the AH-64 addon , i´m stuck at creating a custom NVG currently. It seems impossible to make a binocular or NVG addon as it seems...could be those 2 objects are hardcoded as someone from OFPEC suspected. The NVG´s are where i´m currently stuck, i can´t get them to work or display as many others can´t with binoculars or NVG´s.

The sounds i have used in Dynamic Range are authentic  samples of OFP´s real life counterpart weapons, most of the time i took to complete this package had gone on research and finding videos of those weapons. As we all know not every audio file´that can be found on the net entitled "M16" or "AK74" contains a real M16 or AK soundsample. When using videos as source you can be pretty sure of getting the correct sound and not some mock-ups ala counterstrike, Ghost Recon etc. It should also be taken into account that a weapon sample in Flashpoint will NEVER sound exactly like the real thing, that is because of a missing channel (stereo) and 22050Hz restrictions. As being said, it also depends a great deal on your hardware setup; the sounds have been tested on 2 studio monitors w/o usage of sattelite boxes and subwoofer (my comp is connected to my hifi system) and an SBLive, also on Sony MDR-V200 headphones, if the sounds had been "substandard" i would have surely noticed it and changed the sounds, but they play just fine. Sure there is room for improvement, there always is, and i´ll try to deliver an updated package with new concept when the new OFP patch arrives. There are numerous cases where people experiencing problems with the current pack, as there had also been 1 or 2 people writing the M16 and AK74 sounds are the same and they are not able to distinguish them.....a case of bad sound setup either in hardware or software, as those 2 sounds couldn´t be more clearer and easier to tell apart on my system. I also understand however that some ambitioned (former/current) CS or other arcade players, or people without emphasis on realism would like the sounds to be more flakcannon like, adding bass and give it a huge dose of "whoop ass". In reality a 5.56mm rifle has no "lets get ready to rumble sound", neither it does have a meaty bass, same goes for 7.62mm. I have shot both 7.62 and 5.56mm (G3, MG3, G36), if there is one thing an assault rifle or machine gun of this or smaller calibre doesn´t have it´s a dominant bass. As i wrote in an earlier post the dominant frequency of a gunshot is in the 300Hz-3000hz band. Flashpoint already adds bass and dulls sound more than desirable with HW acceleration and EAX turned on, another thing to think about when making samples. Did you take that into account GFX when using new sounds, what is the source of your samples? If the sounds you used are of questionable source or completely off, please delete any reference to the DR package and try making your own soundpack, as it was meant to be a realism pack and no CS mock-up or similar and i want to distance myself and the package clearly from that.

I D/L them but i´m hesitating about using the drivers, as with the beginning of 23.11 NVIDIA virtually delivered crappy drivers. For more than half a year NVIDIA has not been able to solve the refresh rate problem under Win2k/WinXP, so users either need to manually fool around with the .inf file or use 3rd party tools to fix it- it´s a laugh if you ask me, really. All drivers since 23.11 doesn´t support negative LOD and other features via tweaking tools because of a WHQL "conform" (=screwed) registry entries and a bug in the drivers themselves, this is bad, because it´s the single most important feature to improve texture sharpness, especially in OFP. Currently i´m using 21.85, where negative LOD settings and all other tweaks incl. refresh rate fix work flawlessly.

<ul> [*] The possibility to assign weapons and equipment for each soldier in the briefing and equipment screen in all games (single player/campaign/multiplayer), rather than having someone else (mission designer) to give you a preset to use that cant be changed. All good tactical FPS i know of allow to choose own equipment from a list. [*] Replacement of the arcade action radar display and health bars with more appropiate displays. [*] Better explosions/sky/water and general environmental effects. [*] More hitzones and better damage modeling for vehicles. For example currently we have way to big and exaggerated  explosions and impact effects for nearly all weapons, like for handgrenades, that in RL doesn´t burst in a napalm like explosion, instead you see no fire or flames at all. Medal of Honour, although total arcade, did get those grenade explosions pretty much right for a computer game. Also AP projectiles doesn´t explode at all, nor do they have an damage radius if they dont hit hardened material. For visible damage states, as currently a damaged part of a tank is just drawn completely in black; a T-72 that has been hit by 120mm APFSDS looks like this: And after a HEAT round: What looks like rust around the impact points is actually the paint burned away by intense heat. [*] Thermal/IR electro optics, especially for tanks. [*] Improved and additional animations for soldiers, like when being hit they should act like an injured, for example drag one leg falling behind the rest of the squad cause he can´t keep up the speed, so it´s clearly visible if someone has been hit. [*] Ability to drop any weapon anytime. There is certainly more.....

I second that and already requested it; walking upright with weapon ready to fire, as soldiers usually don´t run with full combat gear a long time in the field especially when it´s not necessary, nor do soldiers constantly sneak around, we walk and use our eyes and ears to avoid finding us doing unprepared sudden dynamic evasive maneuvering if ran into an ambush for example. Realistically if you would constantly run in the field (which pretty much is an impossible thing to do physically), you´d miss many important details of whats going on around you  that otherwise could have saved your life and that of your teammates. Running on recon/patrol missions is of course the worst thing to do. The only situations i can think of making running absolut necessary is a direct assault on enemy positions, or whenever contact has been made and a firefight or shelling with you and your group involved is already ongoing, that is you visually see the enemy or see the fire walking into your position. Maybe BIS has an ear for it.