harntrox Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Its been 30 days since the release of HX5. This is sorta a 'post mortem' though I'm considering that a small server-patch might be needed to correct some minor issues, possibly a config utility. Any general suggestions for what can be changed server-side are welcome in this thread. Otherwise, please direct specific support questions to the HX5 Support Forum link here: DRAGMODS.ORG First off, I would like to thank the entire GR community for the tremendous response to HX5. Especially Rocky and Loco for spreading the word and hosting the mod! Between all the mirror sites out there, and all of your supprt, this mod has approached or exceeded 40,000 downloads in 30 days! I had no idea that this many people were still playing the game, on Mac and PC even ... I hope you are having as much fun playing it as i did making it (yea, right! I had to learn 3dsm to make this). And ... Props to the servers hosting Capture the Flag -- you guys know what is up! It begins After browing these and other forums for months, it occurred to me that there was about 20 things that players wanted from the game that weren't available to them. Ranging in all aspects from missions to team games, in the deep down intangible areas of hard-core game design that do not relate to eye candy, graphics, textures etc which are all good and necessary but rather superficial when it comes to the real meat of the game: that is, gameplay. Then =DRAG= Raven shows up at my house with his damn motorcycle model...offering like 50 weapons models.. and more... Ok, thats it, lets make a mod ... ! I contacted about 10 modders (n00bs & veterans!) for their best work, and started putting it all together. This mod simply would not exist without all of their help. 6 months later, with 3 months of online testing, the beast was finally ready. (and Im still in recovery ... !) SP vs MP GR is more than one game: SP, MP-coop, Team vs Team, etc. Sometimes the design of one method steps on another, like establishing the difficulty of coop vs. single-player missions. So it was decided early on that since this game is over 2 yrs old, everyone playing is an expert by now, and less than 5% of the players I know play single player ... clearly the 'baseline' for this mod's design needed to be multiplayer. As with all previous HX mods, high-bandwidth support is a cornerstone. The single player campaign has 2 missions specific to it, all the rest of the content (80% or more) is only available online. (You can 'serve yourself' and play without an internet connection, however.) Lessons learned It is inevitable that people will compare Frostbite to HX5, though I think that it is not a very useful comparison because they are designed to do entirely different things -- FB is an 'expansion pack' designed to emulate the SP baseline of the original game, and HX5 is a total conversion, designed to expand the experience on all fronts. IMHO, Both mods meet their design goals. The difficulty level of the missions in HX5 are designed for MP coop. Due to the random scripting and non-linear design of the maps, these are some seriously difficult missions. This being said, myself and a few others tested and won them all in SP Vet. There were a couple missions I did not complete in SP Elite, though they were completed in MP Elite repeatedly. (With lotsa real human players and massive bandwith on the dedi. server.) With all the time spent testing online game types and maps, there are no serious bugs with maps or gametypes in MP. There are a couple of crashes that can occur in the missions depending on the timing of objectives that are failed, such as getting shot down in the blackhawk on HX5-0 SEAL Strike in SP (1st mission: lol getting shot down is not part of a successful mission!) and failing a stealth objective at a certain time in the HX5-Chain Lightning mission in SP or MP. Its annoying stuff like this that warants a small server-side patch. New Stuff As a total conversion it is understandable that people rush through the coop briefings and completely ignore the readme (Warning ... these are difficult missions ... completely random ... interaction with vehicles in new ways etc.) So here are a few common misconceptions: Confusing 'destroy' with 'place demo' seems to be a verry common oversight among players, being conditioned to the limited objectives available with the original game. Yes, you can destroy objectives in HX5 with bullets or conventional explosives. Team AI will fire from helos but they are Gomer Piles compared to a real player team with support weapons raining down lead on that crowd of fleeing tangos or vehicle convoy. In SP, you will have to switch gunner positions often to pick out targets of opportunity, especially boats. The flyby missions are intense fun. (Just watch the grenade launchers in the helos!) Really New stuff After making the mod I discovered I had introduced some new experiences never before seen in the world of video games -- any games ... (!?) *Firing at motorcycles from a flying helicopter with a support weapon *Shooting down a helicopter by sniping the pilot with a 50 cal (also support weapon) *Map grids syncronized in ticks to the mortar rangefinder i.e. 9 ticks = 9 squares on the command map. *A Deathmatch game type in GR where you fight with a knife until you find a weapon, which you can pick up like Quake, Unreal, etc. (Ok Vietcong has this if you're the pilot, but the dynamic of mowing down 5 guys in a knife fight when you are the only one with a support weapon is just hilarious!) In conclusion, I would say I didnt actually expect anyone to read the readme as instructed in the installer (except hardcore modders interested in doing all the stuff they were never able to do: map placeable objects, online vehicle riding, AI enabled vehicles, destroyable objectives, weapon pick-ups & more ...!) , so check out the features at the dragmods link at the top of this post for anything you might have missed, such as the numerous gametypes or kit restrictions. Make sure to read the briefings on those game types for more info, theres a lot of content there! ... and ... most important: have fun ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fr1j0l3 Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 heheheh... well said Harn. Thanks for putting this one together.... there's always gonna be a group of GR players that can't wait to see what you pull off next... Thanks for a great product . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybee Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Good job on the HX5 Harn and friends. Maybe UBI will call some of you guys some day. If they do, hang up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tools Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 HX5 RULES!!! I would like to say thanks to everyone who put out mods as great as HX5. You guys keep the game from getting old and leaveing us out there looking for something else to waste our money on. GR was no waste of money! You all are doing the rest of us, who don't have the modding abilities, a great service. Please don't quit! The exploding helos are my personal favorite. I am making a mission based on a book I read that needed this. The stock helos would just Keep fling in big circles but show up dead on the command map. As far as "single player" goes, thats all I play. With work and family I wouldn't be able to find a group worth joining that would play in an organised manner that I could dedicate real time to. So..., don't forget us lone wolfs. Once again THANKS!! Keep 'em coming. tools Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DGSE_Valdez Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 What a work of excellence... my wish , for the lastYears of GR , is that Ubi & the Heads of GRModdingCommunity can make an Official BigBigExpensionPack , with the most finest Stuff ever made by community's masters... all the good maps , all the good Campaigns , all the good Scripts , all the good Skins , all the good Weapons etc... in one or more CD , & on DL... perhaps not with the help of UBi , but at least with their Kind regards... dont know if it is possible... but what a Dream... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrlenjr Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Nothing has compared to pure FUN of playing COOP HX5 with you guys. Those TK "accidents" in the helo we all have are hilarious. And running around like a nut with only a knife is just as fun. Thanks, mrlenjr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbel Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Boyohboyohboyohboy!! Played the first mission. Then had a look at some of the new maps. Wooooohooooo! They rule. Just had some fun with the CQB map, location : Ghent - Belgium. *grin* I'm from Belgium. Anyhow: that was hilarious! Try that map (Firefight) in SP and you'll live a couple of seconds - a minute at the most. Great mod - am still exploring it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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