Frontlines: 50 Players on Xbox Dedicated Servers

KaosMitch

I've avoided posting Frontlines announcements here, only replying to other people as I don't want to "spam" these forums.

But this is just so cool I wanted to share it...

Kaos Studios General Manager Frank Delise confirmed the earlier report by GameSpot that Frontlines: Fuel of War would support up to 50 players on dedicated servers:

"Frontlines will in fact have some servers set to 50 players on the Xbox."

"We have been testing for some time now and its on heck of an experience."

"We actually hit 73 during testing but we are taking baby steps as this is a pretty big leap."

"The cool thing about our system is that we can control what is on the map."

"On one test, we had Solarfarm (huge map) with no vehicles, 50+ players. It was like watching a civil war as hordes of people ran over the mountains towards control points. It ended up being much funner than I thought it would be. It was awesome."

GameSpot link:

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/frontlinesfuelofwar/news.html?sid=6186162&om_act=convert&om_clk=multimodule&tag=multimodule;picks;title;6

Kaos Community forums link:

http://community.kaosstudios.com/showthread.php?t=5101

Thanks! 8-)

The_Scarab

Frothing demand etc.


This is news I like reading.

Recoil42

Has anyone tried the MP demo yet?

Dusda

Sounds cool. Mainstream PC games like Battlefield 1942 did 64 players about five years ago, but to be fair that sort of load was only feasible on awesome computers on a LAN. If they manage to get 50 players in the same server running smooth over XBL, well, more the merrier.

Kaseius

Hey Mitch, no luck finding the other thread? I was just about to go post in it, too.

As I said I would in the other thread, I sat down and played this for a good little bit of time, and I must say it has greatly improved since the SP demo I played last.

Love the 60FPS (although it teeters a bit in some places on the map I played), enjoy the large selection of gadgets to use combined with weapons and the kill reward system.

I feel that the controls could use a bit of work; they felt a bit weird at first and I didn't check to see if there was any control customization, my apologies if that's already in there. Moving feels very slow at times and I sort of wish there was a sprint type ability like in CoD4. Turning was also terribly slow when I started it up (it was on default lowest sensitivity for some reason), but that was easily fixed when I turned it higher. However, after every completed game or 3 rounds, whichever it was, the sensitivity would reset to default lowest.

I found a wall that you could get behind that didn't have any textures while you were behind it.

I think it would be nice if the draw distance were a bit higher (I was playing in a ruined sort of city area with buildings that were broken down), mostly because of the sniper rifle. The draw distance works great when you're on the ground with an assault rifle and whatnot, but when you climb up to a high point and try to pick off enemy troops, it gets a bit annoying. I also think that it would be nice to have a certain point where it doesn't show enemy names when you are aimed over them; I killed a couple of people while there were completely out of my draw distance, only because I happened to move over them and see their name. This would end up having a negative effect on the framerate though, I assume.

I also had an odd server/client sort of glitch with the rocket launcher: I fired a rocket while either crouched or prone. Now, when I shot it, the rocket blew up about 4 feet in front of me because it had hit the ground. However, a second later, it said that I had killed someone with the rocket, and a fellow died off in the distance. Probably just a weird difference between client/server and how the rocket actually flew.

It was very, very enjoyable compared to the single player demo and I will probably find myself playing the demo for quite a while, but I'm not sure if it's worth 60$ to me; if I had a decent bit of extra money to throw around, I would very likely buy this.

Not sure if you were still looking for feedback on the demo, but there are my thoughts.

Also, it is fun as hell to blow up unsuspecting peons with the helicopter drone that you can detonate.

I don't like the enemy with flying rocket drones, though. No sir!

edit:

You can sprint via holding RB, and it is great.

I'm not sure if I mentioned hitboxes in the post, but I had grenades from my grenade launcher turret that were blowing up from hitting leaves on a tree, or a tiny piece of branch which is kind of silly.

Player models could also use a height adjustment for their view with someone being able to look over an object while their gun clips through and the top of their head pops over it, making them very tough to hit if you're in front of them.

Klyka

Haha, Frank is as awesome as in the past. I think I might actually have the picture of his face shopped onto George Bush's body with the "one ring" on his hand on my old PC, I have to look for it once I get home.

And regarding the player limit, that sounds really awesome and is just what needs to be shown to Microsoft:
Developers should set up dedicated servers. The service NEEDS dedicated servers, it's just the way things work out best!

Kaseius

Gonna be playing this tonight, gamertag KaseiusC. Let's get some good games in!

squirly

Are there going to be dedicated servers by Microsoft, the publishing company, the developers, random players, etc? Or is it just going to be left up to whoever with no real "official" servers?

hoodie13

Sure, why not. I'll play a bit.

hoodie13

Oh, and Kas, it does appear to have a sprint ability.

major_tom

Awesome. I'll echo the sentiment that microsoft would do well to consider dedicated servers a major selling point if they're charging to play online!

hoodie13

I played portions of a game, it seemed pretty fun. I only had one or two other people actually playing on my team, against three active people on the red team, so that didn't work so well, but I enjoyed it.

The roles thing kinda tripped me out, but I played the Drone role, and that was hella fun. The exploding helicopter drone is great, but I didn't get a chance to really toy around with the others.

It's a damn good thing the game is gonna have 50 people at once, because Jesus these maps are huge.

Raslin

Well, its not DC 64 player el alamein, but its still pretty nice.

Anyways, I plan on not trying the demo's/etc for this game, I want to play it when it goes gold. I still remember DC 0.1 somewhat. Abrams vs T-34's ftw.

Hey mitch, do the kaos guys have an irc channel or something? Haven't talked to any of the devs for a couple years(though might see some on friday, if you guys are gonna be at the gdc)

TheSonicRetard

Funner isn't a word.

Dashui

Raslin wrote: »

Well, its not DC 64 player el alamein, but its still pretty nice.

Anyways, I plan on not trying the demo's/etc for this game, I want to play it when it goes gold. I still remember DC 0.1 somewhat. Abrams vs T-34's ftw.

Hey mitch, do the kaos guys have an irc channel or something? Haven't talked to any of the devs for a couple years(though might see some on friday, if you guys are gonna be at the gdc)

You... really should try a demo before you play this. It's funny how in the past few threads for this game, it was nothing but talking about how sub-par the game is. And in my opinion, it really is. Playing it actually made me angry. Yet in this thread, the talk is nothing but excitement. While the MP beta and SP demo were only betas and demos, no amount of bug fixing could make the game fun, because the problems go deeper than mere bugs. There are too many glaring design flaws and choices, and the whole product came off as feeling amateurish.

Of course, that's just my opinion, and for some reason, someone may enjoy this game. But everyone who has played it so far that I've heard comments from, even in our past threads, have said it it's below average to downright terrible. So I highly recommend you don't dive head first into this without trying it first, because you may end up regretting your decision.

Raslin

Dashui wrote: »

Raslin wrote: »

Well, its not DC 64 player el alamein, but its still pretty nice.

Anyways, I plan on not trying the demo's/etc for this game, I want to play it when it goes gold. I still remember DC 0.1 somewhat. Abrams vs T-34's ftw.

Hey mitch, do the kaos guys have an irc channel or something? Haven't talked to any of the devs for a couple years(though might see some on friday, if you guys are gonna be at the gdc)

You... really should try a demo before you play this. It's funny how in the past few threads for this game, it was nothing but talking about how sub-par the game is. And in my opinion, it really is. Playing it actually made me angry. Yet in this thread, the talk is nothing but excitement. While the MP beta and SP demo were only betas and demos, no amount of bug fixing could make the game fun, because the problems go deeper than mere bugs. There are too many glaring design flaws and choices, and the whole product came off as feeling amateurish.

Of course, that's just my opinion, and for some reason, someone may enjoy this game. But everyone who has played it so far that I've heard comments from, even in our past threads, have said it it's below average to downright terrible. So I highly recommend you don't dive head first into this without trying it first, because you may end up regretting your decision.

Doesn't really bother me. I got years of free desert combat from them, so if frontlines ends up not being fun, I consider it a late donation.

hoodie13

You know, after playing a bit more I'm beginning to see a lot of problems with the game.

There are a ton of bugs (for a while my guy spawned with an invisible gun, and the game just stopped at one point), and there are a ton of mechanics I was just really confused about. For one, when a new round starts one team may or may not have a large advantage. Team changing is rampant. Voice chat only works with players you've formed "squads" with, and even then you can only have maybe 4 or 5 people in your squad, I was unclear on that part.

Spawning is awkward, because if you are set to spawn on your "squad leader" and he dies while you are spawning you'll have to spawn again. For some inexplicable reason, they have you choose a class and spawn point every time you die, but you have to wait 3 seconds to hit the "deploy" button, and when you DO hit the button, you wait at a static screen for anywhere from 5-10 seconds before you spawn. There were a bunch of times where Kaseius was fighting, I was on the "deploying" screen, and then he died. And I had to start the whole process over again.

I found the physical controls to be somewhat awkward. To switch weapons, you press and hold the Y button and select your new weapon from a wheel. This would be fine... but your "role" weapons and equipment are also on this wheel. I would have preferred a dedicated weapon cycling button and then a dedicated role button. Perhaps they could have tied the role equipment to the left, bottom, and right directions on the D-Pad, and copied CoD4 and tied Y to switch between your weapon and your sidearm.

And finally, I was completely unclear on what I was even supposed to do when I got into my first game. There was no tutorial, it just threw me down in the middle of everything and tossed little hints up about what to do with my weapons.

All in all, I really hope this is a demo based on code 6 months old, and not a preview of what's to come soon (isn't it releasing in like, a month or so?).

edit: after research, I see it's releasing the 25th.

Regicid3

I've been playing (360) for about 2 hours now and I'm really enjoying it. My biggest problem is the fucking ladders! I think I might pick this up when I get my new PC.

Dashui

hoodie13 wrote: »

You know, after playing a bit more I'm beginning to see a lot of problems with the game.

There are a ton of bugs (for a while my guy spawned with an invisible gun, and the game just stopped at one point), and there are a ton of mechanics I was just really confused about. For one, when a new round starts one team may or may not have a large advantage. Team changing is rampant. Voice chat only works with players you've formed "squads" with, and even then you can only have maybe 4 or 5 people in your squad, I was unclear on that part.

Spawning is awkward, because if you are set to spawn on your "squad leader" and he dies while you are spawning you'll have to spawn again. For some inexplicable reason, they have you choose a class and spawn point every time you die, but you have to wait 3 seconds to hit the "deploy" button, and when you DO hit the button, you wait at a static screen for anywhere from 5-10 seconds before you spawn. There were a bunch of times where Kaseius was fighting, I was on the "deploying" screen, and then he died. And I had to start the whole process over again.

I found the physical controls to be somewhat awkward. To switch weapons, you press and hold the Y button and select your new weapon from a wheel. This would be fine... but your "role" weapons and equipment are also on this wheel. I would have preferred a dedicated weapon cycling button and then a dedicated role button. Perhaps they could have tied the role equipment to the left, bottom, and right directions on the D-Pad, and copied CoD4 and tied Y to switch between your weapon and your sidearm.

And finally, I was completely unclear on what I was even supposed to do when I got into my first game. There was no tutorial, it just threw me down in the middle of everything and tossed little hints up about what to do with my weapons.

All in all, I really hope this is a demo based on code 6 months old, and not a preview of what's to come soon (isn't it releasing in like, a month or so?).

What about the bad level design, terrible weapon recoil, generally low quality textures and models, and fog? And the shooting should be fun, but it's not. The guns feel and sound weak. It's a problem more-so in the multi-player section of the game. The single-player feels a little more polished, but it's still just a below average experience.

Just because they made a successful mod doesn't mean they should make a game, and the inexperience shows. Putting in new models and skins is one thing, but crafting a full retail game? Frontlines isn't anywhere good enough to pay 60 dollars for it.

Regicid3

Also

Fuck drones.

davidbarry

I enjoyed the foot-soldier only map a lot. Feels a lot like BF2, including the awkward clunkiness of it all. The big vehicle map was a bit shitty. I'm on the fence about this one, that's for sure.

hoodie13

Dashui wrote: »

hoodie13 wrote: »

You know, after playing a bit more I'm beginning to see a lot of problems with the game.

There are a ton of bugs (for a while my guy spawned with an invisible gun, and the game just stopped at one point), and there are a ton of mechanics I was just really confused about. For one, when a new round starts one team may or may not have a large advantage. Team changing is rampant. Voice chat only works with players you've formed "squads" with, and even then you can only have maybe 4 or 5 people in your squad, I was unclear on that part.

Spawning is awkward, because if you are set to spawn on your "squad leader" and he dies while you are spawning you'll have to spawn again. For some inexplicable reason, they have you choose a class and spawn point every time you die, but you have to wait 3 seconds to hit the "deploy" button, and when you DO hit the button, you wait at a static screen for anywhere from 5-10 seconds before you spawn. There were a bunch of times where Kaseius was fighting, I was on the "deploying" screen, and then he died. And I had to start the whole process over again.

I found the physical controls to be somewhat awkward. To switch weapons, you press and hold the Y button and select your new weapon from a wheel. This would be fine... but your "role" weapons and equipment are also on this wheel. I would have preferred a dedicated weapon cycling button and then a dedicated role button. Perhaps they could have tied the role equipment to the left, bottom, and right directions on the D-Pad, and copied CoD4 and tied Y to switch between your weapon and your sidearm.

And finally, I was completely unclear on what I was even supposed to do when I got into my first game. There was no tutorial, it just threw me down in the middle of everything and tossed little hints up about what to do with my weapons.

All in all, I really hope this is a demo based on code 6 months old, and not a preview of what's to come soon (isn't it releasing in like, a month or so?).

What about the bad level design, terrible weapon recoil, generally low quality textures and models, and fog? And the shooting should be fun, but it's not. The guns feel and sound weak. It's a problem more-so in the multi-player section of the game. The single-player feels a little more polished, but it's still just a below average experience.

Just because they made a successful mod doesn't mean they should make a game, and the inexperience shows. Putting in new models and skins is one thing, but crafting a full retail game? Frontlines isn't anywhere good enough to pay 60 dollars for it.

All those things, yes. The fog... Seriously, I thought we got out of that with Turok?

And the shooting WAS bad. It all felt way too loose, like there was nothing weighted down. Yeah. Yeah, I dont think this game is gonna be fantastic.

Homestar Gunner

TheSonicRetard wrote: »

Funner isn't a word.

Also the first thing I noticed.

"50 players, oh that's nic-FUNNER WHAT THE FUCK"

Dashui

hoodie13 wrote: »

Dashui wrote: »

hoodie13 wrote: »

You know, after playing a bit more I'm beginning to see a lot of problems with the game.

There are a ton of bugs (for a while my guy spawned with an invisible gun, and the game just stopped at one point), and there are a ton of mechanics I was just really confused about. For one, when a new round starts one team may or may not have a large advantage. Team changing is rampant. Voice chat only works with players you've formed "squads" with, and even then you can only have maybe 4 or 5 people in your squad, I was unclear on that part.

Spawning is awkward, because if you are set to spawn on your "squad leader" and he dies while you are spawning you'll have to spawn again. For some inexplicable reason, they have you choose a class and spawn point every time you die, but you have to wait 3 seconds to hit the "deploy" button, and when you DO hit the button, you wait at a static screen for anywhere from 5-10 seconds before you spawn. There were a bunch of times where Kaseius was fighting, I was on the "deploying" screen, and then he died. And I had to start the whole process over again.

I found the physical controls to be somewhat awkward. To switch weapons, you press and hold the Y button and select your new weapon from a wheel. This would be fine... but your "role" weapons and equipment are also on this wheel. I would have preferred a dedicated weapon cycling button and then a dedicated role button. Perhaps they could have tied the role equipment to the left, bottom, and right directions on the D-Pad, and copied CoD4 and tied Y to switch between your weapon and your sidearm.

And finally, I was completely unclear on what I was even supposed to do when I got into my first game. There was no tutorial, it just threw me down in the middle of everything and tossed little hints up about what to do with my weapons.

All in all, I really hope this is a demo based on code 6 months old, and not a preview of what's to come soon (isn't it releasing in like, a month or so?).

What about the bad level design, terrible weapon recoil, generally low quality textures and models, and fog? And the shooting should be fun, but it's not. The guns feel and sound weak. It's a problem more-so in the multi-player section of the game. The single-player feels a little more polished, but it's still just a below average experience.

Just because they made a successful mod doesn't mean they should make a game, and the inexperience shows. Putting in new models and skins is one thing, but crafting a full retail game? Frontlines isn't anywhere good enough to pay 60 dollars for it.

All those things, yes. The fog... Seriously, I thought we got out of that with Turok?

And the shooting WAS bad. It all felt way too loose, like there was nothing weighted down. Yeah. Yeah, I dont think this game is gonna be fantastic.

The fog made me think I was playing Dynasty Warriors. :P The Unreal Engine 3 shouldn't have much need for fog, at least not such a high amount, and especially not when the general quality of everything else (textures, models) is so poor. It's like they couldn't figure out how to optimize the engine well, so they threw in heavy fog to try to keep things smooth. Unfortunately, they'd need to do more than fog, as the whole product feels clunky.

Funny story about the shooting. I was playing the game online, and because the recoil is so ridiculously bad, it made actually hitting another player an exercise. Standing 15 to 20 feet away from an opponent with an assault rifle and I with a sniper rifle, it took what felt like an eternity to bring him down. We were standing still, lined up like some civil war battle, and I had to waste an entire clip with a sniper rifle to hit and kill him. It should have only taken a second or two, but instead it took six to eight. The recoil and hit box detection is that bad.

And they seem to not care. Hell, the developers I played against were jerks to new players. This level of incompetence doesn't deserve my money. The only thing that seemed good to me were the weapon models - they were fairly nice looking - and some of the abilities. Air strikes were useless, though, unless your target was completely stationary for about fifteen seconds. You select a point not from a map, but from your own perspective; you'll see a circle marker on the ground that you can move around. Then you have to wait anywhere from 15 to 20 seconds or so for a low area of effect missile or two to actually hit the ground.

So if you get the game, you can most likely expect blocky and uninspired level design, guns that feel and sound weak with an unplayable amount of recoil, low quality graphics and heavy fog, a clunky interface, and bugs, bugs, bugs. It's an amateur attempt by a mod team to dethrone Battlefield, and it fails miserably. They do nothing new or well here. I know we're all thirsting for more of that kind of action, but it's best to get it on a smaller scale from Call of Duty 4 or just wait for Battlefield 3.

KaosMitch

I've posted a partial list of changes made to the game since the last beta patch and will be updating with more details shortly:

http://community.kaosstudios.com/showthread.php?t=5253

tetsuoZshima

Dusda wrote: »

Sounds cool. Mainstream PC games like Quake II did 64 players about eleven years ago (CTF only afaik), but to be fair that sort of load was only feasible on awesome computers on a LAN (and on the internet). If they manage to get 50 players in the same server running smooth over XBL, well, more the merrier.