The ask a dev a question thread...

[Ginger Lord]

Got any bugging questions the FAQ doesn't cover? Ask it here and we'll try our best to answer it!

[Maxey]

Will there be a voice command system?
Fixed weapons?
How's the aiming system?

[Ginger Lord]

Will there be a voice command system?
Fixed weapons?
How's the aiming system?

There is a voice command system implemented at the moment, with a selection of simple commands. We have an idea that may or may not get implemented which will tie these voice commands to the overview maps and maybe ingame maps. For example if you shout sniper and whilst looking at it, it will mark it on the map. Another being marking targets or rally points. This idea is no further than the drawing board and may or may not be included.

Fixed weapons will be available including MG42's, Vickers and some...larger things.

Aiming system is like DoD and uses crosshair. Ironsights are not implemented, but not ruled out.

[engineer]

Will there be parachuting dogs that bark bee-

Has manual bolting ala The Trenches/Red Orchestra been considered?

[Ginger Lord]

Will there be parachuting dogs that bark bee-

Has manual bolting ala The Trenches/Red Orchestra been considered?

Wheres Gangs?

I like the manual bolting feature that TT/RO has. Each weapon has its primary fire and the secondaries still need sorting out, support weapons obviously have their bipods. The Sten has the possibilty to have a bayonet, the MP40 a good whack with the end. The rifles are a bit up in the air, theres manual bolting, melee attack or ironsights (there is no "sniper" class in HaJ so something to provide a bit better accuracy may be needed, maybe not) to be chosen from. Its certainly an interesting feature, but I must admit it took me a while to twig it in TT when I fired my shot and was wtf, next shot please ...

[jaboo224]

DOD source has the rifle iron sights which i honestly dont like :(

[Kiff]

What kind of accents will the British soldiers have?

:o

ok i'll leave haha

But this does look very cool guys. Looking at the development team is enough to get me very interested. Jed and Waldo, great stuff. Keep on kicking ass.

[engineer]

What kind of accents will the British soldiers have?

:o

ok i'll leave haha

But this does look very cool guys. Looking at the development team is enough to get me very interested. Jed and Waldo, great stuff. Keep on kicking ass.

Howdy, Kiff. Just don't go spamming das goatse like you did on the DOD forums and you'll be all right.










(make me a M1 garand with a sling please)

[Pierog]

What kind of accents will the British soldiers have?

:o

ok i'll leave haha

But this does look very cool guys. Looking at the development team is enough to get me very interested. Jed and Waldo, great stuff. Keep on kicking ass.

we found some good german voice actors who can mimic a good british accent.

[Trp Dutch]

If you ever need a Dutch voice .... ;)

[War Pig]

If you ever need a Dutch voice .... ;)

Or a Finnish.. :lol: :o

[DraKon2k]

So, about Ironsights ... Will you be possible to aim with Ironsights with any gun, or only with Rifles, like in DoD:S? Personally I'd love to use Ironsights with my MG42, together with a "look-over-the-mg-to-get-a-better-view" feature :)

[Ginger Lord]

The implementation of Ironsights has not been decided on yet. If it happens at all.

[bazooka]

What kind of class system is there? Is it mainly differentiated by weapon loadout, or might different classes have different skills (e.g. engineers or medics as an example), or maybe different characteristics (speed, stamina, constitution, etc.)? Will playing a certain class limit your playing options substantially like in DOD:S -- or less so, as in DOD 1.3?

What kind of respawn system will there be?

[Sly Assassin]

Are you going to stop that all annoying bunny hopping?

Also are you thinking of having some sort of weight system so that player's using heavier weapons like MG's won't move as fast as say a rifleman?

A climb feature?

Rolling while prone?

Walk, run, sprint? - In that order cause soldiers didn't run everywhere with 40kg worth of equipment.

AI controlled vehicles, like tanks for convoy missions?

New Zealanders? hehe kidding, I know that'll come later on.

[Maxey]

A dive to prone system like in RO would be cool, how about that?

[Ginger Lord]

What kind of class system is there? Is it mainly differentiated by weapon loadout, or might different classes have different skills (e.g. engineers or medics as an example), or maybe different characteristics (speed, stamina, constitution, etc.)? Will playing a certain class limit your playing options substantially like in DOD:S -- or less so, as in DOD 1.3?

What kind of respawn system will there be?

There are three classes at the moment, Rifleman (Enfield/K98), Assault (Sten/MP40) and Support (Bren/MG34 w/ drum). Its mainly differentiated by the different weapons, there are no speed penalties for class. In the British Army, people shared all the equipment. Riflemen carried 2 Bren magazines each for the squad MG so the Gunner and No2 didn't have to carry it all.

You will have to choose your class wisely depending on what you want to do, bullets do less damage over distance so trying to snipe with a SMG just will not work (we've tried it). Rifles dominate large open areas with accuracy and power, close in the SMG's are king with rate of fire. Support weapons are the go between, accurate and poweful when deployed they keep the riflemens heads down whilst the assault team closes in.


Are you going to stop that all annoying bunny hopping?

Jumping is being removed from the game, you can't fight whilst jumping around

Also are you thinking of having some sort of weight system so that player's using heavier weapons like MG's won't move as fast as say a rifleman? Same answer as above, not planned but not neccesarily won't happen

A climb feature?
The climbing system is currently near completion and will soon start being tested, its the replacement for jump. You can climb over obstacles in your path or out of trenches. The max height is to be decided but should be around eye/head height at most, to allow pulling yourself out. A "leap" function may also be used for just hopping across gaps, but we have to figure out a way of it not being abused.

Rolling while prone?
This is not implemented and I'm pretty sure it won't be. Prone position is really quite a crippling position in HaJ, you get the best accuracy and least recoil, but you really cannot move fast (add 40kg of weight, lie in some mud, pick up a heavy rifle and try moving whilst being shot) and you cannot spin 360, only a few degrees each way. Use with caution.

Walk, run, sprint? - In that order cause soldiers didn't run everywhere with 40kg worth of equipment.

Jog & Sprint are included. The walk function is still left in but it really is more of a tip-toe speed. A light jog is the normal movement speed, which isnt the full pace normal speed of DoDS. Sprinting is available and is a proper sprint, but limited to about 6s iirc

AI controlled vehicles, like tanks for convoy missions?
Not on the intial release list but something we will be looking at down the road.

A dive to prone system
Its not directly implemented yet, but when you hit prone and are running you carry your forward momentum with you, more of a slide than a dive. As for diving over stuff to prone its a nice feature and I'd like to get it in down the line. I'm guessing you can be sprinting, hit climb and then prone at the apex to dive over it so to speak, but havn't tried this.

[Pierog]

amazingly a lot of these questions we've talked about internally already.

[DraKon2k]

Are you planning to do a D-Day Map?(Gold/Sword Beach)

Are those all weapons(K98/Enfield; MP40/Sten; Bren/MG34), or are you planning to get more weapons into the Mod, more famous ones such as the MG42 or the Stg44(in '44//'45 maps) and/or rare/more unknown weapons such as the MG15 (http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Bilder/Maschinengewehre/MG15-3.jpg) or the MP28/34 (http://www.centerfiresystems.com/miva/graphics/00000001/MP34-KIT-B.jpg)?

Also, how are you going to handle swastikas/SS runes? Will we see Waffen-SS troops?

[Ginger Lord]

Are you planning to do a D-Day Map?(Gold/Sword Beach)

Are those all weapons(K98/Enfield; MP40/Sten; Bren/MG34), or are you planning to get more weapons into the Mod, more famous ones such as the MG42 or the Stg44(in '44//'45 maps) and/or rare/more unknown weapons such as the MG15 (http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Bilder/Maschinengewehre/MG15-3.jpg) or the MP28/34 (http://www.centerfiresystems.com/miva/graphics/00000001/MP34-KIT-B.jpg)?

Also, how are you going to handle swastikas/SS runes? Will we see Waffen-SS troops?

Surgeon is working on a Gold Beach map.

I suspect more weapons will see there way in (Piat anyone?) but MG42's will not be a selectable class. They will be found in static positions that the player can control, we feel they are too powerful and could end up with a whole team of them. The MG34 does the job nicely and after all, our timespace means we have three years of war before the Mg42 was put into commision.

We're aiming to not have swastika's/SS runes as this means certain countries cannot play the mod legally. It would be a shame to just say "Tough, you can't play it" so they won't be found. SS troops should be easily identified from Wehrmacht troops by their camoflauge however.

[DraKon2k]

Will we see Waffen-SS troops?SS troops should be easily identified from Wehrmacht troops by their camoflauge however.So is this a yes? :)

[Ginger Lord]

Eventually, none of the three maps we are working on for first alpha release has them. Whilst it may only be one German Model for all three maps, I'd like to have a Standard Wehrmacht, Afrika Corps and Winter Camo varients included, only time will tell.

[DraKon2k]

Good :)
--
How will the damage system be? How many hits will you need to kill someone?

[Ginger Lord]

Depends on what weapon you use, where you hit them and from how far away.

[DraKon2k]

For Example let's say:

K98/MP40/MG34 @ 10 metres

K98/MP40/MG34 @ 50 metres

K98/MP40/MG34 @ 100 metres

*edit* nvm

[Sly Assassin]

Good to hear someone else has taken jump out cause of it's unrealistic abilities. Though what about jumping across small ditches and little walls that don't need climbing over, it is possible to do that. It's something we're looking into doing via entities aswell.

[Ginger Lord]

We need to work out some way of it differentiating between climbing and doing a leap the other way. Pierogs the guy in charge of that.

[Pierog]

Good to hear someone else has taken jump out cause of it's unrealistic abilities. Though what about jumping across small ditches and little walls that don't need climbing over, it is possible to do that. It's something we're looking into doing via entities aswell.

currently b0b is working on the temporary system for the inital release but it will be a strong judgement of how the gameplay will interact.

I don't want to reveal much but in the end you'll be negotiating obstacles as you would expect to do so in real life. So bunny hopping out of a trench will be replaced with climbing out, or if you are running you can hop over the trench or jump in.

[Sly Assassin]

Good to hear, we're doing the same thing over at RnL aswell, I hate bunny hoppers with a vengence and it'll be great to have climb and 'leap' in another mod beside ours :)

I'm really looking forward to this mod, it's great to see the commonwealth being worked on, I would say that if I wasn't already deeply involved with RnL that I'd volunteer for you fellas with out a doubt. But my Committments lie else where since September last year and proberly untill September 10 years down the track.

[Das-W00t]

but MG42's will not be a selectable class. They will be found in static positions that the player can control, we feel they are too powerful and could end up with a whole team of them.

I find that a bit disheartening. Static positions in games rarely work well, because, well, they're static. Everyone will know where they are and how to avoid them. I foresee them being little more than a novelty. Obviously, a beach map like Gold with static bunker MGs would be an exception.

I'm also concerned about simply removing belt fed MGs for the Germans except for static positions. I was looking forward to getting away from DoD's weird weapon situational arrangements, where the K98 is the center of the German team. The German Army's tactics revolved around the MG, with the rifle in support. The British Army, in contrast, was completely rifle centric. By eliminating the squad level belt fed weapon, you're really cloning the sides, from a tactical perspective. I'm not asking for hyperrealism; god no, the quasi realism of HaJ is why I'm excited, but just nice medium of historical accuracy with fun game play elements.

If you're really concerned with having "an entire team of MG42s", what I'd really like to see would be hard coded class limit based on the number of player's currently playing. So say, for the German team it breaks down like this:

Under 10 Players:

Unlimited K98s
2 MP40
1 Drum Fed MG34/42

10 to 15 Players

Unlimited K98s
3 MP40s
1 Drum Fed MG34/42 OR 1 Belt Fed MG34/42

16 to 20 Players

Unlimited K98s
4 MP40s
1 Drum Fed MG34/42 AND 1 Belt Fed MG34/42

21+

Unlimited K98s
5 MP50s
2 Total MGs, Drum or Belt Fed, user preference.

Of course, mix and match other weapons as they become historically available.


Now, for ammo, give the drum fed MGs 3 drums, with a maximum capacity to carry 4 or 5. For the belt fed MGs, start them with 50 rounds linked in the weapon, and no extra belts, with a capacity to carry an extra belt of 100 rounds. Have each rifleman carry an ammo box that supplies either 1 or 2 drums and 1-100 round belt.

Now, if you give the MG34 and the MG42 anywhere near their true ROFs, the above set up will in no way overpower the weapons. If you give them a reasonable cone, which is one area I think you guys are really on the same page as I am about, it will make these weapons AMAZINGLY deadly if they catch you in open. However, the problem is, a 100 rounds at 1200 RPM only gives you 5 seconds of sustained fire. The German MGs, if modeled with that high rate of fire, are only suppression weapons due to their lethality. Also, if constrained with some form of class limit, really won't be an amazingly huge problem that will completely overpower the British team. I think this gives you a quasi realistic balance that will force the German team to either resupply and support their MGs, true to history, or render them useless.

The Brits have the Bren with its lower rate of fire, which leads to increased accuracy (much tighter cone) and better ammo consumption, and faster reload time. Two Brens working in tandem could be devastating, and much more effective at active suppression ( actual lead flying down range) than the German MGs.

after all, our timespace means we have three years of war before the Mg42 was put into commision.

..and four years when it saw front line squad level service.

I really think a set up like that could give you two really unique play styles for the opposing teams without throwing either the fun factor or the game play balance out of the window.

I know you guys are going for how modding used to be, and I'm all for that, so I by no means expect anything even close to that at initial release. I just wanted to get the idea out there to maybe be thrown around and looked at for down the line.

[Pierog]

oh no...

those extremely high ROF will require me to do some prediction recoding...

and we all know what happend when valve redid some prediction recoding for dod:s...

right now our netcode is fairly efficient since its really valve's default code.

There are a select things we will confirm or deny that we've discussed thuroughly and g_l and jed have decided firmly on, but some things are still being discussed decided. And wether the handling of the mg42 as a class or fixed position is being debated on or not I cannot tell you.

theres a problem that brits really don't have an mg42 competitor... right now the easy way out is the remove the competitor... possibly we'll handle this differently later on but at these early stages of the mod, gameplay comes first before anything, and trying to balance the mg42 in would be a distraction...

[Sly Assassin]

Another question, are you going with a cone of fire or are the bullets going to be fired from the barrel of the rifle/smg like in real life?

[Ginger Lord]

The MG34 currently has 50rnd drum and 3 spare drums, totalling 200rnds of ammo firing at 900rpm. Thats just over 13s of continuous fire. Its pretty effective as it is, whilst it has the same bullet fade distance as SMG's (as in the both start losing power at the same distance) the MG's do roughly twice as much damage, so take a lot longer to become useless.

I suspect we may see a selectable MG42 down the line somewhere however, but the MG34 works fine as it is for now.

Its currently cone of fire, but we're trying out different combinations of no cone and recoil and small cones and recoil. At the moment its the latter and works quite well, none are the size of DoDS SMG cones however.

[Pierog]

Another question, are you going with a cone of fire or are the bullets going to be fired from the barrel of the rifle/smg like in real life?

well irl weapons aren't 100% accurate anyway so a small cone would be the closest to realistic.

[summit]

Hey guys,

Interesting looking mod, but one thing that bugged me about a question from the FAQ was the possible future inclusion of NZ'rs and not Australians, when they both fell under the ANZAC title. Any plans of just having an ANZAC race?

[Ginger Lord]

So many people picked up on the fact we forgot to mention Australians directly on the main page.

Eventually the mod will include other Commonwealth countries such as

Such as... it wasn't the definate list. Of course Australia will appear, probably as you suggested as an Anzac force. But first we have to get the British all working :P

[summit]

lol yeah mate I understand - found this link via dod forums and am just a little new =P

Do the Brits, then bring on the AUSSIES! :D

[Jed]

One of the nice things about doing the Commonwealth is that for the Allies at least, they pretty much use all the same kit so once you've done the basic player character you can often add a new country just be re-doing the texture. :)

[Welsh]

OK, I'll start my first post here by saying that you guys got a promising mod here!

So, now to the Q's.

1. Can we expect squad-based action?

2. Will there be death messages?

Excuse me if I've missed the answers to these q's on the site.

[Jed]

1. Can we expect squad-based action?

Depends what you mean. HaJ plays best as a squad but we wont have anything as complex as BF2's squad system. There will be benefits in sticking together.

2. Will there be death messages?

Yes.

[Pierog]

Yah, no one can expect every single country right off the bat. Other countries will filter in over time an eventually everything we wanted will be in it a some point.

[Welsh]

1. Can we expect squad-based action?

Depends what you mean. HaJ plays best as a squad but we wont have anything as complex as BF2's squad system. There will be benefits in sticking together.

What will make players stick together then? And was BF2's squad system that complex?

[Jed]

Vee haff ways...

[Welsh]

Ya sneaky monkey! :(

[summit]

Yeah I didn't expect the Aussies straight off the bat, but it'd be nice to include 'em down the track - don't think a game has done that yet (probably because there are no famous battles solely with Germans)

[crookedJ0K3R]

I got a question for you all, It'll really stump the devs.

*inhales deeply* caniplayitNOW?

[Pierog]

I got a question for you all, It'll really stump the devs.

*inhales deeply* caniplayitNOW?

You can... but we won't let you.

[INsane]

Such as... it wasn't the definate list. Of course Australia will appear, probably as you suggested as an Anzac force. But first we have to get the British all working :P

Sounds great, like Jed said the commonwealth had the same kit. Very nice for weapon/player models work :)

They also fought side by side, aussies, kiwis under brit command or apart, they could be in a mixed group?

It may be one way of introducing another class. Like a bren gunner who has a secondary weapon, say a knife and two nades... but a Canadian bren gunner has a pistol and one gren. Sort of fine tunes the secondary weapon but leaving the four main weapons... with more choices?

I see the Enfield (I love that gun) in a screenie ... will it, and the Kar have a bayo? I realize those may be older models. Would make me very happy for one :)

God I miss the old rifles.

[Pierog]

Such as... it wasn't the definate list. Of course Australia will appear, probably as you suggested as an Anzac force. But first we have to get the British all working :P

Sounds great, like Jed said the commonwealth had the same kit. Very nice for weapon/player models work :)

They also fought side by side, aussies, kiwis under brit command or apart, they could be in a mixed group?

It may be one way of introducing another class. Like a bren gunner who has a secondary weapon, say a knife and two nades... but a Canadian bren gunner has a pistol and one gren. Sort of fine tunes the secondary weapon but leaving the four main weapons... with more choices?

I see the Enfield (I love that gun) in a screenie ... will it, and the Kar have a bayo? I realize those may be older models. Would make me very happy for one :)

God I miss the old rifles.

Rather not reveal anything frankly. Sooner or later you'll get to play the game and experience what we do instead of knowing what you can do beforehand.

[Welsh]

How will the game appear for someone who wants to play sniper/marksman?

I just played Sniper Elite-demo so I'm pretty pumped for something advanced :)

Bullet drop and so on...

[Jed]

No snipers at this point. Not even sure when we'll add them as the rifles are pretty accurate and you dont get scores for kills anyway.

[Welsh]

Interesting!

[summit]

Sounds like quite the team-play orientated mod. Any idea of how far you're away from any release that's public? Or that, at least, I can play? =P

[BLU-82]

I see TheSurgeon is on your mapping team, is that what happened to his uber beach map :).

[Pierog]

I see TheSurgeon is on your mapping team, is that what happened to his uber beach map :).

what uber-beach map ? :D

[Ginger Lord]

DogSector is not in HaJ, he is working on another D-Day beach map, Gold for us.

[BLU-82]

dod_dogsector

It was near compleation along time ago, then suddenly he stopped gving updates :!:

:edit:
ah cool. It just seemed to dissapear about the same time you hinted about H&J :wink:

[Ginger Lord]

I believe KominAaa is trying to optimise it at the moment for DoD as its being a real beehatch.

[War Pig]

No snipers at this point. Not even sure when we'll add them as the rifles are pretty accurate and you dont get scores for kills anyway.

Thank god for no snipers, and thank god even more for not getting score for kills! :D Hurrah all together!

The more the team playing, the better! :P

[Ginger Lord]

The more the team playing, the better! :P

Talking of the team...playing...time for us to have a playtest :P

Don't expect any answers for a while folks, hopefully we'll get some interesting shots for you all.

[War Pig]

^insert annoying when_will_it_be_released -question here! :wink:

All I've got to say is DAMN YOU: It seems I have to go and buy a totally new system for to play the game. My old piece of shit won't run it. :lol: :wink:

[Sly Assassin]

Are you going to have static artillery and mortar pieces like we had in dod, ala forest and other maps that used the animated 88 model in dod gold that you could load with shells thanks to fuzzdad.

Or are you going with artillery being called in via commands on a mini map and so on?

[Pierog]

Are you going to have static artillery and mortar pieces like we had in dod, ala forest and other maps that used the animated 88 model in dod gold that you could load with shells thanks to fuzzdad.

Or are you going with artillery being called in via commands on a mini map and so on?

:D we'll see

[Ginger Lord]

I believe you missed user controllable artillery...oh..crap.

[Jed]

"Shot over!" ;)

[JEBUS]

Will you guys have some way to prevent everyone from using Machine Guns and no rifles on the battle field at all? Just like in DoD:S Usually 5 assault class, 5 Support Class, 3-4 Snipers and 2 MGs with no one using rifles.

I sure hope so because I would hate running into a room and having someone spray and pray an entire clip into me.

[Pierog]

Will you guys have some way to prevent everyone from using Machine Guns and no rifles on the battle field at all? Just like in DoD:S Usually 5 assault class, 5 Support Class, 3-4 Snipers and 2 MGs with no one using rifles.

I sure hope so because I would hate running into a room and having someone spray and pray an entire clip into me.

i don't think that is a problem we've witnessed.

[Agent 00Shoe]

Will you guys have some way to prevent everyone from using Machine Guns and no rifles on the battle field at all? Just like in DoD:S Usually 5 assault class, 5 Support Class, 3-4 Snipers and 2 MGs with no one using rifles.

I sure hope so because I would hate running into a room and having someone spray and pray an entire clip into me.

The reason that happens in DoDS is because the rifles, generally, for most people arn't as effective as the other weapons in the game. If people start following that same trend in HaJ then I would asked that the developers increase the effectiveness of the rifles rather than limiting classes. I'm not a big fan of gameplay restrictions like that. If you want people to use a certain weapon, then make sure they WANT to not HAVE to. That's how I feel about it anyway.

[Ginger Lord]

You really don't want to pick a fight with a rifleman at more than 20m unless you have a rifle.

[Trp Cow]

You really don't want to pick a fight with a rifleman at more than 20m unless you have a rifle.

or some artillery

[Ginger Lord]

You really don't want to pick a fight with a rifleman at more than 20m unless you have a rifle.

or some artillery

Agreed, a rifleman with a .303 really doesn't like being shot at by a 75mm AT shell.

[Lardassmonkey]

Surely you mean H.E? :P :D

[War Pig]

Surely you mean H.E? :P :D

An AT shell does the trick as well. Esp. a direct hit. :shock: And shrapnel from an AT shell..baad. :x

[Lardassmonkey]

An AT shell does the trick as well. Esp. a direct hit. And shrapnel from an AT shell..baad

Not if it plunges straight into an earth bank or something. :D
A direct hit would sting a bit though. :?

[War Pig]

Hehee true. But what I've fired an AT rocket, I wouldn't want to be in the near vicinity of the impact area. :shock: 8)

[ceacar99]

an at weapon in the second world war would not cause that great of an area damage. it would only have a chance of killing infantry if it a: landed directly in front of them, the force "splashing" shrapnel onto them b: landed directly underneath the infantry or c: hitting him directly. this is because unlike he shells the explosion is directed foreward. thus when the shell or rocket hits the earth the explosion is directed into the earth and twards enemy soldiers.

anyway i have developed for a classic western game on source a method of cannons that allows the players to wheel them around, and actually have to load them before fireing. slight modifacations could be done to create a ww2 anti tank artillery piece for this mod where the players will have to load each shell into the weapon. using coding it could be done even better. this will make it so anti tank weapons arent unbelievably powerfull if tanks are included in the game. the reality is that in ww2 tanks didnt advance at break neck speed. they took it slow, stoped constantly turning off thier engines so they could listen, had thier commander look around alot and advanced carefully into an entrenched enemy. anti tank guns can hide VERY well and that allows them to wait till enemy tanks are within 500m wich with most of them will yield a one shot kill if they aim thier shot well.

its a comman misconseption that the tank ended ww1 warfare. the reality is that its combined arms. however if there is any one developed invention that ended stalemates and trench warfare that had to be the aircraft. sit too long and your dead.... anyway thats WAY off topic.

the two things i would like to see in this game are portable mortars and wheeled field artillery pieces like anti tank weapons and infantry guns. it would add a new feeling of strategy to possition your guns in the righ places to gain the upper hand or to take out the enemy guns.

[War Pig]

I think Ginger might have been referring to some ingame, inside, event which includes an AT gun? Not sure though.

I think I have a pretty decvent idea of how AT weaponry work, as I've been using them in the past. But it's true, that naturally HE is more effective against infantry.

Working art./mortar systems might be quite interesting in game. Though, what you make of 'em, and how you implement them is a whole another issue. I hate making comparisons with dod, but remember Hill or Dog1 for that matter? The mortars in those were merely annoying and a pain in the ass.. How to make it work decently?

[Pierog]

I think Ginger might have been referring to some ingame, inside, event which includes an AT gun? Not sure though.

I think I have a pretty decvent idea of how AT weaponry work, as I've been using them in the past. But it's true, that naturally HE is more effective against infantry.

Working art./mortar systems might be quite interesting in game. Though, what you make of 'em, and how you implement them is a whole another issue. I hate making comparisons with dod, but remember Hill or Dog1 for that matter? The mortars in those were merely annoying and a pain in the ass.. How to make it work decently?

don't worry about it. We playtest enough to find out whats up.;

[War Pig]

I don't trust Jed's judgement on things! :lol: :wink:

edit:

I'm not sure if this has been discussed somewhere else, but how is the pace of the game going to be? Personally, I love H&D style slow pace game. DODs not too bad, but wouldn't mind a war game with even slower pace. Would give time to think and whatnot. Then again, a "slow game" might not be of interest to some gamers.. :?

[Roseavelt]

hallo all.

im wondering how big you levels are going to be, lets just say in comparison to the current DODS maps :P

or are you going for wide open realistic maps?

cheers.

[ceacar99]

map size is realy up to the mapper. i thought about setting up some tight nit city combat maps with housing and PLENTY of flanking opertunities(im sorry i dont like linear maps that much normally) but ive also thought of a couple wide open maps. the reality is that the way most source shooters are set up open maps kinda are hard to do, the weapons are too inacurate.

so ya, here is a question for the devs. how acurate will the weapons be? will it be realistic? that will make larger more dynamic maps possible. i hate in dod that a smg cant hit something past 30 ft. a real smg is usually effective up to 50 yards, over tripple that 30ft i mentioned. most rifles are effective up to 500 yards but the soldier normally engages at 100 yards because hitting something at 500 yards while moving is pretty difficult....

also any dev know if field artillery might be inplimented in a few select maps or should i make my own with field artillery? :P.

[Ginger Lord]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed somewhere else, but how is the pace of the game going to be? Personally, I love H&D style slow pace game. DODs not too bad, but wouldn't mind a war game with even slower pace. Would give time to think and whatnot. Then again, a "slow game" might not be of interest to some gamers.. :?

It's certainly not the constant fast paced action of DoDs. There are times where things go very quickly, people rushing to stop a breakthrough or overwhelm an area but most of the time its sneaking around with a squad trying to find a gap in the lines.

im wondering how big you levels are going to be, lets just say in comparison to the current DODS maps Razz

or are you going for wide open realistic maps?

The current maps are probably the size of Argentan and larger. Unlike DoDs you are not funnelled down obvious routes, each map has many choices where to go. Radar for example has three main routes so to speak, left, right and centre. Each route however has links to get to all the other ones, you could start on the left flank, see a load of enemy, backtrack and cross over the main road and go around the right flank pretty easy.

how acurate will the weapons be? will it be realistic? that will make larger more dynamic maps possible. i hate in dod that a smg cant hit something past 30 ft. a real smg is usually effective up to 50 yards, over tripple that 30ft i mentioned. most rifles are effective up to 500 yards but the soldier normally engages at 100 yards because hitting something at 500 yards while moving is pretty difficult....

also any dev know if field artillery might be inplimented in a few select maps or should i make my own with field artillery?

Weapons are accurate enough. Stick your sights on a soldier at 100 yards with a rifle will most certainly hit him, provided you havn't just stopped running. With an SMG you'd be lucky to hit someone over 50 yards. Each weapon has a defined role and are not "nerfed" with hideously large cones of fire to make them useless. You can still hit people at range with them but it won't do anywhere near the amount of damage to kill them.

Artillery wise, it's a feature we are messing around with. It may or may not be in v1 but if/when it does appear, expect it to be controllable. Seen a horde of infantry holding an area, tell the gunner and he'll fire a shot, relay back to him where it landed and he should be able to adjust. Its very rough at the moment as its not a definate feature but Jed and I have been smacking targets to kingdom come at 800yrds with a Pak40 with a bit of talking between us.

[War Pig]

Sounds really good!

Especially the artillery part, and the fact that the game (on most parts) will be a slower paced, sneak and peak type of thing. Of course, when the action starts, then the pace goes up. :P

[Jed]

Artillery will feature in maps when there are suitable targets for artillery so don't get your hopes up they'll be in every map. I'm also aware of how spammy they can be so I'm toying with them being a two man weapon with one loading, one firing. The loader will probably have to pick up ammo and take it to the gun so when whatever is in the casement is exhausted you'll have to go find some elsewhere.

[DarkAvenger]

I wonder could the same thing be done for light mortars for the attacking team? Of course having to emplace them, round up the ammo and etc.
Could be useful for a smoke screen and a small localized barrage...

[Lardassmonkey]

I like the artillery idea but i definetly think they should require 2 player to operate properly, it would help stop people messing around with them too much.

I've also been thinking about mortars in the game after what other people have said. I thought perhaps both light and medium mortars could be included.

With light mortars like the British 2 inch it could just be a one man weapon, it was little more than a glorified grenade launcher anyway so the amount of damage it could do was minimal. As a player all you would need to do would be to lie down, point it in the right direction and fire away. It could be included in a semi-custom rifleman menu ifone is used, taking the place of extra ammo or grenades.

Medium mortars would be at least a 2 man job, one firer, one loader/local spotter. These would perhaps be seperate classes of their own due to the major differneces needed. The mortar could be carried in 2 loads (legs and ammo/ tube & baseplate) by the 2 players and then setup in the desired position- making it portable but not all that easily moved and therefore vunerable if not protected properly. If the number was limited to perhaps 1 or 2 per side (depending on maps size) they would be a valuable asset they you wouldn't want to lose.
Firing could be done in a more complex manner than the simple mouse aiming for the light mortars which were generally only used when the firer had LOS. Instead proper windage & elevation would have to be used and then altered according to the spotters adjustments. This would make them hard to use but improve teamplay and make them very effective when used properly.

[Ginger Lord]

Round one of the "Ask a Dev a Question" thread is over. If you have a question, you'll have to wait :P

Artillery/Mortars/Whatnot are not an integral part of the game and may never be. It was just a quick hack Jed and I did and it turned out quite nicely. I wouldn't expect them in the first release as we have more important things to do first.

[Ginger Lord]

This thread is open for a week, ask your questions! No repeat questions please.

[Tostig]

I'm not sure if this has been asked before but:
What are the plans for paratroopers? I think we all remember Jed's sexilicious DoD:G models.

[Ginger Lord]

We have Jeds 6th Airborne models ingame at the moment, however they will be replaced by a more generic british infantry model. This allows us to have a much larger expanse of maps on release, rather than specific airborne ones. Those models are old DoD:G ones converted, but Jed has a new improved one in the pipeline.

Paratroopers will be around ingame, hopefully at release in at least one map.

[Tostig]

Well, since no-one else seems interested in asking questions I shall ask another:

What will the HUD be like? You mentioned a minimap in reply to the first question, so can we assume that the HUD will be similar to DoD's?

Will the models' mouths open and close to both voice commands and people speaking over their mics?

[Pierog]

Well, since no-one else seems interested in asking questions I shall ask another:

What will the HUD be like? You mentioned a minimap in reply to the first question, so can we assume that the HUD will be similar to DoD's?

Will the models' mouths open and close to both voice commands and people speaking over their mics?


Many of the things you mentioned are still under discussion internally.

[Ginger Lord]

The mouth's do move when using voice commands using the same system as HL2, as for speaking over the mic, I'm not sure its possible to get it exactly working right, but I'm sure we'll try.

The HUD is currently being worked on, shots that you see floating around are just the HL2 hud with a temporary area display bit tacked on.

[Blue]

I know the old HL mods did it based on mic volume, but then you'd see their mouths open when a dog barks in the background and stuff lol. Or there'd be static and you'll see their mouths twitching violently.

EDIT:: In all the quotes you'll see I said 'dark barks' instead of dog. They sound similar and I guess my rusty noodle got the two mixed up while I was typing :lol:

[oldslowguy]

Hello. Just came across this mod, it looks great! Keep up the good work, be strong, and trust your instincts. Great job so far. :D

[Jed]

I know the old HL mods did it based on mic volume, but then you'd see their mouths open when a dark barks in the background and stuff lol. Or there'd be static and you'll see their mouths twitching violently.

It's do-able in Source but it's not as simple as it was in HL1. To be honest, just having the jaw hinge up and down looks like crud on the more detailed Source models and really distracts from the aesthetic.

We've got the player models properly vocalising voice commands with their mouths moving and forming the correct shapes for the sounds. At the moment though we don't have facial expressions (anger, suprise, pain, etc) due to the way the expression system works. We may add it, it depends on how much effort it takes and what takes priority first.

[Pierog]

I know the old HL mods did it based on mic volume, but then you'd see their mouths open when a dark barks in the background and stuff lol. Or there'd be static and you'll see their mouths twitching violently.

It's do-able in Source but it's not as simple as it was in HL1. To be honest, just having the jaw hinge up and down looks like crud on the more detailed Source models and really distracts from the aesthetic.

We've got the player models properly vocalising voice commands with their mouths moving and forming the correct shapes for the sounds. At the moment though we don't have facial expressions (anger, suprise, pain, etc) due to the way the expression system works. We may add it, it depends on how much effort it takes and what takes priority first.

exactly very detail tweaks in much later versions, right now we are more concerned with the flow of gameplay, and we are revamping a few systems we had in place codewise we weren't to happy with.

Some mod teams are too concerned about looks that some minor gameplay issues which completely ruin the gameplay style get put back on the "fix later list", but for us, if one single element of the gameplay isn't working just as expected, we first tweak it, and if its still wrong, a complete cut and revamp. Most mods wouldn't do that, since they just want some flashy cool looking game out as fast as possible.

Even if some gameplay elements are missing, or some art doesnt look as good as it could be, we will completley be sure the gameplay models included will be enough to warrant a release, and will be polished as much as we can.

[Blue]

It would be pretty awesome if when your health gets low, you could get the players to look scared and maybe occasionly clench with pain.

You could also have them look suprised and then horrified when they accidentally (or otherwise) TK someone. :lol:

Those kind of details really should be on the backburner right now though.

[zapan]

Hi,

I have created some weapons for a HL1 mod (HL Matrix - a french mod without any release...). It was a good experience because I learned C++ and how to work with a team. And I want to renew this experience, but now, I know C++/svn/etc... (but I haven't any experience with the Source SDK, I have just read the doc', thanks to Valve Dev' community)

So I wonder if you need any help in coding.
I'm interested to work with you because your team knows what it does and that's what interests me.

Regards

[Jed]

Hej Zapan,

Thanks for the offer but unfortunately we don't have room for another coder right now. We currently have four (quite a luxury!) working on HaJ right now.

Also, the fact you're so new to Source and the SDK is a problem. HaJ isn't really a good project to learn HL2 coding on.

Thanks for the interest and offer of help though.

[Winfield]

Hello, I'd like to compliment you on your mod, which to me looks like a great game and very enjoyable game, and the innovation you all are trying to bring to the multiplayer shooter genre :D .

I have a general gameplay question that I didn't see in the FAQ or brought up here - what is the spawning system like? Is it round based a la Counter-Strike or interval spawning like in DoD? If the latter, will mappers be able to implement an advance spawning system on larger maps, so the player doesn't have to run too far to get to the main action?

[Jed]

At the moment in the internal dev version its instant spawning - i.e. when you die, you respawn when you press fire. We haven't yet decided on what the default re-spawn system will be.

We have some idea for other types of gameplay based on the spawning system, you'll have to wait and see though.

And yes, we have an advancing spawn system so that on larger maps, once certain objectives are secured the spawns move up so you don't have so far to run.

[Winfield]

At the moment in the internal dev version its instant spawning - i.e. when you die, you respawn when you press fire. We haven't yet decided on what the default re-spawn system will be.

We have some idea for other types of gameplay based on the spawning system, you'll have to wait and see though.

And yes, we have an advancing spawn system so that on larger maps, once certain objectives are secured the spawns move up so you don't have so far to run.

Great, thank you for the quick reply :D

[Pierog]

And yes, we have an advancing spawn system so that on larger maps, once certain objectives are secured the spawns move up so you don't have so far to run.

Its a WWII game, not a marathon simulator. :D

[Jed]

I always seemed to be the guy who spawned *just* before the spawn shift on dod_hentau and had to run all the way to the action.

God that map needed a bus service :(

[Tostig]

Staff Sergeant Cooper was relieved to see the sight of the Battalion Battle Bus bringing re-enforcements up behind the Kraut position:
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/327/battlebus8kj.jpg

[KominAaa]

http://img348.imageshack.us/img348/5165/busafrika4hz.jpg

[Blue]

Too bad it's a german bus :lol:

[War Pig]

wtfbbq!!1 x11t!

Now that's what they'd call a respawn hack in CS! :shock:

[zone trooper]

i have a few questions that i would like to be answered.

1. Will there be any sort of music, for menu etc?

2. Will you release this mod when you feel ready or do you have a date that it will be released?

3. How many maps, models, weapons etc are there in total?

4. Is there any chance of the detenation gametype like on DoD:S to come to HaJ?

5. When will you release the public beta of the mod? if you are, will it be a select amount of people or just everyone?

i might have some more questions later so i will ask you them. Anyway i hope the mod is going well and thank you for answering my questions.

[Ginger Lord]

i have a few questions that i would like to be answered.

1. Will there be any sort of music, for menu etc?

2. Will you release this mod when you feel ready or do you have a date that it will be released?

3. How many maps, models, weapons etc are there in total?

4. Is there any chance of the detenation gametype like on DoD:S to come to HaJ?

5. When will you release the public beta of the mod? if you are, will it be a select amount of people or just everyone?

i might have some more questions later so i will ask you them. Anyway i hope the mod is going well and thank you for answering my questions.

1) There is menu music.

2) The first release we hope to release as soon as we can, we're not going to wait till we have every single game mode done and every single faction done before we release. We will release initially with 2 sides and perhaps 1 or 2 gameplay modes, then the next release will fix the bugs, each major release from then on should either add a faction, a new gameplay mode or some new weapons. These big updates should happen quite reguarly if all goes well, not a yearly occurence.

3) For the first initial beta there will be at least 3 maps, 2 styles of players (British and German Infantry, possibly British Airborne too) and if my maths is correct 15 weapons players can be equipped with, plus some static ones....

4) See 2

5) I'd imagine once we feel we have a decent playable version, we'll have some closed testing with a large amount of people (couple full servers worth) and if all goes well, the Public beta should follow. Don't ask to be a tester though, if we need people, we'll ask.

[zone trooper]

i have thought of another question or questions.

1. What graphical enchancements are you going to provide in the game, e.g.
HDR, film grain etc.

2. have you modified the physics to ake them more advanced than day of defeat source?

3. Will you change the ragdoll physics so that all the body will have some sort of ragdoll physics, e.g. fingers, toes, feet, arms, legs, stomach ?

4. are you going to release the main music for this mod as a MP3 file to download?

5. is it possible for you guys to make a checklist on your website to see how far you have completed the mod? e.g. models 30% weapons 50% maps 78% etc etc

thank you for answering these questions when you do answer them :)

[Pierog]

i have thought of another question or questions.

1. What graphical enchancements are you going to provide in the game, e.g.
HDR, film grain etc.

2. have you modified the physics to ake them more advanced than day of defeat source?

3. Will you change the ragdoll physics so that all the body will have some sort of ragdoll physics, e.g. fingers, toes, feet, arms, legs, stomach ?

4. are you going to release the main music for this mod as a MP3 file to download?

5. is it possible for you guys to make a checklist on your website to see how far you have completed the mod? e.g. models 30% weapons 50% maps 78% etc etc

thank you for answering these questions when you do answer them :)

1. Who knows?
2. Physics are mainly unchaged... except for the portal gun since its soo cool.
3. The body has proper ragdolls... i don't see how going to such lengths is needed... especially things like toes.... which would be just a resource hog to simulate considering they are inside of boots.
4. Sure
5. We don't have a defined amount of features to checkoff... not to mention those are always false

[zone trooper]

Its me again. Have you guys thought about putting in a ranking system like the one i mention in the other forum called Ideas and Feedback. If you have ever played Rainbow Six: Vegas, the ranks in them are very fun t go up and when you go up each rank, you gain new weapons, armour, clothing etc. Have you considered putting in a ranking system or not?

[Ginger Lord]

Reopened 09/07/2007

Thought we could open this up again, get a bit more action going on.

One question not to ask is "When will the mod come out" the answer is When its done!

[Arturo]

I was just about to ask that. Will Iron Sights be implemented?

[zone trooper]

So how far has the mod come? Is it still in pre-alpha stage or Beta stage now and do you need any Beta testers haha. :P

[Jed]

Ironsights: We've thought about it and we have an idea of how we want to implement it but there are some technical issues to overcome. However it's not a high-priority item on the dev list.

Mod status: It's still internal alpha, it's currently built that the first beta though maybe not quite as complete. However some of the current features are vastly improved over the last.

In short, the first version looked like crap, was held together with duct tape, could do a 100mph but had a habit of falling off the road. Current version has fitted panels, only does 45mph and is missing a windscreen but it so far hasn't killed anyone.

[Slackiller]

do you need any small prop models made? If so what kind? any images of what you might need, also sizes.

[Jed]

To be honest, any small everyday environmental props of the period are useful from light switches to pots and pans, a hand pump, fuelcans, toilets, baths.

In fact, think of every room in a house, think of the most common items you'd find in there and we need one of each.

[Hugo.B]

I think the need for ironsights in a game is growing, especially if you want to claim to be remotely realistic, considering Red Orchestra, Insurgency and TC:E all have them.
It's not because the other mods have them that you need them, it's because they do add a degree of realism.
The same goes for leaning round corners.
But all that adds to dev. time, and whilst I'd like to see this game do for DoD:S what Insurgency did for CS:S, it definitely takes time to implement.


H.B.

[Ginger Lord]

We are aiming for fun involving gameplay over realism. If the realism encroaches on being fun, we will not go with it.

[Jed]

Yeah I gotta go with GL on this one. We're not claiming to be realisitc in HaJ for one simple reason - it's a game.

We're not building a realism mod and that was something we decided from the start. We just want something that is historically accurate in terms of it's portrail of the units and missions, but not at the expect of fun gameplay that doesn't require an IQ of 300 to master.

[Hugo.B]

I agree with you there, it isn't an army simulator, it's a game.


H.B.

[Arturo]

I agree but Iron sights doesnt make a game more realistic look at cod2...

[Jed]

My argument is this...

Weapons like the MP40 and Sten in HaJ are more for CQB fighting so with the pace/speed and promixity of battle you'd be "firing from the hip" most of the time anyway.

Rifles, yes I can see the justification for adding iron-sights to those as you want to take carefully aimed shots. However, in HaJ we made a concious decision NOT to add a sniper class because we want people to have to get stuck in and up close and personal with the enemy. If/when we do add ironsights to the rifles though, the ammount of magnification and accuracy gained will not be that dramatic.

As for the LMGs, we may add ironsight for deployed modes but with no magnification.

[zone trooper]

Will this game be semi relastic like Call of Duty 2, it has ironsights but the game is quite fast paced? and will you add a tester and dev logs so we can see some of the progress you made like the ones from Insurgency website.?

[Jed]

Will this game be semi relastic like Call of Duty 2, it has ironsights but the game is quite fast paced? and will you add a tester and dev logs so we can see some of the progress you made like the ones from Insurgency website.?

I really can't answer how "realistic" HaJ will be because it's down to your personal idea of what realism is.

[Ginger Lord]

I really can't answer how "realistic" HaJ will be because it's down to your personal idea of what realism is.

Agreed.

Its not realistic in the sense you get shot in the hand, you become incapacitated. Its not arcade in the sense that you sprint everywhere, can jump around and take 4 .303's to the chest. It's authentic in the fact you have realistic looking environment, sounds, weapons, models and you move in a sensible way.

Think somewhere between DoD:S/CoD and Red Orchestra/Insurgency/Op Flashpoint.

[Hugo.B]

Very good explanation that, because reality'd mean that if you got shot in the foot...no walking for you.


H.B.

[zone trooper]

Well you could walk but you would be in a lot of pain. How maps do you guys think there will be for the first release and all?

[Ginger Lord]

Well you could walk but you would be in a lot of pain. How maps do you guys think there will be for the first release and all?

We hope to have about 4-6 for the first release. Two of them are pretty much done and waiting for coding and testing, two more have the basics down and waiting on testing before finishing off and theres 3 or so in early development.

[zone trooper]

We hope to have about 4-6 for the first release. Two of them are pretty much done and waiting for coding and testing, two more have the basics down and waiting on testing before finishing off and theres 3 or so in early development.

Thats good, if you do get 4-6 maps in for first release then you would be near waht Valve has release 8 offical maps for DoDS.

[Arturo]

I think it was 4 maps in the DoD S release crap game anyway.

[Slackiller]

I did the hand pump model so far, got it uvmapped, needs texturing

[Ginger Lord]

I did the hand pump model so far, got it uvmapped, needs texturing



:icon_wtf:

[Slackiller]

:icon_wtf:


Is that a good :icon_wtf: or a bad :icon_wtf:

[Sam]

Is that a good :icon_wtf: or a bad :icon_wtf:

I think its a wtf are you talking about :icon_wtf:

[Slackiller]

To be honest, any small everyday environmental props of the period are useful from light switches to pots and pans, a hand pump, fuelcans, toilets, baths.

In fact, think of every room in a house, think of the most common items you'd find in there and we need one of each.



OH :) , I should of started a new thread. http://www.slackiller.com/forums/phpBB2/images/smiles/icon_ashamed.gif it was early in the morning for me. should of went to bed sooner.
http://www.slackiller.com/forums/phpBB2/images/smiles/icon_caffine.gif or had more coffee