Crysis PC Game: February 2008

Crysis PC Game - News: Mod SDK & Patch 1.2 - Status Update

So, it was Wednesday yesterday and time for another weekly update from Crytek Dev Team reporting to the world-wide community on the progress of various Crysis related topics. This time they have got an update on the Mod Software Development Kit and also a new status report on the long awaited patch 1.2 for Crysis. It also introduces quite a few new bug fixes of the change log and new features that are included.

Mod SDK – Status Update

As you know from the last weekly update the Mod SDK is coming along quite well. We have been able to fix the remaining issues on the example assets and made them fully functional within the past week. They are also being made compatible to the different exporters the SDK includes.

The respective documentation about the asset creation for CryENGINE2 is finished as well. It will cover the basic questions to get everyone started on this topic and includes install instructions, new tutorials and also some new references for you to read through.

We do not want to tell too much, but you should check out Crytek’s Modding Portal within the next few days, since we got a more or less “small” surprise for the whole modding community which should get everyone working on new levels, assets and more.

The game source code for the SDK is still in preparation to get it working properly with the upcoming patch 1.2. We are confident to deliver the complete Mod SDK to you around the time we ship the new patch. In conjunction we also want to update the official CryENGINE2 documentation on http://doc.crymod.com with quite a few new tutorials and references.

Patch 1.2 – Status Report

We also got news from the development status of patch 1.2 for you. The final installer has been sent to the EA and Crytek QA departments for content verification. The feedback from them until now is positive, so no major errors could have been found so far.

What we are currently working on is the localization for the patch readme file. It needs to be translated into the various languages the game supports. After this is done the files will be verified if they have been translated properly and then get implemented into the installer.

When this step is completed the patch is ready for distribution and allows us to name you a release date for it.

Patch 1.2 – Bug Fixes & Features Introduction

In every Crysis Weekly Update we are going to feature a few of the upcoming bug fixes and/or features from the change log and talk about them a bit more detailed. The introductions for this update are:

Singleplayer/Multiplayer – Audio Hit Feedback

To improve the overall readability in-game for Singleplayer and each Multiplayer game mode Crysis has to offer we decided to implement additional audio hit feedback functionality. This applies to bullet impacts to the enemy player model you are shooting at.

By hitting the torso, arms and legs you will clearly hear the audio feedback and thus recognize much easier that you hit someone. By giving a headshot the sound will be different and can be clearly identified as such. This feedback also can be enabled and disabled by the specific console variable “g_useHitSoundFeedback”.

Multiplayer – Connection Error Warning Messages

With patch 1.2 we introduce even more readability, not only to the in-game part as well but also to the general user interface. Currently it is not that easy to locate the error with your Crysis installation and set up if you got disconnected from an online server with the message “Server Authentication Failed” or “Disconnected from server”.

This will change with the upcoming patch since we implemented quite a few new error messages that give you more details on the reason why you have not been able to either join a server at all or stay connected to one server.

If a player is missing the map the server is running:“Could not find mapname”

If the player has the map but it differs from the servers version:“Map version differs from server”

If the player was kicked from the server:“Kicked from server”

If the player was banned from the server (if they attempt to reconnect):“You have been banned from the server”

If the player has a different version of the game to the server:“Unable to connect, game version differs from server”

Client error while connecting to devmode enabled server without the client running devmode:“You must be in devmode to connect to this server”

Client error attempting to connect to servers while in devmode and the server isn’t:“Cannot connect to this server while in devmode”

Change Log Abstract

As usual we are going to inform you about additional bug fixes/tweaks included in the patch. With the upcoming weeks we try to inform you as good as possible about the change log, but no promise that we can finish the whole list until the patch is released – it is quite huge!

1. Optimizations and Stability

Corrected a number of memory leaks with FSAA modes.

2. General Fixes/tweaks

Fixed player receiving damage from rag dolls.

Fixed an issue where key bindings were not saved until the player resumed the game.

3. Weapons

Moved assault scope further away from the camera to allow for a better peripheral view while zoomed.

Nano-Disruptor grenade will no longer disrupt the revive invulnerability effect.

When prone with a sniper rifle, the attachments menu should no longer be cut off.

4. Vehicles

Fixed a number of issues where players getting out of vehicles would get stuck in walls.

Improved vehicle handling under braking and boosting.

Reduced collision damage multiplier for actor-vehicle collisions in MP.

5. Singleplayer

Halved suit energy required for punching in strength mode.

Helmets will never deflect shots when the player hits them while using weapon sights.

6. Multiplayer

Added a number of warnings for incorrect map version and missing maps when connecting to servers. (already introduced further above)

Players will no longer be banned for team killing while in pre-game period.

Fixed not being able to scroll player names on end of game scoreboard.

7. New Features (already introduced further above)

Added some additional audio hitfeedback functionality to multiplayer and singleplayer bullet impacts. Headshots will include an audible ding in multiplayer games.

Added additional audio feedback for player hitting enemies. The feedback can be disabled with "g_useHitSoundFeedback 0".

...

-Crysis Dev Team

Source

Crysis PC Game - News: Mod Software Development Kit - Development Status

Crytek published another weekly update reporting to the world-wide community on the progress of various Crysis related topics. This weekly update focuses on the Mod Software Development Kit for Crysis.

We welcome you to the “Crysis Weekly Update #3”, which is an official status report from Crytek to the world-wide community in order to get you up-to-date on the progress of various Crysis related topics.In this update we want to talk about the Mod Software Development Kit for Crysis that is scheduled to ship around patch 1.2. In addition to that we are going to introduce you to quite a few new bug fixes of the change log and also new features that are included. We also got news on the status of patch 1.2 for you which is nearing completion.

Mod SDK – Development Status

The long awaited Mod Software Development Kit for Crysis is in development for quite some time already. Within the past weeks we have made great progress on it to get everything ready when patch 1.2 ships. The installer for the SDK is already completed and has been verified.

Next to the installer the important tools such as the resource compiler, FMOD designer for sound, polybump plugin/application and of course the exporters for 3DS Max 8, 9 and 2008 are finished and included as well. This should allow every modder to export their creations to the Sandbox2 Editor based on the documentation we provide for this.

Currently the team is working on getting the example assets functional in the Sandbox2 Editor and making them compatible to all the different exporter versions. These are being used as reference how different objects (characters, vehicles and more) are set up correctly. Also some minor adjustments and bug fixing are left to be done.

The game source code for the SDK is currently being prepared based on the final patch 1.2 source. Once this has been finished the whole SDK is getting put together and will get checked for stability and usability.

Right after everything has been approved the SDK will be made available to the whole modding community.

Patch 1.2 – Status Update

Additionally we also got some interesting news about the upcoming patch 1.2 for you. In the first weekly update we mentioned that the content is locked and will not change unless another issue is found.

This means we have set up the final installer for patch 1.2 and sent it to both EA and Crytek QA departments. They will now do a last final test on it and verify its functionality. Once this is done we can schedule a release date and let the community know about it.

However, even though the patch 1.2 is nearing completion there is still a bit of work ahead of us. We hope to get everything done in time in order to release the multiplayer focused patch for Crysis in the upcoming weeks.

Patch 1.2 – Bug Fixes & Features Introduction

In every Crysis Weekly Update we are going to feature a few of the upcoming bug fixes and/or features from the change log and talk about them in more detail. The introductions for this update are:

Multiplayer – HUD Readability

Tweaking the information displayed on each player’s HUD in a PowerStruggle match was an important topic for us to address in the upcoming patch 1.2 in order to improve readability for new as well as more experienced players.

The first new addition to the HUD is about a new icon that is visible when you purchased a vehicle. This allows you to directly see where the vehicle is located.

Additionally the red near-death HUD effect has been improved together with the visual feedback for a player being hit, to ensure enough readability is provided while being in combat and not having enough time to check the health status in the right lower corner.

For a quicker reference during a PowerStruggle match new numbers have been added to the top HUD screen information. These numbers display the percentage of how far the alien energy of the respective team is. The numbers are visible for both teams all the time.

The last part of the readability update is about the TAC icon for enemy players that will now disappear when the player who is carrying a TAC launcher cloaks. This adds more dramatic to the endgame scenario and also re-implements the cloak mode as useful tactic to get closer to the enemy HQ. Still cloaking consumes the most energy and thus needs to be used very carefully since on uncloaking the energy is low and the player is very vulnerable to bullets.

Multiplayer – Air Combat Balancing Part 2

Last week we introduced you to the first part of the air combat balancing topic. It included adjustments to the air and anti-air vehicles. Based on the analyzed data and feedback from the community a list of balancing changes have been created which are being applied in patch 1.2.

Today we release the second part of this balancing topic which is about bug fixes and upcoming tweaks to air and non-air vehicles.

All Air Vehicles:

Added new shell ejection effect for air vehicles.Explanation: This increases the visibility of an air vehicle shooting at a target.

VTOL:

Fixed an issue with incorrect "friendly fire" icon in multiplayer VTOLs.Explanation: Sometimes the enemy aircraft would get the red cross of friendly fire showing up which is fixed.

VTOL cannon now has correct spin up or spin down sounds.Explanation: Increases readability when a VTOL is starting/stopping to fire with the mounted machine guns.

Fixed issue with VTOL weapons not overheating correctly.Explanation: Adding more balancing to the air combats since mounted machine guns in VTOLs now cannot be used constantly due to the appearing overheating.

Anti-Air Vehicle:

Greatly increased AAA damage vs. VTOL and Helicopter.Explanation: Anti-Air Vehicle now can be seen as offensive weaponry against the air superiority of the VTOLand Helicopter.

Rocket Launcher:

Adjusted damage of rockets vs. AAAExplanation: To complete the scissor, paper, stone principal the Rocket Launcher damage against the Anti-Air Vehicle has been adjusted accordingly. Even though this vehicle might be very powerful against air vehicles it is still vulnerable against ground units, especially tanks and Rocket Launchers.

Change Log Abstract

As usual we are going to inform you about additional bug fixes/tweaks included in the patch. With the upcoming weeks we try to inform you as good as possible about the change log, but no promise that we can finish the whole list until the patch is released – it is quite huge!

1. Optimizations and Stability

Fixed a number of memory leaks with some procedural vegetation and destroyable objects physicalization.

2. General Fixes/tweaks

Allows loading of custom “objectives.xml” files inside the respective levels folder.

Decoupled basic speed-mode movement speed from current suit energy level. Sprinting still takes up energy.

3. Weapons

Players are no longer revealed to enemy on enemy mini map when using silencers on weapons unless they are within 5 meters of another player.

Improved the behavior of guided rockets, when aiming through player collision proxies. This should reduce instances of rockets flicking away from targets occasionally.

Fixed an issue with some weapon effects that would cause explosions not to be rendered.

4. Vehicles (already introduced further above)

Fixed an issue with incorrect "friendly fire" icon in multiplayer VTOLs.

Added new shell ejection effect for air vehicles.

VTOL cannon now has correct spin up or spin down sounds.

Fixed issue with VTOL weapons not overheating correctly.

Greatly increased AAA damage vs. VTOL and Helicopter.

Adjusted damage of rockets vs. AAA.

5. Singleplayer

Player will now be prone if loading a level that was saved while they were prone.

Fixed issue where after saving the game manually while in the shell, the save will not immediately appear in the save list.

6. Multiplayer

The vehicle you purchased is now visible with a blue icon. (already introduced further above)

The loadout menu no longer changes to the weapons menu when an alert event occurs in the game.

When using PDA, if any player captures a location it will no longer revert to the first page of the PDA.

TAC icon for enemy players will now disappear when the player who is carrying a TAC launcher cloaks. (already introduced further above)

7. New Features (already introduced further above)

Added numbers to energy bar in PowerStruggle for quicker reference.

Improved red near-death HUD effect and visual feedback for player being hit.

So that’s it for the third Crysis Weekly Update! We hope you enjoy the information and thanks for your irresistible support. Do not miss the next update on Wednesday!

-Crysis Dev Team

Source

Crysis PC Game - News: Patch 1.2 – Cheat Protection

Crytek is getting regular with its official reports to the world-wide community on the progress of various Crysis related topics. In this weekly update they talk about Crytek’s internal cheat protection which they are going to fully implement with the upcoming patch.

We welcome you to the “Crysis Weekly Update #2”, which is an official status report from Crytek to the world-wide community in order to get you up-to-date on the progress of various Crysis related topics.

In this update we want to talk about Crytek’s internal cheat protection we are going to fully implement with the upcoming patch. In addition to that we will introduce you to quite a few new bug fixes of the change log and also new features that are included.

Patch 1.2 – Cheat Protection

The first topic of today is all about multiplayer, cheating and what can be done against it. With the upcoming patch, Crytek’s internal anti-cheat solution is being fully implemented into Crysis. Since release of the game we have been working on this, attempting to get it as effective as possible.

Punkbuster and the anti-cheat solution are able to run in conjunction on one game server, but also can be used separately if needed. Still Crytek recommends having Punkbuster as well as the internal solution from Crytek running on a server in order to reach the maximum possible cheat protection.

The cheat protection we will implement is very configurable for administrators of a Crysis server. With the console variable “sv_cheatprotection” you can choose between three default security levels, whereas three is the highest and recommended for clan matches. Security level one and two are recommended for public gaming.

In addition to all that, the cheat protection system can be set individually to even protect modifications. This ensures that all upcoming multiplayer mods for Crysis are protected against cheaters as well.

Patch 1.2 – Content Clarification

Even though we are aware of the most requested features of the community, there are a few things that did not make it into the patch. This is because internally we would like to ensure they are given enough time to meet our quality standards and are not rushed.

Thus we have to tell you that neither the auto download functionality nor Team Instant Action are included in the patch. Both features would have delayed the patch significantly if we would have included them. Still, we are currently discussing internally about what can be done to get these features for Crysis realised. Once a final decision has been made we will let you know for sure.

Patch 1.2 – Bug Fixes & Features Introduction

In every Crysis Weekly Update we are going to feature a few of the upcoming bug fixes and/or features from the change log and talk about them a bit more detailed. The introductions for this update are:

General – Crysis Mod Loader

With this addition mods can be managed through the games main menu UI (User Interface). Whether you develop mods on your own or you just play them, this should ease up the usability significantly.

By launching Crysis with patch 1.2 installed you will have a new selection in the main menu called “Mods”. If you click on it the new mod interface will appear. There you will see an automatic listing of all modifications you have installed for Crysis.

By selecting a mod you will see the respective splash screen and some more detailed information. All these things can be easily adjusted and set via an XML-file in the respective mods folder. It will allow each modder to add their personal logo and detailed information to their modification.

Once clicked on a mod you then have the ability to load it, or unload it if you are currently running this mod and want to switch back to original Crysis again.

Multiplayer – Air Combat Balancing Part 1

Within the past weeks we have collected and analyzed various data and feedback from the community about the current air combat situation on the servers. With the upcoming patch we would like to introduce you to quite a few significant changes to the air vehicles as well as the anti-air vehicles and ground defense.

Since these balancing adjustments affect different aspects of the multiplayer we had to split them up in two parts. The first part which we are going to talk about today is about bug fixes and tweaks to air and non-air vehicles.

Generally the overall imbalanced situations that appear in-game at the moment are being resolved by making the VTOL a bit more vulnerable and less powerful, but still trying to keep it as effective weaponry.

All Air Vehicles:

Overheat sounds have been added for the mounted guns.

First person view limits for helicopter, VTOL and APC rear seats added.

Helicopter:

Helicopter wind effect no longer plays after vehicle is destroyed.

VTOL:

Increased VTOL vulnerability to being hit by other aircraft cannons.

Fixed issue with VTOL weapons not overheating correctly.

Anti-Air Vehicle:

Fixed issue where the AA cannon only produces tracers from the left side barrels.

Change Log Excerpt

As usual we are going to inform you about additional bug fixes/tweaks included in the patch. With the upcoming weeks we try to inform you as good as possible about the change log, but no promise that we can finish the whole list until the patch is released – it is quite huge!

1. Optimizations and Stability

Fixed crash with AI triangulation in the editor.

2. General Fixes/tweaks

If climbing a ladder while cloaked, energy no longer depletes at the same rate as if player were standing still.

Mouse cursor will no longer be permanently removed on attaching gamepad.

3. Weapons

Decreased air speed of grenade launcher projectile for better readability.

Added smoke trail to grenade launcher shell for better visibility.

4. Vehicles (already introduced further above)

Added overheat sounds for VTOL and helicopter guns.

Fixed issue where the AA cannon only produces tracers from the left side barrels.

Added first person view limits for helicopter, VTOL and APC rear seats.

Helicopter wind effect no longer plays after vehicle is destroyed.

Increased VTOL vulnerability to being hit by other aircraft cannons.

5. Singleplayer

Increased player melee damage and decreased AI melee damage

Increased damage of most player-fired weapons and decreased damage of most AI-fired weapons.

6. Multiplayer

Team killed players will no longer drop their weapon.

Grenades are now visible in the hands of enemies in multiplayer.

7. New Features (already introduced further above)

Added mod loader to the main menu. User created content can now be loaded and unloaded through this menu.

So that’s it for the second Crysis Weekly Update! We hope you enjoy the information and thanks for your irresistible support. Do not miss update #3 on next Wednesday!

-Crysis Dev Team

Source

Crysis PC Game - News: Patch 1.2 – Development Status

Here is an official status report from Crytek on the progress of various Crysis related topics. In this update Crytek gives us a glimpse about the current development status of the long awaited Crysis Patch 1.2, along with introduction to a number of bug fixes and also new features that are included.

We welcome you to the “Crysis Weekly Update #1”, which is an official status report from Crytek to the world-wide community in order to get you up-to-date on the progress of various Crysis related topics.

In this update we want to talk a bit about the current development status of the long awaited Crysis Patch 1.2. In addition to that we are going to introduce you to a number of bug fixes and also new features that are included.

Patch 1.2 – Development Status

Alright, let’s begin with the first topic. Patch 1.2 has been in development for quite some time now and we are very satisfied with its current progress. The patch as itself is nearly finished from a content point of view.

This means no new features and major changes are getting implemented unless a critical issue appears and requires immediate fixing. At the moment the tasks that are left to be done are testing the whole patch content-wise and installer-wise to ensure all bug fixes/features are working as intended and nothing else is broken.

The test phase will last until EA’s and Crytek’s Quality Assurance departments are satisfied with the overall quality and stability of the whole patch. Since this is a very important part of the patch development we have to wait for additional feedback from both QA departments in order to set and announce a release date.

Patch 1.2 – Bug Fixes & Features Introduction

In every Crysis Weekly Update we are going to feature a few of the upcoming bug fixes and/or features and talk about them a bit more detailed. The introductions for this update are:

Weapons - new grenade indicator icon

With patch 1.1 we have activated the client visibility of a hexagon icon for both team mates and enemies that displays where a grenade has been thrown at. With patch 1.2 we are improving this feature and made it more readable for everyone.

We got rid of the hexagon and replaced it with a nifty colored triangle. Additionally the type of the grenade has been added as text as well. Friendly grenades show up marked as blue on the HUD and enemy grenades as red marked.

Multiplayer - Added team colors to kill/death messages

To improve the readability of the kills/deaths that are going on during a match we added colors to these messages that appear in the upper left corner of the HUD.

Members of your team are getting displayed in a blue color whereas enemy players are displayed in a red color. So obviously seeing a blue name killing a blue name is not good and should be avoided

Since this is the first weekly update that is being sent out we are going to inform you about additional bug fixes/tweaks and also name some new features that will be included. With the upcoming weeks we try to inform you as good as possible about the change log, but no promise that we can finish the whole list until the patch is released – it is quite huge!

1. Optimizations and Stability

Fixed potential server exploit that could cause servers to crash.

2. General Fixes/tweaks

Added mouse wheel scrolling support for server browser.

Fixed an issue where in unarmed mode, the character's arms will suddenly reappear and disappear when picking up and dropping an object.

Added new effects for vehicle shattering after being frozen.

3.Weapons

C4 will now stick to doors correctly.

Added new grenade indicator icon. (explained in detail further above)

Adjusted explosion radius of grenade launcher to be more efficient vs. players.

4. Vehicles

Added check for players riding on vehicles while not seated to prevent them being killed.

Tweaked damage for players hit by vehicles at lower speeds.

Adjusted wall collision damage for civilian car.

5. Singleplayer

Improved AI machinegun handling (both stationary and mounted machineguns on vehicles).

Fixed an issue with "Escort Prophet out of sphere" objective failure causing reloading issues.

6. Multiplayer

Added team colors to kill/death messages (explained in detail further above).

Fixed some game states not properly resetting after game restart.

Fixed issue where VOIP doesn't work properly on non-dedicated servers.

7. New Features

Added auto team balance. Players will now be moved from full teams to the opposing side when dead if the numbers are unbalanced. (Can be disabled/enabled via cvar)

So that’s it for the first Crysis Weekly Update! We hope you enjoy the information and thanks for your irresistible support.

-Crysis Dev Team