News: Future Crytek titles will be multi-platform

The PC Play magazine has published an English version of the recent interview it did with Cevat Yerli, president of the German Studio Crytek, which is well known for developing Crysis. In this interview they discussed the success and failures of Crysis, but more importantly the state of the PC gaming industry.

PC Play magazine had a chance to have a brief chat with Mr Cevat Yerli, a president of well-known German studio Crytek. We asked Cevat a few questions about Crysis success and its future, the state of the PC gaming industry, the piracy impact, Games for Windows program and other topics regarding Crysis production.

PC Play: Crysis is out now for quite some time, it received sky-high scores, which could be considered an instant success. How do you and the team feel after you finally launched possibly one of the most anticipated titles of the past year, on any platform?

Cevat Yerli: I feel very proud of the team and they do too, they deserved it. Crysis is a very complete development of what we imagined and that’s the core premise of being proud, it resonated very well critically and we hope it will do commercially too now.

PC Play: How do you estimate the current state of the PC gaming industry? Some say that it's only a matter of time when it's going to finally die-off, the others say that "the big one" is only getting its comeback pace.
Considering Crysis is a PC-exclusive title, what do you think of its market reception and its future? Skeptics would say that it's pretty risky going PC-exclusive with such a high-profile title.

Cevat Yerli: It is certainly. We are suffering currently from the huge piracy that is encompassing Crysis. We seem to lead the charts in piracy by a large margin, a chart leading that is not desirable. I believe that’s the core problem of PC Gaming, piracy. To the degree PC Gamers that pirate games inherently destroy the platform. Similar games on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more. It was a big lesson for us and I believe we wont have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future. We are going to support PC, but not exclusive anymore.

PC Play: You have confirmed that Crysis is a trilogy, which is a really, really great thing to know. Taking that Crysis is a part of the Microsoft's Games for Windows program, is the "master plan" making Crysis the killer-app of the Games for Windows platform, as Microsoft did once before with Halo for the Xbox, Sony with Metal Gear Solid for PlayStation or Nintendo with Super Mario?

Cevat Yerli: There is not really a master plan. We just designed Crysis as a trilogy, that was the plan. Of course this largely depends on success of Crysis for PC. As with every game or entertainment property, if the commercial success wont suffice, plans have to be revisited.

PC Play:You confirmed that it's impossible to make Crysis run on an console, but yet there are constant rumors that it's nearly inevitable. Can you finally give us, our readers, and the industry the final answer on that matter? Is Crysis going to be ported to a console?

Cevat Yerli: Crysis as we have seen is impossible. Crysis would have to be largely changed to bring it to Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. Crysis is designed to be PC Exclusive. Our internal focus is not linked to bring Crysis to consoles.

PC Play: Can you comment the Microsoft's Games for Windows initiative from the business prospective? Is it doing enough for the PC gaming industry? For example, when I visit the official GfW website and click on "Crysis" (or any other title at that matter), there are no trailers, no demos. Only a few screenshots and a link to a Fileplanet beta (Crysis-related) which is closed now for a long, long time. That is hardly representative, don't you think?

Cevat Yerli: What you describe, if still the case, is of course not desirable and acceptable. However I believe in the serious intentions of Microsoft in PC Gaming through the Games for Windows initiative.

PC Play: What do you think about the Games for Windows Live! service? How come Crysis didn't end-up being a Live!-enabled game? Is it going to change with its sequels?Cevat Yerli: About Games for Windows Live Service, it was too late when the SDKs where available. Whether we support it in the future will be a business decision though and nothing has been decided.

PC Play: What do you think about the modding community potential? We saw about eleven high-profile mods in the production. How do you support those guys? How do you think the modding community will evolve through the upcoming years?

Cevat Yerli: I think modding is a key corner stone of success and our support is happening through early or premier access to SDKs. We have our website called www.crymod.com that is our modding community, where people can find everyday news about Modding Crysis and other user created content. At our community site, we have full documentations, tutorials and are running small competitions.

PC Play: Now, let's get back to Crysis from a gaming standpoint. I had a pleasure to review the game, and believe it to be a really, really exceptional title. I especially liked the Nanosuit options. Do you have some plans to evolve the Nanosuit with some new stuff?

Cevat Yerli: Time will tell how the nanosuit will evolve in future. However thanks for the motivating words.

PC Play: Regarding the Nanosuit and its options, could you tell us where you found the inspiration when you were making it? I mean, when I turn the cloak on, I can't ignore a certain "Predator" feeling :-) It feels... mighty:-)

Cevat Yerli: The inspiration was to allow the player to be somewhat the heroes we have seen from other media or games, but just dynamically and to the players choice through nanotechnology in fiction. People when playing Crysis find themselves as Rambos, as Predators, as real delta force units, as walking tanks and whatnot, but the point is, that was our goal, to have each player find himself to be what they want to be.

PC Play: One of the great things both about Far Cry and Crysis is that there are nearly limitless possibilities for getting through a level. Could you tell us if there are going to be some changes or advances in the sequel regarding that gameplay style?

Cevat Yerli: That has not be decided yet, I cannot really comment on any sequel of future iterations of Crysis.

PC Play: You said you wanted the Crysis sequel to have graphics of a motion picture quality. Can you offer us some more, juicy details about that?

Cevat Yerli: Hehe, did I? Well that was the aim with Crysis already. We will certainly see what we can do, but have to be quite patient to find more info on this.

PC Play: Crytek has been opening some new studios around Europe, which are supposedly specialized for some new projects. You said that it's nothing like you did before. Could you give us a hint what it is about?

Cevat Yerli: I cannot unfortunately. It will take a while till we hear more about this.

PC Play: Cevat, many thanks for your precious time.

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

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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

Source

Crysis PC Game - Cheat Codes

Just in case anyone wants to see what it's like to play Crysis with cheats on - here are some of cheats codes for this immersive game:

ModsThe codes can be entered in the console or in a user-created System.cfg file. The console must be unlocked by using "con_restricted = 0" before any of the cheats can be used in the console.

Password	Effect
cl_strengthscale = 1 (any number)	Multiplies punch strength by this factor.
g_suitCloakEnergyDrainAdjuster = 1 (any number)	Multiplies energy consumption of cloaking by this number.
g_suitSpeedEnergyConsumption = 110 (any number)	Amount of energy consumed in speed mode while sprinting.
g_suitSpeedMult = 1.85 (any number)	Movement speed in speed mode is multiplied by this number.
pl_swimJumpSpeedBaseMul = 1 (any number).	How quickly you jump out of the water.
pl_fallDamage_SpeedSafe = 8 (any number)	Maximum speed in meters/second at which you take no damage.
g_walkmultiplier = 1 (any number, but if too high, you can't move)	Multiply player movement speed by this factor.
g_godMode = 1	God mode
g_playerSuitArmorModeHealthRegenTime = 0	Instant health regen
g_playerSuitHealthRegenTime = 0	Set health regen time to zero
g_playerSuitHealthRegenDelay = 0	No waiting until regen starts
g_playerSuitEnergyRechargeTimeArmorMoving = 0	Instant energy while moving
g_playerSuitEnergyRechargeDelay = 0	Do not wait until energy regen starts
g_difficultyLevel = 1	Set difficulty; "1" is easy "4" is most difficult
i_noweaponlimit = 1	No weapon limit

God Mode Locate the difficulty files in your Crysis installation folder (ie: C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis\Game\Config). These files are called diff_easy.cfg, diff_normal.cfg, diff_hard.cfg and diff_bauer.cfg. Open the file (with Notepad) that corresponds to the difficulty level you are playing. Add the following line to the end of the file and save it:g_godMode = 1

Now, when playing your health will still decrease but you will not die. Instead, your health and armor will automatically replenish when your health reaches 0.

Additional Cheats

Using the same method as above, add the following lines to the end of your config file for the corresponding effect:

Code: Result:
i_unlimitedammo = 1 Unlimited Ammo
ai_IgnorePlayer = 1 Enemies Ignore You
i_noweaponlimit = 1 Carry Unlimited Number of Weapons

NOTE: ALWAYS MAKE A BACKUP BEFORE OVERWRITING GAME FILES.

Source

Crysis PC Game - Comix Review by Dumdeedum

Comix style review by Dumdeedum. You might enjoy this one :)



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Crysis PC Game - News: Multiplayer Security Update!

Official news from CryTek about multiplayer security and related issues:

Greetings Community!

Crysis has been out for quite some time already and we constantly focus on getting the Multiplayer part more balanced and the servers less filled with cheaters. The last point is a topic we want to address today. The following is only the beginning of our initiative against Hacks, Cheats and Trainers. We know this is going to be tough, but we think it is rudimental and absolutely necessary.

Alliance with Punksbusted.com

With this day we would like to announce our collaboration with the well known Anti-Cheat web site www.punksbusted.com . Many of you may know this page from other popular multiplayer games, but here a summary what the group is about.

PunksBusted (PsB) was founded back in the year 2002. They are currently providing several games with the latest Md5 checks and a global master ban list. Most common hacks out there can be detected with the right Punkbuster configuration, and thus we decided to work together with these guys.

The Master Ban List

Together with PsB we have been working on a new Punkbuster configuration which is ready for release now. In addition we are going to use the Punkbuster streaming technology which is linked to PsB's Master Ban List (MBL) for Crysis.

So what is this MBL? In a few words, it is a list that streams the Punkbuster log files of a server to www.punksbusted.com . Afterwards these log files are being analyzed and cheat violations are being added to a Master Ban List (MBL).

This list prevents cheaters who have been added to play on all Crysis game servers who are streaming to Punksbusted. Following you will find a description how to set up your server correctly in order to be able to stream to PsB.

We are also using the Auto MBL tool to provide new cheat related Md5 checks to the game servers. These will be updated as soon as we have found a new cheat for Crysis which can be detected this way.

Streaming To Punksbusted.com

Every game server for Crysis can stream to Punksbusted.com. All you need to do is following:

1. Register free on punksbusted.com


2. Chose "Membership" and then "Apply"


3. Fill out the form (don't forget to add Crysis game servers)


4. Application is being verified and Clan ID being sent via email


5. Once you have received the login information proceed as following:

- Open "pbsvlog.cfg" inside your Pb folder.

- Enter your Clan ID into this field:

pb_sv_loguser <clanID> // Your Clan ID

1. Download the Auto-MBL tool to get updates from PsB automatically.


2. Keep in mind: "pbsv.cfg" requires manual updating!


3. Changes to your game server need to be updated on the PsB page.

New Punkbuster Configuration

As already mentioned above we have created a new Punkbuster configuration together with PsB which can be downloaded further below and applied to your server. This configuration contains 4 files:

• pbsv.cfg
  You can find general PB settings, cvar checks and all Md5 checks in this config file


• pbsvlog.cfg
  In this config you need to add all needed informations for streaming


• pbsvuser.cfg
  This is an empty placeholder file the Auto MBL tool will update with the latest Md5 checks


• reloadbans.cfg
  This file is needed to reload the ban list. So players which where deleted from the MBL will be unbanned.

Crysis Trusted Server Providers

Several Crysis game server providers already updated their public servers and more will follow during the next days. Especially our Trusted Server Providers KGN and i3D.net have been very cooperative and most of their servers are running the new configurations. So try them out and enjoy some great Crysis Multiplayer experience!

More to come regarding this topic!

-Crysis Dev Team

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Crysis PC Game - The Hardware Experiment by Crytek

Crysis Dev Team experimented with new hardware to see how high-end a computer should be to be able to run Crysis on High settings:  

Greetings Community,

The Experiment

Over Christmas we took the time for a little in-house experiment. With only a limited budget of around US $900 we wanted to set up a brand new machine that can handle Crysis on High settings. We should note that Very High settings are reserved to keep Crysis future-proofed, just like Ultra was in Far Cry.

Together with EA we looked in shops around the world and bought the hardware parts to put together our machine starting from scratch. While we had a budget in mind, we wanted to still make sure this machine would have top-notch hardware such as a multicore processor or a DirectX10 graphics card.

The Videos

As you’ll see from the 8 minutes of video we recorded, Crysis looks absolute fabulous on High settings with this configuration and runs very smoothly on a 1280x720 resolution. They show different locations from the Crysis Singleplayer Campaign with everything set to High.

- Download – Video 1
- Download – Video 2
- Download – Video 3
- Download – Video 4

The Configuration

Below you find a rough list of parts we purchased so you can see and check for yourself about the total costs of such a high-end computer. The prices may vary from country to country, but overall the costs should be within the same range (shipping included).

CPU Intel Core2Duo E6750
GPU GeForce 8800GT 512MB
Motherboard NVIDIA nForce 650i Socket 775
PSU 600W ATX12V
RAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
HDD SATA 250GB 7200RPM
DVD 20x DVD±R Burner
Case ATX Midi Tower Computer Case
OS Microsoft Windows XP Home with SP2

The Message

With this experiment we have shown that Crysis runs smoothly and provides and amazing, unparalleled performance on High settings and on an affordable machine that is readily available today.

We know most of you already have a great base to work with, so compare your current hardware with the setup mentioned above and consider an affordable upgrade – you do not have to purchase a new machine. Crysis is very scalable and looks great on Medium settings compared to current next-gen games.

...

Regards,

-Crysis Dev Team

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Crysis PC Game - Videos: Crysis "3000 Barrels" Video

Crysis is the game that will literally take us back to the future before we can play it. Those of Crysis fans who is still drooling over the game’s graphics and furrowing their brows at its system specs, watch what it would be like to stack 3000 red barrels on top of each other then knock them all down :)

Crysis PC Games - Weapons (Updated)

Here is an update to our previuos post about weapons used in Crysis:

Despite the futuristic setting, most weapons in Crysis are standard military hardware similar to what can be found in most other shooters. From the run-of-the-mill pistol to the de rigeur missile launcher, there aren't many surprises here.

Fists

If you tap your 1 key a couple of times, you'll switch from your pistol to your fists. You'll almost never use your fists during the game, but a single punch while you have Strength activated will kill a normal North Korean soldier. It can be a fun way to silently kill an enemy that can't see you. You can also use stealth to sneak up to an enemy, then quickly flip over to strength and pound them before they can react.

Pistol

Part of your default weapon load-out, this .45 lookalike is only noteworthy because you can duel-wield it, John Woo-style, after picking up a second one from a convenient North Korean corpse. Your pistols won't be used much, but they can be handy to detonate explosive barrels and the like if you don't want to use your main weapon's ammo.

SCAR Rifle

Another default weapon is the SCAR, a stock shooter submachine-gun that can be useful in close battles purely due to its rapid fire rate. Its bullets don't do a lot of damage, however, and their impact barely seem to slow down either aliens or North Koreans. Unfortunately ammo for the SCAR is pretty rare; the bullets for the FY71 aren't compatible with the SCAR. You may wish to simply use up the SCAR ammo early on, then drop it to go with a combination of the FY71 and another weapon.

FY71

This generic automatic rifle is a jack-of-all-trades through most of Crysis, as it seems to be the main weapon of the North Korean army. It can be switched over to single fire mode, scoped for use as a sniper rifle, quieted with a silencer, and tricked out with a flashlight. Its only drawback is fairly wimpy shot power. You need to fire quite a few rounds with the FY71 to take out the average KPA soldier, unless you skip right to the good stuff and shoot him in the head.

Shotgun

Perhaps the best weapon in the game due to its heavy damage and stopping power. Reload times are also impressive, making it the perfect weapon for close-quarters combat with North Koreans and aliens, but the spread will, of course, make it useless at long range. It can also be modified with a flashlight and a laser sight (after you pick up the North Korean SMG, of course).

North Korean SMG

Not much different than the SCAR, except for the laser sight that you can take from it and then adapt to your other weapons. This laser is more of a cosmetic upgrade (due to the way it glows eerily in nighttime battles) than a truly useful battle aid, however.

Precision Rifle

The precision rifle is Crysis's name for the sniper rifle; you'll find this weapon in many of the guard towers inside KPA outposts. It packs a wicked punch and is almost perfectly accurate at any range. You should be able to pull off one-hit kills on almost any KPA soldier that you hit with this.

Gauss Rifle

The Gauss Rifle is an experimental railgun-esque weapon that you'll find late in the game, after the US military gets involved with the fighting on the island. It's capable of one-shotting almost anything you hit, and has the same rock-solid accuracy of the precision rifle. Attach a scope to it for long-range fire, but you can also fire from the hip to hit aliens later in the game; most of them will fall after just two rounds.

Missile Launcher

The weapon of choice when you need to take out a KPA helicopter or gunship. It also comes in handy towards the end of the game when assaulting enemy fortifications, or when you need to take down flying aliens quickly. Deeply satisfying to fire. You can aim the missile after firing by holding down the fire button and moving the mouse around; if you've played either Half-Life game, this should be familiar to you.

Minigun

Surprisingly not as useful as you might expect. It takes a long time to spin up, and it doesn't do as much damage as it should, especially against choppers and aliens. The minigun is still needed in scraps when you need to pile a lot of hurt on opponents, although it is tough to use when battling at close range with numerous enemies. It also weighs you down when running, which makes it a pain to deal with when fighting speedy alien fliers later in the game. If you don't need armor, you can activate your strength ability to steady your aim while firing the minigun. You can expect to chew through your ammo pretty quickly regardless of your firing method, however.

Alien MOAC

For a supposed alien super-weapon, the MOAC is kind of gutless. The gun has nifty rapid-fire action and unlimited ammo, but its icy projectiles don't carry much weight and plink off the armor of alien enemies. Overheating is another problem. At any rate, you only get to use it in levels eight and nine before Prophet takes it away, so at least you don't have much time to get annoyed with its poor performance.

TAC Cannon

Not really a weapon so much as the deus ex machina that lets you take on the boss at the end of the game, as it can't be used in any other battles. Very powerful, with only a single drawback in that it takes an eternity to lock onto a target.

Frag Grenades

Commonly found in the hands of the KPA throughout the game, frag grenades are really only useful when you're attacking a fixed enemy location or when you want to scatter an enemy patrol. KPA soldiers are almost always smart enough to scramble away from thrown grenades before they explode, and all of the aliens in the game are far too speedy for grenades to have any appreciable effect.

Smoke Grenades

You only encounter these a few times in the game. They can be useful when assaulting a tough KPA position, but they're pretty much a waste of time when you can turn invisible with the click of a button.

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