Q&A met de mensen van Dice

[i3d]

www.bf2.se heeft op IRC een leuk vraag en antwoord gesprek met DICE gehad.

Hierbij het verslag:

#1 When will the next patch (1.03) be finished for release?
We're working hard on finishing up the last few fixes of the 1.03 patch and getting it through testing for release. There are a lot of great fixes and we want to make sure its don'e right. That said, it will be released...when it's done.


#2 Will there be fixes to the collision system in the engine? What I mean are those annoying deaths when for example a supply crate slides downhill and you're right below it or you're behind a tank and it moves a thousandth of an inch backward at a speed of few inches per hour and you die. There have also been instances when a vehicle sort of clips inside a fence(or any other thin non-destructible obstacle) and is destroyed.
We've made some changes in the collision system to prevent these kind of problems. A lot of the problem objects that have caused vehicles to instantly explode have been worked on and you can now get pushed around by slow vehicles without dying so easily. This should prevent a lot of the unintentional TKing that we all hate also makes it a bit more stable to stand on top of slow-moving vehicles... but I'll stop there.

#3 Hello. Kinda related to #5 actually, I was wondering.. The game is brilliant and so realistic in many ways.. but theres some not so realistic stuff too.. If your in a huge tank and moving at full speed, into a thin fence or gate.. You get hurt, Instead of being able to smash right through, Would be so much more realistic if that was possible, Even into walls and stuff. Also I noticed, you cant get in any buildings where theres door.
This is mostly due to the game having to run over a network. We have a limit on the number of destroyable objects we can have in the world. As they all have to by synched to the other clients, along with the other networking data. So here we all think it would be really great to have lots and lots of destroyable things, but ultimately we have to concentrate on the main things that need networking, like soldiers and vehicles . . .
I guess thats all i have on that question . .

#4 Will there be something done to rid the game of the so called bunnyhopping.As people being able to go prone,jump,prone,jump hasn't the slightest bit of realism in it.Also the whole tk/punish system really needs a overhaul as too many times people get punished/kicked from servers because of other peoples stupidity ie walking out in front of armour/transport etc which no doubt results in a punish.
TK wise we have made some changes that should reduce the number of accidental TKs. Such as the vehicle collison system that was mentioned earlier. 'Dolphin Diving' does look pretty wierd, i agree, we are keeping an eye on this issue and may address it in an upcoming patch

#5 Are you actively looking on the internet to find bugreports or do bugreports only by incident reach the developers?
A lot us here at DICE actively read popular BF2 forums and we hear about everything
Also our QA department at EA keep track of all the issues they find throughout their testing of the game and the patches. We have a huge amount of this info we use to decide what fixes we need to make and which we should leave infavor of other issues

#6 CODENAME EAGLE
YES. CODENAME EAGLE. Greatest LAN game of ALL TIME.

#7 the editor is rather buggy will you be releasing patches for it and what will they improve on
The Editor is still in the Beta phase, so a few issues are to be expected. The editor is currently being worked on by staff dedicated to that task at DICE Canada. They will release updates as they feel appropriate. However here in Stockholm, i dont have a date for a potential final version release.

#8 Well i don't know if it was discussed here, but i'd like to ask why involve jet aircraft in this game... it makes it awfully unbalanced, as it is nearly impossible to hit it from the ground.
We've actually tweaked the AA missile behavior in the upcoming patch. The Stingers/IGLA and various AA vehicles should be more effective.

#9 Have you any thoughts of adding the abillity to auto-join a server when it gets a free slot?
I'd really like to see that feature added as well.

#10 When you touch a land vehicle and it's moving, usually people die. Will this be fixed?
Yes! This is greatly improved in the patch.

#11 when you get hit by a vehicles u die instantly. even if it is slow-moving(turning around ect.). this is very irritating. what are your thoughts about this?
This has been worked on and you will see a big improvment in the patch.

#12 Will the upcoming patch fix the game browser?
Actually yes we've made some improvements to the browser in the patch. We fixed some performance problems and made some changes that make server status display more accurate.

#13 Have any thought been given to remove the pointloss resulting when switching sides. I have a hard time figuring out why exactly you need punishment for doing that?
You loose points when you switch teams because you Suicide in order to join the other team.

#14 In the upcoming patch, is the bug where sometimes the red warning marker is not displayed above claymore mines fixed?
Those are enemy claymores!!!

#15 why is the game so big? isnt it a known fact less yet organised code is easier to maintain and contains less bugs?
You're probably right, but if we didn't make Battlefield BIG, it wouldn't be battlefield.

#16 what are the main fixes in this patch?
I think one of the more popular ones will be that players have to get out of a Blackhawk to capture a flag. Now in a full Blackhawk only the pilot counts in the flag capture raduis.

#17 who has recorded the "aj!" you can hear some times when hurting yourself?
a lot of the hurting sounds are accually dice employes, the "aj"-guy wishes to remain anonymous.

#18 Do you think you are cool, actually?
without a doubt!

#19 Will the patch fix the Black hawk overpower-issue?
We've made some changes here that should make this technique still possible, but more challenging for the folks in the helicopter.

#20 You have talked about that the "hit-system" has been imrpoved in the next patch, will therefor "wing sufring" (hitchride with a airplane ) be possible?
'Wingwalking', as we call it in the office, is now much easier. It was one of the BF1942 things we really wanted to get into BF2. Its good fun to be stood on an the back of an F35.

#21 does the spec ops could gain xp when he destroy bridges ?
We've added support points to destroying the enemy commander toys, but not bridges.

#22 I just want to say that Battlefield 2 (and Half-Life 2 fyi) are the ONLY games I've ever bought (and not downloaded) and it was worth every øre
Thanks!

#23 Any thoughts of replacing the "spinning" BF2 cursor?
no but we added support for modding cursors (we did acually!) so you can create your own awesome "cursor"-mod

#24 Does the 1.03 patch finally let user add their server favorites in the BF2 serversearch, and/or will there be better ASE support (like password protected servers)
We've added a panel to the server browser where you can add favorite servers and see the history of servers you have played on.

#25 Will there be improvements to armored vehicels having trouble driving up a hill road?
yes

#26 Will you be able to see the names of players in the same vehicle in the new patch?
yes

#27 will you be able to have sex with other players on new patch?
no. your free to add that in a mod though

#28 Will the new patch fix the problem concerning AA-missiles skipping enemy targets and instead head for a random target, even though allready locked on to a heatsource?
The AA-missiles have been improved to better hit their target

#29 In reply to 'Wingwalking'. I thought it was the meaning of BF2 the be realistic as possible... Wing walking on a F35 (while in the air I think), isnt really realistic ;x
It's not possible to go really fast and have the player stick in place. It's simply possible to stand on the moving vehicle now. This goes for tanks also, where you would previously have some trouble standing on a moving one, now its much easier to stay on it.

#30 Which programming language did you make BF2 with?
c++ as most other games

#31 hi there, are the problems with dedicated mod-servers fixed in the patch?
Yes we've done a lot of work regarding mod support in the patch, including hosting servers

#32 will there be any additional information displayed on the 3d map?
Yes, supply drops will be on the 3d-map in the patch

#33 How have you prevented the point-farming?
We've added a limit to the amount of supply points you can get from the same person in a given amount of time. It won't eliminate this from happening, but it will be less effective.

#34 3d-map ? what is 3d about it ?
It appears in the 3D game world, rather than on a 2D map plane. We decided to go with the name used for Battlefield Vietnam. I'm open to suggestions for new names!

#35 In the new patch, can a person chance nickname, or maybe just clan tag! ?
You will ba able to add a 6 character prefix

#36 Are the anti-tank bazookas gonna be improved, it's quite hard to shoot tank 4times so that he can exit the tank and kill you with m4
If you make direct hits to the rear or top of the tank, it will be just about toast in 2 hits.

#37 is it actually arabic what you hear when you play mec side?
Yep, they speak Arabic. We actually had a really hard time finding someone to do those voices. I think they turned our really well in the end.

#38 Will it be possible to tweak the ticket ratio? A 32v32 map with 300tickets merely lasts 10 minutes.
There's is currently a server setting called ticketRatio.

#39 why is bf2 so boring
It's not.

#40 Are there gonna job opportunities for europeans at Dice in the future?
We are hiring right now. Take a look at http://global.dice.se/work/

#41 Will there still be an issue with lots of engineers being able to repair blackhawk (and other helos) in flight ? At the moment a fully loaded blackhawk is like a flying tank
The effectiveness of the wrench on helicopters has been reduced a little

#42 You mentioned earlier players will have to leave the blackhawk to get flag capture, will this apply to other helicopters as well ?
This will apply to all vehicles

#43 why the mec bots have swedish names?
It's the names of dice employes. This way we don't get sued by accidently using someone elses name,

#44 Is there going to be a fix the "|c" bug that turns peoples names orange if they have it as part of their name/account name?
as a matter of fact we've fixed that

#45 Can you add special characters (like (, ), [, ], |, etc) to that new prefix? And isn't 6 characters quite a few? I mean I know lots of clans that use a longer tag..
yes we allow some special characters in the prefix

#46 I've heard that the ranking system may be adjusted in the patch. Can you comment on this?
There have been adjustments.

#47 which IDE are you using for developing? MS Visual Studio?
yes

#48 UGH?! get out of all vehicles to capture flag, sounds like an awful idea to me. Drive tank to flag, get out to get flag and watch enemy jump in and blow you away!
No it's just the passengers that have to get out. One person can stay in the vehicle and still capture the flag.

#49 Why is bf2 so unboring?
Since we think that unboring games are a lot of fun!

#50 a question of interesst to me is, if u have thought about new possibilty's for "pointfarming" with giving specops point for destroying commander-toys? Because, if there is also a engineer of the enemy-team he can repair it, and the specop destroyes it nd so on...
It applies to the strategic objects as well

#51 Is there diffrent damagezones on aircrafts and heli's as well?
Nope, just the tanks

#52 why have you introduced the "atlas"-system for menu files?
It's a performance optimization.

#53 Will you change the way the helicopters fly? Or not? I like it as it is now, so I hope not.
We like them too. No changed planned there.

#54 Are the glasses in bf2 vehiles bullet proof or do some of the bullets actually get thru the glass and hit the driver/passenger if you shoot much enough?
Using the M95 you can shoot through vehicle glass

#55 does the distence from the flag effect the spped at which you can cap it
no

#56 Have u had any thoughts about releasing the things u have fixed, and make one more patch for the things that arent done?
Sadly it doesnt work that way. Once we finish adding in the new things and fixes of current issues for the patch, we then move on to fixing the new bugs that have crept into the game. It's usually this beta period that takes quite a lot of time. So releasing lots of small patches doesnt really make much difference, as we still have the beta time and QA testing to go through.

#57 How's the weather in Sweden?
Getting colder and darker...

#58 why cant you copy and paste an ip into the game? It would make joining friends ALOT easier!
it's a good idea and we'll add it to the next patch wishlist

#59 are u ever going to release a RAlly masters 2? the only really great rally game uve ever done, we want and need a rally masters 2 please dont make it for xbox or ps2 just the pc were it should remaine.
Glad you liked RallyMasters, I'd like to make a sequal some time.

#60 what are your priorities in reguards to flexibility vs security as far as the core engine functionality goes?
Do you mean by exposing more stuff to python? We'd love do that in time..

#61 do you think it is real to expect players to play 20000 hours for a war
The original targets for the unlocks / awards were based on actual BF1942 data. Crazy though it might sound, there are people out there with those kinds of numbers. However we have tweaked the values a little, so you should be able to see a difference in the new patch.

#62 Hi! Just wanna tell you that i love how the maps are designed. Are you gonna add a new map in the next patch or soon?
I bet a lot of you know already, but you should prepare to return to a certain South Pacific island in the future...

#63 Any plans for a linux client? And what would need to happen before you consider one?
A lot more potential custumers would need to start using linux.

#64 can I get a refund for the price I paid for BF2, as I am finding it a waste of time at this point to try and mod without any real support
an official modding documention is under development

[MAX3400]

Vind dat ze nog niet al te veel hebben losgelaten over v103. Maar ja, in ieder geval cool om een extra map te hebben; Wake Island (volgens mij) is een aantrekkelijk landschap waar je op veel manieren elkaar kan aanvallen.

Ow, en voor de mensen die een ander spel van Dice willen proberen, totaal anders dan BF2: Ballistics. Waarschuwing: niet spelen als je epilepsie hebt of wil ontwikkelen.

[[DSF]Ghost]

klinkt goed allemaal, vooral hoe ze point farmers, en flag skipping in de BH aan gaan pakken

en je kan je nickname aanpassen

word een hele mooie patch volgens mij..

edit* alleen wel triest dat ze de AA missiles van AA vehicles nóg sterker maken, alleen van de linebacker zuigen ze, tunguska is balanced en de PGZ-95 vind ik juist té sterk qua anti air missiles

[Da Freeze]

Het coolst is natuurlijk wel het welbekende wingsurfen uit BF1942.

[Dr.Zwa]

Ik hoop dat ze in de volgende patch het mogelijk maken om in een buggy op volle snelheid lallend door de map te rijden met allerlij mensen op je dak
en dan over een mij heen rijden

[eightball-01]

Zie: #48
Wel lullig dat de heli- & tankgunner ook uit de tank / heli moeten om een vlag te veroveren. Die gunner-on-board is er juist ook voor de verdediging van het voertuig. Zie je het al gebeuren irl?¿ En ze hebben realisme zo hoog in het vaandel staan zeggen ze...

Verder klinkt het allemaal wel okay, zeker als het gaat om de noobish TK staffen die je soms krijgt. Ben alleen benieuwd hoe ze dat doen met de veranderende rankings.

[Tsurany]

ik zie je probleem niet, ze kunnen toch gewoon blijven zitten?

[[DSF]Ghost]

ze hadden dit inderdaad beter alleen voor de transport choppers kunnen doen om flag skipping tegen te gaan, voor andere voertuigen is het vrij belachelijk om het zo te doen, maargoed dit zal ook niet de laatste patch zijn (niet dat ik gelijk deze patch de grond in stamp, verder is ie great)

[hsls]

ik vindt de patch tot nu toe wel gaaf klinken. en ook ik vindt het uitstappen bij de vlag beetje onzin (op de BH na dan) en ik heb zelf nooit battlefield 1942 gespeeld dus ik weet niet wat ik allemaal kan verwachten van wingsurfing.

[theB3brr]

kijk dan even hier ; http://www.planetbattlefield.com/bf1...rf/index.shtml

[Da Freeze]

Originally Posted by hsls

ik vindt de patch tot nu toe wel gaaf klinken. en ook ik vindt het uitstappen bij de vlag beetje onzin (op de BH na dan) en ik heb zelf nooit battlefield 1942 gespeeld dus ik weet niet wat ik allemaal kan verwachten van wingsurfing.

Wingsurfing is gaaf. In Desert Combat konden we op een F16 zitten en meevliegen. Je moest wel steeds vooruit blijven lopen anders viel je eraf. Je kon zelfs de mortier plaatsen op de F16 (nog meer vuurkracht!) alleen explodeerde die nog wel eens vrij regelmatig bij verkeerde bewegingen.

[harrywarry~NL]

wist je dat ook c4 op vliegtuig kan plakken zodat hij meer explosiever word als je suicide kill doet
maar surfen op een airplane lijkt me nog toffer

[hsls]

ok weer iets wijzer. ik wil ut ook wel keer proberen maar is het dan ook niet verschrikkelijk irritant om als soldaat over de battlefield te lopen. aangezien je niet door 1 of 2 personen gezien kan worden maar door 6 of 7 tegelijk vanuit de lucht ??

[[DSF]Ghost]

wat willen ze doen dan.. je in je kop schieten met een M24 terwijl ze met 1200 km/u langsvliegen

nee, lijkt me handig voor een F-35B die je je vaak ergens still hangen bij een CP en alles neer gunnen wat beweegt

ik zou het zelf er nooit riskeren denk ik... maar ik weet zeker dat het wat hilarische plaatjes op zal leveren, bijvoorbeeld op de US carrier, een JSF met 10 man erop