Une discussion autour de Battlefield Vietnam s’est déroulée cette nuit sur IRC, en présence d’AJ Marini, de DICE, et de Ben Smith, d’Electronic Arts. Même si la discussion était bien plus vivante que celle autour de Far Cry, il y a peu de nouvelles informations. En même temps, c’est un peu peu normal, le jeu sortant dans une semaine.
On apprend tout de même que le serveur dédié pour Windows devrait être disponible sous peu. DICE confirme également que le jeu sortira avec un MDT pour le développement des mods. Pour ceux qui désirent en savoir plus, l’intégralité du log se trouve ci-dessous.[–SUITE–]
[01:08:02] Welcome to our community interview with EA and DICE! Today we have with us Aj Marini ([DICE]Voodoovaj, Dice Canada) and Ben Smith ([ea]Die_Fledermaus, Assistant Producer, EA)
[01:08:17] Several of the biggest and best Battlefield sites have been working together to bring you this event, including BF-V.com ( http://bf-v.com / #BF-V ), Planet Battelfield ( http://planetbattlefield.com/ / #planetbattlefield ) and BF Nation ( http://www.bfnation.net / #bfnation ).
[01:09:05] We will now start the interview with EA and DICE. Those that have submitted their questions will get them asked by us. A transcript will be made after the interview is done. [01:09:29] alright, first question
[01:09:55] Can you guys tell us a little about yourselfs, and what you did for Battlefield Vietnam?
[01:10:25] I’m the lead designer – I handled most of the creative decisions in th egame
[01:10:48] I acted as Assistant Producer for the Publisher side… and also coordinated worldwode localization
[01:10:54] worldwide even [01:11:30] Will there be voice communication included in the game, or maybe in a patch?
[01:11:48] Hopefully in a future patch
[01:11:58] Its on the To do list [01:12:15] Will players be able to pick up and throw back grenades like in Day of Defeat?
[01:12:26] nope – they blow up to fast 😉 [01:12:45] Will you be able to automatically download maps/models/sounds from servers when you join like in Counter-Strike?
[01:12:54] no
[01:13:03] everything comes in the patches
[01:13:12] same as with BF1942 [01:13:28] ok, next question is
[01:13:29] How do the system requirements of Battlefield 1942 compare relatively to Battlefield Vietnam (higher, lower, better video card)?
[01:13:45] slightly higher…I can list them out if you like
[01:13:53] A little higher
[01:13:54] sure
[01:14:26] 933 MHZ processor, 256 MB of RAM, 64 MB video card (Geforce 3 equivalent) DX 9b [01:15:06] Next up: Will there be expansion packs for the game and will they have more content than the previous Battlefield 1942 expansions?
[01:15:57] So far the plan is to have free content. expansions may come but its not decided [01:16:29] k, Next question: Will the game have more of an arcade style feel like in the original Battlefield 1942 or will the game be more like the realism mods that were created for the game that introduced more realistic damage and realistic weapon kits?
[01:17:05] Still the same style of gameplay. Its a mix
[01:17:23] Not as arcadey as UT but not as realistic and Tom Clancy
[01:17:36] As the era had deadlier weapons, you will likely find that things are indeed more deadly in BFV
[01:17:47] don’t know if that means realism, though [01:18:08] Next question is, will the game be released with an SDK or other modding tools so that mods can have access to early development?
[01:18:11] Its fairly realistic, but we err on the side of good gameplay
[01:18:26] The game ships with the BFV MDT and map editor on disk
[01:18:27] Yes, mod tools are shipping with the game
[01:18:56] sounds neat [01:19:00] Next question is:
[01:19:02] Will there be any similarities in the coding of both the games that would make it easy to change a Battlefield 1942 file or map into a Battlefield Vietnam one?
[01:19:11] yes
[01:19:34] Can you give us a general idea on what would be the same?
[01:19:35] There are some specific requirements required by the new rendering engine, but it shouldn’t be too much of a hurtle
[01:19:47] Its mostly in the texturing
[01:19:59] there are additional layers needed [01:20:36] Next in the line: I played BF1942 a long time ago and left before most the patches, but i quit because of the hit detection/ aiming issues where you had to lead people like 10ft to hit em and bullets that seemed to get lost. Have you made any changes in this area?
[01:21:33] the bullets are a little faster, but that is actually a lag issue
[01:21:38] Slow servers cause the problem you’re describing
[01:21:44] You still need to lead, but its a very realistic amount
[01:22:14] ok [01:22:18] this is a server type question
[01:22:26] ok
[01:22:37] Will the linux version be compatible with glibc 2.2 and will peter chang stay on with the linux team?
[01:22:55] Dunno on both counts
[01:23:09] ok
[01:23:16] The coders are taking care of the linux server and I’m trying to stay out of it
[01:23:34] I know that Peter was working on the win32 server
[01:23:40] yea
[01:23:54] he was our main contact in completing the standalone win32 for BFV
[01:24:11] neat [01:24:21] Another server question, Do you guys have any plans to release the windows dedicated server version early since you already released the linux dedicated server?
[01:24:47] Not as far as I know
[01:25:12] Yes, in fact
[01:25:18] this evening possibly
[01:25:28] I’m sending it to our web guy right now!
[01:25:36] cool
[01:25:37] Well, there you go 😉
[01:25:44] Hehe
[01:25:50] BREAKING NEWS
[01:25:51] Leave for a week and look what happens
[01:25:56] lol
[01:25:56] 🙂
[01:26:25] we’ll see, don’t go rushing to our home page yet [01:26:49] I have one question that I have always wanted to know about. Who are the actors that did the voiceovers?
[01:27:11] I never met them
[01:27:26] Let’s see, let me dig up the credits real quick
[01:27:38] I do know that the guy who did the Vietnamese voice overs had a Grandfather who fought for the SVA
[01:27:48] He made sure all the stuff was proper
[01:28:13] The radio announcer is the same guy who does the VO in the SEGA NFL series
[01:28:37] Vietnamese soldiers: Phu Vo
[01:28:41] really nice guy
[01:29:34] US Soldiers: Michael Asberry, Terry McGovern and Andrew Chaikin
[01:31:54] Propaganda: Tam Nguyen and (sorry for the late response, really had to dig)Usa Pungmuong [01:30:02] Next is, will punji traps disappear after the person who laid them dies? Will there be a limit to them like in BF1942?
[01:30:24] yes
[01:30:32] If we didn’t do that they’d be all over the place [01:31:06] k next up
[01:31:14] In one of the videos IGN posted on their site, a Cobra attack helicopter fires a missiles and it appears to veer offscreen after a unseen target. Are there other homing missiles besides the air-to-air missiles? (i.e. air-to-ground?)
[01:32:01] The NVA use the SA7 which is also heat seeking
[01:32:38] ok
[01:33:28] So does that state it will seek for the target?
[01:33:55] its fire and forget. As long as no other heat signature gets in the way, it homes in
[01:34:06] ok
[01:34:10] So don’t fire with friendlies in the air
[01:34:14] it has an appetite for identified flying objects [01:34:30] One question that I’ve seen alot: Is BF:V going to have a demo-recording capability? And if yes, then what kind of, would it record only the user game or the whole server like HLTV demoing works with Half-life?
[01:35:17] We’re looking into spectating features right now
[01:35:39] In a patch maybe? 🙂
[01:35:42] It’ll be something that comes in the free content. A full feature list is in the works [01:36:44] ok, this is a follow up question for the previous question that I asked: Is there any defensives for the heat seekers such as flares?
[01:37:07] Nope
[01:37:11] Tight turns, engine cuts help
[01:37:14] Just dodging
[01:37:26] ok
[01:37:29] Running past others 😉
[01:38:06] Will the engine support such a thing for modders?
[01:41:49] No defense against the heat seekers are planned right now
[01:42:11] They serve a useful perpose to take out the aircraft
[01:42:27] Will the engine be capale to do so for modders to create defenses?
[01:42:53] I believe they can considering how the heat seeker code works
[01:43:27] k
[01:43:35] The modders have done amazing things before
[01:43:44] I’m sure they will figure this out 😀
[01:43:49] heh
[01:43:51] The Star Wars mod look amazing
[01:44:06] I agree completely, that was a great video they put together
[01:44:07] Galactic Conquest – ope Lucus doesn’t bust them
[01:44:22] Lucas is a putz 😉
[01:44:40] shh Aj! 😉
[01:44:40] I believe they already had a little altercation with his studios/legal department didnt they?
[01:44:49] They did
[01:44:55] Them & a Ut2k3 mod around the same time.
[01:44:57] Just kidding btw in case he’s watching 😉
[01:45:13] Be careful, he’ll put you in one of his movies. 😛 [01:38:28] Will the game support AMD 64 and do you plan to have future games support it?
[01:39:02] I’ve been asked this a few times. So far there is no plan
[01:39:26] Future games are a taboo topic so no info there 🙂 [01:46:09] Speaking of modders; Will WW2 mods such as BG42 and XWW2 be able to transfer orignal DICE content from BF1942 such as the sherman and tiger models, or will the models need to be redone by the mod teams?
[01:46:34] The model’s textures will need work
[01:46:57] The old engine used one texture – the new one uses multiple passes
[01:47:26] It shouldn’t bee too difficult, but it will take work
[01:47:36] can’t wait to see them though
[01:47:41] he means in a legal sense
[01:48:35] Legal sense? Mods are free content so there is no copyright issue that we have
[01:48:55] As long as no one is profiting from the mods, its cool
[01:49:00] If they were using the models in bf1942 mods, I can’t see why we would stop them from using them in BFV mods
[01:49:25] ok [01:49:28] next question
[01:49:32] What part of BF Vietnam are you most proud of?
[01:49:46] The atmosphere.
[01:50:00] The undergrowth/overgrowth system still makes me smile
[01:50:19] Our goal was to deliver a game that was different from 42 in look and feel
[01:50:34] and really felt like Vietnam – we pulled it off
[01:50:47] sounds great [01:51:13] In a recent statement the 9800 was quoted as not working with BFV, has this changed since the game has gone gold?
[01:51:28] People say the stupidest shit
[01:51:35] Yes – of course it works
[01:51:46] I have ATI 9800 and it works fine [01:52:06] k
[01:52:10] next question is
[01:52:23] What kind of improvements are in store for the net code?
[01:52:54] Mostly optimizations to the info being sent across the net [01:54:02] Will the game be rather restrictive towards stunting like the TNT jump?
[01:54:41] Somewhat, but with friedly fire off there are still stunts like that
[01:54:57] At ship we’re actually closer to 1.3 physics than the 1.4 lockdown
[01:54:58] Don’t forget, diferent strokes for different folks 😉
[01:55:15] we’ll see how people like it
[01:55:18] 🙂 [01:55:45] Lifting vehicles sounds like it could lead to some interesting stunts
[01:55:56] Yes – yes it does
[01:56:01] Ah, nothing like dropping a tank on someone’s head
[01:56:09] my favorite BFV kill
[01:56:17] jeep bomb
[01:56:31] Since there has been a mention of the helicopters
[01:56:32] good one as well [01:56:32] question from the viewers that count: are you guys going to fuck this game in the ass liek bf42?
[01:56:43] well that was nice
[01:56:45] haha, that was awesome
[01:57:01] or not
[01:57:17] k [01:57:24] Can a helicopter pick up any random vehicle or is there a certian request made by the vehicle to be airlifted?
[01:57:41] The US helicopters can pick up the US vehciles
[01:57:49] If the driver doesn’t want it, he can release
[01:58:13] Can he release it anywhere he wishes or does there have to be a flat land?
[01:58:24] Anywhere he wants
[01:58:26] oh, he can release it anywhere
[01:58:31] to his own detriment
[01:58:47] if he wants to BE the tank bomb [01:59:30] In BF42, enabling anti-aliasing or anisotropic filtering made the HUD text (chat, F-key communications, etc.) almost unreadable. Has this been fixed for BF:V? Gamers are buying expensive hardware like upper-tier Radeons and GeForce FX cards for these features, and it’s frustrating to have to disable them just to see what people are saying on a server.
[02:00:46] That was on the programmers list of items. I don’t know whatthe final status of that was
[02:02:13] k [02:02:17] next one
[02:02:24] Can someone do a mod with multiple animations for a model for BF:V?
[02:03:01] The animation system wasn’t overhauled unfortunately
[02:03:21] ok [02:03:55] Is there a chance for a web based administration utility in the future?
[02:04:43] Maybe, but not anytime soon
[02:05:04] It’ll be a community driven thing. the higher the demand…
[02:05:34] ok [02:05:46] This will be our last question for the evening
[02:06:07] Whats the one thing you would like to see in BF:V mod?
[02:06:32] Hmm
[02:06:34] good one
[02:07:38] I never thought about it before – Maybe DC in the jungle [02:07:43] yea
[02:08:07] Thanks EA and DICE !
[02:08:21] ok well, on behalf of everyone here
[02:08:30] I would like to thank you for taking your time out to anwser a few questions
[02:08:40] Thank you all for coming to our community interview! If you missed part of it a transcript will be made available by tomorrow. Thank you to AJ and Ben for joining us today!
