Crossfire 2.0 Status update

Today we write the 17th June 2013. Two months till the old CF server will shut down.
As already announced ill let the current hosting contract run out and decide which way we will go in August.

There is clearly the option to host a new server by then and I meanwhile got hands on a single core performance comparison between the old hardware and a possible new rig. Single core because FL is an old game which can only run on one core so renting an hexa core ... octa core server... etc. makes no sense. FL could only use one of the cores while the others wouldnt be used at all.
I can tell you that it is not easy to find such a performance comparision these days as half of the world thinks every problem can be solved with more cpu cores.
However, I have found something that suits our needs. The new Hardware would be more than twice as powerful as our old server and - oh joy - less expensive.
The decision about such a change will fall in August.

What I can not guarantee is that the new Server will come with a new mod.
2 Months is not much time and we still have alot of work to do.
However... I was thinking about renting a low performance server for a few months aswell so we can focus much better on online tests and the work on the server side features.

Well that much about the hardware... but in the end more interesting for you should be what you can expect from CF2.0

I will use this thread to give bit by bit an overview about new stuff and changes we did.

Ok - lets start with the ships

We have so far introduced one new pilotable ship - thats it.
Ok - topic done.
No, really... when we started the work on the new version we clearly did not want to introduce a large number of new ships. CF have plenty of ships in CF and as far i can remember you can only fly one at a moment.
We have 150-200 ships already in CF... I think that is more than enough.
However, we have selected +50 ships which get an overhaul. Many ships in CF are not used because they dont look right. Their stats are ok, partly pretty good but they dont give the players the feeling like "thats a ship that i have to use".
A few of these ships get a new texture which fits better to them... a few others get re-modeled letting them look more modern... and the others simply get replaced.
A few weeks ago I presented the new strike eagle which is a very good example of the changes you can expect.
The strike eagle also belongs to the ships which were reported as bugged... with this replacement that bug hopefully is gone.

So to sum it up... we are not introducing lots of new ships with CF2.0 but we make existing ships intesting again and worth a 2nd look.

Also the topic "systems" stands under the topic "less is more".

Vanilla FL had... dunno... 46 systems and with CF1.9 we have additionally to the vanilla systems 99 new systems (no... I didnt want to make it 100 ).
Now we are facing 2 point of views.
1. The players which like to explore a growing amount of systems.
2. The players which want to do RP on the server.

Thats a conflict because the more systems we add to the mod the harder it will be to create conditions where players meet and do Roleplay. Thats the main reason why many altair systems and the inner core systems are not filled with human stations where the player can trade.
These systems are important for the storyline, for exploration and of course for getting rare items... but they are not intended as regular RP systems.
Roleplay has to happen in an area where players actually get the chance to "create conflicts". So this will be Sirius and the Coalition systems.

With other words... CF2.0 will not add many new systems. Infact we will only introduce 2-3 new systems that are relevant for the storyline.
I am actually even thinking about removing one of the old systems as I believe that this system has no use anymore.
-> Cube Arena (i think since CF1.5 we didnt really need this system anymore)

OK... no new ships... no new systems... wtf?
Well, yeah... we of course didnt forget the explorers.... no.
The existing CF systems will be re-designed a bit. The objective is to make the systems more interesting... adding nice locations to explore, adding more NPCs interacting with each other, adding patrols, adding alot of stuff to discover and re-discover.
The key word here is "immersion".

A few months ago I have given a few examples via screenshots.
I think ive published a station in tarsus showing a docked battleship which had some engine damages and right next to it was a repair ship fixing it.
CF2.0 will be alot about such small details and changes which create a special game atmosphere.

Asteroid fields and nebulas will raise the tension.
Suns will not be just dead light spots.
Stations are centers of trade.
Bars will be more lively.
Missions will be more dynamic and give the impression of a developing world.
The entire systems will look and feel more interesting.

Edit by

and i almost forgot the new system connections... that should spice up and reduce the "clusterfuck in x3043"

With CF2.0 we will introduce a complete graphic overhaul.

Over the past few crossfire versions we introduced many graphical improvements pushing the look of the game to the limits and beyond.
Most of the stuff we did in the past CF versions has been re-done.
These days everybody can go moddb and download a HD texture pack for FL and many other mods make use of those textures meanwhile. The look of these textures is relative good and in some cases is close to the stuff we introduced 2 years ago with CF1.9.
CF players have expectations... for years CF is the top graphical extension to FL. CF players dont want a mod that looks as good as any other mods... or just a little better... no... they expect the "wow", "holy shit", "OMG" -experience.

We deliver such an experience with CF2.0
We developed some new methods to create great looking, absolutely error free and detailed textures for planets, starspheres, nebulas, stations, solar objects and ships (and probably alot stuff that i didnt mention).
The result is a much better looking mod that can be played with similar performance.

Well... that means... we also worked on some performance intense graphical features but those are optional and can be disabled if needed.

We also put alot of work into the look of effects. New ones were created others improved. Alot of work went into details.

Last but not least we decided to introduce 2 new post processing shaders. FXAA and SMAA
In my eyes the FXAA one is the most interesting but that for sure depends on your PC performance. These post processing shaders can improve the game... but there still is a chance that wont work well. We have no influence on the compatibility but we give you the option to try the old enb shader and these 2 new shader version or simply disable them at all. You have the freedom to test them and create your own configs just as you wish.
The shader activation has been moved from the FLMM directly into the launcher so you can switch everytime you launch the game.

Additionally to this you will now be able to play the game in window mode again.

While we are on the launcher topic Id also like to loose a few words about the new CF launcher.

The first thing you will notice when you launch the Freelancer.exe is that the launcher takes some time to load (in my case 5-10 seconds).
Well, yeah... that happens when you put too much functionality into one tool (you are free to blame me).

However... the launcher pretty much does what the old launcher did... it updates your game.
It is somewhat more flexible and hopefully more reliable than the old version.

Major differences to the old version is the support of options (such as the shaders), the ability to separate the singleplayer content from the multiplayer content (removing rules, clan billboards, etc. from singleplayer) and a highly detailed interface which displays alot of information right inside the launcher.

News, Events, RP-News, Job board, Maps, general information about the mod, News about the dynamic universe, guides and alot more gets displayed right on the launcher. Most of that information is generated dynamically.
e.g.
- If a Event managers wants to hold a new event then he can schedule it directly on the launcher and everybody who logs on can see which events are starting soon.
- News about the mod will instantly be published on the launcher.
- People which use the current marketplace system here on the forum (i will turn that into a job board) can instantly put their offers and request into the launcher system.

Last but not least... the launcher allows you to switch between OpenSP and normal Singleplayer with storyline. You can switch whenever you want.

Before i come to the point "singleplayer storyline" i stick a bit with "options".

We overhauled a bit the FL ingame options giving it a better structure and adding a bunch of new options. You will get alot more control over graphics, sound and general options up to the point that you can set the singleplayer difficulty scale manually without editing files.
You will have alot more control over the settings and also got some new features.

Based on adoxas work you can hail other ships by just pressing a key on your keyboard and thanks to huor you are free to disable your entire hud in multiplayer if you want to take screenshots or record small videos by just pressing one key. There is a lot more functionality that you for sure will discover sooner or later.

And now its time for the storyline.
Actually i dont want to spoil it... so i keep it short.

For the story chapters 1-9 (thats the storyline till CF1.9) I created 20 additional singleplayer missions.
CF2.0 which introduces the 10th and final story chapter requires me to write 10 new missions plus one ending mission which serves as anchor.
10 story missions is alot of content and alot of work which i have to do in the next few weeks.

The 11th mission serves just to let the storyline end in an appropriate way and set a so called anchor.
That anchor allows everybody who is willing to do it to write own side missions which we can release as DLC. With other words... if somebody is willing to create an own singleplayer mission we can release it as free DLC to the players.
I of course would give instructions how to do that and give support during the creation process.
This is something new, never seen before in FL... the chance to write and distribute own missions.

Time for the Multiplayer part.
I hate this topic.

The multiplayer features highly depend on the CFhook development and i can not take that much influence here.
I had a wishlist of features and know that huor was working alot on it but in the end I will be able to see how everything turns out once we start more online tests.
To be honest ive no real idea how far the development is.

What I know is that Huor did some fixes and performance improvements to the server software.
Also adjustments to the anticheat were done to offer a more accurate protection.

However most important for the players is the MP gameplay. Here the focus is on supporting clans and the roleplay while reducing the amount of rules at the same time.

How can that work?
Well... today people cry "tax" and 3 seconds later the opponent is dead.
or we receive complaints that somebody taxed too much.... asked for too much money... or did not follow the 2 hours rule

We practically have today an RP environment where rules easily can be broken and that in the end leads to complaints. Due to the complaints people are not sure if they do RP right and to prevent problems they stop doing RP.
With other words... the RP is based on too many rules which the roleplayers have to consider.

So one idea was to introduce a RP system which works automatically.
e.g. A pirate is in range of a freelancer and wants to ask for tax.
the pirate can make use of a new tax console command "/tax playername"
based on the freelancers rank/bank account (we of course dont want that people prevent RP) the pirate may only ask for tax up to a specific amount
the freelancer receives a message and can now react -> accept, deny
the freelancer also ignore the tax which wouldnt be the best idea coz then the tax would be successful for the pirate
or the freelancer could try to flee out of range of the pirate which would be the only way not to pay the tax (except for fighting of course)
once taxed the that freelancer can not be taxed again for 2 hours

This kind of roleplay would ensure that RP is actually done on the server and this kind of roleplay does not need any RP rules because every possible condition could be handled by the server.
That would be in my eyes a working RP system.
We have something like that for the mercs... so the next logical step would be to introduce something similar to pirates, cops, etc...
We would not need RP rules anymore.

Another important feature is the support of server clans.
Huor started to work on a modular clan base feature. This is not a new idea actually... it already exists on another mod. We will just do it somewhat different.... more interesting... more realistic.
Server clans get the chance to build an own station somewhere within their territory.
Once they fulfill the requirements they can build the first module (which is a docking module of course). In order to build other modules the clan needs to work together (STO players know what im talking about).
I personally would like to combine this clanbase feature with the CF conquest system which would allow clans to to conquer additional systems by supporting these systems and fighting for them.
But i fear we are still far away from getting this done.
To come back to the clan bases... Huor successfully did first tests on a few modules and i already have build a full clanbase template. Unlike other clan bases on other mods we are working on a modular version which allows much more complex structures.
The different modules will add new features to your new starbase... you willl be able to buy a bar, ship traders, equipment dealers, station shields, defence turrets, armor upgrades,...,..,..,..

This is in my eyes combined with the conquest system one of the most important features of the new mod. It keeps clans busy and motivated while they get better chances to recruit new members.

But like I said... even i have to be patient
thats my wishlist... (actually my wishlist is longer but this are the most important parts of it)

*phew*
almost through it...

When i started playing FL a decade ago one of the most important features that the vanilla FL had to offer was fighting NPCs and playing missions. Trading did not play such a major role.
You got good guns from the nomads and with those you did missions to get enough money to buy all other equipment.
The missions have become less important these days... if people want money they trade... get a train any make even more money.

I think its time to give missions a chance again.
Thats why the mission system was improved.
Missions offer much higher rewards now... of course getting higher and higher with the mission difficulty. The downside of this is that the high lvl missions are harder now.
If you are a good fighter you can earn good money .... if not then i would suggest that you keep trading.
The amount of offered missions in the CF systems is much higher now and the range at which missions are offered is wider. You will also notice that the types of offered missions on high lvl changed.
You now have the chance to do high lvl solar missions. That was not possible before and to my knowledge is not possible in any other mod.
This is a cool thing since pirates start building their high lvl hideouts in asteroid fields and nebulas everywhere in the new systems, police forces move battleships to pirate stations, Capital ship prototypes get stolen be hostile factions.... the new mission system clearly supports the feeling of an evolving dynamic world.

nope... not through it

Mentionable is also the work that was done to get hold of the details.
5 years ago it was enough to create a system, a planet and a few stations to please the players and ensure a full server. Today you get tarred and feathered for every small issue, every tiny bug and every spelling mistake.
Good that we have a ticketsystem where many issues were reported and finally fixed. Even better if you have somebody like gearhead who invested alot of time trying to actively find errors in the mod and report them.
We were able to fix alot of small mistakes, corrected logical errors, fixed infocards, removed errors in the systems and also got rid errors on ships (especially the wireframe fixes).
I think everything that could be fixed was fixed.