Fortress-Forever News

Dev. Journal: squeek.

fortress-forever@gmail.com (squeek.) — Sun, 19 May 2013 01:31:26 GMT

As discussed in a recent dev journal, a client-only bugfix patch (version 2.46.1) has been released using our new auto-updater. You should be prompted to update next time you load the game. Let me know if you have any trouble using it.

Here is the changelog (which can also be found on our changelogs page):

Bug Fixes
Fixed a bug that made the team menu disappear if you joined a server and toggled the scoreboard while still looking at the MOTD

Fixed cloak screen effect being drawn while in a slowfield instead of while cloaked

Reverted cl_ragdolltime fix because it caused unexcepted problems; removed the cl_ragdolltime cvar temporarily

Fixed first-person spectator view going insane if the player you're spectating dies while concussed

Also, for anyone that needs or just prefers it, here is an .exe installer for 2.46.1 (to patch from 2.46 to 2.46.1):

http://www.fortress-forever.com/files/246/FF_2.46.1_Patch.exe

Dev. Journal: squeek.

fortress-forever@gmail.com (squeek.) — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:54:24 GMT

Just wanted to write a quick little journal about some bugs found in 2.46 and what we plan to do about them. These are all client-side changes and therefore we are planning to release a client-only hotfix (2.46.1) using our newly implemented auto-updater as soon as we get all the bugs squashed.

Bug: If you join a server and toggle the scoreboard before closing the MOTD, the team menu doesn't show up when you close the MOTD.
Status: Fixed
Bug: While in a slowfield, the cloak screen effect gets incorrectly applied. While cloaked, the cloak screen effect is not applied.
Status: Fixed
Bug: While first-person spectating someone that dies while concussed, your view goes absolutely insane in between them dying and them respawning.
Status: Working on a fix

In addition, the fixed cl_ragdolltime cvar has caused a few new bugs (CL_CopyExistingEntity errors and "cl_ragdolltime 0" spawning floating player models in the center of the map). Unfortunately, the fix for the CL_CopyExistingEntity errors is rather involved and will require some fairly significant changes in how ragdolls are handled. Therefore, we will rollback the cl_ragdolltime "fix" that was put in 2.46 (and temporarily remove the cvar since it will no longer work) and work on a more robust fix for the next patch.

If you are aware of any other bugs in 2.46, let us know.

News: 2.46 Released!

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:43:37 GMT

Bug fixes, bug fixes, bug fixes! This patch is long overdue, but it's finally here. Also, don't forget to vote for us on Steam Greenlight if you haven't already.

2.46 Changelog

New gib effect

Download

News: FF on Greenlight and $1000 4v4 Tournament

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 09:46:24 GMT

First of all, at long last, Fortress Forever has been submitted to Steam Greenlight (read about Steam Greenlight). If FF gets Greenlit, you would be able to install and update Fortress Forever through Steam like you would a commercial game. Because Fortress Forever is still being actively developed, this is actually a big deal. It would both make it easier for players to install and update the game and easier for us to release updates.

Please feel free to encourage your friends to vote for FF on Greenlight.

Secondly, FF.Pickup will be hosting a league/tournament with $1000 in total prizes starting February 1st, 2013. The format will be 4v4 Offense vs Defense (pickup-style, you can learn more by reading the league rules), with an 8-week season used to determine seeding for the proceeding playoff tournament with $1000 in prizes up for grabs.

Get more information and register your team at ffpickup.com/league/ and/or discuss it on the forums in this thread.

NOTE: Sign ups close soon, so act fast.

Lastly, a new bug fix patch will be coming soon (with many fixes relating to spectating). Be on the look out.

News: 2.45 Released!

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 06:57:30 GMT

It has been nearly a year since the last patch, but we're still alive and kicking. This update brings some much needed/long-awaited changes (new class selection screen) as well as bug fixes, balance tweaks, and a large amount of added Lua scripting functionality.

2.45 Changelog

Download

News: 5th Anniversary

fortress-forever@gmail.com (squeek.) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 15:39:47 GMT

Fortress Forever was released 5 years ago to the day. This post is way overdue, but I want to take some time to thank everyone that has helped FF over the years.

A gigantic thanks to all the developers that came and left before I joined the team. Seriously, I don't think I can possibly express the gratitude they deserve. The scope of this mod is truly unbelievable and they did an amazing job.
Thank you to AfterShock, GreenMushy, Dexter, caesium, Crazycarl, Elmo, and all the rest of the current dev team for sticking with the game through some bleak times
Thank you to Bully for providing us with fantastic voiceover work (announcer and training voiceover). Sorry if we didn't show enough appreciation, your contributions have been invaluable.
Special thanks to anyone that has stuck with the game since 1.0
Thank you to everyone that has helped populate public servers all this time
Thank you to anyone that has hosted a FF server
Thank you to Scuzzy and the O-T clan. No matter your opinion on them, they have supported the game since before release and have helped FF countless times over the years (running the FF beta server, hosting the website for a time, etc, etc).
Thank you to []Zer0 and infy for supporting #ff.pickup and helping it survive all these years (and everyone that has hosted a server for #ff.pickup)
Thank you to Dr.Satan and PoC/marxist for running successful seasons of UGC
Thank you to everyone that has stuck with #ff.pickup since it started (the_cake, rodox, Hoopajoo, hadeZ, SiSCoS, GreenMushy, exoskeletaL, WATER, VinnyTheBoss, R00Kie [come back!], BananaHammock) and to everyone that has played in pickups over the years
Thank you to everyone that played in the Quakenet #ff.pickup channel before the channels merged (sadly, I'm not as familiar with these players)
Thank you to anyone that has helped promote FF in any way
Thank you to ryu^ for making Fortress Forever - The Movie
Thank you to anyone that has made a FF video (off the top of my head: 1337CaLeB, FDA, Lateralols [POTMs], SiSCoS, Hoopajoo, caesium, ryu^, Mase)
Thank you to Jiggles and Dr.Evil for helping me out with code edits while I was on the beta team
Thank you to NeoNL, R00Kie, and nine` for being the nicest and most helpful people of all time
Thank you to the_cake and rodox for being tremendous helps while beta testing and giving valuable feedback
Thank you to all current and past beta team members (2.1 beta testing was the most fun I've ever had playing FF; those epic rounds of hunted were amazing)
Thank you to anyone that has made a map for FF (of particular note: zE)
Thank you to anyone that has made custom models/textures/HUD elements/etc for FF (of particular note: Jester)
And finally, thank you to anyone that has done so much as played and enjoyed Fortress Forever in the past 5 years

We've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. I hope you'll continue to support the mod in any way you can. It means a lot.

Dev. Journal: squeek.

fortress-forever@gmail.com (squeek.) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 16:13:19 GMT

As KubeDawg suggested, since we probably won't get Steamworks support, including our own auto-updater would be nice. I've been looking into doing just that over the past few days and might have found something that could work. Here is a quick test of a dummy update:

This is using wyUpdate, a free, open-source auto-updater. However, the program used to create the actual updates (the development team side of things) is not free. Each license is $86, which we might need only 1 of, but I'm not sure yet.

For now, I'll continue looking to see if there are other options, but I just wanted to share that it definitely seems possible.

News: The Steamworks Situation

fortress-forever@gmail.com (squeek.) — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:12:47 GMT

Steamworks is an API intended to help with developing and publishing a game or mod. If Valve gives you access, it means that your game/mod will be distributed by Steam and will have access to features like achievements and matchmaking, among other things. Essentially, though, if we were granted access, it'd mean you could update or install Fortress Forever using Steam just as you would update or install a commercial Valve title. Unfortunately, Valve never contacted us about being included when they were inviting other Source mods to be part of the program.

After a lot of uncertainty surrounding the issue, we now have something definitive. This is the last correspondence with Valve we have had regarding Steamworks. I replied and asked for some clarification but have gotten no response.

Originally posted by ValveThank you for submitting �Fortress Forever� for potential Steam distribution. We have taken a look at the information provided and determined that Steam is not a good fit for distribution. It is our company policy not to provide specific feedback on a submission but we would like you to consider Steam distribution for your future products.

The way I see it, this can mean one of a few things:

Fortress Forever is ineligible for Steamworks for some specific reason

Reasons could include things like:
- We need to be on the 2007 engine to be eligible for Steamworks support
  - I don't believe this is a requirement for Steamworks, as I think a mod has gotten Steamworks support while on the 2006 engine
- We are not popular/established enough to be eligible for Steamworks support
  - If the mods that have received Steamworks support are any indication, this (hopefully) shouldn't apply to Fortress Forever. We've been actively developing the game for almost 5 years and have maintained a small but loyal playerbase
Whatever the reason, though, it seems like if there is some requirement that we do not meet, then it'd be nothing but beneficial for them to let us know what that is so that we could work on those specific aspects and re-apply.
Valve has some sort of grudge against this mod specifically and/or doesn't want it to "compete" with TF2

While this would make for a good pity party/movie plot, I don't think there is any evidence to support this.
Valve is moving away from supporting mods in general

Unfortunately, I think this is the most likely answer. Mod support from Valve has been getting increasingly small over the past years. Here's a select few things that point to this:
- Zero mods have received Steamworks support since around 2009
- When using Create a Mod in Source SDK to create a 2007 (OB) engine mod, it gives you source code that doesn't compile because it is missing files. This has been the case for a while and has not been fixed
- The 2009 engine update has not received mod support (the Portal 2 engine with Mac support); it seems likely at this point that it never will
- Mods are somewhat buried in the Steam store (as a "fun" game, try to find Fortress Forever's Steam store listing without searching for it directly), and the Steamworks mods have been removed from the Library tab if they are not installed
- The hlcoders mailing list, where you used to be able to get responses from Valve employees about Source mod programming, has been almost entirely abandoned by Valve

Essentially, this boils down to the fact that we probably won't be getting Steamworks support. However, Steamworks support isn't as big of a deal as it once was and is more likely to get worse for mods over time (due to #3 above) rather than better. It seems unclear at this point if getting on Steamworks would even increase FF's visibility in the Steam UI.

I'd love to be proven wrong and see Valve release updated tools and a new mod-supported engine version. In the meantime, though, we'll keep plugging away at improving Fortress Forever. With Steamworks no longer in the picture, we must make our own way forward, meaning that community support is as necessary as it's ever been. If you'd like to help us out with anything, let us know on the forums.

Also, be on the look out for a new patch in the near future (give or take a few soon's).

Dev. Journal: squeek.

fortress-forever@gmail.com (squeek.) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:32:54 GMT

In 2.44, there is a server crash related to laser grenades. We have found the cause (thanks to the cake and Trailer) and fixed it for next patch, but in the meantime here is a .zip containing only the fixed server .dll:

2.44 Server Hotfix

Server owners should update their servers with this.

Dev. Journal: Crazycarl

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Crazycarl) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:55:50 GMT

This Christmas, don't spend time with your family, play FF! They might accuse you of having no holiday spirit, until you show them these new Xmas-mode model replacements:

Download the installer here.

This will allow you to select from a list of model replacements:

Christmas tree flag
Candy cane crowbar
Gift-wrapped detpack
Snowglobe EMP grenade
Ornament conc grenade

The installer should be pointed to your FortressForever folder. All default models are put into backup folders, so you can use the uninstaller to replace them.

Is that all? I might be able to make a few more of these before the holiday hits, so make a request! I'd like to change as many grenades and items as possible.

News: 2.44 Released!

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:21:00 GMT

Patch 2.44 is a (much needed) bugfix patch with a few balance tweaks and general improvements. Enjoy!

Changelog

2.44 Changelog

Client Installers

Download/Update Fortress Forever automatically with Desura

2.43 to 2.44 Patch Installer

2.44 Full Installer

Server Packages

2.43 to 2.44 Server Patch

2.44 Server Full

UPDATE: There is a server crash in this patch. Here is a fixed server.dll:

2.44 Server Hotfix

Dev. Journal: squeek.

fortress-forever@gmail.com (squeek.) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:54:32 GMT

If all goes well, patch 2.44 will be released in the next week or so. In the meantime, you can preview the changelog here:

2.44 Changelog

Note: Some things are potentially subject to change (removed/tweaked/added) before release.

Dev. Journal: squeek.

fortress-forever@gmail.com (squeek.) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:46:06 GMT

I thought I'd try something out. I'm going to talk about an idea that we tried for a while in the beta but ultimately scrapped, why we ending up removing it, and what we replaced it with.

One thing that we try to do is look at every mechanic in the game and form some sort of consensus on it with regards to the following questions: Is it good for the game? Does it need to be replaced or removed? If so, what is worth keeping about it? And other questions along those lines.

In this process, some mechanics stand out in terms of needing replacement. One such mechanic was the soldier's nail grenade, which stood out because, essentially, the correct use of it was spam. There was no depth, no interactivity, and no skill involved both in its use and its avoidance. This is a huge problem, because it means that it's not fun to play against, kills that were netted from it didn't feel earned, and therefore it would primarily cause frustration. This is a post from a thread on the beta forums about it:

Originally posted by squeek.1. The nail pattern isn't interactive. To avoid damage you just can't go near it.
2. The explosion at the end is only effective against people that accidentally run into it. Running through a nailgren is a gamble; sometimes it explodes, sometimes it doesn't, and it's not dependent on anything the soldier is/was doing (when he threw it he never could have predicted [even with wallhacks] that you'd go there at that specific time, he was just guessing).

So, we went about thinking of replacements. There are a few criteria for class-specific grenades: that it conforms with or strengthens the role of the class and/or that it creates a deep moment-to-moment choice about which type of grenade to prime (the Medic choosing between frags and concs is a good example of this type of depth).

Our first idea was called the vert grenade. It converted horizontal momentum into vertical momentum; in other words, it slowed people down and popped them up in the air. This works quite well with the soldier because it creates an opportunity for a rocket airshot, buys time for reloading, creates an easy rocket shot when they land, or creates an easy opportunity for getting a few shotgun blasts in.

the vert grenade in all its glory

This was all well and good. It was interactive, it created some amount of depth in grenade choice, and it conformed with the role of the soldier. But, it was not as thrilling in practice. The huge, glaring problem was that it was really, really difficult to use because of the 4 second grenade timer. Elmo summed it up well in a post on the dev forums:

Originally posted by Elmo[If you think,] "Someone should be coming around the corner soon, it's been a while. I'll prime a vert gren"

With the vert grenade, the effect is so quick that the chance of getting someone with it in this way is very low. (it's wasted)

[If you think,] "Aha a victim, I'll prime a vert gren *primed*"

The chances are that they will avoid you (wasted) or frequently the fight is over in under 4 seconds (wasted).

So to make this grenade work (as it is now) you either have to....

increase the duration of the effect in the hope it will get someone (likely that you didn't intend to hit)

OR

Reduce the timer so that you can hit the intended person before the fight is over.

Neither are good solutions...

Say you primed it AND you actually hit them - woo about fucking time....

Most maps have a low-ish roof, especially in CTF around choke points that a soldier would be defending. I DO NOT believe maps should be made FOR vert grens, we need to make a gren that can be used in multiple spaces and surroundings.

With low approval by beta members and playtests with the vert grenade not feeling quite right, we decided to try something else. That something else ended up being the laser grenade.

an early/alternate version of the laser grenade with nails for arms

The original idea, suggested by caesium, was for a grenade similar to the original nail grenade but with defined arms. After some discussion, we settled on an idea that we could work with and got to coding it. Both nails and lasers were tried, but we ended up going with lasers because the nail version was simply too expensive. Lasers had the added bonus of being really simple to team-color, among other small benefits.

Luckily, the laser grenade worked as well in practice as we thought it would in theory. It solved all of the problems with the nail grenade while retaining the nail grenade's area denial ability. Removing the explosion at the end solves the nail grenade's need-for-spam/luck. Making the arms of the laser grenade dodgable creates a level of interactivity that the nail grenade could never have dreamed of attaining. It conforms with the soldiers role and was fun to use and play against. It ticked all the boxes and after extensive testing we decided it was worthy of inclusion in patch 2.42.

Finally, to sum up:

Originally posted by squeek.The laser grenade is similar to the nail grenade, but also entirely different. It does damage in an area, making people want to avoid it. But, the damage is dodgable if you behave in a certain manner. This creates an interesting dynamic, because if there is no one around, you can dodge the damage fairly easily (meaning spamming is less effective, and damage from it always feels deserved [you failed to dodge it well]); but, if there is someone around (say the soldier that threw the grenade), your movement as you dodge the damage becomes MUCH more predictable, making it easier for the soldier to hit you. Once you get into that loop, there is a lot of depth and interactivity (avoiding damage makes me easier to hit with rockets, should I take some damage from the laser grenade? should I hang back and wait? etc...) All are viable and potentially logical choices, dependent on both the situation and the actions of each player. That is what we are looking for.

Anything can be made effective. We want to try to make our mechanics effective, interactive, deep, and fun wherever possible (and jump roping laser grenades is rather fun :)).

And so that's that. Let me know on the forums if you'd like to see more of this type of dev journal.

P.S. Be on the look out for a hefty laser grenade damage increase in patch 2.44 (coming soon!).

News: 2.43 Released!

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:51:00 GMT

Less than a week after 2.42 was released, a new patch arrives. We have scrambled to fixed every bug we could find and have also rebalanced a few of the new features that were added in 2.42.

Hopefully this makes up for the slight disaster that 2.42 turned out to be.

Changelog

2.43 Changelog
2.42 Changelog (in case you missed it)

Client Installer

Download/Update Fortress Forever automatically with Desura

Patch (2.42 to 2.43)
Fortress-Forever.com (.EXE)
FFPickup.com (.EXE)
DexterHaslem.com (.EXE)
KubeDawg.com (.EXE)

Patch (2.41 to 2.43)
ModDB.com (.EXE)
Fortress-Forever.com (.EXE)
FFPickup.com (.EXE)
DexterHaslem.com (.EXE)
KubeDawg.com (.EXE)

Full
ModDB.com (.EXE)
Fortress-Forever.com (.EXE)
FFPickup.com (.EXE)
DexterHaslem.com (.EXE)

Server Packages

Patch (2.42 to 2.43)
Fortress-Forever.com (.ZIP)
FFPickup.com (.ZIP)
KubeDawg.com (.ZIP)
DexterHaslem.com (.ZIP)

Patch (2.41 to 2.43)
Fortress-Forever.com (.ZIP)
FFPickup.com (.ZIP)
DexterHaslem.com (.ZIP)

Full
Fortress-Forever.com (.ZIP)
FFPickup.com (.ZIP)
DexterHaslem.com (.ZIP)

News: 2.43 Incoming Very Soon

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 21:43:00 GMT

A few major things slipped through the cracks of 2.42 and are wreaking havoc. Primarily, a client crash related to joining a server while a laser grenade is active or thrown, which has been found and will be fixed in 2.43.

We also plan on addressing a few balance concerns, particularly with the slowfield, which is currently too strong. We made some last minute changes before 2.42 was released that needed more testing than they received. The Super Nailgun clip will also be raised from 30 nails to 50.

This balance/bugfix patch will be released within the next few days at most, so stay tuned.

Sorry about any issues you've been having with 2.42/2.42.1.

News: 2.42.1 bugfix patch

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 09:50:06 GMT

Turns out we didn't fix an error that we thought we had fixed (CL_CopyExistingEntity). Hopefully this time we actually got it solved.

Here is a .zip of the files while we update the installers and server packages.

Extract this to your Steam/Steamapps/Sourcemods folder:

2.42 to 2.42.1 Hotfix

News: 2.42 Released!

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 08:01:33 GMT

It has actually happened: 2.42 is ready and is finally being released. Download links and the changelog are below.

A deserved (and belated) thanks to an invaluable community member, Bully, for helping us out big time with the training voiceover (and the announcer sounds that were added in 2.1!). Thanks also to hlstriker for implementing the friendly soft clipping.

Changelog

2.42 Changelog

Client Installer

Download/Update Fortress Forever on Desura

Patch (2.41 to 2.42)
Fortress-Forever.com (.EXE)
3pxl.com (.EXE)
DexterHaslem.com (.EXE)
FF.Pickup (.EXE)
Awillden.co.uk (.EXE)
KubeDawg.com (.EXE)

Full
Fortress-Forever.com (.EXE)
3pxl.com (.EXE)
DexterHaslem.com (.EXE)
FF.Pickup (.EXE)

Server Packages

Patch (2.41 to 2.42)
Fortress-Forever.com (.ZIP)
3pxl.com (.ZIP)
DexterHaslem.com (.ZIP)
FF.Pickup (.ZIP)
KubeDawg.com (.ZIP)

Full
Fortress-Forever.com (.ZIP)
DexterHaslem.com (.ZIP)
FF.Pickup (.ZIP)
3pxl.com (.ZIP)

News: Patch 2.42 coming... soon?

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:08:00 GMT

We have been more than flakey with the release date of this patch. Early June has come and gone. We thought we'd be able to release it this past weekend, but that didn't happen either. In fact, this patch was meant to be a small, mostly-bugfix patch and released months ago.

So, instead of announcing a release date that we can't seem to stick to, here are the days that we won't be releasing FF 2.42 in the month of June (out of the days still remaining):

June 23rd, June 24th, June 26th, June 27th, June 28th, June 29th, and June 30th

our revised release schedule

Hopefully we'll be able to stick to that. In the meantime, here are a few more changes coming in 2.42:

team-oriented jump pads, concussed world status effect, and tranquilized world status effect

News: 2.42 Teaser

fortress-forever@gmail.com (Fortress Forever Team) — Mon, 16 May 2011 18:29:20 GMT

At long last, we're close to releasing our next patch, 2.42. We're currently in the process of release candidate testing and are shooting for an early June release date.

Here is a teaser video showing some of the new features that will be included in the patch:

Dev. Journal: squeek.

fortress-forever@gmail.com (squeek.) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:56:09 GMT

Hey everyone,

I want to try something. I'm going to stream myself working on FF every day from 7pm PST to 8pm PST. I'll do it for at least a week and we'll see how it goes.

What I'll be working on:

Getting 2.42 ready for release
Coding new features, fixing bugs, etc
Balancing/tweaking existing features
Testing new maps
Finishing training and adding it to the game
Perhaps streaming beta tests

The exact specifics will change from day to day.

Why I'm streaming:

I think it'll be enjoyable
To involve the community more in FF's development
To give you guys a behind-the-scenes look at FF's development
To get immediate feedback from the community on what I'm doing
To provide a direct route for suggesting features and maybe seeing them implemented/tested

I'll be doing a test run tonight at 7pm PST (in a few minutes). I hope you'll tune in.

The stream can be found at:
http://www.justin.tv/ffdev