Red Orchestra 2: Heroes Of Stalingrad

[WhenKittensATK]

Voodoo Extreme (link to their site with RO:HOS as the tag) is getting couple hundred beta keys tomorrow. I would keep their site monitored if you want in.

OhmWrecker Ryan by TripwireYoshiro

Update on Red Orchestra 2 beta keys. We should have a decent batch (at least a couple hundred) tomorrow!

 

Another big 1.3 GB Patch was just released.

 

-New maps (Commissar's House, Station, Spartanovka, Pavlov's House)

-Client Performance Optimizations

-Client and Server crash fixes

-Improvements to hit detection

-Punkbuster Anti-Cheat can now be used by servers and is on by default

-Added enable PunkBuster setting and PunkBuster disabled warning in Server Browser

-Removed the ability to swap teams from the class select menu. Instead, there is now a button to open the team select menu. This will reduce some confusing 'Role is taken' messages.

-Adjustments to weapon unlocks for each class. Veteran marksman now unlock semi auto sniper rifles, veteran anti-tank now unlock satchels, and more.

-RO1 players will now get automatic bayonet upgrades for the Kar98 and Mosin rifle without needing to level these weapons first.

-Mid-game map voting will now immediately change maps if enough players vote.

-Fixed some reloading issues for weapons with stripper clips (G41, Kar98, etc)

-Fixed problems with enemy spotted from inside a tank

-Fixed occasionally seeing your dead self with no head or arms

-Fixed an exploit with cover allowing super speedy firing for rifles

-Fixed getting stuck inside geometry in some places when mantling

-Fixed glitchy camera view when rotating into a wall while prone

-Fixed an issue with map boundaries during Firefight sudden death

-Several spawning bugs squashed

-Fixed some issues with player progression

-Added sorting by column to the Server Browser

-Fixed server crashing due to Steamworks not being properly cleaned up

-Fixed server crashing when using PunkBuster UCON system

-Fixed Ranked vs. Unranked issues. It really works this time. Really Really

-Fixed some Spawning and Role Selection issues

-Fixed VOIP notifications not appearing and often crossing Public/Team channels

Video Settings menu refinement

-Added ability to cancel changes

-Exposed Ultra texture quality settings to only machines that have enough memory

-New Occlusion Culling Graphical Setting - higher setting will have less object "pop-in" but be slow (original default in previous beta), normal setting will run better but have a bit more object "pop-in" (New default). Will provide significantly better frame rates on normal setting.

-The maximum video setting a system will be assigned on startup is high.

-Added MaxAnisotropy of 16 to Ultra texture settings

-Added 'stat perfdump' console command to get better information about poor performance people are seeing.

-Memory Optimization for 32 bit machines.

-Fixed exploit of glowing characters on low shadow settings

-Ping now shows in the scoreboard

-Fixed binoculars not working properly when a non-standard ironsights FOV was set on rifles

-Modified network relevancy checking to reduce characters popping in

-Added the ability to enable and disable VAC for servers on the commandline (overrides what is in the ini files). To enable VAC add the switch -VACSECURED to your commandline. To disable VAC add -NOVAC to your commandline.

-Added the ability to override the automatically calculated Steam query port. Use SteamPort=<OverridePortNumbe> on your commandline. Note: Has not been heavily tested, use at your own risk

-Fixed an issue with AI swapping positions while a player was dead and waiting to take over positions in a tank. This made it appear that some positions were "coming back to life"

-Fixed some vehicle AI bugs

-Fixed not being able to kill the hull MGer or tank gunner in the Panzer IV if they were a human player

-Created an intelligent system to grab bullet from partial clips before moving on to whole clips. This prevents you from ending up with all of your clips having just a few rounds missing.

-Fixed getting bullet whizzed by guys that are not even facing you (I.e. shooting away from you). Also fixed double replication of some hit impacts/bullet whizzes.

-Refined speedhack detection to have less false positives

 

 

[Mysion]

Nice they actually fixed people getting an advantage on low settings!

 

Thats something you don't see every day!

[WhenKittensATK]

I got about 19 Hours logged into the beta so far.

 

This game is still in a pretty rough shape with only three days until release. Hopefully they delay the game again, so they can continue to polish it. Also hire some outside help to get things rolling.

 

Some issues although many:

1) Cover system is quirky at times (most likely to get you killed )

2) Low performance for some players who have the hardware to play (guys with medium to high end rigs are getting pretty low performance. I get 40 fps *9600GT - Medium* and 60 FPS *GTX580 - High* on 1920x1200, so I'm doing fine.)

3) UI could use some work

4) A lot of general bugs

5) Random crashes (although I haven't had a crash in awhile)

6) Squad system needs work on

7) Tanks are somewhat buggy

8) Enemies sudden appearing out of thin air at times (rendering issue)

 

So yea the game is pretty buggy at this state.

 

Gameplay:

1) Movement speed is much faster than RO1

2) Maps sizes do seem on the small side compared to RO1 (some maps have ares that are open and long and others areas that are CQC)

3) The only weapons that take awhile to master are the Sniper Rifles, Anti-Material Rifles, and MG (MG only seem useful in covering hallways. Put them out in the open or to watch over an open area and they are easy targets.)

4) A lot easier to identify targets and shoot them than in RO1

5) SMG have realistic recoil and better effective range than in RO1

6) Very satisfying killing someone with bolt action rifle

7) A good squad leader is needed for assaulting, because if they aren't throwing smoke your chances of getting to the objective are very slim

8) If you want teamplay, play with friends or join a clan server (pretty much a given for any game)

 

Bottom Line:

Hold off from buying the game for now.

 

TWI is working hard on crushing these bugs. I mean on release day I had 10-15 crashes before I even got into a server. Now I get 1 crash maybe once every other day. They've released at least 3-4 patches so far (within 2 weeks). So they are working pretty hard.

 

Once SDK drops, should be seeing a lot of custom maps coming out. Maybe some minor mods, until the bigger mod teams release their mods: Rising Storm, In Country: Vietnam, Iron Europe, and etc.

 

Tripwire also has planned content to be release post launch and continued support. Their first content patch will have MG42, two transport vehicles, two tanks, and more maps. All for free and future content free as well.

 

If you like playing games where it feels like the entire world is against you, then this is the game for you. I'm having a blast playing it, every mistake you make is almost a guarantee death sentence.

 

A good comparison would be Demon's Souls. Except RO2 is not slow and clunky like RO1 was, but still highly unforgiving.

Edited September 11, 2011 by Krazyxazn

[DanTheGamer11]

They don't have to delay it just to fix it? Or you wouldn't mind as long as the Beta stayed open?

[WhenKittensATK]

They don't have to delay it just to fix it? Or you wouldn't mind as long as the Beta stayed open?

Well if they released the game in 2 days, the reviews won't be great probably 7s. Most people probably wouldn't buy it.

 

If they delay it again while keeping beta open to find bugs, They'll probably get an 8-9 rating from reviews.

 

Either way, it really won't matter to me, I'm just thinking about the how the public and reviewers will react to the game. I don't regret paying the $40 for DDE when I could have gotten it for $34 on GreenManGaming.

 

RO has always been a FPS I play to take a break from other FPS games. No games play like it, so its pretty fresh.

Edited September 11, 2011 by Krazyxazn

[DanTheGamer11]

I might play it tomorrow? Is it closed?

[WhenKittensATK]

Beta Update Patch has a couple of map fixes.

 

You can now start preloading the game for tomorrow's release.

 

I might play it tomorrow? Is it closed?

It's Closed beta. Game releases tomorrow. They said they would be doing a free play weekend sometime after release. So I would just wait for that, unless you know what RO is like.

Edited September 13, 2011 by Krazyxazn

[WhenKittensATK]

Patch 1 released fixing unlocks.

 

After playing one map with the Mkb42 (prototype to the STG44/MP44), that gun is beyond OP. Throw it into single fire mode and just go to town Dang those Germans and all their fancy weapons.

 

I hope someone makes a Western Front mod. I would love to shoot the M1 Carbine, Lee-Enfield, Grease Gun, BAR, and freaking every gun used by the Western Allies Russian weapons are so boring to use

 

Thoughts on its Singleplayer (since I beat it the other day):

Missions on average are roughly 8-10 minutes. Some can be as short as 5 minutes or as long as 20 minutes. Really depends. AI isn't exactly good, but they are Jedi Masters at melee combat. They always seem to find you while you are reloading and melee in your face.

 

Roughly 16 missions in total (8 German - 8 Russian). Each mission starts out with a narrated backstory. The Russian narrator sounded pretty convincing, he had that thick Russian accent. Singleplayer also has theses mini training sections teaching you how to play the game. They were spread out, so you didn't do them all at once.

 

No sense in learning how to use a tank, squad leader, or commander if you don't get to do it until a few missions later.

 

==============

 

Red Orchestra 2 Steam Stats for today:

4,225 Current Players

8,521 Peaked Players

Edited September 16, 2011 by Krazyxazn

[WhenKittensATK]

Patch #2 coming out later today:

 

- fixed DDE content being awarded when it should/shouldn't be

- fixed RO1 content being awarded when it should/shouldn't be

- fixed the server browser not responding after disconnecting from a game

- removed MKB/AVT from Squad Leaders/Commanders, only Assault gets it now

And an update released yesterday included an undocumented change:

- improved performance for the Ultra setting

[WhenKittensATK]

Mastered the MG, now enemy faces eat lead. Can't play it RO1 MG style and no one freaking gives me ammo.

[Deathmineral]

This is like me in the minecraft thread, only one person interested and they are passionate about it.

 

Anyway, I tried the game a little bit earlier today and I definitely feel it's improved over the first game but it's still a little too slow paced for me. The realism really is just a complete put off for me as well, the suppressing fire and requirement of using iron sights/scopes, it's certainly an entertaining idea but I feel like it somewhat removes me from the game. I just feel like I'm playing a simulator, not a shooter.

 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing the game or anything like that, it definitely has some good features that kept me interested even if they didn't feel perfect. I enjoyed the cover system a lot but it did feel clunky or unresponsive sometimes, there were times where I wouldn't be able to easily remove myself from a wall, or times that I couldn't get the character the stay near the wall. However the cover system worked well for me because I enjoy the leaning, that's a feature that too many FPS games are missing these days in my opinion so I was extremely happy to see RO2 have the leaning.

 

I also feel like, and I believe that Krazy said this in an earlier post as well, that the learning curve is much better this time around, the tutorial was very well done, I actually felt like the whole point was to teach me the controls and how the weapons would actually operate on the battlefield, and they do this with a good pace, they don't rush you but they also don't make it feel tedious and slow.

 

So I guess to end my little review then, it's a good game, well done, as it to be expected from Tripwire, but I definitely think it's a try before you buy kind of game. That's why I really think it would benefit from a demo. As for me, I think I'll stick to Killing Floor for now if I need a Tripwire game fix.

[WhenKittensATK]

I found the pace fast, at least compared to RO1. Some players were even complaining it was too fast, but it seems just about right.

 

=================

 

The game currently is just too easy to play and shoot with very little penalties.

 

To make this game the hard mode that RO1 was:

1) Add more weapon sway based on how depleted your stamina bar is

2) Slow down the speed of bandaging (At least 8 seconds long. Current speed is like 3 seconds. No one can wrap a bandage around a limb that fast to stop bleeding.)

3) Reduce recoil on MG while using bipods (I swear there is more recoil deployed than hipfiring MGs)

4) Allow MG users to deploy MGs using mounting/resting system instead of bipod only (giving them more concealment, so they aren't instant targets as they currently are)

5) Darkest Hour mod style of suppression (Current suppression system doesn't make me want to keep my head down, I'll pop up and shoot a MG and SMG user like nothing was happening)

6) Make it a lot harder to aim while in slow death mode (Currently it is a free revenge kill, when it shouldn't be as easy to do)

 

However TWI's current focus is mostly on bug fixing atm. So, probably won't be any major gameplay overhauls anytime soon.

 

=============

 

A required update for RO2 has been released. Changes include:

 

- Fixed a bug where all sound would sometimes cut out when the map changes (OMG YES!!!!)

- Various crash fixes for server and client

- Client performance optimizations

- Single Player Fix - fixed "double music" playing when loading the game from a checkpoint

- Added the ability to enable webadmin through the commandline. This will allow you to override what is in the ini files, thus fixing up any issues with inis getting overwritten by updates. To enable webadmin via the commandline add EnableWebAdmin=True to the "?" separated commandline parameters. To set the webadmin port add WebAdminPort=<DesiredPort> to the "?" separated commandline parameters.

 

As usual it does not fix anything it doesn't say it fixes, nor will it make you more attractive to the opposite .

 

As a heads up, we are continuing to work on the following:

- VOIP

- Stats

- Crashes

- Optimization

 

======================

 

I want to see a Jin-Roh themed mod when SDK is released. Police force (germans) vs Underground (allies)

 

 

========================

 

IGN gives RO2 a 8/10

Edited September 21, 2011 by Krazyxazn